CARLA GOTTLIEB

Respiciens per Fenestras:

The Symbolism of the Mérode Altarpiece*

To Meyer Schapiro for his 65th birthday.

The Merode altarpiece (painted ca. 1425-1430; revised, date unknown) (Fig. 1) appears periodically in the discussions of art historians, it seems to me, not only because of its influence but also because it intrigues us with its features, explained and unexplained. One of these is that it should carry a sym- bolic message while portraying commonplace things. De Tolnay, Meiss, Schapiro and Panofsky have dealt with this phenomenon 1, Panofsky coining the expression 'disguised symbolism' for it. But has the been fully lifted, the mask indeed been torn away? Descriptions call the room in which the Annunciation to Mary takes place a 'domestic interior.' The presence of a liturgical niche (Fig. 6) contradicts this identification, however; it unmistakably labels the locale as a sanctuary. The fifteenth century middle class would not instal a piscina in their diningrooms. Even in their bedrooms they used only a jug and basin placed upon a piece of furniture, as can be seen in the later Flemish artists like Roger van der Weyden (Fig. 3)2 who localized the Annunciation in the Thalamus Virgin is, not in the Templum Trinitatis. Yet, in a church, piscinae have been part of the normal furnishings since early Christian times. Pope Leo IV (847-855) is known to art historians mainly through Raphael's lncendio fresco, but to liturgists he appears as author of the instruction ordering the provision of water dispensers and towels in churches: 'One should prepare in the (secretarium) or nearby a place where it is possible to pour the water which has served to purify the sacred vessels; one should place there a clean linen with a fountain, and here the will wash his hands after having dispensed the ' 3. The synod of Wiirzburg in 1298, on the other hand, in its canon No. 3 enacted the installation of a piscina near each , and as late as 1601 the general chapter of the Cistercian repeated this instruction4. The difference in location

* This article is part of a book on Tlte Windowin Painting. It has been XXVII (1945) 182-187. Idem, 'A note on the Merode Altarpiece,' read by Profs. Julius Held and Meyer Schapiro whose constructive ibid., XLI (1959) 327-328. Erwin Panofsky, Early NetherlandislaPain- criticism I gratefully acknowledge. Unless otherwise specified, all ting, Cambridge (.) 1953, 142-143, 164-165. Biblical quotations are from the Douay-Rheims translation of the 2. Panofsky, 1953, Fig. 310, p. 252-6. Vulgate, New York 1953, and all translations are by dr. Mark Jupiter 3. Quoted by Adolphe Napoleon Didron, 'Piscines du XIII-e 1. Charles de Tolnay, Le Maftre de Flémalle et les F18ies van Eyck, Siecle,' Annales Archéologiques,IV (1846) 88. Bruxelles 1939, 15, 24, 25, No. 4. Idem,'L'Autel Merode du Maitre de 4. Josef Andreas Jungmann, Missaruf1lSollemnia, Vienna 1948, II, Flemalle', Gazette des Beaux-Arts, VI per., LII (1959) 65-78. Millard 506. For further regulations concerning the use of piscinae and French Meiss, 'Light as Form and Symbol in some Fifteenth-Century Pain- examples, E. Viollet-le-Duc, Dictionnaire Raisonné de l'Architectcrre tings, 'Art Bulletin, XXVII (1945) 175-181.Meyer Schapiro, '"Musci- Française du XIe au XVIE Siectes, VII, Paris 1875, article 'Piscine,' pula Diaboli", The Symbolism of the Merode Altarpiece', Art Bulletin,, 187-198.

