Early Medieval Art

Unfortunately a news item on fake Coptic reliefs in the Art Newspaper should not surprise anyone. This disclosure comes in anticipation of an exhibition that will open February 2009 at the Brooklyn Museum on “Coptic Sculpture in the Brooklyn Museum”and for which you may only find an old description (on page 7).

I myself wrote an entry on a Coptic medallion with Thekla bound to Two Beasts from the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Missouri in the catalogue for the 2002-2003 exhibition Byzantine Women and Their World. The article dates the earliest suspicions to Gary Vikan in the 1970s, and at the time of the Byzantine Women exhibit, doubts likewise surrounded the authenticity of the Nelson-Atkins medallion. Most of the fakes entered American collections in the 1960s, and, from the accession number, 48-10, I can only assume that this medallion was acquired in 1948. My earliest scholarly reference to it, however, dates to 1962, so this assumption could be wrong.

Needless to say, I eagerly await determination of its authenticity (so that I can cross the entry off my CV!). I am more curious, however, about what reliefs remain and what they can tell us about Coptic art.

In my previous post, I explained how I would use VoiceThread to accompany the students’ preparation for class through closely looking at the Altar of Duke Ratchis.  It is rather clumsy, but so are most first attempts at something new, so please do not judge me too harshly.

Nevertheless, I will not neglect to post on the altar in my usual manner.

I can offer two of my own photos. First, you see the entire altar from the front,

and then the altar, including its fenestella, from the back:

The best images come from Europe of the Invasions, but the Honors Program at the University of Alabama, Birmingham has some almost usable images on a webpage devoted to the Lombard Renaissance.  The Italian Wikipedia has fuzzy images of the front and sides, but I cannot link to them directly.  You can find them in the entry on the altar by searching for “Altare del duca Rachis”.

I have translated, roughly, the inscription:

[M]AXIMA DONA XPI ADCLARIT SUB(L)EIMI CONCESSA PEMMONI UBIQUE D(E)I REFO/RMARENTUR UT TEMPLA NAM ET INTER RELIQUAS/DOMUM BEATI IOHANNIS ORNABIT PENDOLA TEGURO PULCHRO ALT/ARE DITABIT MARMORIS COLORE RATCHIS HIDEBORHOHLRIT

RATCHIS HIDEBOHOHLRIT MADE KNOWN THE GREATEST GIFTS OF CHRIST GIVEN TO THE EXALTED PEMMO [HIS FATHER] WHEREEVER THE TEMPLES OF GOD WERE RESTORED SO THAT, AMONG OTHERS, HE ORNAMENTED THE HOUSE OF BLESSED JOHN WITH OBJECTS HANGING FROM THE BEAUTIFUL CANOPY AND ENRICHED THE MARBLE ALTAR WITH COLOR.

The reference to Ratchis’s father, Pemmo, becomes more meaningful when one reads what Paul the Deacon has to say about him in his History of the Longobards, in book 6, chapters 26 and 51.

Please feel free to comment. Also, please be forgiving of my commentary. I am a bit shy and am trying not to feel too self-conscious. If I waited until it was perfect, I would never post this!

The Tempietto sul Clitunno stands as yet another early medieval monument whose dating remains imprecise. One could easily pass over this small church, especially as good color photos prove difficult to find, but I have my own images that I offer here, in combination with some that you may find on Flickr.

Flickr offers a nice view of the exterior. The refinement of the carving in the pediment will contrast with other Longobard sculpture that we will soon encounter, and the dedicatory inscription evokes an imperial past. For its translation see The Tempietto Del Clitunno Near Spoleto: Text and Illustrations by Judson Emerick.

The painting inside, however, captures my attention. Flickr has a broader shot of the east wall. In the apex of the wall,

two angels in medallions flank a gemmed cross, also in a medallion. My photo does not show the cross clearly, but a black-and-white photo in the second volume of Emerick’s monograph does.

