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JOHN F. MOFFITT

The Veiled Metaphor in Hugo van der Goes' Berlin Mark Nativity: Isaiah and Jeremiah, or and Paul?

In an important article published in 1975, Barbara G. Lane had explored the complex symbolic modes structuring Hugo van der Goes' Nativity picture of ca. 148o in Berlin (Fig. i).' As she points out, Hugo's unusually proportioned oak panel probably hung over an altar and thus she seeks clues to its iconographical significance and sources in liturgical ceremonies and the dramas of Christmas Day. In the larger sense she reveals once-common traditions by which the altar symbolized both the sepulcher of Christ as well as the manger, thus evoking the parallel between the Incarnation and the . In Hugo's painting, she states, 'the manger imitates the shape of an altar,' and cites examples from patristic literature (Augustine, Walafrid Strabo, Guerricus, Ambrose, etc.) in which this manger-altar comparison is mentioned. It is also noted that the Christ Child lies upon a white cloth, and Lane plausibly relates this configuration to the paten upon which the consecrated Host is presented to the participants in the Mass .2 As she concludes, this altar-manger conflation represents 'the symbolic transubstantiation... where the Infant Christ lying on the manger explains the meaning of the consecrated Host to the worshipper.' The symbolic act of transubstantiation, itself the celebration of the , is further underlined by a sheaf of grain placed directly below the manger in Hugo's painting, a reference to Christ as 'the living bread come down from Heaven' (John 6: 5 r - 52 ) . Lane has even found a plausible metaphorical ex- planation for the oddly horizontal proportions of Hugo's panel; given the fact of the tradition of an altar-sepulcher-manger equation, then, as she affirms, 'Christ would lie, as it were, in his manger and his tomb simultaneously, for the Nativity is but a prelude to his sacrifice.' Given the weight of the detailed and well-documented evidence assembled by Lane in order to ascribe an overriding symbolic, specifically eucharistic signif- icance to nearly every mundane-appearing object in this painting, then surely the single most unusual feature of Hugo's composition must similarly have been derived from liturgical or scriptural sources. This striking motif is Hugo's inclusion, as Lane puts it, 'of two dramatic foreground figures who open cur- tains to reveal the Adoration of the Child.' As she also demonstrates, 'Hugo has carefully identified his curtains as belonging to an altar by his emphasis on the ?simulated? curtain-rod, for it is actually a piece of wood attached to the panel, over which the rings have been painted.... By implying that the cur- tains are open in the viewer's space, [the motif] also intensifies the dramatic 158

