Mandorla

KENNETH CARVELEY

Mandorla (Italian for “almond”; or Vesica Piscis-lit. “fishbladder shape”) is the ellip­tical or round aureole, or extended nimbus, which in Christian art indicates the holi­ness, spiritual power, or divine glory, drawn around the iconographic figure of

Christ or the Theotokos. It may be derived from imperial motifs in Roman art, but is also found in oriental religious symbolism, and appears in iconography from the 6th century onwards. In the form of the Ascen­sion icon, Christ enters the cloud of heaven; in the Transfiguration icon he emanates rays of divine light; and in the Dormition icon he takes the soul of the Virgin into the Mandorla that surrounds him.

SEE ALSO: Dormition; Iconography, Styles of; Iconostasis; Icons

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Didron, M. (1851) Christian Iconography. London: Henry G Bohn.

Schiller, G. (1971) Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. 1. London: Lund Humphries.