Interviews, Part II

As part of my interviews for this blog, I asked my friend Elliott who is currently working on his doctorate. When it comes to medieval art (or art history in general) I don't think I've met anyone with a greater passion. As you will see, he is eloquent and interesting, and will make a spectacular professor someday. For more of Elliott's writing and photographs, visit his blog chronicling his travels abroad!

• What draws you to medieval art? 

  So many different artistic styles flourished during the centuries that we call the "Middle Ages."  There are certainly some periods that speak to me more than others.  I love the reverence and grace of Byzantine icons with generations of theology encoded in their shapes and colors.  The melding of that gilded, otherworldly style with thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Italian art produced some of the most beautifully executed panel paintings in Europe.  It is difficult to rival the rich colors and microscopic ornaments of Hiberno-Saxon manuscripts, and I particularly love the final centuries of the Middle Ages with their noble Throne of Wisdom sculptures, fragile glass narratives suspended in stone tracery, and wrenching images of the suffering Christ and mourning Madonna.  Whatever the period, though, I am consistently drawn to the moving expressions of faith and devotion that are at the heart of so much of medieval art.   

• What do you wish the general public knew about your area of expertise? 

In addition to studying religious art and practice during the Middle Ages, I have been specializing in fifteenth-century devotional paintings from the Low Countries.  This period is usually characterized as the beginning of the northern Renaissance, but I also like to see it as a spectacular "apotheosis" of many of the most beautiful and moving elements of medieval art.  Many in the general public appreciate the skill of Netherlandish artists in rendering detail and texture, but people are often put off by elements that seem awkward, inaccurate, or otherwise inconsistent with the "golden standard" set by the Italian High Renaissance.  If people were more familiar with these paintings' value as poignant expressions of empathy, compassion, and theology, they would recognize that they can be just as inspiring as a work by Raphael or Leonardo.

• Do you have any favorite online art or historical resources? 

Not really.  I'm not as savvy with online resources as I should be.

• Your favorite (if you can pick one) artwork from the Middle Ages: 

  It's too hard to choose a favorite work of art from the Middle Ages!  However, I have always loved the icon of the Vladimir Virgin and Child, which probably dates to the eleventh or twelfth century.  In the painting, the Christ Child, who is dressed in a red-orange tunic shimmering with gold, seems to float in the arms of his mother. The Virgin Mary wears a dark mantle and looks mournfully at the viewer with large, pained eyes, foreseeing the suffering and death of her tiny Son. As if to comfort his mother, Christ embraces her and rests his face against hers.  Beyond its poignant depiction of love between Mother and Child, this panel also has a fascinating history.  It was first housed in Kiev, Ukraine, but shortly afterward it made its way to Russia.  Orthodox Christians attribute miraculous properties to the icon and credit it with saving the Russian people from invasions.

• What area of study in medieval art history do you find the most intriguing? 

I am fascinated by the way art functions in religious practice.  Images of the saints painted on panels, brushed onto vellum pages, or etched into gold reliquaries are one of the primary manifestations of medieval spirituality.  The cult of the saints began in the Early Christian period with a heavy focus on tombs and bones.  Hundreds of years later, relics continued to occupy a place of special prominence when St. Louis IX, king of France, constructed Sainte-Chapelle, with its iridescent walls of colored glass, to enclose newly acquired relics from Christ's Crucifixion.  Particularly valuable relics were sometimes even stolen.  In furta sacra, or "sacred theft," bones of the saints were secretly transported from one shrine to another, often with the explanation that the saints had commanded the burglars to remove their bones.  The cult of the Virgin Mary, which started to gain momentous popularity during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, offers an interesting contrast to relic-based devotion to saints.  Legend said that the mother of Christ had risen bodily to heaven after her death so that she, like her Son, had very few relics remaining on earth, with the exception of locks of hair or clothing.  Shrines to the Virgin Mary often safeguarded a miraculous statue or painting in place of a tomb or reliquary.  By the later Middle Ages, the cult of relics was challenged by another fervent form of religiosity—devotion to the Body of Christ in the Sacrament.

• In your travels, do you have a specific place (cathedral, city square, museum) that you felt the most 'in touch' with the Middle Ages?

One of the most remarkable medieval sites I have visited is Canterbury Cathedral.  The cathedral has long been an important bishopric, and today members of the Anglican Communion looks to the Archbishop of Canterbury as their chief spiritual leader.  During the Middle Ages, the cathedral was a renowned destinations for pilgrims who came seeking miracles at the tomb of St. Thomas Becket, the archbishop martyred in 1170 by the king's soldiers.  Visitors today can still follow the medieval pilgrim's itinerary through the cathedral, beginning at the side altar where St. Thomas was attacked and continuing down into the crypt where his body was entombed for several decades after his death.  Back on the main level of the church, you can ascend the stairs to Trinity Chapel, where the martyr's relics were moved in 1220.  Tragically, King Henry VIII destroyed the ornate reliquary enshrining the bones, and a single candle now marks the spot where St. Thomas once lay.  The stone steps leading to Trinity Chapel are warped from centuries of pilgrims climbing up and down them, and the narratives in the stained glass bring to life the visits of the sick and mentally diseased.  I stood right next to the windows and was amazed at how uneven the surface of the glass was—almost like waves.  At the back of Trinity Chapel is the Corona sanctuary, where a fragment of St. Thomas's skull was once kept.


   

Interviews, part I

 My graduate school class had an unusual amount of medieval topics as theses. Each was completely different and absolutely fascinating, so I thought it would be interesting to interview each of my classmates about their theses and thoughts about medieval art.

My first interviewee is Alison Daines, MA. She's a wonderfully insightful scholar whose research interests lie mainly in Netherlandish art and the Northern Renaissance.

• What draws you to medieval art?

