APOCALYPSE from the OTTHEINRICH BIBLE

State Library of Bavaria:

The manuscript commissioned by Louis VII around 1430 is the first surviving illustrated German translation of the New Testament. In the scrupulously written text, the writer left some space for the initials and miniatures, but finally only around one fifth of the manuscript was illuminated in the period of its origin. The miniatures of this earlier stage were painted by three different illustrators or workshops, which can be localised in Regensburg. It remains a mystery why the work on the illustration of the manuscript was stopped following sheet 62. A lack of funds does not seem to be the reason. Other works commissioned by Louis were not finished either, in particular his tomb, for which a draft was made by Hans Multscher that is kept in the Bavaria National Museum today. Even though still unfinished, the codex was bound still during the lifetime of its initiator. This is evidenced by his coats of arms which have survived on the lining paper of the binding reworked in Gotha during the 19th century. The Bible codex is most probably mentioned in the list of books which Louis took with him in 1446 to his incarceration in Burghausen.

After the decease of Louis, Henry of Landshut acquired his property, which was handed down via Henry's son Louis IX to George, the last male successor of the Landshut line of the Bavarian house of Wittelsbach. His attempt to bequeath the duchy to his son in law Rupert of Palatinate as his successor in Landshut resulted in the Landshut war of succession and the death of Rupert. For Rupert's sons Ottheinrich (1502 to 1559) and Philip the duchy of Palatinate-Neuburg was formed in 1505, and they also inherited the displaceable belongings, the so-called fahrende Habe, of the Landshut line from the castles of Landshut and Burghausen. In this manner, the manuscripts of Louis the Bearded came to be acquired by the young Count Palatine Ottheinrich, together with further books formerly owned by the Landshut dukes.

The manuscript thus became one of the first specimens in Ottheinrich's collection of books which grew enormously later on. In the year 1530 he commissioned the painter Mathis Gerung from Lauingen to complete the illustration of the Bible manuscript. This is evidenced not only by the above-mentioned coat of arms, but also by two contracts concerning this order, one dated 23 December 1530, the other 24 September 1531. The illumination was completed in the year 1532. Mathis Gerung complemented the 29 old miniatures by a total of 117 new ones within a period of two years... In the miniatures on the Apocalypse Gerung essentially kept to the series of woodcuts crafted by Dürer in 1498. The Ottheinrich Bible, the earliest work by Mathis Gerung commissioned by Ottheinrich, is generally regarded as his best accomplished work.

ST. THOMAS the APOSTLE



His life, according to James of Voragine.

His life, told in stained glass at Chartres Cathedral.

Sequence for the feast:

Congaudeant hodie
Filii Ecclesiae
Solemni laetitia:
Thomas doctor in die
Laudis et laetitiae
Nobis est materia.

Abanes praepositus
Circuit sollicitus,
Quaerens virum strenuum,
Qui Romano opere
Noverit exstruere
Domum arte manuum.
Tradit ei protinus
Servum suum Dominus,
Prudentem artificem:
Mox, ascensis navibus,
De rebus sublimibus
Conferunt ad invicem.

Regis intrant nuptias,
Sed epulas regias
Velut immunditias
Thomas obliviscitur:
Cibum habens alium,
Puellae praeconium,
In conspectu omnium
A pincema caeditur.

Quem lacerat,
Dum properat,
Ut de fonte aquam ferat,
Leo diris morsibus ;
Mox attulit
Quo pertulit
Manum canis et intulit
Ibi coram omnibus.

Auro sibi commendato
Pauperibus erogato,
Domus surgit regia:
Non est domus temporalis,
Sed est status immortalis
In coelesti patria.

Rex cogebat Apostolum
Ut adoraret idolum,
Et orando divinitus.
Est liquefactum penitus.

Currunt ergo pontifices
Et caeteri carnifices:
Gladio Thomas subditus.
Martyr dignus est habitus.

O Didyme, miles Christi,
Per eumdem quem vidisti,
Cujus latus tetigisti,
Prece posce sedula,
Ut, post cursum hujus vitae,
Nos in Christo vera vite
Maneamus laeti rite
Per aeterna saecula.

Deo laus et gloria.
Amen dicant omnia!

Englished by Digby S. Wrangham:

Let the Church's sons to-day
Hymns, that holy joy display,
With one voice rejoicing, raise:
Thomas, that great teacher, now
Is the theme on which we show
Forth our gladness and our praise!