revelation for the worshipper.' Her conclusion is that 'the parted curtains reveal the child, just as altar-curtains disclosed the transformed Host to the congregation. 13 Therefore, she concludes, 'the veil is now opened to reveal the new Holy of Holies, the Eucharist on the altar, symbolic of the body of Christ.' As is suggested by such statements, the parted curtains, vigorously drawn aside by two as-yet unidentified (Biblical?) personages, are a concrete sign of Chris- tological 'revelation,' but far more specifically, as I would add, the 'revelatio' of the New Testament founded upon the flesh and blood of the crucified Christ. Whereas the symbolic identity of the curtains as another sign of the Revelation of the Christ to the shepherds as such is obviously correct, I must question the specific identity given by Lane (and others) to those 'two dramatic foreground figures' who so dramatically lift up and draw aside these symbolic curtains in order to reveal the first epiphany of Christ. As Lane hypothesizes, 'the figure on the left is probably Isaiah,' while 'the grieving expression' on the right hand figure in turn `reflects the suffering experienced by Jeremiah.' In fact, this pair of figures (who, it must be noted, have no distinguishing attributes as such) had been identified as Old Testament prophets as long ago as 1903 , and more recently, in i 983,.J. K. Eberlein similarly had identified them as 'the two pro- phets who foretold Christ, Isaiah and Jeremiah.' 5 Nevertheless, as Lane is careful to point out, 'there seems to be neither a literary nor a visual tradition for prophets unveiling the Nativity as they [seem to duo in Hugo's painting.' In fact, I know of no traditions, either visual or textual, which supply any grounds whatsoever for identifying Old Testament prophets, especially Isaiah and Jeremiah, with revelational curtains in any place or time. Moreover, as I do not find observed in the critical literature on Hugo's painting, the drapery withdrawn by these two obviously symbolic figures can not in fact represent a 'curtain' (or cortina) as such; being semi-transparant, it is obviously instead a 'veil' (velum or velamen). This critical distinction between physical materials and putative functions will now enable us to situate more accurately the drapery- motif within a familiar biblical context, pointing in turn to the real identity and significance of this anomalous 'curtain'-motif and its two dramatic 'un- veilers.' Thus we now recognize that we should be properly looking for two biblical personages who had specificaly associated themselves with a veil, and, more- over, with this veil as a sign of the manifestation of Christ to men on earth. Although no such figures are to be found in the Old Testament, the veil-Christ equation is common to the writings of the principal authors of the New Testa- ment, mainly Mark and Paul, and they supplied two different, but essentially complementary readings of the Christological veil-motif. For Mark, this drapery device was an actual architectural feature, the famous 'veil' (velum) or curtain originally found in the Temple of (Exodus W:3i-33), and subsequently reincorporated in the Temple in Jerusalem, re- built by Kind Herod between 19 and 9 s c, and later destroyed by the Romans under Titus in AD. An approximate or conventionalized idea of the ap- pearance of the interior of the rectangular Temple is given in an engraving by Franciscus Vatabulus that was published (Paris, 1540) in the illustrated prepared by Robert Estienne (fig. 2). Here we see the gathered velum to the left, hanging from rings on a metal curtain-rod traversing the entire width of the nave (sancta) and covering a low wall that demarcates the area of the Holy of Holies (Sancia Sanctorum), the place of the Ark of the Old Testament of the Jewish faith.' For Mark, this was the velum that was parted, or 'ripped asun- der,' on the evening of Good Friday when Jesus died upon the cross at a I59

I moment when, states the Apostle, velum templi scissum est in duo, a summo deorsum' van der Goes, The Hugo an observation also Matthew, and Luke, Staatliche Museen (Mark 15: 38; repeated by 27: 5 r, Nativity, to the of Old Testament PreuBischer Kulturbesitz, Ge- Thus, contrary any previous, vague prophe- it was Mark's observation and that had maldegalerie, Berlin. cies, subsequent striking metaphor inextricably situated the parted veil within a specifically historic-narrative statement about the life and death of Christ, that is, at the very moment revealing the real spiritual meaning of the New Testament, 'in corpus G'hristi.' As was clarified slightly later by Paul (whom we may identify as the second veil-bearing 'prophet,' to the right in Hugo's panel), this veil is also the velamen, a parallel veil-motif that represents Christ Himself' in which He was hidden as a refuge for us. As was stated in the Epistle to the Hebrews, 6:18- 0, the sacrifice of Christ opens up for us, like a parted veil, the way to the Holy of Holies:

'We who have fled for refuge should have strong encouragement to seize the hope [Christ] set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner shrine behind the veil (ad irtteriora vela- mis), where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever (ubi praecurvor pro nobis introivit Jesus ... pont?fexIactus in aeternum) .'

In Hebrews 10: r g- 20, Paul is even more explicit on the symbolic Christolog- ical significance of the veil, stating that we ourselves shall enter into that Holy of Holies, that is, by actually passing through that same veil (a parallel to Mark's 'velum templi'), and Paul shows it to be actually made of Christ's pre- cious flesh and blood. Clearly, this parted veil is, in itself, a complete euchar- istic symbol because, as Paul states, Christ is the veil, 'in flesh and blood':

'Habentes itaquefratresfiduciam in introitu sanctorum in sanguine Christi, quam initaoit nobis viam novam, et viventem per velamen, id est, carnem suam... (Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which he opened for us through the veil, that is, through his flesh [leading to the] full assurance of faith.)'

