Lecture 3: In Between What? The “Middle” Ages

Tensions in the Middle Ages vis-à-vis classical art (2)

1. Christian beliefs:

   (1) There should be no inappropriate veneration of images (in the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament)

   • Belief that images hold agency to corrupt: capable of inspiring BOTH devotion & sin

   (2) God as the foremost creator/artist

2. Yet, people converting to Christianity were also polytheistic Romans beforehand; familiar w/ pagan devotional images

How did medieval (Christian) artists redeploy the pagan Classical past to their own ends? (2)

Artists borrowed directly from Roman iconography (= visual continuity w/ the classical past), BUT changed their meanings

1. Funerary contexts: underground, dimly-lit catacombs

   • E.g. Good shepherd (Christ) (3rd century), Domitilla catacomb, Rome & the Ram-bearer (‘Kriophoros’)

2. Architecture: razing & spoliation

   • Roman temples were razed to build early Christian churches

   • Churches copied floorplans of Roman civic secular spaces (e.g. basilicas)

   • Incorporation of actual pieces of Roman buildings into the fabric of the church (e.g. columns)

   • E.g. the church of Santa Sabina

     = display of power

Renaissance vs. Renascences

Erwin Panofsky’s thesis (1960):

1. The Italian Renaissance is preceded by 2 earlier Renascences

   (1) Carolingian renovatio (800-887)

   • Charlemagne was crowned Emperor in Rome by the pope in 800 CE

     • Wanted to reinstate the grandeur of the Roman Empire through unity of the church & state

       • Cultural revival to raise educational standards

       • E.g. every monastery had to have a school where classical & religious texts were copied

     • Idea that the Roman Empire is not only continued through him, but perfected through Christianity

   • Characteristics of Carolingian art:

     (1) New emphasis on the human figure

     (2) Styles of depicting humans were inspired in part by classical models

     • E.g. classicising drapery; personifications of natural forces

     • Gave the evangelists power & authority by linking them to the classical past (esp. classical philosophers)

   (2) (early) Gothic Art (1200s)

   Historical context

   • 1st translations of original Greek (scientific & philosophical) texts = renewed interest in classical texts

   • Birth of the University

   Ways of engaging w/ the classical past

   • Medieval artists shaped ideas about classical figures (e.g. Aristotle) to their own liking

   • Representation of the human body in more ‘naturalistic’ (classical) ways

   • YET also estrangement from the classical past (e.g. Gothic architecture > Romanesque)

2. BUT neither are fully successful in reintegrating classical form & content together

   • ‘While medieval writers & artists felt a strong continuity & association w/ classical ideas, they lacked a historicism, perspective, & distance to see the visual forms of earlier culture with objective distance.’

   • 'Classical art was immobilised by having been transplanted to the foreign soil of a Christian narrative’

   • Like Ernst Kitzinger: Medieval art has a stiffness & awkwardness, imitates traditional forms w/o truly capturing its spirit/beauty

Michael Camille’s response (1989):

• Panofsky is NOT wrong about the disjunction between form & content in medieval appropriations of the antique

• BUT Panofsky fails to recognise the savvy & strategic ways that medieval artists harness the styles, iconography, authors, & materials of classicism to their own ends

  • Transfer of power > tedius transmission of models

  • Medieval artists may not have intended to refer to meaning, but reinvent it

Spoliation vs. Appropriation

Spoliation

• Forcibly taking, looting, or plundering of older materials [spolia] (sometimes stolen goods, e.g. war booty) in a newer object/space

• Implies violence, illegality, or coercion

Appropriation

• The adoption/use of elements of one culture by members of another culture, often without permission/understanding

• It can happen without force, but is often criticized for power imbalances and lack of consent or credit

Lothair Cross (ca. 1000 CE)

• w/ 1st century sardonyx cameo of Roman Emperor Augustus & seal matrix of Lothair

  • At the centre of the cross

• Surrounded by a number of other gems, including a greenish rock crystal seal w/ an image of a Carolingian ruler, Lothar the 2nd

  • Died ~100 years before this was made

  • w/ inscription ‘Christ help King Lothar’

• Other side: image of Christ on the cross

  (1) The artist christianised Augustus by putting him on the cross

  (2) Shows the ways that Christ & the earthly ruler coincide

  • They govern heaven & earth together

  (3) Links Augustus w/ the Carolingians & the Ottonians (patrons of this cross)

Aquamanile in the form of Aristotle & Phyllis (late 14th/15th century)

Historical context

• Aquamanile: a vessel that holds perfumed water to wash one’s hands

  • Probably would have been at the centre of a large banquet table, used at dinner parties etc.

