We may say, in the words of Mr. Lundy, "what jewels are doing on the neck of this poor and lowly maid, it is not easy to say."[337:1] The crown is also foreign to early representations of the Madonna and Child, but not so to Devaki and Crishna,[337:2] and Isis and Horus. The coronation of the Virgin Mary is unknown to primitive Christian art, but is common in Pagan art.[337:3] "It may be well," says Mr. Lundy, "to compare some of the oldest Hindoo representations of the subject with the Romish, and see how complete the resemblance is;"[337:4] and Dr. Inman says that, "the head-dress, as put on the head of the Virgin Mary, is of Grecian, Egyptian, and Indian origin."[337:5]
The whole secret of the fact of these early representations of the Virgin Mary and Jesus—so-called—being black, crowned, and covered with jewels, is that they are of pre-Christian origin; they are Isis and Horus, and perhaps, in some cases, Devaki and Crishna, baptized anew.
The Egyptian "Queen of Heaven" was worshiped in Europe for centuries before and after the Christian Era.[337:6] Temples and statues were also erected in honor of Isis, one of which was at Bologna, in Italy.
Mr. King tells us that the Emperor Hadrian zealously strove to reanimate the forms of that old religion, whose spirit had long since passed away, and it was under his patronage that the creed of the Pharaohs blazed up for a moment with a bright but fictitious lustre.[337:7] To this period belongs a beautiful sard, in Mr. King's collection, representing Serapis[337:8] and Isis, with the legend: "Immaculate is Our Lady Isis."[337:9]
Mr. King further tells us that:
"The 'Black Virgins' so highly reverenced in certain French cathedrals during the long night of the middle ages, proved, when at last examined critically, basalt figures of Isis."[337:10]
And Mr. Bonwick says:
"We may be surprised that, as Europe has Black Madonnas, Egypt had Black images and pictures of Isis. At the same time it is a little odd that the Virgin Mary copies most honored should not only be Black, but have a decided Isis cast of feature."[338:1]
The shrine now known as that of the "Virgin in Amadon," in France, was formerly an old Black Venus.[338:2]
"To this we may add," (says Dr. Inman), "that at the Abbey of Einsiedelen, on Lake Zurich, the object of adoration is an old black doll, dressed in gold brocade, and glittering with jewels. She is called, apparently, the Virgin of the Swiss Mountains. My friend, Mr. Newton, also tells me that he saw, over a church door at Ivrea, in Italy, twenty-nine miles from Turin, the fresco of a Black Virgin and child, the former bearing a triple crown."[338:3]