H.
W JANS
OF ART
VOLUME ONE
FOURTH EDITION REVISED AND EXPANDED BY ANTHONY IANSON •
F.
HISTORY OF ART
MONUMENTS
KEY
1X1
\i
GALLERY, MS( H i.000 luooo B.< l
X
(
Wis.
(figure
1
51
RANCE |
IN
THE HISTORY OF ART
QUEEN NOFRETETE, FROM EGYPT c.
1360
B.C. (figure
101)
K
1,
HAM AND TREE, FROM UR c. 2fi()()
Y
IN
M O N U M
SUMER
lie (figure 112)
E
NTS
IN
THE HISTORY OF
CYCLADIC STATUE. FROM AMORGOS IN THE CYCLADES 2500-1100 B.C (figure 137)
A
R
T
\RCHAIC GREEK KORE I0B.<
(figure 171
KEY
/
///"
'BASILICA." A IX)RIC c.
550
CREEK TEMPLE B.C. (figure
184)
MONUMENTS
IN PAESTUM, ITALY
IN
THE HIS
T O
R
Y
O
F
A
NIKEOFSAMOTHRACE, c.
200-190
R
\
I
HELLENISTH Sdll'll RF
B.C
i
fiunrc 229)
KEY
WOMAN WITH
A VEIL.
FROM c.
A
MONUMENTS
ROMAN WALL PAINTING
50 B.C (figure
:*ll)
IN POMPEII, ITALY
IN
THE
\
MADONNA ENTHRONED Late
1
ith
I
BYZANTINl PANEl PAINTING
century
I
figure <58)
KEY
////.
\.S(
I
ys/oy Of wo//
[MM
D,
FROM
A
MONUMENTS
PERSIAN MANUSCRIPT
1539 43 (figure 383)
IN
THE HISTOR
Y
C)
A
1
CROSS PAGE. FROM THE
R
T
MBERNOSAXON INMSFARN1 GOSPI I
c.
700(fiuuri' 387
I
S
k
PISA
E
Y
CATHEDRAL
1053-1272
(figure 430)
ONUMENTS
IN
THE HISTORY OF ART
NOTRE-DAME CATHEDRAL, PARIS 1163-C. 1250 (figure 455)
KEY
LORENZO GHIBERTl. THE SACRIFICE I
lol
02 (liumc 516)
MONUMENTS
Of ISAAC
IN
THE HISTORY OF ART
THELMBOURG BROTHERS
FEBRUARY, FROM I
115
I
IS 1KI-S RICHES
16 (figure
III
l
RES
Dl
Dl
(
Dl
BERR\
K
/
\\
E
Y
M O N
VAN EYCk WEDDING PORTRAIT l
HI
[figure
LI
M
E
N T
S
IN
T
HE HIS
I
C)
K
Y
C)
F
A
K
T
VllCHELANGELO DAVID 1501
hi
figure
l
K
E
Y
O N U M
E
NTS
IN
THE HISTORY OF ART
MATTHIAS GRUNEWALD. ISENHEIM ALTARPIECE. SECOND c.
1510-15
(figure 711
\
IEW
KEY
RAPHAEL. GALATEA 1513 (figure 673)
MONUMENTS
IN
THE HISTORY OF ART
PARMIGIANINO. THE c.
MADONNA WITH THE 1535 (figure 684)
LO\(.
NECK
KEY
/'/
/ /
R I'M
7.
HI 'HESS
MONUMENTS
MARIE DEMEDICl, QUEEN OF FRANCE, LANDING IN MARSEILLES 1622-23 (figure 774)
IN
THE HISTORY OF ART
K
//
IN
ANTOINE WATTEAU,
C.ILLES
E
Y
M
C)
N
LI
M
E
AND FOUR OTHER CHARACTERS FROM THECOMMEDIA DELL'ARTE c.
L719 (figure 819)
NFS
IN
THE
II
I
S
T O
R
Y
C)
F
A
R
T
rHOMAS GAINSBOROUGH MRS S/DDONS 1785 (figure 834)
K
E
ANTOINE JEAN GROS NAPOLEON 1796 (figure 859)
M
Y
AI
\li<
01
()
N
Li
M
E
N
T
S
IN
THE HISTORY OF ART
EDOUARD MANET THE F1FER 1866 (figure 912)
K
IDVAIU)
E
Y
MUNCH. THE SCREAM
1893 (figure 958)
M
C)
N
U
E
N
T
S
IN
THE HISTORY OF ART
PABLDPICASSO GIRL BEFORE 1932 (figure
1
1
\
MIRROK
KKY
WIL.LEM DE K(X)NINC.
WOMAN
1952 (figure 1037)
MONUMENTS
II
IN
THE
H
I
S
T O H
Y
O
1
A
T
R
ELIZABETH MURRAi \40Rl
MAN YOU KNOW
1983 (figure 10
K
I
1
MONUMENTS
IN
BERNARD ISCIIUMI ARCHITECTS.
I
EOI.IE
1
1
J>6.
E
HISTORY
PARC DE LA VILLETTE, PARIS
Designed 1983 (figure 1118)
OF
\
1!
I
VOLUME ONE
HISTORYOFART
FOURTH EDITION
H. W.
jANSON
H STO RY I
HARRY
N.
ABRAMS.
INC..
NEW YORK
REVISED AND EXPANDED BY
ANTHONY
F.
jANSON
OF ART PRENTICE HALL.
INC..
ENCLEWOOD
CLIFFS.
VOLUME ONE
NEW JERSEY
Moore
Project Managers: Sheila Franklin Lieber, Julia
Moore
Editor: Julia
McKee
Designer: Bob Flights
and Reproductions/
Picture Researcher: Jennifer Bright
On
the front cover: Poseidon (Zeus?),
On
the back cover: Pylon of
Amun-Mut-Khonsu,
460-450
c.
Museum, Athens
National Archeological
Ramesses
Luxor,
1260
c.
II,
B.C.
206)
(fig.
Temple of 96)
B.C. (fig.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Janson, H. W. (Horst Woldemar), 1913History of art
/
by H. W. Janson.
— 4th ed.
by Anthony
/
revised and
expanded
Janson.
F.
cm.
p.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-13-388448-1
(Prentice-Hall
:
0-13-388455-4 (Prentice-Hall 1.
Art
— History.
pbk. :
v.
:
pbk.
:
Janson, Anthony F
I.
N5300.J3
—ISBN
1).
v. 2). II.
Title.
1991
709— dc20
90-7405
CIP Copyright
©
1991 Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
Published in 1991 by Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated,
New
York
A Times Mirror Company
No
All rights reserved.
part of the contents of this
may be reproduced without
book
the written permission
of the publisher
Picture reproduction rights copyright
where
applicable, by
ARS N.Y/ADAGP; VAGA, Printed and
©
1991,
ARS N.Y/SPADEM;
bound
in
NY
Japan
Note on the Picture Captions
Each
illustration is placed as close as possible to its first
discussion in the
except
text.
for objects that are
Measurements
are given throughout,
inherently large: architecture, architectural
sculpture, interiors, and wall paintings. Height precedes width.
A probable measuring
error of
more than one percent
indicated by "c." Titles of works are those designated by the
owning the works, where
is
museums
applicable, or by custom. Dates are
based on documentary evidem c unless preceded by "c."
First Edition
1962
Revised and Enlarged in 1969
Second Edition 1977 Third Edition 1986
Fourth Edition 1991
CONTENTS KEY MONUMENTS
IN
THE HISTORY OF ART
PREFACES AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
42
52
THE ANCIENT WORLD
PART ONE
MAP
a,a P iero m
.
PREHISTORIC AND ETHNOGRAPHIC ART 74
The New Stone Age
80 86
Ethnographic Art
Two
EGYPTIAN ART
96
97
The Old Kingdom
The Middle Kingdom
The New Kingdom
chapter Three
70
72
The Old Stone Age
Chapter
40
42
Art and the Artist
Looking at Art
2
108
110
ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN ART Sumerian Art Assyrian Art Persian Art
1
19
127 131
118
74
Chapter Four
AEGEAN ART Minoan Art
139
Mycenaean Art
Chapter Five
138
139
Cycladic Art
145
GREEK ART
150
Archaic Vase Painting Archaic Sculpture
154
158
165
Architecture
Classical Sculpture
Classical Painting
180 188
Fourth-Century Sculpture Hellenistic Sculpture
Coins
chapter
s«
Chapter Seven
203
ETRUSCAN ART
ROMAN ART Architecture
Sculpture Painting
Chapter Eight
190
196
204
216
217
229 243
EARLY CHRISTIAN AND BYZANTINE ART Early Christian Art
Byzantine Art
255
267
ILLUSTRATED TIME CHART
I
284
254
PART TWO
THE MIDDLE AGES MAP
Chapter One
292
ISLAMIC ART 295
Architecture
303
Representation
chapter two
EARLY MEDIEVAL ART The Dark Ages
Ottoman Art
317
324
ROMANESQUE ART Architecture
Sculpture
342
GOTHIC ART
349
Painting
354
355
Architecture
Sculpture
330
331
Painting and Metalwork
Chapter Four
376 390
ILLUSTRATED TIME CHART
II
412
BOOKS FOR FURTHER READING GLOSSARY
421
INDEX 428 LIST
312
313
Carolingian Art
Chapter Three
294
OF CREDITS
437
418
290
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
TO THE FIRST EDITION
The
title
of this book lias a dual
events that make the
meaning: it refers both to the and to the scholarly disci-
history' of art,
pline that deals with these events. Perhaps that the record
the
same
and
its
it
is
just as well
interpretation are thus designated by
term. For the two cannot be separated, try as
they will also interest the general reader. In a survey such as this, the sleeping dogs are indispensable, but 1 have tried to
emphasize reader a
we
I
that their condition
fairly close
am under no illusion
— or in
ery respect.
The
the history of anything else, for that matter; only degrees of
encompass
all
may. There are no "plain facts" in the history of art
Every statement, no matter
plausibility.
mented,
is
long as nobody questions for granted,
evidence,
how
docu-
fully
subject to doubt, and remains a "fact" only so
and
is.
to find a
it.
To doubt what has been taken
more
plausible interpretation of the
every scholar's task. Nevertheless, there
is al-
ways a large body of "facts" in any field of study; they are the sleeping dogs whose very inertness makes them landmarks on the scholarly terrain. Fortunately, only a minority of them can be aroused at the same time, otherwise we should lose our bearings; yet all are kept under surveillance to see which ones might be stirred into wakefulness and locomotion. It is
these "facts" that fascinate the scholar.
I
believe
ings of the
look at
my
many
of
that
history of art it
is
some
my is
temporary, and to give the of the wakeful ones. account is adequate in ev-
too vast a field for
with equal competence.
book remain within tolerable
friends and colleagues
If
anyone
limits, this is
who have
to
the shortcom-
permitted
due
to
me
to
tax their kindness with inquiries, requests for favors, or disI am particularly indebted to Bernard Bothmer, Richard Ettinghausen, M. S. Ip§iroglu, Richard Krautheimer, Max Loehr, Wolfgang Lotz, Alexander Marshack, and Meyer Schapiro, who reviewed var-
cussions of doubtful points.
ious aspects of the book and generously helped in securing
photographic material. the American
me, as to
I
Academy
art historian in
must also record my gratitude to Rome, which made it possible for
in
residence during the spring of 1960,
write the chapters on ancient art under ideal conditions.
H. W.
J.
1962
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
TO THE FOURTH EDITION
This, the fourth edition of H. W. Janson's History oj Art,
es that ohsi.K
preserves most of the text of the previous one. At the
viewing
number
same
art.
le
providing
l>\
some general observations on
without resorting
to
formulaic
major changes and additions There are now more than 550 illustrations in color three times the number of the previous edition and all illustra-
anything
tions are integrated with the text. In addition,
task 10 he undertaken lighdy. \lv primary
time,
it
presents a
of
—
—
section. for
Key Monuments
.1
special eolor
in the History of Art, sets the stage
our survey by presenting thirty-one masterpieces of
In
making these
preserve the
book and
revisions.
I
humanism
to integrate
thai pro\ ided the
dimension of visual context to the narrative of art history. There are diagrams and architectural drawings that have never appeared in History of Art, as well as main improved
as a conveyor of
Less immediately apparent perhaps, hut no less imporcomplete reorganization of Part Four, devoted to
tant, is the
the
modern
The distinction between Neoclassicism now drawn more clearly. Twentiethnow has a more straightforward chrono-
world.
and Romanticism century painting
is
A separate chapter is devoted to sculpture since 1900, which has followed a rather different path from painting. Modern architecture begins with Frank
logical
organization.
Lloyd Wright, while
its
antecedents, including the Chicago
School and Art Nouveau, have been placed ters
tunity throughout to
in earlier
chap-
have also taken the oppormake numerous adjustments in the
where they properly belong.
I
and headings; to bring the record of art history up-todate; and to add a number of artists, including half again as main women as were in the previous edition. In this connection, it should be noted that the masculine gendei is used in referring collectively to artists and some oilier groups of people only to avoid awkward circumlocutions and text
repetitive language.
The expanded
ovei almost ilmiv years, further.
serting the traditional value
the "new
ol
to
the aesthetic experience runs
—
it
bodying a distinctly Post-Modernist sensibililv discussed toward the end of the hook in which the artist and his cre1.
now
includes
.1
brief discus-
traditional
approach
is
based on
basic elements of art appreciation side the traditional scope of art first
—a
subject
th.it lies
out-
history—is based on the con-
learn
how
to look at art in
order
to
since the works of art themselves rem. 1111 the primary document. Most people who read this hook do so to
understand
enhance looking at
it.
enjoyment of art, but often feel uneasy in individual works of art. The new material address
their
mv
hook's
belief that ignoring the
v isual and expressive qualities ol a work in order lo make it conform to a theoretical construct risks depriving us of much of art's pleasure, purpose, and inherent worth by turning its study into a scholastic even ise
I
am
greatly indebted to
McDonough
two former colleagues Mk hael suggestions on modem archi-
for his helpful
tecture and Joseph Jacobs lor his stimulating ideas about contemporary art. At Harrj N Abrams, Inc., havebeenfortunate to have the collaboration of Senior Editor Julia Moore, who was responsible for editing and for tra< king the I
myriad revisions
Project
Manager
Sheila franklin I.icber
provided strong support and made onsistenU) helpful suggestions early in the revision process Bob McKee rede-
book
with
signed
to
one must
The
ation are relegated to secondary considerations.
Jennifer Bright worked mira< les
viction that
has evolved
quite aware that as-
(
Introduction
intended
riting style as it
art history,"
help the beginner become more sensitive to visual components of art. The decision to incorporate is
am
to
ol this
which sees art essentially meaning determined by social context The influence of the semiotic approach an interest of mine thai can he delected 111 the Inlrogoes back more than a decade duc nous reference to language and meaning. Nevertheless, more suited to the written word than lo the it is arguabl) visual arts, stemming as it does larger) from Fren< h literary can he seen as emcriticism and linguistics. Moreover, ounter
i
sion of line, color, light, composition, form, and space. Ibis section
foundation
oj Art as
I
not a
is
aim has been
mv own approach and w
seamless!) as possible into History
diagrams and plans.
mindful that changing
.1111
book that has become an institution
in a
and architecture that eloquently show how great artists from the Old Stone Age to the present have responded to that most human of impulses, the urge to create art. New illustrations show works /// situ, adding a new painting, sculpture,
guidelines that
loo often get in the wav
the
entire
intelligence in
(be
aplomb
and
ben ulean
task
ol
se
curing hundreds ol new photographs In finding solutions m without sacrithe complex problems ol integrating coloi ficing the high qualitv production lor
known
Shun Vamamoto performed
fessionalism.
I
am
unfailing support, is
which
this
especially grateful to Paul Gottlieb
sound advice and good humoi
onlv fitting that ibis edition be dedicated to the
frit/
book
Landshoff whose impact on
is
with (he greatest pro
me was
bis
foi
Lastl)
it
memorv
ol
so profound \
I
I
1990
INTRODUCTION ART AND THE ARTIST
Imagination
Few questions provoke such heated debate and provide so few satisfactory answers. If we cannot conic to any definitive conclusions, there is still a good deal we can "What
Art
say.
art?"
is
of
is first
a ivord
all
the idea and the fact of vt
hether
m
found
is
Without place. art
is
also an object, but not just
is
an aesthetic
preciated lor
its
apart, so that
it
object.
It is
meant
any kind of object. be looked at and ap-
to
intrinsic value. Its special qualities set art
away from everyday
often placed
is
museums, churches,
or caves.
By definition, aesthetic
ic?
both
it. we might well ask The term, after all, is not made everywhere. Art,
art. first
every society. Vet
therefore, Art
the
art exists in
— one that acknowledges
What do we mean is
"that
life
—
in
by aesthet-
which concerns the
Of course,
not
all
art
beautiful to our eves, but
is
And no matter how
nonetheless
have
do
to
it
is
art
unsatisfactory, the term
lor lack of a better one.
Aesthetics
strictly
is.
speaking, a branch of philosophy which has occupied thinkers from Plato to the present day.
sophic
,il
Like
all
matters philo-
inheientlv debatable. During the last
is
11
become
aesthetics has also
years
hundred
a field of psychology, a
field which has come to equally little agreement. Win should this be so.' On the one hand, people the world over
make much
the
same fundamental judgments,
since our
On
the other
brains and nervous systems are the same.
hand
taste
ied thai i
ii
is
onditioned solely by culture, which
(
impossible
is
must elude us the enl
<
ontexl
How
being
to
reduce
art to
any one
i
ol
thai
lime and
indeed
reated
we cannot escape viewing works
all
(
ould
c
it
around
ii(
umstaiK
e,
whether
understanding
•
so var-
l\ll«ii>i
i
t\i>\
art is still
opening our eyes almost to
in art
ofarl in
pasi or pres-
be otherwise, so long as us,
new experiences and thus forcing us
42
is
set of prc-
h would seem therefore, th.u absolute qualities
epts
all
dream. That
means simply
Human
to
is
imagination
make an image
daily to
readjust
our
work. To imagine
at
— a picture — in our minds.
who have imaginaand tail may twitch as he sleeps, and a sleeping dog may whine and growl and paw the air. as if he were having a fight. Even when awake, anition.
beings are not the only creatures
Even animals dream. A
cat's ears
mals "see" things. For no apparent reason a cat's fur may rise on his back as he peers into a dark closet, just as you or may get goose bumps from phantoms we neither see nor hear. Clearly, however, there is a profound difference between human and animal imagination. Humans are the only I
who can tell one another about imagination in stoThe urge to make art is unique to us. No
creatures
ries or pictures.
other animal has ever been observed
beautiful."
will
We
to
draw a recognizable
image spontaneously in the wild. In fact, their only images have been produced under carefully controlled laboratory conditions that tell us more about the experimenter than they do about art. There can be little doubt, on the other band, that people possess an aesthetic faculty. By the age of five every normal child has drawn a moon pie-face. The ability to make art is one of our most distinctive features, for it separates us from all other creatures across an evolutionary gap that
is
unbridgeable.
Just as an
embryo
retraces
much
ol
the
human
evolution-
budding artist reinvents the first stau.es of ail Soon, however, he completes that process and begins to respond to the culture around him. Even children's art is subject to the t.iste and outlook of the society that shapes his
ary past, so the
or her personality. ai
<
ording
to
ately simpler
ine Us sin
:<
the
In fact,
same
terms
essne
we tend
to
judge children's
criteria as adult art
and with good reason,
stages,
we
art
— only in appropri-
find th.it the
lor
if
we exam-
youngster must
develop
all llie skills
ibat go into adult art: coordination, in-
tellect,
personality,
imagination, creativity, and aesthetic
judgment. Seen
making of a youthful
this way, the
process as fragile as growing up
stunted
at
itself,
and one
artist is
that
<
.1
be
111
any step by the vicissitudes of life No wonder that
so few continue their creative aspirations into adulthood
Given the many factors that feed into
art
it.
must
play a
Sigmund Freud
very special role in the artist's personality.
the founder of modern psychiatry, conceived of art primarily in
Such
terms of sublimation outside of consciousness
view hardly does justice simplv a negative force
a
to artistic creativity, sin< e art is not at
the mercy of our neuroses but a
positive expression that integrates diverse aspects of personality.
Indeed,
may be that
when we
struck by
something
its
is
look at the art of the mentallv
vividness; but
we
because
wrong,
ill.
we
instinctively sense
the
expression
is
incomplete. Artists
tortured by the burden of then
is one of our most mysterious can be regarded as the connector between the conscious and the subconscious, where most of our brain activity takes place. It is the very glue that holds our personality,
of psychosis. The imagination
and
responds
to all three,
spirituality together. it
Because the imagination
acts in lawful,
1.
if
unpredictable, ways
HARPIST, so-called Orpheus in the
Height K
1
(
vi
lades
" (21 5
1
m
I
alter
pan
bus even psyche and the mind statements can be understood on oiib an intuitive one b) the
I
artistic
some level even The imagination is important il
all
kinds
ol possibilities
m
as
allows us to conceivi
it
om makeup
must have been evolution
I
ac
be ni
The
II
the earliest art
beings have been walking the earth
fundamental
,1
m
art.
lei
contrast
the
in
is lost to
years, but the oldest prehistoric art that
made
is
make
ability to
quired relatively recently i.id ol
oi
the future and to understand the
past in a wav that has real survival value part ol
ourse
1
some two we know
only about 35,000 years ago, though
it
ol
Human
US.
million ol
was
undoubt-
w.is
ol a long development no longer tra( e Even the most "primitive" ethnographic art represents kite stage ol development within a stable society.
edly the culmination able
Who were the first artists? In .ill likelihood, thev were shamans. Like the legendary Orpheus, thev were believed to have div me powers ol inspiration and to be able to enter the underworld
It
intellect,
determined
the most private
a
may sometimes be
genius, but they can never be truly creative under the thrall
facets.
that are
of
the subconscious in
.1
deathlike trance, but.
unlike ordinary mortals, thev were then able
realm ol the
living. Just
ed by our Harpist ago.
such
a figure
seems
to
to
return
to
the
be represent-
from nearly five thousand years (fig. A work of unprecedented complexity lor Us time, it was 1
)
Marble statuette from Amorgos "l
the 3rd millennium B c
National Vrcheological
Museum
Vthens
imioih
(
WON* 43
carved
l>\
remarkably gifted
.1
isionar) rapture of
\
artist-shaman's unique
and
artist
who makes
ability
through
he gained human beings and nature. magician whose work can it
lours hidden in Even today the artist remains a im stil\ and move ns an embarrassing
who do
ple,
the
Feel
unknown
penetrate the
to
his rare talent for expressing
ontrol over the
c
us
bard as he sings Ins legend. With tins
.1
art,
peo-
fact to ci\ ilized
not readily relinquish then veneer of rational
control
sense
In a larger
science and religion,
art, like
fulfills
our
comprehend ourseh es and the universe. This function makes art especially significant and. hence, worthy innate urge
to
of our attention.
An
has the power
to
penetrate to the core of
Moreover, Picasso himself would not have
tion
felt
the satis-
of having created something on the basis of his leap
lac tion
Once he had conceived
of the imagination alone.
pun, he could never be sure that
he put
it
would
really
his visual
work unless
into effect.
it
Thus the artist's hands, however modest the task they may have to perform, play an essential part in the creative process. Our Bull's Head is, of course, an ideally simplecase, involving only one leap of the imagination and a manual act in response to
it
— once the seat
had been properly
our being, which recognizes
itself in
the creative act. For
placed on the handlebars (and then cast in bronze), the job
that reason, art represents
creator's deepest understand-
was done. The leap of the imagination is sometimes experienced as a Hash of inspiration, but only rarely does a new idea emerge lull-blown like Athena from the head of Zeus.
its
ing and highest aspirations;
at
same
the
time, the artist of-
ten plays an important role as the articulator of our shared
and values, which he expresses through an ongoing A masterpiece, then, is a work that contributes to our vision of life and leaves us profoundly moved. Moreover, it can hear the closest scrutiny and withbeliefs
Instead,
tradition to us. his audience.
which
stand the
Creativity
hands. This debnition
at least
eliminates the confusion of
works of art such natural phenomena as flowers, seashells, or sunsets. It is a far from sufficient definition, to
human
works of art. look
Still,
it
beings
will
seems
to consist of
an old bicycle.
make many
things other than
serve as a starting point.
