Iconographic Program Research Articles

Monumental Entrance to Gandharan Buddhist Architecture Stairs and Gates from Swat

The article presents a series of pieces excavated by the ISMEO Italian Archaeological Mission in two Buddhist sacred areas in Swat (Pakistan). The pieces are chosen for their connection to the theme of monumental entrances of cultic buildings. In the first case (Gumbat), the building is a shrine. In the second, (Amluk-dara) it is a Main Stupa. The pieces belong to three different entrance parts: lower sides of the stairs, decorated steps or stair-riser friezes, and decorated frames of doors. Pieces like these, which belong to specific architecture, can be hypothetically positioned in their places, allowing thus a more vivid reconstruction of the original appearance of the monuments. The decorative apparatus of the entrances to Buddhist monuments, although apparently extraneous to the religious language, is not less rich than the Buddhist iconographic programme illustrated on the stupas or inside the shrines. The second part of the article deals with the interpretation of the language of the entrance as ‘symbolic capital’ of the political élites, who were the donors of the great Buddhist architecture in Swat.

Cuando Apolo mató a Ganymedes. El “texte .liij.” de la Epistre Othea

Christine de Pizan's Epistre Othea aims to show a variety of models about what does it mean to be a perfect knight. In her book she bases on several sources, among which the Ovide moralisé is one of the most important. Thus, it´s surprising that one of the used exempla conspicuously departs from the content of this work (and others that she knew) by introducing an episode in which Apollo kills Ganymede, not only in the text itself but also in the iconographic program that accompanies it in the manuscripts. This article tries to draw attention to this unique feature in order to seek some possible explanation.

Dialogue des chapiteaux de l’abside et de l’autel dans l’abbatiale lyonnaise de Saint-Martin d’Ainay

Ainay abbey was one of the main medieval abbeys in Lyon. St Martin’s abbey church was rebuilt during the last decades of the 12th cent. Only two Romanesque capitals in the apse display an iconographic program. Their position on both side of the altar creates a dialogue with liturgical action, also constituting a very scholarly theological commentary on the Eucharistic liturgy. To identify the logic of this performative program, it is therefore necessary to first analyse each image (four per capital), then the links between these images, finally the capitals interactions in relation to the place, the altar and the liturgical practices. Here, as at the cathedral, references to texts date back to the first centuries of the Lyon Church, founded in the 2nd cent.: the two capitals of St. Martin are obviously inspired by the Contra haereses of Irenaeus (late 2nd-early 3rd cent.), second bishop of Lugdunum.

An Iconography of Knowledge: The Façade of the College of San Gregorio in Valladolid

This paper aims to offer a new reading of the iconographic programme of the facade that gives access to the College of San Gregorio in Valladolid (Spain). It is a magnificent late Gothic sculptural design created to ornate the entrance to a Dominican university college of reformed friars. The programme aimed to disseminate a comprehensive metaphor packed with references to fifteenth-century visual culture, as well as to the purpose of the building itself: the search for knowledge.

Doorway to Devotion: Recovering the Christian Nature of the Gosforth Cross

The carved figural program of the tenth-century Gosforth Cross (Cumbria) has long been considered to depict Norse mythological episodes, leaving the potential Christian iconographic import of its Crucifixion carving underexplored. The scheme is analyzed here using earlier exegetical texts and sculptural precedents to explain the function of the frame surrounding Christ, by demonstrating how icons were viewed and understood in Anglo-Saxon England. The frame, signifying the iconic nature of the Crucifixion image, was intended to elicit the viewer’s compunction, contemplation and, subsequently, prayer, by facilitating a collapse of time and space that assimilates the historical event of the Crucifixion, the viewer’s present and the Parousia. Further, the arrangement of the Gosforth Crucifixion invokes theological concerns associated with the veneration of the cross, which were expressed in contemporary liturgical ceremonies and remained relevant within the tenth-century Anglo-Scandinavian context of the monument. In turn, understanding of the concerns underpinning this image enable potential Christian symbolic significances to be suggested for the remainder of the carvings on the cross-shaft, demonstrating that the iconographic program was selected with the intention of communicating, through multivalent frames of reference, the significance of Christ’s Crucifixion as the catalyst for the Second Coming.

