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IDENTITY AS SYMBOL in MEDIEVAL SACRED ART a Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Continuing

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IDENTITY AS SYMBOL in MEDIEVAL SACRED ART a Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Continuing MEDIEVAL PORTRAITURE: IDENTITY AS SYMBOL IN MEDIEVAL SACRED ART A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of The School of Continuing Studies and of The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Liberal Studies By Paula Morrison, B.A. Georgetown University Washington, DC November 16, 2011 MEDIEVAL PORTRAITURE: IDENTITY AS SYMBOL IN MEDIEVAL SACRED ART Paula Morrison, B.A. Mentor: Ann R. Meyer, Ph.D. ABSTRACT This thesis explores the medieval concept of identity in portraiture through the iconography and symbolic programs of devotional art, in particular painting and manuscript illumination. The conceptual foundations of this thesis are based on the Christian-Platonist teachings of Saint Augustine (354-430) and Denis the Areopagite (Pseudo-Dionysius, 5th – 6th century). Early concepts of portraiture in the Middle Ages conveyed the medieval perception of the relations between the visible and invisible worlds. Medieval perceptions of likeness, identity, and character may be traced to many of Saint Augustine’s teachings in the Confessions and De Doctrina Christiana. In the Confessions, he expresses the view that perception through bodily senses--sight, sound, taste, smell, touch--weigh down the soul. Our physical appearance has little to do with our essential qualities. God made Man in his own image, but there is no discernable physical appearance of God to ascertain. Therefore, God’s image was illustrated through those virtues that had always been associated with God, such as charity, fortitude, and wisdom. Augustine takes great interest in how human understanding derives from an act of illumination—how the Divine intellect enlightens the human mind. He thought images could be deceptive but also recognized that they may serve as signs (signa) that could be ii useful in transmitting information and acknowledged that a certain degree of imitation was necessary. Pseudo Dionysius stressed that creation is an act of divine illumination, or emanation. Symbols and images participate in this process of creation through emanation, and so are necessary to humans for contemplation of the Divine. God provides images from the Holy Scripture and from nature as imperfect depictions of divinity, but they are essential, even in their imperfection, so that we may engage in communion with the Divine. Images may act as screens or veils between God and human-beings. I analyze Augustine’s theories on signs and imitation as foundational sources for medieval symbolism and iconography. My analysis will then shift from Augustine’s teachings to how devotional literature, painting, and manuscript illumination were also expressions of a Dionysian symbolic program. My study will include examination of how the French monarchy played a major role in advancing this program to influence new directions in the 15th century of the representation of identity and medieval portraiture. I will trace the Valois dynasty’s territorial gains in the west with the inheritance of Flemish artistic expression in the late 14th and 15th centuries. I include examples of various works of art that demonstrate a convergence and evolution of these influences. In addition, I will provide evidence of how the Duchy of Burgundy influenced the spread of Dionysian ideas on beauty and representation, and how early Netherlandish art manifested these ideas in religious painting, and then flourished through the influence of the Dukes of Burgundy. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would especially like to thank my friends and family for their support, patience, and encouragement throughout this process. I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest appreciation to my thesis mentor Dr. Ann Meyer for introducing me to a wonderful topic and for her encouragement and enthusiasm. I would also like to thank Assistant Dean Anne Ridder whose knowledge and guidance was invaluable throughout the Liberal Studies program. iv CONTENTS ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………….. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS…………………………………………………........................ iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS………………………………………………………………vi INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………….1 1. CHAPTER: REPRESENTING THE IMAGELESS…………………………………..8 2. CHAPTER: AUGUSTINE’S QUEST AND THE IMAGE OF GOD……………….30 3. CHAPTER: PSEUDO DIONYSIUS:………………………………………………..59 THE SPIRITUAL PORTRAIT 4. CHAPTER: CHRISTIAN PRINCES: THE VALOIS DUKES OF BURGUNDY…………………………………………..74 5. CHAPTER: THE VOTARY PORTRAIT …………………………………………. 