Head by
the striking Bull's
at
Picasso
Now
(fig. 2),
let
us
which
nothing but the seat and handlebars of
How
meaningful
is
our formula here? Of
course the materials used by Picasso are fabricated, but it would he absurd to insist that Picasso must share the credit with the manufacturer, since the seat and handlebars in
themselves are not works of art. While we feel a certain jolt when ingredients
pun,
this visual
we
we
recognize the
first
also sense that
stroke of genius to put
—
1
these unlikelj objects; that,
we
done
be careful not
Clearly, then,
making
of
.1
Some works
involves a leap
hot real
art
il
ibis
feel,
with manual
only he could have
skill
confuse the or craftsmanship. to
may demand a great deal of technical disdo not. And even the most painstaking piece
does not deserve
1. ill
i
we must
of art
others
ipline;
ol
work of
is
ol
to
be called a work of
art
unless
11
the imagination.
true are
we
malting of the Bull's
not forced to conclude that the
Head
took place in the artist's
mind No that is not so either. Suppose that, instead of actual^ putting the two pieces together and showing them to us Pii - merelj told us "You know, todaj saw bi< y< le '
I
44
•
l\l
R<
is
done without finding the key
to
the solution to the problem. At the critical point, the imagi-
makes connections between seemingly unrelated and recombines them. Ordinarily, artists do not work with ready-made parts but with materials that have little or no shape of their own; the nation
imagination and the
artist's
,1
attempts
to give
shaping the material accordingly. The hand
them form by
tries to carry
out
commands of the imagination and hopefully puts down a brushstroke, but the result may not be quite what had been expected, partly because all matter resists the human will, the
because the image
in the artist's mind is constantly and changing, so that the commands of the imagination cannot be very precise. In fact, the mental image be-
partly
shifting
come
gins to
into focus only as the artist "draws the line
somewhere." That part
mains
new
line
then becomes part
— the only fixed
— of the image; the rest of the image, as yet unborn, fluid.
And each time
leap of the imagination
line into his
re-
the artist adds another line, a is
needed
to incorporate that
ever-growing mental image.
If
the line cannot
and puts down a new one. In this way, by a constant flow of impulses back and forth between his mind and the partly shaped material before him, he gradually defines more and more of the image, until at last all of it has been given visible form. Needless to say, artistic creation is too subtle and intimate an experience to permit an exact step-by-step description; only the artist himself can observe it fully, but he is so absorbed by it that he be incorporated, he discards
it was a them together in this unique way. and we cannot very well deny that it is a work of art. Yet the handiwork— the mounting of the seat on the handlebars is "In ulously simple. What is Ear from simple is the leap of the imagination by which Picasso recognized a bull's head in
ol
the hard work
creative process consists of a long series of leaps of the
treating as
be sure, since
usually preceded by a long gestation period in
is
it
all
parts
test of time.
What do we mean by making? II. in order to simplify our problem, we concentrate on the visual arts, we might say ih.it a work of art must be a tangible thing shaped by human
i
and handlebars that looked just like a bull's head to me." I'hen there would be no work of art and his remark would not even strike us as an interesting bit of conversa-
seat
it
has great difficulty explaining
The metaphor would
of birth
it
comes
to us.
closer to the truth than
a description of the process in
projection of the
image from the
ing of a work of art
is
terms of a transfer or
artist's
mind,
for the
mak-
both joyous and painful, replete with
surprises, and in no sense mechanical. We have, moreover, ample testimony that the artist himself tends to look upon Ins creation as a living thing,
was once
a
concept reserved
Perhaps that for (Joel, as
material form to an idea. Indeed, the artist's like the
(
why creativity He could give labors are much
is
only
reation told in the Bible; but this divine ability
not realized until
was
Michelangelo described the anguish and
2.
PABLO PICASSO.
Bronze cast bicycle
BULL'S
parts, height
HEAD 1
1943.
6 '/«" (41 cm).
Galerie Louise Leiris, Paris
glory of the creative experience
when he spoke of "liberating it." We may trans
the figure from the marble that imprisons late this to
mean
ue by trying block as
it
that
he started the process of carving
to visualize
came
to
a figure in the rough, rectilinear
him from the
quarry. (At times he
even have done so while the marble was ing" rock;
we know
that
a stat-
he liked
to
go
still
to
may
part of the "liv-
the quarries and
Sometimes he fused
to
did not guess well
some
give rip
Michelangelo, defeated, with
Matthew
St.
we may
get
some
bow pressing
marble
— a knee or an
el-
against the surface. To get a firmer grip on tins
felt, fluid image, he was in the habit of making numerous drawings, and sometimes small models in wax or clay before he dared to assault the "marble prison' itself For that, he knew, was the final contest between himself and bis
dimly
material.
Once he
started carving, every stroke of the chisel
would commit him more and more to a specific conception of the figure hidden in the block, and the in. able would per mit him to free the figure whole only if bis guess .is to its shape was correct.
as
and
he did
al
to re-
the block.
inkling of Michelangelo's difficulties here.
enough
Surely there
isolated "signs of life" within the
the work unfinished
Hut could be not have finished the statue in some fashion? ably could have, but
fair to
stone re-
whose very gesture seems
(fig. 3),
assume that at first Michelangelo did not see the figure any more clearly than one can see an unborn child inside the womb, but we may believe that he could sec seems
left
cord the vain snuggle lor liberation. Looking
pick out his material on the spot. It
enough— the
essential part of Us prisoner
in
is
material
left
m
lor that.
be prob-
Well
wanted and that ease the deleal would have been even more Stinging. the making of a work ol art lias little m com( learlv then perhaps not
the wa\ be
mean by "making." It is a which the maker never quite knows what he is making until he has actually made it; or. to is a game ol lind-and-scck m which the put it .mother way, seeker is not sure what he is looking for until he has found it.
mon
with what
we
ordinarily
Strange and nsk\ business
in
it
I
In the case ol ibe Bull's
impresses us most Ho
.
in
Head
it
is
the bold "finding"
the St. Matthev
the non-artist,
it
seems hard
.
tb.it
the strenuous "seek-
to believe that this
un-
certainty tins need-to-take-a-c banco, should be the essoin e ol
the artist's work
of the craftsman or
We
all tend to think ol "making" manufac turer who knows exa<
;\ //,"»/)/
<
in
terms
tl\
what
ik>\
•
45
3.
MICHELANGELO.
SI
UATTHEW (foreground).
Marble, height 8']
L"
(2.7 m).
Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence
•
•
RODl
i
ll<>\
L506.
he wants
produce from the very outset, picks the tools and is sure of what he is doing at ever)
to
best fitted to the task,
Such "making" is a two-phase affair: man makes a plan, then he acts on it. And
step.
the crafts-
firsl
—
be< ause he or customer has made all the important decisions m advance, he has to worry only about the means, rather than the ends, while he carries out his plan. There is thus compara-
—
his
but also
tively little risk,
little
adventure,
handiwork
in his
which as a consequence tends to become routine. It m.n even be replaced by the mechanical labor of a machine. No machine, on the other hand, can replace the artist, lor with him conception and execution go hand
hand and
in
arc
do not help us wi\ mu< h and the die lion.uics tell us .111 original work must not be a cop) bus we want to rate works ol art on an "originalit) m ale out prob lem docs not lie in deciding whether 01 not given work is ness
Only that
,1
most part eas\ enough acih hou original il is cannot hope
imaginable.
Who,
head was hidden
would have imagined that bull's the seat and handlebars of a bicycle until
alter
in
Picasso discovered
it
"make a silk purse out way 01 working is so
all,
.1
lor us;
did he not. almost
of a sow's ear"? resistant to
No wonder
any
literally,
the artist's
while the
set rules,
craftsman's encourages standardization and regularity.
acknowledge
this difference
creatine/ instead of merely
when we speak
to
fashion designer
labeled "creative."
to
craftsmen than miliar
is
death by overuse, and every child and
artists
and expected
among
far
our need
us, since
exceeds our capacity
to
for the fa-
absorb the
we get from unknown realms, to
artist
apart
is
not so
rious ability to find,
much
the desire to seek, but that myste-
which we
as a "gilt," implying that
it
is
We
call talent.
also speak of
a sort of present from
it
some
higher power; or as "genius," a term which originally meant
—
One
— inhabits the
power a kind of "good demon" body and acts through him.
that a higher artist's
thing
we can
say about talent
confused with aptitude. Aptitude
is
is
it
must not be
what the craftsman
means a better-than-average knack fordoing something. An aptitude is fairly constant and specific: it can be measured with some success by means of tests that permit needs;
us
it
to predict future
er hand,
seems
performance. Creative
talent,
on the oth-
we can spot it only on And even past perform. into is
utterly unpredictable:
the basis of past performance.
not enough to ensure that a given artist will continue to procreative peak duce on the same level: some artists reach quite early in their careers and then "go dry," while others, alter a slow and unpromising start, may achieve astonishingly original work in middle age or even later. .1
Originality
mav
sav, therefore, that
it
is
the yardstick of
ness or importance. Unfortunately, define; the usual
it
is
rait
artistic
We
great-
also very hard to
synonyms— uniqueness,
novelty,
fresh-
and incomplete an
to
I
here are also likely
be small slipups and mistakes that can be spotted
same way
the
artist
the artist does not really cop)
word, since he does not cate it
He does
pinch
it
is
fact that his
111
it
try to
nine h
one great
if
the accepted sense
the
ol
achieve the effect of a dupli-
own instruction. trans( ribing own inimitable rhythm. In other
for his
accurately yet with his
not the least constrained or intimidated by the
model,
in this instance,
Once we understand represents
ist
what
as misprints in a text, hut
111
copies another' In using another work as his model,
I
this,
it
becomes
is
another work
ol art
clear to us that the art-
he does not copy the other work, and that does not sutler thereby.
his
I
A relationship as close as this between two works ol art one might think. Ordinarily, though, the link
is
is
Kdouard Manet's famous painting Luncheon on the Grass (fig. seemed so revolutionary a work when first exhibited more than a century ago that it caused a scandal, in part because the artist had dared to show an undressed young woman next to two men in fashionable COntemporar) dress People assumed thai Manet had intended to represent an actual event. Not until many not immediately obvious.
1
I
art historian disc
oxer the source
ol
these
group of classical deities from an engraving alter Raphael (fig. 5). The relationship, so strikinu Once it has figures: a
been pointed out
to us.
had escaped attention,
lor
not copy or represent the Raphael composition
borrowed its main outlines w modem terms
Manet did he mereh
bile translating the figures into
Had his contemporaries known ol this, the Luncheon would have seemed a rather less disreputable kind ol outing ould be to them, since now the hallowed shade ol Raphael 1
seen
to
hover nearby as a
meant
ist
the
initial
to lease
the
^
sort ol
Perhaps the
chaperon.
shoe k had passed, somebodx would
main
Rut does is
11
effect ol the oi
comparison
rei
Ognize the
to
to
make
I
01
the cool
'
t
Raphael; yet his wa)
ten old composition back to creative thai he
is
Manet's figures even more conspicuous our respec lor his originalit) hue be
(let re.ise
"indebted"
art-
Onservative public, hoping that alter
well-hidden quotation behind his "scandalous' group
formal qualit) c
tentative
thai
ol
us. the
Originality, then, ultimately distinguishes art from
mean
•
we
tune with the conception of the work
years later did an
that
lowev
<
not as rare as
sets the real
1
the execution will strike us as pedestrian and thus out
works of art. The urge to penetrate achieve something original, may be felt by every one of us now and then; to that extent, we can all fancy ourselves po-
What
not impossible.
is
c
artistic originality
— mute inglorious Miltons.
that
e\ idence alone. If the copyist is a ons< lentious craftsman rather than artist, he will produce a work ol rail,
original but often deeply unsettling experiences
tential artists
do
pnx ess A straightforward cop) can usuall) be recognized as such
words, he
many more
there have always been
say,
.is
making something, although the
word has been done Needless
We
of the artist
To
the
foi
but in establishing ex-
we should not try; quite the contrary. Forwhatevei the outcome of our labors in an) particular case, we shall certain!) learn a great deal about works
on internal
improbable or un-
eliminate
more than
for
fins docs not
swers
of art in the
at least the
to
the difficulties besetting oui task are so great thai
er,
one from the other. Whereas the craftsman attempts onl) what he knows to be possible, the artist is always driven to
— or
and reproductions an-
original (the obvious copies
so completely interdependent that he cannot separate the
attempt the impossible
il
I
ma) be
life is
ol
bringing (he forgot-
in itsell so original
said to have
and
more than repaid
IMIUiDl
(
IH>\
his
•
4;
4.
EDOUARD MANET luncheon on the grass (le dejeuner sur 1863. Oil on canvas, 7' x 8' 10" (2.1 x2.6 m).
Musec
5
MARCANTONIO KAIMONDI.
above) ////
6
\u \i oi PARIS (detail)
ix.
//
right)
river CODS
'.mI
~iH
•
l\l
in
(
iio\
i
entury
\
Detail ol i>
Villa
<
alter
RAPHAEL
1520. Engraving
Roman sarcophagus Home
Medici,
d'Orsay, Paris
L'HERBE)
As
matter of fact, Raphael's figures are jusl as "deManet's; they stem from still older sources which lead us back to ancient Roman art and beyond com-
"traditional"
pare the relief of River Cods
endeavoi
is
ability
materials
debt.
a
rivative" as
i
|
fig.
6
).
Thus Manet, Raphael, and the Roman
gods form
river
three links in a chain of relationships that arises
somewhere
out of the distant past and continues into the future
—
for the
Luncheon on the Crass has in turn served .is a source ol more recent works of art. Nor is this an exceptional case. All works of art anywhere yes, even such works as Picasso's Ball's Head are part of similar chains that link them to
—
—
their predecessors. Hit
is
man is an island," the The sum total of these
—
these pursuits stand rail
(
I
somewhere between "pure art and some si ope foi originality to
hev provide
then more ambitious pra< titioners
ol
ramped
i
bul the
How
ol
i
reative
such fa< tors as the osl and av.nl manufacturing processes accepted
In
01
i
what is useful fitting or desirable; lor the applied are more deeply enmeshed in our evervdav lives and
notions arts
ol
thus cater
to a far wider public than do painting and s< ulp Their purpose as the name suggests is to beautify the an important and valued end but limited in comuseful :
ture.
parison to
true that "no
same can be said of works of art. chains makes a web in which every work of art occupies its own specific place; we call this tradition. Without tradition the word means "that which has been handed down
— no
All
pure-and-simple
art
we
Nevertheless,
often find
it
difficult to
Unction between fine and applied instance,
is to
maintain the dis
Medieval painting, for large extent "applied." 111 the sense that it
a
art.
embellishes surfaces which serve other, practical purposes as well walls, book pages, windows furniture he same I
would be possible; it provides, as it were, the firm platform from which the artist makes a leap ol the imagination. The place where he lands will then become part of the web and serve as a point of departure lor further
And
leaps.
since the design of every building, from country cottage to
And for us, too, the web of tradition is equally essential. Whether we are aware of it or not, tradition is the framework within which we inevitably form our opinions of works of art and assess their degree of originality. Let us not forget, however, that such assessments must always remain incomplete
cathedral, reflects external limitations imposed
and subject
major
to
us"
originality
to revision.
For in order
to arrive
.it
a definitive
we should be able to survey the entire length And that we can never hope to achieve.
view,
of every
mav be
distinguishes
common meeting ground
as the
art.
craft, tradition seives
of the two. Every
budding
he gradually absorbs the artistic tradition and place until he has gained a firm footing in it.
In this way,
of his time
But only the truly gifted ever leave that stage of traditional
competence and become creators us, after
taught
how
to
What
own right. None of we can only be
to create;
go through the motions of creating.
piring artist has talent, thing.
in their
can be taught how
all,
he
will
If
the as-
eventually achieve the real
the apprentice or art student learns are
and techniques
— established
skills
ways of drawing, painting,
carving, designing; established ways of seeing.
great artists
is
their is
their
work and seek
cility
alone
is
consummate to
emulate
sufficient.
such a notion
is
technical
recognized by other it.
Far from
Ibis it!
not to sav that
Ample warning
fa-
againsl
provided by the academic painters and
sculptors of the nineteenth century,
among
command. This who admire
artists, is
who were
-as well as the
command
a requisite of
complete technical
is
masterpieces, which are distinguished by then
superior
execution. If
the would-be artist senses that his mils are not large
the
by cost lac tors, materials, technology,
site,
practical purpose
the structure
ol
1
is
ture
almost by definition, an applied
art
I
called the
"minor
ails
it
is
also a
which are often
<
form a special case
arts
but
art.
as against the other applied arts,
ings are original works of art; that
own hand. With
artist's
upon it by and by the
only "pure" archi-
lie
I
altogether,
imaginary, unbuilt architecture.) Thus architec-
tecture is.
down
breaks
in architecture the distin< tion
prints,
is,
their
ol
own. Draw-
then are entirely bv the
however, the relationship be-
and image is more complex Prints are not unique images but multiple reproductions made by mechanical means. Perhaps the distinction between original and copy is not so critical in printmaking after all lhe printmaker must usually copy onto his plate a composition that was first worked out in a drawing, w nether his own or sometween
one
artist
the beginning,
most prints have been
by craftsmen whose technical
at least in part,
skill is
ensure the outcome Woodcuts and engraving particular were traditionally dependent on craftsmanship,
necessary in
from
else's,
made,
to
which mav explain why so lew native geniuses have made them and have generally been content to let others produc e prints from their designs. artist's
intervention
Although
every step
at
ol
it
does not require the
the wav. printmaking
usually involves the artist's supervision and even ticipation, so th.it
we mav
think
ol
ac live par-
the process as a
c
ollabora-
tive effort.
Meaning and Why do we Urge
to
create
Roth are pail
om image
Surely one reason
is
an
irresistible US.
remake the world
in
but in recast ourselves and out environment in
ideal form. Art 11
work- illustration, typographic design, industrial design, and interior design, for example.
derstanding
is
Style
larger desire, not to
ol a
tect,
lor him to succeed as a painter, sculptor, or archihe may take up one of the countless special lields known collectively as "the applied arts." There he can be
art
'
adorn ourselves and decorate lhe world around
enough
fruitfully active in less risky
.reek
as a
the most proficient artists in history
dullest. Still,
(
although technically pottery were sometimes decorated by artists ol verv impressive talent.
c
Nevertheless, one of the attributes that distinguishes
superior talent
and medieval sculpture
shall see
The graphic
out on the level of craft by imitating other works
artist starts
of
from
art
we
vases, as
chain.
If originality
said of nine h ancient
is
however nine h more than decoration
laden with meaning, even
slender or ohsc in
me
thai content
is
fo]
sometimes
io ommunu ate mil uncannot be expressed otherwise or sculpture is worth a thousand words \i
wavs
Truly a painting
il
t
enables us
c
dial
IMIK'IU
1
//ox
•
jo
no! only in
descriptive value but also in
its
we
In art, as in language,
nifican< e
moods.
\
work
poem, the value
n sa\s
meanings through
much more
likewise suggests
ol art
like a
how
s,ns and
it:
ol art lies
than
But what
equally in what
—
iconography? What
its
suae
the work
mean
is
the statement
itself.
(
is
would surely be writers instead.) Fortunately, certain visual symbols and responses occur so regularly over time and place that they can be regarded as they
in words, they
specific to
meaning
Nevertheless, their exact
virtually universal.
each particular culture, giving
is
rise to art's in-
The meaning, or content, of art
The word
qualities, its style.
is
inseparable from
style
is
ways of writing
referred to distinctive
used loosely
style
is
in
any
tion,
is
— the shape of the
to
the fore
that
it
let-
to mean the distinctive way a thing is human endeavor. It is simply a term of
"to
have style" means
stand out. But something else
to
comes we say
field of
most cases:
praise in
originally,
choice of words. Nowadays, however,
ters as well as the
done
its for-
derived from stilus,
Romans;
the writing instrument of the ancient
if
we
have distinc-
to
implied,
is
which
into
something "has no
we do
of a piece.
all
impressing
itself
upon us even
kind of style
ticular
is
To
fitted together.
importance;
and
whom
to
a given
style
we expect
we do
not
we
ad-
has a way of
know what
There
tu ul.
ii
disadvantage
ways bound
its
purposes.
rate
the study of styles
them
artist's
is
of cen-
to find out,
by
when and where
intention
it
also leads
as expressed
depends on which he lives
This intention
in turn distinguish the stvles of paror,
wherever
it
Even these may need to he subdivided further vinous phases of an .mist's development. The ex-
not even necessary to
is
that any
which has
reality
image
its
is
a sepa-
own ends and
to its
own
Self-Expression and Audience Most of us are familiar with the famous Greek myth of the who carved such a beautiful statue of the nymph Galatea that he fell in love with it and embraced her when Venus made his sculpture come to life. The myth has been given a fresh interpretation by John De Andrea's The Artist and His Model (fig. 7), which tells us a good deal sculptor Pygmalion,
about creativity by reversing the thought,
is still
roles.
Now
it
is
the
artist,
who is oblivious to the statue's gaze. Clearly woman rather than an ideal conception, the
in the process of
"coming
to life"; the artist
The
not finished painting her white legs.
illusion
is
has
so con-
we wonder which figure is real and which one dreaming of the other, the artist or the sculpture? De An-
vincing that is
drea makes us realize that
to the artist, the creative act is a
"labor of love" that brings art to
But can
we
not also say that
it
life
is
through self-expression.
the work of art which gives
birth to the artist?
The birth of a work of art is an intensely private experience (so much so that many artists can work only when completely alone and refuse to lic
anyone), yet
it
must, as a
to
show
their unfinished pieces
final step,
he shared by the pub-
in order for the birth to be successful.
create merely lor his
own
validated by Others, In fact, pleted until the
debated.
1<>\
We must remember
to his creativity.
mi"
1
is al-
meaning and appearance of the evto some extent. Actually, realism is
imperatives, for the artist is bound only Even the most convincing illusion is the product of the artist's imagination and understanding, so that we must always ask why he chose this subject and made it this way rather than some other way. Understanding the role of self-expression may provide some answers.
responds
works of
<
that representational art, like prose,
is
and self-contained
vidual artists.
i<<
realistic
sake. Instead, style
exceptional in the history of art and
model
seems appropriate we differentiate national or local styles w iihm a period, until we arrive at the personal styles of indi-
50« i\i
its
to the literal
based on a real
phases, such as the Old Kingdom;
iiM
own
need only be appropriate to the intent of the work. The advantage of realism at face value is that it seems easier to understand. The
way in which are chosen and
and works Accordingly, we speak of "period styles" if we are (oih ei iicd with those features which distinguish, let us say, Egyptian art as a whole from Greek art. And within these
we
art to imi-
premium on
then, no reason to place a
is,
representation for
lost in
the particular
personality and the setting in
broad period styles
we expect
only one vehicle for expressing
are filtered.
par-
work was produced, but
style of his work.
artist's
it
must have an
qualities
for
not only enables
understand the
through the both the
I
it
given work of art
art historians it
put
possess a sense of whole-
oft .ireful analysis and comparison,
l>\
them
means
make up any
the forms that
if
to
involved.
In the visual arts, style
means
it
These are the
things that have style,
in
how
it,
to point in several
— that
ness, of being
tral
seems
that has style, then,
inner coherence, or unity, that
mire
to classify
it
not be inconsistent within itself
it
are to un-
we mean when Such a thing, we feel,
style."
know how
Of a thing
directions at once. that
not
we
to a naturalistic
ask ourselves what
proper context, because
its
is
learn the style
if
an artist's understanding of reality. Truth, it seems, is indeed relative, for it is a matter not only of what our eyes tell us but also of the concepts through which our perceptions
not only undistinguished but also undistinguishable; in
other words,
and artist are so accustomed
But illusionism
tate reality.
eryday world, at least
credible diversity.
mal
We
properly.
it
we
language, requires that
a country, period,
tradition of accurate reproductions that
no clear explanation, If they could say what
trying to say? Artists often provide
art, like
it
and the
pose, facial expression, allegory,
Thus
and outlook of derstand
eomiiiunieates partly by implying
it
meaning of art
the
is
dealing with
it
like
it
tent to which we are able to categorize effectively depends on the degree of internal coherence, and on how much of a sense of continuity there is in the bodv of material we are
rearrange conventional vocabulary and
to
order to convey new often multiple, meanings and
And
states
We
ways.
not in terms of e\ eryday prose but of poet-
must think of art ry, which is free in
sig-
inventors
all
new
of symbols thai convey complex thoughts in
syntax
symbolic
its
are above
art
The
artist does not wants his work the creative process is not com-
satisfaction, but
work has found an audience. In the end,
exist in order to be liked rather than to be
7.
JOHN DE ANDREA, the artist and his model
Polyvinyl, poly chromed in
oil; lifesi/.e.
Dallas and San Francisco. Courtesv O. K. Harris.
