art history chapter 15,16,17

Location: Galicia, Spain Date: 1078-1122 Material: N/A Notes:One major goal of pilgrimage was the CATHEDRAL OF ST. JAMES in Santiago de Compostela (FIG. 16-4), which held the body of St. James, the apostle to the Iberian peninsula. Builders of this and several other major churches along the roads leading through France to the shrine developed a distinctive plan designed to accommo- date the crowds of pilgrims and allow them to move easily from chapel to chapel to venerate relics. This "pilgrimage plan" is a model of functional planning and traffic control. To the aisled nave the builders added aisled transepts with eastern chapels leading to an ambulatory (curving walk- way) with additional radiating chapels around the apse. This expansion of the basilican plan allowed worshipers to circulate freely around the church's perimeter, visiting chapels and venerating relics without disrupting services within the main space. At Santiago, pilgrims entered the church through large double doors at the ends of the transepts rather than through the western portal, which served ceremonial pro- cessions. Pilgrims from France entered the north transept .portal; the approach from the town was through the south portal. All found themselves in a transept in which the design exactly mirrored the nave in height and structure (FIG. 16-5). Both nave and transept have two stories—an arcade and a gallery. Compound piers with attached half- columns on all four sides support the immense barrel vault and are projected over it vertically through a rhyth- mic series of transverse arches. They give sculptural form to the interior walls and also mark off individual vaulted bays in which the sequence is as clear and regular as the ambulatory chapels of the choir. Three different kinds of vaults are used here: barrel vaults with transverse arches cover the nave, groin vaults span the side aisles, and half- barrel or quadrant vaults cover the galleries and strengthen the building by countering the outward thrust of the high nave vaults and transferring it to the outer walls and but- tresses. Without a clerestory, light enters the nave and transept only indirectly, through windows in the outer walls of the aisles and upper-level galleries. Light from the choir clerestory and the large windows of an octagonal lan- tern tower (a structure built above the height of the main ceiling with windows that illuminate the space below) over the crossing would therefore spotlight the glittering gold and jeweled shrine of the principal relic at the high altar. In its own time, Santiago was admired for the excellence of its construction—"not a single crack is to be found," said the twelfth-century pilgrims' guide, "admirable and beautiful in execution... large, spacious, well-lighted, of fitting size, harmonious in width, length, and height...." Pilgrims arrived at Santiago de Compostela weary after weeks or months of difficult travel through dense woods and mountains. Grateful to St. James for his protection along the way, they entered a church that welcomed them with open portals covered with the dynamic, moralizing sculpture that characterized Romanesque churches. The cathedral had no doors to close—it was open day and night.

Cathedral of St. James of Santiago de Compostela (16.4)

Location: Cloister of the Abbey of Santo Domingo, Silos, Castile, Spain Date: c. 1100 Material: pier relief Notes:Three men seem to glide forward on tiptoe as their leader turns back (FIG. 16-1). Their bodies are smooth and elongated, their legs cross in gentle angles, and their shoulders, elbows, and fingers form soft curves. Draperies delicately delineate shallow contours, and the bearded faces stare out with large, wide eyes from under strong brows. The figures interrelate and interlock, pushing against the limits of their architectural frame. Medieval viewers would have quickly identified the leader as Christ, not only by his commanding size, but specifically by his cruciform halo. The sanctity of his companions is signified by their own haloes. The scene reminds faithful Christians of the resurrected Christ and two of his disciples on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). Christ has the distinctive attributes of a medieval pilgrim—a hat, a satchel, and a walking stick. The scallop shell on his satchel is the badge worn by pilgrims to a specific site: the shrine of St. James at Santiago de Compostela. Early pilgrims who reached this destination in the far northwestern corner of the Iberian peninsula continued to the coast to pick up a shell as evidence of their journey. Soon shells were gathered (or fabricated from metal as brooches) and sold to the pilgrims—a lucrative business for both the sellers and the church. On the return journey home, the shell became the pilgrims' pass- port, a badge attesting to their piety and accomplishment. Other distinctive badges were adopted at other pilgrimage sites, too. This relief was carved on a corner pier in the cloister of the monastery of Santo Domingo in Silos, a major elev- enth- and twelfth-century center of religious and artistic life south of the pilgrimage road across Spain (see "The Pilgrim's Journey to Santiago" on page 476). It engaged an audience of monks—who were well versed in the mean- ing of Christian images—through a sculptural style that we call Romanesque. Not since the art of ancient Rome half a millennium earlier had sculptors carved monumental figures in stone within an architectural fabric. During the early Middle Ages, sculpture was small-scale, independent, and created from precious materials—a highlighted object within a sacred space, rather than a part of the space's architectural envelope. But during the Romanesque period, narrative and iconic figural imagery in deeply carved ornamental frameworks was placed especially heavily around the entrances to churches, focusing attention on their compelling portal complexes. These public displays of Christian doctrine and moral teaching would have been part of the cultural landscape experienced by pilgrims journeying along the road to Santiago. Traveling as a pilgrim opened the mind to a world beyond the familiar towns and agri- cultural villages of home, signaling a new era in the social, economic, and artistic life of Europe.

