Medieval Academy of America

Altarpieces, Liturgy, and Devotion Author(s): Beth Williamson Source: Speculum, Vol. 79, No. 2 (Apr., 2004), pp. 341-406 Published by: Medieval Academy of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20462892 . Accessed: 25/01/2011 19:45
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=medacad. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Medieval Academy of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Speculum.

http://www.jstor.org

Altarpieces, Liturgy, and Devotion

By Beth Williamson

in recent yearsmedievalists inmany disciplines have been considering the culture of religious observance as a physical and spatial phenomenon, as well as an in tellectual, devotional, and visual one. The architecture of themedieval church is now likely to be considered as a matrix of sacred space, and of liturgical and devotional action, rather than simply a designed object, to be fitted in somewhere on a developmental scale from Romanesque to Renaissance.' The interior fur nishings of themedieval church have attracted attention in the same vein.2 Instead of being studied simply for their stylistic qualities, and in relation to the intentions of artists and patrons, objects and images have come to be considered in new ways. Under the influence of reception theory, and related interpretative frame works, viewers' and users' experiences of these images and objects have become amuch more important aspect of art-historical research. The consideration of church buildings and furnishings in thisway obviously has potential interest for a much wider range of medievalists beyond those tra ditionally considered as art historians or architectural historians. As a result, the objects and images associated with medieval liturgical and devotional culture are

in a short paper The present study originated at the International given Thirty-Fifth Congress at Princeton version ofthat paper was presented Image Word: Papers or Devotional

on the London on Medieval

National Studies

Firescreen Madonna Gallery's in Kalamazoo in 2000. A longer

in 2001 and was subsequently as "Liturgical published in Objects, of the Firescreen," Image? The London Madonna Images, and the Art in the Service of the Liturgy, Art Occasional ed. Colum Hourihane, Index of Christian 6 (Princeton, N.J., versions of this present, more developed, Different 2003), pp. 298-318.

in 2001 at research seminars at Warwick the Institute of Historical study were presented University, to the organizers I am grateful in and University and participants Research, London, College London. Iwould for their observations like to thank the anonymous those seminars readers and suggestions. for Speculum, Emma Dillon, Donal Richard Marks, and Susie Nash for reading and com Cooper, menting 1 upon earlier drafts of this article. (Oslo, 1984); Rome: Basilica

in and Liturgy Archiv f?r Li zu 32 (1991), 1-34; Albert Gerhards, "Der Kirchenraum als 'Liturgie' Anregungen turgiewissenschaft von Kunst und Kirche," einem anderen Dialog in Heiliger in Raum: Architektur, Kunst und Liturgie mittelalterlichen Kathedralen und Stiftskirchen, ed. Franz Kohlschein and Peter W?nsche (M?nster, as Liturgical in The Liturgy Elizabeth 1998), pp. 225-42; Parker, "Architecture Setting," of the Me dieval Church, ed. Thomas and E. Ann Matter 2001), pp. 273-326. J. Heffernan (Kalamazoo, Mich., 2 Kees van der Ploeg, Art, Architecture in the Middle and Liturgy: Siena Cathedral Ages, Medievalia 11 (Groningen, C. Raguin, Kathryn Brush, and Peter Draper, 1993); Virginia eds., Artistic Groningana as in Gothic Buildings Function (Toronto, 1995); Kees van der Ploeg, "Form as Function, Integration Form: Some Recent Trends in the Study of Italian Art and Architecture of the Middle Ages and the van het Nederlands te Rome 55 (1996), 1-17; Paul Binski, "The Instituut Renaissance," Mededelingen English Parish Church 20 79 (1999), (2004) and Its Art in the Later Middle Ages: A Review of the Problem," Studies in Iconography Speculum 1-25. 341

Staale Sinding-Larsen, and Ritual: A Study of Analytical Iconography Perspectives en architectuur en middeleeuws Sible de Blaauw, Cultus et decor. Liturgie in laatantiek Sanctae Mariae, Sancti Petri (Delft, 1987); Sible de Blaauw, "Architecture Salvatoris, Late Antiquity inModern and the Middle and Trends Ages: Traditions Scholarship,"

342

Altarpieces

increasingly being regarded as legitimate and important types of historical evi dence in their own right.One of themost fruitful types of object thatmedievalists might consider in thisway are the visual images that adorned themedieval church, in particular the class of object known as the altarpiece.And yet, when we try to consider altarpieceswith regard to how theymight contribute to a wider under standing of the social and intellectual history of religious experience, we discover that this category of object is a very slippery one indeed.3There is very little consensus about the origins, development, or intended function of altarpieces, and even less consensus about theways inwhich their imagerymight have been in terpreted. Before the 1980s there had been just a few notable studies of altarpieces as a functional category of object, including Jacob Burckhardt's "Das Altarbild" (1898)4 and Hellmut Hager's Die Anfange des italienischenAltarbildes (1962),5 both of which were devoted to Italian altarpieces. Joseph Braun's two-volume study of the altar,Der christlicheAltar (1924),6 remains the only attempt to tran scend regional boundaries and to approach a comprehensive treatment of that piece of liturgical furniture. By the early 1990s, however, itwas clear to at least one scholar that "the altarpiece has, once again, become a fashionable topic of study."7Severalmajor studies of altarpieceswere published during the 1980s and 1990s, and the literature on altarpieces is now extensive. But most studies focus on altarpieces from particular countries or regions, so that aswell as the numerous studies of Italian altarpieces, there aremany studies of Netherlandish altarpieces and German altarpieces, with studies also on altarpieces from other regions, in cluding England, Spain, and Norway, to name but a few. There aremany more focused examinations of individual altarpieces or groups of altarpieces. But there is no recent, comprehensive, and critical study of altarpieces, tomy knowledge, that attempts to transcend the kind of national and regional boundaries exempli moves fied above. In the absence of such a study, it isdifficult tomake any further
toward consensus about the origins and uses of altarpieces or about their inter

pretation. This article does not hope to offer such a comprehensive study but attempts at least to survey and assess some of the main strands of the current and recent
in the following volume of essays: Victor M. has recently been noted Schmidt, ed., Italian in the History of Art 61, Center for Advanced Studies and Trecento, Painting of the Duecento 2002), D.C., p. 12. Papers, 38 (Washington, Study in the Visual Arts, Symposium 4 von Italien (Basel, 1898), now in Beitr?ge "Das Altarbild," zur Kunstgeschichte Jacob Burckhardt, as The Altarpiece ef in Renaissance translated 1988). This work (Oxford, Italy, ed. Peter Humfrey as a category. initiated the study of altarpieces fectively 5 zur Entstehungsge des italienischen Altarbildes: Hellmut Untersuchungen Hager, Die Anf?nge 17 Hertziana R?mische der Bibliotheca schichte des toskanischen Hochaltarretabels, Forschungen 3 This

Panel

1962). (Munich, 6 2 vols. (Munich, 1924). Entwicklung, Joseph Braun, Der christliche Altar in seiner geschichtlichen 7 in Italian Altar and Usage," and Art History: "Altars, Altarpieces, Julian Gardner, Legislation 1250-1500: Function ed. Eve Borsook and Fiorella and Design, (Oxford, pieces, Superbi Gioffredi in in The Altarpiece A Valid Category?" Paul Hills 1994), pp. 5-19. ("The Renaissance Altarpiece: also noted ed. Peter Humfrey and Martin the Renaissance, Eng., 1990], pp. 34-48) Kemp [Cambridge, or at least favoured "a fashionable that the study of altarpieces had, at that time, become subject" (p. 34).

Altarpieces

343

scholarly debates about altarpieces.Having done so, itwill thenmake some sug gestions about the possible ranges of interpretationof this category of image and will consider how our understanding of other types of image-particularly those that we call "devotional images"-might be conditioned by theways inwhich we think about altarpieces. One of the outcomes of this enquirywill be a sugges tion that several established categories or dichotomies need to be reconsidered, both categories of images and categories of religious activitywith which different kinds of images are associated. The boundaries that are placed between liturgy and devotion as types of religious activity and experiencewill be questioned, and the status of the altarpiece as a "liturgical" imagewill be examined. As a necessary corollary to this, the status of other types of image as "non-altarpieces," and therefore "nonliturgical,"will also be considered.
ALTARPIECES AS A FUNCTIONAL CATEGORY

By definition, asHenk van Os pointed out, "In a history of altarpieces, paintings are studied asmeans to ends."8 In other words, an enquiry into a painting that is deemed to be an altarpiece is always to some extent a functional analysis since, as van Os put it, "'altarpiece' is a functional category,whereas 'fresco', for ex ample, refers simply to the physical character of the painting."9 But there is little agreement as to exactly what was the impetus behind the development of altar pieces and their projected function. Obviously theywere made to be placed on, over, or behind altars. And, equally obviously, the altar is the center of the litur gical and sacramental ritual of the church. For this reason it has been argued that "the liturgy is the basic condition for the existence of altarpieces."10 But is that the case? And what ismeant by "liturgy" in that statement?As van Os himself pointed out, "Themeaning of 'liturgical function'within art history is not quite clear.""1In fact, although "the liturgy," at least in the Western medieval church, encompassed all the public ceremonies, rites, sacraments, and celebrations of the church,12in practice liturgical function,when applied to altarpieces, isoften taken to relate principally to the requirements of the sacrament of the Eucharist. This was the approach exemplified by several influential studies that focused upon the Mass and inwhich the relationship between altarpieces and the celebration of the liturgy of the Eucharist was presented as the basic condition for the existence of altarpieces. Perhaps the best-known of these studies is van Os's two-volume work, Sienese Altarpieces,13which was concerned with understanding the imagery of Sienese

8 van Os, "Some Thoughts on Writing a History in The Altarpiece, Henk of Sienese Altarpieces," ed. Humfrey and Kemp, pp. 21-33. 9 Ibid., p. 25. 10 Ibid., p. 26. 11 Ibid., p. 25. 12 to the celebra in the modern The use of the word Eastern churches is usually restricted "liturgy" tion of the Mass. 13 Henk van Os, Sienese Altarpieces, 1215-1460: Function, Medievalia Form, Content, Groningana 4 and 9 (Groningen, 1984-90).

344

Altarpieces

altarpieces in the light of their context and function. In the first volume van Os outlined the development of altarpieces as meeting a need for a physical frame work or backdrop to the eucharistic ritual.14 He examined the origin and devel opment of altarpieces as a category and explained the rise of the altarpiece form as resulting from liturgical and doctrinal change promulgated by the Fourth La teranCouncil inRome in 1215. As iswell known, the doctrine of transubstanti ation was confirmed at that council, and henceforth itwas officially decreed that the body of Christ was physically present in the bread and wine of the Eucharist as flesh and blood.15The suggestion in van Os's study, and inmany others who have followed his lead, is that from that point on, the priest was required to consecrate the bread and wine with his back to the congregation (having previ ously celebratedMass facing the congregation), and that after the consecration he was then required to elevate the host and the chalice in order to allow the Mass participants to view the body of Christ. Van Os suggested that as a result of these performative changes in the way in which theMass was celebrated, therewas suddenly a need for a "physical framework" for the ritual and that the ritual "had to be demarcated from the space around the altar."'16 His suggestionwas that the altarpiece developed as a backdrop to this new form of the liturgical ritual of the Mass, as a means of focusing the viewer's attention on the elevated host. Van Os examined an early Sienese panel, now attributed to theTressaMaster,17 depicting the Majestas Domini (Fig. 1) in the light of this emphasis on the doctrine of transubstantiation. He argued that the painting, which is dated 1215 on the frame,was conceived as an antependium, to cover the front of the altar, and that scuffmarks at the base of the panel and fasteningmarks down the side indicate its use as such.'8Other marks on the panel, it has been suggested, indicate that the panel was moved to the top of the altar at some point during its functional life.19 Van Os argued that this change in functionwas in response to the liturgical changes that he identified as resulting directly from the decrees of the Fourth Lateran Council with respect to transubstantiation.He suggested that the Majestas Domini panel stood on an altar in the choir of Siena cathedral and that its imagery is especially suited to this placement.20Others have since argued that the panel

14

canon et sacrificium 1: "sacerdos Council, [est]: cujus corpus et Jesus Christus in sacramento altaris sub speciebus continentur" sanguis (Giovanni Domenico panis et vini veraciter et al., eds., Sacrorum nova et amplissima Mansi conciliorum 57 vols. [Venice, Florence, and collectio, is both priest and sacrifice, whose Paris, 1759-1927], 22:981-82); "Jesus Christ body and blood are in the sacrament of the altar under the species of bread and wine" of truly contained (full translation canon 1 in David C. 3 [London, Documents, ed., English Historical 1975], pp. 643-76). Douglas, 16 Van Os, Sienese Altarpieces, 1:13. 17 Mich?le "The Berardenga and the Passio Ymaginis Bacci, Office," Antependium Journal of the and Courtauld Institutes 61 (1998), 1-16. Warburg 18 Van Os, Sienese Altarpieces, 1:12. 19 Ibid. 20 The precise arrangement of the altars and of the choir stalls in Siena cathedral is still a question of some debate. The arrangement 1, and by Kees van der postulated by van Os in Sienese Altarpieces, to that work, presupposes that the high altar of the twelfth- and early-thirteenth Ploeg in the appendix stood at the top of a sequence of four steps just inside the chancel, that the canons' century cathedral

Ibid., 1:13. 15 Fourth Lateran

7~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ i 4< < -; a4 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ,tA~~~ t w'~ < 7!q:-, fms .s~~~~~O.s8t.v,ote8

.6.

d *4EL9

+S 's+ { ; .$,./f-s. X, w . oSP >~~~~~44 e _ 2h..''S~ 0 . .' ;e " '' : S. f; 0.\ .v a asdit ! X~~O

F ';''>' ",B-.._*o. . .

itaa

i *. 1 >=~~~~7

......... .....*<t. ^~~~imhwY>, ........

1 ^S. 1t'ru;s, Y0~~~~~~~~~~C

346

Altarpieces

was designed for the abbey church of S. Salvatore della Berardenga, nearMo nastero d'Ombrone in the diocese of Arezzo, where, in fact, the panel came to Whatever the original location of scholarly attention in the nineteenth century.21 the panel, it is clear that its imagery is linked to the eucharistic themes of Christ's body and blood and the cross of his crucifixion. The scenes to either side of the Christ figure in the center depict episodes from the legend of the true cross and other images that are concerned with the crucified body of Christ, the Corpus Christi.22Van Os argued that these scenes illustrated ideas about the Eucharist and transubstantiation that came to be confirmed in 1215.23Here, then, van Os was making the case that not only was the physical form of this panel, and its placement, related to the church's conception of the liturgy of the Eucharist but that the panel's imagery also resonatedwith the newly codified ideas about tran
substantiation.

One of the chief benefits of this sort of approach to altarpieces and their imagery was that it brought the issue of function to the fore and confirmed the necessity of looking at altarpieces not simply asworks of art but as liturgical objects. Van Os's suggested explanation for the development of the altarpiece was quickly adopted in thewider literature.For example, theLondon National Gallery's pub lication Giotto toDiirer: Early Renaissance Painting in theNational Gallery de clared that "in the thirteenth century . . . theMass began to be celebrated by the priest with his back to the congregation and on the congregation's side of the altar" and that-presumably because thiswas seen to have been the stimulus for the development of thewhole functional category of altarpieces-"the develop ment of European painting has perhaps been more stimulated by this liturgical The National Gallery's catalogue for alteration than by any other single event."24 the exhibition Art in theMaking: Italian Painting before 1400 contains similar assertions,25 and other works on non-Italian material repeated these sugges
stalls sacrament east of the high altar, and that there was a further altar?the in the chancel, See van Os, Sienese Altarpieces, for the use of the canons. the far east end of the chancel, has This reconstruction of the interior of Siena cathedral and van der Ploeg, ibid., pp. 133-34. stood "Duccio's A New Maest?: The Function of the Scenes from the Life in Italian Panel Painting, Hypothesis," Die Choranlagen und Chorgest?hle Struchholz, ed. Schmidt, des Sieneser

altar?at

1:15, been questioned recently. See Peter Seiler, of the Altarpiece. of Christ on the Reverse

and Edith esp. pp. 255-56; pp. 251-77, 177 (M?nster, Hochschulschriften Internationale Domes, 1995), pp. 9-15. " 21 to Altarpiece," in Das Aschaf '. . .Ante et super altare . . .': From Antependium Julian Gardner, ed. Erwin Emmerling and Cornelia des 13. Jahrhunderts, Studien zur Tafelmalerei Tafelbild: fenburger 89 (Munich, Landesamtes f?r Denkmalpflege des Bayerischen 1997), pp. 25-40; Ringer, Arbeitshefte to the of the panel specifically links the iconography that bled when desecrated of the miraculous by Jews. image of Christ 23 1:17. Van Os, Sienese Altarpieces, 24 to D?rer: in the National et al., Giotto Painting Early Renaissance Gallery Jill Dunkerton Haven, 1991), p. 27. Conn., 25 et al., Art in the Making: 1400 Italian Painting David Bomford 1989), (London, before nor Art in the Making to D?rer contains of but the bibliography Giotto Neither footnotes, arranged doctrinal using the different of Bacci, "The Berardenga Antependium." 22 Bacci ("The Berardenga Antependium")

story

(New p. 4.

shows that the statements found in each catalogue, headings are and ritual of that change, and the consequences 1215, liturgical change supposed "Function and Setting" the Art in the Making influenced bibliog (p. 213), by van Os. Under directly "For liturgical changes and the effects on the shape of altarpieces: reference: raphy gives the following

each, about the

Altarpieces

347

tions.26 However, thisversion of events isno longer so universally accepted. Several writers have pointed out that therewas probably not such a close relationship between the confirmation of thedoctrine of transubstantiationand thedevelopment of liturgicalcelebration versus orientem as had been suggested.27 Far from the can ons of Lateran IV forcing a wholesale change in liturgicalpractice, themechanics of the celebration of theMass had been, and continued to be, governed asmuch by local conditions and traditional practice as by centralized and codified church doctrine. Inmany churches the priest had celebratedMass facing in the same di rection as the congregation (and thereforewith his back to them) prior to 1215, since, inmany cases, the positioning of the altar tablewould havemade any other As Paul Binski explains, "The Priest'sposition was thus arrangement impossible.28 a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for the introduction of the retable."29 Likewise, elevation of thehost is recordedprior toLateran IV,and it also took place in churcheswhere no retable is recorded.30 Therefore theprocess envisaged bymany writers in the 1980s-of a universal change in the performance of the Mass ritual, which necessitated the altarpiece as a new piece of liturgicalfurnishingand required that furnishing to be in place immediately after 1215 in order to function as a backdrop to the elevation in a newly altered consecration ritual-is much too sim plistic.31 Altarpieces were not, either before or after 1215, necessary for the cele bration of theMass.32 For these reasons it is now difficult to accept the view that altarpieces came into being simply to fulfill a new and urgent need for a panel on

van Os, H.W, 1984 vol. 1] . . ., pp. 13ff." Similarly, under "Images and Altar [Sienese Altarpieces, to D?rer of Giotto refers to van Os's Sienese Altarpieces. pieces" (p. 392), the bibliography 26For in liturgy moved the altar Judith Sobr? 's study of Spanish retables asserts: "a change example, the back wall of the apse so that during the Mass the priest, his back to the congregation, against blocked the altar the Painted Retable 27 The following Century English the Conference it" (Judith Sobr?, Behind than circling the Altar Table: The Development of in Spain, 1350-1500 [Columbia, Mo., 1989], pp. 4-5). to the fundamental section owes much studies by Paul Binski ("The Thirteenth inNorwegian Medieval Altar Frontals and Related Material: Altarpiece," Papers from rather in Oslo 16th-19th December 1989, Acta ad Archaeologiam and Julian Gardner 1995], pp. 47-57) ("Altars," as in n. n. 5 above) noted that there could be no (citing Hager, stood to the east of the altar and faced the congregation and et Artium 7 above). Historiam

11 [Rome, Pertinentia 28 Andrew Martindale priest habitually in Rome churches impossible Martindale, pp. 37-45). 29 Binski, 30 Ibid. 31 Binski

for the priest

still complete with their thirteenth-century furnishings to have done anything other than celebrate from the east of the altar (Andrew in Italy during in Norwegian the 13th Century," Medieval Altar Frontals, "Altarpieces Altarpiece," out p. 48. that "while the elevation cannot have be associated causal; other with chronologically factors were therefore

the altarpiece where that there are many it that would have made

"English is correct

the introduction

to point of altarpieces,

the association

might been

at work" (ibid.). 32 is on the regulation of altars, the Mass, and its Gardner, "Altars," p. 6. (Gardner's emphasis to Binski's celebration in contrast and local custom or convention by canon law, primarily, secondarily, concentration Liturgical argued liturgical on the local.) Is a Medieval that altarpieces terms. "Form as Function," See also Kees van der Ploeg, p. 10, and "How in Italian Panel Painting, it is ed. Schmidt, where pp. 103-21, Altarpiece?" are not necessary cannot be explained for the liturgy and therefore in purely

