Offenbarung 12 im Spiegel der Zeit: Eine Untersuchung theologischer und künstlerischer Entwicklungen anhand der apokalyptischen Frau

This research aims to illustrate the close relationship between theology and art as exemplified by the image of the apocalyptic woman. Beginning with the earliest illustration of the Carolingian Renaissance (app. 800) until the present day, the study traces the continously changing relationship between the theological and artistic interpretation of the image of Revelation 12. The Queen of Heaven has been assigned a number of differing interpretations by theologians and artists: as Mary, mother of God, as an image for the people Israel or as a personification of the Christian church. Various works of art from the Middle Ages, the Reformation period as well as from the 19th and 20th century will be analyzed by the iconologic-iconographic method. These findings will be compared to the exegesis and piety of that time period. The main focus of the study is placed on the illustrations of the Beatus-Codex, the Bamberg Apocalypse, the English-French illuminations, the wood cuts of Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach as well as the watercolors of William Blake and works of church art from the 20th century in Germany.