CONCEPTION BEFORE THE STORK

 Никола Бенин

Unknown French illuminator. Conjugal union. Mid-15th century. Illustration from Vita Christi, a compilation of texts by Jean Mansel. Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS-5206, Folio 174r.

This illuminated manuscript discusses the oldness of the human condition and the nobility of the creation of the soul. In this illumination, the moment of carnal conception is depicted as a homunculus dispatched by the Holy Trinity passes beneath a curtain sack headed for the womb of the woman. The "whoosh" of its passing is seen in the flame of the lit candle. The Holy Trinity is accompanied by a banner that states "Man is made in our image." The post-coital couple seems quite blissful. If this were set in the 20th century, they might have been portrayed smoking cigarettes.

The curtain sack was often found in depictions of the Annunciation where it represented the divine incarnation of Christ. The shape of the sack resembled a womb and also a curd sack where cheese was allowed to coagulate. This, in turn, was representative of the Aristotelian theory of embryogeny where blood in the womb that comes into contact with semen congeals to form the fetus.