Church Decoration Research Articles

Образ Пятидесятницы в иконографической программе алтарного кивория Собора во имя первоверховных апостолов Петра и Павла в Санкт-Петербурге

The article is devoted to the unique monument of Peter the Great Baroque – the altar ciborium of the St. Petersburg Peter and Paul Cathedral. The study presents an analysis of the decoration of the ciborium (1722-1729, I.P. Zarudny). First of all, the connection of the iconographic and iconological program of the monument with the circumstances of the apostolic dedication of the cathedral of the new capital of the Russian Empire in the context of the church reform carried out by Peter I is traced. The synodal reform is proposed to be considered from the point of view of the principles of the structure of the ancient Church as a justification for the transition from patriarchal governance in favour of the conciliar Most Holy Governing Synod.In the article, the altar canopy of the Peter and Paul Cathedral is compared with the baldachin of the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, with the imperial coronation baldachins of Catherine I and with the baldachin of D.L. Bernini from Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. The external imitation of the European fashion for baldachins was perceived as an embellishing decoration, which didn't prevent the continuation of the Moscow tradition of church decoration in the St. Petersburg monument, and the preservation of its archetypal relationship with the Jerusalem temple. Thus, the semantic connection of the royal and Divine thrones, laid down in the early Byzantine period, continues until the beginning of the XVIII century. It has found its artistic interpretation, including in the composite monogram crowning the Cathedral of Peter and Paul, the variant of interpretation of which is proposed by the author. The theme of the kingdom in the decoration of I.P. Zarudny's ciborium is intertwined with the theme of apostolic succession and the foundation of the church. The apostolic dedication of the Peter and Paul Cathedral was embodied in the artistic solution of the entire altar composition, for which the image of the "Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles" became central. The establishment of a new Church and a new Jerusalem, manifested in the image of "Pentecost", indicated a particularly important role for the new state symbolically denoting its continuity from both the artistic tradition of Byzantium and the tradition of the Western Christian world.

A monastic angelology in stone: the sculpted angels at Conques

ABSTRACT In the Middle Ages, angels were a constant presence and participated with the faithful in praising God. Due to the manifold roles played by angels in Christian theology, it is not surprising that they were a popular subject for church decoration. At the abbey church of Sainte-Foy at Conques, the attention paid to and regard for angels was expressed to an exceptional degree and therefore provide an excellent case study through which to understand how monumental sculpture communicated monastic identity and exegesis. This article considers the formal attributes and spatial arrangement of the sculpted angels at Conques as they relate to early medieval monastic conceptions of angels’ function and role within the heavenly community, providing the monks with a celestial model to negotiate the boundaries between the active and contemplative life as articulated by Gregory the Great and the Venerable Bede.

Ребро кентавра: образ китовраса в визуальной структуре городского пространства

The article provides a semantic analysis of the theme of kitovras (centaur) in Russian medieval fine art. The author argues that in the system of relief decorations of Russian medi-eval cathedrals in Vladimir, the centaur is associated with the Jerusalemite kings David and Solomon and serves to accentuate the theme of a wise and righteous ruler. The study of kitovras images in Russian medieval art, traces the origins of this character back to apocry-phal literature or even further to ancient mythology, Talmudic tradition and biblical nar-ratives, which merged into a ‘Russian centaur’. The earliest kitovras images are found in Novgorod region in the 11th century. The typology of centaur images in Rus’, as well as the study of possible contexts for the use of these images in church decoration and in everyday life, make it possible to systematize the semantic and axiological connotations evoked by this figure of a man-beast. These connotations are associated with the ideas of (1) natural savagery, (2) demonic character, (3) duplicity, (4) wisdom, (5) architectural skills, (6) moral perfection, (7) saving pedagogy, (8) protection from evil and, finally, (9) religiously sanctioned author-ity. Since all these connotations are associated with the same character, the kitovras should be understood as a polyvalent symbol that reveals to viewers one or another of its aspects depending on a viewer’s semiotic code and on the visual and narrative contexts in which it is integrated. Russian churches open their facades into the surrounding urban environment and thereby saturate it with certain meanings, conveyed both by the outline of the churches and by their exterior decoration. Any figure, any scene and any character represented on external surfaces of the churches directly contributes to the semantics of the urban space, to its ideo-logical and cultural program, and functions as a means of informing both confessional and local identity. Such is also the function of kitovras images in the semantic structure of tradi-tional Russian cities.

