The Fruit of Devotion : Mysticism and the Imagery of Love in Flem

Against the background of the wide-spread "love" spirituality during the late Middle Ages, this work takes as its central theme the "taste" metaphor appearing in paintings featuring the Virgin and Child, belonging to the genre of the "Andachtsbild".The first chapter describes the use of fruit and flower imagery as stimulants for the Christ Child. The author traces the origin of this motif and explains how the consumption of fruit and the fragance of flowers point to symbolic connotations of love, virtuousness and the suffering of Christ.While the second chapter focuses on late medieval devotional tracts based on the same iconographic tradition of the spiritual "garden of love" as its main metaphor, the third chapter deals with the role of "taste" metaphor in late medieval religious experience in general. Special attention is paid to eucharistic and non-eucharistic or meditational prayers in breviaries.In the final chapter the author gives an iconological interpretation of the "taste" metaphor in a range of contemporary Virgin and Child "Andachtsbilder", explaining that the fragrance and flavour imagery is intended to induce the viewer, through meditation on the image, to follow and identify with Christ (imitatio Christi leading to unio mystica).