Hieroglyph, Arabesque and the Problems of Collaboration in Romantic 'Buchkunst'

Abstract

Dürer's marginal illustrations for the magnificent Prayer Book of Emperor Maximilian I (1515) greatly influenced the development of book illustration in 19th-century Germany. However, the means of transmission — as lithographic reproductions of the border illustrations only — led to a mainly decorative approach which, despite its great popularity and the distinction of many of the chosen texts, worked against the attainment of a high level of artistry within the hybrid form. Only Clemens Brentano and Philipp Otto Runge aspired to a true synthesis, addressing in their correspondence some of the major theoretical issues and problems to be confronted in a meaningful collaboration. In particular, their redefinition of the terms 'arabesque' and 'hieroglyph', both central planks in Early Romantic aesthetic theorizing, reinforced by Joseph Görres' critique of Friedrich Schlegel's position, moved earlier debate away from an ironic and playful aestheticism to the prospect of a fusion between image and text by means of a pictorial symbolism which was potentially capable of a higher level of expressiveness than could be achieved in either the verbal or the visual spheres alone.