Testament Scenes Research Articles

Motiv blagovesti kao biblijski podtekst u poeziji Ivana V. Lalića

Ivan V. Lalić, a poet who marked the last decades of the 20th century, belongs to the group of highly religious poets of the neo-symbolist movement. In the existing criticism, the biblical subtext of his poetry has been noticed, but some moments have not been given suf-fi-cient attention. And while the motif of Annunciation is much noticed and covered in criticism, some other theophanic aspects have been given little or no attention, even though they are precisely the context for proper understanding of Lalić's understanding of Annunciation. These are Old Testament scenes, primarily related to the forefather Abraham, Jacob, the exodus and the three young men in the fiery furnace. The author of the article devotes himself to these scenes, bringing them into connection with Lalić's understanding of Annunciation as a kind of point of resolution of cosmic, historical and personal tensions.

Rembrandt – Biblical Interpreter

Aim. This article seeks to show that Rembrandt is the most profound, comprehensive and reliable interpreter – not an illustrator – of the Old Testament: "His ability… makes him one of the great visual interpreters of Scripture… a theologian not by academic degree but in his very nature” (Parker, 1994, p. 28). It is the purpose of this article to demonstrate the acute difference between Rembrandt’s depictions of Old Testament events and those by other artists who merely converted the overtly stated text in the Holy Bible into the visual medium. Methods. The case for claiming that Rembrandt interpreted rather than merely depicted the Old Testament will be made by analysing five of his works and the comparison to others portraying the same events. Rembrandt’s unique methods and techniques such as adding or omitting certain figures or details, using chiaroscuro extensively and deviating from expected iconography will be demonstrated as he unearths the core significance of each event. Results. This article manifests how Rembrandt whose production of artwork relating to Old Testament scenes was prolific did not merely depict Old Testament scenes but rather interpreted the deeper, psychological meanings of the subjects involved and events portrayed, exhibiting a profound understanding of the messages in the original Hebrew text. Conclusion. The article unfolds Rembrandt’s significant artistic accomplishments surpassing those who preceded or succeeded him. It reveals the different means he used in each painting expressing its high point according to Old Testament interpretation rather than through the prism of the New Testament.

«ПРЕМУДРОСТЬ БОЖИЯ» В МОЗАИКАХ СОБОРА МОНРЕАЛЕ

As special devotional image among the Montreal Cathedral mo- saics is dedicated to the personification of the Wisdom of God on the east side of the arch that separates the central nave from the transept. The Wisdom is depicted as a queen-like wife with her hands raised in prayer, entitled SAPIEN- TIA DEI. Below on the sides of the arch the Archangels Gabriwl and Michael are adoring her. The image is located at the beginning of the Old Testament scenes on the walls of the nave. A personification of the Wisdom of God as a queen-like wife is not known in the Byzantine art of the 11 th – 12 th centuries but is found among Roman min- iatures. This depiction is similar to personifications of the Church in Roman and early Byzantine monumental painting. It is difficult to tell the difference without an inscription. A Roman example could be used by Byzantine artists of the Monreale as а model. The image in the Monreale may be considered as personification of both Wisdom and the Church. Such double personification is found in Medieval images.

Anachronism at Work: Villains and Enemies as Turks in Early Modern Religious Art in Genoa and Liguria

In western Early Modern imaginaire, the Ottoman enemy was often perceived, at a symbolic level, as the quintessence of threat and persecution against the Catholic faith. Figures of ‘Turks’, identified by way of easily recognizable attributes (such as the turban), were therefore substituted for other, radically different characters in a plurality of visual narratives. In a semantically significant anachronism, Turks populated Old and New Testament scenes as well as the depictions of the martyrdoms of Christians persecuted by the Romans in the first centuries. In parallel, the same attributes were also sometimes superimposed on the figures of other, contemporary enemies of the faith, who lacked an established iconographic tradition of their own: namely the Protestant ‘heretics’. This paper aims to illustrate this visual device through a selection of significant case studies taken from the territory of the Republic of Genoa, a state characterized by a long-standing involvement in the fight against Ottoman forces and Barbary corsairs.

Teológiai érvelések, hitoktatás és misztériumábrázolás a 18. századi csíksomlyói ferences színpadon (2.)

