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The Five Senses in Medieval Art A study of the representations and rarity of the Five Senses in ecclesiastical art of the Middle Ages in Western Europe Tessy Myriam Géraldine Oppermann S1723488 [email protected] Supervisor: Dr. E. Grasman MA Arts and Culture, Early Modern and Medieval Art 2015/2016 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 2 2. The single-sheet woodcut from the Abbey of Tegernsee.......................................... 5 2.1 The depictions...................................................................................................... 6 2.2 The inscriptions.................................................................................................. 12 2.3 Purpose and targeted audience........................................................................... 12 2.4 Similar examples of depictions of the Five Senses............................................ 16 3. The Five Senses in the Middle Ages ....................................................................... 20 3.1 The hierarchy of the Five Senses....................................................................... 23 3.2 The Five Senses in the ecclesiastical context of the Middle Ages .................... 25 3.3 Iconographic imagery tradition.......................................................................... 28 4. The rarity of ecclesiastical representations of the Five Senses in the Middle Ages 33 5. Conclusion............................................................................................................... 38 6. List of Illustrations .................................................................................................. 42 7. Bibliography ............................................................................................................ 54 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Edward Grasman for all his support and insight throughout the course of the dissertation period. I wish to dedicate my thesis to my mother Claudine for her continuous moral support and without whom none of this would have been possible. 1 1. Introduction Similar to the Ten Commandments and the Seven Deadly Sins, the Five Senses figured in religious medieval life on a regular basis. Namely, the Five Senses were often found alongside the vices and virtues and were influenced by these accordingly. The preoccupation with the human senses as well as the divine control over them is evident in a range of narrative texts, scientific treatises, creative literature as well as the visual arts and music from the pre-modern period. Furthermore, a hierarchical order can be observed that lists the senses according to their perceived nobility. The Middle Ages were particularly influenced by iconographical traditions. Therefore, representations of the Five Senses, either as the main topic of a piece of art or referenced in a detail were not unusual in medieval art. However, considering the popularity of the topic in medieval culture, only a few examples are known to us today. This paper will consider the representation of the Five Senses with regard to the perceived dangers that they epitomized in terms of temptation. The paper will therefore examine how the Five Senses were represented in medieval art and how this representation attempted to shape both the meaning of the individual senses and their public perception. In order to do so, the paper will consider the following questions: What was the intention of the commissioners of such prints? Or, in other words, how could they have wanted to affect and influence the targeted audience by means of the representation of the Five Senses? From which societal background was the intended audience and how did this factor into the appearance and the design of the representations of the Five Senses? And, why are there only so few known examples of the representations of the Five Senses in religious medieval art, especially when it comes to representing the dangers that the senses inhabited? As a main reference piece, this paper will focus on a single sheet woodcut from the Abbey of Tegernsee. The woodcut provides an excellent example in order to visualize the position of the Five Senses in between the Ten Commandments and the Seven Deadly Sins. The senses, which are susceptible to temptation by sin and the need to exercise control over them are constant subjects in medieval secular and ecclesiastical culture. Both the Ten Commandments and the Seven Deadly Sins tie the Five Senses into the ecclesiastical context. However, in order to understand medieval art and culture, it is important to focus on the social and, more importantly, the religious 2 structures that underlie medieval culture. Knowledge of the fundamental makeup of medieval society, especially its religious aspect, will enable us to fully grasp the depth of the meaning of the Five Senses in medieval culture and how this topic was connected to the Renaissance. After a thorough examination of the woodcut, the paper will focus on the Five Senses and their symbolism in Christianity, including the connection of the senses to the Ten Commandments and the Seven Deadly Sins. The Ten Commandments and the Seven Deadly Sins are necessary counterparts, representing the rules of God and the temptations of the devil. The concept of the Five Senses is placed in between both notions, as though in a constant state of temptation. A detailed comparison between the different iconographic traditions concerning the Five Senses will therefore shed light on the connection between the specific choice of representation and the targeted audiences. While the Five Senses were widely discussed in the scientific and ecclesiastical context during the Middle Ages, only few representations of the Five Senses survived to present day. And, of the few examples that are known to us today, an even smaller amount of pieces represent the perceived dangers that emanate from the senses. This observation raises the question as to why so few examples survived of a topic that was both popular and widespread at the time? Especially in the ecclesiastical realm, it seems that there should have been more, since religious art was predominant in the Middle Ages. The Five Senses have figured as a common topic in art since the sixteenth century, especially in French and Dutch paintings. Allegorical representations of the senses in secular art but also in connection with Christian scenes from the Bible witnessed an increasing popularity over the course of the sixteenth century that lasted well into the eighteenth century. While a host of scholarly works have been published on the Five Senses, the research tends to focus on the post-medieval period. The representation of the senses in art and the connection between the senses and art have only recently figured more prominently amongst scholars. The more recent studies consider the sensory dimension of medieval art and culture with a special focus on the materiality of works, the conception of various objects and their underlying theological meanings.1 Carl Nordenfalk was among the first to properly examine the Five Senses in the Middle Ages and provided an overview over the historiography of the Five Senses and their 1 Woolgar, C.M. The Senses in Late Medieval England, Yale University Press, New Haven, London, 2006. Nichols, S; Kablitz, A; Calhoun, A. (eds.). Rethinking the Medieval Senses, Heritage Fascinations Frames, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2008. 3 appearance in medieval art with a special focus on the “Lady and the Unicorn” tapestries. While the topic has become ever more popular since Nordenfalk’s first article on the Five Senses in 1976, religious depictions of the Five Senses and the perceived dangers associated with the individual senses have not been studied adequately. A general lack of primary source representations depicting the said theme plays a crucial role in the apparent absence of scholarly work. The recently published series on the cultural history of the senses explores the cultural life of the senses from Antiquity to Modern Age in great detail and focuses on all areas that the subject of the senses was applied to.2 For the purpose of my research the volumes on the Middle Ages and the Renaissance are particularly interesting since they give very deep insight into the cultural history and development of the perception of the senses in the Middle Ages and how the medieval perception was transported into the Renaissance. Both volumes serve as an excellent starting point since they include all relevant theories that have been formed and give insight into a wide array of angles in different fields were the senses are to be found. Comparing both volumes makes the changes in the representation and perception of the senses in both societies visible, which leads to an understanding of the chronological development and the shift in importance of the matter. Furthermore serves the rather small section on the senses and their connection to art also as an identifier on the importance and the existence of art on this subject. The most popular example is the series of the “Lady and the Unicorn” tapestries, which are on display in the Musée de Cluny in Paris. Even though the tapestries are the most referenced pieces of medieval art with regard to the representation of the Five Senses, this paper will not consider them for several reasons. First, the tapestries go beyond the mere depiction of the Five

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