348

Altarpieces

the altar table to serve as a backdrop to the elevation, although other functional reasons for the development and use of altarpieces are still being considered.33 An emphasis on the doctrine of the Eucharist can also be seen inmany studies that deal with the interpretation of altarpiece imagery, rather than the develop ment of the altarpiece form itself. However, whereas the idea that the physical development of altarpieces was a response to Lateran IV has now largely been modified, the idea thatmuch altarpiece imagerywas at least capable of being understood in the light of the Eucharist has remained broadly, if not universally, acceptable. Barbara Lane, in her 1984 study ofNetherlandish paintings, The Altar and theAltarpiece, remarked that "earlyNetherlandish altarpieces . . .evoke the ceremonies performed at the altarwith unparalleled originality, subtlety, and fer vor."34 At the outset of this book, Lane gave as her aim, not to approach early Netherlandish painting from "the traditional viewpoint of stylistic development," but to concentrate on major religious themes of the period and "to contribute to an understanding of how these exquisite altarpieces dramatized themeaning of theMass for theworshiper."35 She considered a variety of types of image in re lation to theEucharist, including several images of the institution of theEucharist at theLast Supper and the firstCommunion of the apostles.36 However, this latter type of image,which literally illustrates theEucharist, accounts for relatively few More common are the types of image that concentrate of the surviving examples.37 on the sacrificed body of Christ: Crucifixions, Lamentations, and Entombments. Lane examined these images also, arguing that "any scene from Christ's Passion can be used to explain themeaning of the daily oblation to theworshiper."38But shewent on to suggest, convincingly, that the later events of the narrative, from theCrucifixion to theEntombment, relatemore clearly to the sacrificial rite of the Eucharist.39 Images representing the crucified or entombed Christ can invite the viewer to contemplate the significance of the eucharistic sacrifice by displaying the body of Christ in such away as to emphasize not only the particular historical circumstances of the relevant event but also the symbolic, sacramental, and eu charistic nature of the themes portrayed.40For example, Rogier van derWeyden's Entombment (Fig. 2) offers an unusual portrayal of the lamentation over Christ's
van Os as a Second Christ in Early Italian of Assisi ("St Francis by Henk suggested 7 [1974], class of altarpiece, the Franciscan double that a particular Simiolus 115-32) Painting," to divide the choir from the nave and hence the friars from the laity. Donal functioned sided altarpiece, a dividing this proposition and has shown that in positing function reexamined has recently Cooper van Os was broadly correct. See Donal "Franciscan Choir Enclosures for such altarpieces Cooper, and the Function of Double-Sided 44 Courtauld Institutes 1-54. (2001), conclusions. in Pre-Tridentine Altarpieces In his study, however, Umbria," Cooper Journal of the Warburg has considerably revised and and 33 It was

refined van Os's original 34 in Early Netherlandish Paint Themes Sacramental Barbara G. Lane, The Altar and the Altarpiece: 1984), p. 1. ing (New York, 35 Ibid., p. 2. 36 pp. 107-36. Ibid., chap. 2, "Priest and Sacrifice," 37 Sacrament Al See below, pp. 372-75, for a discussion of one such image, Dirk Bouts's Blessed (Fig. 10). tarpiece 38 Lane, Altar and Altarpiece, 39 Ibid. 40 Ibid., p. 80. p. 79.

.+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1
0i~~~~~~~~~~~i#

Fig. 2. Rogier van derWeyden, ? Galleria Uffizi, Florence.

Entombment,

Florence, Uffizi, 110 x 96 cm., 1460s.

x 0o

Altarpieces

351

body, in front of the tomb inwhich the body is about to be interred.This image has been interpreted as one inwhich "the Corpus Christi becomes the focus of contemplation, devotion andmeditation on the Passion, just like the host when it is displayed in amonstrance, as held up by the priest following consecration."'41 It is generally agreed that images such as this one, and others portraying the Crucifixion, Lamentation, and Entombment (or symbolic imagesof Christ derived from such episodes, such as the Man of Sorrows), have the potential to be under stood by viewers in relation to the performance ofMass on the altar. Besides the explicitly eucharistic images, and images of Christ's Passion, which may be regarded as symbolically eucharistic, Lane also considered images that she suggested could be seen as making looser references to the Eucharist, or "fore shadowing" it. Itwas thiswider category of image that caused themost disagree ment in the literatureover the viability or otherwise of eucharistic interpretations of altarpieces. Lane suggested, as havemany otherwriters, that images concerned with the Incarnation of Christ, such as theNativity or theAnnunciation, can be associatedwith the transubstantiation of bread into the body of Christ on account of their concentration on the Divine Word becoming human flesh. Lane argued, following Ursula Nilgen,42 that "any scene of Christ's Infancy can be used to convey themystery of his Incarnation"but thatAnnunciation, Nativity, Epiphany, and Presentation scenes lent themselves most easily to eucharistic interpretations.43 A painting such asRogier van der Weyden's Columba Altarpiece (Fig.3), showing theAnnunciation, theAdoration of the Magi, and thePresentation in theTemple, represents themoment of Christ's Incarnation in the womb of the Virgin, the moment of his recognition by the Magi, and themoment of his being firstoffered up at the altar.According to the arguments delineated by Lane andNilgen, these episodes respectively can signify the transubstantiation, the offertory and/or the elevation and adoration of the host, and the general ceremony of sacrificeenacted With these three scenes seen together like this, it can indeed be by the priest.44 convincingly argued that the episodes just describedmight have been understood by viewers as signifying or connoting the sacrifice of theMass, and, again, this sort of interpretation is fairlywidely accepted. Strongly dissenting voices are pres ent in the literature, however. Charles Hope reacted against the tendency-as he saw it-to "theologize" Renaissance religious art.45 He preferred the conclusion that an image of the angel Gabriel with theVirgin was precisely that: an image of theVirgin Annunciate with the angel acting as her attribute, not a narrative image of theAnnunciation, and not an explication of theological or liturgical concepts relating to the Eucharist. Hope's "commonsense approach"46 represents, to a

41 Dirk de Vos, Rogier van der Weyden 1999), cat. no. 35, p. 330. (New York, 42 On the Interpretation Ursula Nilgen, "The Epiphany and the Eucharist: of Eucharistie Motifs in 49 (1967), 311-16. Mediaeval Scenes," Art Bulletin Epiphany 43 at p. 41). Lane, Altar and Altarpiece, pp. 41-74 (quotation 44 see Lane, ibid., pp. 60-65. For a sacramental of the Columba interpretation Altarpiece 45 in Christianity and the Requirements of Patrons," Charles Hope, and the Renais "Altarpieces sance: Image and Religious in the Quattrocento, ed. Timothy Verd?n and John Henderson Imagination 1990), (Syracuse, N.Y., 46 In the introduction at p. 544. pp. 535-71, to his essay Hope's approach is described as "commonsensical."

352

Altarpieces

certain extent, a conscious opposition to the sorts of symbolic interpretation of altarpiece imagery offered by scholars likeLane and Nilgen. This debate in the literature, between the "symbolic" and the "commonsense" interpretations of altarpiece imagery, extends beyond such apparently narrative images of theVirgin or of the infancy of Christ. Lane also considered nonnarrative images of theVirgin and Child enthroned, surmounted by canopies or surrounded by curtains or a sculptural niche, inwhich, she argued, theVirgin is to be under stood as an altar or a tabernacle for the incarnate and sacramental body of Christ.47Among the images discussed in such terms by Lane are Jan van Eyck's LuccaMadonna (Fig. 4),48 inwhich, it is argued, the lap of theVirgin ispresented Other images, such as both as theThrone ofWisdom and as the altar of Christ.49 Rogier van derWeyden's ThyssenMadonna,50 present theVirgin, Lane argues, as a tabernacle, inside awall niche or ambry, and, therefore, present theChrist child as the Eucharist.5' Such eucharistic interpretations of images of the Virgin and Child were not confined to historians of Netherlandish art. Van Os described the image of the Virgin and Child generally as functioning to suggest "the theme of Christ's re peated rebirth in the Eucharist. "52On the other hand, he went on to sound a cautionary note, in a 1990 paper, that "over-interpretation is a shortcoming of certain recent studies on altarpieces, especially when traditional elements of their iconography are interpreted as references to a specific liturgical function."53 This warning came at the same time as other historians of Italian artwere also seeking to guard against the danger of what they saw as "over-interpretation,"particularly with regard to images of theVirgin and Child. As with the interpretation of ap parently narrative images of theAnnunciation andNativity, discussed above, sev eral art historians have warned against what they have seen as an increasing and not always helpful-tendency to interpret themeaning of imagesof theVirgin and Child in eucharistic terms.For example, in the sameway as he had suggested that an image apparently illustrating thenarrative event of theAnnunciation ought rather to be regarded as an image of theAnnunciate Virgin, Hope argued that a painting of theVirgin and Child is principally an image of the Virgin, with the Christ child acting as her attribute. He was unsympathetic to the view, espoused by Lane and others, that an image of theVirgin and Child was generally under stood as signifying the Incarnation of Christ and thus, by extension, the Eucha rist.54In thisway Hope proposed that altarpieceswere much more concernedwith devotion to theVirgin and other saints thanwith any theological statement, con cerning the Eucharist or otherwise," and moved away from the emphasis on the
pp. 13-35. Lane, Altar and Altarpiece, 48 see Carol J. Purtle, The Marian For this painting (Princeton, N.J., Paintings of Jan van Eyck 1982), pp. 98-126. 49 p. 16. Lane, Altar and Altarpiece, 50 van der Weyden, cat. no. 1; Lane, Altar and Altarpiece, De Vos, Rogier pp. 25-27, fig. 16. 51 pp. 27-32. Lane, Altar and Altarpiece, 52 Van Os, Sienese Altarpieces (above, n. 13), 1:14. 53 Van Os, "Some Thoughts" (above, n. 8), p. 27. 54 p. 544. Hope, "Altarpieces," 55 to the Virgin are reflections of devotion and the saints, not to Christ": ibid. "[M]ost altarpieces 47

Fig.

4. Jan

van

Eyck,

Lucca

Madonna,

Frankfurt

am Main,

Stadelsches Kunstinstitut, 65.5 x 49.5 cm., c. 1435. ? Stadelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main.

354

Altarpieces

liturgy and theology of theEucharist as a factor in the development and reception of altarpieces that had been present in the studies of Lane, van Os, and others. Other important studies of altarpieces published in the 1980s and 1990s con sidered altarpieces with reference to the cult of saints.56Some, likeHope, con sciously played down the importance of the eucharistic liturgy,and others adopted an approach that considered altarpieces as combining a liturgical or eucharistic aspect with a concern for devotion to the saints. For example, Binski, in consid ering the development of the retable in thirteenth-centuryEngland, did not object per se to eucharistic interpretations of altarpiece images and agreed that there is a genre of altar panel whose subject is "self-consciously eucharistic.''57But he refused to accept an exclusively eucharistic or sacramental reading of altarpieces, arguing that altarpieces had other functions beyond the explication of eucharistic or theological doctrine, such as identifying the dedication of an altar by depicting the saint inwhose honor the altar had been dedicated.58 Altars had always been inherently linked both with the celebration of the Eucharist and with the bodies or relics of the saints. This joint association goes back as early as the second century, when Christians began holding eucharistic meals at the tombs of the martyrs as part of the annual commemoration of martyrs on the day of their death.59 In the early Christian period, churches were built as close to the graves of the saints as possible, with altars being placed over the crypts or confessiones inwhich the bodies were interred.60 Later the bodies of saints came to be placed inside altar tombs, above ground, and relics that had previously been placed below the altar, in a crypt, were elevated to thismore exalted position.61 Finally, in the eighth and ninth centuries, the practice developed of placing small relics into the table of the altar,which became themost frequent practice from then on.62The
56

on Italian, German, Netherlandish, and English material, all of published the strongly "eucharistie" that opposed, offered alternatives to, or supplemented "Altars"; Michael Baxandall, emphasis of scholars such as van Os and Lane. See, for example, Gardner, The Limewood (New Haven, Conn., 1980); Lynn F. Jacobs, Early of Renaissance Sculptors Germany Netherlandish 1380-1550: Tastes and Mass Marketing Carved Altarpieces, Medieval (Cambridge, Individual offered which views Eng., 57 1998); and Binski, "English Altarpiece." Binski, p. 48 n. 6. "English Altarpiece," 58All churches and altars are actually dedicated or in honor of, saints, the Virgin Mary, the Trinity,

studies were

holy

Church 1948), p. 6. For the (Oxford, see H. Delehaye, in the early years of Christianity, Sanctus: Essai sur le culte des saints dans l'antiquit?, 17 (Brussels, Subsidia Hagiographica 1927), and Les origines du culte des martyrs, 2nd ed., Subsidia Hagiographica 20 (Brussels, 1933). 60 over the tomb of the martyr of Tours the building See of a basilica reports Gregory Benignus. and Authority, of Tours, Liber in gloria martyrum p. 30; and Gregory 50, MGH Kemp, Canonization SSrerMerov 1:522. 61 and Authority, p. 29. Kemp, Canonization 62 In the early Christian church relics were usually whole bodies of saints or brandea, relics consisting cult of saints that had been in contact with the saints' remains. Up to the pieces of cloth or other objects to Roman the Western the churches civil legislation, which forbade century largely adhered disturbance of the dead (ibid., pp. 25-26). and dispersal were therefore, Translation, dismemberment, until the relaxation the remains of the of the prohibition exceptional against disturbing theoretically, saints, from the eighth century onwards (ibid., p. 29). of small sixth

cross). See John Berthram O'Connell, Law (London, 1955), p. 19. Study in Liturgical 59 E. W. Kemp, Canonization in the Western and Authority

to God, but they can be dedicated in memory of, or other holy persons or sacred objects (e.g., the Church Building and Furnishing: The Church's Way. A

Altarpieces

355

growing cult of saints, and the acceptance of the symbolic relationship between the bodies of themartyrs with the souls under the altar inRev. 6.9,63 cemented the custom of placing relicswithin all consecrated altars. From the late fourth century or fifth century, therefore, itwas the general practice in the Western church to enclose relics in the altar, and the consecration and dedication of an altar usually required the installation of relics.64 The expectation that altars should contain relicswas codified at theFifth Coun cil of Carthage (401).65Canon 2 of the Second Council of Chelsea (816) declared that if relicswere not available, the Eucharist was to be deposited in the altar,66 although this practice declined as the doctrine concerning theEucharist developed up to the thirteenth century and was eventually condemned.67 Ideally, the relics deposited in the altarwere to include a relic of the altar's titulus, the saint in whose honor an altarwas dedicated, although, in practice, thiswas not always the case. In the simplest scenario, a church and itsmain or high altar would have been dedicated inhonor of the saintwhose body lay in the church, and that saintwould be invoked as the particular patron of the congregational community and as in tercessor on its behalf.68Often, however, certainly in the later Middle Ages, the titulus of the high altarmay have differed from the titulus of the church, and the relics placed in the high altarmight be those of the titulus of the church or of the altar or of both (or sometimes of neither). In some circumstances, such as churches dedicated to St.Michael theArchangel or theHoly Trinity, for example, relics
63 Rev. slain

6.9:

"When

for the word Houses

he opened of God and

Monastic

(Woodbridge, his Tractatus pontifical

in England Eng., 1989), p. 13, where de dedicatione ecclesiae.

the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been for the witness See Alison Binns, Dedications they had borne." of in the History and Wales, 1 Studies of Medieval 1066-1216, Religion Binns For notes this text that Remigius of Auxerre in this passage quotes see Cyrille Vogel and Reinhard Elze, eds., Le Studi e Testi 226-27 and 269 (Vatican City, 1963

du dixi?me si?cle, romano-germanique 72), pp. 91-121 p. 118). (and for this passage, 64 "Altars" Gardner, (above, n. 7), p. 10. 65 This council passed a canon to the effect that altars that could or relics of a martyr should be destroyed: "Et omnino nulla memoria ubi corpus aut

not be proved martyrum

to contain

the body acceptetur, fidelissima

sunt, aut origo alicujus habitationis, aliquae reliquiae see Kemp, Canonization and Authority, (PL 84:212); p. 15. a propriae di?cesis sanctificetur: bene aedificatur, aqua per semetipsum episcopo et ita per ordinem sicut in libro ministeriali habetur. Postea eucharistia dicatur, spargatur, compleat, cum aliis reliquiis condatur in capsula, ac servetur quae ab episcopo consecratur, per idem ministerium origine traditur" 66 "Ubi ecclesia basilica. Et si alias reliquias tarnen hoc maxime intimare non potest, potest, quia proficere et sanguis est Domini nostri Jesu Christi" See Patrick J. Geary, Furta sacra: (Mansi, 14:356). in the Central Middle and Ecclesi Thefts of Relics (Princeton, N.J., 1978), p. 40; and Councils Ages to Great Britain and Ireland, ed. Arthur West Haddan astical Documents and William Relating Stubbs, 3 vols. (Oxford, 3:580. 1869-78), 67 coutu Les reliques des saints: Formation Geary, Furta sacra, p. 29; Nicole Herrmann-Mascard, corpus et Sociale mi?re d'un droit, Collection d'Histoire Institutionnelle 68 The titulus of a church in practice, is often, identical with reason: should not be confused, for the following if the titulus 6 (Paris, 1975), p. 167. its patron, but these two of a high altar functions in eadem

nisi

probabiliter vel passionis

then he or she may also be the patron of the church; however, church) is a person, as an intercessor with God cannot be fulfilled so if the titular is the deity or a mystery, by God himself, the patron must out: reason differ. As Gardner "For this Constantine's points great church of the Lateran ner, has as its patron John the Baptist and the Evangelist" Salvatoris, (Gard a In similar the in Florence, whose Church of S. Croce titulus is the holy "Altars," p. 11). way, cannot be fulfilled by an object. the function of intercessor cross, has St. Francis as its patron, because the Basilica in Rome,

a (and thus, usually, the patron's function

356

Altarpieces

would not have been available, and thereforeother relicswould have to have been interred within the altar or the altarswould have been consecratedwithout relics.69 As the number of altars proliferated within churches, different dedications would attach to the different altarswithin chapels, and the titulus of the chapels would normally be that of the chapel altars.70Itwas already the practice in thir teenth-century England, France, and Italy to advertise the name of the saint in whose honor an altarwas dedicated in an inscription around the altar and/or, by the later thirteenth century, an image of the titulus.71 The synod of Trier attempted to codify local practice on thismatter in 1310, when it ruled that each altarmust have a text or an image that clearly indicated the name of the saint inwhose honor the altarwas dedicated.72 Therefore, in caseswhere altarpieces or retables carried an image of the dedicatee saint, they became, asMichael Baxandall has put it, in discussing German altarpieces, "one permissibleway of doing a prescribed thing," namely, identifying clearly the dedication of the altar.73 Baxandall argues that "the primary justification of a retablewas as a label, and just as narrative paintings were, in St Gregory's formulation, the bible of the illiterate, a picture or a statue could be an inscription for them."74 Taking this view of Baxandall's, that altarpieces were primarily labels, let us consider some examples of altarpieces that seem to function, partly at least, as a way of "labeling" the dedication of an altar. I turn first to a Netherlandish ex ample, Dirk Bouts's St. Erasmus Altarpiece (Fig. 5), which was created for the smaller of the two chapels controlled by the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacra ment in the Church of St. Pieter in Leuven.7s It appears that the confraternity chose Erasmus as the patron of this chapel because of itswish to honor Erasme

Houses, p. 13) notes that a fifteenth-century (Dedications of Monastic pontifical provides and without of altars with relics (mos Romanus) relics (mos Anglicanus). for the dedication She points out that the proliferation of altars in the later medieval period may have created a problem lie behind the lack of insistence on relics in later with providing relics for every altar and that this may directions She further pontificals. as in the case of altars or inappropriate, relics would have been unavailable suggests (p. 14) that where in honor of the Holy Trinity or Michael the Archangel, the process dedicated even though there was actually nothing in such altars may have seemed less relevant,

69 Binns

of enclosing relics to prevent other relics from being deposited. 70 7 vols. (Paris, 1935 de droit canonique, Gardner, "Altars," p. 10, and R. Naz, ed., Dictionnaire ff. 65), 4:253 71 of such altar inscriptions, the altar of St. Julian Gardner gives several Italian examples including on which in the south transept of the upper church of S. Francesco, the inscription Michael Assisi,

MICHAELI ARCHANGELI" (Gard reads: "HOC ALTARE ERECTUM EST INHONORE BEATI
in 11 and plates 1 and 2). See also Julian Gardner, and Imagination "Inscriptions et iconographie: tenu ? Poitiers Actes du colloque les 5-8 octobre Italy," in Epigraphie see Binski, 2 (Poitiers, For England, M?di?vale 1995, Civilisation 1996), pp. 101-9. "English Altar see J. in the French abbey of Saint-Denis (above, n. 27), p. 52. For early altar inscriptions piece" (Paris, 1960), pp. 120-23. Formig?, L'abbaye royale de Saint-Denis 72 Limewood p. 64; Braun, Der christliche Altar Baxandall, (above, n. 6), 2:281-83. Sculptors, 73 64. Limewood p. Baxandall, Sculptors, 74 Ibid. 75 see Edward van Even, On the Church of St. Pieter and the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, ou description et artistique de tous les ?difices civils et religieux de la Louvain monumental historique "Altars," Late-Medieval ner, p. dite ville (Leuven, 1860), pp. 174 ff.