Abanes the president
Once upon his travels went,
Seeking anxiously a man,
Who, in handicraft well-skilled,
Had the art wherewith to build
Houses on the Roman plan.
Then the Lord His servant brings
To him, as in all such things
A most skilful workman bred;
Soon embarking on shipboard,
They in converse upward soared
To the highest themes instead.

At a royal marriage-feast
Thomas, since to him at least
Such feasts are impure, as guest,
Wholly lost in thought doth seem:
Other food he hath, the praise
Which a damsel's accents raise,
So the butler, in full gaze
Of the feasters, smiteth him.

A lion dread, -
As this man sped
For water to the fountain-head, -
With its fangs his limbs doth tear;
Soon by a hound
The hand was found
Which he had used, and carried round
In the sight of all men there.

Though the gold to him commended
He upon the poor expended.
Upward doth a palace rise:
Not a palace transitory,
But a state of endless glory
In the land of Paradise.

The king would the Apostle bring
By force to idol-worshipping;
But, when he doth to heaven pray,
The idol wholly melts away.

Therefore the priests together run
With other torturers many a one,
And Thomas, brought beneath the blade,
A glorious Martyr thus is made.

Didymus, Christ's warrior plighted!
Through Him Who thy gaze requited,
And Whose side thy touch invited,
With unceasing prayer implore,
That, when this life's course is ended,
We, with Christ, the true Vine, blended,
To those joys may be commended
Fitly, which endure e'ermore!

Glory be to God and praise!
"Amen" let creation raise!

HEAVENLY JERUSALEM



Hymn by Marbodaeus:

HEAVENLY JERUSALEM



Hymn by Thomas à Kempis:

Jerusálem luminosa,
Verae pacis visio,
Felix nimis ac formosa,
Summi Regis mansio;
De te o quam gloriosa
Dicta sunt a saeculo!

Lapidibus expolitis
Structa tu mirifice
Gemmis, auro, claris vitris,
Decoraris undique;
Portae fulgent margaritis,
Plateae sunt aureae.

In te jugiter jocundum
Alleluia canitur;
Sollemne ac laetabundum
Semper festum agitur;
Totum sanctum, totum mundum,
In te quidquid cernitur.

In te nunquam nubilata
Aëris temperies;
Sole solis illustrata
Semper est meridies;
In te non nox fessis grata,
Nec labor nec inquies.

In te florida vernalis
Perdurat amoenitas;
Ferax semper aestivalis
Rutilat serenitas;
Autumnalis seu brumalis
Procul est frigiditas.

Quidquid libet, hîc dulcoris
Avium in cantibus,
Quidquid jubili canoris
Musicis in actibus,
In te plenum hoc saporis
Abundat diffusius.

In te robusta juventus
In aevum non deperit;
Senex seu morte praeventus
Neque est neque erit;
Sed neque futurum tempus;
Praesens nunquam praeterit.

Lex membrorum animalis
Erit plene mortus;
Nova caro spiritalis
Erit menti subdita;
Vivaque vis sensualis
Rationi consona.

In te vivus continetur
Fons bonorum omnium;
In quo plene possidetur,
Proprium as libitum,
Quidquid corpori videtur
Sive menti congruum.

In te durat longitudo
Sempiterni temporis,
Quae plena beatitudo
Reformati corporis;
In hoc par similitudo
Redemptis et Angelis.

O quam vere gloriosam
Eris, corpus fragile,
Cum fueris tam formosum,
Forte, sanum, agile,
Liberum, voluptuosum,
In aevum durabile!

Nunc libenter ac ferventer
Laborum fer onera,
Habeasut condecenter
Dona tam magnifica,
Diterisque luculenter
Gloriâ perpetuâ!
Amen.

Englished by John Mason Neale:

Light's abode, Celestial Salem,
Vision whence true peace doth spring,
Brighter than the heart can fancy,
Mansion of the highest King;
O how glorious are the praises
Which of thee the prophets sing!

Thou with beauteous stones, and polished
Wondrously art raised on high;
Thou with precious gems and crystal
Decorated gloriously:
And with pearls Thy portals glitter,
And with gold Thy high-ways vie.

There for ever and for ever
Alleluia is outpoured
For unending and unbroken
Is the feast day of the Lord;
All is pure and all is holy
That within thy walls is stored.

There no cloud nor passing vapor
Dims the brightness of the air;
Endless noonday, glorious noonday,
From the Sun of suns is there;
There no night brings rest from labor,
For unknown are toil and care.

There the everlasting spring-tide
Sheds its dewy, green repose;
There the summer, in its glory,
Cloudless and eternal glows;
For that Country never knoweth
Autumn's storms nor winter's snows.