Ювелирные украшения в литургическом убранстве древнерусской церкви (по материалам раскопок Н. Е. Бранденбурга в Старой Ладоге в 1887 г.)

It is the first full publication of the whole stock of finds from the ruins of the Church of the Savior in Staraya Ladoga (N. E. Brandenburg, 1886—1887), rare in composition and significance, which has been kept in the State Historical Museum for more than a hundred years. The finds were discovered on the floor under the collapsed arches in the central part of the temple, the construction of which dates back to the middle of the 12 th — the first half of the 13 th century, the estimated time of destruction is the 16th century. It included intact chandeliers and two candlesticks, as well as jewelry. The latter, as it was possible to establish, were elements of the precious decoration of the icon, which enhanced the sacred expressiveness of a especially revered icon, but also of the architectural space of the temple. An analysis of these materials showed that this ensemble of church decoration items was formed mainly in the 13 th—14 th centuries and remained there until the time of the collapse of the temple.

VYGOVSKY ZION: UNDERSTANDING THE EVENTS OF 1787–1788 IN THE CONTEXT OF BIBLICAL HISTORY

The article analyzes for the first time the work of Andrey Borisov, a writer, an Old Believer, and a representative of the Vyg literary school. The work is dedicated to the restoration of the main cathedral chapel of the male Vyg community on July 16, 1788 after the fire. A lengthy Word has been preserved in the draft autograph, which testifies to the author's careful work on the text, and in the handwritten lists representing two editions of the text. The Word of Andrei Borisov describes thoroughly and emotionally the disaster that befell kinovia. The article provides valuable historical evidence about the circumstances of the fire, the new development and restoration of the community, about the rich church decoration of the Vyg temple. As a retrospective analogy to the events of 1787–1788, Andrey Borisov chose the story of the destruction of the first Zion temple and the creation of the second Zion temple after the return of the Israelites from Babylonian captivity. The article analyzes numerous examples of likening of the Vyg chapel to the main temple of the Israelis. Another biblical image, to which Andrei Borisov resorted when describing the events of 1787–1788 is revealed, is the image of the Vygovskaya / Babylonian River, which contains a direct likening of the people of Vyg to “ancient Jerusalem captives” who mourned the loss of the first Jerusalem temple. In accordance with the genre requirements and the Vyg tradition, Andrei Borisov concluded the Word with an edification and a call to observe God's commandments and spiritual renewal. Since the Vyg cathedral church of the Epiphany was the main one for the entire Old Believer district and the entire Pomorian consent, its likening to Zion had not only an external basis (the fact of the fire and subsequent restoration), but also a deep inner content for the Vyg author.

A LAST EASTER SEPULCHRE: THOMAS WEVER AND ST MARY’S CHURCH, TARRANT HINTON, DORSET

The defaced and probably unfinished Easter sepulchre at St Mary’s Church, Tarrant Hinton, in Dorset is exceptional in its scale and sophisticated renaissance decoration, in comparison to other sixteenth-century structures associated with contemporary Easter liturgy. Previous notice of it has been impeded by failure to assess properly the upper part of the monument, which new photography now renders accessible. This demonstrates a remarkable resemblance between its (defaced) angels and the bronze angels by Benedetto da Rovezzano being prepared at Westminster in the late 1520s for the tomb of Cardinal Wolsey; while the lower part of the structure displays influence from contemporary French decoration.This structure is assessed in the contexts of other monuments of the early sixteenth century intended to support a temporary Easter sepulchre and of what can be reconstructed of the career of the minor but wealthy cleric who was responsible for its erection. Thomas Wever MA (d. 1536) made additions to two of his rectories besides building substantial extensions on the north side of Tarrant Hinton church. It is suggested that both his building there and the Easter sepulchre itself are unfinished and were abandoned at his death as a result of his continued indebtedness. The sepulchre itself suggests a direction that English church decoration never took.