Altarpieces

357

van Brussele, amember of the brotherhood and themayor of Leuven at the time.76 The chapelwas dedicated to St. Erasmus as soon as the confraternity received the chapel in 1433. The altarpiecewas commissioned some thirty years later, in ac cordance with the dedication of this chapel. It depicts themartyrdom of St. Eras mus77 in the center panel, togetherwith St. Jerome in the leftwing and St.Bernard in the rightwing. This combination of saintswas probably chosen by Ghert de Smet, who is thought to have ordered the triptych.78 With this combination of saints, the altarpiece would be able to serve the dual purpose of venerating the confraternity's chosen patron, St. Erasmus, at the same time as venerating de Smet's chosen saints, Jerome and Bernard,79 and thereby advertising de Smet's Here it is clearly the cult of the chosen saints that is primary in the patronage.80 commission and conception of this altarpiece and, presumably, its reception, rather than the sorts of theological considerations relating to theEucharist discussed by Lane and van Os. There are numerous Italianpaintings that seem to have been createdwith similar saintly commemoration and devotion inmind. The panel depicting Blessed Agos tinoNovello and four of his posthumous miracles (Fig. 6) was painted by Simone Martini, probably in the 1320s, for theAugustinian church in Siena andwas still in that location until very recently.81 Agostino Novello, bornMatteo da Tarano, was a trained lawyerwho helped to revise the statutes of his order and served as its prior general for two years between 1298 and 1300. He retired to S. Leonardo al Lago, outside Siena, where he died in 1309 or 1310.82The first descriptions of this altarpiece date from the sixteenth century,when itwas associated with the altar of Agostino Novello.83Monika Butzek has shown that originally thepainting was placed above awooden tomb-chest,which was, in turn,placed upon the nave wall, above an altar, forming an ensemble of the type that has come to be desig
76

A Study in Patronage Blum, Early Netherlandish Shirley Neilsen Triptychs: (Berkeley, Calif., 1969), p. 72. 77 in a way Blum that is not included (ibid., pp. 71-72) points out that the saint is being tortured in any of the accounts of his life and death and that the tradition of his being martyred by having his intestines wound around a rod comes from a misunderstanding. 78 an annual Mass for his soul on the feast days of these three saints Ibid., p. 72. De Smet requested ordered this altarpiece for the chapel of St. Erasmus. and, shortly before his death in 1469, apparently 79 Blum that these saints were chosen because of their scholarship: (ibid., p. 150 n. 16) suggests Ghert de Smet was a Schoolman, and both the Church of St. Pieter and the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament were closely associated with the University of Leuven. 80 In such an instance, where personal choices dictated the titulus of a chapel and its altar, itwould, of course, not be easy to ensure that any relics interred within the altar were those of the titular saint, and the theoretically ideal correspondence of good fortune rather than design. 81 is now in It the Pinacoteca Nazionale tino, Siena. See Piero Torriti, between relics and titulus would often have been a matter

La Pinacoteca

and Andrew (Genoa, 1990), pp. 51-54; cat. no. 41, pp. 211-21. 82 was translated It is not clear when the body of Agostino to Siena by 1324, and this is the approximate been brought Simone Martini, Martindale, pp. 212-13. 83 M. Butzek, "Altar des sel. Augustinus and Max Seidel, 2 vols. (Munich, 1985-92), Novellus," 1:1-273,

in Siena, in temporary storage from the Church of S. Agos di Siena: I dipinti dal XII al XV sec?lo, 3rd ed. Nazionale Simone Martini and 1988), pp. 31-34 Martindale, (Oxford, to Siena. It is thought likely that it had See given to the painting. ed. Peter Anselm Riedl

date normally

inDie Kirchen at p. 210.

von Siena,

Fig. 5. Dirk Bouts, St. Erasmus Altarpiece, Church Leuven, of St. Pieter, 34 x 148 cm., 1460s.

A~~~O
? Brussels. IRPA-KIK,

E1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_ ..... .... ....... ........ Fig. 6. Simone Martini, Blessed of Altarpiece Agostino Novello,

Siena, Pinacoteca 98 Nazionale, 198 x cm., c. 1324.

? Fratelli Florence. Alinari,

360

Altarpieces

nated a "tomb-altar."84 The location of the altar and its associated tomb is not known to have been altered during its early history, and the position of the altar as described by sixteenth-century visitors very probably represents its original placement, immediately to thewest of the tramezzo in the left aisle.85 The tomb-altar is a type of funerarymonument that was used for saints and for thosewho had attained the designation "blessed" -santi and beati-and that seems to have been a particular forte of Sienese sculptors. The earliest surviving example is apparently the tomb-altar of St. Ranieri of Pisa, generally attributed to Tino di Camaino and dated around 1306.86 Agostino's coffin, beneath SimoneMartini's painted panel, bore four painted scenes of miracles, performed during his lifetime, and isnow lost. There was also an opening in the tomb-chest, through which his relics could be viewed.87The panel was therefore part of a complex of imagery thatwas intended to foster the cult of the saint. The cultic and devotional function of the panel was therefore paramount.88This seems to have been the case with the Erasmus altarpiece also, but the original functional conception of the Agostino panel, and the ways in which its viewers would have understood it,may have been rather different from theErasmus panel. Itmay be that theAgostino panel was not originally conceived as an altarpiece at all, at least not in the sense thatwe now understand that term: a panel standing directly upon an altar table and "labeling" the dedication of that altar.The nature of the relationship between the panel and the altarwas probably somewhat different, therefore, from the relationship between the Erasmus altar piece and the altar associated with him in St. Pieter's, Leuven. First, theAgostino panel seems to have been designed to be placed high upon thewall, with the tomb-chest intervening between the panel and the altar.There fore the physical and spatial relationship between panel and altar is different. Secondly, theErasmus altarwas dedicated in honor of St. Erasmus, and itwas the function of the altarpiece, in part, tomake clear that dedication, to "advertise," as itwere, the presence (real or theoretical) of a relic of the saint, hidden away, inside the altar and to promote the saint as an intercessor. In the Church of S. Agostino in Siena, on the other hand, Agostino's whole body was present and visible through the opening in the tomb-chest, not hidden within the altarmensa. Therefore, while itwas certainly part of the function of SimoneMartini's painting

see Gianna On tomb-altars Bardotti "Gano di Fazio e la tomba-altare Biasion, Ibid., pp. 210-12. 37 (1984), 2-19. di Santa Margherita da Cortona," Prospettiva 85 to other altars in the Church For the position of the Agostino altar and its relationship of S. von Gaertringen, in Siena see Rudolf Hiller "Seven Scenes of the Life of Saint Stephen by Agostino to in Frankfurt: A Proposal and Relationship Martino di Bartolomeo for Their Provenance, Function, in Italian Panel Painting, Simone Martini's Beato Agostino Novello ed. Schmidt Monument," (above, n. 3), pp. 315-39, at p. 324. 86 zu Giovanni Max di Balduccio und Tino di Camaino," Stadel Jahrbuch, n.s., 5 Seidel, "Studien von Gaertringen 37-84. Hiller that this format may have (1975), ("Seven Scenes," p. 334) suggests in order to avoid the problem for Agostino of placing the bones of an uncan been adopted Novello inside the altar mensa. onized individual 87 von Gaertringen, "Seven Scenes," p. 327. Hiller 88 Is a Medieval See van der Ploeg, "How Liturgical (above, n. 32), pp. 111-12. Altarpiece?"

84

Altarpieces

361

to foster Agostino's cult,89 itwas not probably so much part of its function to advertise the presence of hidden relics.Thirdly, the very status of the altar below the tomb-chest and the painting of Agostino is problematic to ascertain. Itwas not normally permitted under canon law for an altar to have a noncanonized individual as its tituluswithout a papal dispensation,90 although observation of that regulationwas not universal during the fourteenth century, to say the least. In fact, the precise distinction between papally canonized saints, who could be accorded the honor of a universally celebrated cult, and locally venerated beati, who could not, was only being formally codified during the fourteenth century.91 Deviations from canonical rules and variations in local practicewere common,92 and, as Joanna Cannon has noted, in Italy the lack of canonical status did not prevent a church or an altar from being regarded as honoring, in some way, a local cult figure.93In the case of theAgostino Novello tomb-altar,either a dispen sation was obtained by the Sienese Augustinians or, as was common in relation to locally venerated individuals, the community treatedAgostino as a saint re gardless of the fact that he had not been papally canonized.94Perhaps the altar beneath his tomb was not originally or officially dedicated in his honor, but in any case, the altar certainly seems to have come to be regarded as sacred to him, as indicated by the altar inscription, seen in the nineteenth century by J.A. Crowe and G. B. Cavalcaselle.95SimoneMartini's painting was associatedwith that altar and acted as a focus for devotion. Although the primary liturgical purpose of altars is to provide a locus for the celebration of theMass, and the quasi-logical conclusion has been that altarpieces, whether placed on, above, or behind altar tables, ought to be considered as liturgical objects, it is clear that inmany cases, side altars and the images associatedwith themmay have beenmuch more readily associatedwith devotional activity of a paraliturgical or nonliturgical nature. With this altarpiece therefore,andwith that of theErasmus chapel in St. Pieter's,Leuven,
89 to help Hiller von Gaertringen that the monument "was meant ("Seven Scenes," p. 334) suggests the process of his beatification along." 90 Church Building O'Connell, (above, n. 58), p. 163; Gardner, "Altars," p. 11. 91 trans. Andr? Vauchez, in the Later Middle Sainthood Birrell (Cambridge, Jean Ages, Eng., 1997), pp. 85-103. 92 to northern Europe) Vauchez countries "the (ibid., p. 94) notes that inMediterranean (in contrast canonical rules in force seem hardly to have been respected before the Counter-Reformation." 93 Saints and Private Chantries: The Sienese Tomb-Altar of Margherita Joanna Cannon, "Popular in Kunst und Liturgie of Cortona and Questions of Liturgical im Mittelaltar: Akten des inter Use," te Rome, Rom, 28. nationalen der Bibliotheca und des Nederlands Instituut Hertziana Kongresses 30. September and Herbert L. 1997, ed. Nicolas Bock, Sible de Blaauw, Christoph Frommel, Luitpold at p. 152. Kessler pp. 149-62, (Munich, 2000), 94 Vauchez (Sainthood, p. 91) notes that the bishop of Siena played a part in the birth of the cult of in the ground and having the body to be buried it laid in a stone tomb. The Agostino by forbidding Augustinians he was not as a patron saint of Siena in 1329, but in having Agostino succeeded Novello recognized and beatified until 1759 (Hiller von Gaertringen, "Seven formally recognized by the Vatican Scenes," pp. 334 and 339 n. 74). 95 "B. Augustini novi imago haec, quae paulo post eius obitum, in ara ipsi sacra, mox genti Ptho lomeae figure to him, 1754": attributa, colebatur, of the Blessed Agostino in nova Novello ecclesiae which, extructione hue transfertur A.D. MDCCLIV" on the altar of the new shortly after his death, was revered to the Tolomei then assigned hither on the building family, is transferred n. 214 translated Simone Martini, p. 13). by Martindale, ("This sacred church

362

Altarpieces

we can see how altarpieces on side altars, at least,might often have relatively little to do with the liturgyof theEucharist orwith illustratingor dramatizing themean ing of theMass in the literal, or even allusive, terms envisaged by Lane.96These altarpieces on side altars seem to have much more to do with labeling the altars with which theywere associated, commemorating the presence of a venerated in dividual, or marking the location of a cult associatedwith such an individual. In his fundamental study of the development of the Italian altarpiece, Hager argued that side altarswere, in fact, the initial common location for panel paint ings and that only subsequentlywere panels placed on high altars. In reaching this conclusion he examined, in particular, vita panels, especially those of St. Francis. More recentlyKlaus Kruger distinguished between two stages in the use of such vita panels, an initial phase, duringwhich theywere portable andwere placed on high altars during the feast and octave of a saint, and a laterphase, duringwhich vita panels were kept permanently on high altars as part of a saint's shrine.97 Side altars, as Kees van der Ploeg has recently pointed out, were explicitly sec He ondary altars and servedmainly the extraliturgical devotions of laypeople.98 explored several different functions of altarpieces and concluded that "there isno particular type of altarpiece that can be connected with a particular liturgical or devotional function, because a certain purpose could be fulfilled by different types and vice versa; a certain type of retable could have different functions."99 Cannon has noted how vita panels could function to denote the actual presence of a holy person, in the form of his or her earthly remains, preserved in a nearby tomb or shrine, but also, perhaps, to commemorate or stand for an absent body or a body placed at some remove from the altar. This was the case with the vita panel de picting St. Clare, in the church bearing her name inAssisi, where the body was buried deep below the high altar of the church, and the panel was either placed on the high altar or was raised up on a rood beam or on the architrave of the Itwould seem, then, that theAgostino Novello grille enclosing the high altar.100 panel, and other images like it,might be regarded as primarily devotional objects, rather than primarily liturgicalobjects, even though theywere apparently designed as part of a complex of imagery surrounding a saint's altar and somay be described as altarpieces. Can it still be argued, then, that "the liturgy is the basic condition for the existence of altarpieces"? It is surely important to distinguish more care fully between different types of imagewithin the category "altarpiece" and to note that in the cases examined so far,where panels were placed on subsidiary altars dedicated in honor of saints, devotional functionswere as important, if not more important, than liturgical (or eucharistic) functions. Itwas unusual for altarpieces on high altars or on the central axis of a church

96 See above, pp. 348-52. 97 Klaus Kr?ger, Der fr?he Bildkult im 13. und 14. Jahrhundert Tafelbildes

des Franziskus (Berlin, 1992). the Function

in Italien:

Gestalt-

und Funktionswandel

des

tations of Visual Typology: Reconsidering at p. 291. in Italian Panel Painting, ed. Schmidt, pp. 291-313, Saints, c. 1300," 98 Is a Medieval Van der Ploeg, "How Liturgical p. 111. Altarpiece?" 99 Ibid., p. 116. 100See the Limitations of Visual Typology," p. 303. Cannon, "Beyond

See also Joanna Cannon, the Limi "Beyond of Three Vita Panels of Women and Audience

Altarpieces

363

(which could include, for example, choir altars) to depict figures of saints. Such altarpieces usually depicted theVirgin, theVirgin and Child, or another Christo logical subject relating to the Incarnation or sacrifice of Christ. For example, the high altar of theChurch of S. Trinita inFlorence carriedCimabue's famous altar piece of the Virgin and Child (now in the Uffizi), even though the church was dedicated to the Trinity. In a case like this itmay have been that the high altar had a different dedication from that of the church. Or the high altar could have a double dedication, which appears to have been increasinglycommon in the later Middle Ages. Or it could simply have been felt, in certain circumstances, that it was not important for the altarpiece actually to depict the titulus.After all, the dedication could have beenmade clear in other ways, for example, by an inscrip tion.101 The thirteenth-centurypanel that seems to have been the high altarpiece of theChurch of S. Leonardo inArcetri, outside Florence,102 depicts St. Leonard, but standing to the left of a central image of the enthronedVirgin and Child. This side-the right-hand side of the Virgin-was themost honorific position of place ment, and to place St. Leonard thus, in the position of honor, but not in the center, was one way of fulfilling a perceived need to place a Virgin and Child image in the center of a high altarpiece, while stillmaking some obvious reference to the titulus of the church.However, in acknowledging that high altarpieces seem often to have depictedMarian or Christological subjects, and that altarpieceswith cen tral images of saints seem to have been more usually restricted to side altars,we should note that there is not a strictly delineated connection between form and location, form and function, or function and location. In her discussion of the vita panel depictingMargherita of Cortona, Cannon refers throughout to "functions rather than locations" in recognition of the fact that such a painting could have fulfilled several different functions,wherever itwas placed. She further warns that similarities in form between altarpieces should not lead us to assume that there is necessarily a similarity in function.103 With this inmind, even where we seek to be more specific and to distinguish between different types of altarpieces, we should be wary of setting up another possibly unhelpful dichotomy between the forms, iconographies, and functional possibilities for side altars and high altars.104 For example, ifwe consider the German winged altarpiece, we find that the
Church of St. Lorenz at Nuremberg offers a consummate example of the use of

altarpieces-both on subsidiary altars and on altars dominating themain axis of the choir-to "label" altars and thereby to stimulate devotion to the saint or saints
101 It

was

in situations where the dedication may be the case that altar inscriptions were used precisely not immediately at Assisi clear. For example, the altar in the south transept of the upper church to St. Michael, as proclaimed is dedicated (see above, n. 71), but the image above by the inscription that altar is a Crucifixion in like that the the friars required transept. Obviously by Cimabue, opposite two matching

over these altars in the transepts, and that imperative took images of the Crucifixion over a desire to "match" the image over the altar to the dedication of that altar. See Giorgio in Assisi: Glory and Destruction The Basilica Bonsanti, (New York, of St. Francis 1998), col. ill. 6. 102 Art Yale University Master, Magdalen Virgin Lactans with Sts. Peter and Leonard, New Haven, precedence Gallery c. 1290. See Charles (Jarves Collection), Seymour, Jr., Early Italian (New Haven, Conn., versity Art Gallery 1970), cat. no. 1. 103 the Limitations of Visual Typology," Cannon, p. 307. "Beyond 104 See below, pp. 404-6. Paintings in the Yale Uni

364

Altarpieces

whose relicswere deposited within the altars. The surviving archival records con cerning this church have facilitated reconstructions of the original position of the altars in the choir (nowmostly removed or destroyed) togetherwith their relics, furnishings, and images.105 Using this information, Paul Crossley was able tomap out amatrix of the altars and altarpieces of St. Lorenz, inwhich the opening and closing of altarpieces on specific days, to reflect theveneration of the specific saints whose relics they held, created a dramatic spectacle, orchestrated around the li The altars were not opened just once a year, on the feasts of turgical calendar.'06 the saints inwhose honor each altar was dedicated, but also on other feasts, in honor of the other saintswhose relicswere contained in the altars, thusmarking out "a liturgical topography by their feasts and openings." 107 This sequential open ing and closing of altars was controlled and utilized by the authorities of the church to draw attention to the saintswhose cults were important in St. Lorenz. Crossley argued also thatwithin thismatrix of altars and altarpieces, of relics and images,were formed "more permanent centres of meaning."'108 The altars gener ated "meditational centres, what might be called sequential patterns of thought, triggers for the ordered exercise of intellection andmemory. " 109 Crossley identified a series of "themes" running through the arrangement of the different altars, such that the relics in one altar could set up linkswith other altars at other significant or equivalent places along themain axes describing the choir.1"0 Therefore, this complicated system of openings and closings not only encouraged the viewer to see each altar as a part of the apparatus of devotion to the saints connected with each individual altar but also encouraged awider and more integrated consider ation of the sacred space of the choir as a whole. The openings and closings of the altars provided another way of fulfilling the "labeling" function identified by Baxandall and Binski, but this time itwas the choreography of the openings and

von St. Lorenz vom Jahre 1493, Ein Das Mesnerpflichtbuch in N?rnberg G?mbel, aus der Kirchengeschichte 8 W. "Die mittelalterliche and 1928), Hass, (Munich, Bayerns in 500 Jahre Hallenchor in der N?rnberger St. Lorenz zu N?rnberg, Lorenzkirche," Altaranordnung ed. Herbert and Georg Stolz (Nuremberg, 1477-1977, Bauer, Gerhard Hirschmann, 1977), pp. 63 zelarbeiten as in the following note. 108, both cited in Crossley, 106 "The Man from Inner Space: Architecture paui Crossley, in Nuremberg," inMedieval Art?Recent Laurence Perspectives: and Meditation A Memorial in the Choir Tribute of St

105See Albert

to C. R. Dod

and Timothy Graham ed. Gale R. Owen-Crocker well, (Manchester, Eng., 1998), pp. 165-82. 107 Ibid., p. 170. 108 Ibid. 109 Ibid. 110 For example, the altar at the boundary between choir and nave, under the rood, was dedicated in honor of St. John the Evangelist. It contained relics of Sts. John and Matthew and was opened on Luke. The axial chapel, at the opposite their feasts and also on the feast of another end of evangelist, in honor of St. Bartholomew of the apse, was dedicated and extremity and Andrew and also of St. Matthew, thus linking it back to the relics of Sts. Bartholomew to the days when The St. Bartholomew altar was opened?in addition altar of St. John the Evangelist. the choir, contained it honored in the easternmost or Matthew?on the feasts of Stephen and Laurence, thus linking Bartholomew, Andrew, to the high altar, in the center of the choir, for the high altar was dedicated in honor of St. It would and Stephen. the relics of Laurence Laurence therefore have been opened on and contained have their feast days, at the same time as the St. Bartholomew altar, at the back of the choir, would this altar been opened. See Crossley, ibid., pp. 170-72.