Whatsoever trills of gladness
From the sweet birds' sweetest throat, -
Whatsoe'er delicious concord
Drops from music's tenderest note, -
Strains a thousand times more lovely
Round the heavenly City float.

Youth with all its freshest vigour
Into age there cannot wane,
There the old man shall not sorrow
For departed years again:
Nothing past, and nothing future, -
Time doth present still remain.

Animal and carnal passion
Nevermore can weary there;
That new flesh made spiritual
Then the spirit's yoke shall bear;
Sensual vigour, perfect reason,
Both one common law shall share.

O how blessed, O how quick'ning,
Is the Fount of all good things,
Whence each heart hath full possession
Of its best imaginings:
Whence hath body, whence hath spirit,
What their highest rapture brings!

Sempiternal is the glory
In the which that Land is viewed,
Where each ransomed form attaineth
Its complete beatitude;
Where the Elect and the Angels
Hold entire similitude.

O how glorious and resplendent,
Fragile body, shalt thou be,
When endued with so much beauty,
Full of health, and strong, and free,
Full of vigor, full of pleasure
That shall last eternally!

Now with gladness, now with courage,
Bear the burden on thee laid,
That hereafter these thy labors
May with endless gifts be paid:
And in everlasting glory
Thou with brightness be array'd!Amen. 

EXPECTATION of the BLESSED VIRGIN MARY



Dom Prosper Gueranger:

This feast, which is now kept not only throughout the whole of Spain but in many other parts of the Catholic world, owes its origin to the bishops of the tenth Council of Toledo, in 656. These prelates thought that there was an incongruity in the ancient practice of celebrating the feast of the Annunciation on the twenty-fifth of March, inasmuch as this joyful solemnity frequently occurs at the time when the Church is intent upon the Passion of our Lord, so that it is sometimes obliged to be transferred into Easter time, with which it is out of harmony for another reason; they therefore decreed that, henceforth, in the Church of Spain there should be kept, eight days before Christmas, a solemn feast with an octave, in honour of the Annunciation, and as a preparation for the great solemnity of our Lord's Nativity. In course of time, however, the Church of Spain saw the necessity of returning to the practice of the Church of Rome, and of those of the whole world, which solemnize the twenty-fifth of March as the day of our Lady's Annunciation and the Incarnation of the Son of God. But such had been, for ages, the devotion of the people for the feast of the eighteenth of December, that it was considered requisite to maintain some vestige of it. They discontinued, therefore, to celebrate the Annunciation on this day; but the faithful were requested to consider, with devotion, what must have been the sentiments of the holy Mother of God during the days immediately preceding her giving Him birth. A new feast was instituted, under the name of the Expectation of the blessed Virgin's delivery.

This feast, which sometimes goes under the name of Our Lady of O, or the feast of O, on account of the [antiphon] which begins O Virgo virginum [and because on that day the clerics in the choir after Vespers used to utter a loud and protracted O, to express the longing of the universe for the coming of the Redeemer], is kept with great devotion in Spain. A High Mass is sung at a very early hour each morning during the octave, at which all who are with child, whether rich or poor, consider it a duty to assist, that they may thus honour our Lady's Maternity, and beg her blessing upon themselves...

Most just indeed it is, O holy Mother of God, that we should unite in that ardent desire thou hadst to see Him, who had been concealed for nine months in thy chaste womb; to know the features of this Son of the heavenly Father, who is also thine; to come to that blissful hour of His birth, which will give glory to God in the highest, and, on earth, peace to men of good-will. Yes, dear Mother, the time is fast approaching, though not fast enough to satisfy thy desires and ours. Make us redouble our attention to the great mystery; complete our preparation by thy powerful prayers for us, that when the solemn hour has come, our Jesus may find no obstacle to His entrance into our hearts.

O Virgo virginum, quomodo fiet istud? quia noc primam similem visa es, nec habere sequentem. Filae Jerusalem, quid me admiramini? Divinum est mysterium hoc quod cernitis.

O Virgin of virgins! how shall this be? for never was there one like thee, nor will there ever be. Ye daughters of Jerusalem, why look ye wondering at me? What ye behold, is a divine mystery.

[The Liturgical Year]

HEAVENLY JERUSALEM



Hymn by Peter Abelard:

O quanta, qualia sunt illa sabbata
Quae semper celebrat superna curia.
Quae fessis requies, quae merces fortibus,
Cum erit omnia Deus in omnibus.