National, Regional, or Just Catholic?—Dilemmas of Church Art in a German–Polish Borderland. Upper Silesia, 1903–1953

The rise of nationalism threatened the integrity of the Catholic milieu in borderlands such as Prussian Upper Silesia. Facing this challenge, the ecclesiastical elite developed various strategies. This article presents interpretations of sacred art works from the first half of the 20th century, which reveal different approaches to national discourses expressed in iconographic programs. The spectrum of attitudes includes indifference, active counteraction to the progress of nationalism by promoting a different paradigm of building temporal imagined communities, acceptance of nationalistic metaphysics, which assumes the division of humanity into nations endowed with a unique personality, and a synthesis of Catholicism and nationalism, in which national loyalties are considered a Christian duty. The last position proved particularly expansive. Based on the primordialist concept of the nation and the historiosophical concept of Poland as a bulwark of Christianity, the Catholic-national ideology gained popularity among the pro-Polish clergy in the inter-war period. This was reflected in Church art works, which were to present Catholicism as the unchanging essence of the nation and the destiny of the latter resulting from God’s will. This strategy was designed to incorporate Catholic Slavophones into the national community. The adoption of a different concept of the nation by the pro-German priests associated with the Centre Party—with a stronger emphasis on the subjective criteria of national belonging—resulted in greater restraint in expressing national contents in sacred spaces.

Ways of Seeing Christ the Judge: The Iconography of Christ III and its Visual Context

This article examines the iconographic programme of the Last Judgement scene depicted in Christ III. A notable feature of the poem’s detailed visual programme is the way in which it provides the audience with a single, panoramic vision that encompasses the divergent perspectives of the blessed and the damned. It is on account of this dual perspective that the poem, through its precise use of language and imagery, presents the audience with a bifocal vision of Christ as King of Kings and Judge of the World, in keeping with the words of Revelation 19:16. A detailed analysis of the poem’s imagery, however, suggests that its portrait of Christ as Judge is not only informed by scripture and exegetical sources, but is also indebted to contemporary visual imagery, particularly the depiction of Christ as Majestas Domini, or Christ in Majesty. As a result, and by approaching the poem’s imagery from an iconological perspective, it is argued that the poet of Christ III had a detailed knowledge of contemporary Christological motifs. Furthermore, a careful analysis of the language used to describe the Judgement scene, and particularly the depiction of Christ as Judge, suggests that the poet intentionally seeks to evoke a range of specific visual images in the mind of his audience in order to amplify the poem’s instructive and penitential aims.

La pila bautismal de la catedral de León

The renaissancist bautismal pile of the Cathedral of Leon is decorated with various reliefs that forro an iconographical program based on ideas conected to the sacrament of the Baptism. Thus, the four scenes represent the different types of Baptism. A multiple martyrdom (probably of St. Marcelo and his sons) symbolizes the baptism by blood; the Baptism of Christ alludes to the baptism by water, and the last scene probably simbolizes the baptism by fire. Parallelly, four sculptures representing Moses, St. John the Baptist, and posibly the prophet Isaiah and one Evangelist, have been represented as biblic personages closely related to the idea of baptism. Equally, some formal aspects, like four winged heads or the scalework texture of the pile (probably simbolizing the whale of Jonah and the idea of resurrection) have the same intention. Finally, the presence of the nobiliary shield of the patron of the fond wants to significate the personal glory, fame and honour of the bishop, humanistic values joined to the personal defense of the Sacrament and its theological and liturgical importante.

Orfebrería y liturgía en San Isidoro de León. Custodias y relicarios del siglo XVI

The treasury of San Isidoro of León keeps three magnificent mostrances of the l6th century. Two of them, corresponding to the Early Renaissance, are used as reliquaires of Saint Martino and Saint John Baptist. The change in the function doesn't pose any structural problem; it was taking place as the monastery, which enjoyed a cultural and economic development during the l6th century, owned a more luxurious and adecuate piece for the exposition of the Sacrament. The iconographic program shows, anyway, the original function.

Los esgrafiados del Convento de Nuestra Señora de la Concepción de Villafranca del Bierzo (León)

The convent of La Concepción at Villafranca del Bierzo (León), preserves a decoration of «esgrafiados» in the stairs of the convent. It's a decoration of the 16th Century , in which appears an iconographic program.

