medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
As a part of another problem, I decided that my concept of the meaning of
"iconography" was not clear. On the web I found that "iconography" in the
Greek and other Orthodox churches developed far earlier than in the Latin
Church. In this development the "icon" was symbolic of the whole in many
cases. The exact composition of the painted icon representing a religious
theme had been established quite early, and was copied faithfully by later
artists.
However, in the West and North, the domain of the Latin Church,
"iconography" did not establish a common concept of the symbolic content of
the religious painting until Ripa published in 1593. Winnowing links on the
Web located the following item;
"The Iconologia of Cesare Ripa was conceived as a guide to the symbolism in
emblem books. It was very influential in the 17th century and went through a
number of editions. There were 9 Italian editions -1593, 1603, 1611, 1613,
1618, 1625, 1630, 1645, 1764-7 and 8 non Italian editions in other
languages, 1644 French, 1644 Dutch, 1699 Dutch, 1704 German, 1709 English,
1760 German, 1766 French and 1779 English. Both the text and the emblems
included in these editions varies greatly, and later editions use Ripa's
idea, rather than following his text. The text transcribed here by Rawn
Clark is an extract taken from a manuscript in the British Library Ms. Add
23195. Although it does not contain alchemical material as such, it does
provide keys to the allegorical symbolism used in the hermetic tradition.
http://www.levity.com/alchemy/iconolog.html"
It seems likely that there were no concrete guidelines for medieval artist
in composing a religious theme until ten or twelve versions of the Biblia
Pauperum were blockprinted in the 1460's. The illustrations of the hand
drawn Biblia Pauperum found in the facsimile of the fifty page version,
take on different compositional arrangements, perhaps due the individual
artist, perhaps derived from lost manuscripts.
The only earlier information I have found is the following item
M. R. James, "Pictor in Carmine", Archaeologia, XCIV, (1951), 141-66. The
anonymous author of an early 13th century manuscript written in England
"Pictor in Carmine" was of the opinion that the wall-paintings in the
churches that he was familiar with should be for the edification of the
viewer, both religious and lay. He said:
"For since the eyes of our contemporaries are apt to be caught by a pleasure
that is not only vain, but even
profane, and since I did not think that it would be easy to do away
altogether with the meaningless paintings in
churches, especially in cathedral and parish churches, where public stations
take place, I think it an excusable
concession that they should enjoy at least that class of pictures which, as
being the books of the laity, can suggest
divine things to the unlearned, and stir up the learned to the love of the
scriptures."
The anonymous author then gave a list of the religious themes that he
thought proper for the decoration if the church. He did not dictate the
composition of the wall painting.
I believe that we should consider with care any assumptions as to the
iconographic content of the Romanesque and Gothic paintings in Northern
Europe. There are a great number of wall paintings the churches of medieval
Denmark, and more are found in Sweden, Norway and Finland. Perhaps parts of
present day Germany should be included since medieval Denmark included
Schleswig and Holstein. For myself, I plan to use "Latin iconography" in my
discussions to indicate that my conclusions are limited to the depictions of
themes in Western and Northern Europe from 1000-1600.
Thanks to all for help in the past
Jim
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