In the grammar school of Csíksomlyó (Șumuleu Ciuc), a Franciscan site of Marian pilgrimage in Transylvania, 104 school plays were produced by the pupils between 1721 and 1786. These were predominantly mysteries in the vernacular: Good-Friday Passions, Judgement-Day Dramas and the odd play for Corpus Christi Day or the Assumption. This annual tradition of education as well as pastoral care preserved the characteristics of mediaeval West European mysteries for the longest time and in the farthest geographical location. This paper addresses the question of how these mysteries presented theological or dogmatic facts as staged Poor Man’s Bibles, that is, theatrical catechesis. The first part examines the 106 types of New Testament scenes and their 71 Old Testament antitypes. The following Roman Catholic dogmas were staged in Csíksomlyó: the Trinity; the Creation of the World; the Fall of the Devils; the Fall of Humanity; the Incarnation of the Christ (the so-called Heavenly Trial, Proces de Paradis); the Immaculate Conception, Virginity, Assumption, and Intercession of the Virgin Mary (Maria Advocata); the doctrine of the Eucharist. The theological teachings were cast in the form of human and allegorical figures and presented by the grammar-school students to a numerous and predominantly illiterate audience on a three-level stage, in mother-tongue performances of illustrative verse, in a style adequately sacred as well as easy to comprehend.

Women Accompanying Virgin Mary in Crucifixion Scenes: A Study in the New Testament Scenes

Christ’s salvation was represented in Crucifixion scenes; though salvation is the core of the Christian dogma, it was rarely represented. The main incident was mentioned in the New Testament in the four gospels with almost the same narration. The Christ is nailed to the cross surrounded by Virgin Mary and a few women accompanying her Mathew 27:55-56, Mark 15:40, Luke 23:49, John 19:25. Earlier researches had studied the crucifixion as a rare scene, but this paper will focus on the female figures who accompanied the virgin during this event and their artistic depictions on icons[1] from the 8th to the 14th centuries. [1]Icons play an important role in the celebrations during festival days and pilgrimages; like the feasts of the Holy Cross, Palm Sunday, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost; on Good Friday the priest envelops the icon of the Crucifixion in a white veil of linen and places it on the altar (Gawdat, 2009).

Teológiai érvelések, hitoktatás és misztérium- ábrázolás a 18. századi csíksomlyói ferences színpadon (1.)

In the grammar school of Csíksomlyó (Șumuleu Ciuc), a Franciscan site of Marian pilgrimage in Transylvania, 104 school plays were produced by the pupils between 1721 and 1786. These were predominantly mysteries in the vernacular: Good-Friday Passions, Judgement-Day Dramas and the odd play for Corpus Christi Day or the Assumption. This annual tradition of education as well as pastoral care preserved the characteristics of mediaeval West European mysteries for the longest time and in the farthest geographical location. This paper addresses the question of how these mysteries presented theological or dogmatic facts as staged Poor Man’s Bibles, that is, theatrical catechesis. The first part examines the 106 types of New Testament scenes and their 71 Old Testament antitypes. The following Roman Catholic dogmas were staged in Csíksomlyó: the Trinity; the Creation of the World; the Fall of the Devils; the Fall of Humanity; the Incarnation of the Christ (the so-called Heavenly Trial, Proces de Paradis); the Immaculate Conception, Virginity, Assumption, and Intercession of the Virgin Mary (Maria Advocata); the doctrine of the Eucharist. The theological teachings were cast in the form of human and allegorical figures and presented by the grammar-school students to a numerous and predominantly illiterate audience on a three-level stage, in mother-tongue performances of illustrative verse, in a style adequately sacred as well as easy to comprehend.

Библейские мотивы и образы в поэзии Е. И. Кострова

<p>The article analyzes the peculiarities of biblical motifs and images in E. I. Kostrov’s works. In his odes the poet often refers to the Old Testament scenes and images through the prism of a Christian aspect. Kostrov considers ancient and the Old Testament subjects in the light of the Christian and Orthodox tradition. The poet attributes a Christian sound to the secular genre of the ode, saturating his works with the motifs of the Holy Scriptures. Kostrov often uses the concept of “meekness” emphasizing the sanctity of the Orthodox power, which gets commandments of mercy and humility from God leading to spiritual salvation. The motif of two paths — the unholy and righteous ones — becomes cross-cutting in Kostrov’s poetry. The path of Russia corresponds to the latter one. The motif of divine light descending into the world and eradicating the darkness is the motif of the people “chosen by God”. According to Kostrov, not the Jews but the Russians are such a people. Working with the texts of the Psalms, Kostrov introduces his own motifs, shows his individuality, reveals his own experiences and doubts, and disagrees with some ideas of his era. Christian ideals of meekness and non-violence are the main values in E. I. Kostrov’s poetry.</p>

