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Devotional images and objects
A devotional image is one that plays a part in personal piety rather than in organised public worship. Such images were used in Italy in the later Middle Ages to venerate Christ, invoke the saints, and facilitate meditation upon issues of faith and belief.
The Mendicant Orders with their emphasis on pastoral care were instrumental in forming a new spirituality amongst the laity, and individual devotion developed alongside formalised liturgical services. Images were seen as important aids to devotion, awakening feelings of piety, evoking emotive responses to religious events, and providing a visual narrative for those unable to read.
In Florence in the 14th century there was an emphasis on small paintings for domestic devotion, especially diptychs and triptychs.
However, by the 15th century tabernacles with wings were less common and devotional works are portrayed hanging on walls (fig.1).
Also in the 15th century there was a wider choice of devotional objects, such as sculpted reliefs (fig.2) and figures in the round, especially of the Virgin and Child. Terracotta and stucco were the most common media, but examples in marble, glass and bronze have also survived.
Devotional objects are not confined to the Christian religion, since different cultures from around the world have produced objects for private worship and veneration, often involving offerings in return for supernatural help in obtaining health, victory or salvation. Such objects include small statuettes of Hindu gods, Chinese talismen and amulets, Japanese kamidana (a small tabernacle in the shape of a Shinto temple containing the symbols of the deity), Luristan bronzes from Iran, and clay figurines from Nigeria (Fig.3].
Mendicant Orders
What was its function?
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