Vere Ierusalem est illa civitas,
Cuius pax iugis est, summa iucunditas,
Ubi non praevenit rem desiderium,
Nec desiderio minus est praemium.

Quis rex, quae curia, quale palatium,
Quae pax, quae requies, quod illud gaudium,
Huius participes exponant gloriam,
Si quantum sentiunt, possint exprimere.

Nostrum est interim mentem erigere
Et totis patriam votis appetere,
Et ad Ierusalem a Babylonia
Post longa regredi tandem exilia.

Illic molestiis finitis omnibus
Securi cantica Sion cantibimus,
Et iuges gratias de donis gratiae
Beata referet plebs tibi, Domine.

Illic ex sabbato succedet sabbatum,
Perpes laetitia sabbatizantium,
Nec ineffabiles cessabunt iubili,
Quos decantabimus et nos et angeli.

Perenni Domino perpes sit gloria,
Ex quo sunt, per quem sunt, in quo sunt omnia;
Ex quo sunt, Pater est; per quem sunt, Filius;
In quo sunt, Patris et Filii Spiritus.

Englished by John Mason Neale:

O what their joy and their glory must be,
Those endless Sabbaths the blessèd ones see;
Crown for the valiant, to weary ones, rest;
God shall be all, and in all ever blessed.

Truly, Jerusalem name we that shore,
City of peace that brings joy evermore;
Wish and fulfillment are not severed there,
Nor do things prayed for come short of the prayer.

What are the Monarch, His court, and His throne?
What are the peace and the joy that they own?
O that the blessed ones, who in it have share,
All that they feel could as fully declare!

There, where no troubles distraction can bring,
We the sweet anthems of Zion shall sing;
While for Thy grace, Lord, their voices of praise
Thy blessèd people eternally raise.

There dawns no Sabbath, no Sabbath is o’er,
Those Sabbath keepers have one evermore;
One and unending is that triumph song
Which to the angels and us shall belong.

Now, in the meanwhile, with hearts raised on high,
We for that country must yearn and must sigh;
Seeking Jerusalem, dear native land,
Through our long exile on Babylon’s strand.

Low before Him with our praises we fall,
Of Whom, and in Whom, and through Whom are all;
Of Whom, the Father; and in Whom, the Son,
Through Whom, the Spirit, with Them ever One.

LAST JUDGMENT ~ PETER HUYS

HEAVENLY JERUSALEM



Hymn by Peter Damian, adapted from a mediation by Augustine of Hippo:

Ad perennis vitae fontem mens sitivit arida,
Claustra carnis praesto frangi clausa quaerit anima,
Gliscit, ambit, eluctatur exul frui patria.

Dum pressuris ac aerumnis se gemit obnoxiam,
Quam amisit, dum deliquit, contemplatur gloriam;
Praesens malum urget boni perditi memoriam.

Nam quis promat summae pacis quanta sit laetitia,
Ubi vivis margaritis surgunt aedificia,
Auro celsa micant tecta, radiant triclinia?

Solis gemmis pretiosis haec structura nectitur;
Auro mundo, tanquam vitro, urbis via sternitur;
Abest limus, deest fimus, lues nulla cernitur.

Hiems horrens, aestas torrens, illic nunquam saeviunt;
Flos perpetuus rosarum, ver agit perpetuum;
Candent lilia, rubescit crocus, sudat balsamum.

Virent prata, vernant sata, rivi mellis influunt;
Pigmentorum spirat odor, liquor est aromatum;
Pendent poma floridorum non lapsura nemorum.

Non alternat luna vices, sol, vel cursus siderum;
Agnus est felicis urbis lumen inocciduum;
Nox et tempus desunt ei, diem fert continuum.

Nam et sancti quisque velut sol praeclarus rutilant;
Post triumphum coronati mutuo conjubilant,
Et prostrati pugnas hostis jam securi memorant.

Omni labe defaecati, carnis bella nesciunt;
Caro facta spiritalis et mens unum sentiunt;
Pace multa perfruentes, scandalum non perferunt.

Mutabilibus exuti, repetunt originem,
Et praesentis Veritatis contemplantur speciem;
Hinc vitalem vivi fontis hauriunt dulcedinem.

Inde statum semper iidem existendi capiunt,
Clari, vividi, jucundi, nullis patent casibus:
Absunt morbi semper sanis, senectus juvenibus.

Hinc perenne tenent esse, nam transire transiit;
Inde virent, vigent, florent; corruptela corruit;
Immortalis vigor aurae mortis jus absorbuit.