Perhaps we can resolve this seeming paradox once we unartist means by "public." He is concerned
derstand what the
audience; quality rather than wide approval
is
what matters to him. At a minimum, this audience needs to consist of no more than one or two people whose opinions he values. Ordinarily, however, artists also need patrons among their audience who will purchase their work, thus combining moral and financial support. In contrast to a customer o! applied
art, for
example,
who knows from
previous experi-
ence what he will get when he buys the products of craftsmanship, the "audience" for art merits such adjectives .is critical, fickle, receptive, enthusiastic: it is uncommitted, free to accept or reject, so that anything placed before it is on trial
— nobody
knows
in
advance how
it
will
work. Hence, there is an emotional tension between and audience that has no counterpart in the relationship of craftsman and customer. It is this very tension ilns sense ol uncertainty and challenge, that the artist needs He must feel that his work is able to overcome the resistance of the
audience, otherwise he cannot be sure that vvhal he has is
a
genuine creation,
a
work
has shown him that his leap
ol art
m
fact
.is
is
a limited
artists as
kind, in
common
in at
one e disc
an
is
rmim-
between the expert and the layman, onlv
a different e
degree
Tastes Dec iding what is art and rating a work ol art are two separate we bad an absolute method lor distinguishing problems: ll
from non-art. a would not necessaril) enable us to measure quality. People tend to compound the two problems art
mm
one. quite often
mean. "Wh)
is
is
when
that
good
ask
thev art
or asked
question asked
it
'" I
"Uhv
in
an undertone
museums ol
that
is
low often have
we
or art exhibitions
ait'" thev
we heard
ourselves, perhaps
the Strange, disquieting works that
nowadays
the audience
have
be other
and interested
critics,
ating and enthusiastic that lends particular weight to then
ol
ol
all
in the artist's
members mav
judgments. They are. in a word, experts, people whose authority rests on experience rather than theoretical knowledge. In reality, there is no sharp break, no difference in
find
sense of release alter the response
friends,
fhe one quality thev
beholders,
its
informed love of works of art -an attitude
one
his
the imagination has been
and special one;
well as patrons,
original his
The more ambitious and
ol
fhe audience whose approval looms so large
mind
work, the greater the tension and the more triumphant
well as in intention.
York
receive the artist
brought forth
New
successful
not with the public as a statistical entity but with his particular public, his
1980.
Collection Foster Goldstrom,
I
this
in front ol
are likelv to
here usuallv
exasperation, lor the question implies
IMUODI
(
//OX
•
">/
we
ih.it
we
don't think
are looking
museum
the experts -the critics,
must suppose
from ours, we are
but that
would
else
tliov put
it
maybe we would loam
on
art."
is
it
man
las
Well.
is
what we
we would know
sec;
Hut the experts do not post exact rules, and
apt to
Tail
back upon his
know anything about
don't
I
t
to like
final line of defense:
hut
art.
know what
I
1
work of
ail
it
il
takes an expert to appreciate
formidable roadblock, this stock phrase,
a
is
path
in the
it."
more than the uninformed, win should we not emulate them? We have seen that the road to expei tness is clear and wide, and that it invites anyone with an open mind and a capacity to absorb new experiHut
experts appreciate
if
art
we find ourselves liking main more things than we had thought possible at
ences. As our understanding grows, a great
the
start.
We
gradually acquire the courage of our
we are know what we like.
able to say, with
victions, until
like." It
my view obstructed by a lot of comThere must he something wrong with a
fashion, without having plicated theories.
understand them and we wish lear-cut rules to uo by. Then
at a loss to
they'd give us a few simple
the
ol art,
display? Clearly, then- standards are very different
public
"win
why
be one. or
to
it
work
at a
curators, art historians
some
own
con-
justice, that
we
of understanding between expert and layman. Until not so \er\ long ago, there
was no
great need lor the two to
com-
LOOKING AT ART
each other; the general public had little voice 111 matters of art and therefore could not challenge the judgment of the expert lew. Today both sides are aware ol' the
municate w
ith
between them (the harrier
harrier
nothing new,
itself is
al-
The We
live in a
modern
though it may hi' greater now than at certain times in the past and of the need to level it. That is why hooks like this one are written. Let us examine the roadblock and the var-
ing of
unspoken assumptions that buttress it. Our puzzled layman might he willing to grant, on the basis of our discussion so far, that art is indeed a complex and in main ways mysterious human activity about which even the experts can hope to oiler only tentative and partial con-
In the process,
|
ious
clusions; hut he
own
also likely to take this as
is
confirming his
know anything about art." Are there who know nothing about art? If we except
belief that "I don't
people
really
much
this "visual
we have become
in
museums
one object gasbord.
with equal casualness.
We
we have been
that
We
human living
is
much
so
a part of the
we encounter it
all the time, even magazine covers, advertising posters, war memorials, television, and the buildings where we live, work, and worship. Much of this art, to be sure is pretty shoddv art at third- and fourth-hand, worn
fabric of
if
our contacts with
it
that
are limited to
—
out h\ endless repetition, representing the lowest
common
denominator of popular taste. Still, it is art of a sort; and siik e is the only art most of us ever experience, it molds our ideas on art in general. When we say. "1 know what like." we m. i\ really mean, "1 like what know (and reject it
1
1
whatever
Such
Tails
match the things
I
am
familiar with)."
they have been and culture without any personal choice, what we know and to distrust what we do not know is
likes are not in truth
imposed lo like
h\
an age-old as
to
I
ours
at all, lor
habit
human
trait.
We
always tend
the good old days," while the future
think of the past
to
seems fraught with
wh> should
made
ing
Iheie
is
many
so
personal choice
a
of us cherish the illusion of havin art
when
in lac
another unspoken assumption
at
I
we have
work here
not that
Uoes something let
I
that
like this "Sin< e art is such an 'unruly' subeven the experts keep disagreeing with each other,
m\ opinion is as good as theirs it's all a matter of subjective preference In fact m\ opinion may be tetter than theirs, hee
"...'•
.mse
.is
layman
.1
IMIHiDl
(
il<>\
I
reac
t
to ait
111
a
ct
t.
straightforward
for granted.
at
We
pass rapidly from
it.
it.
Looking
are supposed to admire, then ig-
of equally beautiful and important will
have seen the
at great art is
but not really
art
not such an easy task, for
While the experience of we sometimes do not realize its impact until time has let it filter through the recesses of our imaginations. It even happens that someart rarely reveals its secrets readily.
a
work can be immediately
thing that
many
at hist repelled or
created
it.
on many we will have to
much
same demands on our
who
confounded us emerges only
years later as one of the most important artistic events
of our lives. Because so
the
electrifying,
it
goes into
faculties as
art,
it
it
makes much
did on the person
we must be able to respond we are going to get the most out of art, how to look and think for ourselves in
For that reason,
levels. If to learn
an intelligent way. which is perhaps the hardest task of all. Alter all. we will not always have someone at our side to help us. In the end. the
confrontation of viewer and art remains a
solitary act.
Understanding
a
work of
art
prec iation of its appearance. Art
preciated lor
its
begins with a sensitive ap-
may he approached and
purely visual elements:
composition, form, and space. These
danger. But
looked
we
told
works around
—
it
sampling them like dishes in a smormay pause briefly before a famous masterpiece
for none of us can help knowing something about it. just as each of us knows something about politics and economics no matter how indifferent we
the issues of the day. Art
take
to another,
full
to
we
desensitized to art as well.
Anyone can buy cheap paintings and reproductions to decorate a room, where they often hang virtually unnoticed, perhaps deservedly so. It is small wonder that we look at the art
nore the gallery
may he
background noise" has become
a part of our daily lives that
small children and people with certain mental disabilities,
our answer must he no,
Fostered by an unprecedented
civilization.
media explosion, so
Visual Elements
sea of images conveying the culture and learn-
work of art;
medium
line, color,
ap-
light,
may he shared by any
their effects, however, vary widely according to
the physical materials of which the artwork is made) and technique, which together help to determine the possibilities and limitations of what the artist can achieve. For that reason, our discussion is merged with an introduction lo lour major arts; graphic arts, painting, sculpture, and The technical aspects of the major media are architecture. treated in separate sections within the main body of the text <
I
8.
Pen and
and
in the glossary
REMBRANDT
bistre,
wash,
THE STAR OF
8x 12%" (20.3x32.4
toward the end of the book. Just because does not mean that )
line is discussed with drawing, however, it
is
And
not equally important in painting and sculpture
while form tial to
introduced with sculpture,
is
painting, drawing,
it
just as essen-
is
and architecture.
Visual analysis can help us to appreciate the beauty
masterpiece, but
we must
oi a
be careful not to use a formulaic
approach that would trivialize it. Every aesthetic "law" advanced so far has proven ol dubious value, and usually nets
way of our understanding. Even if a valid "law" were be found and none has vet been discovered it would
in the to
—
—
probably be so elementarv as
to
prove useless in the lace of
nil-
KINGS,
c.
cm). British
when
1642.
Museum. London
the artist's creative genius
first
came
be valued and
to
made in quantity. Drawing style can be as
paper began to be
fact, the term "graphi< an which designates drawings .\\u\ prints, comes from the Greek word lor writing, graphos. Collectors treasure drawings because they seem to reveal the artist's inspiration with
personal as handwriting. In
unmatched
Their role as
freshness.
records
ol
thought also makes drawings uniquel) valuable help
historian, lor the)
work from
its
in
inception to the finished
Some
the art
documenting the evolution
themselves commonl)
Artists
note-taking.
artistic
to
treat
ol
a
pie< e
drawings
form
a
.is
ol
of these notes are disc aided as fruitless,
We must also bear in mind that art appremore than mere enjoyment of aesthetics. It is learning to understand the meaning (or iconography) ol a work of art. And finally, let us remember that no work can be
while others are
understood outside
was highl) expressive \lan\ ol bis sketi lies were done in pen and ink a medium thai captured bis most intimate thoughts with admirable directness In The Star oj the kni
art's
complexity.
ciation
is
historical context.
its
LINE. Line may be regarded ment. A majority of art tour line;
its
presence
as the most basic visual ele-
is initially is
actually used to describe form.
out by scribbling, line
is
conceived
m
often implied even
And because
terms of con-
when
it
is
not
children start
generally considered the most rudi-
—
mentary component of art although as anyone knows w bo has watched a youngster struggle to make a stick figure with pencil or crayon, drawing is b\ no means as eas) as seems. Line has traditionally been admired lor its des< rip it
tive value,
looked.
Yet
so that line
is
its
expressive potential
capable of creating
a
is
easil)
over-
broad range
ol
effects.
Drawings represent line in its purest form. The apprei u works ol art dates from the Renaissan< e,
tion of drawings as
,iih1
man who was life
tuc
ked awa>
siudies lor later use
and
form
to
a
storehouse
Rembrandt was
constantly jotting
oilier ideas lor further
down
ol
motifs
a prolific
drafts-
observations
ol dailv
development
I
lis
use
ol line
more (ban a lew strokes ol the pen vet every figure emerges as an individual character Rembrandt's draftsmanship is so fori elul that allows us to mental]) trace the movements of the master's hand with astonishing vividness Once a bash idea is established, an artist ma) develop into a more complete stud) Michelangelo's stud) fig 9 ol the Libyan Sibyl foi the Sistine hapel ceiling is a drawing of compelling beaut) For this sheet he chose the softet medium ol red balk over the st ran bv line ol pen and ink that it
it
(
(
he used
in
rough
sket< lies. Ins
(
balk approximates the tex
l\li::>l)i
(
//m\
•
53
54
•
INTRODi
i
ll"\
10.
(above)
MICHELANGELO.
UB\
w
The
Vatican,
tine of flesh and captures the play of'li^ht and dark over the nude forms, giving the figure a greater sensuousness. The
emphatic outline that defines each part of the form is so funto the conceptual genesis and design process in all of Michelangelo's paintings and drawings that ever since Ins time line has been closely associated with the "intellectual" damental
portion
S1BY1
Ceiling. 1508-12. Fresco. Sistine
Rome
nude possessed the physical monumentalit) necessary to awesome power of figures such as this mythical prophetess. In common with other sheets like this In him
e\ (xess the
Michelangelo's locus here
musculature like the
the lose,
was Michelangelo's habit to base his female figures on male nudes drawn from life. To him. only the heroic male
ception
|
at
we
c
hrmh
when
in
mind, probably
Win
a
it
(opposite C.
151
1.
I
MICHELANGELO, study Red chalk on
paper.
1
1
The Metropolitan Museum
for rHE Libyan sibyl (28x21.3 cm).
sx8'/h" of Art.
New
York.
Purchase, 1924. Joseph Pulitzer Bequest
to details
had been established
did he go to so
is
much
in a
trouble
mosth clothed and must he
considerable
distance
Michelangelo believed that onlj 9.
he studied the
Since there is no sign ol hesitation m an he sine thai the artist ahead \ had the con-
the finished Sibyl
from
torso:
toes.
preliminary drawing.
\iewed
on the
is
length before turning his attention
hand and
side of art. It
the Sistine
ol
Chapel
l>\
Iwidenth
below?
desc ribing the anatomy
completely could he be ( ertain
th.it
the figure would be con-
vincing. In the final painting
fig
in
superhuman et les
she communicates
strength, lifting her massive book
ol
a
proph-
with the greatest ease
l\IH')l)l
(
ll<)\
•
">",
11.
TITIAN.
Illl:
1559-62. Oil on canvas. Isabella Stewart
RAPE OF EUROPA
70x80%" (178x205
cm).
Gardner Museum, Boston
COLOR. The world around us is alive with color, albeit even those of us who arc not colorblind see only a relatively narrow hand oi the actual lighl spe< trum, Whereas color is
entific."
an adjunct element
the latter a sad one. lake a recalcitrant child, however, color
color is
is
graphics and sometimes sculpture,
to
indispensable
to
\
irtually all
true even ol tonalism,
forms of painting. This
which emphasizes dark, neutral
persona]
tirely
m
art
contrast to the
iii'
niion
ol
researi hers
Uong
teenth centur)
op
recentlj
down
ihen understanding
laws equivalent tnd Si
56
•
/\j
>w
iii.it
artists
to
has
attrat tod the
wide
and theorists since the mid ninethe
With
more ii<
it
Tost Impressionists
and.
color theorists have tried to set ol
i
olors as perceptual
those of optical physics
and
artis
Both Van
developed elaborate color systems, one en-
nus
to
to
be "sci-
advance, while blue
a violent or
passionate color,
refuses to he governed by any rules; they work only
iik table
reason
is
seems
whcai the painter consciously applies them. in art rests
for th.it
read that red
recedes; or that the former
hues hkc gray and brown. Of all the visual elements, color is undoubtedly the most expressive as well as the most in Perhaps
meaning, the other claiming
in its
We often
Notwithstanding
w
iili
ject
line
this large
body of theory, the
more cerebral
m
quality generally associated
Qie merits of line versus color have been the sub-
of a debate that
first
arose between partisans of Michel-
angelo and Titian, his great contemporary himself was
a line
Michelangelo. oristic
role of color
primarily on Us sensuous and emotive appeal,
I
tradition
le
in
Venice. Titian
draftsman and absorbed the influence of nevertheless stands at the head of the col-
that
descends through Rubens and Van
Gogh
to
the Abstract Expressionists of the twentieth centu-
The Rape ofEuropa u Titian's long career, shows the
ry.
I
rous color that
is
f
1
i
1
>,
painted toward the end
painterly applii ation
templating hei beaut) goes all the way bax k to antiquity but rarely has it been depu led with sue h disturbing overtones
ol
sono
ol
Picasso's
Though he no
characteristic of his work.
I
at
e
is
girl
anything bul serene wo pails one w lib
divided into
is
I
doubt worked out the essential features of the composition in preliminary drawings, none have survived. Nor evidently
the other with a masklike appearance
did he transfer the design onto the canvas but worked di-
image
on the surface, making numerous changes as he went along. By varying the consistency of his pigments, the artisl
sion
less betrays passionate feeling.
rectly
known
upsets out
du( es
magic
is
in art.
it
does not need a system
the heavy outlines,
it
is
to
work
apparent that
12) in terms of form; yet the picture
black and white. enclosed, lively
flat
He has
panes
of a
decorative pattern.
makes no sense
treated his shapes
much
12
Cili dt
conception. Picasso here suggests this
Much
vi-
as a real mirror intro-
ow n and does not simply give back the one alters the way the girl looks, revealShe is not so nun h examining her phys-
ol its
this
reality.
of her relict lion
Trained by Strong blue, purple at
her with
fiery
its
on her cheek. But it is the masterstroke of the green spot shining like a beacon in the middle of hei forehead thai onveys the anguish ol the
Pi-
girl's
<
in
PABLO PICASSO
Collection, ["he
see our-
intensity. Clearly discernible is a tear
self.
Picasso was probably
the theory that red and green are
aware
oi
colors
which
intensify
complementary
each other However
"law" can
this
psyche. That was surely determined as a matter
girl's
ol pictorial
and expressive necessity.
GIRl BEFORl
canvas 64
Museum
confrontation with her inner
hardly have dictated bis choice of green to stand for the
like the
Oil on
longing and apprehen
when we unexpectedly
and green hues her features stare back
window to create a a young woman con-
March 1932
rea( lies out to tou< h the
ol
(
stained-glass
The motif of
hanges
scheme
Minor
casso must have originally conceived Girl Before a (fig.
trails
brush.
From
expression
coloi neverthe-
appearance as exploring her sexuality. The minor is a sea ol oiiIIk ting emotions signified above all by the color
so filmy as to
so potent that
feel a joll
whose
ical
become nearly translucent in the landscape background, which is painted with a is
deft, flickering
Color
it
(
ing a deeper
green seawater, which has a delicious wetness
The medium parts of
where
sell
simple truth, so
as glazes. The interaction between
are strikingly apparent in the orange drapery
all
sionary truth in several ways.
these lavers produces a richness and complexity of color that
off into the
Now we
the contrary hei
a sonibei
selves in a mirror whi< h often gives ba< k a reflection that
was able to capture the texture of Europa's flesh with uncanny accuracy, while distinguishing it clearly from her wind-swept dress and the shaggy coat of Zeus disguised .is a bull. To convey these tactile qualities. Titian built up his surface in thin coats,
She
the mirror with a gesture
in
On
oi
I
WRROR
<51W 162.6x1 Modem Vrl New
10.2
i
m)
V>ik
Mis Simon Guggenheim
i\ii:oih
i
r/i
•
although we may doubt the identification, this
portrait, but
disturbing image communicates a tragic vision that was
soon
Not long after the David was painted. Cara-
Fulfilled.
vaggio killed another
spend the
man
which forced him
in a duel,
rest of his short life
to
on the run.
Light can also be implied through color. Fiet Mondrian
uses white and the three primary colors— red, yellow, and blue (fig.
— to
signify radiant light in
14), a
Broadway Boogie Woogie
painting that immortalizes his fascination with
the Culture he found in America after emigrating from his native Holland during World
War
II.
The
play of color
evokes with stunning success the jaunty rhythms of
and music found jazz age. is
New
in
Broadway Boogie Woogie
is
as
system that appropriately resembles a
a medieval
manuscript decoration
tion relies entirely
COMPOSITION.
(fig.
Galleria Borghcse.
/s"
(
125.
1
x 100.
1
Otherwise
this,
must
control space within the
composition.
Moreover,
pictorial
framework of a unispace must work
we have become accustomed
paintings as
windows onto separate
system
Rome
for the
and open-air
LIGHT
it.
Renaissance,
Since the Early to
experiencing
illusionistic realities.
— also — provided a geometric
of one-point perspective
called linear or scientific perspective
).
in
mes-
All art requires order.
The Renaissance invention cm
map. As
on surface pattern.
across the picture plane, as well as behind
!
city
387), the composi-
its
fied
CARAVAGGIO. david with the head of goliath
it
sage would emerge as visually garbled. To accomplish the artist
13.
as the canvas
flat
painted on. Mondrian has laid out his colored "tiles" along
a grid
1607 or 1609/10. Oil on canvas. 49'A x 39
light
York's nightclub district during the
convincing representation of architectural
settings.
By having the orthagonals (shown as
For modern light installations such as laser concerned with reflected light effects rather than with radiant light. Artists have several ways of repre-
Except
displays, art
is
senting radiant
light.
Divine
light, for
example,
is
sometimes
indicated by golden rays, at other times by a halo or aura.
andle or torch
<
dark interior or
may be depicted as the source of light in night scene. The most common method
A a
light.
show radiant light directly but to suggest its presence a change in the value of reflected light from dark to Sharp contrast (known as chiaroscuro, the Italian
word
for
not to
-
is
through
light-dark)
identified with the
is
Baroque
_
artist
who made thecoi nerstone of his style. In DaHead oj Goliath (fig. 13), he employed to heighten the drama. An intense raking light from an unseen aravaggio,
(
some e I
be
vid
at
q
it
vid with the
the
sele< tive
it
left is
used
to
highlighting
endows
the
fa<
i
tli.
the Frame
ii
t
<
i
presence. Light
uts off the figure
the viewer from the dark ba< kground. for the painting
is
ording
to
i
/.'<>/)/
Thus, the foreextend out to
.ill
its
obvious the
surprising!) muted: David
ontemporan sources, the severed head
I
//(A
1
to
contemplate Goliath with a mixture of sadness and 1
1
ontinuous with ours, despite
shortened arm with Goliath's head seems
atricalit)
I
the lifesize figure of Da-
a startling
here serves as a device to create the convincing illusion that David is standing before us. The pictorial space, with its in-
determinate depth becomes
J
- - -
model forms and create textures.
and the gruesome head with
|
seems pity. is
to
Ac-
a self-
II
PIET MONDRIAN. BROADWAY BOOGIE WOOGIE. 1942-43. Oil on canvas, 50x50" (127x 127 cm), Collection,
New
The Museum
of
Modem
York Given anonymously
Art,
15. c.
The
diagonal lines converge i
it
enabled the
artist to
at a
gain
PIETER DE HOOCH. THE BEDROOM
1658-60. Oil on canvas. 20x23'// (51
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C
x60
cm).
Widener Collection
vanishing point on the horizon,
command
over every aspect of
and placeDutch Baroque artist, used one-point perspective in organizing The Bedroom (fig. 15). Nevertheless, the problems he laced in composing the three-dimensional space of his work were not so very different from those later confronted by Mondnan. (The surface his composition, including the rate of recession
ment
of figures. Pieterde Hooch, the
geometry of De Hooch's painting sign to
is I
treated as a separate pocket of space that
is
The
basically similar in de-
Broadway Boogie Woogie. Each and
part of the .is
a
house
is
design element
integrated into the scene as a whole. artist will
usually dispense with aids like perspe< tive
on his own eyes. This does not mean that he merely transcribes optica] reality. Blowing Bubbles l>\ the French painter Jean-Baptiste Chardin (fig. 16) depends in good
and
rely
measure on a satisfying composition for its sua ess The motif had been a popular one in earlier Dutch genre scenes where bubbles symbolized life's brevity and. hem e, the vanity of all earthly things. No such meaning can be attached to C'hardin's picture, which is disarming in its simplicity. The interest lies solely m the seemingly insignific ant subject and sense of enchantment imparted by the children's rapl moment We know from a contemporary
in the
attention to the
source that Chardin panned the youth "carefull) from life tried hard to give him an ingenuous air." Hie results and .
.
.
are anything hut artless, however.
Hie triangular shape
ol
JEAN-BAPTIST1 CHARDIN BLOWING BUBBLES 71 cm 17l"> Oil on canva •
riu-
National (.alien (
.ill
ol
ol
\n
Washington
(.
l><
Mis John Simpson
l\ir<>ni
<
//o\
•
59
the bo) leaning on the ledge gives stability to the painting,
which helps out the
i
suspend the
to
(imposition
inio si/e
er) aspec
.is liis i
To
lill
the artist includes the toddler peering
intend) over the ledge s.
fleeting instant in time.
at
which
the bubble,
head. Chardin has
of Ins arrangement.
about the
is
thought out ev-
arefull)
i
The honeysuckle
in the
up-
per left-hand corner, for example, echoes the contour of the adolescent's back, to
each
\\
hile the
two straws arc
Even the crack
other.
pose: to draw
in the
\
irtually parallel
stone ledge has a pur-
attention to the glass of soap by setting
it
slightly apart. artist paints not what he sees but what he imagA wall painting from Thebes (fig. 17) presents a flat-
Often the ines.
tened view of a delightful garden
shown
in profile
except
for the
in
which everything
pond, which
is
is
seen from
Pictorial \
space need not conform
isual reality. El Greco's
Agony
m
conceptual or
to either
the
Garden
contradictory, irrational space to help conjure
I
fig.
up
18) uses
a mystical
vision that instead represents a spiritual reality. Christ, isolated against a large rock that
echoes His shape,
forted by the angel bearing a golden cup.
is comsymbol of the
The angel appears to kneel on a mysterious oval which envelops the sleeping disciples. In the distance to the right we see Judas and the soldiers coming to arrest the Lord. The composition is balanced by two giant clouds on either side. The entire landscape resounds with Christ's agitation, represented by the sweep of supernatural forces. The elongated forms, eerie moonlight, and expressive colPassion.
cloud,
— other hallmarks of EI Greco's style — help to heighten
ors-
our sense of identification with Christ's suffering.
above. In order to provide the clearest, most complete idea of the scene, the Egyptian artist treated each element as an en-
unto
tit)
itself
Instead of using standard devices such as
and overlapping, he treated space vertically, so that we read the trees at the bottom as being "closer" to us than those at the top, even though they are the same si/e. Despite the multiple vantage points and implausible bird's-eye view, the image works because it constitutes a sell-contained re-
scale
ality.
