medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Brenda,
I rather suspect that Rublev would have wanted his icon used rather than preserved; or
rather, that he would have placed conservation issues in the hands of God rather than some
merely mortal conservator. This is, indeed, a familiar quandry. After storm damage at
Chartres Cathedral in 1836, the cathedral authorities sought somebody to restore the
splendid early 13th-century north transept rose and the lancets below it, which had been
damaged. The restoration of stained glass was at that time a pretty rough-and-ready affair,
and the restorer Eugene Thevenot proposed to replace about 3/4 of the glass with his own
remade replacements, so that -- in his view -- the renewed and, thus, newly legible imagery
could be used, once again, in the "proper" way, by the Catholic faithful. Fortunately, the local
authorities put their collective feet down and did not approve of this extreme measure, but
there survives in the French Archives Nationales a fascinating correspondence between the
two parties, in which an outraged Thevenot, referring to himself as a "Catholic artist",
accused the cathedral authorities of having a "religion of stone" for their efforts to preserve
their medieval heritage. For my part, I applaud the cathedral authorities in this affair. No
glimmerings of medieval spirituality are contained in most of the Neo-Gothic fabrications of
the 19th century, and to the extend that restoration, or a replacement, is confused or taken
for "the real thing", not only is history is being re-written, but a valuable -- and inspirational --
part of the Christian past is being erased. Dogmatic insistence on destroying a timeless work
of art -- and a timeless work of spirituality -- for the sake a momentary insistence on the
institutional "rights" or "prerogatives" of the church is not simply stupid but represents a form
of spiritual blindness.
Cheers,
Jim
On 23 Nov 2008 at 0:09, Ms B M Cook wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
> culture
>
> This is one of those dreadful situations where two concepts - equally
> vaild concepts - of the "good" come into head-on collision. The desire
> of the historians / concervationists to preserve the object at all
> costs versus the desire of the pious to employ the object for the
> purpose for which it was created. It's a balance between the good it
> does to the scholar and the good it does to the pilgrim. I think you
> have to ask yourself: "What would Rublev himself have wanted ? What
> was his intention when he created it ?" All created things are finite.
>
> Brenda.
>
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
> culture In a letter to the head of the State Tretyakov Gallery in
> Moscow the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Alexius II
> requested a loan of one of the most famous Russian icons, the
> (Old-Testament) Trinity by Andrey Rublev (ca. 1410-20) (see, e.g.,
> here:http://www.rollins.edu/Foreign_Lang/Russian/rutrin.jpg). The
> icon is to be taken to St. Sergius Lavra, which it had originally
> been painted for, for the feast of Pentecost in July 2009. It is to
> be exhibited for three days in the local cathedral full of incense,
> burning candles, and innumerable pilgrims who will undoubtedly wish
> not just to venerate from afar but also to touch and to kiss the
> holy image, which is bound to affect the icon in one or another way.
>
>
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