Christ and Disciples on the Road to Emmaus (16.1)

Location: Musée du Louvre, Paris. Date: 9th century Material: bronze Notes: The Carolingian rulers' ascent to the Roman imperium, and the political pretensions it implied, are clearly signaled in a small bronze equestrian statue—once thought to be a portrait of Charlemagne himself but now usually identified with his grandson CHARLES THE BALD (FIG. 15-16). The idea of representing an emperor as a proud equestrian figure recalls the much larger image of Marcus Aurelius (SEE FIG. 6-56) that was believed during the Middle Ages to portray Constantine, the first Christian emperor. But unlike the bearded Roman, this Carolingian king sports a mustache, a Frankish sign of nobility that had also been common among the Celts (SEE FIG. 5-62). Works of art such as this are not a slavish mimicking of Roman prototypes, but a creative appropriation of Roman imperial typology to glorify rulers who are clearly Carolingian. Charlemagne sought to restore the Western Empire as a Christian state and to revive the arts and learning: as inscribed on his official seal, "the Renewal of the Roman Empire." To lead this revival, he turned to Benedictine monks and nuns. By the early Middle Ages, monastic communities had spread across Europe. In the early sixth century, Benedict of Nursia (c. 480-547) wrote his Rule for Monasteries, and this set of guidelines for a secluded life of monastic work and prayer became the model for Benedictine monasticism, soon the dominant form throughout Europe. The Benedictines became Charlemagne's "cultural army," and the imperial court at Aachen, Germany, one of the leading intellectual centers of western Europe.

Equestrian Statue of Charles the Bald (15.16)

Location: Wearmouth-Jarrow, England. Date: c. 700-715. Material: Ink and tempera on vellum Notes:This huge manuscript (at over 2,000 pages, it weighs more than 75 pounds) is the earliest surviving complete text of the Bible in the Latin Vulgate translation of St. Jerome.

Ezra Restoring the Sacred Scriptures, In the Bible Known as the Codex Amiatinus (15.9)

Location:Norman-Anglo-Saxon, perhaps from Canterbury, Kent, England. Date: c. 1066-1082. Material: Linen with wool embroidery Notes: Early in the story, the Anglo-Saxon nobleman Harold swears his allegiance to William, but later he betrays this vow, accepting the crown of England for him- self. Harold begins as a heroic figure, but then events overtake him. After his coronation, cheering crowds celebrate— until Halley's Comet crosses the sky (FIG. 16-31). The Anglo-Saxons, seeing the comet as a por- tent of disaster, cringe and point at this brilliant ball of fire with a flaming tail, and a man rushes to inform the new king. Harold slumps on his throne in the Palace of West- minster. He foresees what is to come: Below his feet is his vision of a ghostly fleet of Norman ships already riding the waves. Duke William has assembled the last great Viking flotilla on the Normandy coast. Unworthy to be king, Harold dies in the ensuing battle at the hands of William and the Normans.