I
he picture, moreover, has an aesthetically satisfying
decorative unity. The geometry underlying the composition
reminds lis once more of Broadway Boogie Woogie. At the same time, the presentation has such clarity that we feel as if we were seeing nature with open eyes lor the first time.
FORM.
Every two-dimensional shape that we encounter in
art is the
counterpart
to a
17.
\
POND
IN
\
brings
them
to life, as
it
<>()•
IMIlOln
I
lln\
MOO
were.
They require fundamentally
and attitudes toward material as well as subject matter. Although a number of artists have been competent in both painting and sculpture, only a handful managed to bridge the gap between them with complete different talents
success.
Sculpture or
is
categorized according to whether
modeled and whether
G \RDEN Fragment of a <
is
forms and sculpting them. The one transcribes, the other
ft
from a tomb in Thebes
three-dimensional form. There
nevertheless a vast difference between drawing or painting
lie
British
wall painting
Museum. London
it
is
it
is
carved
a relief or a free-standing
18.
Oil
EL GRECO, the agony
on canvas, 40'A x 44%" ( 102.2 x Toledo, Ohio. Gilt of
19.
in 1
the garden 1597-1600.
13.6 cm). Toledo
Museum
of Art,
Edward Drummond Libbey
ALKESTIS LEAVING HADES. Lower column drum from the Temple
of Artemis, Ephesus.
c,
340
British
statue. Relief
remains
B.C.
Marble, height 71"
(
180.3 cm).
Museum, London
tied to the
background, from which
it
only partially emerges, in contrast to free-standing sculpture,
which
is fully
liberated from
it.
A
further distinction
is
made between low {has) relief and high (alto) rebel <\c pending on how much the carving projects. However, since scale as well as depth
must be taken
into account, there
single guideline, so that a third category, middle
sometimes
lief, is
Low
I
is
mezzo)
no re-
cited.
reliefs often
share characteristics with painting. In
Egypt, where low-relief carving attained unsurpassed subtlety,
many
reliefs
were
originally
painted and included
elaborate settings. High reliefs largely preclude tins kind pictorialism.
The
figures on a
column drum from
a
ol
Greek
(fig. 19) have become so detached from the background that the addition of landscape or architecture elebe ments would be both unnecessary and unconvincing neutral setting, moreover, is in keeping with (be mythologi-
temple
I
l\IK')l)l
(
n<>\
-M
attempting them in marble. In contrast to the figure of [ades on the column drum, the bronze youth in figure 20 is I
him a lifelike presence that is dancing pose. His inlaid eves and soft patina, accentuated by oxidation and corrosion (he was found in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Marathon), make free to
move
further
enhanced by
about, lending his
him even more credible in a way that marble statues, with their seemingly cold and smooth finish, rarely equal, despite their more natural color (compare fig. 21 ).
Carving is the very opposite of modeling.
a subtractive
It is
process that starts with a solid block, usually stone, which
is
The brittleness of
highly resistant to the sculptor's chisel.
stone and the difficulty of cutting it tend to result in the compact, "closed" forms seen in Michelangelo's St. Matthew fit;- 3 One of the most daring attempts at overcoming ).
(
the tyranny of
mass over space
is
and Daphne by the
Apollo
The danceBaroque sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini (fig. 21 like pose of Apollo and graceful torsion of Daphne create the ).
impression that they are moving
graphed
come
ballet.
to a standstill as the
tree rather than
The sculpture nini
is
succumb
nymph to
almost, hut not quite, to change into a amorous advances.
begins
the god's
an amazing technical achievement. Ber-
is
completely successful
soft flesh of
a carefully choreo-
in
Time and motion have
Daphne and
in distinguishing
between the
the rough texture of the bark and
The illusion of transformation is so convincing that we share Apollo's shock at the metamorphosis. Like most monumental sculpture, Apollo and Daphne was
leaves.
commissioned for a specific site, which imposed severe restrictions. It was intended to be placed close to a wall and viewed across the room from a doorway slightly to the right. Bernini's ingenuity in solving this problem is confirmed by walking around the group, which is now displayed in the middle of the same room. The most characteristic view, illustrated here, corresponds to what would have been seen from the original vantage point, although the sculpture may he looked at profitably from other angles as well. The back side al
20. off
PRAXITELES Marathon,
c.
standing youth, found
(attr.).
350-325
B.C.
Bronze, height 51"
National Archeological
i
subject,
,il
which takes place
in
in the sea
129.5 cm).
(
an indeterminate time and
compensation, the sculptor has treated the limited space atmospherically; vet the figures remain impris-
oned
m
stone
— that —
is,
sculpture that
is
carved
modeled fully m the round is made by either of two methods One is modeling, an additive process using soft in. iien. ils such .is plaster, clay, or wax Since these materials .in- not very durable, they are usually cast in a more lasting medium anything that can he poured, including molten
or
metal
cement, even
plastic.
I
lightweight hollow-bronze casting enabled the
periment with daring poses
•
IMHODI
(
with this
artist,
it
is fully
little
addition-
carved. As usu-
however, the figures are not willing
to
accept these limitations and enliven the entire space around
SPACE. In our discussions of pictorial and sculptural space, we have repeatedly referred to architecture, for it is the principal means of organizing space. Of all the arts, it is also the
most
practical. Architecture's
parameters are de-
and structural system, hut there is almost always an aesthetic component as well, even when it consists of nothing more than a decorative veneer. A huilding proclaims the architect's concerns by the way in which it
ll<)\
in
1
\\ea\es these elements into a coherent program.
a
Architecture becomes memorable only transcendent vision, whether personal,
when
it
expresses
social, or spiritual.
Modeling encourages "open"
forms with the aid of metal armatures to support their extenhis in conjunction with the development of sion into sp.K e.
(,2
be seen and provides
fined by utilitarian function
ree standing sculpture
I
to
them.
Museum, Athens
plate. In free
al
was never meant
information, despite the fact that
(
ireeks to ex-
monumental sculpture
before
21. (opposite)
GIANLORENZO BERNINI.
APOLLO and DAPHNE.
1622-24. Marble, height 96" (243.9 cm). Galleria Borghese,
Rome
iMlicin
(
llo\
•
'»
Such buildings that
are almost always important public places
require the marshaling of significant resources and
serve the purpose of bringing people together to share
mon
com-
and values. Nowhere are these issues than in the grandiose urban projects conceived bj modern architects. The) ma\ be regarded as laboratory experiments which seek to redefine the role of arput
goals, pursuits,
iii
sharper
lives.
Limited by then \er\ great
ope, lew of these ambitious proposals
Among
ing hoard
the rare exceptions
make
is
it
off the
draw
Brasilia, the inland
eapital of Brazil built entirely since I960. Presented with
an
unparalleled opportunity to design a major city from the
ground up and with vast resources at its disposal, the design team, headed by Oscar Niemever, achieved undeniably spectacular results (fi«. 22). Like most projects of this sort, massive stale and insistent logic that make
Brasilia has a
curiously oppressive, so that despite
its
it
lavish display, Brasi-
provides a chilling glimpse of the future.
lia
may he
Similar questions
laced by architects of single
buildings, only on a smaller scale.
Guggenheim Museum Wright. Scorned when it was
Solomon Lloyd 1950s,
it
B.
is
a brilliant,
if
An extreme case in
New
first
is
the
York by Frank
erected in the late
idiosyncratic, creation by
one of the
most original architectural minds of the century. The sculptural exterior
(
fig.
23 announces that )
this
can only he a mu-
seum, for it is self-consciously a work of art in its own right. As a piece of design, the Guggenheim Museum is remarkably willful. In shape it is as defiantly individual as the architect himself and refuses to conform to the boxlike apartments around it. From the outside, the structure looks
22.
<>-i
•
l\l l«)l)l(
I
Ki\
OS(
\i;
NIEMEYER.
The
nected by
office
ana forming
narrow passageway
a
Wright's interest
in
the "head" to the
left is
to the "shell"
organic
con-
containing the
main body of the museum. fhe outside gives us some idea of what
relief
chitecture In shaping our st
like a gigantic snail, reflecting
shapes.
(
fig.
24
).
vet
nothing quite prepares us
to
expect inside
for the
extraordinary
sensation of light and air in the main hall alter being
ushered through the unassuming entrance, fhe radical demakes it clear that Wright had completely rethought
sign
the purpose of an art of inverted
dome
museum, fhe
exhibition area
with a huge glass-covered eye
at
a kind
is
the top.
The vast, fluid space creates an atmosphere of quiet harmony while actively shaping our experience by determining how
art shall
he displayed. After taking an elevator
to
the top
one begins a leisurely descent down the gendy sloping ramp. The continuous spiral provides for uninterrupted viewing, conducive to studying art. At the same time, the narrow confines of the galleries prevent us from becoming passive observers by forcing us into a direct confrontation with the works themselves. Sculpture takes on a heightened physical presence which demands that we look of the building,
at
it.
Even paintings acquire
a
new prominence
by protrud-
ing slightly from the curved walls, instead of receding into
them. Viewing exhibitions
at the
Guggenheim
is like
being
conducted through a predetermined stream of consciousness, where everything merges into a total unity. Whether one agrees with this approach or not, the building testifies to the strength of Wright's vision by precluding any other of seeing the
Brasilia. Brazil.
art.
Completed I960
way
23.
FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
2
1
Interior
Solomon R Guggenheim Museum New York
Solomon
I!
1956 59
Guggenheim Museum
1NTRODI
(
r/l
•
25.
JAN VERMEER. woman holding The National
Meaning An
lias
itself is
as
ly
if
in
a
balance
Context
work of
is
we can
required.
how
11
we cannot
respond to and question it in order to fathom its meaning. Finding the righl answers usually involves asking the right questions. ven we aren't sure w Inch question to ask, we can always
literally talk to a
art,
learn
to
ii
il
I
done it another way?" And when we are through, we must question st.
ii
i
with, "What
would happen
oui explanation according to the
if
the artist had
same
test
of adequate proof
have we taken into account -and arranged it in a logical and coherent way? fhere is alas no step-by-step method to guide us hui llns does not mean that the process is entirely mysterious. We an illustrate h\ looking at some examples thai applies to anj investigation:
the available evidence
all
i
togethei
same
<><>
IMIiODI
•
it
the demonstration will help us gain courage to try
the
analysis the next time
(
/
we
1664. Oil on canvas, 16 /ix 15" (42.5x38.1 cm).
entei a
!
DC. Widener
The
been called a visual dialogue, for though the object mute, it expresses Us creator's intention just as surelie were speaking to us. For there to be a dialogue,
however, our active participation
c.
Galley of Art, Washington,
museum.
great
Sphinx of
Collection, 1942
Dutch painter Jan Vermeer has been called The and with good reason, for all his paintings
Delft,
have a degree of mystery. In
Woman
Holding a Balunce
(tig.
young woman, richly dressed in at-home wear of the day and with strings of pearls and gold coins spread out on 25), a
the table before her,
The canvas
is
is
contemplating
a
balance in her hand.
painted entirely in gradations of cool, neutral
tones, except for a hit of the red dress visible beneath her jacket.
The
soft light
from the partly open window
centrated on her face and the cap framing
it.
is
con-
Other beads of
light reflect from the pearls and her right hand. The serene atmosphere is sustained throughout the stable composition. Vermeer places us at an intimate distance within the relate el) shallow space, which has been molded around the fig-
ure. The underlying grid of horizontals and verticals is modulated by the gentle curves of the woman's form and the heap of blue draperv, as well as by the oblique .ingles of the mirror. The design is so perfect that we cannot move a single
element without upsetting the delicate balance.
The composition is controlled in part by perspective, fne vanishing point of the diagonals formed by the top of the mirror and the right side of the table lies at the juncture of the
woman's
little
and the picture frame.
finger
carefully at the bottom of the frame,
we
lower on the right than on the
where
her hand. The effect
left,
see that it
it
If
we
is
actually
lies just
look
below
so carefully calculated that the artist
is
must have wanted to guide our eye to the painting in the background. Though difficult to read at first, it depicts Christ at the Last Judgment, when every soul is weighed. The parallel of this subject to the woman's activity tells us that, contrary to
our
impression, this cannot be simply
initial
a scene of everyday
The meaning
life.
is
nevertheless
Far
clear. Because Vermeer treated forms as beads of light, was assumed until recently that the balance holds items of jewelry and that the woman is weighing the worthlessness
from
it
of earthly possessions in the face of death; hence, the paint-
ing was generally called The Pearl Weigher or The Gold Weigher.
If
we
raphy,
which
make
placed them parallel to
is
also reveals that
of the balance: to
them
we can
look closely, however,
pans contain nothing. This
to
see that the
confirmed by infra-red photog-
Vermeer changed the position more harmonious, he
theless attractive in its
sen
reason
lor that
it
assemblage
own right and Johns must have cho When the wooden dooi is up the
transformed from
is
.1
neutral into
age, bringing out the nascent connotations
.1
loaded mi the target
of
Johns has used the same plaster cast lour limes
which them oil at the eves, "the windows of the soul," rendering (hem even more enigmatic; finally, he rammed them into theii "in partments, so that they seem to press urgently out toward lends die
fa<
es
.1
urious anonymity; then he tin
1
c
us
he results
I
.ire
1
disquieting,
aesthetic. ilh
as
well
as
expressively.
Something so disturbing cannot be without signifibut what/ We maj be reminded oi prisoners trying to look out from small cell windows or perhaps "blindfolded" targets ol execution. Whatever our impression, the claustrophobic image radiates .m aura ol menac ing dangei cance
Unlike Picasso's joining of a bicycle seat and handlebars to bull's head. Target with Finn Faces combines two
form a
components in an open conflict that we cannot how hard we try. The intrusion of this ominous meaning creates an extraordmarv tension with the disparate
reconcile, no matter
the picture
the picture plane instead of allowing
recede into space. What, then,
weighing temporal against
is
she doing:'
spiritual values,
it
If she is can be only in
a symbolic sense, because nothing about the figure or the setting betrays a sense of conflict.
inner peace? Perhaps by the mirror.
through her vaggio's
It
faith.
it
may In
is
What accounts
for this
self-knowledge, symbolized here
also
be the promise of salvation
Woman
The Calling of St.
Holding a Balance, as in CaraMatthew (fig. 739), light might
therefore serve not only to illuminate the scene but also to
represent religious revelation. In the end,
we cannot
be
sure, because Vermeer's approach to his subject proves as
He avoids any anecdote or symbolism that might limit us to a single interpretation. There can be no doubt, however, about his fascination with light. Vermeer's mastery of light's expressive qualities elevates his concern for the reality of appearance to the level of poetry, and subsumes its visual and symbolic possibilities. Here, then, we have found the real "meaning" of Vermeer's subtle as his pictorial treatment.
art.
The ambiguity in Woman Holding a Balance serves to heighten our interest and pleasure, while the carefully organized composition expresses the
underlying concept
artist's
do when a work seems devoid of ostensible meaning? Modern artists can pose a gap between their intention and the viewer's understanding. The gap is, however, often more apparent than real, lor the meaning is usually intelligible to the imagination at some level. Still, we feel we must comprehend intellectually what we perceive intuitively. We can with singular
clarity.
But what are we
to
deliberately
partially
solve the personal code in Jasper Johns' Target
with Four Faces bus.
Where
i(i
26) by treating
it
somewhat
stands alone as an object, unlike the long box
first
at
which
the (op. par-
when its hinged door is closed. Why target in the place? The size, texture, and colors inform us that this
ticularly
is
like a re-
did he begin.' Surely with the target,
not to be interpreted as a real target.
26.
JASPKR JOHNS TARGET WITH FOUR
in
wood box with hinged i'0
h m
.1
I
he design
is
never-
FACES 1955
Assemblage encaustic on'newspapei and cloth ovei canvas 26x2(>" 66 66 cm) surmounted l>\ four tinted piaster fat es
Collet lion (.ill
c
in
.
front
overall
Box closed
$%x26>
dimensions with
lx>\
<26x3" (85.3x66.7x6 cm Iln Museum ol Mixiern Art. New i.t
\li
and Mrs Robert
<
open York
Scull
l\ll«>Di
(
//o\ .67
of historical data arises
cm
image captures not merely the likeness hut traits as
on
mere likenesses and we
our
all
skill to
interest
belief that an
also the soul
age of photography, we have come
In the
sitter
Our
nearly as well.
satisfy
no doubt from the remnant ofa primitive
ofa
to see por-
readily forget that they call
grasp then meaning. Paul Revere, painted
John Singleton Copley around 1770 we cannot soke with on-thespot observations, so we must look elsewhere to answer them. The fruit of our investigation must agree with our obby the American
(fig.
artist
27), ^i\es rise to questions l
servations; otherwise
we cannot he sure
that
we
are right.
Silversmith, printmaker, businessman, and patriot. Re-
vere has acquired legendary status thanks to Henry
Wads-
worth Longfellow's long poem about his legendary midnight ride, and Copley's painting has become virtually an Ameri-
can
icon.
has generally been treated as a vvor kin gman's By rights, however, such a portrait
It
portrait, so to speak.
ought
to
he
much more
straightforward than this and,
hence, less memorable. Revere has a penetrating glance and thoughtful pose which are heightened by the sharp light, lending him an unusually forceful presence.
He
looks out at
he were reading us with the same intensity that we bring to hear on his strongly modeled features. Clearly, Revere is a thinker possessing an active intelligence, and we will recognize the pose of hand on us with astonishing directness, as
JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY.
57.
OU on
Museum
PAUL revere
canvas, 38 x 28'// (96.5 x 72.4
cm
we may
).
R.
then, this disparity between form
have been Johns'
this is really his
working
outfit.
and content
that
It
must
goal.
How do we know we are
right? After
"personal" interpretation, so find
wonder whether
Revere
dispassionate investigation of the target's formal qualities.
We
also
of Fine Arts, Boston. Gift of Joseph W., William. B.,
and Edward H.
is,
chin as an old device used since antiquity to represent philosophers. This is certainly no ordinary craftsman here, and
1768-70.
c.
if
we
all,
this is
merely our
turn to the critics for help.
them divided about the meaning of Target with it must have one. Johns, on
lour I'm r.s. although they agree
the other hand, has insisted that there
is
none!
Whom
are
The more we think about it. the more likely it seems that both sides may he tight. The artist is not always aware why he has made a work That does not mean that there were no reasons, only that they were unconscious ones. Under these circumstances, the critic may well know the artist's mind betlei than he does and explain his creation more clearly. We can we
to believe,
the critics or the artist himself.''
now understand that to Johns the leap of his imagination in Target with Four Faces remains as mysterious as it first seemed to us Our account reconciles the artist's aesthetic oik ei ns and the lilies' search for meaning, and while we (
(
no ultimate solution
realize that at
a
satisfactory
is
possible,
we have
arrived
explanation by looking and thinking
lor
ourselves. is all
It
i
i.
have
and
a
in
spe<
plai e
ial
and
looking
appeal
at foi
•
IMKOIU
(
portraits
the)
we ahout character which no amount
to establish a
lead a thousand insights
l>H
and this is espeThose of famous people seem to bridge a gap of time
too easy to overlook the oh\ ions,
Hue
ill\
ll<>\
personal link
28.
In then faces
JOHN SINGLETON GOPLEY. Oil
I
NATHANIEL HURD.
c.
1765
on canvas. 30x25'// (76.2x64.8 cm).
he Cleveland
Museum
of
An John Huntington
Collection
Surely no silversmith would have carried oul Ins craft in what are probably Revere's besl business clothes. Simpl) by
looking
the pic tun'
at
we have
raised
enough doubts
to chal-
lenge the traditional view of this famous painting At this point, our questioning oi the picture's surface conies to an end. for the portrait tails to yield up I'm diet
Once we have posed the problem of this "< raftsman's" we feel compelled to investigate further. The more we pursue the matter, the more fascinating becomes. Copley, we discover, had painted only a few years clues.
portrayal,
it
it
earlier a portrait of
Hurdl
.mother Boston silversmith, Nathaniel one is so different that we would nev-
28). Vet this
fig.
er
is
wearing a casual robe and
him are two hooks, one of them devoted to heraldry from which he culled the coats of arms he needed lor his work. Why, then, did Copley show Revere at a workbench with his engraving tools spread out before him. holding a teapot as the object of his contemplation and offerturban, and before
ing
it
to
us lor our inspection.' In light of Kurd's portrait.
Revere's work as a silversmith hardly explains these
attri-
butes and actions, natural as they seem. Oddly enough, the question has never been raised; vet surely the differences
between the two paintings cannot he accidental. Perhaps we can find the answer in the antecedents lor each. Hurd's image can he traced hack to informal portraits that originated in France m the early eighteenth century and soon became popular as well in England, where there was a rage lor portraits of well-known men and women. This type of portrait was customarily reserved lor artists, writers. and the like. In turn, the type gave rise to a distinctive offshoot that showed a sculptor at work in his studio with his tools prominently displayed (fig. 29). Sometimes an engraver is seen instead. There is another possihle precedent: moralizing portraits, the descendants of pictures of St. Jerome, that show their subjects holding or pointing to skulls, much as Revere has the teapot in his hand. Copley was surely fa-
miliar with
all
gravings that lor the
of these kinds of
we know he
images from the
portrait en-
collected, but his exact sources
Revere painting remain a mystery
— and may never
he discovered. For alter 1765 Copley freely adapted and
combined motifs from which they were.
It
is likely
that
we cannot
he cer-
he conflated two or apparent thai
three in Revere's portrait. In any case,
it
Copley has transformed Revere from
craftsman into an
a
is
artist-philosopher.
Let us
now
look at this portrait in
its
larger historical
and
the artist had been asserted since the Renaissance
cept in England, where the newly founded Royal first
drew the distinction
ed Hurd's
portrait.
Rut
in
m
1
the
768, about w hen (
(
ex-
Academy
oplev paint-
olouies there was. as
(
oplev
himself complained, no distinction between the Hades
and craftsman. Indeed, except lor argued that the decorative arts were the artist
It
is
portraiture,
it
ol
can he
(attr).
PORTRAIT OF LOUIS-
1750. Pastel. 24'/2 x 21
c
(62.2x54.6 cm). Yale Center
lor British
An.
New
'//'
Haven,
Connecticut Paul Mellon Collection
\ues Revere was then already involved with a
Illicit. irianism.
cause which (oplev himself did not share This difference
in their points ol
Reveres
view did not prevent (oplev from endowing
portrait with
an ingenious significance and penehe painter and the
trating seriousness of characteri/ation
silversmith must have
known each
I
The portrait
other well
stands as Copley's compelling tribute
to a fellow artist
as an invaluable statement about the culture
ol
— and
the Colonial
era.
Obviously not everyone kind of research
-
is
in a position to
onlv the art historian
must he something wrong with expert to appreciate
it."
On
Reacting
to
a
work
ol
aii
m
s.
st
holars,
sharing then
c
mensions of our capacity
own
il
lh.it
"there
takes an
il
straightforward fash-
knowledge, deprives
necessary
is
apprecia-
lor lull
urators are not our adversaries;
expertise and
broader contexts with those vide a model for Our
mean
ol art
Raul Revere as a masterpiece
the portrait in "a duett
understanding that
tion. Critic
this
the contrary, our researt h serves ol
ion," without the benefit ol adtlition.il
us
undertake
and the occasional
interested layman, lint again, this does not
onlv to affirm the portrait
cultural context. In Europe, the craftsman's inferior position to
FRANCIS XAVIFR VISPRF FRANCOIS ROUBIL1AC
different prints in his paintings, often
disguising their origins so completely that tain
29.
then
knowledge
ol
who seek it, they expand
for
art and the) and seek expenem es
appreciating
find
art's
the dipro-
fine aits of Amerk a
significant that Copley's portrait probably dates from
around the time of Revere's Inst efforts .it making engrav in
and goldsmith decorating during the
late
Middle
l\ll«)l>(
(
ll<>\ •<>»
PART ONE
THE ANCIENT
WORLD
Art history
is
more than
ated over time. that
self,
is,
It is
a stream of art objects cre-
intimately related to history
the recorded evidence of
human
it-
events.
we must consider the concept of we are often told, begins with the inwriting some 8,000 years ago. And in-
For that reason, history,
which,
vention of the
deed,
invention
of
writing
was
an
early
accomplishment of the "historic" civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Without writing, the growth we have known would have been impossible. We do not know the earliest phases of its development, but writing must have been several hundred years in the making between 3300 and 3000 B.C., roughly speaking, with Mesopotamia in the lead alter the new societies were already past their first stage. Thus "history" was well under way by the time writing could be used to record events.
