Abstract

Semantic transformations of the image of the Virgin Mary in Christian painting Art and religion share the same issue, the issue of human inspiration, which has varied ways of expressing it. Religion has been from time immemorial emphasizing absolute eternity, as well as freedom, goodness, and morality. Man worked for that, and human philosophy confirmed that, no matter how different the aspects are, the truth is the same, even if it is limited in meaning.  .  Christ's plastic artists played an important role in painting and were a very important mediator in cultural communication between the West and the East. Religions are essentially cultures that belong to their owners intellectually, economically, and socially, and each religion has its own specificity and influence on other religions. The Christian faith and its influences spread throughout the various fields of European life in the Middle Ages and even  Our present day, including the areas of living, economic, political, literary, artistic and philosophical matters, and Christ and the Virgin Mary are the heart of the Christian faith, especially the Virgin Mary. I stopped at length at examples of the artists’ perceptions based on their thoughts at the time.
The current research dealt with the semantic transformations of the image of the Virgin Mary in Christian painting. The research included four chapters. The first chapter included the research methodology, and the second chapter included the theoretical framework, as it contained material related to the concept of significance and material related to Christian art and the Virgin Mary, as well as indicators specific to the theoretical framework. The third chapter included  Research procedures: The research population consisted of (80) works of art, and the eras were specified (the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, modernity, and post-modernism). The research sample was (5) works of art, and statistical methods were used: the Cooper and Scott equations.  The fourth chapter includes the results and conclusions.
    Among the results reached:
1-            Connotations in medieval paintings. The icon in the sample (1, 2) is religious connotations loaded with a sacred expression whose goal is to convey the message of the Virgin and her son, Christ. Symmetry, proportion, and harmony of simple colors, as well as closed and semi-closed space, simple lines, and lack of affectation in highlighting the size of the figures and their details, as well as the aura surrounding the lady.  The Virgin and the bleached yellow color...all of this worked in the service of highlighting the religious theme