The Holy Trinity and the Virgin Mary Enthroned

English, 14th century
Illumination from a Book of Hours
The Cloisters, New York City

This image melds two iconographic types. In the "Throne of Mercy" type, the Father holds up a crucifix for the viewer to contemplate and a dove is seen to descend on Christ's head (example). In the second, the "Maria Ecclesia" type, Mary sits on Christ's right on a shared throne, accompanied by the heavenly host, as in the apse at Santa Maria in Trastevere. But in this miniature it is the Father who shares the throne with Mary. His glance engages her rather than the viewer, and his hand is on the mappa mundi, not the crucifix.

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Photographed at the Cloisters by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.