Apocalypse and Maternity: The Mulier amicta sole in the Church of Santa Maria Donnaregina in Naples

The Clarissan Church of Santa Maria Donnaregina was decorated under the patronage of Mary of Hungary, wife of Charles II of Anjou, during the early years of the 14^th century. The fresco cycles in the nuns’ choir include the Last Judgment and the Mulier amicta sole on the counter-façade wall, while the left wall is devoted to scenes of the Lives of Saints Catherine and Agnes, and the right wall to scenes of Christ’s Passion and of the Life of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary. This paper concentrates on an unusual version of the Mulier amicta sole, which mixes the image of a Woman with the twelve stars above her head and the moon under her feet, as described in the Apocalypse, with a specific type of icon of Eastern origin, the Virgin Platytera, depicted in the typical gesture of the orant with a medallion with the head of the Child on her chest. This image of the Apocalyptic Woman symbolises the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, the topic of a heated debate by theologians, led by the Franciscan St Bonaventura. From the point of view of the gender, the topic of the divine genealogy of the Mulier seems indirectly to transmit the royal genealogy incarnated by the Queen. This seems to be confirmed by Mary of Hungary’s tomb, whose inscription celebrates the Queen as the daughter, widow and mother of kings, while the front of the tomb chest shows her numerous sons.

Crkva klarisa Santa Maria Donnaregina ukrašena je pod pokroviteljstvom kraljice Marije Anžuvinske, žene Karla II., tijekom ranih godina 14. stoljeća. Ciklus fresaka uključuje Posljednji sud u koru časnih sestara, Mulier amicta sole na unutarnjem zidu pročelja, scene iz Života svetih Katarine i Agneze na sjevernom zidu i scene Isusove pasije i Života svete Elizabete Ugarske na južnom zidu. U ovome se radu raspravlja o neuobičajenoj verziji prikaza Mulier amicta sole, u kojemu se kombinira prikaz

„Žene s dvanaest zvijezda iznad njene glave i mjeseca ispod njenih stopala“, kako je opisan u knjizi Apokalipse, sa specifičnim tipom ikone istočnog podrijetla - Bogorodica Platytera - prikazane u tipičnoj gesti moliteljice s likom Djeteta u medaljonu kojega nosi na prsima. Ovaj prikaz „apokaliptične žene“ simbolizira Bezgrešno začeće Marijino, temu burne rasprave među teolozima predvođenim franjevcem svetim Bonaventurom. Iz perspektive roda, tema božanske genealogije Muliere neizrav- no prenosi kraljevsku genealogiju, koju začinje kraljica, što potvrđuje natpis na grobu Marije Anžuvinske, koji slavi Kraljicu kao kćer, udovicu i majku kraljeva dok na prednjem dijelu grobnog sanduka prikazuje njene brojne sinove.