ДИПТИХ ИЗ МУРАНО – ВИЗАНТИЙСКИЙ ОКЛАД VI ВЕКА

The paper is dedicated to the ivory cover, commonly referred to in scholarship as the Murano diptych. The name, alluding to one of the Vene- tian islands, derives from an 18 th -century historic record attesting the presence of one of the sides of the cover in a Murano monastery. This part of the diptych was later brought to Ravenna and today is on display at the Ravenna National Museum. The fragments of the other side of the diptych are dispersed among various museum and library collections in Manchester, Paris, Berlin, and Saint Petersburg. Notwithstanding the scattered location of the ivory, it is possible to reconstruct its constituent elements and original decoration. Besides offering a detailed analysis of the surviving fragments, this paper focuses on the overall iconographic program and formal characteristics of the diptych, and studies its reliefs in light of late antique ivory carving and church decoration. It is argued that late antique ivories represent an important source of information concerning the use of apocryphal imagery in monumental art, enabling us to reconstruct the imagery of early Byzantine narrative cycles.

Byzantine and Gothic Side-by-side: Stylistic Diversity under a Single Roof in the Churches of Late-medieval Transylvania

This essay analyzes the cases of coexistence within the same church of mural decoration displaying both (Post-)Byzantine and Gothic styles, which occurred during the 14th and 15th centuries on the territory of the Voivodate of Transylvania and the south-eastern border counties of the Kingdom of Hungary. This phenomenon of stylistic diversity under the same roof occurred at different stages during the larger and cumulative projects of church decoration, and the reasons for such occurrences varied. Orthodox patrons proved to be more conservative and very attached to their own cultural, religious, and visual traditions, and subsequently commissioned Western painters with the decoration of their churches only when the artists belonging to their own cultural and religious traditions were unavailable (e.g., Hălmagiu and Strei). In contrast with the Orthodox, Catholic patrons had a flexible artistic taste and were more prone to embrace the alternative aesthetic solutions proposed to them by traveling artists with Byzantine training (e.g., Buneşti, Dârlos, Sântămăria-Orlea, Şmig, Valea Lungă, and probably Deva and Târgu Mureş). A special situation of stylistic diversity under a single roof is represented by those cases, which occurred when Romanian Orthodox patrons—despite their belonging to a different confession—exercised their legal right of patronage over those Catholic churches found on their estates (e.g., Sântămăria-Orlea and Remetea). The Orthodox patrons’ strong attachment to their own religious and visual traditions led to the coexistence within the same Catholic church not only of murals displaying Gothic and (Post-)Byzantine formal features, but also of inscriptions in the liturgical languages of the two Churches (i.e., Latin and Church Slavonic). Since this essay approached the phenomenon of aesthetic diversity strictly from a stylistic or formal point of view, its devotional implications will be analyzed on a different occasion, when it will be contextualized together with other transcultural phenomena, such as those of linguistic diversity under the same roof, cross-credal artistic patronage, and shared devotion of Catholic saints by the Eastern-rite Christians. The results of the project Models of Representation of the Past in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period carried out within the framework of the Basic Research Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) in 2019 are presented in this work.

To the Issue Concerning a Byzantine Iconostasis in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, the 19th – Beginning of the 20th Centuries

The purpose of the article is to discover the issue of creating the Byzantine iconostasis in the artistic decoration of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in the 19th – early 20th centuries a case study of the Great Pechersk Church (the Dormition Cathedral). The methodology is based on complex using historical and cultural analysis, and art study analysis. Scientific novelty. Milestones of creating the Byzantine style iconostasis in the Dormition Cathedral during the 19th – Early 20th centuries have been discovered. The cultural and artistic basis for implementing the idea of Byzantine iconostasis in 1845–1847, 1890–1900s has been revealed according to the text and visual records introduced into scientific circulation. The dominant role of the main iconostasis for the image of side-altars’ new iconostasis has been determined. The conservatism of religious personages who wanted to preserve the features of the previous iconostasis (height, number of tiers, the old icons, etc.) has been proved. It is determined that the sacred value of some icons was more important as a stylistic priority and it barely led to the replacement of the material of the iconostasis (silver instead of marble that traditional for Byzantine iconostases). Published photos of the Big iconostasis and the approved draft of the main iconostasis with the author of autographs (photos from the collection of the National Reserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra”). It has been found out distinguished Ukrainian art historian H. Pavlutskyi in one of them. The autonomy of the iconostases style of the mural paintings style in the Great Pechersk Church decoration has been proved. Conclusions. The attempt to realize the idea of the Byzantine iconostasis in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra’s Great Church in 1845–1847 created a precedent of the inconsistency of the artistic style of iconostasis and mural painting. The Byzantine style iconostasis hypothetically could exist in the spacious Baroque plastic art. Conversely, the complex of Baroque iconostases existed independently of the wall form performed in accordance with the Byzantine tradition at the turn of the 19th and the 20th century. The polemic pointed around the main iconostasis, a new іmage of other iconostases designed in a complex with it. The baroque tradition was implemented in the new iconostasis projects. The monks perceived a change in mural paintings but they considered some icons by sacral constants in the Great Church. The Big iconostasis without upper tiers with the Byzantine cross was the victory of the Baroque tradition. The preservation of Baroque iconostases was a testimony of their stylistic autonomy from the mural painting decorated in Byzantine style. Key words: sacral culture, Orthodoxy, Byzantine art, Baroque art, iconostasis, sacral mural painting, KyivPechersk Lavra, Dormition Cathedral.