Sztuka w kręgu bractw religijnych w Skalbmierzu. Addenda

This paper is an analysis of the religious brotherhoods of Skalbmierz and their Early Modern furnishings. The article discusses both the preserved objects and those known from written sources, with particular emphasis on the recent discoveries made during the restoration works. In the Early Modern era, Skalbmierz was classified as a medium- sized city in Lesser Poland, but due to the collegiate church and the school there, it was an important centre in the region. This is visible, for example, in the case of religious brotherhoods, whose number and activity are impressive, considering thesize of the city. The oldest brotherhoods are the craft guilds that have been listed in Skalbmierz since the mid-15th century. The only remnant of their activity is an altar from around 1700 with images of Saints Cryspin and Cryspinian. The literary brotherhood, listed in 1546, had also an altar in the collegiate church. Unfortunately, both the retable and its settings are known only from brief references in the inventories. The dynamic development of the confraternities in the city took place at the beginning of the 17th century. In this time, the confraternities of the Passion and of St. Anne were established. The first, modelled on the Kraków Archconfraternity of the Passion, had an altar with the image of the Crucifixion in the church (in mid-18th century it was replaced by the present one by provost Antoni Stanclewicz) and a crypt decorated with paintings. The frescoes show brethren in costumes identical to those worn by the Kraków confraternity. The 17th-century chalice belonging to the confraternity, funded by one of the townspeople, has also been preserved. The 17th-century equipment of the brotherhood of St. Anne is known only from written sources and included the altar, paraments and liturgical books. In the mid-18th century, the brethren’s retable was rebuilt, including a picture modelled on the image in the main altar of St. Anne church in Kraków. In the second half of the 17th century, the brotherhood of Our Lady of the Rosary was established, modelled on the confraternity at the Dominican Church in Kraków. The image of Our Lady of the Snow was associated with the brotherhood altar, dated to the mid-18th century. Its careful examination, which was possible thanks to the removal of the silver robe for conservation purposes, indicates that the painting was modelled on the image from the Kraków’s church of The Holy Trinity. A lost painting of Infant Jesus, belonging to the second Rosary brotherhood, was discovered in the same altar. The image contains a complex iconographic program with the Eucharistic meaning, likewise the feretory belonging to the same confraternity with an image based on the Book of Ecclesiastes. In the summary, attention is paid to drawing inspiration from Kraków, which included the transfer of both organizational and artistic patterns, and to the role of the canons who were responsible for the complex iconography and ideological meaning of the works. It is also significant that the equipment was funded by both brethren, townspeople who did not belong to the brotherhoods and canons, which indicates the significant role that the organizations played in the life of the city.

The Iconography of the Altars of St Trinity Church of the Former Bernardine Convent in Kaunas from Seventeenth Century to 1864: The Outline of Research

The Iconography of the Altars of St Trinity Church of the Former Bernardine Convent in Kaunas from Seventeenth Century to 1864: The Outline of Research

ТЕМА ЭККЛЕЗИИ В МОЗАИЧНЫХ КОМПОЗИЦИЯХ РИМСКИХ АПСИД КАК ОТРАЖЕНИЕ КОММУНИКАТИВНЫХ ВИЗУАЛЬНЫХ СТРАТЕГИЙ ПАПСКОЙ ВЛАСТИ

A number of researches in recent years have been aimed at revealing the factors that influenced the iconographic program in the apses of the basilicas in Rome as well as at a new, deeper understanding of the semantics of the depicted themes. The paper is focused on the mosaic compositions in Roman apses; it is intended to demonstrate three typical aspects (liturgical, stylistic and political) of the visual papal strategies that are reflected in the encrypted “messages” of the pontiffs in different times. Both iconographic models and inscriptions within the composition – liturgical texts, quotations from scripture – are studied in the connection with the liturgics. In the context of the stylistic analysis, the author considers the pictorial tools used by the Roman artists, thus trying to reveal their appeal to the heritage of the past. A manifestation of such a reference was reflected, particularly, in the widespread adoption of paleochristian models and schemes, which succeeded the reform of the Church, proclaimed by Gregory VII, and also were connected with the concept of Ecclesia primitiva. The political aspect of visual communication is represented in the selection of images of the Roman Church that appeared in the apse. The author seeks to understand the causality associated with the chosen iconographical program and the historical and political situation.

The Mélusine Romance in Medieval Europe: Translation, Circulation, and Material Contexts by Lydia Zeldenrust