Altarpieces

365

closings of the altarpieces that signaled the dedications of the altars, asmuch as, if not more than, their specific imagery. This use of altarpieces to advertise altar dedication and to focus veneration of particular saints can be seen not just in theNetherlands, Italy, and Germany but also in England. The altar in the Chapel of St. Faith, to the south of the south transept of Westminster Abbey, is adorned with a mural painting of St. Faith, which advertises the dedication of that altar to her (Fig. 7).111 As Binski points out, it is not entirely clear why St. Faith should have been venerated here: the church possessed no major relic of the saint, and her cultwas primarily a French one."12 Nevertheless, the imposing full-length figure of the saint over the altar in this chapel seems to indicate that itwas an altar sacred to her.To the saint's right, in a barbed quatrefoil, can be seen the kneeling figure of amonk113 whose prayer to the saint is inscribed in the space between the two figures 114 One of the primary purposes of this side-altar image, like others of this type discussed above, is clearly to encourage the veneration of the altar's titular saint. And yet there is a further element to the imageryhere. An explicit visual concen tration on the eucharistic body of Christ is present, in the shape of a small Cru cifixion, painted on thewall beneath the image of St. Faith and above the altar.'15 The image of the crucifixmakes reference to the Eucharist by presenting the ful fillment of the sacrifice of Christ's body, which Christ had foretold at the Last Supper. The presence of an image of the Crucifixion such as this would have fulfilled the requirement that priestsmust have a crucifix before them on the altar

111 See Paul Binski, Westminster Abbey 1200-1400 Power, Conn., (New Haven, notes that the altar itself was coeval with

1250) and offers various suggestions much later (c. 1290-1310). 112 Ibid., p. 167. It has recently been argued that this chapel was used as part of the monastic treasury III and that the presence under Henry of an image of St. Faith in this location is explained by the fact to be particularly that St. Faith was thought effective at collecting, storing up, and guarding valuables. See Constantine III: A Re-examination the Treasure of Henry of St Faith's Athanasiadis, "Guarding Institute of Art, University Courtauld dissertation, Chapel, Westminster Abbey," M.A. to Prof. Richard Marks 2002. for this reference.) (I am grateful 113 Binski that this monk may either p. 169) suggests (Westminster represent Abbey, or an at monastic individual donor. community large perhaps PLACATVM :CHRISTVM unto me :DEALEASQVE Christ's pleasure :REATVM" ("Raise me, and blot out my iniquity": oh sweet of London, the monastic

and the Plantagenets: and the Representation Kingship of 1995), pp. 167-71, figs. 217 and 218. Binski (pp. 170-71) the building of the transept and chapter house complex (c. as to why the altar painting should have been carried out so

" 114 : : + ME : VIRGO : SVAVIS/+ FAC MIHI QVEM :CVLPA :GRAVIS :PREMIT :ERIGE :
transcription grave virgin, whom and translation

sin burdens/render by Binski, 115 Hans

ibid., p. 169).

over the altar of St. Faith that in this arrangement the mural decoration suggests Belting an were in of raised tabernacles altars with low retables front arrangement replicates whereby placed in which statues of saints were placed. Here the Crucifixion the figure panel acts as the retable, with in a tabernacle it. Belting points out that the saint of St. Faith placed above and theoretically behind is shown Hans unmistakably Likeness (Chicago, See she is supported. here, by the socle with a capital upon which A History and Presence: of the Image before the Era of Art, trans. Edmund to Prof. Richard Marks for this 1994), p. 446 and figs. 270 and 271. (I am grateful as a statue

Belting,

Jephcott reference.)

Fig. 7. Anonymous English painter, St. Faith, Westminster Chapel of St. Faith, altar mural, c. 1290-1310. (?A. F. Kersting.

Abbey,

Altarpieces

367

in order to celebrateMass'16 and would also have reminded the other viewers of the eucharistic function of the altar.The chapel possesses a gallery that allowed access from the dormitory to thenight staircase leading to the transept.The monks would have seen the painting over the altar as they passed along this night gallery to reach the choir for the Divine Office.117And because of the large size of the standing figure of the saint, themonks, while walking from the dormitory to the choir,would probably have caught sightmore easily of St. Faith than of the cru cifix. At other times, during the celebration of a mass at this altar, the crucifix would have been seen right in the center, just above the altar mensa, and the viewer-be he attendant or celebrant-would perhaps then have been encouraged to amore focused consideration of theEucharist, presumably often combinedwith the continued veneration of St. Faith. Thus the different aspects of the imagery over this particular altarwould come to the fore at different times. The decoration over the altar of St. Faith thereforehas an explicitly dual aspect, which responds to the dual function of the altar and which reminds us that no matter what the particular emphasis appears to be in the imagery of any given altarpiece, theChristian altarwas always conceived both as a repository for relics and as the location for the liturgicalcelebration of theEucharist. As Ihave already shown, these two aspects had been linked inextricably in the development of altars This dual function of the altar is themselves, from the early Christian period.118 reflected inmany altarpieces, to a greater or lesser extent, and many altarpieces must have been explicitly intended to combine references to the eucharistic sac rificeof Christ with references to the saints venerated at the particular altar, as at the St. Faith altar. An Italian altarpiece by Bartolo di Fredi (Fig. 8), now in the Museo d'Arte Sacra, Montalcino,119 but originally commissioned for the Franciscan church in that town, similarly combines visual references to a saint (or in this case a locally venerated beato) with images of the Passion of Christ that can be understood in the light of the Eucharist. This time, in contrast to the English St. Faith altar painting, it is not a subsidiary image thatmakes reference to the crucified body of Christ but the central panel, which depicts the deposition of Christ's body from the cross. As van Os explains, this Christological scene in particular can be re garded as a dramatic reference to theEucharistwherein "Christ'sbody isbrought to the passionate believers under the Cross. "120Beneath the Deposition, in the

Ill's "De missarum misteriis" written before his ele (or "De sacro altaris mysterio"), to the papacy in 1198, had stated the need for an altar to possess a cross: "Inter duo candelabra in Ecclesia mediator in altari crux collocatur media, inter duos populos Christus existit, lapis quoniam a Judaea, unum: et magi venerunt" ad quern pastores ab Oriente (PL qui fecit utraque angularis See Gardner, p. 7, and Binski, p. 51, where Binski points 217:811). "Altars," "English Altarpiece," Innocent vation out in 1224, reiterated and dissem of Bishop Peter des Roches of Winchester, on several early English retables should and that the inclusion of the Crucifixion be seen in the light of this requirement. 117 Binski, Westminster Abbey, p. 167. 118 See above, p. 354. 119 see van Os, Sienese Altarpieces Freuler For this altarpiece, and Gaudenz (above, n. 13), 2:133-35, in in "Der Beato S. Francesco Ciardelli and Michael Altar des 1382," Montalcino, Mallory, Philippino inated that the synodal this obligation 21-35. statutes

116

47 (1989), Pantheon 120 Ibid., 2:135.

.A ~~~v.~~~~

.. __ a

Fig. 8. Bartolo di Fredi, Altarpiece of Blessed Filippo Ciardella, Montalcino, Museo d'Arte Sacra, c. 300 cm. high, 1382. C)Kunsthistorisches Institut, Florence. Current scholarship favors a much more plausible alternative reconstruction, with John the Baptist Led into the Desert by an Angel (here top right) at bottom left, Filippo Ciardella Lifted into Heaven (here bottom left) at bottom right, and Filippo Ciardella Healing the Lame Man (here bottom right) at top right. For the correct reconstruction see Harpring, Bartolo di Fredi (as in n. 127, below), p. 79, and van Os, Sienese Altarpieces, 2, fig. 131.

Altarpieces

369

predella, according to Gaudenz Freuler's reconstruction, were depicted events from the Passion of Christ. Directly below theDeposition, emphasized by itsdou ble size and its placement in the center, in defiance of the narrative order of the rest of the scenes, was the Lamentation, which, as noted above, is another key "eucharistic"Christological image, focusing on the sacrificed body of Christ. The central scene of theDeposition of Christ in themain body of the altarpiece was accompanied by-on the left, as the viewer sees the altarpiece-a scene of St. John theBaptist being led into the desert by an angel and, above, theBaptism of Christ. Two scenes relating to Filippo Ciardella-his being lifted into heaven and, above, his healing miracle-were placed on the opposite side. Filippo Ciar della was a Spanish lay Franciscan, who had been at the funeral of St. Francis, met St.Anthony of Padua in Sicily, and subsequently lived in the convent of Co lombaio, nearMontalcino. He died in 1290, and his body was brought toMon talcino. The building of the new church of S. Francesco was begun about that time, and it seems likely that the Franciscans ofMontalcino stimulated devotion to Filippo Ciardella in connection with financing and building this new church.121 The altar on which this altarpiece standswas erected in 1382. According to an eighteenth-century description of the church, the altar had been erected by the patron, Cristofero Costanti, in honor of Blessed Filippo Ciardella.122Strictly speaking, according to canon law, this altar should not have had a noncanonized individual as its titulus, as was discussed in the case of the altarpiece of Blessed Agostino Novello, above.123In practice this stricturemay simply have been ig nored here, particularly if the Franciscans in Montalcino hoped that Filippo Ciar On the other hand, by this date far clearer dellawould ultimately be canonized.124 statements about the status of beati vis-a-vis papally canonized saints had been issued,125 although itwould seem that in practice very littlewas actually done by the papacy to control local veneration of uncanonized saints throughout the four The relative positions of St. John and Blessed Filippo Ciardella teenth century.126 have occasioned some discussion: originally itwas probably St. Johnwho occu pied the traditional place of honor, on the right hand of the crucified Christ as

121 Henk 67

van Os, "Tradition in Some Altarpieces and Innovation by Bartolo at p. 59. (1985), 50-66, 122 "Cristofero nel 1382 edifico un altare ad onore del Gloriosissimo Costanti

di Fredi," Confessore

Art Bulletin di Christo

ove presen B. Filippino S. Antonio dilettissimo del Gloriosissimo di Padova, Taumaturgo Compagno temente si venera il Ser?fico P. S. Francesco" See Freuler and Mallory, "Der Altar des (italics mine). Beato Philippino pp. 21 and 23. Ciardelli," 123 See above, pp. 357-61. 124 as having had a "particularly active policy" in Vauchez p. 94) sees the mendicants (Sainthood, "scant regard for the official rules." regard to the cult of saints and often to have showed 125 these is the bull Molesta which Urban V sent to the archbishop of Ravenna Among significatio, on 1 September in which he criticized the according of a public cult to two monks who were 1368, as martyrs: cum sit eis sub tali vacabulo a jure prohibitum, "non sanctos, venerated being popularly et aliis astruere moliantur" in predicationibus in plateis et eorum ecclesiis, sed beatos publi?e (ibid., in 1378, led to the relaxation of (ibid., p. 90) argues that the Great Schism, beginning to popular of the papacy and its need cults, partly because of the diminished authority

p. 89). 126 Vauchez papal attitudes for support.

370

Altarpieces

depicted in the center panel (but on the left as the viewer sees the altarpiece).127 It might be suggested that the precise composition of this altarpiece indicated an attempt to conform to the expectations of canon law, by presenting St. John the Baptist in the honorific position usually occupied by the official titulus of the altar, even though the chapel contained the sepulchre and relics of Filippo Ciardella. This arrangementmight have solved the technical problem that to consecrate a chapel inhonor of an uncanonized saintwas regardedas illicit,but thepresentation of an imageof one was not.128 Evenwhere the rules were ignored, asAndre Vauchez was often a fairly clear understanding ofwhat the official ruleswere.129 argues, there Beatificationwas not a clearly defined juridicalstatus until the seventeenth century, but it seems to have been presented as the first stage in a canonization thatwould one day receive papal approval, as was indeed the case after the Counter Refor mation. As Vauchez points out, "This pious anticipation implies awareness of the law in force, but itwas also away of circumventing its provisions."130 Whatever the official titulus of this altar, it is plain that the chapel and its altarpiecewere connected with the person of Filippo Ciardella in theminds of the Franciscans of Montalcino. At the same time the altarpiecemade explicit visual reference to an episode of Christ's Passion that could be understood to have es pecially eucharistic connotations. In this altarpiece, as in the decoration over the St. Faith altar, the veneration of theEucharist is united with the veneration of the saint but clearly demarcated from it.However, the relationship between the visual references to the two themes isdifferent in these two cases. In the St. Faith painting the image of the saint is central, and dominant by virtue of its large size, and the image of the Crucifixion ismuch smaller and subsidiary. In the Filippo Ciardella

reconstructions discussed the possible alternative and con of the altarpiece Harpring indicates that the normally evidence that the physical (with St. John on the agreed construction On the other hand, she suggested with that the alternative viewer's reconstruction, left) is preferable. more suc on the left, is tempting she felt that it would be compositionally because Filippo Ciardella cluded cessful the more Fredi and because honoured "the scenes side of the altar. of the saint to whom the altar was dedicated, would be on Filippino, " Painter Bartolo The Sienese Trecento di See Patricia Harpring,

127 Patricia

that St. John may have been chosen as a good 1993), p. 77. Van Os suggested (Rutherford, N.J., to Christ. to Filippo Ciardella If St. Francis was because John the Baptist was a witness counterpoint to Francis, then one of Francis's such as Filippo, as a witness followers, regarded as an "alter Christus," an "alter Johannes." van Os did not offer a suggestion as to why Filippo could call himself However,

side of the altarpiece. See van Os, Sienese Altarpieces, 2:134. should have been placed on the "wrong" 128 Sainthood, p. 87 n. 8. Vauchez, 129 to the accusations at As early as 1317 Angelo Clareno that the Spiritual Franciscans responded were publicly to Peter honors Narbonne Olivi that should be (and thus abusively) John rendering saints: "nee enim facte sunt nee fiunt nee recitantur orationes accorded only to canonized sollempnes nee (in) letania ponitur nomen eius nee similia fiunt que in honorem eius, nee in kalendario consuevit" in Archiv facer? pro sanctis canonizatis (ed. F. Ehrle, "Olivis Leben und Schriften," 3 [1887], 443, cited by Vauchez, und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters Sainthood, p. 95 f?r Literatur n. 34). (I am grateful to Dr. Donal Cooper for this information Olivi.) As David Burr points concerning a normal far from being illegitimate, had constituted out, the writer goes on to note that such practices, et officcia ecclesia part of the processes of Toulouse (David of Francis, Dominic, of Padua, and Louis leading to the canonization Anthony of the American Philo Burr, The Persecution of Peter John Olivi, Transactions 1976], pp. 85-86). Society, n.s., 6615 [Philadelphia, sophical 130 Sainthood, p. 98. Vauchez,

Altarpieces

371

altarpiece theDeposition is central. Here, then, themain image of the altarpiece is explicitly related to the sacrament-sacrifice of the Eucharist, in amanner that might have been appropriate to an altar of the Blessed Sacrament, even though the cult central to this chapelwas, in fact, that of Filippo Ciardella. The example of the Filippo Ciardella altarpiecemakes it clear thatwhile the "official" relationship of altar imagery to the titulus of the altarmay have been supposed to be that outlined by Baxandall and Binski above-that is, to identify the dedication of an altar-in practice the relationship between the altarpiece image, the altar's official dedication, and the relics contained within the altar and the relationship between an altar's or a chapel's official dedication and the cult observed theremay not always have been particularly straightforward. In addi tion, the example of the Filippo Ciardella altarpiece, togetherwith some of the other examples discussed above, makes it clear that the demarcation between eucharistic themes and "saintly" themes in the iconography of altarpieces is not always absolute, by any means. This calls into question the impression given by some of the existing literature that altarpieces are concerned eitherwith the liturgy of theEucharist orwith the cult of saints. This can be the case, but as shownwith several of the side altars and subsidiary altars already discussed, references to the sacrament and to the saints can be combined within one complex of imagery. Altarpieces from the IberianPeninsula, the Balearic Islands, and Catalonia ex hibit a similarmixture of images and themes as those already examined from England and Italy.As with altarpieces from other regions, some Spanish altar pieces exhibit a concentration on the incarnateChrist, in the image of theVirgin and Child, or on the crucified body of Christ, but many combine Christological with images of saints, in themanner of theEnglish St. Faith painting."3' references For example, the high altar of S.Miquel of Cruilles once carried an altarpiece attributed to Lluis Borrass'a,depicting St. Michael in the central panel, surmounted Below themain field is a tabernacle, designed to by a largeCrucifixion scene.132 hold the host. Here themain field of the altarpiecewas designed tomake evident the identity of the titular saint of the church and altar, but the eucharistic theme, once more, appears in conjunction with that labeling function.The Crucifixion at the top of the altarpiece gives visual expression to the historical sacrifice of the body of Christ, which will be accomplished again liturgically using the hosts re served in the tabernacle below. A similar combination of themes can be seen in the Altarpiece of St. George, by Marzal de Sas (Fig. 9).133 The central axis is dominated by two large-scale images of St. George, with smaller scenes from his life arranged on either side, in four columns of four smaller scenes. The central
131 Nigel most Morgan's study of Catalan to a saint. He devoted the Virgin appearing See Nigel Morgan, altar further frontals notes notes that from c. 1250 altar frontals became

commonly of Christ and/or

murals

for instance.

that these may have been combined with images in the ensemble of decoration elsewhere around the altar, in apse c. 1100-1350," of Catalan Altar Frontals, "Devotional Aspects

on Catalonia in Australia in Proceedings Melbourne, (La Trobe University, of the First Symposium 27-29 ed. Robert Archer and Emma Martinell 1996), (Barcelona, 1998), pp. 101-22, September, esp. pp. 103-4. 132 See Sobr?, Behind the Altar Table (above, n. 26), pp. 83-84. 133C. M. Victoria and Albert Museum, 1: Before 1800 Kauffmann, Catalogue of Foreign Paintings. 1973), cat. no. 221. (London,

372

Altarpieces

axis is surmounted by an image of theVirgin and Child and an image of Christ as the SalvatorMundi, and the predella comprises a Passion cycle. Thus the saint is accompanied by images of Christ incarnate, Christ as sacrifice, and Christ as
Savior.

