Encyclopedia of Religion

IMAGES AND THE BODY

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION, SECOND EDITION

the individual and displayed at home, then used in the

preparation of the body after death. This close associa-

tion of image and body may have been incorporated into

Christian practice, which found an important place for

the relics of saints and martyrs. The fifteenth-century

bust of Saint Margaret of Antioch (j) recalls the early

fourth-century saint who defeated a dragon, which is seen

here lying docilely beneath her hand. She was martyred

during the reign of Diocletian, one of the last pagan

emperors of late antiquity. Now missing is the relic of the

saint that occupied the compartment in the figure’s chest.

Margaret’s dedication to assisting women in labor made

her popular in the Middle Ages and the infantile size of

the dragon may dramatize her power to soothe the pain

of childbirth.

Another martyred woman, Daphne, was portrayed

by the artist Kiki Smith in a way that recalls the torture

of Christian saints. According to Ovid, Daphne was

metamorphosed into a laurel tree in order to be delivered

from the amorous pursuit of Apollo. When she prayed

“change and destroy the body which has given too much

delight,” her human flesh changed to bark, limbs, and

(j) ABOVE. Nicolaus Gerhaert and workshop, Bust of Saint

Margaret of Antioch, c. 1465–1470, walnut. [Lucy Maud

Buckingham Medieval Collection, 1943.1001 overall; photograph

by Robert Hashimoto; reproduction, The Art Institute of

Chicago] (k) RIGHT. Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Apollo and

Daphne, 1624, marble. [©Scala/Art Resource, N.Y.]

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