Qui scientem cuncta sciunt, quid nescire nequeunt:
Nam et pectoris arcana penetrant alterutrum,
Unum volunt, unum nolunt, unitas est mentium.

Licet cuique sit diversum pro labore meritum,
Caritas hoc facit suum quod amat in altero:
Proprium sic singulonmi fit commune omnium.

Ubi corpus, illic jure congregantur aquilse,
Quo cum angelis et sanctae recreantur animae;
Uno pane vivunt cives utriusque patriae.

Avidi et semper pleni, quod habent desiderant,
Non satietas fastidit, neque fames cruciat:
Inhiantes semper edunt, et edentes inhiant.

Novas semper melodias vox meloda concrepat,
Et in jubilum prolata mulcent aures organa,
Digna per quem sunt victores, Regi dant praaconia.

Felix caeli quae praesentem Regem cernit anima,
Et sub sede spectat alta orbis volvi machinam,
Solem, lunam, et globosa cum planetis sidera.

Christe, pahna bellatorum, hoc in municipium
Introduc me post solutum mihtare cingulum,
Fac consortem donativi beatorum civium:

Praebe vires inexhausto laboranti praelio,
Nec quietem post procinctum deneges emerito,
Teque merear potiri sine fine praemio.

Englished loosely by FBP in the late 16th century:

Jerusalem, my happy home,
When shall I come to thee?
When shall my sorrows have an end?
Thy joys when shall I see?

O happy harbor of the saints!
O sweet and pleasant soil!
In thee no sorrow may be found,
No grief, no care, no toil.

In thee no sickness may be seen,
No hurt, no ache, no sore;
There is no death nor ugly devil,
There is life for evermore.

No dampish mist is seen in thee,
No cold nor darksome night;
There every soul shines as the sun;
For God himself gives light.

There lust and lucre cannot dwell;
There envy bears no sway;
There is no hunger, heat, nor cold,
But pleasure every way.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
God grant that I may see
Thine endless joy, and of the same
Partaker ay may be!

Thy walls are made of precious stones,
Thy bulwarks diamonds square;
Thy gates are of right orient pearl;
Exceeding rich and rare;

Thy turrets and thy pinnacles
With carbuncles do shine;
Thy very streets are paved with gold,
Surpassing clear and fine;

Thy houses are of ivory,
Thy windows crystal clear;
Thy tiles are made of beaten gold —
O God that I were there!

Within thy gates nothing doth come
That is not passing clean,
No spider’s web, no dirt, no dust,
No filth may there be seen.

Aye, my sweet home, Jerusalem,
Would God I were in thee:
Would God my woes were at an end,
Thy joys that I might see.

Thy saints are crowned with glory great;
They see God face to face;
They triumph still, they still rejoice
Most happy is their case.

We that are here in banishment
Continually do mourn:
We sigh and sob, we weep and wail,
Perpetually we groan.

Our sweet is mixed with bitter gall,
Our pleasure is but pain:
Our joys scarce last the looking on,
Our sorrows still remain.

But there they live in such delight,
Such pleasure and such play,
As that to them a thousand years
Doth seem as yesterday.

Thy vineyards and thy orchards are
Most beautiful and fair,
Full furnished with trees and fruits,
Most wonderful and rare.

Thy gardens and thy gallant walks
Continually are green:
There grow such sweet and pleasant flowers
As nowhere else are seen.

There is nectar and ambrosia made,
There is musk and civet sweet;
There many a fair and dainty drug
Is trodden under feet.

There cinnamon, there sugar grows,
Here nard and balm abound.
What tongue can tell or heart conceive
The joys that there are found?

Quite through the streets with silver sound
The flood of life doth flow,
Upon whose banks on every side
The wood of life doth grow.

There trees for evermore bear fruit,
And evermore do spring;
There evermore the angels be,
And evermore do sing.

There David stands with harp in hand
As master of the choir:
Ten thousand times that man were blessed
That might this music hear.

Our Lady sings Magnificat
With tune surpassing sweet,
And all the virgins bear their part,
Sitting at her feet.

There Magdalen hath left her moan,
And cheerfully doth sing
With blessèd saints, whose harmony
In every street doth ring.

Jerusalem, my happy home,
Would God I were in thee!
Would God my woes were at an end
Thy joys that I might see!

ST. LUCY



Her life, according to James of Voragine.

