• Magnificat.com, June 2013-06-2013
The Eucharistic Trinity
The works of Andrea della Robbia (Florence, 1435-1525) are consistently composed around three key elements: a setting, often adorned with flowers, that highlights the liturgical dimension of the subject; a uniform background of deep blue, created with pigments of precious lapis lazuli, representing heaven; and figures in resplendent white, that is, chosen ones who are the blessed actors in a sacred story. Here, however, the celestial blue background is draped by a curtain that stretches open to reveal the gray, cloud-swept sky of earth. And within this sky, as if in response to an epiclesis, the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove. The point of view in this scene, therefore, is completely reversed vis-à-vis all of della Robbia’s other works, where the visible universe (the standpoint of the faithful) contemplates the invisible universe (where the divine promises to the faithful are fulfilled). This work is unique, for it invites us to gaze upon the Eucharistic species through the eyes of the Father.
What does the Father see? For the first time since the creation of the world, he sees a man who has accomplished his will on earth as it is in heaven—a man who has thus become, by the power of the Holy Spirit, a living sacrifice of praise to his glory. On the threshold of heaven, the Father sees the Son, true man in Flesh and Blood, delivered into the hands of death for us. Through him the Father sees humanity ransomed and saved. With him he sees Adam cross through death, his eternal destiny restored. In him he sees the New Adam create the new man, the man-for-others: Eucharistic man. In this bread and wine that angels adore, and that we are invited to share—to eat and to drink—the Father sees the extent of the gift he made of his beloved Son, so that we might enter into communion with God forever.
Pierre-Marie Dumont
Eucharistic tabernacle, workshop of Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525), glazed terracotta, Cité de la céramique de Sèvres, France. © RMN-Grand Palais (Sèvres, Cité de la céramique) / Martine Beck-Coppola.
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