Christ appears in the conch of the niche,

and on the side walls, Peter

and Paul.

In the Flickr photo of the entire niche wall, you may also see palm trees on the flanking walls.

This assembly of wall paintings lacks a personalizing element, as in the Chapel of Theodotus, thereby permitting a more general interpretation. The gemmed cross recalls the actual Visigothic votive crosses from the Guarrazar Treasure. The panels of Peter and Paul recall those in the Sancta Sanctorum, which I can only find here and here. And the palm trees actually have counterparts in the Chapel of Theodotus, if you can find photos of them! The paintings of course may then be related to the pediment carvings of the exterior. Emerick suggests multiple historical circumstances, and I am tempted to suggest yet another, but I think greater value derive from a discussion of how these images relate to one another and to images elsewhere, and what these observations reveal about the function of individual images relative to the space of the church and the function of the program as a whole, especially as it relates to Rome.

The Hypogeum of the Dunes outside of Poitiers especially captivated my students’ interest this spring, for the potency of its images and inscriptions.  Often neglected by English-language surveys (except of course, the English translation of the Arts of Mankind survey of Early Medieval Art, Europe of the Invasions, one must look farther afield for good material on this monument.  The Museums of Poitiers offer a useful website, and a website maintained by an archaeology student in France presents plans, photos, and inscriptions.

When presenting this monument, I followed the sequence determined by the monument.  We began with the steps leading down into the crypt.  You may find the plan from the Taschen Early Medieval Art Survey by Xavier Barral i Altet on Flickr.  The actual steps may have originally functioned as risers.  Ernst Kitzinger’s article on “Interlace and Icons” fits well as a follow-up reading, for it discusses these steps in terms of their apotropaic potential, which almost every aspect of the crypt reinforces.

We then examined the door frame and its extended inscription (scroll down).   

The inscription reads, in English:

In the name of God, I,

here, Mellebaude,

debtor/sinner and servant of Jesus Christ,

have created for myself thIS

little cave here where

my sepulcher

lies, unworthy,

which I did in the name

of the Lord Jesus Christ whom

I loved, in whom

I believed.  It is a

true dignity to confess that God

lived, whose

glory is GREAT,

 where peace, faith, and charity IS.

HE is God and man,

and God is in him. 

[added, in same hand]

If someone does not worship here the Lord JESUS

CHRIST and destroys this WORK,

may he be anathema – Maranatha –

Until Eternity.

Although only one of several intriguing inscriptions in the crypt, to go into each one would go well beyond the modest aims of this website.  I should mention, however, that one inscription, in particular, permits insight into the circumstances of the crypt’s dedication, destruction, and restoration.

In the second chamber, two plaques depict archangels and Evangelists.  They compare well with the Coffin of Saint Cuthbert.  The crypt also preserves an intriguing fragmentary relief of the two thieves from the Crucifixion. 

Although this monument requires a bit of effort, it rewards well that effort.

The cenotaph for the tomb of Abbesses Theodechilde, the first abbess of Jouarre, and that of the later abbess Agilberte (visible in the distance here) both date from sometime in the eighth century.  One could omit them from an upper-level survey, but they may merit passing reference.  The cenotaph of Agilberte bears an overall pattern reminiscent of a textile, and that of Theodechilde bears two rows of shells between an inscription presented in three rows.  This inscription refers to the parable of the wise and foolish Virgins in Matthew 25, which, in turn, relates this funerary monument to the Last Judgment.