LAST JUDGMENT ~ BERN MINSTER

HEIDELBERG SCIVIAS

Selected pages from the Heidelberg manuscript of St. Hildegard of Bingen's Scivias:

HORROR VACUI



The invention of linear perspective, credited to Filippo Brunelleschi and the artists of the Florentine Renaissance, has long been presented as one of the great accomplishments of western art. According to the conventional wisdom, this discovery marks the beginning of a mature art of painting, an art of painting that shows things as they really are, as opposed to the primitive traditions that had lasted through the Middle Ages.

We are so used to linear perspective that we unthinkingly identify it with realism; to modern eyes, a "realistic" painting is one painted in linear perspective. Some may argue that the resemblance of such a painting to a photograph is proof of its realism. But this begs the question; had we not already been accustomed to consider perspectival painting the standard of realism, we might never have accepted photography as realistic either. I can imagine an ancient Egyptian sage inventing the camera, and upon discovering that it did not always show the human figure in profile concluding that it did not work very well.

A perspectival painting is, in many ways, not realistic at all. Some of these ways are obvious. The subjects do not move. Neither can the person looking at the painting move, or the failure of objects within the painting to move in relation to each other will reveal its artifice. The frame, usually rectangular, is unlike the actual periphery of our vision. And a perspectival painting is the view of a Cyclops; images do not double into two transparent parts when the two eyes focus on something nearer or farther away. Nor do they blur or sharpen dramatically; in reality, an object inches from the eyes and an object ten feet away cannot be seen in detail at the same time. A perspectival painting accurately presents what a man will see if he looks through a frame, with one eye closed, not moving, at something that does not move and that is far enough away for his eyes to focus on it in its entirety. Not surprisingly, the trick box that Filippo Brunelleschi invented to demonstrate his discovery of the technique created all of these conditions!



But there are more important ways in which a perspectival painting is unrealistic; it presents things as they are seen to be, rather than as they are known to be. It does not accommodate the vision of the mind's eye. Children draw in the same manner as cultures that have not adopted perspective in their art; they draw what is important. If they know of something present on the other side of a wall, or beyond the scope of their vision, they will draw it anyway if it is necessary to what they seek to communicate on paper. And its relative importance to that message will determine its size and placement in the drawing. This is the natural manner of composition in human artistry, whereas perspective is something that must be learned.

In the mediaeval mind, hierarchy, rhythm and number are the fundamental laws of the universe. Art was painted and drawn and woven in the same manner that literature was written and the natural world was observed; symbolism was the animating principle. The literal is only one of four senses of reality; the allegorical, tropological and anagogical senses are equally real, and equally necessary to depict.

In a mediaeval painting of the Last Judgment, Christ is flanked by the Blessed Virgin and the Baptist; apostles and martyrs surround them, pleading the cause of mankind. Angels carry the instruments of the Passion; personifications or symbols of Justice and Mercy may be present. The dead rise from their tombs; St. Michael weighs them in a scale; demons drag some of them to the gaping mouth of Hell; angels lead some of them to the gate of Heaven.

The selection and arrangement of these elements must be theologically correct; Christ must be in the center, the blessed on His right, the damned on His left, the saints in proper order according to their dignity. Fitting such a composition into the "realistic" space of linear perspective, where all bodies are the same size and all lines converge to points on the horizon, is nearly impossible. Not even the genius of Jan van Eyck could manage it without cheating.



Mediaeval art communicated not only through symbolism, but also through narrative. It told stories from the Holy Scriptures, from the lives of the saints, from secular history and from everyday life. The narrative art of this time in tapestry, glass and large-scale painting must be distinguished in an important way from manuscript illumination, and from modern illustration. An illustration is a picture that supports a text; a man reads what he should see, and looks at the picture already able to identify the characters and the place and the situation. But a mediaeval mural has no supporting text; or if it does, the artist cannot rely on it to explain the content of the picture because most people seeing it are unlettered.

This really is significant; such a work of art does not support a story; it is the story. It needs to tell the entire thing by itself. Enough of the time and of the place, of the characters and their motives and their doings must be shown for a man to understand the narrative just by looking at the picture. This demands that a great many details be visible; every figure acts or reacts, every important prop is shown. Such a work of art will not resemble a photograph, but it is no less truthful; were a mediaeval man handed a photograph, capturing a single viewpoint at a single moment, he would probably scratch his head and wonder what was supposed to be happening in the story.

A great amount of information must to be included in a mediaeval picture to communicate the intended symbolism or narrative. Perspective is actually an hindrance to this. In perspectival space, most activity occurs within a squat region between ground level and six feet above ground level. The result is that the figures are all standing in front of each other. Mediaeval artists often lifted the plane of the earth, so that figures in the background are seen above figures in the foreground, not completely blocked by them.