We can see, therefore, from this brief examination of different types of altar decoration from England, Italy, and Spain that there is no necessary demarcation between eucharistic and saintly themes in the imageryof altarpieces, because there is no demarcation between the functions of the altar towhich these visual themes refer.Altarpieces must be understood in the light of both sets of ideas simulta neously, as the function of the altar is simultaneously a site for the celebration of the Eucharist and for the veneration of saints. This meshing of themes and func tions ismost eloquently expressed when the altar dedication is itself connected with the Eucharist. For example, Dirk Bouts's Blessed Sacrament Altarpiece (Fig. 10), commis sioned in 1464 by theConfraternity of theBlessed Sacrament inLeuven (the same organization that controlled theChapel of St. Erasmus, discussed above) to adorn the altar of itsChapel of theBlessed Sacrament in theChurch of St. Pieter,134 seems to conform to the function of the altarpiece as described by Lane: to elucidate the meaning of the celebration of theMass. It depicts the Last Supper in its central panel and Old Testament prefigurations of the Eucharist in itswings, so that its whole program honored the institution of the eucharistic rite.135 But we must the is here also the remember that Blessed Sacrament titulus of the chapel, and therefore the altarpiece serves tomake clear that dedication and to promote the cult of Corpus Christi within the church and the city. As Shirley Blum pointed out, the altarpiece was commissioned exactly two hundred years after the insti tution of the feast of Corpus Christi in the diocese of Liege, of which Leuven was a part.136 The confraternity had also commissioned a sacrament house in 1450, which was placed just outside the entrance to the Chapel of the Blessed Sacra ment.137 Here the two possible functions of altarpiece imagery so far discussed are most intimately entwined: the identification and promotion of the titulus-in this case theBlessed Sacrament-is quite obviously combined with didactic or expos itory references to the Eucharist (or, in Lane's terms, a "dramatization" of the meaning of theMass for the worshiper)138 because the cult celebrated in this
134For detailed studies see Micheline of this altarpiece Comblen-Sonkes, in the Southern of Fifteenth-Century Painting 1996), Bouts, The Collegiate Church of and the Prin Netherlands

Saint Peter, Louvain, Corpus cipality of Li?ge 18 (Brussels, in Dirk and the Last Supper,"

and Maurits "The Living Bread: Dirk Bouts pp. 1-84, Smeyers, een Vlaams primitief te Leuven, ed. Maurits exhibition Smeyers, 19 September-6 Church December 1998 (Leuven, 1998), pp. 35-58. of St. Pieter, Leuven, catalogue, 135 scenes are (on the upper the Meeting of Melchizedek and Abraham; These left wing) (on the lower left wing) the Feast of the Passover; the Gathering of the Manna; and (on the upper right wing) of Elijah. (above, see Miri n. 76),

the Dream (on the lower right wing) 136 Blum, Netherlandish Triptychs of Li?ge, Christi and the importance

of the feast of Corpus p. 63. On the foundation in Late Medieval Rubin, Corpus Christi: The Eucharist See also P.-M. Guy, "Office li?geois et office romain Culture Eng., 1991), pp. 164-212. (Cambridge, in F?te-Dieu 12-14 Actes du Colloque de Li?ge, de la F?te-Dieu," 1996, ed. (1246-1996): Septembre 117-26.

19 (Louvain-la-Neuve, Andr? Haquin, 1999), pp. Textes, Etudes, Congr?s 137 p. 63. Blum, Netherlandish Triptychs, 138 See above, p. 348; Lane, Altar and Altarpiece (above, n. 34), p. 2.

Fig. 9. Marzal de Sas, Altarpiece of St. George, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 660 x 550 cm., c. 1410-20. V&A Picture Library, London. (C

44

fS.Pee,10x11c.

~Ai . _ , -1P EF

..................................................................................

_IRAKK Brses
0 i rBot,lesedScaetAtriec,Lue,Cuc

[~~~~~Fg

Altarpieces

375

chapel, and advertised by the altar decoration, is the eucharistic body of Christ itself. This close combination of ideas can be seen to operate in a similarway inTilman Riemenschneider's carved Altarpiece of theHoly Blood (Fig. 11),139 which con tains in its central Corpus a scene of theLast Supper, the moment of the institution of the Eucharist. This narrative does not exist here solely to elucidate the theo logicalmeaning of theMass but also to proclaim the existence of the church's relic of the holy blood, which attracted pilgrims to the Jakobskirche by themany miracles associated with the relic and by the indulgences attached to it.140 The altarpiece stands on thewest tribune of the church, which had been built on the site of the earlierChapel of theHoly Blood.141 It did not justmake reference to a relic contained within an altar below but actually contained the relic of the holy blood within the altarpiece structure itself.This relicwas housed in a cross (now lost and replacedwith a later one) held by two angels in the superstructureabove the Corpus.142 The moment of the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper, as recorded in theGospels, saw Christ's utterance of thewords "Hoc est corpus meum" and "Hic est sanguis meus." Since the confirmation of the doctrine of transubstantiation in 1215,143 the consecrated eucharistic bread and wine were considered to be the real body and blood of Christ. Therefore the relic of the holy blood was inextricably linkedwith theEucharist. The narrative of theLast Supper here depicts the central figure of Judas as the fulfillment of Christ's destiny, the instrument by which Christ's sacrificialdeath will be accomplished and his blood shed. At the same time the narrative commemorates the institution of the sacra ment of the Eucharist, which will continually bring about the real presence of Christ's body and blood within the liturgy. The narrative of theLast Supper there fore serves both as a didactic exposition on the nature of the Eucharist and as a significantmoment in the "life" of the holy blood of Christ, reveredhere as a relic within the altarpiece structure.As JulienChapuis pointed out, the presence of the relic in the altarpiece "establishes a direct link between the viewer and the event" and "confirms the viewers' impression that theLast Supper is actually takingplace before them inRothenburg."'144 As with Dirk Bouts's Blessed SacramentAltarpiece, themeshing of functions is obvious here. So far, in considering the ways inwhich eucharistic and saintly themes can be combinedwithin altarpieces, Ihave particularly discussed side altars or subsidiary altars. However, high altars also operated in the same way, as re positories for relics, carrying dedicatory tituli, and as locations for the liturgical
139 See Baxandall, 112, and 108-10, and 262, (above, n. 56), pp. 172-90 Sculptors See also Julien Chapuis, Tilman Riemenschneider, 1999), pp. 29-32. D.C., (Washington, Limewood 120-21. Sculptors, 28

plates 24-26, figs. 106, Master Sculptor of the

Late Middle Ages 140 Limewood Baxandall,

burger Di?zesangeschichtsbl?tter 141 The original Chapel of

the relic surrounding in 1446, 1455, and 1459. See Baxandall, 142 Tilman Riemenschneider, Chapuis, 143 See above, pp. 346-47. 144 Tilman Riemenschneider, Chapuis,

"Fr?nkische Mirakelb?cher," W?rz p. 176; Dieter Harmening, (1966), 30, 143, and 152-54. in the thirteenth the Holy Blood was consecrated century, but the cult to it increased during the fifteenth century, and new indulgences were attached Limewood p. 29; Baxandall, p. 31. p. 235 n. 15. Sculptors, Limewood Sculptors, p. 176.

7.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fig. 11. Tilman Riemenschneider, c. 900 cm. high, 1499-1505. ? Bildarchiv Foto, Marburg.

Altarpiece of the Holy

St. Jakobskirche, Blood,Rothenburg-on-the-Tauber,

Altarpieces

377

sacrifice of the Eucharist-in this case, themain such locationwithin the church. Just one example, with a complex structure and several layers of meaning, will serve to demonstrate that altarpieces on high altars also combine both eucharistic themes and saintly themeswithin their imagery.The high altarpiece of the parish church of St. Wolfgang, near Salzburg, still bears thewinged altarpiece carried out On the exterior wings, visible under the direction ofMichael Pacher (Fig. 12).145 when the altarpiece is in its completely closed state, are four painted scenes of the lifeof St. Wolfgang. In its closed state, then, this altarpiece proclaimed the identity of the saint inwhose honor this altarwas dedicated. However, this altarpiece had at least two other modes of display, in that its exteriorwings could open to reveal an inner set of eight painted panels displaying the life of Christ. These inner wings opened to reveal four painted scenes from the life of the Virgin (theNativity, Presentation, Circumcision of Christ, and Dormition) and a central, carved Cor pus with a painted and gilded Coronation of theVirgin. The wings of the Sarg, or predella below, which showed the figures of the four Latin church fathers on the outside, opened to reveal a carved scene of theAdoration of the Magi, flanked by painted scenes of theVisitation and the Flight into Egypt. A figureof St.Wolf gang stands in the traditional place of honor on the left of theCoronation scene, however, so that even in this fully open state the altarpiece still proclaims the importance of the titular and patron saint of the church while at the same time proclaiming the glorification of theVirgin. The whole structure is surmounted by a figure of Christ crucified, so that the eucharistic body of Christ can never be far from the viewer's mind. This provides a many-layered set of references, both to the altar's dedicatee saint and to the eucharistic body of Christ, and, indeed, to theVirgin. From this brief consideration of the St.Wolfgang Altarpiece, and the other examples discussed above, it should be clear thatmany, if not most, altarpieces were intended to be understood in connection both with the liturgy and theology of the Eucharist and with the cult of saints, theVirgin, and other objects of de votion. For most writers on the subject, the reasonable balance between the eu charistic, liturgical,or devotional strands present in the iconography of altarpieces and in their reception isdecided, inpart, by a consideration of the original contexts inwhich the objectswere seen.However, the issue of context isnot unproblematic in itself. It iswidely accepted that an understanding of the physical context inwhich an altarpiecewas designed to be viewed can be a crucial part of the analysis of its reception.Hills has remarked that a consideration of the site or context forwhich a work of art was commissioned or intended "has become an article of faith Blum suggested, in her study of early amongst well brought up art historians."'146 Netherlandish triptychs, that "their totalmeaning can never be fully understood But the until the original synthesis of object and environment is recreated."'147 original physical or spatial context of an object may be difficult to recover, and,

145 See Baxandall, Limewood p. 254, plates 13-15, Sculptors, 146 "Renaissance (above, n. 7), p. 42. Hills, Altarpiece" 147 p. 7. Blum, Netherlandish Triptychs,

and fig. 38.

.V,~~~p

t~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~e

Fig. 12. Michael Pacher, St.Wolfgang Altarpiece, St.Wolfgang Pfarrkirche, overall height 1,110 cm. high, 1471-81. ? St.Wolfganger Kunstverlag.

am Abersee,

Altarpieces

379

evenwhere it is recoverable, itmay be in asmuch need of elucidation as the object that it is supposed to elucidate.148 Even if the physical or spatial context of an altarpiece appears to be fairly clear and unshifting, the temporal context within which an altarpiecewas viewed could be at least as important, if not more important.At different times of the day, and at different times of the year, a community's or an individual's reception of an altarpiecemight vary. If theywere present at the celebration ofMass in front of the altar, a liturgicalor eucharistic theme embeddedwithin the altarpiece imagery might be most prominent in their thoughts. If theywere engaged in private de votional prayer at the altar,perhaps the theme relating to the saint's cult celebrated at that altar might have come more strongly to the fore. For example, we have already considered theway inwhich themonks atWestminster might have ex perienced the images over the altar of St. Faith in different ways depending on whether they viewed it closely, duringMass at the altar, or while passing through the chapel at night from the dormitory to the choir for night offices.149In a dif ferent way, Crossley's article on the altarpieces of the Church of St. Lorenz in Nuremberg attended asmuch to the temporal context inwhich altarpieceswere seen as to their physical and spatial context.150Through this dual attention to physical and temporal context, Crossley offered an insight into theways inwhich relationships between different devotional loci in that sacred space could be or ganized around the liturgicalcalendar and how altarpiecesmight be used tomark those loci, encouraging and controlling the devotional activity of the users of St. Lorenz within a structured liturgical framework. Caveats about the possible problems associated with "contexts" do not mean that historians and art historians have abandoned, or should abandon, a consid eration of original context when trying to understand the reception of altar pieces.15' Indeed, with the extension of the scholarly understanding of context beyond the bounds of the physical or spatial, to include the shifting temporal context, important advances have beenmade in the perception of factors affecting the reception of images. This is all to the good. But there is another, perhaps less helpful, aspect to this concentration on context: because of the recognition that an awareness of original context can offer vitally important information concern ing the conceptual framework inwhich a painting would have been viewed, and, inHope's words, "what kinds of expectation might commonly have been brought to bear on them,"'152 scholars have become less confident, even unwilling, to con
as the crucial and defining to place earlier faith in "context" background against which or events, tem in order to achieve an understanding of their significance is now increasingly an contexts are not or view of the that themselves determinate but acceptance simple, given, pered by as objects or events. See Jonathan Culler, Framing in need of elucidation" that they are "just as much the Sign: Criticism and Its Institutions, Oklahoma and Theory 3 (Norman, Okla., Project for Discourse objects, 1988), p. xiv. 149 See above, p. 367. 150 in Nuremberg" "St Laurence (above, n. 106). See above, pp. 363-65. Crossley, 151 as a working As Norman Bryson points out, "What is not at stake is that 'context' be abandoned in the supposed free play of 'anything goes'; rather, what visual semiotics proposes is that the concept, See Norman "Art in Context," in be problematized and reformulated." in Studies concept Bryson, Historical ed. Ralph Cohen (Charlottesville, Change, 152 (above, n. 45), p. 536. Hope, "Altarpieces" Va., 1992), p. 19. 148 An

380

Altarpieces

sider questions of meaning and reception of religious images-especially altar pieces-if the original physical or spatial context is unknown. Ifwe do not know the original context for an image,we cannot be surewhether itwas designed to be used as an altarpiece or not. The impression is sometimes given in the literature that this hampers-or renders impossible-attempts to interpret the imagewith reference to liturgical, sacramental, or eucharistic themes.The implication is that images not designed to stand on an altarmust deal with entirely different images and themes from altarpieces and that theymust have elicited entirely different responses from those elicited by altarpieces. But is this necessarily the case? It seems clear that some images, chiefly distinguished by size and provenance, certainlywere designed to be used inprivate devotion, outside the liturgical setting of a church altar,probably by an individual.153 And there are images, such as those described inErwin Panofsky's classic study and further examined bymore recent scholars such asHans Belting, the pictorial form and content of which (aswell as size and provenance) seem to indicate an intention that they should be used by individuals in private contemplation and devotion.154Sixten Ringbom has pro vided a concise and influential definition of the apparatus of private devotion, which included the prie-dieu, thebook of hours or prayer book, and thedevotional image. These he placed in direct contrast to the accessories of public worship, namely, the altar, themissal, and the altarpiece.155 But the fact that such contrasts can be made between types of object does not necessarily indicate that the very realms of liturgy and devotion themselves are separate ones.
LITURGY AND DEVOTION

As already discussed, liturgical activity is usually understood as public, with devotional activity being seen as its private opposite. But those distinctions are rather too sharp. While itmay be broadly correct to conceive of liturgical activity as essentially public, ecclesiastical, and institutional, devotional activity can be much more fluid.Confraternities and other such groups performed theirdevotions

at the Rijksmuseum, of the Art of Devotion exhibition restricted itself Amsterdam, catalogue of art "the size and provenance of which that they had been made for clearly demonstrated a private van Os, ed., The Art of Devotion Henk in room, be it a nun's cell or a layman's bedroom": in Europe, the Late Middle 1300-1500 (Amsterdam, 1994), p. 8. Ages " 154 Erwin Panofsky, Ein Beitrag zur Typengeschichte des 'Schmerzensmanns' und 'Imago pietatis': in Festschrift der 'Maria Mediatrix,'" zum 60. Geburtstage f?r Max J. Friedl?nder (Leipzig, 1927), to works Hans Belting, The Image and Its Public in the Middle pp. 261-308; Ages: Form and Function of Early trans. Mark Bartusis and Raymond Paintings of the Passion, (New Rochelle, 1990). The Meyer N.Y., an image excerpted is the Andachtsbild, classic definition of this type of image, developed by Panofsky, context or pathos with from a narrative that focuses on moments of high emotion the intention of the viewer's arousing compassion. see Karl Schade, the Andachtsbild: mar, 1996). 155 Sixten Devotional Icon 2nd ed. Karl Schade Andachtsbild: The has recently reconsidered the concept eines kunsthistorischen Die Geschichte Rise of the Dramatic p. 32 and fig. 5. and definition Begriffs of (Wei

153 The

Ringbom, Painting,

to Narrative: (Doornspijk,

Close-up

in Fifteenth-Century

1984),

Altarpieces

381

in public, sometimes ecclesiastical settings.156 Even individual, devotional prayer, which is often understood as essentially private, sometimes took place in liturgical settings, even during or alongside liturgical services.The image thatRingbom used to illustrate his point about the different tools for private devotion and public worship (Fig. 13) actually shows that the duke has been inprayer in a semiprivate chapel and has turnedhis attention away from his own book and devotional image to observe the liturgical activity taking place at the adjacent altar.Therefore it should be clear that liturgy and devotion do not inhabit opposite ends of a spec trum of religious thought and activity, corresponding respectively to public and private realms, as is sometimes implied.Nor is the dichotomy that is sometimes drawn between formalized, ritualized, ecclesiastically structured liturgicalactivity and spontaneous, unstructured, popular devotion a helpful one. Devotional activ ity could be, and was, structured liturgically, as we can see from the example of theChurch of St. Lorenz atNuremberg, discussed above.157 There theyearly round of the observation of holy days and saints' feasts, articulated by the opening and closing of the altarpieces, and the ordered observation of themultiple cults cele brated at the various altars provided a strong liturgical framework for devotion to the saints. By attention to such examples, I have already shown that altarpiece decoration did not conform to rigid divisions between liturgical, sacramental, or eucharistic themes and devotional themes relating to the saints and other cult objects or figures. It is clear, therefore, that it is too simplistic to propose a dichotomy be tween liturgical and devotional reception of altarpieces. If an altarpiece can be used and understood both liturgically and devotionally, making reference to the sacrament of the Mass but also stimulating devotion to the depicted saints, should we not also consider the possibility that so-called devotional imagesmight also elicit varied responses, perhaps with both liturgical and devotional elements? Surely it isnot beyond the bounds of possibility that an image designed to be used in private, outside the setting of a church or chapel,might nevertheless encourage, or allow consideration of, certain liturgical themes and concepts as part of the devotional process. It is easier to consider this possibility ifwe think less in terms of fixed categories of image-altarpieces or liturgical images, as opposed to de votional images-and thinkmore of different types of responses to images.158 An individual "devotional" response to an image is easy to imagine, but we are, it would seem, less able to imagine-and describe-an individual "liturgical" re sponse to an image. Perhaps a better term, though still imperfect,would be a "liturgically structured" or "liturgically related" response to an image.Despite
offer the perfect of groups of laypeople often in an ecclesi example gathering, or private chapel, for prayer, devotion, in a semiprivate and other paraliturgical setting, perhaps and Diane Cole Ahl, eds., Confraternities see, among others, Barbara Wisch activity. On confraternities and the Visual Arts in Renaissance Image Italy: Ritual, Spectacle, (Cambridge, Eng., 2000). 157 See above, pp. 363-65. 158 See James H. Marrow, inNorthern "Symbol and Meaning European Art of the Late Middle Ages astical and the Early Renaissance," 16 (1986), Simiolus and Joseph Leo Koerner, The Moment 150-69; of in German Renaissance Art (Chicago, 1993); also Wolfgang Self-Portraiture Kemp, ed., Der Betrachter new ed. (Berlin, 1992); and John Shearman, ist im Bild: Kunstwissenschaft und Rezeptions?sthetik, ;Art and the Spectator in the Italian Renaissance (Princeton, N.J., Only Connect... 1992). 156 Confraternities

Fig. 13. Philip the Good at Prayer, sur I'oraison Traite~ dominicale, Royale,MS 9092, fol. 9r, c. 1457-60. Brussels, Bibliotheque Royale de Belgique. Bibliotheque ?C

Altarpieces

383

the unfamiliarity of such a concept, the increasinggeneral recognition that liturgy and devotion are not opposites must logically allow for an exploration of theways inwhich viewers of religious images used liturgical themes and concepts in order to structure their private, individual devotion. In order to explore that proposition, let us now turn to the consideration of two images of the Virgin. Images of this type seem to be themost flexible and multivalent with regards to categorization, allowing for eucharistic or incarna tional interpretations, aswell as devotional ones, often within the same examples. Iwill examine two images of theVirgin that use a similar iconographical theme, the image of theVirgin Lactans, or suckling Virgin. One is an Italian painting, one aNetherlandish painting. The Italian image is awell-documented altarpiece, whereas theNetherlandish image has no known provenance before the nineteenth century, and its original location and function are thereforeunknown. The Italian image has been categorized, therefore, as "liturgical,"while the categorization of theNetherlandish image-in the absence of any known liturgical context-has beenmuch less certain. But a comparison of the two will reveal that, even if one is certainly an altarpiece, and the other was perhaps designed as a private, devo tional image, there is not necessarily such a strong division between the possible meanings and receptions of the two images as those categories might suggest. It will be suggested that the Italian altarpiece contains a strong devotional impetus and that theNetherlandish image encourages consideration of several liturgical themes and concepts as part of the overall experience of viewing the image. Filippino Lippi's "Virginand Child with Sts. Jerome and Dominic" Filippino Lippi's altarpiece depicting theVirgin and Child with Sts. Jerome and Dominic (Fig. 14) is usually dated around 1485 and was originally placed on an altar in a side chapel dedicated to St. Jerome in the Church of S. Pancrazio in Florence.159 The main panel of the altarpiece shows theVirgin seated, supporting theChrist child in her lap and suckling him. She looks down at her child, but he turns his head, so thatwhile he suckles he also looks out tomeet the gaze of the observer. St. Jerome,who is represented as a penitent hermit, kneels at the feet of theVirgin, to her right, and gazes up at the holy figures. St.Dominic, by contrast, who is depicted kneeling to theVirgin's left, is absorbed in a book. The figures appear against a landscape background, which is steep and rocky to the left, behind St. Jerome, and gentle and green to the right, behind St. Dominic. In the middle ground, on the left, St. Jerome's sometime companion and attribute, the lion, guards a cave.Within the cave it is possible to see St. Jerome kneeling before a crucifix. In the equivalent position on the right is a building, which has been

was

rev. ed. (London, The Earlier Italian Schools, Davies, 1961), pp. 285-86. on the floor of the chapel, dated that year, in 1485, and an inscription consecrated of Domenico di Filippo di Vanni Rucellai, chapel as the burial vault of the descendants arms appear at either end of the predella, 1484. The Rucellai and therefore the altarpiece associated with the project to create a Rucellai family burial chapel.