Erken Bizans Dönemi Resimli Dini El Yazmaları

The subject of this study is the Early Byzantine Period Illuminated Theological Manuscripts. The primary aim of this study is to identify and classify the themes of Early Byzantine Period illuminated theological manuscripts, analyzing and comparing their styles accordingly, presenting the production materials and determining their place of production. During the museum and library research the Quedlinburg Itala (Ms. Theol. Lat. fol. 485 / LDAB 8476), Ashburnham Pentateuch (Ashburnham Pentateuch MS nouv. acq. lat. 2334 / LDAB 8110), Rabbula Gospel (Rabbula Gospels Cod. Plut. I,56 / LDAB 115232), Paris Syrian Bible (The Syriac Bible of Paris Cod. syr. 341 / LDAB 115270), St. Augustus Gospel (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 286 / LDAB 7481), British Library Cannon Tables (London, British Library Add MS 5111 / LDAB 7151) and Cotton Genesis (Lond.Cotton Otho B.IV / LDAB 3242) were analyzed at the outset under the title of Early Byzantine Period Illuminated Theological Manuscripts. The Rossano Gospels (Codex Purpureus Rossanensis / LDAB 2990), Sinope Gospel (Codex Purpureus Sinopensis Paris, Suppl. Gr. 1226 / LDAB 2902) and Vienna Genesis (Vindob. Theol. gr. 31 / LDAB 3078) were addressed separately under the title of Early Byzantine Period Purpura Codices. Analyses revealed that presence of the biblical illuminations in Orthodox Byzantine, and even the depiction of the Old Testament scenes without referring to the New Testament as in the Vienna Genesis manuscript samples, is of high importance in terms of the relationship developed between a belief that has just been institutionalized and tradition. The fact that Jewish art bearing traces of Hellenistic culture caused the Old Testament plots to be used in Christian themes contains some scientific data with regards to the fact that it shows how geographically, and historically different cultures are articulated.

:Pride and Persecution: Jan Steen’s Old Testament Scenes

:<i>Pride and Persecution: Jan Steen’s Old Testament Scenes</i>

The Sistine Mosaics of S. Maria Maggiore in Rome: Christology and Mariology in the Interlude between the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon

In the present re-reading of the Sistine mosaics of S. Maria Maggiore, which embraces the Old and New Testament scenes in their totality, it will be argued that the iconography is a visual manifestation of the Christology predominating in the Roman Episcopate during the interlude between the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon (AD 431 to 451). The fact that the Old Testament narration opens with the Life of Abraham and concludes, on the opposite wall, with the Battles of Joshua, including a distinct pictorial indication of the position of Rahab, the harlot of Jericho, who became the great-great-grandmother of King David, has led the present author to the suggestion that the lost panels concluding the cycle may have included at least one Davidic scene. Such a scene would have extolled the soteriological meaning of the human nature of Christ, “the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” (Mt 1:1), thoughts expounded by Leo the Great in his Tomus ad Flavianum, which laid the ground for the Chalcedonian Council. By the same token the thesis will be advanced that, on the triumphal arch, the matron in the blue maphorion, who sits on Christ’s left side, counterbalancing the Virgin in the Adoration of the Magi scene, may be a personification of the women in the genealogical line of Jesus Christ listed in the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 1:1-16). The two women counterpoised in the Adoration scene would thus exalt and substantiate the Gentile, non-Jewish, contribution to the lineage of Our Saviour. The divine providence expressed through these `extraneous´ links in His ancestry (the key figures of whom were the Gentile women Rahab and Ruth), in the story which led to the Descent of the Logos and the Birth of Christ, may have been the underlying, unifying theme in the vast decoration of the basilica.

Byzantine Traits in the Wall Paintings of the Church of Sant’Angelo in Formis

This article is a part of the project that aims at studying the traits of style and images in the works of art created by Byzantine painters or by artists strongly influenced by them in various territories of the Byzantine world at the turn of the 11 th and 12 th centuries. The methods used in the work are cultural and historical, iconographical and stylistic analysis. The church of Sant’Angelo in Formis near Capua was rebuilt and embellished in the time of abbot Desiderius during the 1070s. Its wall paintings were made by South-Italian artists that either adopted their skills from Byzantine painters, probably, from those who worked for Desiderius in the basilica of St Benedict in Montecassino, or followed Byzantine models. However, the style of the wall paintings, which manifests some similarity to Byzantine works of art, is par excellence Romanesque. Byzantine influence is much more evident in their iconography. Thus, the composition in the apse reminds of illustrations to the Gospel Prologues. The image of the Last Judgment in the western wall, in spite of a number of differences, is more similar to the mosaic of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta in Torcello or to the miniatures of the Tetraevangelion (BN, gr. 74), than to works of Western art. The Old Testament scenes, which were not placed in pendant to those from the New Testament, as it was often done, but quite separately from them, are based on the Byzantine (illustrations of the Octateuchs) or Early Christian, most often Roman models. Sometimes the layouts used for the New Testament scenes are not the ones that were most widespread; nevertheless, we may find their counterparts in Byzantine art, especially among the miniatures and works of applied arts. In many cases the border between Byzantine sources, motifs common both for Eastern and Western art, and details harking back to the Early Christian tradition can hardly be established.