Here are the inscription and a translation, for which I am only partially responsible (I began with a rough translation prepared by the boyfriend of one of my students, whose name I do not know):

HOC MEMBRA POST ULTIMA TEGUNTUR FATA SEPULCHRO BEATAE
THEODLECHELDIS INTEMERATAE VI[R]GINIS GENERE NOBILIS MERETIS
FULGENS STRINUA MORIBUS FLAGRAVIT IN DOGMATE [VERO?]
CENUBII HUIUS MATER SACRATAS DEO VIR[GINES]…
…[ACCIPIEN]TES OLEUM CUM LA[MP]ADIBUS PRUDENTE[S]…
…FILIAS OCCUR[RE]RE XPM HAEC DEMUM EX[S]ULTAT PARAD[ISUM]…

These limbs, after the last utterances, are covered in the tomb of blessed
Theodlechelde, a chaste maid, noble by birth, Illustrious
On account of her merits, vigorous in her habits, she was zealous in [true] doctrine
The mother of this monastery … the virgins sacred to God…
Wisely taking oil with their lamps…
… daughters to run to meet Christ.  At last she exults in paradise.

The mausoleum, and now crypt, of the Abbey of Saint Paul in Jouarre permits a plotting of three points along the transition from Merovingian to Carolingian art. 

The construction of the chamber itself offers compelling material for a discussion of reuse and imitation.  It has spoliated and original capitals and displays a sort of opus reticulatum on one wall.  But I focused in this class on the tombs.

We began with the sarcophagus of Agilbert.  Agilbert, bishop of Wessex and then of Paris, offers a point of communication between the Anglo-Saxons and the Merovingians, like the Merovingian coins in the Mound 1 at Sutton Hoo, and thereby demonstrates the interconnectedness of various regions and the potential for cross-cultural exchange.  

The death of Agilbert in the 680s establishes his sarcophagus as a product of the late seventh century.  The main, long side displays a Last Judgment.  Simply discerning the detail, such as the scroll in Christ’s left hand or the angels on either end, requires some time. 

We also read together the New Testament sources for the imagining of the Last Judgment, especially Matthew 25.

The short side displays a Christ in Majesty. We re-read here the visions of Ezekiel (1.10) and John (Revelation 4.7); reviewed the Evangelist symbols that we had already encountered in class- in the Chapel of San Venanzio, the Codex Amiatinus, and the Book of Durrow; and then examined the Ascension in the Rabbula Gospels.  With this tour, I wanted to make the point that context and function determine the meaning of these four beasts.  In a Gospel book, they signify the harmony of the four Gospels.  In a depiction of the Ascension, they refer to the Second Coming of Christ, through the words of the two men in white in the Book of Acts:  ”Ye men of Galilee, why stand you looking up to heaven? This Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come as you have seen him going into heaven” (1.11).  On the sarcophagus of Agilbert, adjacent to the Last Judgment and in a funerary context, the four beasts actually show Christ in Majesty at his Second Coming. 

The site of the Jouarre Office of Tourism has a promotional video with some nice footage of the crypt.  The website of the Abbey presents an account of its history.  For good images, however, one must turn to publications, and Europe of the Invasions offers the most complete set.

The pillar in the Church of San Salvador in Toledo defies certain dating, but scholars generally assign it to the Visigothic period.  Even before the Asturian carving promised in my previous post, we see a formal similarity between an early medieval Spanish stone relief and early Byzantine ivories. 

The pillar displays four scenes: the Healing of the Blind Man, the Raising of Lazarus, Christ and the Samaritan Women, and the Woman with the Issue of Blood. The simplicity of the compositions and their vertical arrangement recall the side panels on the front cover of the  Etschmiadzin Gospels (I can only find a blurry image of the back cover) and on the Murano Diptych.  The vertical format may also recall the scenes between the columns that flank Luke in the Corpus Christi Gospels (see earlier posting for the class on “Religious Imagery ca. 600″). 

The other three sides show vinescrolls and other vegetal ornament, but I have seen no images of them.

Discussion of the program of the pillar provides a useful exercise, but one without an obvious solution.  Also, when you look closely, you see that no faces remain, suggesting some sort of systematic destruction, perhaps by the aniconic conquerors who ended Visigothic dominion over the Iberian peninsula in 711. 

And here ends the class on the art of Visigothic Spain.