This art fills all of its given space, wasting none of it on empty sky. The art critical term for this is horror vacui, the fear of the void. It is a nearly universal artistic conviction; only in the far east and in modern times have artists valued blank space. Only Buddhists and Nihilists are interested in nothingness.

The challenge of empty sky especially affects ecclesiastical art. Verticality is one of the defining traits of an architecture consecrated to divine worship; it is most exaggerated in a Gothic church. The altars, the columns, the stained glass windows and the wall spaces between them are tall and narrow; they do not welcome linear perspective, because it would assign most of their space to empty sky.

Later artists who did use linear perspective were faced with this same challenge; their churches were not as pointed as the 13th century cathedral, but they were still taller than wide. They did not answer the challenge very well; the Renaissance artists filled the sky with towering classical ruins and the Baroque artists filled it with clouds and cherubs. Such unimaginative filler has been clogging sacred art for centuries.

For more than five hundred years, the art of the Middle Ages has been slandered as primitive and unrealistic. Art historians have disdained mediaeval artists for not developing linear perspective. But there is a good reason why they did not develop linear perspective; they had no need for it. The two most important purposes of their art - symbolism and narrative - were more easily fulfilled without it. It simply was not a very smart way to paint or draw or weave.

De LAUDIBUS SANCTAE CRUCIS



Benedict XVI:

The first theological commitment of [Rabanus Maurus] is expressed, in fact, in the form of poetry and had as a theme the mystery of the holy cross in a work titled, De Laudibus Sanctae Crucis, conceived to propose not only conceptual content, but also exquisitely artistic motivations using both the poetic form and the pictorial form within the same manuscript codex. Iconographically proposing between the lines of his writing the image of the crucified Christ, he writes: This is the image of the Savior who, with the position of his members, makes sacred for us the most sweet and dear form of the cross so that, believing in his name and obeying his commandments, we might obtain eternal life thanks to his passion. Because of this, each time that we raise our eyes to the cross, we remember him who suffered for us to sever us from the power of darkness, accepting death to make us heirs of eternal life.

This method of harmonizing all the arts, the intelligence, the heart and the sentiment, which came from the East, would be highly developed in the West, reaching unreachable heights in the miniate codices of the Bible and in other works of faith and of art, which flourished in Europe until the invention of the press and even afterward. In any case, it shows that Rabanus Maurus had an extraordinary awareness of the need to involve in the experience of faith, not only the mind and the heart, but also the sentiments through these other elements of aesthetic taste and the human sensitivity that brings man to enjoy truth with all of his being, spirit, soul and body. This is important: The faith is not only thought; it touches the whole being. Given that God made man with flesh and blood and entered into the tangible world, we have to try to encounter God with all the dimensions of our being. In this way, the reality of God, through faith, penetrates in our being and transforms it.

PARIS PSALTER























More images from the Paris Psalter, a rare surviving example of pure Hellenistic iconography. A previous post.

TRUE PRINCIPLES of POINTED ARCHITECTURE

ST. NICHOLAS



His life, according to James of Voragine.

His life, told in stained glass at Chartres Cathedral.

Sequence by Adam of St. Victor:

Con gaudentes exultemus vocali concordia
Ad beati Nicolai festiva solemnia;

Qui in cunis adhuc jacens servando jejunia
A papillis coepit summa promereri gaudia.

Adolescens amplexatur literarum studia,
Alienus et immubis ab omni lascivia.

Felix confessor,
Cujus fuit dignitatis vox de coelo nuntia!
Per quam provectus,
Praesulatûs sublimatur ad summa fastigia.

Erat in ejus animo pietas eximia,
Et oppressis impendebat multa beneficia.

Auro per eum virginum tollitur infamia,
Atque patris earundem levatur inopia.

Quidam nautae navigantes,
Et contra fluctuum saevitiam luctantes,
Navi pene dissoluta,
Jam de vita desperantes,
In tanto positi periculo, clamantes
Voces dicunt omnes una:

"O beate Nicolae,
Nos ad maris portum trahe
De mortis angustia.
Trahe nos ad portum maris,
Tu qui tot auxiliaris
Pietatis gratia."

Dum clamarent, nec incassum,
"Ecce!" quidam dicit, "assum
Ad vestra praesidia."
Statim aura datur grata
Et tempestas fit sedata:
Quieverunt maria.

Nos, qui sumus in hoc mundo,
Vitiorum in profundo
Jam passi naufragia,
Gloriose Nicolae,
Ad salus portum trahe,
Ubi pax et gloria.