—
—
invention of writing,
we know
more Or was there genuine change m the way things happened and of the kinds of things that happened after "history" began? Obviously, prehistory was far from una great deal
about history than about prehistory.
,i
)
—
—
eventful. Yet
mark
changes
in the
this road, decisive
human
though they
condition that are.
seem
in-
when measured
credibly slow-paced and gradual
against the events of the last 5,000 years. The be-
ginning of "history." then, means a sudden increase speed of events, a shifting from low gear into
in the
high gear, as
history.
They
were.
it
kind of events.
1
It
also
means
a
change
listoric societies quite literally
make
not only bring forth "great individuals
— one traditional definition of — by demanding human on large
and great deeds" tory
in the
effort
a
his-
scale,
landmark,
make these achievements memorable. And an event to be memorable, it must be more than "worth remembering": it must also be accomplished
lv
quickly
The invention
of writing
makes
a convenient
for the absence of written records is sureone of the key differences between prehistoric and historic societies. But as soon as we ask why
we
this is so, all,
how
toric"
ence
and in
face
some
intriguing problems. First of
valid is the distinction
between "prehis-
Does it merely reflect a our knowledge of the past? (Thanks "historic"?
differ-
but thev
for
enough to be grasped by human memory, and not spread over many centuries. Collectively, memorable events have caused the ever-quickening pace of change during the past
which begin with what we
eall
live
millenniums,
the ancient world.
to the
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CHAPTER ONE
PREHISTORIC
AND ETHNOGRAPHIC ART THE OLD STONE AGE When
human
did
prompted them
to
beings
start creating
do so? What did these
must begin with these queswe cannot answer them.
look like? Every history of art tions
Our
— and
works of art? What earliest works of art
with the admission that
earliest ancestors
began
to
walk the earth on two
feet
about lour million years ago, hut how they were usimj, their
hands remains unknown to us. More than two million years we meet the earliest evidence of toolmaking. Humans must have been using tools all alone,; alter all, even apes will pick up a stick to knock down a banana or a stone to throw at an enemy. The making of tools is a more complex matter. It later
demands
first
of
all
the ability to think of sticks or stones as
"hint knockers" or "hone crackers." not only
needed
for
such purposes hut
at
when
they are
other times as well.
Once people were able to do that, they gradually discovsome sticks or stones had a handier shape than Others and they put them aside lor future use. They selectered that
30.
WOUNDED
BISON. Cave painting,
c.
15,000-10,000
B.C.
Altamira, Spain
ed and "appointed" certain sticks or stones as tools because they had begun to connect
l<>nii andfunction. The sticks, of nu ise have not survived, but a lew of the stones have; the) are large pebbles or hunks oi rock that show the marks of
Cave Art
(
i
repeated use
have been tools h\
the
lii
si
I
•
I'KI
same operation
the
appointment so (
mIi
in a phase oi 01 old Stone
74
foi
he next step was
to try
whatever
al
may these
improve their shape. This is whi( h we have evidence and with we co.is
to
il
human development known as the \
IIISIOHH
that
chipping away
\\l<
I
I
ll\()(,lt
U'lIK
\i;i
Paleolithii
during the last stage of the Paleolithic, which began about 35.000 years ago, that we meet the earliest works of It
is
art
known
refinement less
we
Hut these already show an assurance and removed from any humble beginnings. Un-
lo us.
far
are lo believe thai they
came
into being in a single,
sudden burst, we must assume that they were preceded by thousands of years of slow growth about which we know
nothing
at all. At that
time the
last [ce
close in Europe(there had been
Age was drawing
at least
to
.1
three previous ones,
ol subtropical warmth, at intervals and the climate between the Alps and Scandinavia resembled that of present-da) Siberia or Alaska. Ilu
WD
\UW1IK\
\l \ rhe most striking works images of animals incised painted
l.\S(
Paleolithic art are the
alternating with periods
st
of about 25,000 years),
dei nl
Wounded Bison from the cave
Spam
(fig
overhanging rocks wherever the) could such sites have been discovered, inosth
find
them
Man)
in Spam and in southwestern France; on the basis of differences among the tools and other remains found there, scholars have divided
up the "cavemen"
into several groups,
characteristic
and of these
site,
Aurignacians and Magdalenians artists they
produced and
have played
in their lives.
it
is
alter a
especially the so-called
who
lor the
each named
stand out
lor the gifted
important role
ait
must
ulptured, on the I
its
body,
head lowered
tore
its 1
it
is
es
ol
legs no longer able to
We
are
aves su< h as the
1
Utamira
at
in
won
northern
rhe dying animal has collapsed on the
-round
m
ama/ed
defense.
c
arrv
What
the weight a vivid
the
ol
lifelike
pu
not onlv bv the keen observation
the assured, vigorous outlines, and the subd)
controlled
shading that lends bulk and roundness to the forms but even more perhaps bv the power and dignit) ol this c feature in its
detail
dual agony. Equall) impressive,
il
not quite as fine in
are the painted animals in the cave at Last au.v
m
the
Dordogne region ol France (figs. 31 and $2). Bison deer, horses, and cattle race across walls and eiling in wild prolusion, some of them simplv outlined in black, others filled in (
with bright earth colors but
souse
31. Axial Gallery, Lascaux
;d
ro< k surfat
ol oi
Montignai
o|
.ill
showing the same uncanny
fife.
Dordogne
France
PRl iiisiokh
\\n
1
iiimh.h
\i-iih
Mil
•
75
32.
Cave paintings. 15.000-10,000
33. Schematic plan of
low did this extraordinary art develop?
I
serve?
it
And how
many thousands swered
easily
mouth
of a
did
it
happen The
of vcars'
What purpose
survive intact over so
last
question can be an-
—
enough for the pictures never occur near the cave, where they would be open to easy view
(and destruction) hut only
darkest recesses, as far
in the
from the entrance as possible
i
33
fig,
Some can
).
be reached
only b) crawling on hands and knees, and the path ate thai
tri<
The cave
one would soon be
al
whose dog
lost
is
so in-
without an expert guide.
Lascaux, characteristically enough, was discov-
ered purely by chance
'
did
to
fell
in
1940 by some neighborhood hoys
hole that led to the underground
into a
lumber.
i
them from
served
a
the
purpose
rhere< an be
little
pari ol a magi<
We
i
must have more serious than mere decoration,
asual intruder, these images
far
doubt
in fact, that
perhaps
ritual
to
they were produced as
ensure
a
successful hunt.
gather (Ins not onlj from then secret location and from
the lines me. mi to represent spears
oi
darts thai are some-
times found pointing at the animals but also from the pecu-
.<
•
/'/;/
Lascaux
way the images are superimposed on one 32). Apparently, people of the Old Stone Age made no clear distinction between image and reality; by making a picture of an animal they meant to bring the animal itself within their grasp, and in "killing" the image they thought they had killed the animal's vital spirit. Hence a "dead" image lost its potency alter the killing ritual had been performed, and could he disregarded when the spell had to be renewed. The magic worked, too. we may be sure; hunters w hose courage was thus fortified were bound to be more liar,
disorderly
another (as in
successful
HlSTt
H
H
\\n
I
iii\(x,i: w///(
\i:i
fifj;.
when
slaying these formidable beasts with their
primitive weapons.
Nor has the emotional
basis of this kind
even today. We carry snapshots of those we love in our wallets because this
of magic been
lidden away as they are in the bowels of the earth, to pro-
I
!'<
Lascaux
B.C.
lost
graph of someone they have come to hate. Even so. there remains a good deal th.it puzzles us about the
cue
paintings.
Why
do they have
sible places? Couldn't the
been performed just
.is
to
be
in
such inacces-
hunting magic they serve have
well out
m
the open?
And why
are
they so niaryelously lifelike? Would not the magic have been
equally effective if the "killing" had been practiced upon less
images? We know of countless later instances of magic which require only the crudest and most schematic kind of representation, such as two crossed sticks for a hurealistic
man
figure.
Perhaps we should regard the Magdalenian cave pictures as the final phase of a development that began as simple kill-
when big game was plentiful but shifted meaning when the animals became scarce there is evi-
ing magic at a time its
i
dence
that the big herds
but to
"make" animals
withdrew northward as the climate of Central Europe grew warmer). At Altamira and Lascaux, then, the main purpose may no longer have been to "kill" through seasonal
—
to
increase their supply, perhaps
rituals repeated year alter year. In
some
ol
the weapons associated with the animals, images of plants
have recently been recognized. Could lenians practiced their
fertility
it
magic
be that the Magda-
in the
earth because they thought of the earth
thing from is
whose womb
all
other
life
bowels of the
itself
as a living
springs? Such a notion
familiar to us from the cults of earth deities of later times;
not impossible that
its origin goes back to the Old Stone would help to explain the admirable realism of the cave paintings, for an artist who believes that he is actually "creating" an animal is more likely to strive lor this quality than one who merely sets up an image lor the kill. it
is
Age.
If
it
does,
it
POSSIBLE ORIGINS. Some
of the cave pictures
may even
provide a clue to the origin of this tradition of fertility magic: in a
good
many
instances, the shape of the animal
seems
to
We
35.
know how our imagination sometimes makes us see all sorts of images m chance formations such as clouds or blots. A Stone Age hunter, his mind filled with thoughts of the big game on which he depended lor survival, would have been even more likely to vein or crack as far as possible.
all
recognize such animals as he stared his cave
and
Perhaps
at first
to attribute
at
the rock surfaces of
deep significance
to his discovery.
he merely reinforced the outlines of such im-
c.
RITUAL DANCl
10.000 H(
v..
i
-
have been suggested by the natural formation of the rock, so that its body coincides with a bump or its contour follows a
Rock engraving
'
Height of figures
c.
Cave of Add. una. Monte Pellegrino
ages with a charred sink from the could see what he had found.
It
a special Status
lieved of the
dangers
of
make Images
with
little
cm)
Palermo
Sk
i
so that others, too,
tempting at
il\
think that
to
mh
finding
h
images
artist-magicians and were
re-
the real hunt so that they could per-
image-hunting,
fect their
.is
10" (25.4
fire,
is
those w ho proved particularly good
were given
i
until Imallv
or no aid
the) learned hovi to
hom chance
formations,
though thev continued to welcome sue h aid A striking example of this process of reation i
is
the re
markable Nude Woman from the La Magdelaine Cave at Penne (fig. 34), one of the rare instances of the human figure in Paleolithic an apparently human fertility was a he legs and less pressing problem than animal fertility I
torso have
such
a
been
i
aived from natural ledges
wav that the shapes seem
ceptibly from the stone
The
right
the rock in
of
emerge almost Imperarm is haielv visible a\u\
to
the head appears to have been omitted altogether "<
ooperation" on the pan
ol
the natural surface
ofritualmay have centered on this figure Yet the existence of cave rituals relating
animal 34.
nude womak Rock carving,
c.
15.000-10.000 lie Lifesize
La Magdelaine Cave, Penne (Tarn), France
group
fertility
ot
c
ave
lac k ol
kind
we can only guess to both human and
would seem
Paleolithic
walls of the
I'"
What
ot
to be confirmed bv a unique r><)s on die drawings found in the \ddaura near Palermo in Sic ilv h (
l
I'M-IIISIOKH
\\DHU\(H.I(\I'HH
Mil
-77
36.
Mammoth
HOUSE, from Vogelherd Cave.
ivory,
length 2 // (6.4 cm).
Private collection
37.
78
•
/'/
///S/0/(/<
IM
I
I
HNOGR
1
(
c.
28,000
Shown 120
B.C.
percent actual
size.
Photograph copyright Alexander Marshack)
VENUS 01 WILLENDORf 25,000 20,000 B.C Stone, height 4%" (11 cm). Shown n? percent actual size. Naturhistoriches Museum. Vienna (
M'llH
Mil
These images, incised into the rock with quick and sure show human figures in dancelike movements, along
lines,
with
some animals; and
several layers of
here, as at Lascaux,
we again
find
images superimposed on one another
Carved and Painted Objects Apart from large-scale cave leolithic also
art,
the people of the
ings in bone, horn, or stone, skillfully cut by tools.
The
mammoth
Upper
Pa-
produced small, hand-sized drawings and carv-
earliest of these
from
found so
far arc
means
of Hint
small figures of
in southwestern Germany, Even they, however, are already so accomplished that they must be the fruit of an artistic tradition many thousands of years old. The graceful, harmonious
ivory
made 30,000
a cave
years ago.
curves of the running horse
(fig. 36) could hardly be improved upon by a more recent sculptor. Many years of han-
dling have
worn down some
details of the tiny animal; but 38. bison, from La Madeleine near Les Lyzies
the two converging lines on the shoulder, indicating a dart or
wound, were not
Musee des
then, this horse too has been "killed" or "sacrificed."
Some
of these carvings suggest that the objects
15,000-10,000 B.C Reindeer horn length
c.
part of the original design. In the end,
Dordogne
(
4" 1
10.15
cm
I
l
Antiqintes Nationales, St-Germain-en-Laye, Fiance
may have some
originated with the recognition and elaboration of
chance resemblance. At an earlier Stage, it seems. Stone Am' people were content to collect pebbles (as well as less durain whose natural shape they saw ble small specimens something that rendered them "magic"; echoes of this approach can sometimes be felt in later, more fully worked pieces. Thus the so-called Venus of Willendorf in Austria (fig. 37), one of many such female fertility figurines, has a bulbous roundness of form that recalls an egg-shaped "sa)
cred pebble"; her navel, the central point of the design, natural cavity in the stone. of reindeer horn to
owes
its
And
the masterful Bison
fig.
I
compact, expressive outline
is
a
38)
in part
the contours of the palm-shaped piece of antler from
which
it
was carved.
It is
not an
unworthy companion
splendid beasts at Altamira and Lascaux
39. a spirit
to the
art of the Old Stone Age m Europe as we know tomarks the highest achievements of a way of life that began to declme soon alter. Adapted almost perfectly to the
The
it
il. t\
special conditions of the receding Ice Age,
si'i
could not sur-
of South Africa and the aborigines of Australia are
or were remnants of this primeval phase of human development. Even then art has decidedly Paleolithic features; the painting on tree bark from North until
very recently
Australia
man
it
beyond them. In other parts of the world, the Old Stone Age gave way to new developments between c. 10.000 and 5000 B.C., except lor a lew particularly inhospitable areas where the Old Stone Age way of life continued because there was nothing to challenge or disturb it. The Bushmen vive
{RING KANG IROOS
Western Arnhem Land. North Australia
— the
last
39), while far less skillful than the ca\e pic
(fig.
aboriginal painting from (
1900
\
D
Dree lurk
/•/;/
iiiskihh
\\i>
i
;//\(x,/m/"//(
\ia
40. Neolithic plastered skull, from Jericho, Lifesize. Archaeological
tu res of
Europe, shows a similar interest
keen observation of
detail (including
inner organs), only here
it
is
which the hunting magic
is
movement and
the Old Stone
though began
its
in
Age
an "X-ray view" of the
implements of ever greater technical refinement and beauty of shape, and an infinite variety of clay vessels covered with abstract ornamental patterns, but hardly anything comparable to the painting and sculpture of the Paleolithic. Yet the changeover from hunting to husbandry must have been accompanied by profound changes in the people's view of themselves and the world, and it seems impossible to believe that these did not bnd expression in art. There may be a vast chapter in the development of art here that is lost to us simply because Neolithic artists worked in wood or other imper-
to a close
a revolution
has been termed it
was indeed,
al-
course extended over several thousand years.
the Near East sometime about
8000
B.C.,
It
with the
to domesticate animals and food epoch-making achievements of human history. People in Paleolithic societies had led the unsettled life of the hunter and food gatherer, reaping where nature sowed and thus at the mercy of forces that they could
successful attempts
first
grains— one
neithei
how
to
women new
of the truly
understand nor control. But now, having learned assure a food supply by then
down
settled
discipline
in
permanent
own
efforts,
men and
communities:
village
a
and order entered their lives. There is, then, a between the New Stone Age, or Neo-
verj basic difference lithic
and the Old, or
Paleolithic, despite the
lac
t
that
all still
depended on stone as the material of their main tools and weapons. The new mode of life brought forth a number of important new crafts and inventions long before the earliest appearance of metals: potter) weaving and spinning, basic methods ol architectural construction in wood, brick, and stone
We know
from the tangible remains of Neolithic settlements that have been tine o\ creel bv e\< a\ ation. Unforall
tunately these
H0-
I'ltl
llisioitli
ilns
remains
\\i>
I
tell
us
ven
lii\<>(.i<\rilH
B.C.
spiritual eondition of Neolithic culture; they include stone
kangaroos rather than bison on being worked.
And
the Neolithic Revolution.
7000
a
in
THE NEW STONE AGE What brought
c.
Museum, Amman, Jordan
little,
\l:i
as a rule, of the
-
manent help
to
JERIC1 is
materials. fill
Or perhaps excavations
in the future will
the gap.
A
K).
tantalizing glimpse of
provided by the discoveries
what
lies in store for
at prehistoric Jericho,
us
which
include a group of impressive sculptured heads dating from
about 7000
whose
lie
(fig.
40).
They
are actual
human
skulls
faces have been "reconstituted" in tinted plaster,
with pieces of seashell for the eyes. The subtlety and precision of the modeling, the fine gradation of planes
and
ridges,
the feeling lor the relationship of flesh and bone would be
remarkable enough
in
themselves, quite apart from the
amazingly early date. The features, moreover, do not conform to a single type; each has a strongly individual cast. Mysterious as they are, those Neolithic heads clearly point
Mesopotamian
(compare
110); they are
forward
to
the
harbingers of a tradition of portraiture that
first
art
tinue unbroken until the collapse of the
Roman
will
con-
Empire.
art, which had grown from the percepchance images, the Jericho heads are not intended to
Unlike Paleolithic tion ol
fig,
"create"
life
but to perpetuate
beyond death l>\ repla< ing more enduring substance. From which these heads were found, we
the transient flesh with the circumstances in
it
.1
gather that they were displayed above ground while the rest of the body was buried beneath the floor of the house; presumably they belonged to venerated ancestors whose beneficent presence was thus assured.
had buried then dead, but we do was death merely a return to the womb of mother earth, or did they have some conception of the beyond? The Jericho heads, on the other hand, suggest that people of the NeolithPaleolithic societies, too,
not
know what
ideas they associated with the grave:
ic era believed in a spirit or soul, located in the head, that could survive the death of the body and assert its power over the fortunes of later generations, and thus had to be appeased or controlled. The preserved heads, apparently, were
"spirit traps"
ing place.
designed
to
They express
keep the
in visible
spirit in its original
dwell-
form the sense of tradition,
of family or clan continuity, that sets oil the settled
life
of
husbandry from the roving existence of the hunter. And Neolithic Jericho was a settled communitv of the most emphatic sort: the people
who treasured
42.
Houses ami shrines
(schemata reconstruction
<>l
111
terraces.
£ at.il
bevel VI afte
1
lluvuk Turkey
Mellaart
i
6000
C.
B
<
the skulls of then fore-
bears lived in stone houses with neat plaster
floors,
within a
town protected by walls and towers of rough but strong masonry construction (fig. 41). Yet. amazingly enough, they had no pottery; the technique of baking clay in a kiln, it seems, was not invented until later. fortified
43.
ANIMAL HUNT
(AIM. HUYUK. brought
to
I
iuli
t
Excavations
built ol (
mud fig.
at
t
I.
1
inhabitants lived in houses
Its
bricks and timber
12
Qatal Hiiyiik in Anatolia
anothei Neolithic town, roughly a hoi is. md
t
years younger than Jericho.
yards
Mam Room. Shrine A. Ill 1. 6000 B.C 27x65" (68.5 x 165 cm)
Restoration of
Catal Huyiik (after Mellaart)
lustered around open court-
c
here were no streets, since the houses had
no doors; people apparently entered through the settlement liesl
nit
found so
hided fai
a
number
ajhI
encountei the
earliest
VnimaJ hunts
with
ol
rool
religious shrines
I
he
ihe e.u
on then plaster-covered walls we paintings on
a
man-made
surface
running figures surrounding huge bulls oi stags fig. 13 evoke e< hoes ol the old Stone \'j.e an indication thai the Neolithic Revolution must have been a ret enl e\enl at the lime hut the halaiu e has alreadv
41. Early Neolithic wall
and lower Jericho .Ionian
(
,000
I!
(
small
slutted; these
hunts have the charactei
the male deit)
to
whom
the bull
than of an everyday .uti\n\ necessan
I'M
UISIUHH
of
rituals
and stag were sa<
WD
!
loi
honoring
red
rathei
mh\i\.iI
lll\(H,l(\riiH
\i:i-si
TWIN LEOPARDS Painted plaster relief. Shrine VIA, Caul Hiiyuk. c. 6000 B.C 27x65" (68.5 x 165 cm)
45. FERTILITY
44.
c.
GODDESS, from Shrine
6000 B.C Baked Archaeological
Compared
to
the animals of the cave paintings, these at
Catal Hiiyuk are simplified and immobile;
m
who
are
male
deities displax
it
is
the hunters
energetic motion. Animals associated with
an even more
symmetrically opposed leopards
and another
of each other,
the throne of a
fertility
I
rigid discipline; the 11
fig.
1
fe-
goddess
45).
(fig.
(figs. 46 and 47). The densely packed rectangles of the houses are seen from above, Vt lnle the mountain is shown in it
,i
volcano
covered with dots representing blobs of lava. is
visible today
still
how eould
from Catal Hiiyuk.
Its
eruption must have been a terrifying event for the inhabi-
forth this
Neolithic Europe While the Near East became the cradle of civilization (to be civilized, alter all, means to live as a citizen, a town dweller), the Neolithic Revolution progressed
pace in Europe. About 3000
view
Oi
rows \NDVOU (
8
'
•
Via H/STOrt/i
.ii .il
\Nl)
/
\\
Hiiyuk
i
Wall painting Shrine VII. 14,
6000
IIIMh.i: Willi
B.C
\l;l
B.C.,
at a
very
much
slower
Near Eastern influences
began to spread to the northern shore of the Mediterranean. Baked clay figurines of fertility goddesses found in the Balkans, such as the very striking one from Cernavoda figs. 48 (
and
49). have their closest relatives in Asia Minor.
makes
47.
K)
they have viewed it exeept as a manifestapower? Nothing less could have brought image, halfway between a map and a landscape.
tion of a diety's
one of the many
I
Such
Museum, Ankara, Turkey
are mirror images
with the twin cones of an erupting volcano above
profile, its slope
^atal Hiiyuk.
pair of leopards forms the sides of
baked nus oj Willendorf (compare fig. 37). Among the wall paintings at Catal hunk, the most surprising one is a view of the itself,
AIM,
height 8" (20.3 cm).
two
clay statuettes that betray their descent from the Ve-
tow n
tants:
clay,
the Cernavoda Fertility Goddess so
viEWOf iow\ WDVOLCANO
memorable
What is
Reconstruction drawing
the
48, 49. FERTILITY GODDESS, from
Baked
clay,
height G'/V
I
Cemavoda Romania c. 5000 B.C Museum. Bucharest
16 cm). National
(Photographs copyright Alexander Marshack)
50.