Historical Visionary in the Writings of Dissident Authors

This article reviews the creation and the roots of two historical legends about the trip of Ivan Smera to Alexandria and the privilege of Alexander Macedon to Slavs. The methodology of current research is based on the comparison of historical narratives. Two versions of the legend about the trip to the Orient were composed on the ground of old Kyivan chronicle which narrates the story about the choice of religion by Kyivan prince Volodimer in the last decades of the X th century when several ambassadors were sent to study the peculiarities of Judaism, Islam, Latin and Byzantine Christianity. During the second half of the XVI century, a new version of this tale was composed by Calvinists in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It narrates the visit of a certain person (Jolash or Ivan Smera) who arrived at Alexandria in North Africa to investigate the customs of the local Christian community. Ivan Smera found that the customs and the rite of the local community reflect the ideals of simple Christian service, without icons and church decoration. The rite of this religious community responds to the customs and the service of Calvinism. Smera has reported about the customs of Alexandria’s Christians to Volodimer but the Kyivan price ignored the ambassador’s notes and accepted Christianity in the byzantine rite. The other legend, which circulated in East and Central Europe during the Renaissance, narrates about the privilege of Alexander Macedon that was inscribed by golden letters on the tables in Alexandria. This imagined document relates that Slavic tribes arrived from the lands of Illyria and Dalmatia under the rulership of chieftains Lech, Roxolan, and Czech. It seems that both legends are rooted in Alexandria because Arianism prevailed in this city during late antiquity and Calvinism leaders supposed to establish good relations with orthodox patriarchs of this city in the second half of the XVI century. Religious life in ancient Alexandria was treated by the authors of the legend about the trip to North Africa as an example of perfect Christianity.

Piety, Power, or Presence? Strategies of Monumental Visualization of Patronage in Late Antique Ravenna

Between Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, lay and cleric alike felt the need to be remembered in the monuments they sponsored. Accordingly, specific elements of the décor were designed as means capable of bearing the patron’s memory. The late antique churches of Ravenna offer an extraordinary field to understand how patrons left their mark on decorative programs of ancient buildings. There, portraits, inscriptions, and monograms emerge as the primary instruments used in a complex strategy of visual communication. However, each had its own communicative power and peculiar use. Either separately or in connection, they were able to convey strong messages of patronship to the viewer. By focusing on each of these elements in its context and on the ways they all interacted with the surrounding architecture and church decoration, this paper will highlight their value as visual objects capable to immortalize the piety, power, or presence of the patron. Indeed, the silent dialogue enacted into the architectural space with the beholder will allow us to reconstruct the hidden messages that individuals or groups meant to communicate to posterity.