MESSENGERS SIGNAL THE APPEARANCE OF HALLEY'S COMET, THE BAYEUX EMBROIDERY (16.31)

Location: Lindisfarne. Date: c. 715-720. Material: Ink and tempera on vellum, Notes: But the paintings in the Lindisfarne Gospels document more than the developing sophistication of an abstract artistic tradition. Instead of beginning each Gospel with a symbol of its author, the designer of this book introduced portraits of the evangelists writing their texts, drawing on a Roman tradition (FIG. 15-8). The monastic library at Wearmouth-Jarrow, near Lindisfarne, had a collection of Roman books, and an author portrait in one of them seems to have provided the model for an artist there to portray EZRA RESTORING THE SACRED SCRIPTURES within a huge Bible (FIG. 15-9). This painter worked to emulate Greco-Roman illusionistic traditions. Ezra is a modeled, three-dimensional form, sitting on a foreshortened bench and stool drawn in perspective to make them appear to recede into the distance. In the background, the obliquely placed books on the shelves of a cabinet seem to occupy the depth of its interior space.Judging from the number of details these two portraits share, especially the figures' poses, the artist of the Mat- thew portrait in the Lindisfarne Gospels worked with the same Roman prototype. But instead of striving to capture the lifelike features of his Roman model, the Lindisfarne artist sought to undermine them. Matthew appears against a blank background. All indications of modeling have been stripped from his clothing to emphasize the decora- tive pattern and contrasting color created by the drapery folds. By carefully arranging the ornament on the legs of Matthew's bench, the three-dimensional shading and per- spective seen in the portrait of Ezra have been suppressed. The footstool has been liberated from its support to float freely on the surface, while still resting under the evan- gelist's silhouetted feet. Playing freely with an acknowl- edged and well-understood alien tradition, the painter situates an enigmatic figure in the "background" at upper right behind a gathered drape—suspended from a curtain rod hanging from a screw eye sunk into the upper frame— that is not long enough to conceal the entire figure. Clearly there were important cultural reasons for such diver- gent reactions to a Mediterranean model—Wearmouth- Jarrow seeking to emphasize its Roman connections and Lindisfarne its indigenous roots. We are extremely fortu- nate to have two surviving works of art that embody the contrast so clearly. The identity of the haloed figure peeking from behind the curtain is still a topic of debate. Some see him as Christ confronting us directly around the veil that separated the holy of holies from worshipers in the Jewish Temple; others think he is Moses, holding the closed book of the law that was meant to be seen in contrast to the open book into which Matthew writes his Gospel. Also curious here is the Greek form of "saint" in Matthew's title (O Agios or "the holy"), written, however, with letters from the Latin alphabet.

Matthew Writing his Gospel, Lindisfarne Gospel Book (15.8)

