Praxiteles

The kneeling posture of Our Lady in the Portinari Altar Piece is practically similar to van der Goes other great Nativity, the Berlin Nativity, and representes an iconographic manner of depicting this subject proper to the school of Ghent.

In the Berlin Nativity, the face of Our Lady is taken to represent the passage in St. Luke’s Gospel wheich says that “she treasured all these things [that had been said of the Christ Child by the prophet Simeon] and pondered them in her heart”

On the other hand, the face of Our Lady in the Portinari Altar piece is taken to represent the tristesse of Mother of Sorrows who already knows at the birth of Christ what he has come into the for and how that would be accomplished.

Portinari Altar Piece

House of David, tympan of the entrance door showing the Harp of King David and the abbreviated inscription

While Panofsky only mentions two abbreviated inscriptions, Praxiteles believes that a third abbreviated inscription is to be found in the lower left hand corner of the tympan which cannot be read because obscured by the ante standing building. However, the final letter may be an “X” for “Christus” from which we can infer that it is preceded by an “I” for “Iesus”.

Furthermore, while Panofsky mentions that the letters on the upper part of the tympanum are “PNSC”, Praxiteles thinks that this is incorrect. The letters “PNS” are centred on the top of the shield annd are in a clear script quite unlike the “C”. This “C” Praxiteles is inclined to think is a loop carved in the panel and probably has another on the opposite side which is not visible.

In this scheme of things the ttmpan should read: PNS + Harp + IX +MV

This should then give us : Patriarcha Noster Sanctus [Our Holy Patriarch or Father] + Harp [= David] + IX [= Iesus Christus] + MV [= Maria Virgo].

The expression “Sanctus Patriarcha Noster” is used by St. Ambrose in explicit reference to King David .

Adn this is likely be oe of the sources behind Hugo van de Goes Portinari Altar piece: the Homily of Gregory the Great preached in the Basilica of Our LAdy in Rome on CHristmas day ante 604 explaining the connection between Bethlehem Beth Lechem) or the House of Bread and Christ and the Eucharist.:

HOMILIA VIII.
Habita ad populum in basilica beatae Mariae Virginis, in die Natalis Domini.
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LECTIO S. EVANG. SEC. LUC. II, 1-14.
In illo tempore, exiit edictum a Caesare Augusto, ut describeretur universus orbis. Haec descriptio prima facta est a praeside Syriae Cyrino. Et ibant omnes ut profiterentur, singuli in suam civitatem. Ascendit autem et Joseph a Galilaea de civitate Nazareth, in Judaeam in civitatem David, quae vocatur Bethlehem, eo quod esset de domo et familia David, ut profiteretur cum Maria desponsata sibi uxore praegnante. Factum est autem, cum essent ibi, impleti sunt dies ut pareret. Et peperit filium suum primogenitum; et pannis eum involvit, et reclinavit eum in praesepio, quia non erat ei locus in diversorio. Et pastores erant in regione eadem, vigilantes et custodientes vigilias noctis super gregem suum. Et ecce angelus Domini stetit juxta illos, et claritas Dei circumfulsit illos, et timuerunt timore magno. Et dixit illis angelus: Nolite timere. Ecce enim evangelizo vobis gaudium magnum, quod erit omni populo, quia natus est vobis hodie Salvator, qui est Christus Dominus, in civitate David. Et hoc vobis signum: Invenietis infantem pannis involutum, et positum in praesepio. Et subito facta est cum angelo multitudo militiae coelestis exercitus, laudantium Deum, et dicentium: Gloria in altissimis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.
Quia, largiente Domino, missarum solemnia ter hodie celebraturi sumus, loqui diu de Evangelica lectione non possumus. Sed nos aliquid vel breviter dicere Redemptoris nostri nativitas ipsa compellit. Quid est quod nascituro Domino mundus describitur, nisi noc quod aperte monstratur, quia ille veniebat in carne, qui electos suos ascriberet in aeternitate? Quo contra de reprobis per Prophetam dicitur: Deleantur de libro viventium, et cum justis non scribantur (Psal. LXVIII, 29). Qui bene etiam in Bethlehem nascitur: Bethlehem quippe domus panis interpretatur. Ipse namque est qui ait: Ego sum panis vivus, qui de coelo descendi (Joan. VI, 41, 52). Locus
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ergo in quo Dominus nascitur, domus panis antea vocatus est, quia futurum profecto erat ut ille ibi per materiam carnis appareret, qui electorum mentes interna satietate reficeret. Qui non in parentum domo, sed in via nascitur, ut profecto ostenderet, quia per humanitatem suam quam assumpserat quasi in alieno nascebatur. Alienum videlicet non secundum potestatem dico, sed secundum naturam. Nam de potestate ejus scriptum est: In propria venit (Joan. I, 11). In natura etenim sua ante tempora natus est, in nostra venit ex tempore. Qui ergo aeternus permanens temporalis apparuit, alienum est ubi descendit. Et quia per prophetam dicitur: Omnis caro fenum (Isai. XL, 6), factus homo, fenum nostrum vertit in frumentum, qui de semetipso ait: Nisi granum frumenti cadens in terram mortuum fuerit, ipsum solum manet (Joan. XII, 24). Unde et natus in praesepio reclinatur, ut fideles omnes videlicet sancta animalia, carnis suae frumento reficeret, ne ab aeternae intelligentiae pabulo jejuna remanerent. Quid autem est quod vigilantibus pastoribus angelus apparet, eosque Dei claritas circumfulget, nisi quod illi prae caeteris videre sublimia merentur, qui fidelibus gregibus praeesse sollicite sciunt? Dumque ipsi pie super gregem vigilant, divina super eos gratia largius coruscat.
2. Regem vero natum angelus nuntiat, ejusque voci angelorum chori concinunt, et congaudentes clamant: Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis. Prius quippe quam Redemptor noster nasceretur per carnem, discordiam cum angelis habuimus, a quorum claritate atque munditia per primae culpae meritum, per quotidiana delicta longe distabamus. Quia enim peccando extranei eramus a Deo, extraneos nos a suo consortio deputabant angeli cives Dei. Sed quia nos cognovimus Regem nostrum, recognoverunt nos angeli cives suos. Quia enim coeli Rex terram nostrae carnis assumpsit, infirmitatem nostram illa jam angelica celsitudo non despicit. Ad pacem nostram
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angeli redeunt, intentionem prioris discordiae postponunt; et quos prius infirmos abjectosque despexerant, jam socios venerantur. Hinc est enim quod Loth (Genes. XIX, 1) et Josue (Josue V, 15) angelos adorant, nec tamen adorare prohibentur; Joannes vero in Apocalypsi sua adorare angelum voluit, sed tamen idem hunc angelus ne se debeat adorare compescuit, dicens: Vide ne feceris, conservus enim tuus sum et fratrum tuorum (Apoc. XXII, 9). Quid est quod ante Redemptoris adventum angeli ab hominibus adorantur, et tacent, postmodum vero adorari refugiunt, nisi quod naturam nostram, quam prius despexerant, postquam hanc super se assumptam conspiciunt, substratam sibi videre pertimescunt? Nec jam sub se velut infirmam contemnere ausi sunt, quam super se videlicet in coeli Rege venerantur. Nec habere dedignantur hominem socium, qui super se adorant hominem Deum. Curemus ergo, fratres charissimi, ne qua nos immunditia polluat, qui in aeterna praescientia et Dei cives, et angelis ejus aequales sumus. Vindicemus moribus dignitatem nostram, nulla nos luxuria inquinet, nulla nos turpis cogitatio accuset, non malitia mentem mordeat, non invidiae rubigo consumat, non elatio inflet, non ambitio per terrena oblectamenta dilaniet, non ira inflammet. Dii etenim vocati sunt homines. Defende ergo tibi, o homo, contra vitia honorem Dei, quia propter te factus est Deus homo, qui vivit et regnat in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

