To find lilies in flower featured in a representation of the Annunciation, usually in the form of a whole bunch in a vase standing between the Archangel and the Virgin, is something of a commonplace. It is rather more electrifying to experience one's first sight of a depiction of the same scene in which all these elements are present but in addition there is the figure of Christ the man, usually on a smaller scale than the two other figures, shown crucified on one of the lilies. Such a portrayal, usually called a Lily-Crucifixion, is so rare as to be confined to about a dozen known examples, all from the period between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, executed in most of the various media sculptured stone on tombs (St Mary's Church, Nottingham; South Kilsworth Church, Leicestershire; and West Wittering Church, Sussex); several examples in stained glass (Long Melford Church, Suffolk; Westwood Church, Wiltshire; York Minster; and, in Oxford, the Chapel of the Queen's College and the Church of St Michael-at-the-NorthGate); several painted panels (St Helen's Church, Abingdon; Kenn Church, near Exeter; and an East Anglian example now in the Victoria and Albert Museum) one wall-painting, if it be a Lily-Crucifixion, in Godshill Church in the Isle of Wight; and even one misericord, at Tong Church, Shropshire. That three of these examples are to be seen in the Oxford district must therefore be accounted a happy accident in view of the hazards of time, iconoclasm, and restotation, and especially (though this will be dealt with more fully below) of the possibility that Lily-Crucifixions may in any event be confined to England. It need hardly be said that there is no surviving medieval document clarifying the symbolism behind the Lily-Crucifixion, but, in so far as this can now be pieced together at all, this was done fifty years ago by W.L. Hildburgh, arising out of the one example which got away, namely, an alabaster version in the Kunstgewerbe Museum at Cologne, and I am indebted to his writings for the material on which this summary has been based. In medieval times there was a belief that the Annunciation and the Crucifixion took place on the same date, March 25th, and it may be noted that the Collect for that date refers to both the Incarnation and to the Cross. Originally, flowers resembling tulips, and, later, iris, were included in pictures of the Annunciation to suggest the time of year. Once the lily had come to be accepted as appropriate, the Crucifixion might have been suggested by a triple spray of its flowers. This association would have been facilitated by the medieval likening of Christ to a flower, and especially to a lily, so that a combination of the Crucifixion and the lily could be expected when a suitable opportunity arose. Crucifixions in medieval art were interpreted as allusions to the Resurrection, with all that it stood for in Christian belief, including the redemption of man. Other aspects of the relevance of the lily were that not only did it symbolise the purity of the Virgin, but in medieval times it was thought to facilitate conception. There is even the possibility that one of the medieval theories about the Virgin Birth was that conception took place by the Archangel showing the Virgin a representation of the Person about to be conceived; however, as this view depends on the correct reading of a medieval text it seems unnecessary to elaborate it in a short paper. To sum up, the Lily-Crucifixion would thus combine, with a typically medieval love of duality and parallelism, mystical ideas relating to the Incarnation, the Virgin's purity, the sacrifice of Christ, His Resurrection and man's redemption, together with the dating of the two main occurrences portrayed. Of the local examples, the one in the Chapel at The Queen's College is the clearest and best preserved of all the Lily-Crucifixions in the country. It forms part of the stained glass window on the north side of the AnteChapel and was originally of the sixteenth century but was much altered in the eighteenth. The whole work has a sophistication and completeness lacking in the other examples. On the left, the Archangel wears a blue mantle
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Jun 1, 1998
Open Access
H.-K Chang + 1