CULTURE AND NATURE: THE EUROPEAN HERITAGE OF SHEEP FARMING AND PASTORAL LIFE RESEARCH THEME 9: PASTORAL LIFE IN ART SYNTHESIS RESEARCH REPORT By Louisa Karapidakis PRISMA JANUARY 2012 The CANEPAL project is co-funded by the European Commission, Directorate General Education and Culture, CULTURE 2007-2013.Project no: 508090-CU-1-2010-1-HU-CULTURE-VOL11 This report reflects the authors’ view and the Commission is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained herein 1 ΤABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE 1. INTRODUCTION 4 2. PRIMITIVE SOCIETY 5 3. THE SHEEP IN THE EUROPEAN SCENE 8 4. THE SYMBOLISM OF THE LAMB 9 4.1 Pre Christian (Old Testament) symbolism 9 4.2 Christian (New Testament) symbolism and the lamb 10 4.3 The Lamb as a symbol or accessory figure in Catholic iconography 11 4.4 The Good Shepherd and the Good Shepherdess 11 4.5 The lamb as an attribute of saints 13 5. PRE – HISTORIC AND ANCIENT HISTORICAL PERIODS 16 5.1 Greece 16 5.2 Bulgaria 21 5.3 Poland 29 5.4 Hungary 31 6. THE ERA OF CHRISTIANITY - BYZANTINE ART (Greece and Bulgaria) 32 6.1 Sheepskin (shepherds’ atire) 33 6.2 The Nativity 33 6.3 Allegories – zodiac signs 34 7. ART IN THE LOWER MIDDLE AGES: Sheep as a religious symbol 35 7.1 France 35 7.2 Hungary 44 7.3 U.K. – Medieval Anglo Saxon Art 46 7.4 Poland 47 7.5 Estonia Gothic art - 15th c. 50 8. THE RENAISSANCE 51 8.1 France: Technical innovation and iconograpic continuity 51 8.2 Poland: the so-called Agnuski 52 9. The 17th century 54 9.1 France: religion and decoration 54 10. The 18th century 57 10.1 France: Pastoral imagination and scientific realism 57 2 10.2 Hungary: Art works depicting activities of sheep-breeding in the 18th centry 64 10.3 U.K. 64 11. The 19th century in Europe 65 11.1 U.K.: The Victorian period 65 11.2 France: The 19th c., back to the land 67 11.3 Hungary 75 11.4 Bulgaria 76 12. ThE 20th CENTURY 77 12.1 Bulgaria 77 12.2 Poland 85 12.3 France 91 12.4 Hungary 95 12.5 Estonia 100 12.6 Greece 112 12.7 U.K. 118 13. CONCLUSION 119 14. LITERATURE 120 3 1. INTRODUCTION Art has been a form of very strong human expression since time immemorial. It has been a powerful means of visual expression throughout all the periods of individual human and social development from ancient through late medieval, modern and contemporary eras with their ideological and aesthetic platforms. The journey through the pre-history and history of the countries dealt with in narrative form herein (Greece, France, the UK, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Estonia) and the examples of various idol sculptures and ceramics, mural and icon painting, secular painting and graphic arts, sculptures and installations, which are also included herein, are connected with the investigation of the objective, which is to trace the mention and depiction of the lamb and sheep in secular art or religious works through the centuries. Through this narrative and these examples it is sought to trace how the changes in the social framework set different schools of art and trends and how the symbolic presentation - with a focus on visual arts - of the ram’s or sheep’s images retains its basic characteristics to-date. Sheep as a theme have found themselves in art in many forms, often with strong symbolic overtones. Since sheep feature in religious texts, especially Christian writings as a metaphor for Jesus, it is only to be expected that they should form a motif, especially when art mostly served a religious purpose. The portrayal of the sheep, ram, lamb and mutton is frequently encountered in all facets of art in the western world from antiquity right up to our days. The characteristic appearance of the animal is depicted in bucolic scenes, in environmentalist portrayals, in mythological narratives as an allegorical holy entity, or as a reference to multiple symbolisms which are given to the animal. The most important area in depictions in Christian iconography is identified with the figures of both, the lamb and the shepherd. They appear in both a concrete, realistic way, playing a complementing role, and in an allegoric, symbolic form with deeper meanings. For close to two millenia the Christian idea offered a relatively stable and permanent base of comparison showing a homogeneous and general use of images in thought content, as well as in symbolic and metaphoric expression. In the arts representing religious ideas, Jesus, the saints and Biblical scenes have been depicted according to strict regulations and respecting the rules of iconography in the arts, often considering the text of the Old and New