Hortus conclusus
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Hortus Conclusus is a Latin term, meaning literally "enclosed garden", and is an attribute of the Virgin Mary in Medieval and Renaissance art.
Christian tradition states that Jesus Christ was conceived to Mary supernaturally and without disrupting her virginity by the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity. As such, Mary in much Medieval and Renaissance art was shown in or near a walled garden or yard. This was a representation of her "closed off" womb, which was to remain untouched.
The enclosed garden is recognizable in Fra Angelico's Annunciation (illustration, right), dating from 1430-32.
The term hortus conclusus is derived from the Song of Solomon (also called the Song of Songs) 4:12: "A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse."
In the history of gardens the High Medieval hortus conclusus typically had a well or fountain at the center, bearing its usual symbolic freight (see "Fountain of Life") in addition to its practical uses. The convention of four paths that divided the square enclosure into quadrants, was so strong that the pattern was employed even where the paths led nowhere. All medieval gardens were enclosed, protecting the private precinct from public intrusion, whether by folk or by stray animals. The enclosure might be as simple as woven wattle fencing; or it might be enclosed by trelliswork tunneled pathways in a secular garden or by an arcaded cloister, for communication or meditative pacing. Late medieval illuminations in manuscripts such as The Romance of the Rose often show a turfed seat against a wall as a feature of the hortus conclusus. Only in the fifteenth century, at first in Italy, did some European gardens begin to look outward.
[edit] External links
- Hortus conclusus as one of a number of Devotional Images
- The Garden of Eden, a hortus conclusus by the Master of the Upper Rhineland
- Early Delights, excellent piece by Jemima Montagu on the symbolism of the garden