Martyrs, Prophets, Monks: Calendar Icons in the Collection of St Catherine’s Monastery at Sinai (11th-12th Centuries)

The author discusses four groups of Byzantine calendar icons kept in the collection of St Catherine’s monastery at Mt Sinai, each differing from the others according to format, number of panels, and in its visual approach to the menologion imagery. The result is a strong sense of distinction between the icons, perhaps suggestive of their different functions. A set of four panels which once formed part of a hexaptych is particularly intriguing. This calendar cycle was made by the Georgian painter Ioannes (John) in the second half of the 11th-early 12th century. These icons were originally placed at the center of a polyptych, flanked by an icon of the Last Judgment on the right side, and a second panel containing a unique combination of five miraculous icons of the Virgin and a narrative cycle dedicated to the Miracles and Passions of Christ on the left. Every image of the calendar series stands for three months of the year and combines around 90 scenes. All martyrs are represented at the moment of their death, while other saints are depicted standing front-on bearing attributes. This contribution offers new insights into the nature of painted hagiographical cycles and different approaches applied for calendar imagery in Byzantine panel painting. It is argued that book illumination developed in parallel with the calendar icon tradition and clear links can be drawn between the menologion imagery in these two media. The unique style and approach of the painter Ioannes opens up possibilities for deciphering the mysterious world of Byzantine art making, the process of devising new kind of imagery, and the embedding of new meanings into well-known compositions. A detailed analysis of this important group of icons can help to unveil the different connections among book illumination, icon painting, and church decoration, as well as provide an almost endless supply of images of saints, some of which are unique or possess very few representations in the surviving corpus of Byzantine art.

БІБЛІЙНІ ТА МІСІОНЕРСЬКІ СЮЖЕТИ В ОЗДОБЛЕННІ ГАРНІЗОННОГО ХРАМУ СВЯТИХ АПОСТОЛІВ ПЕТРА І ПАВЛА У ЛЬВОВІ (КОЛИШНІЙ КОСТЕЛ ЄЗУЇТІВ)

After the former Jesuit Church, now the Garrison Church was opened in 2011, the need to explore and reinterpret its historical and cultural heritage arose. This was primarily caused by the process of church renovation which started in 2012. At the same time, the well-preserved interiors and exteriors of the church are of significant research interest. In particular, the art and religious culture of the society of the XVII-XIX century and not only in Lviv. It is known that until 1946 the church belonged to the Society of Jesus, a monastic order that operated all over the world. Under the influence of various cultures, a particular art culture of the order was slowly formed. It consisted of local plots and those that had a general meaning for the whole order with its own ideological load. Besides, the church as a place of worship/man’s encounter with God should have also had a biblical meaning. A combination of order and biblical themes in church decoration created a comprehensive image in which the order is the bearer of Christian ideas laid down in the Bible. This statement provides the opportunity to view decorations in the Garrison Church and in churches in general as a certain ideological construct that was supposed to “declare” specific “messages” incorporated in a fresco, a sculpture, and an icon, etc. Therefore, studying and interpreting church decorations makes it possible to understand, at least partially, the ideological motive of its author. Hence, it becomes easier to understand the art and religious culture of the society, particularly in the XVII-XIXcenturies. Considering the abovementioned, this article is an attempt to interpret the decorations of Saints Peter and Paul Garrison Church (the former Jesuit Church), a significant part of which consists of biblical and missionary plots.

Various Aspects of the Image of a Dragon-serpent in Armenian and South-Caucasian Sculpture of the 7th–14th Centuries

In the Christian iconography, the image of dragon-snake is а well-known symbol of the devil and underworld. Its earliest images in the medieval sculpture of Armenia and South Caucasus are found on the 6th–7th-centuries reliefs with holy warriors slaying a dragon. In the High Middle Ages, the snake was also depicted in the canonical scenes of the Fall, the Baptism of Christ, the Descent into Hell. However, since the 10th century, other compositions appear on the church decoration reflecting the archaic notions of this creature — its benevolent functions. For instance for many peoples, the celestial serpent was thought to encircle the firmament, to delimitate it from the earth. It was also associated with the sun and moon cycles, the luminaries being periodically swallowed and erupted by the dragon. In this respect, the latter was fairly close to the sea monsters, in particular to the image of the whale of the prophet Jonah that determined their similar iconography. Heraldic compositions of the 10th century with dragons flanking the human face reflect the astral symbolism of the monster. As a liminal creature, the dragon-serpent had the apotropaic functions. Therefore paired dragons were represented in a number of reliefs of the 12th–14th centuries on towers, church doorways and windows. They were usually rendered with wide-open jaws and intertwined bodies. This iconography has obvious parallels with the simultaneous Islamic examples of dragons having the same astral-apotropaic meaning. The research was done within the framework of a grant for the project: “Sculpture Decoration of Ruined and Less Studied Church Complexes of the 12th–14th centuries in Armenia” (21T-6E291), provided by the Science Committee of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports RA.

