The Visual and the Visionary

The Visual and the Visionary Art and Fe lnale Spirituality in Late Medieval Germany Jeffrey F. Hamburger ZONE BOOKS· NEW YORK 1 998 CHAPTER SEVEN Vision and the Veronica The Veronica - the cloth that, according to legend, was imprinted with the visage of Christ - exemplifies many of the most characteristic expres sions of late m edieval piety (figure 7.1).1 Prized both as a relic and an authentic likeness of the Savior (hence the false etymology "vera ikon," o r veronica,) the ve il can be counted among the most prestigious and popular images of the later Middle Ages. 2 Several shrines laid claim to the acheiropoietic portrait (from acheiropoietos, "not made by human hands"). The Byzantine Ea st identified the miraculous portrait imprinted on linen with the wonder-\vorking "mandylion" sent by Jesus to King Abgar of Edessa in response to his request to see Christ. In the Latin West, the version of the image's origin most familiar today, according to which Christ pressed the cloth to his face on his way to Calvary, acquired currency only at the beginning of the fourteenth century. The slldarillm, or handkerchief, housed at St. Peter's, however, was reported to be in Rome as early as the tvvelfth century, and was first described as bearing an image sllOrtly after the Fourth Crusade in 1204, which accelerated the inf1ux of icons of all kinds from Ea st to West. 3 A miniature illustrating Ludovico La zarelli's Fa sti christianae religionis shows Pope Sixtus IV dis playing the relic to the pilgrims gathered at Old St. Peter's for the Jubilee of 1475 (figure 7.2).4 Elevated above the altar, the tiny portrait takes the place of Christ's body. Situated at the proximate point of convergence within the perspective con struction, the minuscule face commands our attention, just as it rivets the crowd of adoring onlookers. Most fifteenth-century viewers could only imagine such an encounter face -to-face. For them, however, there existed myriad reproductions of the Veronica, all different, ye t all aspiring to authenticity. In the face of the Roman reli c's inaccessibility (and, it seems, ill egibility), genuine replicas - a notion fraught with paradox - enhanced and elaborated the image's claim to renect and reenact an unmediated dialogue with Christ. Mass-produced in prints and pilgrimage badges, the faithful counterfeits TrlE V SU,\ C AND TCiE V I'; O N AF. Y rigure 7.2 . Ludov lc(l Laz arel li. Fas t' chrisU nae religion;s. Nc\\ Haven. Beineck" are Book and ManUSCflpl Li ralY. Yale U"iverSll '. l S 391, fol. 41r - images literall)' "made against," like the Veronica itself-allowed even "simple folk" a foretaste of the beatific \'ision.' Facsimiles of the Holy Face lent the prestigious portrait an immediate, even tangible, presence, just as indulgen ces gave the fa csimiles an o bvious utility6 So strong was the desire to see the fa ce of Christ that its di splay in sinuated itself into pictorial narratives of the Passion: witness the frontal presentation of the Veronica inte rrupting a Westphalian Pass ion altar, whi ch makes the onlooker, like Veronica herse lf, an e)'ewitness to the e\ ent (figure 7.3 ).7 As an image within the image, the diminutive icon d epicts and directs devotional response (figure 7.4). Elaine Scarry recently observed, quoting Sartre, that "the face of a beloved fri end ," if imagined, "will be, by comparison with an actually present fa ce, 'thin,' 'dry,' 'two-dimensional: and 'inert.'" Scarry's w ords \ JSIUN ,~J--J D TH£ \ ERc.t... IC Figure 7.3. Passlol altar, SOe 51. circle of vlaster of Li esbom (Photo' Arnulf Br!lckner, West · all~che AmI fu r DenkOlal 'flege MUlister ) Fig ure 7.4. Passion Itar, de ad , Soest. circle of rv aster of Liesborn (f"hoto Arn ulf Bruckner, Westfallscll e AmI fur Denkmalpflege MlJnster ) 2 T HE V I SUAL A .". D THE V. SIO A R Y Figure 7.5. Benede to da Malo, commemorative monumen t for GI 0 , 1490, Duo 0, Florence (Photo: Fratelli Alinal i.) might work vv ell as a description of most m ed ieval representations of the Veronica, w ere it n ot for the fact that, at least according to visionary reports, representations of the face of Christ were perceived as anything but "inert,"8 The images lent life to a face that the viewer longed to see, but had in fact never seen. The unflinching gaze of the Holy Face in vited a reciprocal g lance o f equal intensity: an exchange that authorized n o t only the object, but, by extension, empirical experi ence itself.9 Images o f the Veronica contributed to a process by which vision, once