Paul also employed the veil-metaphor in another, and even more profound sense as a direct sign of `revelation,' a sign, moreover, that refutes outright Old I60

Testament prophecy. As he explained (II Corinthians 3: r 2 ff.), speaking in reference to Moses' veiled countenance in the presence of his Yahweh (Exodus 34:29 fI:), the Christians of the New Faith now see through, or lift up, the Old Testament 'veils' thanks to the recent intervention of Christ:

'Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not see the end of the fading splendor. But their minds were hardened; for to this day, when they read the old 0 newish ] covenant, the same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away (idipsum velamen in lectione veteris testamenti manet non revelatum, quoniam in Christo evacuatur). Yes, to this day, whenever Moscs is read a veil [of spiritual ignorance] lies over their minds; but when a man turns to the Lord the veil is removed (conversusfuerit ad Dominum, auferetur velamen).'

As is to be expected, the symbolic analogies that had remained still slightly veiled in the Scriptures were to be later rendered completely explicit by a host of patristic exegetes. The quotations following, taken from the Church Fathers, repeatedly prove the validity of the single, simple point made here: Hugo's parted curtain-motif was intended to be an easily read sign of the strictly New Testament prophecies of Christological 'Revelatio.' However, given the great amount of this exegetical literature, it will suffice to quote briefly a selection of representative commentaries on the principle veiled themes vividly drawn in the New Testament by Mark and Paul, namely the veil rent a Christ's expira- tion and the hidden Christ in the veil - who is `unveiled-revealed', complemen- tary ideas in any event and, as such, usually conflated by these later commen- tators. According to Walafrid Strabo (`Glo.sa Ordinaria,' referring to Paul's statement in Hebrews io), here it is our faith that is still veiled, but any worthwhile faith will eventually yield to the test of superior reason. $ Alcuin states that when we enter into the Holy of Holies, we really pass into heaven by passing through that veil, Christ's body, and that veil was itself drawn back to reveal this new, heavenly vision of the Saviour. 9 Augustine also likened the veil to Christ, who, previously hidden under the curtain of the mysteries of the Old Testament, he says, is like wheat under the chaff. 1 ° For Raban Maur ('Allegoriae in Sacram Scripturam'), these familiar images suggest a spritely jeu des mots: `cetum ?/ lestamen- tum J = velum = coelum.' 11 Even for a much later Flemish commentator, CGorne- lius a Lapide, Christ's blood still shows us the way to heaven, while his flesh is itself the veil which reveals that new road to heaven, to which this drawn curtain is like a portal. ? ? Similarly, the commentaries upon Mark, citing and analyzing his rent-veil motif, convey consistent notions of CGhristological reve- lation. For example, according to Jerome, this veil revealed to the people the hitherto hidden meanings of the Sacrament, 1 3and for Walafrid the parted curtains literally 'reveal' the prophecy of the new Sacrament of Christ, be- cause, before being drawn apart, they were a sign of the old spiritual blind- ness.' Raban Maur is even more explicit on this point: 'By faith in Christ, the curtains are snatched away.... To believe in Christ is to open up the curtains,' 1 and the result is a new Truth, 'revelata' before our very eyes.' Moreover, he states, 'Heaven only appears with the lifting of the veil,'' while Strabo, in turn, says that the dark, Old Law reigned while the curtain was closed; it was only opened for the people by the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross.' ' Having revealed the later exegetical impact of the veil-motif first set in place by Paul and Mark, we may now return to consider the question of their personal significance - as forceful individuals - and their iconographic differentiation - I61

