石头上的《启示录》——澳门天主之母堂前壁立面图像研究

The Book of Revelation in Stone:A Study of the Facade of Madre de Deus Church,Macao

本文尝试从'图像/视觉释经'角度重新探讨俗称'大三巴牌坊'的澳门天主之母堂前壁立面系列图像的历史内涵。笔者认为,该立面承载了一个完整的符号系统,它作为一个图像文本,在整体上与《启示录》文本之间存在着互文关系,是《启示录》接受史中的重要一环。其设计者耶稣会士史比诺拉神父受到利玛窦于北京'图像传教'之成果启发,利用《启示录》文本自身就具有的视觉张力和'共时性'解读空间,在当时天主教传统图像学的基础上,通过创新的大胆设计,而将《启示录》的世界呈现在17世纪以中国文化为中心的东亚文化空间中,借着图像符号的系统营造了一个具有天启色彩的世界,向17世纪正经历严峻考验的东亚各地教会发言,既表达了对艰险现实的理解,也肯定了对前途的信心,呼吁信众坚忍于现状、持守信仰。

This paper employs the approach of iconographic exegesis to explore the historical connotations of the images on the fa?ade of Madre de Deus Church in Macao.The author posits that the images on the fa?ade contain an integrated symbolic system which acts as a graphical text with an intertextual relationship with the Book of Revelation in the canon of the New Testament.Jesuit Father Carlo Spinola,the author of the fa?ade,was inspired by Mattheo Ricci’s successful'evangelization through the arts,'and tried to present the world of Revelation in a seventeenth-century East Asian cultural sphere,creating an apocalyptic world through a system of symbolic images on the basis of contemporary Catholic iconography.The images on the fa?ade communicate to the church Spinola’s vision of the severe testing of missionaries at the time and affirm a trust for the future,exhorting people to hold fast to their faith.