17TH CENTURY ITALIAN SCHOOL

17TH CENTURY ITALIAN SCHOOL
Ecclesia,
oil on panel
70 x 52 cm (27 1/2 x 20 1/2 in.)

LOT NOTES
In exegesis, the allegorical figure of Ecclesia symbolises the Church as the Bride of Christ. Though later juxtaposed with Synagoga, the Jewish Synagogue, early Christian depictions of Ecclesia are individual, as here. Calling for humility and penitence, the inscriptions in the doorway read, in Latin, astra peto (from the saying "natus humi post opus astra peto" meaning "after much work I rise to the stars") and e celis lapsa (roughly translated as "backsliding from heaven," as seen in various 17th century English texts.)