Key moments of terrestrial life of the main biblical characters in sacral iconography of Vojvodina

Abstract

Beside the motif of death, the motifs connected to pregnancy, delivery and childhood are the most often motifs depicted in Christian iconography in general. They indicate the importance of terrestrial life and living among people of the main Biblical characters: Jesus Christ, the Mother of God and St. John the Baptist. Presenting the key moments of any human life, starting from conception, pregnancy and delivery, maternity and childhood, all the way to death, these iconographic themes try to stress out the double nature of given characters, both divine and humane. The first iconographic presentations of these Biblical events in Vojvodina belong to biography (fresco painting) of the Fruska Gora mountain monasteries. In the middle of the 18th century, in Vojvodina, as well as in all other Austrian countries where the Serbs lived, some artists, who marked the beginning of a new baroque period, appeared. This research raised a question: how is it possible to find biological-medical content in dogmatic, theological teachings of the Bible characters, predominantly the Mother of God and Jesus Christ and events related to them, which were described in Bible and artistically depicted in sacral iconography? The sacral works of art in Vojvodina were analyzed in this research from this aspect. The themes were systematized and, with respect to all religious dogmas, some biologicalmedical and physiological elements in events of these characters' lives were classified into seven thematic groups.