Initially I was drawn to the romance of it, but that quickly developed into an appreciation for the deep mystical symbolism that pervades medieval art. Visually, it is full of detail that suggests deeper layers. This concept permeates all mediums of medieval art, including architecture. I am drawn to this in connection to the historical events that shaped the production of these works.

• What do you wish the general public knew about your area of expertise?

Although I believe that it's becoming less prevalent, the medieval period is often seen as visually inferior to the renaissance. I think that is partly due to renaissance works being more familiar to the general public, but also a natural appeal to classicism. Classicism and it's subsequent resurgences are indeed beautiful and appealing. I also believe that it is more visually accessible to the general public and that medieval art simply requires more effort to appreciate. Therefore, I would love to educate them on the exquisite visual and symbolic detail in medieval art such as illuminated manuscripts, tapestries, architecture and painting.

• Do you have any favorite online art or historical resources?

JSTOR immediately comes to mind as a quick and scholarly reliable source. I also enjoy museum websites for images and information.

• Your favorite (if you can pick one) artwork from the Middle Ages: 

I have not spent a lot of time on architecture, but I truly love gothic cathedrals. Two favorites include Chartres- as a perfect example of the french high gothic style. The stained glass is exquisite and much of it is amazingly original. I also love most examples of Illuminated manuscripts, I have found that the french have beautiful examples.

• What area of study in medieval art history do you find the most intriguing?

I am fascinated by illuminated manuscripts. Before Gutenberg books were treasures that were handwritten, meticulously copied and passed down. The accompanying images in them are not only beautiful, but full of deep layers of symbolism that corresponds with the written word. As a lover of books, I appreciate that concept.

• In your travels, do you have a specific place (cathedral, city square, museum) that you felt the most 'in touch' with the Middle Ages?

That's an interesting question. There are two places that come to mind: England and the Netherlands. I spent a semester in England and felt deeply connected to the gothic architecture in York, Bath and Salisbury. I love English history and in these cities felt most connected to its medieval past. I also performed some of my thesis research in the Netherlands. One place that I spent a lot of time in was the Koninglijk Bibliothek in The Hague. It's a library with an substantial collection of illuminated manuscripts that I was able to explore (by an extensive request process.) Spending real time with these manuscripts was an amazing experience that led me on an almost metaphysical journey involving the artists themselves and all of the eyes that have since read and studied these pages.

• What was your thesis topic? (I really would like some pictures here!)  

My topic was Bosch's The Haywain (c. 1495-1516). It's technically not a medieval work, but rather its considered part of the northern renaissance. However, Bosch was heavily influenced by medieval concepts and iconography. I argue that he provided an expression of the strict religious piety embodied by the Devotio Moderna, as a response to the impeding embraces of secular humanism. I use those concepts in relation to the work as a discussion of an interwoven assortment of journeys. These paths are seen within the work as taken simultaneously by religious and contemporary figures, including the viewer. He utilized the pilgrimage motif as a guide throughout his pantings and in relation to the liminal spaces surrounding his works.

 I use the underlying theme of Christ's Ascension. Christ's final journey acts as the ultimate goal and the paradigm for both the pilgrim within the triptych and the viewer. Evidence of processional celebrations mimicking pilgrimages reveals that the motifs in Bosch's works were located throughout his visual culture. I also use Bosch's 1505 triptych The Temptation of St. Anthony as an example of Bosch's consistent use of the pilgrimage theme. I argue that he is working within the context of the visual and textual culture of 's-Hertogenbosh, and despite his creative style, was understood among his contemporaries as a messenger of positive piety.

inside the garden...

I think I've read every published, peer-reviewed article about this tapestry (thanks to Martha's seminar!) and yet I've never thought about the differing symbolism of the flowers inside the garden and outside the garden. Is there more meaning to that? I think a new art historical adventure awaits...

For Mother's Day: Eve

Limbourg Brothers
The Fall and the Expulsion from Paradise
1415-16
Vellum, 29 x 21 cm (entire folio)
Musée Condé, Chantilly

Capital from a Frankish Psalter

Frankish Psalter
1279
Illumination on parchment
Cathedral Library, Esztergom

 A particularly beautiful capital. I love that strange medieval convention of anthropomorphizing the serpent's head. 

This illumination is in a Psalter held in the Cathedral Library in Esztergom, Hungary. I get a inner joy whenever works like this aren't in storage at a larger museum, but still in a cathedral's collection!

Beauty and Belief

The Brigham Young University Museum of Art currently has on exhibition 'Beauty and Belief: Crossing Bridges with the Art of Islamic Culture.' It has some phenomenal medieval pieces. Some of the manuscripts just blow my mind! If you're in town, it is worth plotting a few hours down to exploring these works. 

 

This is the famous 'Pisa Griffin.' Spain, 11th C. This is the bronze griffin that mysteriously made its way to Pisa, and was placed atop the cathedral there. I wonder who thought that was a good idea - and was it done out of malice? Or simply because it is a beautiful sculpture? When archeologists took a look inside it, they found a vessel that mimicked a roar when the wind blew through it. Don't you wish you knew what that sounded like? 

 

Gorgeous calligraphy, polychrome inks, gold foil, and intricate decoration. Unbelievable.

So You Want to Read Chaucer, part 1

Last night I attended a lecture by BYU professor Zina Peterson, who teaches medievalism. Her topic was "So You Want to Read Chaucer," and gave a wonderful introduction for the interested reader to dive into Chaucer. I'll type up my notes soon, but for now I want to post a link to a BBC program about medieval life in England that Dr. Peterson recommended, called "The Story of England." I can't find an affordable way to watch it here in the US, and until I do, I watched "Christina, a Medieval Life." It is fabulous, and around 20 minutes in, there is a wonderful illuminated manuscript that definitely worth seeing.