Reviewed by: The Mélusine Romance in Medieval Europe: Translation, Circulation, and Material Contexts by Lydia Zeldenrust Tania M. Colwell lydia zeldenrust, The Mélusine Romance in Medieval Europe: Translation, Circulation, and Material Contexts. Studies in Medieval Romance. Cambridge, UK: D.S. Brewer, 2020. Pp. xii, 272. isbn: 978–1–84384–521–8. £60/$99. Lydia Zeldenrust's fine examination of the Mélusine tradition across fifteenth- and sixteenth-century western Europe is a welcome addition to the scholarship of this romance which also broadens our understanding of the contemporary printing industry. Tracing how the French Mélusine romance acquired its status as a European bestseller through the production of vernacular translations and their transregional circulation in print, this study extends recent discussions highlighting the interdependence of medieval cultural networks beyond the national boundaries conventionally imposed upon studies of literary production (p. 10). The author [End Page 94] supplements her command of at least five medieval languages with an interdisciplinary blend of philological, art historical, and book historical approaches to analyze how linguistic, material, and geographic translations of the romance from French sources transformed the Mélusine tale for new audiences. Zeldenrust examines how translators, printers, and artists re-interpreted and reshaped the romance through the lens of the hybridity characterizing Mélusine and her sons (pp. 3–4). Chapter One analyzes the hybrid nature of Mélusine and her progeny and differences in their portrayals between the French prose Mélusine and poetic Roman de Parthenay. Subsequent chapters each focus on a specific translation context (German, Castilian, Middle Dutch, and Middle English), examining the corpus of surviving texts and likely sources, and bringing new editions to light. They then analyse the impact of the translation and its various reproductions on the re-presentation of Mélusine and her sons. This approach allows chapters to draw attention to both the idiosyncrasies within, and the characteristics shared across, individual translations. Idiosyncrasies in form and content feature among several translations. A particularly distinctive example is Gheraert Leeu's Middle Dutch Meluzine, printed in 1491. This edition integrated episodes from the poetic romance into its translation from a French prose incunabulum, thereby creating a 'complete narrative' of the Mélusine romance (p. 180). Tracing the likely source of woodcuts illustrating these poetic episodes to a German prose edition of the Parthenay romance, Zeldenrust characterises the Middle Dutch translation as the potential product of 'multiple cross-cultural exchanges' taking place across the European print industry in this period (p. 149). In contrast, a textual and iconographic paradox was shared among many of the translations which increasingly dominated their sixteenth-century printed lives: the textual effacement of Mélusine's hybrid nature in the latter stages of the romances was accompanied in the editions by woodcuts depicting the fairy in her half-female, half-serpentine form. The standardization of Mélusine illustration is traced to a textual variation within Thüring von Ringoltingen's 1456 German prose translation of the Parthenay romance, whereby the fairy transforms into a hybrid woman-serpent, and not into the fully serpentine figure of the French source. This unique variation was translated visually into German manuscripts and then into the earliest European edition of the Mélusine romance, Bernhard Richel's 1473–74 Basel incunabulum. The author traces how Richel's iconographic program not only informed later German editions, but subsequently influenced the earliest printed editions of the French, Castilian, Dutch, and possibly, Middle English, narratives. Tracking these iconographic relationships allows Zeldenrust to demonstrate how printed editions were central to circulating, and inspiring new translations of, the Mélusine romances across Europe. This argument is extended by the identification of networks between the European printers responsible for producing these translations, several of whom—such as Juan de Parix and Estevan Cleblat, who published the first Castilian edition of the prose Melosina in 1489—enjoyed close relationships with centers of Germanic and/or French print culture at the end of the fifteenth century. These networks corroborate central [End Page 95] claims about both the significance of the German translation and print industry for the circulation of the Mélusine romance, and the importance of situating European literature within transnational as well...

‘Ekam sad viprā basathudhā vadanti’ - inclusivism - the idea of a reformed Hinduism in the iconographic program of the Birla temples

The fundraising activity initiated by the Birla family in India resulted in the construction of more than 20 Hindu temples, commonly referred to as the Birla Mandirs. Although they vary in terms of architectural forms and iconographic programs it seems, that one basic and common theme remains - to show reformed Hinduism as a religion that is the pillar of the identity of the people of New India. It is understood at the same time as separate but also higher than other great religions, yet assuring a place within its confines for all of them. It is – as the authors argue in this paper - the practical realization of the thought expressed in the Ṛgveda(I 164.46) and repeatedly referred to in the Birla temples as ‘ekam sad viprā bahudhā vadanti’, which seems to be the motto of all foundations of the Birla family.

К ВОПРОСУ ОБ АНТИЧНЫХ СЮЖЕТАХ В ИСКУССТВЕ ДОМОНГОЛЬСКОЙ РУСИ

A narrow range of Byzantine texts, primarily chronographic ones, containing classical themes and images, were translated in Russia starting from the 11th century.These texts became the literary basis of secular and ecclesiastic art. Several iconographic motifs from mythological stories and the “Ascension of Alexander the Great” entered the art of pre-Mongol Russian. Byzantium was the main source of the antique elements in Old Russian culture. Some motifs were also adopted in Old Russia from Romanesque art, through close contact with Western Europe. The tradition of using ancient subjects for the decoration of churches in relief, which was widespread both in Byzantine and in Romanesque art, was continued in Russian monuments. Сlassical subjects on the walls of churches served as apotropaic images, but their symbolism could also include other aspects. Antique motifs are encountered even in the frescoes of monastery churches which followed a strict, ascetic iconographic programme in spite of the general orientation of Old Russian art towards the monastic culture of Byzantium. The author deals with the problem of specific samples. It is unlikely that objects of applied art could have served as models for church sculpture.