cloaked in subtle distinctions between corporeal and in tell ectual sight intelligible only to a spiritual elite , became the standard by which all religious ex perience was authenticated and in which all, in turn, could participate , The commemorative portrait of Giotto by Benedetto da Maiano in the cathedral of Florence embodies the n ovel conception of sight to ,,·hich po VIS!O :\r. AND t HE V ER ONIC A Figure 7 6. Benedetto de Mal2no, cornrnemoratlve monument for Gintto det;:lI l. 1490. Duorno . Florence (P hoto Fratellr Al ln arl ) the image contributed (figure 7.5).1 0 The archetypal artist works in the al'c haic medium of mosaic o n the archetypal image. the fa ce of Christ (fi g ure 7.6). Rathel' than God making m an in his own image. it is now the divinely in spired artist who fa shions an image of the Divinity itse lf. Pilgrimage. popular pi ety and the in creasing emphasis on visual expe r ience: all are leitmotifs in traditional accounts of the Vel'onica's extraor dinary success during the later Middle Ages. Yet they hardly represent the entire story. es pecially if one examines the earl)' history of the image in the West. ,,·here it first emerged in the course of the thirteenth century. The Veronica was a popular image. but its popularity does not m ean that the images wel'e always popular in character. Applied to the Veronica. "popular piety." an inherently proble matic concept. suggests that devo tion to the image was inevitable, a spontaneous o utgrowth of the popu THE V ISU,oL A~, D THE VISIO~JA'1Y Figure 7.5. Benedetto da Malano, commemoratIVE mOl urn en for Giotto, 1490, Duomo , Florence. (Photo: Fratel li Alinari.) might work well as a description of most medieval representations of the Veronica, were it not for the fact that, at least according to visionary reports, representations of the face of Christ 'sere perceived as anything but "inert."8 The images lent life to a face that the viewer longed to see, but had in fact n ever seen. The unflinching gaze of th e Holy Fa ce invited a reciprocal glance of equal intensity: an exchange that authorized not only the object, but, by extension, empirical experience itself.9 Images of th e Veronica contributed to a lJrocess by which vision, once cloaked in su btle distinctions between corporeal and inte Il ectual sight intelligible only to a spiritual elite, became the standard by which all religious ex perience was authenticated and in which all, in turn, could participate . The comme morative portrait of Giotto by Benedetto da Maiano in the cathedral of Florence embodies the novel conception of Sight to \\'hich T HE VIS U A L , ~ hJD THE- 1J1$IO'-lAFY lace's passion fo r images. In its initial phases, ho \\'en'r, devotion to the image was culti\'ated primarily in m onastic circles. Man)' of the ea rl )' examples , moreover. belonged to women, among them m)'stics, \'isionar ies, and pa trons of female communities. Among those who r ecorded their responses to images of Christ's face or re\·vorked them as exemplary devo tional exercises are Gertrude of Helfta (1256-1301 / 2), so metimes re ferred to as Gertrude the Great, iVl ech thild o f Hackeborn ( 1241 / 4 2 -1 299) - the sister of Gertrude of Hackeborn, abbess of the com ent - and Julian of Non"ich (ca. 1343-after 1416). Julian's visi on responds to a crucifix, but she fo cuses on the face of Jesus and el se\\'here makes it cl ear that she was familiar with representations of t he Veronica. The suniving texts, which comprise the most extensive ex tant commentar); on the Veronica and its m ea ning from the early period of its dissemination, are remarkable both for their unanimity and their sophistication. Each woman emplo)'s the Holy Face - an image that by its ver;' nature engages the relationship between the visual and the visi onary - as a pretext to explore Christian theories of representation, in particular. as expressed by the closely re lated concepts of imo80 and imitatio, image and imitation. The texts in turn provide fresh insight into the cult of the Vero ni ca and its develop m ent in the medieval '-'Vest. Image and Presence - Face and Body N uns granted the image and the idea of the Veronica a special place in their pi ety. Their reverence for Veronica and her ,"eil did not, ho\\'e\'er, stem fr om identification with her as a woman. Representations of the Veroni ca provided nuns with an authentic likeness of Christ as he had been ex perienced by a fe male forbear of apostolic (if ap ochryphal) au thority.

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