Dolmen. Camac (Brittany
woman's bod)
sculptor's ability to simplify the shapes of a
and
yet retain Us salient Features
clude' the lace
).
a
which,
him, did not
to
The smoothly concave back sets off the
looning convexity of the front
breasts—in
I
way
that
— thighs,
would do honor
belly,
to
arms
in-
I,
France
c
1500 B.C
Neolithic Europe never rea< hed the level of social organization thai
produced the masonry architecture
bal-
the dense urban
and
find
any twentieth-
century sculptor.
community there monumental stone
called megalithit
boulders
pla<
ol
North of the Alps
because they consist
Eastern influence cannot be detected until time. In Central
continued
to
and Northern Europe,
lead the simple tribal
life
a
v
illage
munities even after the introduction of bronze and til
a
later
be compelled only
sparse population
of small
few hundred years before the birth
ol
<
iron,
Christ
the sustained and
ly
much
a
that almost
ol
<
civit
I
we
demanded
or utilitarian, apparent-
of religious faith
the
or
hen pur-
o-ordinated effort they required
by the authority
literally
Instead
huge blocks
ed upon ea< h other without mortar
Neat
Jericho or
oi
llmuk
strut Hires ol a different kind
pose was religious rather than
DOLMENS AND CROMLECHS.
atal
(
moving
ol
i
ould
a faith
mountains
monuments have an awe-
om-
Even
un-
inspiring superhuman air about them .is n they were the work of a forgotten raceol giants Some, known as dolmens,
Ihus
today
these
megalithit
/•/,'(
iiisiohh
\\i>
i
iii\
[RT*83
51.
c.
2000
B.C.
Diameter of
circle 97' (29.6
arc tombs, "houses of the dead" with upright stones for walls
and
m)
Lintels
Mission
Fallen
CD
<=>
a single giant slab for a roof (fig. 50).
Others, the so-called cromlechs, form the setting of gious observances. Stonehenge in southern England .11
England,
(aerial view). Salisbury Plain (Wiltshire),
Stonehenge
and 52) has
reli-
•
*******
(figs.
outer circle of evenly spaced uprights
a great
Standing
supporting horizontal slabs lintels) and two inner circles similarly marked, with an altarlike stone at the center (fig. I
The
53).
entire structure
chitecture
is
matter of definition: nowadays, we tend
a
think of architecture in terms
ol
enclosed interiors, vet
tus
ol
ah
would we want
to consult the ancient
the term To them, "archi-tecture"
than ordinary "lecture" (that ing"
I
much
deny the
to
WV
mmm
•
Altar
•
stone
we
\
t
a
;8
practical
nence
01
•
I
l
sta-
is
Greeks,
who coined
•construction" or "build
bend
a
.1
bishop or an
Icclstonc
structure distinguished from the
everyday kind by its scale, order, permasolemnity of purpose. A Greek, therefore, would
meich
,
„
meant something higher
as an archbishop ranks above
hfiend above
-
fl
U
I
.in
\* n
open-air theaters or sports stadiums.
bitec lure to
Perhaps we OUght
tlOI
• f\
to
also have landscape architects, the designers of gardens,
parks and playgrounds;
•
oriented toward the exact point
is
at which the sun rises on the day of the summer solstice. and therefore it must have served a sun- worshiping ritual. Whether a monument such as this should be termed ar-
have acknowledged Stonehenge as architecture. Vnd we too shall have no difficulty in doing so once we understand thai it is not nee cssarv to aldose space m order to
52. (opposite)
Stonehenge
certainly
defin<
01
.11 lit
ill.
He
II
it
an
10 bum. in need-, and more than meets the test.
space
X-4
•
I'M M
TURK
WD
I
bitei lure is
the
art of
aspirations," then
rHNOCR
M'lIK
Mil
shaping
Stonehenge
53. (above)
Diagram of original arrangement of stones at
Stonehenge
(after
E Hoyle)
I'M ;//s/n/(/(
\\Di iii\(h,h\I';ih
kRT*8S
54. Great Serpent
Mound, Adams County, Ohio.
Length 1400' (426.7 m).
©
Neolithic America Comparable terms of the
to
the megalithic
monuments
Europe
of
in
effort involved is the "earth art" of the prehistor-
Mound Builders. mounds vary greatly in
Indians of North America, the so-called
ic
The term
is
misleading, since these
c.
300 B.C.-400
Tony Linek, Fort Lee,
shape and purpose as well as in date, ranging from ahout 2000 b to the time of the Europeans' arrival. Of particular interest are the "effigy mounds" in the shape of animals i
presumably the totems of the tribes that produced them. he most spectacular is the Great Serpent Mound (fig. 54), a snake some ,400 feet loot; that slithers along the crest of a ridge by a small river in southern Ohio. The huge head, its center marked by a heap of stones that may onee have been was the natan altar, occupies the highest point. Evidently I
1
it
New
AD
Jersey
emotional overtones. The term "ethnographic" will serve us better. It stands for a way of life that has passed through the Neolithic Revolution but
shows no signs
direction of the "historic" civilizations. that
of evolving in the
What
this
means
ethnographic societies are essentially rural and
ficient; their social
and
political units are the village
is
self-suf-
and the
rather than the city and the state; they perpetuate
tribe,
themselves by custom and tradition, without the aid of written records: hence they
own history. The entire
depend on
pattern of ethnographic
dynamic, without the inner drive that to
we
for
oral tradition for their
life is static
rather than
change and expansion
take lor granted in ours. Ethnographic societies tend
he strongly isolationist and defensive toward outsiders;
human
ural formation of the terrain that inspired this extraordinary
they represent a stable but precarious balance of
work of landscape architecture, as mysterious and moving in its way as Stonehenge.
ings and their environment, ill-equipped to survive contact
with urban civilizations. Most of them have proved tragically helpless against at
ETHNOGRAPHIC ART I
here are as
(he
(
\i\ors
the so ol
oi (
we have
seen, a lew
Stone Age lasted
)ld
human
groups
the Neolithic are far easier to find.
lor
whom
Modern surThey include all
the South
and the Americas. "Primitive" is it suu,ij,ests quite wrongly
I'.u ilu
thai these so« ieties represent the original
and Ins thus come
-I'M
same lime
encroachment by
"civilized" societies. Yet
the cultural heritage
ol
ethnographic
has enriched our own: their customs and
soci-
beliefs, their
and then music have been recorded bv ethnoloand ethnographic art is being avidly collected and admired throughout the Western world. folklore, gists,
ailed primitive societies of tropical Africa, the islands a
somewhat unfortunate word
hi,
the
eties
until the present day.
be-
///s /o/:/f
\\n
to
i
he burdened with
iii\o<,lt\l'lll<
\m
human
condition,
main
conflicting
ANCESTOR
SPIRITS. The rewards of
this
concern with
the world of ethnographic societies have been manifold.
Among them own
is a
better understanding of the origins of our
culture in the Neolithic
ol
the Near East and Europe.
Though
the materials on which we base our knowledge <>l ethnographic peoples and then ways arc almost invariably of quite recent date very few of them go hack beyond the seventeenth century they offer striking analogies with the
— —
Neolithic of the distant past; and. of course, they arc nitely richer.
cho
(fig.
40)
Thus the meaning of the is
infi-
cult of skulls at Jeri-
illuminated by countless parallels in primitive
art.
The trict
is to be found in the Sepik River disGuinea, where until quite recently the skulls of
closest parallel
New
of
ancestors (and of important enemies) were given features
much
the
same
in
fashion, including the use of seashells for
57. Stone images, Akivi. Easter Island
17th century or earlier Height
e\cs
And here we know
55).
(fig,
"trap"
and thereby
to
c.
30'
l >
<
I
tin
purpose was
that the
'4am power over the spirit
ol
to
the dead
On
the other hand, the Jericho cult probably differed from
the
New
(
luinea version in
some
significant respects, lor the
sculptured skulls from the Sepik liner
the delicate, re-
kit k
modeling of those from Jericho; the painted status markings on the fates, rather than any actual portrait resemblance, establishes the identity of the deceased. hen alistic
I
savagery of expression makes
it
heads as works of an.
embody
vet they
splendid wood carvings area, 55. Plastered skull, from the Sepik River,
19th century. British
New
Guinea.
Museum, London
such as the one
the body
— as
in
for
us
the
to
think of these
same
belief as the
ancestral figures produced in
ol
in figure
tered on the head, with
hard
The entire design
">(>.
intensely staring shell
its
ethnographic
general!)
art
is
cms
th.it
cen-
while
has been
re-
duced to the role of a mere support, flic limbs suu'j,est the embryo position in which so many sut h peoples like to bury their dead.
The bird emerging from behind the head with its great wings outspread represents the ancestor's vital spirit or life force; from its appearance, it must be frigate bird or some other sea bird noted for its powers of flight. Its soaring move.1
ment, contrasted with the rigidity of the human figure, forms a compelling image and a strangely familiar one foi our own tradition, too, includes the "soul bird," from the
dove of the foly Spirit to the albatross of the Ancient Manner so that we find ourselves responding to a work ol art I
that at
first
glance might seem
be both puzzling and
to
disconcerting.
GUARDIANS
Ancestor rituals arc the most persistent
fea-
ture of early religions and the strongest cohesive force in
ethnographic sists
societies, but since the "primitive" world con-
of countless isolated tribal groups,
infinite variety 56.
MALE FIGURE SURMOUNTED BY
New
1
BIRD, from the Sepik River.
Guinea. 19th-20th century Wood, height 48"
Washington University Gallery of Art, University Purchase.
St.
I
122
Louis.
Kende Sale Fund, 1945
cm
even more
oi
On
cestral figures
forms, and
its
it
an take an almost
t
expression varies
artistic
Easter Island, for instance, i
arved from
vol< ani<
rcx k
we find huge an
Lined up on raised
must have cast a powerHere the carver's effort has
platforms like giant guardians, they ful
protective spell
fig
57).
fHllllslollK
\M)
I
lll\(H,n\l'lll(
\RT'87
again
(
entered on the elongated, craggy Features
and the back figures
seem
megalithic
Among
ol
the head
suppressed
is
an impulse akin
to reflect
monuments
ol
the face,
These
entirely.
to that
behind the
ol
(
labon
in
Equatorial Africa, the
skulls ol ancestors used to be collected in large containers that
were protected by
communal dwelling shows such Koia This ol
guardian
a
carved guardian figure,
a
place of the ancestral
spirits.
number of others along
tribe, like a
extent, so that
guardian images
in
its
artists
gle plane;
were able
to
is
a
to a
hollow dia-
The
circles.
face, in contrast,
is
concave
a
o\ al
\\
ithin
which
two spherical eves and a pyramidlike nose nestle as they would in the center of a dish. The effect of the whole is extraordinarily calm, disciplined,
and harmonious
—a
finely
the west coast
might almost mistake it lor mere decoration. Surely this guardian could not have been meant to frighten anybody. Tribal secrets are not readily betrayed, hence the avail-
to
sheathe their
endowing them remarkable exam-
polished brass, thus
with special importance. This figure
body and limbs are contracted
shape, and the headdress consists of two segments of
balanced sequence of shapes so unaggressive that one
among
Central Africa, was familiar with nonferrous metals
some
Except
art.
the
form traditional
in the
a sort of
Figure 58
realm of primitive
head, the entire design has been flattened into a sin-
for the
mond
of Europe.
the native tribes
lesser extent, throughout the
ple of the geometric abstraction that occurs, to a greater or
able accounts do not
tell
us very
ever, to explain their
much
about the exact
It
the abstract tendency of ethnographic art generally effort to
sig-
seems reasonable, howextreme remoteness from nature and
nificance of the Kota guardians.
convey the "otherness" of the
spirit
— — as an
world, to divorce
would allow from the but how are world of everyday appearances. Well and good we to account for the varying degrees of abstraction in primitive art? Must we assume that the more abstract its form, the more "spiritual" its meaning? If so, does the difference between the Kota and Sepik River figures reflect an equally great difference in the kinds of ancestor worship from which
it
as strictly as the artist's imagination
—
they spring, or are there perhaps other factors to be taken into account as well?
As
it
happens, the Kota guardians provide a good
these assumptions.
They have been
test for
collected in consider-
able numbers, and the differences among them are notable, even though they all clearly belong to a single type and must have been employed for exactly the same purpose. Our sec-
ond example
(fig.
59)
is
almost identical with the
first,
ex-
which in comparison seems almost gruesomely realistic; its shape is strongly convex rather than concave, and every detail has an unmistakably representational meaning. This face, with its open mouth full of pointed teeth, seems designed to frighten. Here, we feel, is a guardian figure that does indeed live up to its function.
cept lor the head,
Yet the
they
members
found
the
of the tribe failed to share our reaction, for
more
abstract
guardian
figure
equally
acceptable.
What. then,
is
the relation between the two guardians?
They were probably made at different times, but the interval could not have been more than a century or two. inasmuch as wooden sculpture does not survive for long under tropical conditions, and European travelers, so far as we know, did not begin to bring back any Kota guardians until the eigh-
teenth century. In any event, given the rigidly conservative nature of this society, we can hardly believe that the ancestor
c
ult
of the Kota
underwent anv
significant
change dur-
ing the time span that separates figure 58 from figure 59.
them came first, or- to put the question more cauwhich represents the older, more nearly original version/ Figure 5!) surely is. since we cannot imagine how
Which
of
tiously
r
)8
riih
Guardian figure, from the Kota area, Gabon.
20th
i
Wood and <>i>p
entury
i
Gift of
;.i
iiisiouk
\\l)
l
Dr Graz, L929
lll\
Mil
30"
1
76 3
<
m
its realistic features could have evolved from (he spare geometry of figure 58. The line of development thus leads from figure 59 to figure 58, from representation to abstraction (we also have a good many intermediate examples), This change
seems
to
have taken place while the religious meaning
re-
vative tempei
such
of
demanded
a society
guardian follow the pattern
ol
new
that every
predecessor
its
we
as
Vet
knew
no cop) is ever completer) faithful to its model, so long as be repeated the basi< outlines ol the traditional de the Koia carver enjoyed a certain latitude for no
sii^n,
many
the
Maybe these
structure.
lac ial
peeled of him, so as ian from the
one
Any gesture
replaced
us original
to lose
comes ground down, simplified, more good example ol this m the ideographs which started out as tins pictures but of their representational
The same kind
signs.
same
were even ex
slight variations
distinguish the newl\
to
it
endlessly repeated tends
trace
two oi
surviving guardian figures have exa< ib (be
retted guard
(
shape
or
that
hara( ter
c
abstract
We
is
be-
it
sec
,i
Chinese writing,
ol
before long
lost
all
and became mere
origin
transformation, although not nearl)
ol
among
as far-reaching, can be traced
the Kota guardians:
they grev* simpler and more abstract, since this was the onl\
which they could develop. at such length because it is rimdameni.il characteristic of Neolithic and ethnographic art. though we cannot often observe n as clearly as in
direction in
We
have discussed the process
,i
the case
the Kota figures. Hut
ol
a negative it
new and
distinctive designs.
also leads to the
transformation has
its
again. Alter
all.
repeat
il
(
has
ol
an
infinite variety of
world; lor
that
artist's
concern
this
concern
it
is
same designs over and over
the
be seis out
the only model be
be
to
we should note
Finally,
spirit
take
to
dangers,
its
ultimate source in the
with the otherness of the
makes him
It
nation
sure, but
that
us be careful not
let
iew of ibis abstraction.
\
lo
c
reate a guardian ol ances-
an use
is another such guardand he cannot know w bether he has sue ceded unless the two resemble each other.
tral skulls,
^
ian figure,
i
RULERS. The
traditionalism in ethnographic art two ways: there may be a cross-fertil-
stroii"
can be interrupted
in
i/ation of different cultures as the
consequence of migration
may develop appearances. Such
or conquest, or conditions
that favor a return to
the world of visible
conditions prevailed
lor a
tune along the coast of Equatorial Africa a lew hundred
miles northwest
ol
Gabon. There, through contact with (be
historic civilizations of the Mediterranean, a
number
ol
na-
kingdoms arose, but none ol them proved \er\ enduring. A king, unlike a tribal chieftain, bases Ins authority on the claim th.it it has been given to him b\ supernatural forces; he rules "by the grace of God," embodying the divine will m his own person, or he may even assume the status ol a tive
59. Guardian figure, from the Kota area, Gabon. 19th-20th century. Metal hammered on wood, height 23" (58.4 cm).
The Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
deit)
himself There are thus no inherent
guistic, or otherwise,
lo
royal authority.
least in theory, all-conquering.
mained the same. Must we then
credit the artist
public with an interest in abstraction for hardly sounds plausible. There
is.
its
own
and
sake
in fact, a far easier
'
I
his
larger and
hal
has
expla-
nation: the increasingly abstract quality of the Kota guardians resulted from endless repetition.
We do
not know how many such figures were in use al the same time, but the number must have been considerable, since each guardian presided over a container of not more
expectancy being limited frequent intervals, and the conser-
than a do/en skulls. Their they had tube replaced
at
life
more complex than
to ex, id far greatei
so with the aid
whom
ol a
I
ol
ed into c
a
share
ol
he also
its
The) enfon
e se-
the population which
ol
rac
\
and the
goods and sen
institution ol kingship, then, t
at
is
not only
the aristocracy, to
bis authority.
urit)
The
is
thai ol the tribal chief;
favored ruling elite
be delegates some
contributing
Ever) king
lence bis domain
obedience from his subjects He does
and order among the rest return must support the aristoc
c
limits, ethnic, lin-
m
royal court b)
u es
demands
a soc iet) di\ id-
lasses rather than the loose assoc iation ol famil) or
Ian groups that
makes
tip a tribe
I'lil-lilSIOKH
It
\\l)
means
I
the
IHMH.K
\ ic
tOT) ol
W"//(
\l;>
the
At the lime ibis
bead was produced, the twelfth century
nothing of comparable character can be found in Europe. Only the tribal scars on the lace, and the boles lor atvi),
taching hair and beard, relate it to ethnographic art elsewhere; these, and the purpose lor which it was made, ancestor ritual. Our bead, together with its companions,
must have formed part of a long series of portraits of dead probably hair taken from rulers, and the use of real hair strongly suggests that these heads the person represented
—
—
for the spirits of the
were prepared as 'traps"
deeeased. But
since the rulers each had individual importance, their spir-
unlike those of the tribal ancestors, could not be
its,
merged
an impersonal collective entity; in order to be an effective trap, every head had to be an authentic, clearly distinguishable portrait. It is possible, in fact, that these heads
into
were made
(
if
not of bronze, then at least of terracotta while
their subjects
)
were
alive,
still
and became
only
spirit traps
through the addition of his
after the ruler's death,
hair.
each of these heads is unique and irreplaceable. It last forever, hence it was executed in laborious bronze rather than wood. It is no accident, then, that the He heads bear a closer resemblance to the Jericho skulls than to the ancestor figures of primitive art, for the rulers of lie had
Clearly,
had
to
indeed recaptured something of the urban quality of the Jericho ancestor cult.
The bronze technique
dom
of Benin,
He was handed on to the kingsame area and did not dis-
of
which arose
in the
appear until the early eighteenth century. In addition to ancestor heads, the artists of Benin produced a vast variety of 60. Male portrait head, from
Bronze, height
U
13'/2
(34.3 cm). Collection the Oni of
works that had nothing
over the countryside, and thus runs counter to the ru-
ii
tenor of ethnographic society.
The
African kingdoms
never quite achieved this victory, so their instability is perhaps not surprising. The decisive factor may have been their Inline to develop or adopt a system of writing. They existed, .is
were along the outer edge of the historic civilizations, and fall, therefore, are known to us only in
ii
and
their rise
its
ANIMISM. That
Niger River.
Some
splendid example
the west of the lower course of the
are of terracotta; others, such as the
in figure 60, of
bronze. The casting tech-
nique ailed the cire-perdue lost-wax process, surely bad been imported Iron) the Mediterranean, but it was used here (
with
(
u,reat skill:
I
the actual modeling
is
done
in
wax over an
another layer of earth is firmly packed around the bead the whole is then heated to melt out the wax. and molten bron/e is ponied mto the hollow form thus created.
earthen
<
ore,
more astonishing than its technical refinement, bowthe subtle and assured realism ol our He head. The features are thorough individual, vet so harmonious and noble in expression as to recall the classical art of Greece and Rome see figs 23 and 295 I
\'
in the
ethnographic peoples should prefer
Kota, rather than in terms of separate individuals,
of the
animism
been termed animism,
ple a spirit exists in every living thing.
he must appease the
down, but the
spirit of
collective "tree spirit" "life spirit."
is
is
I
<)<)• /•/
\\l)
!
I.
III\
\i;i
to
a result
that underlies their religious beliefs.
Other
An
spirit of a tree
animist will feel before be cuts
any particular tree
which
spirits
in turn
Such
for to these peo-
is
merges
it
also part of a into a general
dwell in the earth, in rivers and
sun and moon; still others demand promote fertility or cure disease. Their dwelling places may be given the shape of human figures, in which case such spirits sometimes achieve
lakes, in the rain, in the to
be appeased in order
enough
to
of a stable identity to be viewed as rudimentary de-
n
ever
it
em-
think of the spirits of their ancestors collectively, as did the
that
to
against the art of Ife
wood carvings
phasis on the head and the geometric simplification of every
ished native kingdoms arc the portrait beads excavated
somewhat
world but
detail.
religious beliefs have
at
when measured
close kinship with tribal
fragmentary fashion. Artistically, the most impressive remains of these vanHe, Nigeria,
spirit
The Hornblourr
(
betrays
ral
do with the
lig. 61) is characteristic of this art for display. By the standards of ethnographic sculpture as a whole, it seems excep-
He
tionally realistic, but
inw
to
served to glorify the ruler and his court.
Nigeria. 12th century.
lie,
61. (opposite)
HORNBLOWER, from Benin. Late 24%" (63.3 cm). The
century. Bron/.c, height
Museum
of Art,
New
Memorial Collection.
York.
Gift of
The Michael Nelson
16th-early 18th
Metropolitan
C. Rockefeller
A. Rockefeller,
1972
I'HIIIISIOHK
\\l>
I
lll\(H,l{\l'i:i(
WU
•
W
Masks form
far
l>\
the
ri<
hest chapter in "primitive" art;
the proliferation of shapes, materials, and functions
is
al-
Even the manner of wearing them varies surprisingly: some cover only the face, others the entire head; some rest on the shoulders: some may be worn above the head, attached to a headdress or atop a pole. There are masks of human laces, ranging from the realistic to the most fantastic, and animal masks or combinations of both in every conceivable form. There are also masks that are not made to he worn at all hut to he displayed independently as images most
limitless.
complete in themselves. The lew samples reproduced here can convey no more than the faintest suggestion of the wealth of the available material. Their to ascertain;
meaning, more often than
ments of secrecy itiated,
not,
is
impossible
the ceremonies they served usually had elethat
especially
if
secret society. This
were jealously guarded from the uninthe performers themselves formed a
emphasis on the mysterious and spec-
tacular not only heightened the dramatic impact of the ual,
it
rit-
makers of masks to strive for so that masks in general are less
also permitted the
imaginative
new
effects,
subject to traditional restrictions than other kinds of "primitive" sculpture.
WOM W
KNEELING
62.
from the Baluba area. Kinshasa, Zaire.
I9th-20th century. Wood, height 18'// (47 cm). Koninklijk
itios
seems
Ins
I
figure
to
for
Midden-Afrika. Tervuren, Belgium
be true of the very line Kneeling
Woman
produced by the Baluba tribe of the Congo region, little is known about her ritual significance. The
62 though fig.
I
Museum
l,
among
is
the gentlest and least abstract of
all
tribal
carvings, and her trancelike expression, as well as the hol-
bow
low
I,
suggests
MASKS. (
ontent
a
ceremonial of incantation or divination.
In dealing with the spirit world, people
perform rituals or
to
spirit
imps; thev needed
spirit
world through
to act out their relations
dames and
with the
similar dramatic ceremo-
which they could themselves temporarily assume
nials in
trap by disguising themselves with
role of the spirit
tin
were not
present offerings before their
to
masks and costumes. The origin of these dance rituals goes back as far as the Old Stone Age see fig. 35), and (here are indications lh.it animal disguises were worn even
elaborate
I
then. In these early societies, the acting-OUt ceremonials as-
sumed tumes
,i
vast variet) ol patterns
mask
,ilua\s with a
and purposes; and the cos-
as the central feature,
COrrespondingl) varied and elaborate. Nor
lias
became
the fascina-
mask died out to this day. We still feel the thrill of hange ol identity w ben we wear one at lallowcen or amivaJ time and among the folk customs of the European
tion o| the ;l
i
i
I
peasantry there were, until recently certain survivals of pre(
In
i
9
ist
i.
in
Ii.ii.k lei
'
i
i
demons
ed
•
/'/;/
I
ici
i
fig
m
ionics
means
l>\
w
ol
Iik
1
1
the parti( ipants impersonat-
carved masks
truly
primitive
(i.'-i.
Mask, from Kippel.
\\l>
I
lll\()(,l! M'lIK
Mil
I.oisi
henlal, Switzerland.
[9th century. Wo
Rietberg
I
IIISIOKH
ol
Museum.
