Mary in the Burning Bush: Nicolas Froment's Triptych at Aix-en-Provence

Abstract

n the third chapter of Exodus it is narrated that the Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses "in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed." According to mediaeval typology the 'Burning Bush' is a symbol of the Virginity of Mary. The miracle of the bush which burned but was not consumed by the flames is likened to the Virgin who conceived by the Holy Ghost without being consumed by the flames of concupiscence. Literary analogies of the 'Burning Bush' with the Immaculate Conception are already frequent in the works of the Church Fathers.1 Since the early Middle Ages this is an ever recurring subject of ecclesiastical poetry. In hymns from the tenth down to the sixteenth century the 'Burning Bush' occurs again and again-with astonishing variations in wording but absolutely constant in its symbolism.2 It is only natural, therefore, that it should also appear in the popular typological works of the late Middle Ages: the Biblia Pauperum and the Speculum Humanae Salvationis. In the Biblia Pauperum, the scenes 'Moses and the Burning Bush' and 'Aaron's Rod'-another Old Testament symbol of Virginity-flank the 'Nativity of Christ,' and in the Speculum the 'Burning Bush' appears as the prototype of the 'Annunciation.' Nicolas Froment's triptych in the Cathedral of Aix-en-Provence (P1. 41, 42a) has long been known to belong to this mystical tradition. But an unusual and rather puzzling feature is here introduced: instead of the figure of God or His angel, the Virgin herself with the child appears in the burning bush, while God the Father is shown, as a half-figure, surrounded by angels, in a curved panel above the central scene.3 From the first, there cannot be any doubt that this is an 'emblematic' picture in which not a single detail is accidental. Therefore, it is not only enough to indicate in the customary way the general trend of thought to which it belongs. Nor do the observations which follow suffice, as we are well aware, to explain the picture completely. But they may at least help to overcome the vagueness from which the interpretation has hitherto suffered.