Christian decoration on adornments: the example of Merovingian plates-buckles from Burgundia

Among Merovingian belt trimmings, a particular group is noted for its Christian decorations. These buckleplates are made of a rectangular plate of copper alloy or of bone materials, traditionally attributed to Burgundia because of the numerous items found there. Without denying the prominent role of that region, South of Gaul produced similar items. This paper intends to call attention to the most interesting trimmings and those which have benefited from recent studies. They are grouped into three sets according to their iconography: the griffin theme, Old Testament themes, and New Testament scenes. Finally, we briefly mention issues about the significance of this iconography, the owners of the buckle-plates and their manufacturing.

Funerary iconography and its signification in christianization context of the Early Christian world

This article deals with the beginnings of Christian art in the 3rd century. It analyses possible reasons for the choice of the themes and asks after the commissioners of catacomb paintings and sarcophagi. The most frequent themes in catacombs and sarcophagi are compared and examined with respect to similarities and differences. The sequence of images of Peter is a peculiarity of the sarcophagi and can be explained by the will and the self-concept of the commissioners, who very often were from the upper class of society. The deliberate turning away from themes borrowed from pagan art and the choice of a thematic focus on New Testament scenes show that the commissioners of sarcophagi belonged to an intellectual elite. Gold glasses with Christian images, produced contemporarily with the catacomb paintings and the sarcophagi, vary flamboyantly in the choice of numerous images of saints. Possibly their choice was determined by the use of these glasses in the context of celebrations of martyrs and of the Refrigerium, as some inscriptions indicate. Nevertheless, they were also used in a domestic context.

"An Air of Grandeur &amp; Modesty": James Thornhill's Painting in the Dome of St. Paul's Cathedral

James Thornhill's eight New Testament scenes in the inner dome of St. Paul's Cathedral constitute one of the most ambitious displays of painting in British art. However, the scheme's "decorative" associations mean that it has consistently fallen between two disciplines—disliked by architectural historians and overlooked by historians of eighteenth-century painting in equal measure. Combining previously unpublished documentary evidence with a fresh analysis of Thornhill's painting, this essay proposes a new understanding of the later stages in the rebuilding and decoration of St. Paul's, and points to the pictorial sophistication behind the apparent simplicity of the artist's designs.

‘A New Kind of Printing’: Cutting and Pasting a Book for a King at Little Gidding

This article describes the harmonized gospel made by the Ferrar family at Little Gidding for King Charles I, c. 1635. This book, one of several of its kind, was made by cutting out printed materials and assembling the pieces into a single, illustrated narrative of the four gospels. The king’s book is particularly complex, employing three complementary methods of displaying the harmonized gospel accounts. As with the Ferrars’ other gospel books, it uses images not only of gospel scenes but also of typologically-related Old Testament scenes. The article pays particular attention to the textual materials used in the book. First, it identifies the particular editions used, which include a Cambridge gospel harmony and, surprisingly, an Edinburgh New Testament printed by Robert Young in 1633, the year of Charles's Scottish coronation, suggesting that a courtier or the king himself may have played a part in supplying that edition to the Ferrars. Second, it relates the layout and apparatus of these editions to those of the Little Gidding books, noting that while the Ferrars dismantled one layout to make a new one, their books in important ways take up the textual work of the original editions while adding the meditative affect (and political danger) of Roman Catholic images.

Holy Sepulchre of the Cathedral in Zagreb and Baroque Typological Iconography

Sarcophagus of the Holy Sepulchre of the Zagreb Cathedral was made in 1659 in the relief gold embroidery technique. His author was a German embroiderer from Ingolstadt, Wolfgang Jakob Stoll. This iconographical conception follows the medieval model that had been popularized, for example, by Biblia pauperum. This paper will analyze the specific quality of the Zagreb’s variant of this iconographical model and will point out the importance of the graphical models in the distribution of certain Testament scenes.