Brąz i szkło w symbolice przestrzeni granicznej. Między sacrum wnętrza świątyni chrześcijańskiej a zewnętrznym profanum

Bronze and glass are materials that have been used for centuries in Christian church decoration as carriers of symbolic meaning. When the front façade of a church had a carved bronze door and the window placed on the axis above it was glazed, often filled with stained glass, there was a symbolic juxtaposition of material and colour: the carved bronze door in the earthly zone of the secular and the colourful glass images placed above it symbolising the sacred. The article cites examples indicating the search for new forms of expression and the formation of a new symbolism related to metal and glass in contemporary sacred art. The changes involve the introduction of colour into the decoration of bronze doors, glass inlays and the gradual domination of large panes of glass. Often, the expressiveness of glass begins to be complemented by forms created using new techniques of handling artificial light. The artists’ exploration often leads to the expansion of the church entrance, inclusion of various forms of installations, and increasingly often they turn to the use of new media. Contemporary artists are to a large extent inspired by the Church’s stance, which emphasises the importance of the liminal space between the sacred and the secular, and consequently more and more often refers to the symbolism of the door and sponsors new innovative solutions.

'Unfortunately Romanesque' Two Churches of the 1840s in Hampshire

The nineteenth century witnessed almost unprecedented church building activity in Hampshire. New district churches appeared in rapidly expanding urban parishes and most existing structures, including those in rural areas, underwent substantial restoration, refurbishment and enlargement. This paper compares two of these churches from the 1840s: St. Peter's, Southampton and St. Nicholas', Newnham. Despite their apparent differences, they share a number of characteristics in common, most obviously their Romanesque style and inclusion of a Rhenish helm spire. The history of their construction will be examined in the context of the contemporary revival of medieval ecclesiastical architecture and developments in Ecclesiology (the study of church buildings, furnishings and decoration). Consideration will be given to how the Rhenish helm came to be adopted at both churches and to what extent St. Peter's influenced the design and arrangements at Newnham. This article will also consider whether the same architect was involved.

The Earls of Hereford and Their Retinue: A Network of Architectural and Sculptural Patronage in Twelfth-Century England, ca. 1130–55

Miles of Gloucester, earl of Hereford (1141–43), and his son, Roger, earl of Hereford (1143–55), were two of the main participants in the civil war between King Stephen (1135–54) and his cousin, the empress Matilda. Previous assessments of the earls have focused on their political and military careers, and particularly their transgressions against the Church. A lesser known fact is that both men were significant patrons of ecclesiastical architecture and sculpture, and were responsible for founding or rebuilding a number of parish churches and chapels. Analysis of the extant twelfth-century architectural sculpture at these sites suggests that the earls sought to develop and propagate a certain repertoire of church decoration, while also looking to prestigious cathedral and abbey churches for inspiration. The earls commanded a sizable following of lesser magnates and secular lords, some of whom were responsible for founding or rebuilding their own parish churches and seigneurial chapels. Judging from the sculptural evidence, these retinue members emulated one another and their lords, the earls of Hereford. Altogether, these findings present an alternative cultural perspective on secular lordship in twelfth-century England.

Art or Articles of Trade: Appreciating Variety in Nineteenth-Century Ecclesiastical Stained Glass

The poor reputation of nineteenth-century stained glass during much of the twentieth century has hindered our appreciation of its extraordinary variety and various strands of development. Critics of the commercialism of Victorian stained glass studios, and their imitation of medieval visual styles, have often set the stained glass of William Morris and his circle apart from the many thousands of other windows of the period in general surveys of the medium and in the popular imagination. Since the late 1970s there has been a slow growth of new studies reassessing the importance of a wider range of nineteenth-century stained glass, but much remains unexplored and the survival of more and more of these windows is increasingly at risk. A better appreciation of nineteenth-century stained glass reveals that Georgian traditions of glass painting were not entirely extinguished by the Gothic Revival, elements of which were adopted in hybrid works that are not clearly one or the other. Studios working with different designers were able to produce work in contrasting styles, and their adaptability and originality in accommodating the tastes of architects and patrons is instructive for our understanding of the business and aesthetics of church decoration in the nineteenth century.

