I'd like to ask whether "l'Orante" refers to the Holy Mary in orans position or generally to a female figure (in orans position) or to the Church.According to akominatos's translation "l'Orante" refers to Holy Mary: "The Soul is iconized through/represented by the Holy Mary Orans"
I think akominatos is right. Mary is the most often referred to as "L'Orante", even if some other women "orans" have been represented as well in these paintings or icons.
Well, I've been searching, and tried to refind texts that were illustratingthe pictureI posted under the original text, but it seems the internet is a bit moody this evening, so that all I got by clicking on some link has been the"Error 404 :
La pagina richiesta non è stata trovata". Address from the site where I could have found details ishttp://www.catacombe.roma.it/fr/symb.htm