Location: Aachen, Germany Date: 792-805 Material: N/A Notes:Char- lemagne's palace complex provides an example of the Car- olingian synthesis of Roman, Early Christian, and northern styles. Charlemagne, who enjoyed hunting and swimming, built a headquarters and palace complex amid the forests and natural hot springs of Aachen, in the northern part of his empire, and installed his court there in about 794. The palace complex included a large masonry audience hall and chapel facing each other across a large square (remi- niscent of a Roman forum), and a monumental gateway supporting a hall of judgment. Other administrative build- ings, a palace school, homes for his advisors and his large family, and workshops supplying all the needs of Church and state were mostly constructed using the wooden building traditions indigenous to this part of Europe. The PALACE CHAPEL (FIG. 15-17) functioned as Char- lemagne's private place of worship, the church of his imperial court, a place for precious relics, and, after the emperor's death, the imperial mausoleum. The central, octagonal plan recalls the church of San Vitale in Ravenna (SEE FIG. 8-5), but the Carolingian architects added a monu- mental western entrance block. Known as a westwork, this structure combined a ground-floor narthex (vestibule) and an upper-story throne room which opened onto the cha- pel interior, allowing the emperor an unobstructed view of the liturgy at the high altar while assuring his privacy and safety. The room also opened outside into a large walled forecourt where the emperor could make public appear- ances and speak to assembled crowds. The soaring core of the chapel is an octagon, sur- rounded at the ground level by an ambulatory (curving aisle passageway) and on the second floor by a gallery (upper-story passageway overlooking the main space) and rising to a clerestory above the gallery level and under the octagonal dome. At the gallery level, two tiers of paired Corinthian columns and railings form a screen that re-emphasizes the flat, pierced walls of the octagon and enhances the clear, planar geometry of its design. The effect is quite different from the dynamic spatial play and undulating exedrae of San Vitale, but the veneer of richly patterned and multicolored stone—some imported from Italy—on the walls and the mosaics covering the dome at Aachen were clearly inspired by Byzantine architecture. Extensive renovations took place here in the nineteenth century, when the chapel was reconsecrated as the cathedral of Aachen, and in the twentieth century, after it was damaged in World War II.

Palace of Charlemagne (15.17)

Location: Abbey Church, Conques, France Date: late 9th or 10th century with later additions Material: silver gilt over a wood core, with added gems and cameos of various dates Notes:Christians turned to the heroes of the Church, espe- cially martyrs who had died for their faith, to answer their prayers and to intercede with Christ on their behalf; prayers offered to saints while in close proximity to their relics were considered especially effective. Bodies, parts of bodies, and things associated with the Holy Family or the saints were kept in richly decorated containers called reli- quaries. Reliquaries could be simple boxes, but they might also be created in more elaborate shapes, sometimes in the form of body parts such as arms, ribs, or heads. By the eleventh century, many different arrangements of crypts, chapels, and passageways gave people access to the relics 16-6 RELIQUARY STATUE OF SAINTE FOY (ST. FAITH) Abbey church, Conques, France. Late 9th or 10th century with later additions. Silver gilt over a wood core, with gems and cameos of various dates. Height 33′′ (85 cm). Church Treasury, Conques. Credit: © akg-images/Erich Lessing kept in churches. When the Church decided that every altar required a relic, the saints' bodies and possessions were subdivided. In this way relics were multiplied; for example, hundreds of churches held relics of the true cross. Owning and displaying these relics so enhanced the prestige and wealth of a community that people went to great lengths to acquire them, not only by purchase but also by theft. In the ninth century, for example, the monks of Conques stole the relics of the child martyr Sainte Foy (St. Faith) from her shrine at Agen. Such a theft was called "holy robbery," for the new owners insisted that it had been sanctioned by the saint, who had communicated to them her desire to move. In the late ninth or tenth century, the monks of Conques encased their new relic—the skull of Sainte Foy—in a gold and jeweled statue whose unusually large head was made from a reused late Roman work. During the eleventh century, they added the crown and more jeweled banding, and, over subsequent centuries, jewels, cameos, and other gifts added by pilgrims continued to enhance the statue's splendor (FIG. 16-6)This type of reliquary—taking the form of a statue of the saint—was quite popular in the region around Conques, but not everyone was comfortable with the way these works functioned as cult images. Early in the eleventh century, Bernard of Angers prefaces his tendentious account of miracles associated with the cult of Sainte Foy by confessing his initial misgivings about such reliquaries, specifically the way simple folks adored them. Bernard thought it smacked of idolatry: "To learned people this may seem to be full of superstition, if not unlawful, for it seems as if the rites of the gods of ancient cultures, or that the rites of demons, are being observed" (The Book of Sainte Foy, p. 77). But when he witnessed firsthand the interaction of the reliquary statue with the faithful, he altered his position: "For the holy image is consulted not as an idol that requires sacrifices, but because it commemorates a martyr. Since reverence to her honors God on high, it was despicable of me to compare her statue to statues of Venus or Diana. Afterwards I was very sorry that I had acted so foolishly toward God's saint." (ibid., p. 78)