High Church Anglicanism: Practice and Poetry

High Church Anglicanism:Practice and Poetry Elizabeth Ludlow (bio) In his essay in this forum, Timothy Larsen cites from W.J. Conybeare's 1853 Edinburgh Review article in which he describes the three stands of the Church of England: High, Low, and Broad. By "High," Larsen explains, Conybeare "meant an emphasis on the Catholic nature of the Church" (146). This emphasis on the continuity of pre-Reformation Catholicism in the Anglican Church led to the reinstatement of six practices by the Tractarian, or Oxford, Movement (the movement that dominated the High Church in the Victorian period). As Emma Mason and Mark Knight explain, these included: the use of sacraments within the Church; episcopacy, or the governing of the Church by bishops; the notion of the Church as a "body" in which all believers were linked to Christ; the observance of daily prayers and fasting; visible devotion, that is, church decoration; and the promotion of medieval ritual. (91) The impetus to reinstate these practices and to emphasize the historical continuity of Catholicism was initiated by John Keble's assize sermon on national apostasy in 1833. The Oxford Movement then went through a period of crises in the years leading up to John Henry Newman's secession to Roman Catholicism in 1845 before it matured and was shaped by wider social and cultural currents in the second half of the nineteenth century. The rationale for the reinstatement of the six practices outlined above was expressed at length in a series of ninety theological pamphlets named [End Page 149] The Tracts for the Times (1833–41), written by High Church clergy, including Richard Hurrell Froude, John Keble, John Henry Newman, Edward Bouverie Pusey, and Isaac Williams. The Tracts advocated a recognition of the Catholic heritage of the Anglican Communion and repeatedly looked to the Primitive Church as a model; they took various forms, including exegesis, storytelling, conversation, and edited selections from the work of the Church Fathers and the Caroline Divines. A concern with lived experience runs through them as the authors debate fasting, the sacrament of the Eucharist, private prayer, and Bible reading. The Tracts came to an end with Newman's controversial examination of the difficulties of the Thirty-Nine Articles in Tract 90 (an examination that was to lead to his condemnation by fellow Anglicans and his subsequent conversion), but the effects of the Oxford Movement endured throughout the era and are still felt in Anglo-Catholicism today. As Nicholas Lossky explains, the Tractarians received from the Fathers "a specific sense of the very nature of theology," the main characteristic of which involves a recognition that it is "practical" rather than speculative (77–78). Although scholars of the Oxford Movement have continued to stress the Tractarian emphasis on social outreach as a central and organic element of its development and have explored the ways leaders of the Oxford Movement saw the interconnectedness between theory and practice, the longevity of the (largely twentieth-century) perception that the movement was concerned primarily with the theoretical and ornamental and that the "Tractarians forgot the world" (qtd. in Skinner 334) has been hard to shift. While Simon Skinner has highlighted the significance of marginalized sources "especially rich in social commentary," including "quarterly journalism and the early Tractarian fiction of the late 1830s and early 1840s" (334), I want to draw attention here to the central place of poetry in disseminating doctrine and articulating the lived experience of High Church Anglicans. Tractarian poetry reached a far wider audience than The Tracts for the Times and, as G.B. Tennyson has argued, was as much "cause and symptom" as it was a "result of the Movement" (8). The significance of John Keble's The Christian Year (1827), which contains poems reflecting on Sundays and feast days of the liturgical year, cannot be overestimated. With his Lyras, collections of ancient and modern poetry and hymnody, Orby Shipley responded to what he perceived as the "literary craving" for religious poetry that The Christian Year had engendered (iv). Kirstie Blair describes how the first of these Lyras, Newman's Lyra Apostolica (1836), "set in motion a tradition whereby poetic anthologies were understood as weapons in a religious cause...

New evidence for church decoration in the early ninth century

This paper examines church decoration during the Transitional period (ca. 650-850), focusing on unpublished elements from the Fatih Camii (Hagios Stephanos?) in Zeytinba?? (Trilye). Located on the south shore of the Sea of Marmara, the church may be securely dated to the early years of the ninth century. Among the variety of decorative details uncovered during an unauthorized restoration in 1997 are more than a dozen fragments of opus sectile. The variety of these panels expands the corpus of geometric patterns known from the period; in addition, opus sectile seems to have been used both on the walls and the floor.