MANDORLA. — A particular type of nimbus of ellipsoidal shape that surrounds the figure, isolating it from others and thereby conferring upon it a character of higher dignity.
The earliest example — also iconographically isolated — is found in the mosaic with Abraham and the three angels in the biblical cycle of the nave of S. Maria Maggiore (5th century), indicating the greater sanctity of the central angel in whom the figure of Christ is adumbrated. In the pallet of S. Martino at Cividale (8th century), the Christ in glory is borne by angels within a garland; in the mosaic above the apse of SS. Nereo and Achilleo, and in that of S. Maria in Domnica, Christ dominates in isolation among the Apostles (both from the 9th century).
The typical iconography of Christ within a mandorla among the symbols of the Evangelists, which is defined in 9th-century miniatures (Evangelario di Lotario in the Bibliothèque nationale de Paris), will enjoy particular diffusion in the Romanesque and Gothic periods, not only in the bindings and miniatures of Gospels, but also in the sculpture of portals (portale dei re of Chartres, 12th century), in fabrics, in pallets (silver pallets of Città di Castello and of the cathedral of Komburg in Germany, 12th century; wooden or painted pallets in the Museum of Barcelona), in frescoes (oratorio of Mocchiolo, now in the Brera, 14th century), in paci (peace of the comune of Siena, 13th century). To this type is connected that, much less frequent, of Christ among the symbols of Earth and Ocean, found in a miniature of a Sacramentary in the Bibliothèque nationale de Paris and in the binding of the Evangelary carved by the monk Tuotila of the abbey of S. Gallo, both from the 9th century.
Other representations in which the mandorla is used include those of the Apocalypse (fresco of S. Pietro di Civate, 12th century); that of the Ascension, found not only in miniatures and ivories but also in bas-reliefs of portals (northern portal of S. Stefano of Cahors, late 12th century); of the Dormition of the Virgin (Cavallini Museum in S. Maria in Trastevere); of the Holy Trinity (miniature of the Statutes de l'Ordre du St Esprit in the Bibliothèque nationale de Paris, 14th century). The representation of the Descent into Limbo is rarer, since this attribute is suited to depictions of hieratic majesty rather than scenes of movement: the fresco in the lower church of S. Clemente (10th century) indeed provides an exceptional example of an inclined mandorla following the motion of the figure.
Very frequently, from the 12th to the 14th century, the Christ of the Last Judgment is represented within a mandorla, in the sculpture of portals and facades of churches (Ste Foy of Conques, S. Lazzaro of Autun, 12th century; Ferrara Cathedral, 13th century; Orvieto Cathedral, 14th century), in music (Torcello Cathedral), and in frescoes, among which that of the Camposanto of Pisa is particularly noteworthy for depicting in two distinct mandorlas the judging Christ and the interceding Virgin.
The mandorla becomes a frequent attribute of the Virgin in the 14th century, not only in the scene of the Assumption, repeated in miniatures, paintings, and bas-reliefs (Notre-Dame of Paris; tabernacle of Orcagna in Orsanmichele), but also in other representations: the mandorla surrounding the Virgin in the act of giving the girdle to St. Thomas gives its name to the beautiful door on the flank of S. Maria del Fiore.
In the 15th century, the mandorla is sometimes not delineated but indicated by garlands of angels (Coronation of the Virgin by Leonardo da Besozzo in S. Giovanni a Carbonara in Naples; Assumption by Masolino in the Museum of Naples). At the end of the century it is still used by painters of central Italy, particularly by Francia, Perugino, and generally by the Umbrian school; in the 16th century it appears in the lost S. Nicola di Tolentino and in the banner of Città di Castello by the young Raphael.
In addition to the examples cited, all referring to representations of Christ, the Eternal, and the Virgin, rare representations of entirely exceptional iconography in which the mandorla is attributed to saints and prophets should be noted: the miniatures with the Evangelists in the Evangeliaries of the cathedral of Bamberg, 10th century (Library of Munich); the miniature with Abraham receiving the souls borne by angels, in the Kaledarium necrologicum of Ratisbon, 12th century (Archives of Munich); the 12th-century pallet of the Museum of Barcelona, in which St. Julitta with the child Quiricus in her arms is depicted within a mandorla; the casket of the Museum of Limoges, which bears on its front, within three equal mandorlas, the Virgin, the Redeemer, and St. Peter.