65 was dictated by the liturgy: as it changed during the ages, as it varied from church to church, the washing of the hands was sometimes done after the Sacrifice and Communion5. In these churches it was imperative to have the fountains next to the altar so that the Service was not disrupted. Fig. 4 shows the thirteenth century piscina in the chapel of the Holy Spirit at Mechelen6, the town in which the Ingelbrechts, who have been identified as the donors of the Merode altarpiece through the coat of arms at the left7, resided; the piscina of Master Campin looks architecturally like an up- dated version of the Mechelen one. The latter's laver is no longer in place. However, a vessel identical to Campin's is preserved in the church of St. Leonard at Zoutleeuw (Fig. 5)8. Braun illustrates his study of liturgical equipment with two similar lavers in German churches9, and has the following to say about these: 'A late (Eine letzte) type of liturgical vessel for pouring, which only came into use towards the end of the Middle Ages, but then very rapidly became appreciated and has maintained itself in use until the present, consisted of a voluminous kettle of medium size which was invested with one or two spouts and a handle for suspending it. Where the custom of washing the hands after Sacrifice and Communion prevailed, it was suspended in the piscina, in which case either a basin or a basinlike depression in the floor of the piscina was provided for the disposal of the water used for the ablution. Where it was not the custom to wash the hands at the piscina after the Sacrifice and Com- munion, it was placed in the sacristy, and this is always the case in postmediaeval times'10. Braun also reproduces a fifteenth century miniature in which the piscina with the liturgical vessels can be seen next to the altar at which a Mass is celebrated and Leroquais brings the same from the beginning of the sixteenth century. Even a hundred and twenty five years after the Merode Annuncicztion was executed, the fountain with laver suspended from a chain can still be seen in art, cf. the Mass of St. Gregory (1552), attributed to Jan van Coninxloo, now at Brussels (Fig. 7)12. Like the niche, the laver and 'linen' in the Merode Annunciation are not household goods, but liturgical paraphernalia13.

5. Jungmann, 1948, II, 507-508. Peter's at Bochum (Rhineland) (Dos Christliche Altargerät. Munchen 6. E. Reusens, E/éments d'Ar-cheologieChrétienlle, Louvain 1875, 1932, 549,Figs. 446, 447).For two lavers used in German synagogues, II, 275-6, ill. Fig. 1. See also I, 393-5. Located opposite to the Guido Schoenberger, 'The Medieval Laver of the Wetzlar Synagogue', tower of St. Rombouts' Cathedral, at the comer of the Minderbroe- Histor?iaJudaica, IX (1947) 95-100. dergang, the chapel dates probably from the end of the thirteenth 10. 1932, 549. Cf. for a fifteenth century piscina in the sacristy the century and served as a center to help the poor (Leopold Godenne, Pontificale Ecclesiae Beatae Mariae Trajectenses, fol. 11 (ca. 1455) Matines Jadis et Aujourd'hui, Mechelen 1908, 384). It resembles the (A. W. Byvanck, La Miniature dans les Pays Bas Septentriollallx,Paris Merode shrine also in other respects. As can be seen from a print of 1937,pl. LXVIII, Fig. 188).I owe this reference to Mr. Voelkle of the 1797(Godenne, 382), it had a gateway surmounted by a little house. Morgan Libary. Godenne's description of 1908 mentions a window in the wall with 11. The Miracles of Notre-Dame, Bibl. Nat. Paris, ms. Fr. 9198, fol. the niche (p. 385). A second room lies to the right (as seen from the 22 (cd. H. Omont, Paris 1906, I, 22) and The Hours of Ferdinand of spectator) of this wall. Unfortunately the building has been remodelled Aragon, ihid., Lat. 10532, 94 (V. Leroquais, Les Livr°e.sd'Heures since, and the window is no longer visible nor is it possible to tell Manuscrits de la BibliothèqueNationale, Paris 1927, atlas, pl. CX). The where, originally, the doors were located. Mr. Fors of Mechelen has first miniature shows a laver suspended from a chain, the second has been instrumental in my gaining admittance to, and information on, jugs. this chapel. 12. Brussels, No. 584.b. Part of a triptych. On the two inner sides 7. Hugo von Tschudi, 'Der Meister von Flemalle', Jahrfiuch der are scenes from the life of St. Benedict. kgl. Preussi.schenKunstsammlungen, XIX (1898) 11. 13. In imitation of piscinae, washstands with lavers and jugs came 8. Le Sièc!e des Primitlfs Flamands, exhibition catalog, Bruges 1960, into use about 1500 and can be followed throughout the seventeenth 224, No. 123. century; they were either fabricated as a separate piece of furniture, 9. One is in the parish church at Gemen (Prussia), the other in St. or as a part of a large commode, or as a part of a wainscotting. Exam-

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