Reliquary Statue of Sainte Foy (16.6)

Location: Tarn-et-Garonne, France. Date: c. 1115. Notes:The Cluniac priory of Saint-Pierre at Moissac was a major stop on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. The shrine at the site dates back to the Carolingian period, and after affiliating with Cluny in 1047, the monastery prospered from the donations of pilgrims and local nobility, as well as from its control of shipping on the nearby Garonne River. During the twelfth century, Moissac's monks launched an ambitious building campaign, and much of the sculpture from the cloister (c. 1100, under Abbot Ansquetil) and the church portal and porch (1100- 1130, under Abbot Roger) has survived. The quantity and quality of the carving here are outstanding.A flattened figure of CHRIST IN MAJESTY dominates the huge tympanum (FIG. 16-21), visualizing a description of the Second Coming in Chapters 4 and 5 of Revelation. This gigantic Christ is an imposing, iconic image of enduring grandeur. He is enclosed by a mandorla; a cruciform halo rings his head. Although Christ is stable, even static, in this apocalyptic appearance, the four winged creatures symbolizing the evangelists—Matthew the man (upper left), Mark the lion (lower left), Luke the ox (lower right), and John the eagle (upper right)—who frame him on either side move with dynamic force, as if activated by his dramatic appearance. Rippling bands extend across the tympanum at Christ's sides and under him—perhaps rep- resenting waves in the "sea of glass like crystal" (Revelation 4:6). They delineate three registers in which 24 elders with "gold crowns on their heads" and either a harp or a gold bowl of incense (Revelation 4:4 and 5:8) twist to catch a glimpse of Christ's majestic arrival. Each of them takes an individually conceived pose and gesture, as if the sculptors were demonstrating their ability to represent three- dimensional human figures turning in space in a variety of postures, some quite challengingly contorted. Foliate and geometric ornament covers every surface surround- ing this tableau. Monstrous heads in the lower corners of the tympanum spew ribbon scrolls, and other creatures appear at each end of the lintel, their tongues growing into ropes encircling acanthus rosettes. Two side jambs and a trumeau (central portal pier) support the weight of the lintel and tympanum. These elements have scalloped profiles that playfully undermine the ability of the colonettes on the door jambs to perform their architectural function. They give a sense of instability to the lower part of the portal, as if to underline the ability of the stable figure of Christ in Majesty to provide his own means of support. St. Peter and the prophet Isaiah flank the doorway on the jambs. Peter, a tall, thin saint, steps away from the door but twists back to look through it.

South Portal, Tympanum Showing Christ in Majesty Priory Church of Saint-Pierre, Mosaic (16.21)

Location: Westphalia, Germany Date: late 9th century Material: N/A Notes:Originally designed to answer practical requirements of protection and display in buildings such as Charlemagne's palace chapel, the soar- ing, multi-towered westwork came to function as the very visible sign of an important building; it is one of the hall- marks of Carolingian architecture. A particularly well-pre- served example is the late ninth-century westwork at the 15-18 WESTWORK, ABBEY CHURCH OF CORVEY Westphalia, Germany. Late 9th century (upper stories mid 12th century). Credit: © Achim Bednorz, Cologne ABBEY CHURCH OF CORVEY (FIG. 15-18). Even discounting the pierced upper story and towers that were added in the middle of the twelfth century, this is a broad and imposing block of masonry construction. The strong, austere exterior is a symmetrical arrangement of towers flanking a central core punched with a regular pattern of windows and doors, free of elaborate carving or decoration. In addition to providing private spaces for local or visiting dignitaries, the interiors of westworks may have been used for choirs—medieval musical graffiti were discovered inside this one—and they were the starting point for important liturgical processions.

Westwork, Abbey Church of Corvey (15.18)