De Calvarieberg van Philips Wouwerman herontdekt

AbstractSince the 1993 publication, in this journal, of an article about Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668), little new information about the artist has emerged. There have been some shorter publications and recently a monograph with a catalogue raisonné of Wouwerman. The 1993 article discussed roughly two dozen dated works. In addition there are a few references to dated paintings in old sale catalogues. Among these was a Calvary, known to be dated 1651. This painting has recently been rediscovered (fig. i). It is in excellent condition and forms an important addition to the artist's known work, not only because it is dated, but also because its biblical subject is unusual for the artist. The crucifixion itself is given a relatively modest place in the composition. It is possible that an engraving by Lucas van Leyden inspired Wouwerman when he painted the scene. Stylistically the painting fits with Wouwerman's other works from around 1652. Certain aspects of the composition are reminiscent of his earlier work, but the rendering of landscape and figures, and the use of colour arc characteristic of his canvases from the period 1652-1654, for example Peasants making merry in front of an inn of 1653, now in Minneapolis (fig. 2) and the Peasant wedding in the Samuel Collection at the Mansion House, London. The painting was probably sold at auction in Amsterdam in 1709, together with two other New Testament scenes by Wouwerman, and a Crucifixion of 1661 by Karel du Jardin. Hofstede de Groot noted that the latter work and Wouwerman's Calvary were paintcd in response to a competition announced by the Count of Wassenaar, but this seems untenable. If both pieces were indeed painted for one collector, it seems more likely that this was Jacob Cromhout from Amsterdam. The rediscovery of the Calvary adds important information to our picture of Wouwerman and reminds us that he was not just a successful painter of horse scenes. It also provided a helpful reference point for the chronology of his mostly undated work.

Old Testament figures in art

Throughout the Middle Ages, sacred Christian art had two objectives: to express veneration for God and to provide illustrative lessons on the Christian faith to a largely illiterate population. Continuing in the spirit of the other books in this series, Old Testament Figures in Art compiles entries on key figures and events in the Old Testament, beginning with the Pentateuch, then drawing from the historical books, the books of wisdom and poetry, and, finally, the prophetic books. The vivid illustrations depict Old Testament scenes that occur most frequently as iconographic prototypes in Western art. Among the masterpieces featured are The Entry of Animals into Noah's Ark by Jan Brueghel the Elder, The Sacrifice of Isaac by Rembrandt, Samson and Delilah by Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob Wrestling with the Angel by Paul Gaugin, and Isaac Receiving Rebekah as His Wife by Marc Chagall. The accompanying texts illuminate the unique ways in which Old Testament subjects have been portrayed in Western art throughout the ages. To complement the many scriptural references, this handy volume also offers comparisons with other cultures whose stories or myths parallel those represented in the book.

Excising the Virgin Mary from the Civic Life of Tudor York

HAVING BACKED THE WRONG SIDE in the concluding battle of the Wars of the Roses and lost their long time patron, Richard III, the Corporation went to extraordinary lengths to conciliate Henry VII on his first visit to York in the spring of 1486. After a grand reception at Micklegate Bar, during the royal progress to the Guildhall the authorities staged a series of pageants featuring Ebrauke, the mythical founder of the city, and two exemplary kings from the Old Testament, Solomon and David. The celebrations reached their climax in Stonegate with an appearance of none other than Our Lady. Because York had made her 'ther meane withoutin obieccion/ In hope of ther help to have it holy', Mary assured Henry I shall sew to my sone to send you his grace For this citie a place of my pleasing And have you no drede nor no dowting, Continuall heir in this reynyng. Then she ascended 'again into heaven with angel song' in a cloud 'of waffrons [wafers] in manner of snow'. The incident demonstrates how at the beginning of the Tudor period veneration of the Virgin seemed to be woven into the very fabric of the city's life, yet within a century outside the recusant community the special devotion had entirely vanished. This paper will attempt both to assess the strength of the cult and explore some of the forces responsible for its eradication.l York inhabitants had long been accustomed to seeing dramatic representations of the Virgin in their streets every year on Corpus Christi day. In addition to the New Testament scenes of the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Purification, the Flight into Egypt, Christ with the Doctors in the Temple, the Crucifixion, the Ascension and the Descent of the Holy Spirit in which Mary played a prominent part, between Pentecost and the Last Judgement the York Cycle contained three apocryphal Marian interludes based in part on the Golden Legend, The Death, Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin.2 These three dramas portray Mary as a very human figure using her influence as his mother to persuade her Son to favour her adherents. The Death of the Virgin opens with Gabriel announcing that within three days Christ will summon her to paradise. Mary tells John the news, and the other disciples are miraculously transported to her bedside to witness her departure. Before she dies Mary beseeches Jesus to advance her kinsfolk, to protect all sea farers who call upon her in their hour of need, and