• Short story: first appeared in the 12th century

  • Aristotle was tutoring Alexander the Great

  • Aristotle advises Alexander to avoid Phyllis, the seductive mistress of his father (the King)

  • Phyllis is annoyed and plays a trick on Aristotle

  • Orchestrates a chance encounter w/ Aristotle & flirts w/ him

  • Gets him to want to sleep w/ her

  • BUT says she won’t do anything until he gets on his hands & knees and acts like a donkey

  • Alexander walks in at this moment & Aristotle is embarrassed

Description

• A woman named Phyllis riding Aristotle as if he were a horse

Interpretation

• Medieval artists shaped ideas about classical figures (e.g. Aristotle) to their own liking

• Even the wisest men like Aristotle could be manipulated/ridiculed by women

Virgin & Child “Throne of Wisdom” (ca. 1150-1200 CE) vs.

Virgin & Child (13th century Paris), ivory

Posture

• Throne of Wisdom: bodies are static, Virgin Mary as a physical throne on which Christ is sitting

• Vs. ivory: contrapposto (= ‘the Gothic sway’)

  • Works w/ natural shape of elephant tusk

Naturalism

• Ivory: more naturalistic depiction of the r/s between mother & child

  • More warm, friendly

  • Emphasises humanity of the Virgin Mary

  • Makes her more empathetic, human, & easier to connect with

  • Makes it a more effective devotional object

Michael Camille, ‘Idols of the Pagans’ (3 + 3)

1. Medieval people condemed idolatry & depicted a retreat from Roman idols [rejection, fear]

2. At the same time, medieval art often borrowed from classical forms [fascination, admiration for beauty, unavoidability]

3. How did Medieval Christians handle this paradox?

   (1) Reintepretation of classical statues through aesthetic appreciation

   • Classical sculptures taken out of their original religious context, admired for their artistic beauty

   • ‘The aesthetic anaesthetises’

     = allowed Christians to engage w/ pagan art w/o feeling like they were committing idolatry

   (2) Recontextualisation of pagan art through Allegory

   • Given new definitions/meanings within a Christian framework

   • E.g. classical gods were often reimagined as moral lessons: Venus represented vanity, Mars symbolised violence

     = allowed Christians to appreciate pagan art w/o embracing its original (venerative) religious meanings

   (3) Creation of new Christian idols/cult images (e.g. the cross, statues of saints)

By reinterpreting classical forms, medieval artists asserted the dominance of Christianity while secretly preserving the beauty & power of the pagan past

Michael Camille, ‘Idols of the Pagans’

The problem of nudity

Nudity was viewed differently in the Middle vs. Classical ages

Classial antiquity: symbolised beauty & hreoism; a site of visual veneration

Middle ages: associated w/ sin, shame, & the Fall of Man

• The 2 sins of fornication (necessitating nudity) & idolatry are closely linked

• NO distinction between the naked & the nude

How did medieval artists deal visually w/ naked bodies?

1. Banishing them to the margins/decorative confines

2. Displaying them as emblems of evil

   • Because the body is used as a negative example, the artist can be explicit & even ‘nautralistic’ in its depiction

3. Insertion into biblical allegory

   • Moralising tradition of using veiling/clothing as allegorical metaphors

   • E.g. Venus as naked, because she leaves her admirers ‘stripped bare’ of virtue

St. Gilles-du-Gard (façade), France

Historical context

• Romanesque (‘Roman-like’) style

  • Influence of Roman architecture during the Middle Ages

Description

• Rounded arches

  • Resembles the Arch of Constantine

    • Commemorated military victories

    • Linda Seidel (art historian): represents the transposition of the Roman triumphal arch

      • Originally marked a secular victory

      • In this case, marks the victory of the Christian church

Interpretation

• NOT just reflecting an innocent love of Roman forms

• But co-opting the logic of Roman architectural forms to Christianity’s ends

  • Linda Seidel (art historian): represents the transposition of the Roman triumphal arch

    • Originally marked a secular victory

    • In this case, marks the victory of the Christian church

Central Portal of Vézelay, France

Historical context

• Central doorway of the Vézelay Abbey

Description

• Scenes of the Last Judgement & other stories in the life of Christ

Interpretation

• Roman architectural forms become a powerful space for Christian narratives

  • A new usage