2 Franciscus Vatabulus, The Temple qf Solomon,engraving fi-om an illustrated bible, Robert Estienne, Paris i 540.

as apostolic types - such as they had been depicted by Hugo van der Goes in the Berlin Nativity. In the merely physical sense, the man drawing back a curtain on the right side of the picture is seen to be bearded, bald and evidently of small height. The earliest textual sources for Paul's physical appearance are Lucian and Nicephorus, and their iconographic authority was still being cited as late as the seventeenth-century. According to Francisco Pacheco, 'St. Paul was small of body, somewhat bent, had a pale face and appeared old; he had a small, bald head, limpid eyes, long and bushy eyebrows, a long hook-nose and 88 a long and thick beard with some grey streaks in it.'' While this traditional description certainly fits the appearance of the veil- holder to the right whom I have identified as St. Paul, it still leaves somewhat unresolved the question of his psychological characterization within the spe- cific context of the Berlin Nativity. For this complementary factor, we turn to the standard compilation of the 'Lives of the Saints,' Jacopo da Voragine's Legenda Aurea. It is easy enough to prove its great authority at the time we suppose Hugo's altarpiece was executed; as William Caxton wrote in 1483, the 'Golden Lcgcnd' was the mother-lode ofhagiography: 'For in lyke wyse as gold is moste noble above al other metalles, in lyke wyse is thys legende holden mooste noble above al other werkys. '1 Jacopo himself states that Paul's tran- scription and understanding of the Scriptures was literally god-given: 'In the three days during which he was blind [on the road to Damascus], God taught him the Gospel. For he himself [Paul] says that he did not receive it from a man or through a man, but solely through the revelation of Jesus Christ.' 2 0 Surely this apostle is an amazing combination of virtues; as Jacopo describes the meanings of his name:

'Paul is translated trumpet's mouth, or mouth of men, or the one wondrously chosen, or the wonder of choice; or Paul comes from pausa, rest; or it means I62

small.... He spread the Gospel from Illyria to Jerusalem, and that is why he is called the trumpet's mouth.... His miraculous conversion... is why he is called wondrously chosen [and] his active hands are the reason why he is called the wonder of choice [and] his contemplation, for he was rapt to the third heaven, ...is why he is called the repose of the world, for in contemplation there is rest. [Finally, there is] his great humility, and that is why he is called small.' 2'

The Legenda Aurea similarly confirms the identity of the left-hand veil-holder - bearded and long-nosed - as representing St. Mark (including a cogent expla- nation for why he appears to have no thumb on his left hand):

'Mark means high in the commandment, sure, bent down, and bitter.... He is called bent down because of his great humility, for in his self-abasement he cut off his thumb so that he would not be fit for the office of priest. He is called bitter because of the bitterness of his tortures.... With the sole teaching of his gospel, Mark struck down the evil of the heretics, strengthened the Church, and per- mitted the praise of God to ring out.... He was baptized by Saint Peter and instructed by him in the Christian faith, and then accompanied him to Rome. And there, as Peter was preaching the gospel, the Christians of Rome besought Mark to write down the life of the Saviour, so that they might have a lasting memorial of it. Mark therefore faithfully wrote down the account as he heard it from Peter's lips; and when Peter himself had examined the work and deemed it exact in all things, he approved it for use by all the faithful.... Saint Mark had a long nose, heavy eyebrows, fine eyes, and a thick beard. He was of medium height, and bore himself nobly. He was about fifty years old when he 2 underwent martyrdom. 122