159 Martin

The

church the in

identifies who died

is reasonably

Fig. 14. Filippino Lippi, Virgin and Child with Sts. Jerome and Dominic, London, National Gallery, 203 x 186 cm. (main panel), c. 1485. ? National Gallery, London.

Altarpieces

385

It has been suggested that the figure leading an identified as a rural dispensary.160 ass on the path on the central hill in the backgroundmight bemeant to represent Joseph and that therefore the scene represented is an episode in the Flight into Egypt.161It is true that the imageof theVirgin feeding theChrist child is sometimes seen in narrative images of the Flight. However, it is unlikely that the use of a landscape background for this particular image of the Virgin Lactans, though unusual, is intended to create a narrative here. The presence of the two saints, Jerome and Dominic, who could not have been present at any historicalmoment of theVirgin feeding theChild, confirm that this isnot a true narrative image, or storia, but an imageof theVirgin.162In this case she is shown as theVirgin Lactans, Mother of God, bringing forth and nurturing the eucharistic body of Christ. Because of the use of this particular image, Filippino Lippi's altarpiece was perhapsmore liable to be understood in sacrificialand eucharistic terms thanmost images of theVirgin and Child. The image of the sucklingVirgin confirmed her physical motherhood of Christ and the reality of his incarnation. It emphasized theVirgin's crucial part in bringing about that incarnation, by the fact thatChrist's body was formed of, and born out of, theVirgin's body.The Lactans motif stresses the physicality of thematernal relationship, showing that the Christ child was really born of awoman and that thatwoman really nourished himwith hermilk. Such an image shows Christ as fully human. Viewers, seeing the Eucharist take place in front of an image such as this, could read in its iconography themessage that the body of Christ, held up to them as their salvation, came from the body of theVirgin and that she is to be honored for that reason. St. Jerome offers a model of devotion for the external viewer, kneeling and gazing up at theVirgin, beyond the Christ child on her lap. The low viewpoint of themain picture field presupposes that the viewer will, like St. Jerome, gaze upwards in devotion. As argued above, it isproblematic to propose that any particular religious image had a universalmeaning and that itwas always understood in the sameway by all observers. But, again, as argued above, it is reasonable to suggest that the image of theVirgin and Child is capable of being understood in relation to the Incar nation and the Eucharist, especially in an altarpiece context, as here.When such an ensemble of imagerywas seen at themoment of the consecration, as the back drop to the elevation of the host, it ishard to imagine that the image of theVirgin and Child was not endowed with some significant eucharistic connotations.163 This
160 St. Dominic explain was associated with the hospital See Davies, attached to the Church of S. Pancrazio. et al., Giotto This may to D?rer

in the iconographical caution" analysis of paint between intended and and (on the part of the artist or patron) meaning ings distinguished analyzing available meaning (in the eye, or mind, of the beholder). He pointed out that, once installed, altarpieces or devotional became available for sophisticated and interpretation but that contemplation theological were in such images embodied this was not the same as saying that sophisticated "actively meanings A Taxonomic in the Renaissance: "The Altarpiece their production" (Martin Kemp, Ap during in The Altarpiece, ed. Humfrey and Kemp [above, n. 7], p. 11). Here Kemp acknowledged proach," a separation issues of interpretation and those relating between of altarpieces relating to the patronage to the use of altarpieces. is not always made This separation clear in other studies.

(above, 161 et al., Giotto to D?rer, p. 338. Dunkerton 162 See Hope, p. 546. "Altarpieces," 163 Martin "those who advocate Kemp agreed with

the presence of the dispensary. n. 24), p. 338.

ibid., p. 285,

and Dunkerton

386

Altarpieces

imagemight be expected to have encouraged meditation on and devotion to the sacrament of theEucharist, both in the context of the liturgical celebration of the Mass and outside that ritual, during the exposition of the Sacrament.164 In the center of the predella is an image of the body of the crucified Christ, apparently being lowered into the tomb by Joseph of Arimathea, who holds and displays Christ's body in an imitation of the traditional Piet'a image of theVirgin holding her dead son or the cult image of the dead Christ, the so-calledMan of Sorrows. This central portion of the predella,while it might seem to be a narrative image of Christ being lowered into the tomb, is in fact not a historical narrative at all but an iconic displaying of Christ's sacrificed body.We are alerted to the particular character of this image by the black backgrounds for the predella fields but more so by the otherwise anachronistic figure of St. Francis, to the left of the Man of Sorrows image,who is clearly not intended to be understood as having been present at the entombment but is instead shown adoring the crucified Christ.165This may be seen as another cue for the external viewer, to adore the Savior, in an echo of St. Jerome above.166 Even for those scholarsmost skeptical about eucharistic interpretations of al tarpieces, the inclusion of aMan of Sorrows was one way inwhich an altarpiece might be said to relate to the celebration of Mass on the altar.167 The obvious sacrificial connotation of the display of Christ's dead body, just above the altar on which the ritual of the consecration was to take place, would surely have led must the viewer to understand this altarpiece at least partly in eucharistic terms. It be noted, of course, that during theMass itwould be likely to be the celebrant only who could view the image of theMan of Sorrows in any kind of proximity or detail. Outside theMass, other viewers might have been able to contemplate the image of theMan of Sorrows also. In an altarpiece such as this, where the Man of Sorrows, each image is lent Virgin Lactans is seen in conjunction with the a sacrificial and eucharistic import by the presence of the other. The images to gether represent the beginning and the end of the drama of human salvation, a drama that is here expressed in incarnational and sacrificial terms. The iconic image of the dead body of Christ, displayed to viewers, stands for Christ's sacri ficial and redemptive Passion and thereforemakes a forward reference to the dis play of Christ's eucharistic body at the altar, after the consecration. The strange ness of theVirgin suckling the Child in this landscape, accompanied by the two Man of Sorrows, displayed against a black background, saints, togetherwith the seems to insist that these images are precisely that: images. St. Jerome and St. Francis adopt prayerful postures in front of images of theVirgin and Child and
see P. Browe, of the Sacrament S.J., Die Verehrung the body of Christ 1967), pp. 141 ff. By this process in ostensories, relic and displayed for adoration which took their form from See Belting, parts of the saints had been displayed. Image, pp. 81-84. 165 near obsession Francis's with the Crucifixion and with the wounds alter, 2nd the exposition ed. (Munich, Christ is well known and documented from the time of Bonaventure's Marion 164 On der Eucharistie was treated imMittel in effect inwhich as a body

reliquaries and

See (1260). A. Habig, St Francis of Assisi: Writings and Early Biographies. Sources for English Omnibus the Life of St Francis 1979). (London, 166 in his cave. St. Jerome, of course, also adores the crucified Christ on the crucifix as he kneels 167 See, for example, Hope, p. 544. "Altarpieces,"

body of maior Legenda

the crucified

Altarpieces

387

the crucified Christ, and the viewer is encouraged to do the same. So we might further argue that viewers are being encouraged, by this altarpiece, to use images as ameans of devotional meditation upon the Incarnation, the sacrifice of Christ at the Crucifixion, and the sacrament of the Eucharist, both within their private devotions and perhaps also in public, ostensibly liturgical settings. Perhaps the absorbed figure of St.Dominic to the right of theVirgin, with downcast eyes and focusing on his book, offers viewers a parallel reference to imagelessdevotion (the other, and arguably higher, form of meditative prayer) and an encouragement to them to adopt this type of devotional activity aswell, not only privately but also within public or liturgical settings. The known original location of Filippino Lippi's altarpiece has led to its being classified as a liturgical image, a piece of liturgical furniture, the type of image that van Os and Lane might have characterized as intended to illustrate the cere monies of the altar on which it stood. But images such as this one could, as discussed, encourage ameditative and devotional attachment to the sacrament of the Eucharist, both within and outside theMass, while also offering cues and encouragements to different types of devotional activity and encouraging devotion to the chapel's titular saint, Jerome. In discussing the role of theEnglish altarpiece, Binski pointed out that the "image complex" of statues, altar retable, and frontal obviously functionedwithin the liturgybut were susceptible to both liturgicaland devotional attention. He furthermade it clear that the two (liturgical and devo tional attention to images) are not readily separable and drew attention toBelting's analysis of theways inwhich images can be seen as taking over a role "analogous to (but ontologically different from) relics-that is to say a rolewhich could exist both within and without liturgical action."'168 Filippino Lippi's Virgin and Child could adopt a similarlymultivalent role: by definition, as an altarpiece itwould have been viewed, at least some of the time, in the context of the eucharistic ritual. Itmight also be expected to retain some kind of eucharistic or liturgical "after glow," even outside the liturgical services, just by its position on an altar and by its association with the ceremonies performed below it. In addition, it can also function as a cue to various types and levels of devotional thought and activity. The Firescreen Madonna We turn now to the consideration of an imagewhose original location and function are completely unknown. The so-called FirescreenMadonna (Fig. 15) depicts theVirgin sitting, in an ambiguous position-not quite on the bench and yet not quite on the floor-in front of a roaring fire, flames of which are seen leaping above the firescreen.She holds theChrist child on her lap and exposes her Master right breast. The painting has been attributed toRobert Campin,169to the

168 On the crucial Binski, (above, n. 27), p. 53; Belting, Image, pp. 213-15. "English Altarpiece" in the The Power differences between images and relies, see David Freedberg, of Images: Studies and Theory 1989), pp. 97-98. (Chicago, History of Response 169 as having worked in Tournai between is documented about 1405-6 and his death Robert Campin in 1444 and is generally For the attribution agreed to have been the teacher of Rogier van der Weyden.

--!-~~~~~~~~~~r:

'I~~~~~~~~~~~'

Fig. 15. Master

a Firescreen,

of theMe'rode Altarpiece
National Gallery,

(?,Virgin
63.5 x 49.5

and Child before

cm., c. 1440.

London,

)National Gallery, London.

Altarpieces

389

of Flemalle,170and to a follower of one or both of them.171 It is now associated with a follower of Campin, possibly theMaster of theMerode Triptych, named for the painting now at theCloisters inNew York.172 The Firescreen Madonna is believed to have been painted around 1440.'73 It entered theNational Gallery as part of the Salting bequest of 1910, but its provenance is not known before the nineteenth century.174 It has been described both as an altarpiece and as a private devotional panel. At 63.5 centimeters high, the panel seems to be close to its original dimensions, and therefore it is probably too small to have functioned as an independent altarpiece in a church.'75The original function of this painting might never be established for certain, and therefore an original viewing context isprobably impossible to confirm. Lane placed a full-page illustrationof this image opposite the opening of her introduction to The Altar and the Altarpiece. Ac
of the Firescreen Rogier Martin see M. J. Friedl?nder, to Robert Campin, Madonna 2: Early Netherlandish Painting, van der Weyden trans. Heinz Norden and the Master Fl?malle, 1967), no. 58; (Leiden, of et al., Giotto 3rd ed. (London, to School, Davies, 1968); and Dunkerton Early Netherlandish no. 13.

D?rer, 170 The Master Frankfurt, have come of

von Tschudi of Fl?malle was named in 1898 from the three panels in by Hugo the Virgin and Child, St. Veronica, and the Trinity, which were to thought (wrongly) near Li?ge. See Hugo von Tschudi, von Fl?malle," from Fl?malle "Der Meister Jahrbuch der k?niglich 19 (1898), 8-34 and 89-116. preussischen Kunstsammlungen 171 The relationship the personalities between and the paintings associated with what has come to be known there

as the "Fl?malle or the "Campin-Fl?malle-M?rode is complicated, and group," group," is no general agreement, is now often equated with but Robert Campin the Master of Fl?malle "Robert Campin, the Master of Fl?malle, and the Master of M?rode," (see Lome Campbell, Burlington of the early Netherlandish 116, no. 860 [November 1974], 634-46). Later, in his catalogue Magazine paintings to be the painter London, again took Robert Gallery, Campbell Campin for the "Fl?malle" and the Master of Fl?malle panels and thereby equated Robert Campin The Fifteenth-Century Netherlandish Schools Campbell, [London, 1998], p. 72). On the other hand, some who think that the Master is not to be identified as Robert Campin have of Fl?malle the Master of Fl?malle with the painter of the M?rode Still others have separated equated Triptych. responsible (see Lome of Fl?malle and have regarded the Master of the M?rode Triptych as in the National

Robert

and Keith Christiansen, eds., From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Neth in the Metropolitan Museum theM?rode Painting of Art (New York, 1998), cat. no. 2, where to "Robert Campin van der Weyden." is attributed and assistant, For the Triptych possibly Rogier to the painter of the M?rode see Campbell, attribution of the Firescreen Madonna Triptych Fifteenth erlandish Schools, Century Netherlandish 173 Campbell, Fifteenth-Century 174 The painting was acquired p. 98. Netherlandish on the market Schools, in Venice p. 98. in 1875,

and the Master Campin yet another separate personality. 172 See Mary anW Ainsworth

from the collection of the ducal an industrialist and collector (1837-1901), [de] Somz?e family in Parma, by L?on living in Brussels. Several pictures from Somz?e 's collection were sold after his death, and in July 1902 Agnew's acquired this and several other paintings from the collection. the picture (1836-1909) George Salting bought in September from Agnew's 1903 and bequeathed it to the National Gallery. 175 Part of the unpainted and top edges edge survives on the left, and peg holes close to the bottom

of the panel make it likely that very little has been lost from those edges (see Campbell, Fifteenth that the panel might, Schools, p. 94). It must be acknowledged Century Netherlandish conceivably, or winged have been part of a larger, multipaneled but this would be very hard to determine. altarpiece, See examples of winged and painted in Jacobs, Early Neth elements altarpieces combining sculptural In all of these cases, however, erlandish Carved Altarpieces the smaller (above, n. 56), pp. 96-114. contain narrative scenes, not images painted panels Child. This might suggest that the Firescreen Madonna of such an ensemble. of a devotional would nature such be unlikely to have as the Virgin been originally and part

390

Altarpieces

knowledging that the function of the Firescreen Madonna isunknown, Lane con sidered the possibility that the panel could have been an object for private con templation and devotion but preferred, for a number of reasons, the idea that it was intended to be seen on an altar in a liturgical context. These reasons include her opinion that, as she sees it, this painting is "an eloquent explanation of the daily sacrifice of theMass" and that therefore it is "perfectly logical as an altar piece in a church or private chapel where Mass was celebrated. "176 Lane went on Madonna in eucharistic terms, arguing that the presence to discuss the Firescreen of the fireplace and the fire behind the Virgin encourages an analogy between bread baked in the hearth and the infantChrist, the "living bread." She identified the Christ child in the image as "a visual explanation of themeaning of the con This interpretation built upon Carra Ferguson O'Meara's sug secratedHost."'177 gestion that fire and fireplace imagery such as thismakes a direct link between the burnt holocausts of theOld Testament and the new sacrifice of Christ's body in the Eucharist.178The sacramental interpretation of the Firescreen Madonna proved to be influential.During much of the 1980s and 1990s, whenever the iconography of the FirescreenMadonna was discussed in any detail, itwas gen erally agreed that a sacramental reading of the painting was feasible, although Lane's argument that the panel had functioned as an altarpiecewas not universally accepted. There are other elements in this painting thatmight be brought to bear upon a sacramental or eucharistic interpretation.The white cloth beneath the Child is a and has standard part of the iconography of many Virgin and Child images179 in two it recalls Christ's burial shroud and/or been interpreted the corporal ways: on which the consecrated host would be placed during theMass.180The unnatural position of the Virgin's knees has drawn negative comment about the painter's anatomical observation but allows theChild to be presented to the viewer on the "altar" of theVirgin's flattened lap,81'as he was at the Presentation in theTemple (Luke2.22-32), and in the samemanner as the eucharistic bread is offered up at the Mass. The open book'82placed upon a similarly liturgicalcloth, and supported

'In the Hearth of the Virginal Womb': The Iconography O'Meara, in Late Medieval 63 (1981), 75-88. Art," Art Bulletin 179 van der Weyden's St. Luke Painting the Virgin, Boston, See, for example, Rogier in an Interior, London, National Arts; Circle of Robert Campin, Virgin and Child in an Interior, St. and Circle of Robert Campin (Jacques Daret?), Virgin and Child mitage, 180 text c. 1430? as possible to consider It is surely plausible both meanings or in some way of images that foreshadow the Passion death.

176 Lane, Altar 177 Ibid., p. 4. 178 C. Ferguson

and Altarpiece, "

p. 8. of the Holocaust of Fine

Museum Gallery,

c. 1430; Her Petersburg, in the con of Christ's

simultaneously, especially that invite contemplation

(above, n. 48), p. 100 n. 8. Paintings lap as an altar, see Purtle, Marian to read any of the text of this book: only the initials are legible. Felix Th?rlemann it as an Old Testament, which is balanced in the form of the has described by the New Testament, chalice: Felix Th?rlemann, Robert Campin pp. 94-95. (Munich, 2002), the Virgin's 182 It is not possible

sacrificial 181For

Altarpieces

391

Word is here on a cushion, parallel with the Child,'83 expresses visually that the made flesh,184 that that flesh isbound to suffer and die, and that the body of Christ will become the repeated sacrifice of the Eucharist. A single page of this book is raised, and slightly curled, possibly in the act of turning, apparently of its own accord.While pages that do not lie flat appear inmany examples of manuscripts depicted in paintings from theCampin-Flemalle-Merode group,'85 and reflect the normal behavior of tightly bound parchment, it is also possible that this page has some further significance here. "Animated" pages like this,which actually turnor curl upward, rather than just stand out from the book, seem to appear atmoments Merode and Brussels Annunciations.'86 It has been of incarnation, such as in the suggested several times before that the activelymoving pages of theMerode An nunciation's book signifies the presence of theHoly Spirit and the resulting In Mass of St. Gregory, from the circle of Robert Cam carnation of Christ.'87 In the pin/theMaster of Flemalle, inBrussels, Christ'smanifestation on the altar, at the consecration of the Eucharist, seems to occasion a similar animation of the pages of themissal on the altar. Two leaves are flipping over, about to cover the illus trated page at which the book had previously been opened.We can see from the section of the page that is still visible that the illustration on the page is a Cruci fixion, with theVirgin standing to the left of the cross. This would have been a highly appropriate illustration for the canon of theMass. The painter has thus cleverly suggested the unexpected forwardmovement of the book's leaves, set in motion by themiraculous incarnation taking place on the altar beside the book.188 Madonna seems to signify the quickening of The animated page in the Firescreen the Word made flesh by the action of theHoly Spirit by utilizing an apparently naturalistic detail of a closely observed book. In the light of this suggestion, it is worth considering the firescreen itself. Panofsky famously suggested that itwas

