Demeter, prefiguring Mary. Designed by Sir William Blake Richmond (1842-1921) in St. Paul's Cathedral, London. Again, there is an unexpected but wholly appropriate reference to the classical past here as Richmond depicts Demeter, goddess of harvest and type of the grieving mother, in his mosaics for St Paul's. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Closer view of central figure
Demeter was the Greek goddess of the earth, "donor of the earth's abundance, and patroness of agrarian civilisations" (Apostolos-Cappadona 71); but when her daughter Persephone was taken to the underworld by Hades, she became the antetype of the sorrowing mother as well, and is typically shown with a veiled head, and her attributes of "sheaves of wheat or corn, or baskets of fruits and flowers, denoting the earth’s abundance and poppies signifying sleep and death" (Apostolos-Cappadona 72). These attributes are not shown here: instead, a tree with many branches forms her backdrop, while a bird hovers overhead, clear references to the "stem of Jesse" and the Holy Ghost as a dove.
Text by Landow and Jacqueline Banerjee, with many thanks to Colin Price for his help. Photographs taken and reproduced courtesy of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's Cathedral.
Bibliography
Apostolos-Cappadona, Diane. A Guide to Christian Art. London: Bloomsbury, 2020.
"Glories in Gold and Glass: The Mosaics of St Paul's Cathedral." Google Arts and Culture. Web. 21 September 2022.
“Mosaics at St Paul's Cathedral, London.” Joy of Shards. Web. 11 July 2013.
Created 11 July 2013
Last modified 22 September 2022