Testament and the comments on them. The animal (the lamb or the ram) appears in different ways. It can be in the centre of an image, or by itself. It may be an important symbol of a Biblical scene, or be a participant of the scene. Sheep were pictured even without any symbolic value in Christian iconographic art works. The symbolic presence of the lamb has widespread depictions. The sheep play an important role in different religions not only in Europe but world wide. Therefore, the presentation of convergence in this field may contribute to the dialogue and 4 reconciliation of religions, since the sheep or lamb are important parts of the Christian, Jewish and Islamic cultures and faiths at the same time. Another field has to be added to the study of this theme: the depictions of sheep and lamb or of their shepherd without any symbolic contents, outside the sacral art. These pictures show an idyllic, realistic atmosphere. The sheep are normally no more than accessory figures, mere illustrations of the landscape and contributions to the idyllic scenery. However, there are cases when the animal is the artist’s main inspirer and being the main subject, it is in the focus of the art work. 2. PRIMITIVE SOCIETY Carving sheep bones and depicting animals as art- works and decorating everyday objects with them was already a widespread practice in ancient times. Additionally, the symbolic nature of the display of the lamb or sheep has existed from early times, thus, its depiction spread very fast. The early portrayal of the lamb or the shepherd appeared carved on stone or shaped with clay while the depiction on canvass followed in Europe in the centuries after the Renaissance. Sheep, ewes, goats and ducks as such, only appeared in the Neolithic period, the physical changes due to the new domestication of these animals were indeed one of the indicators of this great change in culture. Notwithstanding this, wild species of goat, close to animals which were later domesticated, are not absent from Palaeolithic art whether on walls or on objects. Among the large herbivores of the Palaeolithic period which were painted on cave walls, where humans lived amongst the bison or horses, it is not rare to come across ibexes with horns which are particularly well painted, as can found in the black chamber of the Grotte de Niaux (Ariège). This chamber, an immense room situated 800 m. from the grotto’s entrance, shows, among one hundred animal paintings, ibexes, represented either by simple lines, or full body, dating back 13000 years. Ibex, Niaux Caves, Ariège, 15 000 BC One can also see ibexes painted in Lascaux, in the Dordogne (dating 18000 years ago approx.), or in relief as on the limestone blocks coming from the Roc-de - Serres site in the Charente (dating 18000 years ago). One of these blocks shows two ibexes head to head as if in combat. 5 Deux bouquetins affrontés, about 18 000 BC, limestone, 0.68 x 1.08 x 0.19 m. Sit: two ibexes head to head; original site: shelter in the Roc-de-Serres, Hautes-Alpes, kept at: musée d’archéologie nationale, Saint-Germain-en-Laye. This depiction illustrates the theme of an animal fight, a theme which is widespread around prehistoric Mediterranean. These fight scenes show just as much the strength of the animals as the balance of nature to which these animals contribute. These fights also evoke the rutting period, since reproduction is also related to the conservation of the immediate natural surroundings of man, to which he has adapted his way of life. The rut of the ibexes is indeed explicitly evoked in the Bourdois shelter in the Roc- aux- Sorciers (Vienne). One can see on the graven wall (around 14000 years old), a painting showing five males, one female and two young animals. Frise des bouquetins, sheltered at Bourdois, Roc-aux-Sorciers, Vienne, 14 000 BC If some males have raised tails, one of them is putting this part of its anatomy on its buttocks, a sign of rutting. This position of the tail mirrors that of the female whose tail is placed horizontally in a sign of the same capacity for reproduction. This possibly explains why the vulva of the animal is clearly shown, a rare depiction in wall art. The presence of two young animals also evokes reproduction. Ibexes are also present on object art from the Palaeolithic period, not only on objects whose functions are known to us, such as the throwing device called “from the ibex” originating in the Mas-d'Azil (Ariège), dating between 17000 and 11000 years BC. 6 Propulseur au bouquetin, 17000-11000 BC, reindeer wood, 0.265x0.021x0.017m. Provenance : the Mas-d’Azil, Ariège.