Zurich. E.V.d. llevdt Collection
65. Mask, from the Gazelle Peninsula.
New
Britain
19th-20th century Bark doth, heighl 18" (45.7 cm)
Museo National
Bamenda
64. Mask, from the
area.
Aniro|)olouia.
Mexico
Clt)
Cameroon.
19th-20th century. Wood, height 26'// (67.3 cm). Rietberg
Museum,
Zurich. E.V.d. Heydt Collection
African masks, such as the one in figure 64. arc distin-
guished
for
symmetry
of design and the precision and sharp-
ness of their carving. In our example, the features of the
human to
face have not been rearranged but restructured, so
speak, with the tremendous eyebrows rising above the
The
rest like a protective canopy.
comes
strikingly evident as
tures of the
New
mask from
Britain in the
we
solidity of these
turn to the
shapes be-
fluid, ghostl) Fea-
the Gazelle Peninsula on the island of
South
Pacific
made
of bark cloth over a
meant to represent an animal spirit, said to be a crocodile, and was worn in nocturnal ceremonies by dancers carrying snakes. Even stranger is the Eskimo mask from southwest Alaska fig 66), with us non-
bamboo frame
(fig.
65).
It
is
i
symmetrical design ofseemingl) unrelated elements espe cialh the dangling "leaves" or sticks attached to curved "branches." The single eye and the month
full of
teeth are
the only recognizable details to the outsider, yet to those
who know how
to
"read" this
assemhh
of shapes u
is
the
condensed representation of a tribal myth about a swan that drives white whales to the- hunters. Such radical displace ment of facial details is characteristic of Eskimo masks generally, though it is seldom carried as far as here.
i.i.
Mask Eskimo from southwest Uaska
Early 20th centurj
Museum
VwmkI
of the American Indian
/'/;/
///s/o/:i(
height 22"
56
cm
Heye Foundation New York
\\/i
/
iiimk.i: with
\i;i
•
9
;
rhe wooden war helmet from southeast Alaska in contast, strikes
due
us by
its
£fig.
67),
powerful realism, which may be
not only to the fact that this
is
work of American
a
Indi-
an rather than Eskimo origin, hut also to its function. It, too, is kind of mask, a second lace intended to disconcert the .i
enemy
h\
Our
fierce expression
its
final
example, one of the
most fascinating of all, comes from an Indian burial mound iii fennessee (fig. 08). it has been estimated as being between 400 and 1.000 years old. The material is a single large seashell, whose rim has been smoothed and whose gentlj convex outer surface has been transformed into a lace by simple hut strangely evocative carving and drilling. Shell
masks such
as this
seem
to
have been placed
in
graves for
permanent
the purpose of providing the dead with a second, face to trap his spirit underground.
PAINTING. Compared
to sculpture,
painting plays a subor-
Though
dinate role in ethnographic societies.
was widely known, coloring of
its
wood carvings
human
or of the
with intricate ornamental designs (see
pendent
67.
War
helmet. Tlingit, from southeast Alaska.
Early 19th century. Wood, height 12" (30.5 cm).
The American Museum
Natural History,
of
New
York
art,
the technique
use was restricted in most areas
fit;.
to the
body sometimes 56). As an inde-
however, painting could establish
only
itself
when
exceptional conditions provided suitable surfaces.
Thus
the Nootka Indians on Vancouver Island, off the
northwest coast of North America, developed
wooden houses with
large
fairly
smooth hoards which they liked to decorate with scenes of tribal legends. Figure 69 shows a section of such a wall, representing a thunder bird on a killer whale Hanked by a lightning snake and a wolf. The animals are clearly recognizable, hut they do not form a meaningful scene unless we happen to know the context of the story. The owner of the house obviously did, so the painter's main concern was how to combine the four creatures into an effective pattern filling the area at his disposal. It is apparent that these animals, which play important parts in the tribal mythology, must have been represented countless times before; each of them is assembled in accordance with a well-established traditional formula made tip of walls of
fixed ingredients
— small,
or that look as
they have been cut out separately and
down one
if
by one. The
firmly outlined pieces of solid col-
artist's
laid
pattern-consciousness goes so
far that any overlapping of forms embarrasses him; where he cannot avoid it. he treats the bodies of the animals as transparent, so that the outline of the whale's hack can he
seen continuing right through the lower part of the bird's body,
and the leathers
ol
the tight wing reveal the front legs
of the wolf.
SAND PAINTING,
formal and abstract as the Nootka wall
may seem in comparison with the animals of Paleolithic, becomes downright realistic if we judge
painting
it
it
the standards
unique
ol
art grevt
and Southwest todav ()K (
M.isk
1000
from the Brakebill
1600 \i> Ocean
Peabod) <
94
•
/'/,'/
H/STO/
Museum Cambridge
\\h
l
l
shell,
ol
Mound Tennessee height 8%" (22 cm).
Harvard University
Massac husetts
ll\
Mil
.ire
the sand painting
\
isihle in figure 70.
up among the Indian ol
the Tinted Slates,
the Navajo of Arizona and
ing powdered
sand
I
)espite
roc k '
or earth of
\
main
skill,
impermanent and must he made
practitioners
)
the
tech-
consists of pour-
anous colors on
or perhaps hot ause of
by
That
tribes inhabiting the its
New Mexuo The
nique which demands considerable
the
lac
t
a
flat
bed of
that they are
fresh lor each occasion
LIGHTNING SNAKE, WOLF, AND THUNUh.R BIRD ON KILLER WH \l ./ Nootka. C. 1850. Wood, 5'8"x8'10" 1.7x2.7 m). The American Museum of Natural History, New York
69.
(
70.
that tion.
Sand painting
ritual for a sick child
demands them, the designs are rigidly fixed l>\ tradiThe various compositions arc rather like recipes, pre-
scribed
by
the
medicine
man and
supervision In the painter, for the
mam
under his use of sand paint-
"filled"
is in ceremonies of healing That these ceremonies are sessions ol great emotional intensity on the part of l>oth doc tor and patient is well attested
ings
h\
Navajo
Arizona
our illustration ol priest
identity
derstand
in
Such
a close
healer,
and
union
artist
even,
01
maj be
modern Western terms Hut
lor
at
times
difficult to
un-
people trying
to
bend nature to then needs In magic and ritual, the lunciions appear as different aspet ts ol a single process And the success or failure of this process ol
lilt-
.ind
is to
them
virtually a matter
death
/'/,'/
///s/o/,'/<
WD
I
lll\(H.lt\l'ilH
Wf/'T,
CHAPTER TWO
EGYPTIAN ART i
~Mediterrane,<\n Sea
$>
Giza
Stiqqam*
THE FAIYUM
LOWER EGYPT •Tell
>,
tl'Atnama
LIBVAN
DESERT
UPPER EGYPT Durel-Bahan
.Thebes
>
Luwr Hiemkovtpolis
Miles
•
Assuan
•
From
Prehistoric to Historic
The road from hunting to husbandry is one. The problems and pressures laced
by historic so< idles
are very different from those thai confronted peoples Paleolithic or Neolithic eras. Prehistory
which humans as
lution during
was
a
in
the
phase of evo-
learned
a species
how
to
maintain themselves against a hostile environment; then achievements were responses to threats of physical extinc-
With the domestication of animals and edible
tion.
people had survival
on
won
this planet.
But the Neolithic Revolution placed
we might
the forces of nature
tely:
plants,
a decisive victory in this battle, assuring our
us on a level at which
—
—
remained
well have least
at
indefini-
during that geological
would never again challenge men and women as they had Paleolithic peoples. And in main pails ol the globe, as we saw in the previous chapter, people were content to stay on a "Neolithic plateau." In a few places, however, the Neolithic balance of humans and nature was upset by a new threat, a threat posed era
not by nature but by people themselves.
ment
to that threat is
Jericho (see
What was
fig.
seen
The
earliest
monu-
the fortifications of Neolithic
in
41), constructed almost 9,000 years ago.
the source of the
necessary? Competition
human
for
made them among tribes of
conflict that
grazing land
herdsmen or for arable soil among farming communities'.' The basic cause, we suspect, was that the Neolithic Revoluhad been too successful in this area, permitting the local population to grow beyond the available food supply. This situation might have been resolved in a number of ways: constant tribal warfare could have reduced the population; or the people could have united in larger and more disciplined social units for the sake of ambitious group efforts that no looselv organized tribal society would have been able to achieve. The fortifications at Jericho were an enterprise of this kind, requiring sustained and specialized labor over a long period. We do not know the outcome of the strugtion
gle in that region
(
future excavations
may
tell
art between ',000 and 500 B.( does lend to have a sameness here is kernel ol truth in this the basi( pattern of Egyptian institutions beliefs and .ii listic ideas was formed during the first few centuries o| that vast span ol \eais and kept reasserting itsell until the verj end We shall
Egyptian
long and arduous
a
us how far the
urbanizing process extended) but about 3,000 years
later,
on a larger scale, arose in the Nile valley and that of the Tigris and Euphrates, and there these conflicts generated enough pressure to produce a new kind of
certain
,i
I
however, tint as time went on this basic pattern went
see.
through ever more severe
rises th.it
c
hallenued
<
its ability
survive, had n been as mllexible as supposed,
it
succumbed long
art
before
Egyptian
finally did
it
to
would have alternates
between conservatism and innovation, but is never static. Some of its great ac hievements had a dec isive influent e On Creek and Roman art. and thus we cm still feel ourselves linked to the Egypt of 5,000 years ago h\ ac out unions. living tradition.
DYNASTIES. The
history of Egypt
is
divided into dv nasties
of rulers, in accordance with ancient Egyptian practice, be-
ginning with the Inst Dynasty, shortly alter 3000 B.< (the dates of the earliest rulers are difficult to translate exactly into our calendar).
Dynasty
First
is
he transition from prehistory
I
known
Kingdom forms
the
about 2155 in
with the overthrow
major division
first
of
the
to
The Old
as the predvnastic period
ending
after that,
the Sixth Dynasty.
This method of counting historic tune conveys
once the
at
strong Egyptian sense of continuity and the overwhelming
importance of the pharaoh
preme
mam
We
ruler but a god.
).
I
features of kingship before
transcended them
all.
privilege derived from a
Civilization
Egyptian
art.
and
see page 89
I
the pharaoh
);
kingship was not
for his
superhuman
a duiv
was
source, but
or
abso-
remained the kev feature of Egypdetermined the character ol
Ibis belief
lute, divine.
tian
king who was not only the suhave had occasion to mention the
largely
We do not know exactly
the steps bv which the
we
early pharaohs established their claim to divinity, but
know
their historic
achievements: molding the Nile valley
Assuan to the Delta into a single, and increasing its fertility bv regulating the waters through dams and canals.
from the
cataract at
first
effective state, river
similar conflicts,
society, very
much more complex and
than had
efficient
ever existed before. First in
Egypt and Mesopotamia, somewhat
later in neigh-
TOMBS AND RELIGION.
Of these vast public works noth-
ing remains today, and very
has survived
little
ancient
of
Egyptian palaces and cities Our knowledge of Egyptian civ ili/ation rests almost entirely on the tombs and their conIbis
tents
no accident, since these tombs were
is
we must
make
the mistake
built to
boring areas, and in the Indus valley and along the Yellow
last
River in China, people were to live in a more dynamic world.
ing that the Egyptians viewed
where
road to the grave Their preoccupation with the cult
their capacity to survive
forces of nature but by flicts
tion
was challenged
human forces— bv
tensions and con-
arising either within society or as the result
between
societies.
These
environment have proved
ol
competi-
cope with
efforts to
a far greater
not by the
human
challenge than the
lor
it
was quite new and
of the dead
seems
ka
years Perhaps "enduring" and "con-
tinuous" are better terms
gave its
on
link with the Neolithic past
entirelv
different
mainlv as a
this earth
but the
it.
although
.U
first
glance
all
I
to enjoy,
absent
the dark tear
environment
and would make sure
then
ol
own mummilied
in
come
destroyed, a statue
ol
i
of
thespii cults
ii
was
afterlife
a
kind
of
then spirits
lor
that the ka
orpse or
the
meaning they
Instead, the Egyptian attitude
dwell
I
conclud-
which dominates primitive ancestor
replica ol then dail)
shadowy
THE OLD KINGDOM in 10. 000
is a
life
ol
that
Egyptian civilization has long been regarded as the most rigid and conservative ever Plato said that Egyptian ait had
changed
iU\n\
not
each person must provide lor his own happv Ihe an< lent Egyptians would equip then tombs as
earlier struggle with nature.
not
forever Yet
had
that
a
bodv
to
should be-
themselves
There is a curious blurring ol the sharp line between life and death here and perhaps that was the essential impulse /(O/'/MX Mil
•
«,
y
j^u ^f 71. PEOPLE, BOATS,
AND ANIMALS
Wall painting in predynastic tomb.
behind these mock households; a man who knew that after death his ka would enjoy the same pleasures he did, and who had provided these pleasures in advance hy his own efforts,
could look forward
to
an active and happy
out being haunted by Tear of the great then, the Egyptian
tomb was
unknown.
life
with-
In a sense,
a kind of life insurance,
an
C.
3200
Hierakonpolis, Egypt
B.C.
ture of grief. For the rest, the picture does not appear to have
any coherence as a scene or any symbolic import; perhaps
we ought
to
view
scenes of daily
life
as an early attempt at those typical
it
that
Old Kingdom tombs
we meet
several centuries later in
89 and
(figs.
90).
in-
vestment in peace of mind. Such, at least, is the impression one gains of Old Kingdom tombs. Later on, the serenity of this concept of death was disturbed by a tendency to sub-
more separate identities, of judgment, a weighing of
Egyptian Style and the Palette of
King Narmer mural
At the time of the Hierakonpolis
— about 3200
divide the spirit or soul into two or
Egypt was in process of learning the use of bronze
and by the introduction of a sort souls; and it is only then that we also find expressions of the
country,
tear of death.
HIERAKONPOLIS. An early stage in the development Egyptian funerary customs— and of Egyptian art— can in
fig
71)
I
design
In
an even
Ki
s<
is still
decidedly primitive in
instructive to note, however, that the
figures tend to
almost as
glyphs
s
ci
become standardized, abbreviated
tombs
•
I
Ik-
to
bodied
men
Out of these emerged two rival kingdoms. Upper and Lower Egypt. The struggle between them was ended when certain Upper Egyptian kings conquered Lower Egypt and combined the two realms. One of these was King Narmer, who appears on the impressive object in figures 72 and 73, a ceremonial slate palette celebrating a victory over Lower Kgvpt (note the different crowns worn by the king). It, too. comes from Hier-
characIt is
animal "signs,"
be that of funeral is
\l:i
tribal
scenes between black-bodied and white-
of
their role in lat-
black-and-white figures above the topmost their arms spread out in a ges-
mourning women,
l(,)l'll IN
seems
the soul," since that
of local
be
were on the verge of turning into hierosuch as we see m fig. 105). The large white shapes
oi "vehi< les oi
boat are
human and
number
sovereigns not too far removed from the status of
The
the)
il
are boats; their significance here
barges
its
attering of forms over the entire surface.
ruled by a
—
The
chiefs.
the fragment of a wall painting from Hierakonpolis
seen
we may assume, was
B.C
tools.
light
in the
painting probably reflect local wars or
raids.
akonpolis. but otherwise wall painting. In to
it
has
main ways,
he the oldest historic work of
the earliest surviving
little
in
common
with the
Narmer palette can claim art we know: not only is it
the
image of
a historic
personage iden-
by name, but
tified tive;
in fact,
Egyptian
it
art.
If
its character is clearly no longer primialready shows most of the features ol late
we had enough preserved
only
material to
is
I
lorus. die
god
lo( al
ol
I
trace step-by-step the evolution that led from the wall paint-
representing
ing to this palette!
very start, and the slaying
Let us
we
first
"read" the scenes on both sides.
are able to do so
is
another indication
The fact that that we have left
pper Egypt
We
effort.
real
.1
fight;
the
enemj
is a
ritual rathei
gather this from the
off his sandals
1
the court ollu
lal
ground.
and
explicit not
through the use of a broad range of visual symbols conveying precise messages to the beholder and most important of all— through the disciplined, rational or-
solemn procession behind
derliness of the design. In figure 72 N. inner has seized a
spec
On
the other side
t
on the
hush
stands for a fortified town or citadel
king in the upper right ing: a falcon standing
attached
a tether
same
soil
peats the
we
see a complex
above a clump
to a
human head
as the plants.
bit
I.
Facing the
of picture writ-
of 'papyrus
plants holds
that "grows" from the
This composite
mam scene on a symbolic level;
image actually rethe head and papy-
rus plant stand for Lower Egypt, while the victorious falcon
72, 73.
PALETTE OF KING NARMER, from Hierakonpohs
c
a
111
the Old
i
fig.
7;',
as he
when
the Lord
The bottom compartment
again on
a
symbolic
man
lies in
group of standard-bearers
shoes before lie appears
his i
he again appears
1
The same
1
to in
notion
Testament, apparenth as the result
Egyptian influence,
move
a physii al
standing on hoi)
is
the decapitated bodies of prisoners.
recurs
left
the palette
he
barefoot, followed by the sandal cairiei
enemy by the hair and is about to slay him with his mace; two more defeated enemies are placed in the bottom compartment (the small rectangular shape next to the man fallen
ol
than
(
made
clear
helpless from the
is
Narmei has taken behind him arnes them in
his right hand), .in indication that
labels, hut also
plain
is
fact that
prehistoric art behind, lor the
meaning ol these reliefs is only by means of hieroglyphic
he parallel
I
Horns and Narmei are die same, a god triumphs OVei liu man Iocs Hence, Narmei s gesture must not he taken as
level,
commands Moses to
him
in
re-enacts the
the burning \ i<
tor\
(A
hull's tail
<
was
it
ceremonial garb
next 3,000 years.
3000 B.c
fails
Slate,
to
a
enem) and knot king down a ita hanging down from his belt is shown in
both images of Narmer; section
once
with the pharaoh represented as
strong hull trampling an del.
ol
to re
for the
to
remain
a part I
of phaiaoim
Onl\ the center
con\e\ an explicit meaning; the two Ion-
height 25"
63.5cm) Egyptian Museum Cairo
KAI'IIW
\l!l
•
99
single
nri ked beasts
single observe]
at a
butes
tian artist as
had been
.iihI
ornamental 1
and their attendants have no identifying attri ma\ well be a carry-over from earlier, purely palettes. In
any event, they do not reappear
it
strives for clarity, not illusion,
in
most
gj ptian art.
telling
view
palette's style
becomes
readily apparent in contrast
in the predynastic wall painting What strikes us first is strong sense ol order: the surface of the palette has been
its
each ease. on himself: when he changes he must do so by 90 degrees, as if he were
role
the fact
74.
I00«
KM'IIW
\HI
2660
B.C
the standing
human
figure, unlike that of
an
clarity, he must combine method of doing this a method that was to is clearly shown in the survive unchanged for 2,500 years large figure of Narmer in figure 72: eye and shoulders in
ing profiles, so that, for the sake of
to a different level of reality;
1
th.it
animal, does not have a single main profile but two compet-
seems mainly ornamental; the hieroglyphic
which belong
strict rule
j
and the dead enemies. The latter are seen from above, whereas the standing figures are seen from the side. Obviously, the modern notion of representing a scene as it would appear to a signs,
he and therefore he picks the
profile, and vertically from above. Any intermediate position lne embarrasses him (note the oddly rubberlike figures fallen enemies; fig. 73, bottom). Moreover, he is faced with
di-
vided into horizontal bands (or registers), and each figure stands on a line or strip denoting the ground. The only exceptions are the attendants of the long-necked beasts.
whose
as alien to the Egyp-
his angle of vision, sighting along the edges of a cube. As a consequence, he acknowledges only three possible views: lull face, strict
Hie new inner logic of the
OGICOl EG\ PTIAN STYLE.
Narmer
is
Neolithic predecessor;
in
But he imposes a 1
moment to his
these views. His
PORTRAll PANEL Of HESY RA, from Saqqara. 14.3 cm). Egyptian Museum Cairo Wood, height 45" I
1
— —
dead and legs
frontal view, la
was worked out
so as to
m
who move in
of significance
profile.
show the
the most complete way possible.
Apparently this formu-
the pharaoh (and
.ill
the palette
persons
penumbra of his divinity) in And since the scenes depict
solemn and. as it were, timeless rituals, our artist did not to concern himself with the fact that this method of
have
human bodv made almost any kind of or action practically impossible. In fact, the fro-
Imt the proportions are
harmonious and the carving
oi
more balanced and shows
fai
the physical details
keen observation as well as -real delic ,u \ nl touch. rOMBS. When we speak ol the Egyptians attitude toward death and afterlife as expressed in then tombs we must he careful to make it clear that we do not mean the attitude ol
representing the
the average Egyptian hut only that
movement
caste clustered around the royal court
zen qualitv of the image would seem especially suited divine nature of the pharaoh; ordinary mortals ply
(/< /.
the
to
he sun
is.
Whenever
physical activity demanding any sort of effort must be depicted, the Egyptian artist does not hesitate to abandon the composite view if necessary, for such activity is always performed by underlings whose dignity dors
or strain
not have to be preserved; thus, in our palette the two animal
and the four men carrying standards are shown
trainers
strict profile
throughout (except
for the eves).
The Egyptian
human
figure, then,
seems
style of representing the
been created
purpose
specifically for the
of
visual form the majesty of the divine king;
originated it
never
times,
among
lost its
it
had
in
flavor,
in
must have
the artists working for the royal court.
ceremonial, sacred
to
even when,
of this
lass ol
c
fives ol the royal farnil)
high
officials
I
rati*
he tombs ol the who were often rela I
the- immediate neighborhood of the pharaohs' tombs, and then shape .md l
ontentS
i
are usually found in
reflect, or .ire related to.
of the divine
We
kni'j,s.
still
have
the luneraiA
monuments
a great deal to learn
about
the origin and significance of Egyptian tombs, hut there
reason
to believe that the
so-called private
concept of
tombs did not apply
afterlife to
we
is
find in the
ordinary mortals hut
only to the privileged lew because of then association with the immortal pharaohs
have
to
conveying it
members
the small arista
ol
And
m later
MASTABAS. The mastaba, the
standard form of these tombs was the
mound laced with brick or stone, above chamber, which was deep underground and the mound l>\ a shall figs. 75 and 7(> Inside the a
squarish
burial
linked to
I.
I
serve other purposes as well.
Third Dynasty The
full
beauty of the style which we saw
Narmer
in the
pal
does not become apparent until about three centuries later, during the Third Dynastv, and especially under the
ette
reign of King Zoser,
tomb
of Hesy-ra,
who was
its
greatest figure.
one of Zoser's high
officials,
From comes
Shafts^-j
the the
wooden relief (fig. 74) showing the deceased with the emblems of his rank. (These include writing materials, since the position of scribe was a highly honored one. The view of the figure corresponds exactly to that of Narmer on masterly
I
Ay.'vj
7(>
ry
'
,.!
isv
.'V
75
Group of mastabas
(after
\
Badawy)
1th
Dynast)
A'
[ransverse se< hum
ol
the Step Pyramid
ol
King Zosi
i
Saqqara
KAI'IIW
Mil
101
77.
Step Pyramid
ol
kin^ Zoser, Saqqara. 3rd Dynasty,
c.
2600
B.C.
alter. The most elaborate ol around the Step Pyramid of
pharaoh's lifetime as well as the funerary
these
is
Zoser
(fig.
make
us understand
tures
made
terials.
I
M
Hirmer
1
alter
J.
Lauer).
P.
funerary temple;
1
7
3,
1
)
pyramid (m=mastaba);
6) courts; 5) entrance hall;
1.
small temple; 8) court of North Palace;
i
9)< ourl of South Palace; 10) southern tomb
mastaba
ka and
for offerings to the
creator,
tradition.
He
Imhotep. is
the
le for
(
onspii
nous <
si/e as early as the Firsl
tynasty,
1
is
most impressive even
Imhotep used cut-stone masonry, but
architectural forms
still
ly
over
his repertory of
enduring materials. Thus we find columns of kinds— always "engaged" rather than free-standing—which echo the bundles of reeds or the wooden sup-
oped
for less
several
ports that used to be set into
mud-brick walls
their ex-
I
a traditional
i
serve as
a
great landmark.
