Dall’imago clipeata alla Theotokos Platytera Fenomeni di contaminazione e sublimazione nell'iconografia mariana dei primi secoli

The particular iconographic theme of the Theotokos Platytera is manifested as an iconic representation in which the infant Christ is always inserted inside a clipeo – a disc with a circular shape or an ellipsoidal almond – that she holds up as if it were a portrait on the shield to impose on the veneration of the bystanders. Although the meaning underlying the use of clipeo is original and entirely in line with the contemporaries written of the most important ancient Christian authors, its use is presented as the reuse of a much older portrait typology and reinterpreted over the centuries, that is the imago clipeata which is conferred a multiple semantic value. The way in which the Virgin supports the imago Christi in the oldest attestations is configured as a transmigration of gestures and meanings borrowed from previous female clipeophores representations, thus giving life to 'hybrid' visual constructions extraordinarily rich in variations. The images of the Platytera are similar, in terms of iconography and meaning, to the type of the Victoria in clipeo scribens and rarest images of Aphrodite hoplismene. The analysis and iconographic comparison of the most ancient figurative testimonies highlight numerous conceptual links that demonstrate the persistence and continuity of the symbolic value attributed to the presence of the clipeo which gave rise to new visual formulas in Christian art recombined with familiar elements.