In conclusion, we completely support the essence of Lane's symbolic, specific- ally eucharistic readings of the iconographic accessories in Hugo's Nativity Nevertheless, by rejecting the traditional identification of the two men 'un- veiling' Christ's first Epiphany as Old Testament prophets, we add further substance to Lane's eucharistic interpretations. Now, by instead recognizing these two prominently displayed figures as being the principal New Testament 'unveilers' - Mark and Paul - we are enabled to read their velum-velamen at- tribute as a concrete sign as the first 'revelatio Christ' to men on earth. As we have seen, particularly it was Paul who had made the first and decisive identifi- cation of this veil as a concrete manifestation of the body and , which is, of course, the underlying symbolic sense of the miraculously trans- formed eucharistic offerings of the Mass, itself the daily symbolic `revelation' of Christ's body and blood as given to the participants in this holy rite. In short, as represented in complementary ways by Mark and Paul, the greater meta- phorical significance of the suddenly up-lifted and parted veils is that the motif simultaneously evokes and then actually embodies the complementary ideas of both the Incarnation and the Transubstantiation. With this final unveiled observation, the comprehensive meaning of Hugo's Nativity as an 'altar-piece,' that is, as a functional counterpart to those symbolic actions actually re- enacted upon the 'real' altar, by which the transformed Host is daily disclosed 2 to the congregation, 'in sanguine Christi et J carnem suam,' 3 is finally and fully `revealed."z 4 4 I63