Complicated by restoration in the ninth or tenth century, dating proves especially tricky at Santa Maria Quintanilla de la Vinas.  Furthermore, a later re-building incorporated the original apse and transept, preserving only some of its captivating reliefs in situ. 

The exterior displays friezes (here and here) and monograms (here, here, and a third, of which I have not found an image).

The archway leading into the chancel area displays carving: on the left impost, Luna (of which I cannot find a sutiable image), and on the right impost, Sol, both in medallions held aloft by angels.  The upper frame of the Sol relief bears a dedicatory inscription:

OC EXIGUUM EXIGUA OFF[ERT] DO[MINA] FLAMMOLA VOTUM D[EI]

FLAMOMOLA, THE LEAST OF THE LEAST, MAKES THIS PROMISED OFFERING TO GOD.

***Update: Please refer to the comments for this post.  Steven Hijmans of the University of Alberta has suggestions for this translation:

“Take hoc exiguum votum together as the accusative with offert: (h)OC EXIGVVM EXIGVA OFF(ert) DO(mina) FLAMMOLA VOTUM D(eo) (This small vow/vowed gift the unworthy (exigua) lady Flammola offers to God).”***

The arch itself displays birds and clusters of grapes, appropriate for their eucharistic symbolism.  A flashback to imagery of birds and grapes could work well here.

The church also preserves several relieves not in situ: a figure flanked by angels; and a figure holding a cross-staff also flanked by angels and displayed with two figures holding books.

The fragmentation and displacement of these reliefs render the meaningful teaching and learning of this church a challenge.  A flashback to representations of the Crucifixion from the Holy Land could here help explain the representation of Sol and Luna framing the space of the Eucharist.  The upper panel of the Barberini Diptych (note the signs for the sun and the moon) offers a useful comparandum for the relief of the figure bearing the cross-staff, especially since early Byzantine diptychs will offer useful comparanda when we examine some Asturian reliefs. 

One Spanish sites has medium-size photos:  Iglesia de Santa Maria en Quintanilla de la Vinas (Burgos).  Turismo prerromanico offers some information for careful sifting.  The best images, however, come from publications.

Although the architectural structure was questionably reconstructed following a relocation, the carving within San Pedro de la Nave merits examination.  The friezes offer examples of Visigothic ornament, but, more remarkably, the church preserves medieval art’s earliest surviving historiated capitals, preceding by several centuries the development of this form in Romanesque cloisters and elsewhere.

Surmounting engaged columns at the crossing of the church, the four capitals display four different scenes.  Those farther from the sanctuary depict Old Testament scenes on their main faces: the Sacrifice of Isaac  to the southwest and Daniel in the Lions’ Pool to the northwest. 

Inscriptions charge the Old Testament scenes with liturgical meaning.  The titulus for Daniel in the Lions’  Pool reads:

UBI DANIEL MISSUS EST IN LAQUM LEONUM

WHERE DANIEL IS SENT INTO THE LIONS’ POOL

The curious location of the event in a pool rather than a cave reflects the skewing of the story to prefigure baptism.

The titulus for the Sacrifice of Isaac appears more straightforward:

UBI HABRAAM OBTULIT ISAAC FILIUM SUUM OLOCAUSTUM DNO

WHERE ABRAHAM OFFERED HIS SON AS A HOLOCAUST TO THE LORD

But the label of the altar, ALTARE, encourages its assimilation to the Christian altar.

Labeled standing apostles flank each scene on the narrower faces: Paul and Peter flank the Sacrifice of Isaac and Thomas and Philip flank Daniel in the Lions’ Pool.  The two capitals closer to the sanctuary both show birds eating grapes on their broad face: here the capital to the northeast, and here the one to the southeast.  The narrow sides show unidentified faces: northeast, and southeast.

Flickr serves Spanish sites particularly well.  It has excellent exterior and interior detail shots of San Pedro de la Nave.  Other carvings in the church include column bases with Evangelist symbols, but only line drawings can convey their details.