Mediaeval sacred art pictured biblical scenes in contemporary local dress

Evidence

A characteristic feature of such representations is something misleadingly analogous to ‘modern dress’. The shepherds who have followed the star to the manger where Christ is born bear the features of Burgundian peasants. The Virgin Mary is figured as a Tuscan merchant’s daughter. In many paintings the commissioning patron, in full burgher or noble costume, appears kneeling in adoration alongside the shepherds. What seems incongruous today obviously appeared wholly natural to the eyes of mediaeval worshippers. — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 82

Categorization

• XREF: The contrast between mediaeval ‘modern dress’ and the museum’s ‘restoring spirit’ anticipates the staging of authenticity the Islamophobia field analyzes in Orientalist representation. — connects to: Biblical villains were costumed as Turks in Renaissance church imagery
• DEFINE: Illustrates the collapse of past/present that defines pre-modern simultaneity — foundational to the chapter’s core concept.

Related

• Medieval Christian art equated Jews and Muslims under shared imagery (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Biblical villains were costumed as Turks in Renaissance church imagery #exemplifies (0.95)