JISCMail - MEDIEVAL-RELIGION Archives

Genevra's pictures are superb and her comments insightful, as always.

However, in the context of the Royal Portal, identifying draped hands as a sign of the sanctity of the held object raises awkward ambiguities. If an object in draped hands deserves greater reverence, respect or sanctity than one held in bare hands, then what are we to make of the books and scrolls held by two other bare handed angels in the same archivolt, and of the ones in the bare hands of the apostles in the lintel? Is this artwork saying that some texts, including presumably, the sacred texts of the barehanded apostles, are somehow less sacred or less deserving of respect than certain others? Furthermore, what are we to make of the items held in draped hands by other angels in the same archivolt, that scholars have identified as astrolabes? Are we to understand these astronomical instruments as more sacred or deserving of greater reverence than the texts held by the barehanded apostles and barehanded angels? Something quite out of the ordinary is going-on with these draped hands and I'm not satisfied it has only to do with greater or lesser sanctity.

Here I turn to Frank's insight and question the masons' or artists' motives for the selectivity of their drapery. If the artists' selections or choices for drapery are not motivated by a desire to communicate sanctity, then what are they driving at with their choices?

I think the answer in this context is not the sanctity but the time. This artwork depicts the great moment of Adventus - the Second Coming at the end of time. Finally, after millennia of anticipation, this is THE moment in time when ALL is finally revealed. I think the objects in bare hands represent things revealed in time past - the Old and New testament texts in the apostles bare hands, for example. I think the objects in the draped hands represent things never revealed before now - the moment at the end of time. The hand drapery is a symbol not of sanctification but of revelation. We see here acts of "undraping," acts of unveiling, acts of unwrapping, acts of unsealing, in brief, acts of revelation.

The astrolabe in medieval days was an instrument of timekeeping. Their presence here indicates to me the notion of time and of the tracking of time, day to day, season to season, age to age by means of tracking the movements of heavenly bodies - stars and planets within the zodiac using astronomy - images of which appear in the sculptures over the adjacent doors. The undraping or unveiling of the astrolabes indicates the end of this tracking, the end of these movements, the end of time. The timing of this moment is finally unveiled only at the time of its happening - the Second Coming.

Thanks to Genevra's keen perception I now see my mysterious angelic attribute is a scroll. And thanks to Frank's insightful question I can understand how it and its drapery fit into the overall Adventus theme of the Royal Portal. Thank you all for your help.

Rick

On Thu, May 7, 2015 at 10:48 AM, Genevra Kornbluth <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

It is common for angels to hold things (or prepare to hold things) with covered hands, the sign of respect mentioned by Harm. Sometimes part of the robe is used, and sometimes separate cloths. Compare, for example,
http://www.KornbluthPhoto.com/Angels2.html
row 2 nos. 1-2, row 3 no. 1, row 4 no. 3, row 5 no. 4
(Images of the Baptism of Christ are problematic in this regard, as the cloths on the angels' hands could also be there to let the catechumen dry off!)
Others also carry things with covered hands. A few early examples:
http://www.KornbluthPhoto.com/SantApollinareNuovo.html (just about everyone)
http://www.KornbluthPhoto.com/ArianBapt.html (Apostles, including Paul with scroll)
Left hands frequently hold objects while right hands gesture (often blessing).
Angels often rise from conventionalized clouds, generally signifying the heavenly realm.
best,
Genevra

On 5/7/2015 9:26 AM, H.J.M.J. Goris wrote:
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

Could it be that the angel holding the scroll has his hand covered either out of reverence (think of Byzantine servants offering objects to the emperor or empress with their hands veiled) or – more prosaic – because it was custom to handle delicate scrolls not by bare hands (think of us using gloves when handling old parchments). I have no idea. I found some examples of men/saints holding a scroll in a veiled hand in a 14^th century Book of Hours from Liege: http://www.thedigitalwalters.org/Data/WaltersManuscripts/html/W37/description.html

Harm Goris

senior lecturer systematic theology

School of Catholic Theology (Utrecht campus)

Tilburg University, the Netherlands

phone: +31-13-466 3821

Office: Nieuwegracht 65, Utrecht

Postal address: P.O. Box 80101, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands

From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Frank Morgret
Sent: donderdag 7 mei 2015 14:41
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] Angelic Attribute

medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

Genevra,

I hesitate to enter this discussion for I am quite ignorant of medieval art. That admitted, I think you are right, Genevra.

If we look at the bottom of the angel we see waves of rock which I think may help us. Revelations 10 describes an angel with a little opened scroll in his hand, coming down from heaven. He places one foot on the sea and one foot on land (vv 1&2). I see the angel as in the act of descending and the figure in front as ? ? ?.

But please. Don't take my word for it. Genevra knows far more than my smidgeon. Or you might ask the mason who did this fascinating piece of art.

Definitely a shot in the dark from

Frank

/05/2015 12:26 AM, Genevra Kornbluth wrote:

medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
To me, the object looks like a partially unrolled scroll. The top of the object, held in front of the wing on the viewer's right, is composed of a roughly cylindrical part with an extension curling around behind it. The edge of the curling extension appears just to our right of the main cylindrical part. Everything below that is hidden by the angel's veiled proper left hand. The edge of the drapery covering that hand is pulled tight by the other hand, looking somewhat like a stick, but if you look carefully you will see that small folds radiate out from behind the knuckles of the proper right hand. Those folds demonstrate that what the hand grasps is in fact drapery. (To see any of this detail, you have to click on the largest version of the photo.)
A book in scroll form would be a logical counterpart for a book in codex form above.
Genevra

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