The Madonna's Conception through the Ear  

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"The Madonna's conception through the ear; a contribution to the relation between aesthetics and religion" (1914) is an essay on the annunciation by Ernest Jones, published in Essays in Applied Psycho-Analysis. The painting central to the essay is Martini's Annunciation with St. Margaret and St. Ansanus.

Incipit:

A belief, often forgotten nowadays, but preserved in the legends and traditions of the Catholic Church, is that the conception of Jesus in the Virgin Mary was brought about by the introduction into her ear of the breath of the Holy Ghost. I do not know if this is now held as an official tenet of the Church, but in past ages it was not only depicted by numerous religious artists, but also maintained by many of the Fathers and by at least one of the Popes, namely Felix.

St. Augustine 1 writes: 'Deus per angelum loquebatur et Virgo per aurem impraegnebatur', St. Agobard 2 'Descendit de coelis missus ab arce patris, introivit per aurem Virginis in regionem nostram indutus stola purpurea et exivit per auream portam lux et Deus universae fabricae mundi', and St. Ephrem of Syria 3 'Per novam Mariae aurem intravit atque infusa est vita'; similar passages could be quoted from various other Fathers, such as St. Proclus, St. Ruffinus of Aquileia, etc. In the Breviary of the Maronites one reads : 'Verbum patris per aurem benedictae intravit' , and a hymn 4 , ascribed by some to St. Thomas à Becket, by others to St. Bonaventure, contains the following verse:

Gaude, Virgo, mater Christi,

Quae per aurem concepisti,

Gabriele nuntio.

Gaude, quia Deo plena

Peperisti sine pena

Cum pudoris lilio.

[...]

The event was often portrayed by religious artists in the Middle Ages. For instance, in a painting of Filippo Lippi's in the convent of San Marco in Florence, in one of Gaddi's in the Santa Maria Novella, in one of Benozzo Gozzoli's in the Campo Santa of Pisa, and in an old mosaic — no longer extant 2 — in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, the Holy Dove is seen almost entering the Virgin's ear. In the first named of these the Dove emanates from the right hand of the Father, in the second from his bosom; more typically, however, as in the picture of Simone Martini's here reproduced, 3 one which will presently be more fully discussed, the Dove emanates from the mouth of the Father. The Dove may either constitute a part of the Father's breath — as it were a concrete condensation of this — or it may itself repeat the emission of breath: in the Florence Bargello there are three examples of this (by Verrocchio and the Della Robbias), and it may also be seen in a picture of the Ferrarese school in the Wallace Collection, London, as well as in Martini's picture. [1]

See also

• Birth from the Calf of the Leg
• The miraculous birth of Gargantua from his mother's ear