ИКОНОГРАФИЯ ЛИТУРГИЧЕСКИХ КОМПОЗИЦИЙ В ПРОГРАММЕ РОСПИСИ НИКОЛЬСКОГО МОРСКОГО СОБОРА В КРОНШТАДТЕ

The painting of the Kronstadt St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral is one of the largest and little-studied monuments of Russian church painting of the early 20th century. Тhe study of the iconographic program of the painting of the cathedral will fill in the gaps in our understanding of the development of Russian art of that period. The article undertakes an iconographic analysis of some compositions united by liturgical symbolism, which brings us closer to a more complete understanding of the artistic method of the authors of the painting.

En parcourant les pages du bréviaire de Grammont. Une petite ballade iconographique

This article examines the iconographic features of the Grammont Breviary, the jewel of the Maredsous library, long entrusted to the care of dom Daniel Misonne. The iconographic programme evolves over time. Rather modest in the first two volumes, it takes on an unsuspected breadth during a second campaign, which correspond to the appointment of a talented illuminator, the Master of Gerard Brilis. This artist uses a system of medallions, placed in the borders of the pages, to hold narrative extensions of the main motif painted in historiated initials. Some of them illustrate biblical accounts or are inspired by hagiographical sources widely known in the Christian world. Others display Old Testament prototypes requiring an in-depth knowledge of typological symbolism. In one case, that of Saint Adrian, patron saint of Grammont, the hitherto unidentified source of the representations must be sought in local legends.

Имперская идеология в задужбинах Душана Сильного и его вельмож в Македонии

The article is devoted to the peculiarities of iconographic programs of the fresco cycles during the reign of Stefan Dusan the Mighty, formed under the influence of the political ideology and imperial ambitions of the Serbian ruler. The annexation of new territories, strengthening of the political ambitions of the Serbian state, and desire of the strongest king in history of Serbia, Stephen Dusan, who declared himself a tsar in 1346, to see his country on an equal footing with the Byzantine Empire, the Serbian Autocephalous Church with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and himself equal with the Byzantine Basileus, brings to the fore the imperial problematic for the art of the entire region. The analysis of the Macedonian fresco ensembles of this period is one of the crucial aspects for a deeper understanding of the evolution of medieval painting in Serbia and Macedonia at the stage when the territories with different historical, political, and ethnic constituents had been included in the Serbian state. This research has been completed with the support of the Russian Science Foundation (RSF), project № 20-18-00294.

Влияние результатов Галицийской операции 1914 г. на специфику развития неорусского стиля на примере археологии и иконографии Фёдоровского городка

The conquest of Galicia, thought as a necessary stage to take the Rusins of the Austro-Hungarian Empire into Russian citizenship, influenced the archaeological and iconographic program of the Fedorov town and the Ratnaya Palata (Martial Chamber), the largest pre-revolutionary neo-Russian monuments. The article proves that the Galician operation and the Battle of Łódź had symbolic significance for the renewal of the Martial Chamber exposition, with the former standing for fearlessness in the face of both military and civil dangers. It meant the need to equip the Slavic world not only on the imperial principles of subordination of different peoples to the emperor, but also on the national pre-Peterian ones, when the Slavs, including the Rusins, had a common language and a understanding of symbols. The Battle of Łódź meant a miracle to which even enemies submit. Both ideas, “peace” and “miracle”, turned out to be key in the development of a complex iconographic program of paintings and interior of the Fedorov town, so that its real meaning became clear only after the Emperor had visited the construction site and talked to the artists. The analysis of the original documents on this visit, including the recordings of the tsar’s dialogues, as well as the insightful contemporary reflections by the poet Stratanovsky, demonstrates that the Fedorov town represents a complex dialectical synthesis of imperial and national styles, different from the national romanticism, which makes the reduction of the Fedorov town to national romanticism untenable. On the contrary, the images and symbols from the architecture and books related to the first Romanovs were updated by the First World War. The new program of Slavic unification differed from the periovious projects and required a special approach to the unification. Quoting the contexts of religiosity of Russian symbolism and the influence of artistic impressionism clarifies this program and specifies how Nicholas II thought the future of the Russian people, including Rusins, shortly before the political catastrophe of February 1917.