METALWORK AND PAINTING
NICHOLAS OF VERDUN.
Klosterneuburg Altar.
1181.
(details)
 |
 |
 |
|
Eve Hands Adam the Apple; the
Snake Has a Crowned Woman's Head |
Noah's Ark and the Return of the
Dove |
Crucifixion |
| |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
The Circumcision of Isaac |
The Second Coming, Christ Orders
Two Angels to Begin the Partition of Souls |
Ascension of Elijah |
| |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Angels of the Ressurection |
The Circumcision of Samson |
Judas' Kiss |
| |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
The Nativity |
Christ Sits in Judgement,
Saints Carry the Implements of His Passion |
Celestial Jerusalem |
| |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Christ's Descent into Hell |
Entombment of Christ |
Circumcision of Jesus |
| |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Descent from the Cross |
Agnus Pascalis |
Deposition |
| |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Resurrection |
Last Supper |
Moses Guides the Children of
Israel Through the Red Sea |
CARMINA BURANA.
|
This last aspect is reflected particularly in such
lighthearted poetry as the well-known Carmina Burana, composed during
the later twelfth century and preserved in an illuminated manuscript of the early thirteenth. That a
collection of verse devoted largely, and at times all too frankly, to
the delights of nature, love, and drinking should have been embellished
with illustrations is significant in itself. We are even more surprised,
however, to find that one of the miniatures (fig. 442), coupled with a
poem praising spring, represents a landscape—the first, so far as we
know, in Western art since late classical times.
Echoes of ancient landscape painting, derived from Early Christian and
Byzantine sources, can be found in Carolingian art (see figs. 388 and
389), but only as background for the human figure. Later on, these
remnants had been reduced still further, even when the subject required
a landscape setting. For example, the Garden of Eden on Bernward's doors
(see fig. 397) is no more than a few strangely twisted stems and bits of
foliage. Thus the Carmina Burana illustrator, called upon to depict the
life of nature in summertime, must have found the task a rather
perplexing one. It has been solved in the only way possible at the time:
by filling the page with a sort of anthology of Romanesque plant
ornament interspersed with birds and animals.
The trees, vines, and flowers remain so abstract that we cannot identify
a single species. The birds and animals, probably copied from a
zoological treatise, are far more realistic. Yet they have an uncanny
vitality of their own that makes them seem to sprout and unfold as if
the growth of an entire season were compressed into a few frantic
moments. These giant seedlings convey the exuberance of early summer, of
stored energy suddenly released, far more intensely than any normal
vegetation could. Our artist has created a fairytale landscape, but his
enchanted world nevertheless evokes an essential underlying reality.
442. Page with
Summer landscape,
from a manuscript of Carmina Burana.
Early 13th century. 7
x 4'/s" (17.8
x 12.5
cm).
Baverische Staatsbibliothek, Munich
|
|