98 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………….111 APPENDIX: THESIS ILLUSTRATIONS …………………………………………….116 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………….147 v ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Khludov Psalter, fol. 51v, Psalm 51:9 117 2. Khludov Psalter, fol. 67r, Psalm 68:22 118 3. Khludov Psalter, fol.45v, Psalm 46:2 119 4. Saint Regimius Binding 120 5. St. John Gospels, Medard-de-Soissons 121 6. Artist unknown, Egberti Codex 122 7. The Four Evangelists, the Aachen Gospels 123 8. Dirk Bouts, The Virgin and Child 124 9. Gospel Book of St. Emmeram 125 10. Jesse Tree, Chartres Cathedral 126 11. Hans Memling, Virgin and Child and 127 Maarten van Nieuwenhove 12. Hans Memling, Detail Virgin and Child Maarten van Niewenhove 128 13. Nicolas Spiering, Christ Laid on the Cross 129 From the Book of Hours of Mary of Burgundy 14. Nicolas Spiering, Detail Christ Laid on the Cross 130 15. Nicolas Spiering, Detail Christ Laid on the Cross 131 16. Jan van Eyck, Virgin and Child 132 With Canon van der Paele 17. Rogier van der Weyden, Bladelin Triptych 133 18. Jan van Eyck, Chancellor Rolin with Virgin and Child 134 19. Unknown, Wilton Diptych 135 vi 20. Master Giles, Mass of St. Giles 136 21. Fitzwilliam, Military Ordinance of Charles the Bold 137 22. Rogier van der Weyden, Francesco d’Este 138 23. Master of St. Giles, Baptism of Clovis 139 24. Rogier van der Weyden, Charles the Bold 140 25. Gerard Loyet, Votive Image of Charles the Bold 141 26. Jacques de Guise, Chronique de Hainaut 142 27. Philip the Good Attending Mass 143 28. Hans Memling, Moreel Triptych 144 29. Hugo van der Goes, The Berlin Nativity 145 30. Hugo van der Goes, The Portinari Altarpiece 146 vii INTRODUCTION The primary role of the visual artist in the Middle Ages was not to capture a person’s physical appearance and character but to create an image capable of lifting the soul from the material world to the Divine. The purpose of sacred art was to guide the mind to the Divine and ultimate truth. Early concepts of portraiture in the Middle Ages conveyed the medieval perception of the relations between the visible and invisible worlds. This thesis explores the medieval concept of identity in portraiture through the iconography and symbolic programs of devotional art. My focus is on religious symbols, iconography, and how they were expressed in one’s identity through portraiture. These symbols provided historical and political influences of expression, particularly for the Valois Dukes of Burgundy. Through the Dukes of Burgundy’s patronage, they believed they were participants in Christian Salvation history. Symbols such as the Golden Fleece were associated with a symbolic program that stood for chivalric and Christian ideals. In ancient culture throughout the Middle Ages there was a desire to be close to God. This desire led to questions on how to be close to that which was invisible. Early Christian artists struggled with the problem of how to give form to God so that he could be tangible and near at all times. People looked to the Bible for answers and found conflicting passages pertaining to the use of images to represent the Divine. Ancient culture struggled to understand the meaning of an image, likeness, or representation of the figure. Could the omnipotent and inexpressible be circumscribed? Augustine asks the 1 question in his opening chapter of Confessions, ―Can heaven and earth, which you have made and in which you have made me, contain you?‖1 Chapter 1 analyzes early texts that provide a context for early political and religious debates on sacred images. There are three main periods surrounding the iconoclast movement in Byzantium. The first involves the accession of Constantine V (718-775) and his reign. The next period focuses on Christology and the justification of religious images in worship. The third pertains to Aristolean logic, under the Patriarch Nicephorus.2 The passage below is from Nicephorus (758-828) and introduces the logic surrounding the idea of similitude and pattern with images and their likeness: A father for instance is called a fathers son…thus a pattern is called a pattern of an image, and an image the image of a pattern, and nobody will call the image of an individual an unrelated image. In addition likeness also bestows equivocalness, for the appellation is the same for both; for even the image of a king is called king.3 Augustine’s Soliloquies and Immortality of the Soul (386-387) was one of his earliest works, but marked the beginning of the fundamental internal conflict between the reasoning mind and sensory perception in the material world. He wrote the Soliloquies before his conversion to Christianity, which became the roadmap to his Confessions. Augustine’s De Doctrina Christiana pertains to his theories on signs and the interpretation of the scriptures. 1 Augustine, and Henry Chadwick, Confessions (Oxford: New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), 4. 2 Paul Julius Alexander, The Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople: Ecclesiastical Policy and Image Worship in the Byzantine Empire (New York: AMS Press, 1980), 201. 3 Ibid. 2 Augustine writes the following about his decision to write the Soliloquies: I wrote two books, because of the enthusiasm I had for a love of seeking out with the help of reason, the truth about those matters I most wanted to know. I asked myself questions and I replied to myself as if we were two, reason and I, whereas of course I was just one.4 The following is a dialogue between Augustine and his reasoning mind on knowing God and sense perception: Soliloquies 1: A: I want to know God and the Soul.
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