NOTES ' B. G. Lane, "`Ecce Panis Angelorum" The Cfaristianity,London, i g7g; Th. A. Busink, Der Manger as Altar In Hugo's Berlin Nativity,' Art Tempelvon Jerusalem von Salomobi.1 Herodes, Lei- Bullelirt,L v I Ij4,1 97 5,r 76-86. See also Yatalogder den, 1970-80 (2 vols.); R. Wischnit?er, 'Maimo- ausgestelltenGemiilde des 13.-18. ?Jahrhunderts,Ge- nides' Drawings of the Temple,' ,?ourraalof Jewish mäldegalerieSlafilliihe Museen Preuy3ischer Kullurbe- Art, r, ig74, 16-27. sitz, Berlin, 1975, 17 7:cat. no. 1622 A, 'Anbetung 8 der Hirten. Um 1480. Eichenholz, 97 x 2q 7cm.' Walafrid Strabo, in PL (in J. P. Migne, I'atro- logiaecursus completus;Series Latina, Paris, r 844- For more on this Child-doth-paten-Host equa- 64, 22 vols.), vol. i i j, col. 66 i :'Fides nostra est tion, see the various examples cited in passing by velata, quia fides non habet meritum, cui hu- B. G. Lane, TheAltar and theAltarpiece: Sacramental mana ratio pracbct experimentum.' Tlterreesirt Early NetherlandishPainting, New York, 9 1984 (esp. p. 50 fit.on Hugo's Berlin Nativity), and Alcuin, in PL, r oo: 1080: ` "I n introitu," in- U. Nilgcn, 'The Epiphany and the Eucharist: quit, "sanctorum": Hic coelum dixit et acces- On the Interpretation of Eucharistic Motifs in sum ad spiritualia...."per velamen," inquit, Medieval Epiphany Scenes,' ArtBulletin,xr.ix/4, "carnis suae." Haec quippe caro primum pene- 1967, 3 I I - I 6. travit "viam illam." ... Velamen autem merito vocamus; cum enim e:levatusest in coclum, tune 3 For curtains supported by metal rods that apparucrunt coelestia.' hung on either side of 'real' altars in medieval ' churches, used to conceal the mystery of the Augustine, in PL, 38: 725: 'Sed quomodo in Transubstantiation and dramatically opened at hordeo medulla est sub palea est; sic in vela- the moment of the Elevation of the Host, see mento mystcriorum Legis latest Christo.' mainly Durandus (as translated by J. M. Neale " & B. Webb, The Symbolismof Churchesand Christian Raban Maur, in PL, I 12: 1 u7 3'Velum : ' est ob- Ornaments,Leeds, 1843, 73 ff.); see also .1.Braun, scuritas litterae, ut in Evangelio:' [:] "Velum Der christlicheAltar, Munich, r gz4, II, 133ff.-, J. templi scissum est." Velum,coelum, ut in Levi- Sauer, S'ymbolikdes Kirchengebdudesund seinerAus- tico : "Surnmus pontifex introibit intra velum," stattung in der Auffassutk4des Mittelalters, Münster, id est, Christus penetravit coelum.' 1964, r 71 fr. ' Cornelius a Lapide (C. van dc Steen, 1 _167 - 4 W. Bode, `Die Anbctung der Hirten von Hugo 1637), in J.P. Migne (ed.), Scripturae Sacrae,Cur- van der Goes in der Berliner Galerie,' Jahrbuch sus Completus,Paris, 1940, vol. 25, cols. 392 - 9:.r der kdniglichenpreussischen Yunstsammlungen, XXIV, 'PER CARNEMSUAM, id est: quo sanguine Chris- 1903, 101; see also YL atalog,as in note i, 'Die tus imitavit, dedicavit nobis vitam in haec coeles- Halbfiguren stellen [Old Testament] Propheten tia sancta sanctorum.... PER VE LAMEN,id est, dar.' quam viam nobis aperuit per suam c:arnem, quae est quasi velam januac, per quod est ingredien- J. K. Eberlcin, 'The Curtain in Raphael's Sis- dum. Ideo in morte Christi velum templi scissum tine Madonna,' Art Bulletin, LXV/I, i g8 3, 6 1 - 77 est; quia carne Christi per morte scissa, patuit (p. 68). in coelum aditus.... CARO GHRISTI,recte per velum significatur, quia sicut velum operiebat 6 There is a mention of a 'veil' in the Old Tes- arcana sanctuarii, et tamen ingrcssum illuc prae- tament (Exodus 3q.: zgff.) which, while it has bat, ita caro Christi divinitatem obtcxit quada- nothing to do with prophets as such, does bear modo. Latebat enim in homine Deus, ct tamen upon the arguments following, but only as it was per cam ad I)eum adducimur. Puo pertinet quod reinterpreted by the Gospel writers of the New in morte Christi velum templi scissum est in duas Testaments, as shall be shown here. Whereas partcs (Matth.27), quia nimirum carne Christi there are, of course, cursory mentions of both per mortem concissa, patere cocpit aditus in coe- Isaiah and Jeremiah in relation to 'curtains,' lum.' these are clearly not of a 'rclevatory' nature; see Isaiah 541 2Jeremiah 41 20§10: 20;49: 9 (all re- Jerome, in PL, 26: 221: 'Velum templi scissum ferring to the furnishings of tcnts). est, et omnia legis sacramenta quae prius tege- bantur, prodita sunt, atque ad gentium populum I The iconography of Vatabulus' print, and transicrunt.' similar 'scientific reconstructions' of the Temple in the Renaissance, is discussed by J. A. Ramirez 14 Jerome , in PL, 114: 5 55: 'In passione Christi in his very useful study on the meaning and sour- velumtempli .rcissurrz est, ut signijicatur perChristi pas- ces of painters' architectural backgrounds: Con- sionemrevelari sacramenta legis et prophetiae,Vela- struccione.silusorias: Arquitecturasdescritas, arquitec- men enim dicit ad comparationem prophetiae ut turas pintadas,Madrid, 1983, in4-2 16 (Vatabu- non intelligeretur.... Velamen, id est caccitas lus, p. 119). See also C. H. Krinsky, 'Representa- dcprimcns rationem ec>runr.... Velamen, id est tions of the Temple of Jerusalem Before 1500,' obscuritas in lectione, et caecitas super corda, ct Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, hoc usquc in hodiernum tempus... et propria xxxcr, 1970, I - I 9;H. Rosenau, Vision of the caecitate fucrit conversus credendo: Auferetur Temple. The Temple of f erusalem in Judai.sm and velamen' (emphasis mine). I64

15 Raban Maur, in PL, 1 r2: 1 7,I - 78: in ger (eds.), TheGolden Le,gend of Jacobusde Voragirte, umbris tradita erant Judaeis Vetere Testamento New York, 1969, v. necesse fuitevacuari revelatione Testamenti Novi. Hoc 20 est, ... per fidena Christi at feretur velamen:amoto Ibid., 127. enim delicto incipient videre quod, obstante p