Ex ipsius tumba manat
Unctionis copia,
Quae infirmos omnes sanat
Per ejus suffragia.

Ipsam nobis unctionem
Impetres ad Dominum,
Prece pia,
Quae sanavit laesionem
Multorum peccaminum
In Maria.

Hujus festum celebrantes gaudeant per saecula,
Et coronet eos Christus post vitae curricula!
Amen dicant omnia!
Englished by Digby S. Wrangham:

Let us all exult together, as with one united voice
We upon his solemn feast-day in St. Nicholas rejoice;

Who, whilst in his cradle lying, by observing duly fast,
Heavenly joys began to merit even at his mother's breast.

In his youth he chooses letters, that his study they may be,
To all evil lust a stranger, from all sinful passions free.

This blest confessor,
Whom, as worthy of the office, 'twas a voice from heaven praised,
Thereby exalted,
Amongst bishops to the very highest rank is forthwith raised.

There was too in his character benevolence exceeding,
And many a bounty he bestowed, the tale of sorrow heeding.

With gold he saved some maidens, who had else vile lives been leading,
Relieving all their father's want, when help most sorely needing.

Certain sailors once, when sailing,
And fighting 'gainst fierce waves with struggles unavailing,
Shipwrecked nigh through stress of weather;
Hope of life already failing,
Amid such dangers set, aloud their fate bewailing,
Lift their voices altogether:

"Blessed Nicholas! O steer us
From the straits of death so near us
To the haven of safe sea!
To that harbour in the distance
Draw us, who dost grant assistance
Through the grace of charity!"

"Lo!" - while thus they cried, nor vainly, -
"I am here!" a voice said plainly,
"To watch o'er you and to aid!"
Instantly blow favouring breezes,
Instantly the tempest ceases,
And to rest the sea is laid.

We, now in this world abiding,
Have been wrecked, as we were riding
O'er the deep abyss of vice:
Draw us, Nicholas most glorious!
To the home of peace victorious,
To the port of Paradise!

From his tomb, to heal diseases,
Oil abundant floweth forth,
Which the sick from pain releases
Through his prayers' availing worth.

May we of the self-same ointment
Through thy pious prayer to God
Gain possession,
Which did by the Lord's appointment
Heal the wounds of Mary's load
Of transgression!

Let them joy throughout all ages, who observe this holy day,
And, when this life's course is ended, crowned in heaven by Christ be they!
Amen! let all creatures say!

ST. GALGANO



St. Galgano was a 12th century knight who renounced his dissolute ways and became a hermit after seeing the archangel Michael. To signify his conversion, he plunged his sword into a rock, which received it like butter would. The cruciform hilt became the cross that he venerated in his hermitage.

Later, Cistercian monks built a monastery on the site. It has since been reduced to ruins, but the sword in the stone remains.

ST. BARBARA



Her life, according to James of Voragine.

THREE DRAWINGS by OPICINUS de CANISTRIS

Metropolitan Museum of Art:

Ordained as a priest and trained in the arts of book illumination and cartography, Opicinus de Canistris served as a scribe in the Papal Curia in Avignon. In 1334, he suffered from a stroke-like illness that rendered his right arm nearly useless, but he still managed to draw. His illness, he felt, had brought him a vision from God, and thereafter he worked obsessively to develop and convey his unique understanding of the divine order through pictures. His labors yielded, among other works, a portfolio of fifty-two drawings on twenty-seven pieces of unbound parchment. Almost all of these strange and evocative works use complicated diagrammatic frames, medieval maps - both mappaemundi and portolan charts - and allegorized representations of the human figure to reveal the relationship between abstract cosmology and the human world. As a whole, they represent an extraordinary instance of drawing used in the Middle Ages as a medium of intensely personal self-expression, albeit one in service to the divine.

A previous post on Opicinus.

AQUAMANILES

Kes Smith:

An aquamanile is a vessel from which water is poured. In the ninth century, these elaborately worked jugs appear in church records. They were used to pour water over the hands of the priest to be caught in a basin below [i.e. at the Lavabo at Mass]. Most were of a heavy cast construction and were designed to stay in place while a spigot or tap was used to pour. They grew in popularity and the designs became more and more elegant, and often delightfully fanciful.

Most commonly cast in bronze, aquamaniles were also occasionally made from silver, or gilt copper. These vessels often depicted animals, fabled characters or Biblical scenes.

The aquamaniles pictured below are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; the Musuem of Fine Arts in Boston; the Cleveland Art Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.



















More here.