And of the their heads:

The shepherds in the Portinari Altar Piece:

These are the most realistically depicted shepherds ever painted up to the time of van der Goes. They represent humanity, warts and all. According to St. Luke’s Gospel (2:9ff), it was to them that the angles first announced the birth of the Saviour. They were the first to be surrounded by the glory of the Lord

And here we hae the ministering Angels of the Portinari altar piece. Except for the front angle who wears the cope of an assisting priest, the other angles in this group are vested as deacons for High Mass. Their attitude is that of sacred ministers who approach the Body of Christ on the Altar. Here, the approach the body of the infant Christ in exactly the same attitude. The border or the Angles’ cope reads: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy).

Noticeably, all the ministers for High Mass are depicted except one – the Priest. He is not depicted because he is Christ. There is no altar for the Altar is Christ. The is no offering for Christ is the offering. Thus summing up the idea of Christ being Priest, Altar and Victim.

To return again to the Portinari Altar Piece:

This time, to that sabot or clog sitting there in the lower left hand corner and drawing further attention to itself by the absence of its comrade.

The device of the the discarded sabot or wooden clog is also to be foung in Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini wedding picture.

In both cases, it is a direct reference to the Book of Exodus chapter 3, verse 5: the account of Moses and the burning bush where he is told by God to remove his shoes for he is on holy ground and in the presence of God.

Hugo vand der Goes, by rferring to this Biblical incident, obliquely makes a statement about the scene of beholding the Christ child born in teh Bethlehem stable. Here we have a thophany, or a manifestation ofthe Divine before which the proper attitude of man is that of reverence, awe and adoration – features all very evident in the expressions of the rough country shephers who have come to see the Chirst child and are depicted in the diagonally opposite corner of the picture.

Well, that is what is likely to happen -and is already happening- unless the general public takes up its pen and starts to write submissions to the the famous Draft County Development Plans – in the case of Cork Oounty Council submissions can be made until the beginning of February – and with all those long wintery evenings in January what better could you be dong with your time!

@ake wrote:

The information plaque in the church says it was donated by the Sisters of the Holy Faith, The Coombe, Dublin, in 1998.

It also says the wooden altar had been designed by Pugin for nearby Tagoat, it’s fate being unknown

This is an important piece of information. I just wonder what happened tot he chapel fot eh Holy Faithe nuns in the Coombe.

The interior of the Basilica to-day.