183 Carol God made

Purtle

has noted

that the Child and

manuscript" Flesh, as active intercessor in Robert Campin: New donnas," at p. 175. hout, 1996), pp. 171-82, 184 Frances Pitts, "Iconographie Mode

in the elevated

can be seen as "paralleling the active pages of theWord of the Word that this emphasizes "the role of the Child, suggests Carol Purtle, "The Iconography for the viewer": of Campin's Ma in Scholarship, ed. Susan Foister and Susie Nash Directions (Turn in Campin's Saints London Madonna," Konsthistorisk Tidskrift55 of of

at p. 90. (1986), 87-110, 185 See, among others, Madonna Art, Samuel H. Kress Collection; 186 In Annunciation the M?rode the book Firescreen associated pages lap seem on the table turn and

and

and Virgin the book curl

in a Garden, Washington, D.C., National Gallery Mus?e with Saints, Aix-en-Provence, Granet. two pages held by the Virgin behaves normally, while in Glory similar

in a manner Annunciation both

Madonna. with to move on

In the Brussels

the M?rode

of the book

Annunciation, the table are ruffled

animated to, but more than, that in the des Beaux (Brussels, Mus?e Arts), closely Royale books appear to be exceptionally animated. Several and even the pages of the book on the Virgin's over her hand. For a useful com backward flipping see Jeltje Dijkstra, "The Brussels and the Merode ed. Foister and Nash, pp. 95-104, figs. 1 and 2. snuffed out the candle, and ruffled the pages of the (above, n. 76), p. 9. eds., Les Primitifs flamands et leurs temps (Louvain

and curled,

parison in Robert Campin, Annunciation Reconsidered," 187 the window, "[T]he Holy Spirit has pierced Old Testament": Blum, Netherlandish Triptychs 188 See Brigitte de Patoul and Roger van Schoute, on p. 195. la-Neuve, 1994), color illustration

with one page independently, and Brussels Annunciations of the M?rode

392

Altarpieces

obvious that the firescreenwas "nothing but amaterial substitute for a halo."189 Catherine Reynolds has argued that "in the fifteenth century itwas probablymost obviously a firescreen,without which no prudent person would sit so close to a 190It is, of course, obviously a piece of domestic furniture, but it can blazing fire." would be understood, in addition, to allude to a halo. However the firescreen itself we see have been understood, reaching above it, fromwhat must be a huge fire,19' a tongue of flame, exactly over the center of theVirgin's head, inclined as it is slightly to our left. As discussed above, it has been suggested that the fire is in tended tomake a contrast between the holocaust of theOld Law and the Living Bread of theNew Law,192embodied in the figure of Christ on his mother's lap. But if the active page of the book makes reference to the agency of theHoly Spirit in the Incarnation of the Word, then perhaps the fire, visible above the edge of the The Third Person firescreen, can be seen as another allusion to theHoly Spirit.193 of the Trinity was widely addressed as ignis inmedieval hymns and prayers,194 and several hymns and prayersmake it clear that theHoly Spiritwas the crucial agent of the Incarnation of Christ.195 There are in this painting, then, numerous elements thatmay be understood as symbolic references to Christ's bodily sacrifice, and hence to theEucharist. There are the possible references to the body of Christ as bread baked in thewomb of theVirgin, mentioned earlier.There are also, aswe shall see, references toChrist's blood, to be shed first at the circumcision, due to be shed again from thewounds of his crucifixion, and then resacrificed every time the liturgical ritual of the con secration transubstantiates bread and wine into his body and blood. With refer
Its Origins and Character Painting: (Cambridge, Mass., Panofsky, Early Netherlandish 1971), p. 163. 1953; repr. New York, 190 of the Virgin and Child in Three Paintings Catherine Reynolds, "Reality and Image: Interpreting at p. 190. an Interior Associated in Robert Campin, ed. Foister and Nash, with Campin," pp. 183-95, notes the famous firescreen of the Tr?s the duke of Berry, in the January miniature behind Reynolds Riches in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Late Fourteenth French Painting Heures (see Millard Meiss, serves a 2 vols. [London, and the Patronage 1967], 2, fig. 539). This firescreen Century of the Duke, as that in the Firescreen Madonna. function similar focusing 191 It has been noted that the fires in other related paintings?the London Virgin and Child attributed much the St. Petersburg lower and are not screened Virgin and Child?are n. 194 p. 64). "Reality (Reynolds, Image," 192 of the Holocaust," See O'Meara, p. 83, and Lane, Altar and Altarpiece, p. 4. "Iconography as to the role of to Prof. Anne-Marie 1931 am grateful Bouch? Other for this suggestion. suggestions in an interior from the Campin and Child fire and light in the compositions of the Virgin circle, to Jacques Daret and and the Firescreen Madonna, including 194 The Holy Spirit is addressed in the medieval church: hymns medii are made p. 177. by Purtle, "Campin's Madonnas," as ignis in the "Veni, Creator one of the most widely used Spiritus," et spiritualis unctio" "fons vivus, (Analecta hymnica ignis, caritas, am Main, 55 vols. and C. Blume, repr. Frankfurt [Leipzig, 1886-1922; Spirit: para hour Sancti fuit Spirit, 1988), 189 Erwin

aevi, ed. G. M. Dreves to fire abound in the hymns and antiphons for the Hours of the Holy 1961], 2:93). References terce "Suum Sanctum for de ("Et inflammavit"); hymn igneis ipsos Spiritum," linguis "Spiritus and "Veni S?nete Spiritus," for each clitus," hymn for nones antiphon ("ignis inflammatus"); et tui amoris in eis ignem accende"). ("Veni S?nete Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium: 195 Sancti Spiritus," For example, the hymn for matins of the Holy "Nobis Spirit: "Nobis / Cum per sanctum Angelum fuit obumbrata, Spiritus gratia sit data, / De quo virgo virginum caro Time factum For the structure of the Hours est, virgo fecundata." inMedieval Art and Life The Book of Hours Sanctified: of the Holy (New York,

/ Verbum salutata, see Roger S.Wieck, pp. 162-63.

Altarpieces

393

ence to Christ's blood and thewine of the Eucharist we must now turn to the chalice that sits on the cupboard at the right of the painting and aligns so attrac tively with the body of the Christ child, appearing to suggest the wine of the Eucharist as a counterpart to the living bread. This chalice is, in fact, not original, since thewhole right-hand strip,which includes the cupboard, is a later replace ment. (The boundary between original and replacement paint is clearly visible.) The date of this replacement is not known, but itmust have happened no earlier than the eighteenth century because technical examinations reveal the presence of Prussian blue paint-first introduced at the beginning of the eighteenth century in this section.196 There is no agreement on whether this repainted area reflects the original composition or not, but there isno reliable evidence against the theory that the restorermainly replaced, in all essentials, what had previously been In any case, the sacramental interpretation of the painting does not rest there.197 solely upon the presence of a chalice, and furtherconsideration of the iconography and reception of this image suggests that the presence of a chalice in the original composition would not have been inconsistent with the other sacramental and liturgical referenceswithin the painting.198 The FirescreenMadonna was cleaned and restored by theNational Gallery in the early 1990s.199Several significant details were revealed by this cleaning, two
196 S. Baer, "Synthetic Blue Pigments: J. D. Low, and Norbert Mary Virginia Orna, O.S.U., Manfred to Sixteenth Centuries. in Conservation 1. Literature," 25 (1980), 53-63. Ninth Studies 197 It has been argued that a lost version of the Firescreen Madonna, in the Reboux collec formerly was in 1911 and published tion at Roubaix, reflects the original This exhibited composition. painting as Netherlandish Schools, (see Campbell, p. 94 fig. 1). It was Fifteenth-Century suggested, a as on to next to that the Reboux show bowl the the 1926, (which appears early painting cupboard rather than a chalice) reflected the original of the Firescreen Madonna (J.Destr?e, Virgin, composition at the National in the Nineteenth 74/ A Problem Connoisseur "Altered London," Gallery, Century? 296 [April 1926], 209-10). the Reboux the Firescreen Ma However, painting, when compared with in 1926 is simplified donna, book does not have view stained from not just in the elimination in many of the chalice. For example, other ways, the the elaborate and the pages are still. The painting, jeweled clasps of the London in the Firescreen Madonna the window has been eliminated and replaced with heraldic

much

The lower half of his body is left hand has been simplified. glass. The gesture of the Child's in the Reboux than in the London less naked cloth have painting picture. The folds of white in the London been multiplied and cover his right leg, whereas picture both legs are left uncovered.

There need

no need to set such store by the lack of a chalice in the Reboux and no is, therefore, painting on to assume, an must in Firescreen that the chalice the invention that Madonna be basis, simply to the Firescreen of the restorer. More version corresponds recently, it has been argued that the Reboux

Madonna

von Fl?malle: Die Werkstatt state (Stephan Kemperdick, in its restored Der Meister Robert van der Weyden, 2 [Turnhout, und Rogier This calls into Ars Nova 1997], pp. 61-62). the true relationship between the Reboux and the Firescreen Madonna, and the issue question painting state of scholarship, In the current it seems unlikely needs further that the however, investigation. the original of the Firescreen Madonna. Reboux appearance painting helps to establish 198 a part of the original composition Pitts argues that the chalice was probably and that its presence would have been perfectly and London Madonna," p. 92. acceptable: "Campin's logical 199 see David examination For full details of the cleaning and technical of the painting, Bomford, Lome Campbell, "The Virgin and Child before a Firescreen: History, Ashok Roy, and Raymond White, Campins Examination and restored where in Robert Campin, ed. Foister and Nash, and Treatment," The newly cleaned pp. 37-54. at the National in a "Brief Encounters" in exhibited exhibition painting was Gallery

London,

Hermitage

a diptych The Virgin and Child and the Trinity, it was with from the juxtaposed St. Petersburg, is also associated which with the circle of Robert The Museum, Campin. on 12-13 March the exhibition 1993 were held in connection with papers given at a symposium in Foister and Nash, Robert Campin. published

394

Altarpieces

of which occasioned new interpretationsof theFirescreen Madonna, moving away from the sacramental reading proposed by Lane. The firstwas a floor tile,which was revealed by the cleaning to be recessed and coveredwith glass (Fig. 16, detail of Fig. 15). This detail formed the nucleus ofMichael Michael's interpretation of the painting, published in 1996, inwhich he explicitly denied the sacramental reading that had been proposed by Lane.200 According to Michael's argument, this tile represented the crescentmoon, and therefore transformed theVirgin here into a version of the Madonna of Humility, a type inwhich theVirgin's position seated on the ground is held to denote her humility.201In fact, this identification of the FirescreenMadonna as aMadonna of Humility-although it has been suggested several times, both before and afterMichael202-is ultimately unconvincing, for several reasons.While Carol Purtle describes the painting as "theCampin group's only trueMadonna of Humility," Reynolds has shown that this designation is problematic.203 The Virgin's ambivalent position, near the ground, but not quite on it, does not in itself indicate humility, and there are far too many signifiers of status in the picture to support Lane's suggestion that the room is a "humble, everyday setting."204In fact, as Lorne Campbell has pointed out,205the floor is inlaidwith valuable colored stone, the bench and fireplace are rich, and the hem of theVirgin's robes and the clasp of her book are decorated with jewels.And as Reynolds has shown, the loose hair of the Virgin in an image like this, while signifying virginity, would also have been familiar as an attribute of regality.206 The relationship between thispainting and the image of the Madonna of Humility remains incompletely resolved.207 The second new detail brought to light by the cleaning of the FirescreenMa donna was the Christ child's genitals, which were revealed, after having been, as "208 This area of the painting Campbell puts it, "suppressed by an earlier restorer. (Fig. 17, detail of Fig. 15) was obviously a very significant part of the original composition, as infraredexamination confirms.209 Here we see that the artist seems to have gone to some trouble deliberately tomodify the composition to emphasize

200

"See B.G.

Lane

. . . who

here": Michael Origins 44. 201

Michael, of the Madonna

is not accepted of the panel which suggests a sacramental interpretation at the National "The Virgin and Child before a Firescreen The Gallery: as the Amicta at p. 14 n. 143 (May 1996), 8-14, of Humility Sole," Apollo

Ibid., p. 8. 202 at p. 451;Panofsky, Art Bulletin Millard Meiss, "The Madonna of Humility," 18 (1936), 435-64, p. 163; Purtle, "Campin's Madonnas," pp. 171-82. Early Netherlandish Painting, 203 purtle, "Campin's Madonnas," p. 174; Reynolds, "Reality and Image." 204 Lane, Altar and Altarpiece, p. 2. 205 In et al., "Virgin and Child," Bomford p. 38. 206 "Reality and Image," p. 188. Reynolds, 207 In fact, the relationship of several Campinesque Madonnas with images of the Apocalyptic Woman of Humility is a fascinating and the Madonna I intend to discuss and complicated one, which et al., "Virgin and Child," p. 41. For a color reproduction of the Firescreen Madonna see Dunkerton et al., Giotto cat. no. 13, p. 245. In fact, the genitals to D?rer, of restoration, in the painting's the Child were not completely invisible state, even in this reproduction, prerestoration to have gone unnoticed. but this detail appears 209 et al., "Virgin and Child," Bomford p. 41. before elsewhere. 208 In Bomford

Figs. 16 (left) and 17 (below). Details of Fig. 15.

396

Altarpieces

this part of Christ's body: theVirgin's hand seems to have beenmoved down from a slightly higher position, where itwould have covered the Child's genitals. This indicates that this area was intended to be a focal part of the composition, that the exposure of the genitals is not coincidental, but deliberate, and that "painting it out was an intentional alteration of an important part of the picture's icono This significant element of the composition has beenmen graphic programme. "210 tioned by severalwriters since the publication of the results of the restoration. However, there have been very few attempts to explain what the deliberate ex posure of theChrist child's genitals could mean in this context and how thismight affect the possible meanings of the image as awhole. This aspect of the iconography has been discussed most notably by Leo Stein Steinberg berg, in the second edition of his famous study The Sexuality of Christ.211 argued that "ostentation" of the genitals was intended to prove God's descent into manhood and to stressChrist's real humanity by emphasizing his human sexual In returning to this argument in his second edition, with the Firescreen ity.212 Madonna, Steinberg positioned himself explicitly against the sacramental inter pretations of the painting that had hitherto held sway, in particular that of Car olineWalker Bynum.213 It would be foolish to attempt to banish allmeanings but one from anymedieval image: not every viewer would have reacted in the same way to an image.And yet, unless we are to abandon the possibility of interpreting images altogether,we must have a strategy for deciding what themeaning is (ormeanings are) likely to be for any image under discussion. How do we decide what meaning, or combi nation of meanings, was intended (by the artist? by the patron?), and how do we decide whether the intendedmessage, or messages, actually came tomind for any Madonna? given viewer when looking at an image such as the Firescreen One common methodology when attempting to interpretpictures is to look for contemporary texts that appear to support a given or suggested interpretation of a picture by offering evidence that such an idea or concept was available to the contemporary viewer. Steinberg himself characterized this approach in the seventh
210

in Renaissance Art and in Modern 2nd ed. The Sexuality Oblivion, of Christ in the first edition the Firescreen Madonna 1996), pp. 386-89. Steinberg had not mentioned (Chicago, of this work, which was published before the painting was cleaned, and the genitals of the Christ child were therefore not yet clearly visible, still being hidden under the nineteenth-century repaint. Once the to in the second Firescreen had been added the Madonna his discussion cleaned, Steinberg painting edition. 212 a parallel with "ostentado used the expression "the Steinberg suggesting genitalium," expressly canonic ostentatio the showing forth of the wounds": he vulnerum, ibid., p. 3. On Christ's humanity wrote incarnates itself to suffer a human of fate, it takes on the condition (p. 15), "If the godhead being both deathbound 213 Caroline Walker screen Madonna Renaissance and Bynum sexed." had developed Barbara Lane's sacramental of the Fire interpretation in her essay "The Body of Christ in the Later Middle Ages: A Reply to Leo Steinberg," 39 (1986), 399-439 and (repr. in Caroline Walker Bynum, Quarterly Fragmentation 79 and the Human York, pp. [New 1992], Essays on Gender Body inMedieval Religion here are to this it with as having She discussed later reprint). the Firescreen Madonna in the her wider of Christ's flesh being understood exploration pp. 103-4.

Ibid. 211 Leo Steinberg,

Redemption: 117: all references eucharistie Middle

inflections, linking Ages as in some senses

female:

Altarpieces

397

chapter of his "Retrospect" in the second edition of The Sexuality of Christ: "It iswidely maintained among art historians thatwhatever an image, or group of images,may seem to show, no interpretationof such showing is valid if the inter preter cannot produce a contemporaneous (or earlier) source to anticipate or con firm it.... [W]here no text exists, interpretation is vain."'214 This is perhaps a caricature of this common approach. However, itmust surely be acknowledged that there is a potential problem with thismethodology: if contemporaneous tex tual support is found for an idea or interpretation, all well and good, but the process of interpretation is not yet over. Just because an idea is found in a con must be the exclusivemeaning temporaneous text, this does not mean that the idea of an image.On the other hand, if textual support for a chosen interpretationof an image isnot found,must thismean that such an interpretation isnot allowable? Iwould suggest, with Steinberg, that we should be prepared, on occasion, and with care, to be more imaginative.And yet, to seek to rely on the images alone can be a difficult method of interpretation.Under normal circumstances, what many art historians or cultural historians try to do is to look at the combined weight of evidence-the images themselves, relevant contemporary texts, any evi dence about original viewership or viewing location, any evidence about original function-in order to arrive at what William Hood has described as "a proper frame of reference"'215 within which one might assess the possible meaning or meanings likely to have been ascribed to an image by its viewers. How then ought we to approach an analysis of theFirescreen Madonna? Inorder to decidewhether a sacramental or liturgical reading of this image is justifiable, the "text-based" approach outlined above will be of limited use by itself. Itwill not be difficult to find contemporary texts discussing every aspect of the sacraments, theEucharist, the liturgy,all of which will attest to the fact that itwould have been possible for a viewer to think of this imagewithin a sacramental or liturgical frame of refer ence. But how much of any of those sacramental, eucharistic, or liturgical ideas might have been in themind of a given viewer of this particular image at a given timewill still be impossible to ascertain.Another approach, outlined at the begin ning of this paper,where liturgical or sacramental interpretations of images are given greater credibility if the image inquestion can be shown to have been placed upon an altar or in close proximity to an altar, is also of limited use here, since this particular painting's original function and location are completely unknown. So is interpretation of the FirescreenMadonna in vain? For some the answer would appear to be that it is, but Iwould argue that there areways, even for this image, of building up a likely frame of reference and ascertaining a likely set of meanings. Iwould further argue thatwith careful use of the available evidence, it should be possible to suggestwhether one particularmeaning or subset of mean ingsmight be more likely than another for this particular image. Iwould argue that the variety of eucharistic or sacramental associations present in the FirescreenMadonna makes it likely that a sacramental or liturgical inter pretation of the painting is certainly feasible. Iwould argue also that the redis
214 Sexuality of Christ, p. 330. Steinberg, 215 wiHiam "The State of Research Hood, (cited by Steinberg, Sexuality of Christ,

in Italian Renaissance p. 252).

Art,"

Art Bulletin

69

(June 1987),

184

398

Altarpieces

covery of Christ's genitals as an original part of this composition can further support, rather than disprove, a sacramental and liturgical interpretation of the Firescreen Madonna. The emphasis on the genitals heremay be intended to refer, not to sexuality,216 but to the site of the circumcision, Christ's first sacrifice of his This own blood.217 event, celebrated liturgically on 1 January, the eighth day after the Nativity,218was regarded as "a first installment" of thework of redemption, "a down payment" on behalf of mankind.219The deliberate exposure of the gen itals-the ostentatio genitalium-invites the contemplation of the site of Christ's circumcision, reminding the viewer that fromChrist's very earliest days hewould, by his own bloodshed, begin thework of human redemption, which is daily re newed in the liturgical sacrifice of the Eucharist. The idea that an imagemight invite viewers to contemplate the site of the cir cumcision in thisway, thereby recognizing Christ as their salvation, is supported by a body of pictures inwhich we are offered a model of other viewers doing precisely that. There are many images of theAdoration of theMagi where the These images firstMagus is shown apparently peering at the Child's crotch.220 might be intended to show, as Steinberg suggested, that the kings are obtaining proof of Christ's incarnation by seeing that he was born "complete in all the parts but an implied reference to the circumcision is, in the context, prob of aman,"'221 The ablymore likely. Itwas known that theMagi sought the king of the Jews.222 primary object of the visual enquiry of theMagus in such imagesmay have been
216

of Christ's genitals is one that deserves serious about the sexual significance argument Steinberg's to images of the adult, crucified Christ and the Man of Sorrows. in relation consideration, particularly in some images of Christ, such as those of the adult Christ as Man of Sorrows by Maerten Perhaps as his figs. 96, 97, and 98, the more van Heemskerck, inter sexualized which Steinberg reproduces of the genitals of Christ might be more that Steinberg justified. pretation places on representations a case that the viewer of these images (amale or a female viewer? or Here one possibly could make an issue that requires further thought) is intended to meditate both? this is certainly upon the fact that in these images of the adult Christ, sexual potential. Christ was a fully human male, with However, where the male of the adult human in the mind of the viewer with the sexuality be more might readily associated under the loincloth the genitals are covered. The penis ismore or less obvious male, itmight be suggested but it is not uncovered. that the very fact that the genitals Perhaps member

in all of them, of the Christ child

are happily in so many that they and commonly exposed images shows precisely are not (or were not, until much with in the context of Christ's later) associated sexuality infancy. 217 In to the the theology of the circumcision had discussed and its possible relation fact, Steinberg as to in ostentatio both his first and second editions. However, Bynum's genitalium reply Steinberg focused on questions mainly the Firescreen Madonna came to in relation to the body of Christ, when of gender Steinberg in his own reply to Bynum, in in considered the turn, he, painting to the theme of circumcision. For a review of and not in relation as of Christ and favors the circumcision "Ostentatio London genitalium,"

had

discuss

terms of gender and sexuality, of The Sexuality that rejects the central argument Steinberg see Charles an explanation of some of the images discussed,

Review December 1984), pp. (15 November-6 of Books 218 to Luke 2.21, Christ was circumcised and given the name Jesus on the eighth day after According in Spain and Gaul and to the The observance of this feast goes back to the sixth century the Nativity. in Rome the Christian ed. F. L. Cross and E. A. eleventh Church, century (The Oxford Dictionary of 3rd ed. [Oxford, 1997], p. 354). Livingstone, 219 of Christ, p. 51. Steinberg, Sexuality 220 several of these: ibid., pp. 64-70, and 173-74, figs. 66-71, reproduced Steinberg 221 Ibid., p. 65. 222 it clear that the Magi had come to see the newborn Matthew (2.1-2) makes king

Hope, 19-20.

figs.

190-94.

of the Jews.

Altarpieces

399

to ascertain that the child before themwas truly a Jew, not aGentile, and that he was, indeed, themessiah: the circumcision would have offered proof of Christ's fulfillment of the Jewish law.223 When we see the FirescreenMadonna in the light of these images of theAdo ration of the Magi, inwhich the Magi appear to examine the locus of the circum cision, it seems all themore likely that in theFirescreen Madonna theviewerwould have been encouraged to consider the exposure of the genitals in the light of the circumcision and its sacrificial shedding of blood, themanifestation thereby of Christ's identity as themessiah, and his earlywillingness to undergo physical self sacrifice as part of his redemptivemission. Thus the exposure of Christ's genitals and the placement of the figures far forward in the picture plane, togetherwith Christ's obvious eye contact with the viewer,224 might have encouraged the viewer to take the Magi as amodel and likewise to have gazed at and adored theChrist child, recognizing him as the Savior. It seems that therewas a deliberate concentration on Christ's genitals in the FirescreenMadonna, and we have seen that the composition of this area was altered at an early stage. Evidence of alterations in other places seems to lend furtherweight to a concentration in this painting on Christ's wounds and to the sacrificial and sacramental shedding of his blood. Infrared reflectography shows thatChrist's feetwere altered at the painting stage.Originally his right foot seems In the final version thewhole of the upper to have had drapery hanging over it.225 surface of this pointed, elongated foot is left bare and is highlighted against the dark fur lining of theVirgin's mantle. This changemay have been made in order to expose the site of a futurewound from a nail. Strategies for the deliberate display of one, or both, of theChrist child's feet are fairly common in Italian and northern European painting of the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. Such images suggest a number of ways of drawing attention to the site of a future wound in one of the Christ child's feet. In certain instances theVirgin holds or touches one of the Child's feet in a gesture that seems designed to draw attention to the future site of the nail's wound.226 In others, Christ touches his own foot,
223 The

tradition

that the circumcision by the ordering

less by Scripture than calendar offers a more

took place before the Adoration clear of the Magi was made feasts in the liturgical calendar. The liturgical of the relevant

and ordered version of the infancy narrative than the Gospel comprehensive and putting into order, events described the Luke mentions texts, combining, by Luke and Matthew. visit of the shepherds mentions and the circumcision; Matthew the Adoration of the Magi, but not the or the circumcision. on 1 January was celebrated The Circumcision and the liturgically shepherds Adoration 224 This on 6 January. or the Epiphany, of the Magi, choice eye contact must have been a deliberate et al., that the eyes originally looked to the left: Bomford 225 Ibid., pp. 45-46. 226 Madonna di Marcovaldo's See, for example, Coppo the Wilton about Diptych 1395-99, del Bordone: Political 1261-1352: of the artist, as X-ray examination and Child," p. 43. reveals

"Virgin

del Bor done

1261, 220 X 125 cm.), and National Gallery, NG 4451, "The Madonna Gianna Mina, and Civic Institute Religion of Art, ed. Joanna in Central

(anonymous English 57 X 29.2 cm.). For Statement

dei Servi, (Siena, Santa Maria or French [?] painter, London, see the Madonna del Bordone, inArt, Politics, of Faith," at the Courtauld Students

or Profession

Italy, Cannon

at p. 251. pp. 237-93, Eng., 2000), the Wilton Diptych, ed. Dillian Gordon,

Essays by Postgraduate and Beth Williamson, Courtauld Research ( Papers 1 Aldershot, see The Regal Image of Richard For the Wilton II and Diptych, Lisa Monnas, and Caroline Elam (London, 1997).

400

Altarpieces

apparently to emphasize the same area.227In the light of these and other, similar images, it is reasonable to propose that the evident changes to the composition in the area of theChrist child's right foot in the Firescreen Madonna might indicate a desire to highlight the area of the foot where the nail wound will be. The strange gesture of theChrist child's left hand has been noted several times: However, it has been described as "puzzling" and "without obvious meaning. "228 Michael interpreted this arrangement as a deliberate strategy to show Christ's hand "opened as if ready to receive a nail."229 Therefore this part of the compo sition, too, seems to exhibit a concern to show the site of a wound thatwill be inflicted on Christ's body at theCrucifixion. In the light of this possible concentration on the sites of wounds on Christ's body, the locus of the circumcision and of the nails in the hands and feet,we may ask:what of the sidewound? The nakedness of theChild leaves the torso exposed, and therefore the site of that futurewound is, like the others, available to be seen. Here we might consider the concept of the "blood hyphen," developed by Stein berg in relation to images of the crucified Christ: he noted that, in some images, the blood from the sidewound seems to trickle back to thewound of the circum cision, the site of Christ's first bloodshed.230Such an issue of blood can be seen in the so-called Large Round Pieta, by JeanMalouel (Fig. 18). According to Stein berg, "Christ's redemptive Passion, which culminates on the cross in the blood of the sacred heart, begins in the blood of the penis. "231 In the FirescreenMadonna ametaphorical "blood hyphen" may be traced, a chain of symbolic associations leading around the various imaginedwounds of Christ, from the genitals to the hand and foot and side. But here, because the "blood hyphen" ismetaphorical and imagined, not visible or literal, amore com plex reading is possible. We must remember that, according tomedieval physio logical theory,Christ's blood and theVirgin's breast milk were regarded as two forms of the same substance.According to this theory, themother's blood formed the child's body in thewomb. Then, on the birth of the child, thewomb blood Because of this physi was converted, in the breasts, intomilk to feed the infant.232 cal identity between the two fluids, theVirgin's milk was explicitly paralleledwith the blood of Christ, both in theological and devotional texts and in images.233
227 For example, van der Weyden's in Rogier and Child in the Museum of Fine half-length Madonna so that the upper surface 30 X 20.7 cm.), the Child's feet are arranged (inv. no. 44-535, and the sole of the right foot are visible. The Child touches his right foot with his left one finger pointing to the center of the sole of his foot. At the same time, the big toe of

Arts, Houston of the left foot

hand, with to emphasize to the same place, which might indicate a concern the site of a future the left foot points See Friedl?nder, wound. (above, n. 169), 2, pi. 57. Early Netherlandish Painting 228 et al., "Virgin and Child," Bomford p. 38. 229 12. and Child," p. Michael, "Virgin 230 and 168-71. of Christ, pp. 58-60 Sexuality Steinberg, 231 Ibid., p. 58. 232 See rerum 5.34 am Main, De proprietatibus Bartolomaeus 1601; repr. (Frankfurt Anglicus, am Main, venam et "De mamilla": "Nam Frankfurt ad cor veniens, 1964), sanguis per concavam deinde ad pectus tendens ad mamillas p?n?tr?t." 233 See Intercession: The Virgin as Co-Redemptrix," "The Cloisters Double Beth Williamson, Apollo see also Pitts, "Campin's 152 (November London Madonna," the author p. 92, where 48-54; 2000), a parallel proposes sion?based upon between Christ's blood and the balanced presentation a reference to dual the Virgin's milk?and of the breast and the eucharistie chalice. interces

Fig. 18. Jean Malouel, Large Round Pieta, Paris, Musee du Louvre, diameter 64 cm., c. 1400. ? Photo RMN, J. G. Berizzi.

402

Altarpieces

Therefore we may consider the possibility that the prominent bared breast of the Virgin could be integrated into thismetaphorical "blood hyphen" that can be traced around the imaginedwounds of Christ. Drops of themilk can be seen around the Virgin's nipple. They fall toward the Christ child below, as though they might land on his side, exactly where his side wound will appear at the Crucifixion. Here, then, the "blood hyphen" can be traced back not just to the wound of the circumcision but to the breast of theVirgin.234 This conjunction of the breast and the site of the sidewound may be a coincidence, and this suggestion may seem fanciful. Nevertheless, in the light of the apparent concentration on Christ's other wounds and areas of future bloodshed in this painting, as well as the regular parallels drawn between theVirgin's breast and Christ's sidewound in images and texts, the specificposition of the drops ofmilk over theChrist child's side seems to be at leastworthy of note. There are in this painting, then, numerous symbolic and potential references to sacrificial themes and to the body and blood of Christ. However, thosewho wish formore "commonsense" readings of altarpieceswould perhaps have us think of this painting, not as a complex theological statement, but as focusing devotion on theVirgin. But can it fulfill both of those demands? The position of theVirgin's breast itself has drawn comment in the past. Lane noted that "the infantmakes no attempt to nurse, and it is clear that themilk is intended for the benefit of the Bynum suggested that theVirgin offers both her baby and her breast worshiper. "235 to the viewer.236 And Campbell, analyzing the painting's style and composition, noted that "theVirgin holds her right hand to her right breast butwould feed the childmore comfortably, naturally and successfully by taking her left breast in her right hand."237 Campbell makes nothing further of this accurate observation. But perhaps theVirgin is not, in fact, engaged in feeding the Child, and the pose is not intended as a naturalistic representation of such an act. Instead, the compo sitional arrangement allows theVirgin to offer hermilk, not to the Child, but to the viewer of the painting. The Virgin Lactans is awell-known intercessory image because of theways inwhich her motherhood of Christ gives her the power to intercedewith him and to ask formercy on behalf of sinners and because of the
was very to note that the feast of the Circumcision In the light of this suggestion, it is interesting to the Virgin Mary 1 of God. As was noted above, and her motherhood linked with devotion was as in Circumcision rite of from the mid-sixth the the feast the Gallican celebrated century January on 1 January in Rome in the sixth and The feast celebrated but from a much later date in Rome. closely as such, but the octave of Christmas. It has been noted centuries was not the Circumcision of Christ, Purifi the five major feasts of the Virgin Mary Annunciation, Nativity (Conception, were in Rome slow to develop, before about 700. and none was celebrated cation, and Assumption) commemoration when Mass was The only older Roman of the Virgin was on the octave of Christmas, said in commemoration of the reality of the Virgin's motherhood of Jesus. The prayers of the Mass seventh that and of the office became more of the day had a particular Marian the feast character, which was retained even when as the Circumcision. In the office, celebrated the responses and antiphons and prerogatives. The Psalms for vespers of this day are those appointed refer to the Virgin's privileges See The and hymns of lauds have a distinctly Marian for Marian feasts, and the antiphons emphasis. commonly Feast of the." 234

Catholic (New York, 1908), "Circumcision, Encyclopedia 235 p. 7. Lane, Altar and Altarpiece, 236 p. 104. Bynum, "Body of Christ," 237 Netherlandish Schools, Fifteenth-Century Campbell,

p. 96.

Altarpieces

403

general associations of the Virgin's milk with mercy and charity. This identity between blood and milk is one of the reasonswhy theVirgin's milk was seen as capable of saving sinners.238 The Virgin's proffering of her breast andmilk to the viewer makes an explicit visual statement about the capacity and willingness of theVirgin to help that viewer attain salvation. The Firescreen Madonna embodies a range of sacramental and liturgical asso ciations and interpretations. The multiple sacrificial and sacramental references mean that the painting can act as a focus for contemplation of the nature of the Eucharist, even if itmay be going too far to argue that it is an "explanation" of the liturgical service of theMass. The pictorial content of the image is not a detailed or complicated doctrinal exposition. The various sacramental and sacri ficial references in the painting actually rely on relatively uncomplicated aspects of faith and piety. But an active engagement with the imagery of the painting is required from the viewer here. The references toChrist'swounds are clear-from the locus of the circumcision to Christ's hands and feet and side-but are subtle, rather than overt, as in a Crucifixion image or in the Malouel Pieta, for example. As Belting put it, in connection with a different image, contemplating viewerswere expected to contributewith theirown imaginationswhat the image lacked in terms of reality or illusion.239 The visual references to Christ'swounds are not narrative references to real and present wounds but symbolic and prophetic references to bloodshed that is to occur in the future.240 The Christ we see here is newborn, with all of his journey through the drama of human salvation still ahead of him. The viewer is invited to contemplate the different events, sufferings, sacrifices that will, inevitably, bewritten upon this child's body. But there is nothing literal about these references to thewounds, and this is precisely the point: this subtlety iswhat makes the image such an open one, with somany possibilities for long, detailed, repeated, and varied contemplation. The imageryof theFirescreen Madonna and its available interpretationsare embedded in the liturgy inmany different ways, incorporating references not only to the Eucharist but also to several events commemorated at different timeswithin the liturgicalcalendar.Besides the sacramental and eucharistic readings that are avail
see J. B. Carol, De corredemptione the Virgin as coredemptrix, B. Virginis Mariae, Franciscan "The Virgin Lactans Series, 1 (Vatican City, 1950); Beth Williamson, Publications, Theology as Second Eve: Image of the Salvatrix," in Iconography at pp. 111-12. 19 (1998), Studies 105-38, 239 Belting, Image, p. 62. 240 This is one of the reasons why Susan Urbach's reading of the image of the Christ child's exposed is In "On the of Campin's in an and Child ultimately unsatisfactory. Iconography genitals Virgin His Mother Interior: The Child Jesus Comforting after the Circumcision," in Flanders in a European Institute 1400 in Flanders Illumination around and Abroad. Manuscript Perspective: of the Inter Proceedings national Colloquium, 7-10 1993, ed. Maurits Leuven, September Smeyers and Bert Cardon, Corpus of Illuminated Manuscripts 8/5 (Leuven, Urbach that in the group of 1995), pp. 557-68, suggests from the circle surrounding that exhibit this feature, the painter has followed the paintings Campin in the Meditationes inwhich, vitae Christi after the Virgin has circumcised passage Christ, he comforted her mouth and face that she should not cry." However, this reference is rather too her, and "touched to explain narrative these pictures, where there is no evidence that the circumcision has specifically just taken place landish Schools, wounds is or has been weeping the Virgin Nether (see Campbell, Fifteenth-Century are shown, and the references no wounds to the p. 86). In the Firescreen Madonna are symbolic or prophetic, not actual and narrative. or that 238 On

404

Altarpieces

able, the imageryof theFirescreen Madonna alsomakes possible the consideration of several important Christological feasts relating to incarnation and sacrifice, recognition and manifestation, including theAnnunciation (25March), theNa tivity (25December), theCircumcision (1 January), theEpiphany (6 January), the Presentation (2 February), and the Crucifixion, commemorated on Good Friday and at everyMass. The setting inwhich theVirgin and Child are presented in the Firescreen Ma donna makes no literal reference to any specific location inwhich these scriptural events, latercelebrated as liturgical feasts, actually took place. But that isprecisely the point. The painting does not pin down any specific reference to time, nor does it identify any particular reference to place. Rather, it allows an open, multivalent reading of the image by leaving these connections and references to be made in themind of the viewer and not on the surface of the painting. Itwould seem that this openness was built into the image in its production and that the viewer was expected to make leaps of imagination during private meditation on the image and its implications. We have seen how altarpieces could and did function in differentways, in dif ferent locations, as foci for devotional prayer and activity as well as for liturgical ritual. But it is not necessary to imagine this painting as an altarpiece in order to allow for this proposed flexibility in itsmeanings: devotional images could be just as fluid and flexible. Belting pointed out that the prevailing tendency to conceive of the devotional image "as an instrument of personal, non-institutional piety" is only partially correct because such a definition "blocks our view of devotional images that are not only to be experienced affectively, but are to be contemplated cognitively aswell, namely as the pictorial symbol of a cult ormystery of faith."'241 The FirescreenMadonna seems to fit admirably into the category thus identified by Belting: a devotional panel designed to be used outside the context of liturgical services but intended to encourage privatemeditation on Christ's Incarnation and
sacrifice. On the other hand, this panel may indeed have been an altarpiece (or

part of an altarpiece):we just cannot know. But our lack of knowledge about its original function and viewing context does not invalidate a sacramental or litur gically structured understanding of the painting. Its iconography allows consid eration of Christ's Incarnation and of his sacrifice at theCrucifixion. It also allows consideration of the liturgical reenactment of both of those events in the sacrament of the Eucharist. Therefore, while we cannot necessarily identify a liturgical con text or function for the Firescreen Madonna, its imagery is sacramental, liturgical, and devotional and offers a number of possibilities to the viewer, none of which appears to be contingent upon a particular viewing context or location.
CONCLUSION

None of the foregoing discussion of possible readings of the FirescreenMa donna further establishes an original viewing context for the painting, nor does it

241 Belting,

Image,

p. 56.

Altarpieces

405

establish the painting's intended function. But neither does the discussion of the painting's possible meanings and receptions hinge upon a secure knowledge of its original context or function. The suggestion here is that it should be possible-at least in certain instances-to consider questions of meaning and reception even without the re-creation of an original synthesis between object and environment. As noted above, the consideration of function and context (and the links between them) had become "an article of faith amongst well brought up art historians" considering altarpieces.242 And yet, at the same time, an acknowledgment of the instability of context has become, if not an article of faith, then at least a com monly admitted problem. The foregoing exploration of two Virgin Lactans im ages-images with broadly similar basic iconography but one a known altarpiece and the other with no securely known context or function-has attempted to demonstrate the fluidity and instability of the connections between pictorial form, original context and function, and viewer response or reception in all types of images. Furthermore it has been proposed that this fluidity needs to be acknowl edged as much in those imageswhose original function and context are known as in those that carrymuch less contextual informationwith them.Research con tinues on theways inwhich all types of imageswork on the beholder, and still more is needed. As more research is produced, and asmore attention is paid in that research to the specifics of context and function,we need also to be aware of the possible problems created by too close an attachment to the idea that objects are fully explained by their contexts. The exercise of considering an image such as the Firescreen Madonna on its own terms, as an imagewith no known context, and in comparison with amuch more securely locatable and documented image such as Filippino Lippi's Virgin and Child with Sts. Jerome and Dominic suggests some ways inwhich we might use contextual information differently. Interpreta tions of images based on functional categories have tended to privilege the "in tended" reading, notionally determined by the patrons or producers of images, even where these interpretations attempt to use context and function to uncover reception. Such a method unavoidably leaves imageswhose original context is unknown somewhat "out in the cold." To acknowledge the problems created by the concept of "context" is not necessarily to throw the baby out with themeth odological bathwater, nor to engage inwhat Norman Bryson called "the supposed freeplay of 'anythinggoes.' "243 Instead of abandoning a consideration of context altogether,we might benefit from considering information about context as un deniably helpful supplementary evidence in the investigation of the processes by which all kinds of images engage their beholders. This is preferable to, andmore fruitful than, using information about context as ameans of sorting images into categories determined by function and using those categories as a key determining factor for enquiries intomeaning. Ifwe avoid subscribing to this desire to categorize by function-liturgical im ages versus devotional images-another advantage may be that we are able to avoid the tendency to posit a rigid opposition between liturgyand devotion, which

242 "Renaissance Hills, (above, n. 7), p. 42. Altarpiece" 243 "Art in Context" (above, n. 151), p. 19. Bryson,

See above,

p. 377.

406

Altarpieces

leads, in a circular fashion, to an opposition between liturgical images and de votional images.This opposition in turn reflexively defines theopposition between liturgy and devotion, and so on. The precise nature of the complex connections between liturgy and devotion is rarely acknowledged explicitly. But it is clear that devotion could be closely informed by the liturgy or could be liturgically struc tured. Equally, the liturgy is not hermetically sealed from devotional content or activity: devotional gazing upon the elevated, transubstantiated host occurred in the context of the Mass aswell as at other times outside formal liturgical services, and devotional books and images could be used by individuals during their atten dance at liturgical services.Therefore, when considering the use and reception of religious images, having recognized the complex, diffuse,multivalent relationship between form and function, function and location, location and form, we can similarly recognize the correspondingly fluid relationship between the types and varieties of religious activity thatwe sometimes term, in shorthand, "liturgy and devotion." Although thiswill seem to rob us of some categories and oppositions thatmay have hitherto seemed useful, it ought to open up possibilities for amore diffuse, more complex, but perhaps ultimately more satisfying, understanding of religious activity and of the place of imageswithin that activity.

Beth Williamson isLecturer in theHistory of Art at the University of Bristol, 43 Woodland Rd., Bristol BS8 1UU, U.K. (e-mail: beth.williamson@bristol.ac.uk).