DISTRICTS
II \l RARi"
amored
oi
false
ture
pit
the siIoik o oi
these
ol
rhe modern imagination, enthe pyramids,"
middle
'
-
I
ol
(M'll \\ Mil
apt to create a
ol
the desert
not erected as
but as part of
temples and other buildings that great religious celebrations during the
\asi funerary distru is with
were the scene
is
monuments rhey were
isolated strut tures in the
In
the
since
reflected shapes or devices devel-
is that of King Zoser first mastaba (see figs. 76 and rhe pyramid itself, unlike later examples, is a completesolid si in ture whose onl) purpose seems to have been to
built
so,
Egyptian architecture had begun with struc-
ould be elaborated to resemble a royal palace. Dur-
known (and probably
he
of mud bricks, wood, reeds, and other light ma-
ing the Third Dynasty, they developed into step pyramids; the best
to
whose
today.
a secret cubi-
and
came
first artist
the statue of the deceased. Royal mastabas grew to
t
teriors
chapel
is a
architecture has survived to
its its
recorded in history, and deservedly
achievement
COLUMNS.
of
why
Egyptian
name has been
78. Plan of the funerary district of King Zoser, Saqqara
enough
78):
deified in later
his
district
i
Papyrus half-columns, North Palace,
Funerary
district of
Kinn Zoser, Saqqara
m
order
to
The Pyramids
ft
of
Mycerinus
(c.
2470
B.C.),
C'hefren
(c.
2500
B.c
),
and Cheops
(c.
2530
B.C
I,
Giza
~\ I^W/^K
.:,*«™*W
W^^'---^
these forms have a clear-cut structural service to perform (such as supporting or enclosing), they are mere surface decoration. But
columns
dD
in figure 79:
flfl/j'gSSSSQ
all
share
We $
tt
the slender, tapering, fluted
at
papyrus-shaped halt-columns
these do not simpl) decorate the walls to which
them and give them life as were Their proportions, the feeling oi strength or resilient e the) convey then spacing, the degree to which the) project,
i
!
us look
they are attached, but interpret
^Q.OODDQOD^nH ° rA
let
in figure 77. or the
J
ii
in this task.
shall learn
more about then expressive
role
when we
discuss Greek architecture, which took oxer the Egyptian
stone column and developed let
us note one additional
sign and use
il
lac tor
lurlliei
that
I
or the time being,
max enter
into the de-
such columns: announcing the symbolic purpose of the building. The papyrus half-columns in figure oi
Lower Egypt compare the papyrus hence the) appear in the North Palace of Zoser's funerary district. The South Palace has columns ol different shape to evoke its assm iation with pper Egypt. 79 are linked with
plants
81. Plan of the pyramids at Giza
m
fig.
72
1;
I
strengthen them. But the very
fact that
lor to
Imhotep and his make them serve
fellow architec a
grasp
at first;
can express anything ma) seem
today
we tend
to
assume
Fourth Dynasty
it
redesign them so as
new. expressive purpose. The notion
that architectural forms ficult to
is to
members no made possible
these
longer had their original functional purpose
dil
thai unless
PYRAMIDS
oi
GIZA
The development
ol
climax during the Fourth Dynast)
the pyramid
the famous pyramids at Giza figs 80 and 81) all ol them he\ original!) had an die familial smooth sided shape
reac
hes
its
in
triad of great ol
I
UM'II
W
Mil
Hi
I
outei casing
dressed stone, which has disap
carefully
oi
peared except near the top of the Pyramid
ol
(
Each
!hefren.
the three differs slighd) from the others in details of de-
oi
sign
shown in Cheops fig.
construction; the essential features arc
.iikI
mi don
the
the earliest and lamest, thai of
ol
I
now near the center of the strucrather than helow ground as in the Step Pyramid of
the burial ture,
/use!
chamber
is
Clustered about die three
pyramids are several
number
smallei ones and a large
members
of mastabas lor
of the royal family and high officials, but the unified funer-
ofZoser has given way
ary district
to a
adjoining each of the great pyramids
simpler arrangement;
to
the east
is
a funerary
temple, from which a processional causeway leads to a sec-
ond temple
lower
at a
the Nile valley, at a distance
level, in
ol'
about a third of a mile.
Silhouette
ol
//
original
lacing 'Kith
\\
1
83.
//
/Y
THE GREAT SPHINX.
Giza.
c.
2500
B.C.
Height 65'
(
19.8
AirshaA
kind's
chamber
//So-called Queen's
cli
False ton
82. North-south section of Pyramid of
GB EAT SPHINX.
II E amid I
ol
(
e rock
liv
ment
sc
lit;.
(
83
alley
temple of
the-
Pyr-
perhaps an even more impressive embodi-
).
The
1
from the body of a
and once bore
(damage
inflicted
thousand years
lion
towers
to a
height of
the features of Chefduring Islamic times has ob-
in all probability,
upon
it
ured the details of the lace
th.it a
\
divine kingship than the pyramids themselves.
ol
feet
ren
to the
(alter L. Borchardt)
'lichen stands the Great Sphinx carved from the
royal he. id rising
65
Next
Cheops
later
it
).
Its
awesome majesty
such
is
could be regarded as an image
of the sun-god.
Enterprises
ol
this
huge
scale
mark
the high point of
pharaonit power Alter the end of the Fourth Dynasty (less
than two again
<
after /user) they
lued to be built
i
sheei si/e ai
entmies
although pyramids on
(
oi
a
were never attempted
much more modest
The world has always marveled
the great pyramids as well as
at
scale at
the
the technical
omplishmenl they represent; but they have also come to ol slave labor thousands of men
be regarded as svmbols Ion ed bv
(
lute rulers
ruel masters to serve the
Sui b a
pii
ture
oids have been preserved
Hii
•
lt.)l-ll\\
\ltl
maj
iikIk
aggrandizement of abso-
well be unjust: certain
ret
ating that the labor was paid
HI
cm
height
i
(><>"
in v (
from Giza.
167.7
cm
i
c.
2500 B.C
Egyptian
Diorite,
Museum,
(
lairo
m)
for,
we are probably nearer the truth we regard monuments as vast public works providing economic
so that
these
ii
security for a good part of the population.
PORTRAITURE. Apart from its architectural achievements, the chief glories of Egyptian art, during the Old Kingdom and
later,
are the portrait statues recovered from
funerary temples and tombs.
One
of the finest
is
that of
Chefren, from the valley temple of his pyramid (fig. HAt. Carved of diorite, a stone of extreme hardness, it shows the king enthroned, with the falcon of the god Horus enfolding the back of the head with its wings we encountered the asI
sociation, in different form, in the
Here the Egyptian sculptor's
Narmer
palette,
"cubic'' view of the
fig.
72).
human
86. c.
2580
PRINCE HANOI
\M> HIS WIFE SOhRET.
Museum.
Egyptian
form appears
!•
I
Painted limestone, height
B.C.
ATA" (120 cud
Cairo
the sculptor prepared the
in lull force: clearly,
and side views on the faces ol a rectangular block and then worked inward until these views met. The result is a figure almost overpowering m its threedimensional firmness and immobility Truly it is a magnifstatue by drawing
front
its
The
icent vessel lor the spirit!
powerfully
built,
suggests some individual pare
it
and
both, well proportioned
completely impersonal; only the lace
is
as will be seen
traits,
with that of Mvcerinus
I
fig.
85
).
il
we com-
Chefren's sue
<
essoi
and the builder of the third and smallest pyramid at Giza Mvcerinus. accompanied b\ bis queen, is standing. Both have the left loot placed forward, vet there is no hint ol a forward movement Since the two are almost ol the same height, the) afford an interesting comparison
beaut) as interpreted by one of the finest
fern. lie
dom
sculptors,
lure
ol
who knew ol
Old King-
how to contrast the stru< how to emphasize the soil.
queen through her
light
and
close-
gown.
fitting
who
fhe sculptor
and
the
male and
ol
not only
the two bodies but also
swelling forms
ol
Ills
wile Nofrel
I
carved the statues
was
fig. HI.
ol
Prince Rahotep
less subtle in this respec
t
They owe then strikingl) lifelike appearance to then vivid coloring, which the) must have shared with other such statues but which has survived completer) intact only in a lew instances fhe darker both color ol the prime has no indiit is the standard masculine complexion fhe eves have been inlaid with shining
vidual significance; 85.
MYCER1NUS AND
MS QUEEN,
Slate, height 54!
Courtesy
<>i
Museum
i"
<>i
from Giza 2599 I
I
12.3 cm).
line Arts, Boston
-2">7
1
B.C
in
I
gyptian
quartz trait
<
to
art
make them
baiac
lei
ol
the
look as alive as possible I. ii
es
is
and the
por-
\er\ pronounc ed
/(.W//W
Mil
•
/u",
UK,
•
M.W//W
Mil
Standing and seated figures
omprise the basic repertorj
<
of Egyptian large-scale sculpture in the round At the end
ol
the Fourth Dynasty, a third pose was added, as symmetrical
and immobile as the first two: that of the scribe squatting cross-legged on the "round. The finest of these scribes dates from the beginning of the Fifth Dynasty fig 87 he name I
1.
i
whose tomb at Saqqara the statue was found) unknown, but we must not think of him as a low lv secre-
of the sitter (in is
'Win
."'-'"li-i
i,,j'
;
i'">
tary waiting to take dictation; rather, the figure represents a
—
—
"master of sacred and secret lettreatment of form bespeaks the dignity of his station (which in the beginning seems to have been restricted to the sons of pharaohs Our example high court ters,"
official,
and the
a
solid, incisive
).
stands out not only for the vividly alert expression of the face, but also lor the individual
records the
somewhat
handling of the
flabby body of a
man
Another invention of Old Kingdom for granted. Yet its origin is
was the
art
bust, a species ol sculpture so familiar that
puzzling: was
torso.
v\
past middle
we tend
huh a*j,e.
portrait to
take
it
simply an abbre-
it
viated statue, a cheaper substitute for a full-length figure?
Or
did it have a distinct purpose of its own, perhaps as remote echo of the Neolithic custom of keeping the head of the ,1
deceased separate from the
Be
that as
the finest this
it
rest of his
body (see page 81
may, the earliest of these busts
(fig.
— indeed, one of the great portraits
noble head,
we
find a
88)
)?
also
time
ol all
memorable image
is
In
of the sitter's
individual character as well as a most subtle differentiation
between the
solid,
immutable shape of the
skull
and
its soft.
89.
WATt IliNC
11
flexible covering of flesh.
Painted limestone
87. (opposite)
SEATED SCRIBE, from Saqqara.
C.
2400
lit
Limestone, height 21" (53.3 cm). Musee du Louvre. Paris
\
relief, c.
illl'l'oroi
2400
t.\/(
\i
s 111
Tomb
B.<
of
R Saqqara
TOMB DECORATION. let
us look brief
I
chambers
offering
Before we leave the Old Kingdom, some of the scenes of daily life from the
at
\
ol
chitectural overseer iii
89
figure
nonroyal tombs, such as that of the arli
at
Saqqara
I
he hippopotamus hunt
of special interest to us bee ause of
is
scape setting. The background of the rebel
is
papyrus thicket: the stems of the plants make
its
land-
formed
bj
a
a regular, rip-
pling pattern thai erupts in the top /one into an agitated
scene
nesting birds
ol
ly
menaced
fhe wa-
b\ small predators
bottom /one. marked
ter in the
In a
zigzag pattern,
is
crowded with Struggling hippopotamuses and
these,
.is
well as the hunters in the
served and
second
lull
boat,
first
h himself standing
immobile, as
he belonged
world. Ills pose
that ol the
is
ii
luneran
All
boat, are ac utelv ob-
of action. onl\
is
equal-
fish
in the
to a different
and
portrait reliefs
compare fig, 7 P. and he lowers above (he olhei men suue be is more important than they, Ills size also hits him out ol the context ol the hunt he neither directs nor supervises it. but simph observes Ills
statues
£
passive role
ceased be
a
is
harac Icnstic
c
in all sue
1
subtle waj
but the
spun
is
BUST OF
Limestone,
lifesize
\\Kiill\i
Museum
from Giza ol
(
2520
B.I
Fine Arts, Boston
We
the representations It
ol
i
i
the de-
seems is
to
(U,u\ this
ol
man can no longer participate in them di-
should also noic thai these
si enes ol dail) life do dead man's favorite pastimes; the) did, he would be looking ba< k and sut h nostalgia is quite alien
rec
PRINCI
ol
cues from the old Kingdom
onveying the lac thai the bod) alive and aware ol the pleasures
ol
world though the
;.
sc
1
il\
noi represent the
ii
KM'IIW
\i:i
•
107
CATTLE FORDING A RIVER
90.
to
Kingdom tombs.
the spirit of Old
fact, that
It
Detail of a painted limestone
has been shown, in
these scenes form a seasonal cycle, a sort of perpet-
ual calendar of recurrent
human
activities for the spirit of
the deceased to watch year in and year out. For the the other hand, these scenes offered a to
widen
ten find
relief
on
welcome opportunity
powers of observation, so that astounding bits of realism. his
Another
artist,
in details
we
of-
of
hi
(fig.
from the tomb of Ti shows some cattle
ed in Old Kingdom
art.
anything
eventually
we
It
is
as delightful as
will
similar
in
it
is
ford-
unexpect-
be some time before the
human
we
realm.
en-
But
even see the deceased abandoning his
shall
passive, timeless stance to participate in scenes of daily
life.
never regained
oil,
ipse oi
entralized pharaonic
i
of the Sixth Dynast)
turbances and
During most oi lo< al
North
ill
Egypt entered
oi this
South
power
at
the end
a period of political dis-
fortune that was to
last
almost 700 years.
tunc effective authority
lay in the
who
revived the old rivalry of
followed one another in
and Twelfth, constitute the Middle king-
rapid succession, but only two, the Eleventh
are worth) dom'.!! '.I to reassert
ol
note
The
latter
when a series of able rulers managed themselves against the provincial nobilit) How 1785b.<
los 'EGYPTIAN
having once been broken,
old effectiveness,
and the authority of the
to
be personal rather than
Soon after the close of the Twelfth Dynasty, the weakened country was invaded by the Hyksos, a west-
institutional.
who
ern Asiatic people of somewhat mysterious origin, it
for
150 years until their
expulsion by the princes of Thebes about 1570
B.C.
PORTRAITURE. The reflected in Middle
'
unquiet
Kingdom
art.
spirit
We
of the times
find
it
is
well
especially in the
new type of royal portrait that marks the Twelfth Dynasty, such as the one in figure 91. There is a real sense of shock on first encountering this strangely modern face; the serene assurance of the Old Kingdom has given way to a brooding, troubled expression that bespeaks a new level of self-awareness. Deprived of
Its
uncompromising that
at
first
royal trappings,
our fragment displays
a realism, physical as well as
psycho-
glance the link with the sculptural
tradition ol the past seems broken entirely. Here is another enduring achievement of Egyptian art, destined to live on in Roman portraiture and in the portraiture of the
Renaissance.
hands
Main dynasties
or regional overlords,
.uid
its
Middle Kingdom pharaohs tended
logical,
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM <
of Ti, Saqqara
ever, the spell of divine kingship,
so
\ihi the
Tomb
90);
emotional relationship
counter
B.C.
seized the Delta area and ruled
one of the herders carries a newborn calf on his back to keep it from drowning, and the frightened animal turns its head to look back at its mother, who answers with an equally anxious glance. Such sympathetic portrayal ing a river
2400
relief, c.
PAINTING AND RELIEF A also
makes
w here
it
vention.
itself felt in
leads to
all
loosening of established rules
Middle Kingdom painting and
sorts of interesting departures
They occur most conspicuously
the tombs of local princes
at
in the
relief,
from con-
decoration of
Beni Hasan, which have sur-
vived destruction better than most Middle
Kingdom monu-
91.
PORTRAIl Of SESOSTRISUI
C.
1850 B.C
The Metropolitan of Edward S. Harkness, 1926
Quartzite, height 6'/«" (15.7 cm).
Museum
New
of Art,
York. Gift
92 FEEDING
Tomb
THE ORYXES
of Khnum-hotep,
merits because they are carved into the living rock.
I
lie
mural Feeding the Oryxes fig. 92 comes from one of these rock-cut tombs, that of Khnum-hotep. (As the emblem of the prince's domain, the oryx antelope seems to have been a I
sort of
honored pet
in his
dards of Old Kingdom
1
household.
art,
.til
)
According
same
ground-line, or the second oryx and
ought
to
be placed above the
to the stan-
the figures ought to share the
first;
its
attendant
instead, the painter lias
C.
1920
B.C.
Hem Hasan
introduced
a
higher two groups are rethat closel) approximates normal appear-
secondary
ground-line only slightlj
than the primarj one. and as lated
in
a
\\a\
a result the
ances His interest in exploring spatial effects can also be seen in the awkward but quite bold foreshortening oi the shoulders
ol
the two attendants
II
we cover up
glyphic signs, w Im b emphasize the Batness
can "icad" the forms
in
ol
the hiero-
the wall,
we
depth with surprising ease
EGYPTIAN Mil
•
lo'i
93. Funerary
Temple
of Hatshepsut, Deir el-Bahari. 18th Dynasty,
c.
1480
B.C.
THE NEW KINGDOM The
five hundred years following the expulsion of the Hykand comprising the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth dynasties, represent a third Golden Age of Egypt. The country, once more united under strong and efficient kin«s, extended its frontiers far to the east, into Palestine and Syria hence this period is also known as the Empire). During the climactic period of power and prosperity, between c. 1500
sos,
I
and the end of the reign of Harnesses III in 102 B.C., tremendous architectural projects were carried out, centering on the region of the new capital, Thebes, while the royal 1
y
tombs reached uneqiialcd material splendor. ITie divine kingship of the pharaohs was now asserted in a new way: b) association with the nod Amun, whose identity had been fused with that of the sun-god Ha. and who be(
ame
the
supreme
deity, ruling the lesser
nods
much
as the
ph. ii. ioh towered
above the provincial nobility. Hut this very development produced an unexpected threat to royal authority; he priests oi Am tin grew into a caste of such wealth i
and powei
thai the
with then conseni figure
ol
the
I
pharaoh could maintain his position only Amenhotep IV. the most remarkable
ighteenth Dynasty, tried
proc Lin in n- Ins faith in a single god, the
changed his nam<
UO'ECYPTIAI
to
to
defeal
them by
sun disk Aten.
Vkhenaten closed the
I
le
Amun temples,
94. I'lan
ol
Imuran Temple
Queen Hatshepsul
(after
of
Lange)
and moved the Tell
capital to central Egypt, near the
el'Amarna. His attempt
to
modern
place himself at the head
ol a
new monotheistic faith, however, did not outlast his reign 1365-1347 B.C and under his successors orthodoxy was speedily restored. During the long decline that began about 1000 B.C., the country became increasingly priest-ridden, until, under Greek and Roman rule. Egyptian civilization came to an end in a welter of esoteric religious doctrines New Kingdom art covers a vast range of styles and quality, ),
(
from
rigid
conservatism
to brilliant inventiveness,
later,
it
is
art of Imperial
almost impossible
to
most delicate refinehundred years summarize in terms ol a rep-
Rome
the holv
rock
ol
oilier deities
holies
— through
three
reminiscent of those
pyramid
at
fifteen
the shape
ol'
at
(
,\/a. It
on ascending a pro<
toward
into the levels
essional road
hut with the mountain instead
this
is
led
is
magnificent union
of
an
note flow ramps and colonnades
hi
ec
makes latshepsut's temple Old Kingdom monuments
the cliff— that
any of the
ho the
I
TEMPLE AT LUXOR. The dom
continued
to build
imperial temples of
a fabric so
complex that any choice of monuments is bound seem arbitrary. All we can hope to accomplish is to convey some of the flavor of its variety.
reigning
to
temple
Amun.
monarch
at
tic
of
his wile
tfie
Amun
was devoted to huge supreme god whom the claimed as Ins lather The
the
traditionally
Mut. and their son Kfionsu. was begun Amenhotep III hut was extended and
by
B.<
completed more than the architectural en-
King-
Luxor, across the Nile from Thebes, dedicated to
about 1390
Architecture
later rulers ol the Nev.
funerary temples, but an evei greal
er share of their architectural energies
resentative sampling. Different strands are interwoven into
TEMPLE OF HATSHEPSUT. Among
he worshiper
I
hamher driven deep courts
large
the end
lecture and nature
rival ol
<
ramps among long colonnades
linked hv
of a
small
a
from op-
pressively massive ostentation to the
ment. Like the
Anion and several
a
century later
Its
plan
is
i
hai.u lens
general pattern of later Egyptian temples
I
he
have survived from the early years of the New Kingdom, the outstanding one is the Funerary Temple of
facade consists of two massive walls, with sloping sides.
Queen Hatshepsut,
pylon
terprises that
cliffs
built
about 1480
of Deir el-Bahari (figs. 93
B.C.
against the rocky
and 94) and dedicated
95. Court and pylon of
Ramesses
II. c.
Temple
to
12(>() B.<
of
.
flanking the entrance; this unit (fig.
97, A).
95, far
The
I.
and
fig.
ol
tmenhotep
is
known
as the gateway
96) and leads
court, in tins case
colonnade and court
Amun-Mut-Khonsu,
left,
Ml.
is
c
to
the court
a parallelogram,
1390
I
01 fig.
because
B.<
uxor
HM'll P
Mil -111
1
1
•
•
ECYPTI
iiiiimmnj "
97. Plan of the i
Temple
alter N.
of
Amun-Mut-Khonsu, Luxor
de Cans Daviesi
98. Brick storehouses. Mortuary reniple of Harnesses
West Thebes,
Harnesses II. who added it to the temple thai had been planned under Amenhotep 111, changed the axis of his court slightly, so as to
conform with the direction of the Nile. We hall, which brings us to the second and C; 114. 95, center and right On its Far
then enter a pillared court
(fig.
97.
P.
f
I.
we find another pillared hall. Beyond it. the temple proper begins: a series of symmetrically arranged halls and side
1260
c.
for
II
lit
the
signed
monumental fagade to
and could but marvel at the lorcolumns that screened the dark recesses of the s.im The columns had to be closeb spaced, lor they tuary. supported the stone lintels ol the ceiling, and these had to be short to keep them from breaking under their own weight -
"let
halls,
and temple was en-
closed by high walls that shut off the outside world. Except
the architect has consciousl) exploited this condition
sult,
far
effet
1
is
when measured
Egyptian architecture
96. (opposite) Pylon
ol
Ramesses I.
uxor
1
heavier than the) need be As
the beholder feels almost crushed
The overavt ing vulgar
Temple of Amun-Mut-Khonsu,
de-
is
weii' confined to the courts
making the columns
extreme right). The entire sequence of courts,
96) such a structure
es! ol
columns
97.
fig
be experienced from within; ordinary worshipers
chapels shielding the holy of holies, a square room with four (fig.
"F •"" •
c
l>\
their sheer
l>\
a re-
mass
ertainl) impressive, but also rather
against the earlier masterpieces
We
ol
need only compare the papyrus
II.
columns ol the colonnade ol Amenhotep III with their remote ancestors in Zoser's North Palace fig 79 in order to realize how little ol the genius ol Imhotep has survived at
1260 B.C
I.
uxor
/CW'M
ix
\m
•
//
|
99. MAI
AND
Ills
Detail of a limestone relief.
WIFE UREL.
BRICK ARCHITECTURE. The massive
C.
1375
B.C.
vastness of their
Tomb
of
•*.-
4fei
Ramose. Thebes
temples makes us think that the Egyptians built mainly in stout'. Yet. except where absolute durability was essential for religions reasons, they used sun-dried mud The bricks, a cheaper and more convenient material.
tombs
.uid
achievements of Egyptian brick architecture have attracted comparatively little interest so far, and much of the work has been destroyed, but the few well-preserved structures, such .is
the storehouses attached to the mortuary temple of HaII (fig. 98), show
rnesses
building techniques. These barrel vaults, with a span of over 13 leet. anticipate the engineering skill of the Romans.
Akhenaten (
)l
mams ouh
above ground.
1
le
in his religious beliefs
in his
<
hoice of masters.
striking!) evident I
mill
III
if
99), with a
only about ten years
the li.iduion.il style
and
new
a
ideal of
contrast with the past a
head
beauty
becomes
in low relief from the
end of the reign of Amenhotep low-relief portrait of Akhenaten that is later in dale dm. 100). Figure 99 shows at the
at its best;
(be wonderful subtlety of the
the precision and refinement of
arving
i
style
The
we compare
ml Ramose, done
(fig.
but in his artistic tastes as well.
new
oust loush fostering a
(
Akhenaten hardly anything remust have been a revolutionary not
the great projects built by
its
lines
makes
100.
Akhenaten seem at first glance like a brutal cariature \nd the latter work is indeed an extreme statement oi the new ideal with its oddly haggard features and overin ih. iik undulating outlines. Still, we can perceive its km the head
xui
[Ml
\
NHOTEP
1\
e.
i
i
\kin
1360 B.C Limestone, height 3 Va" (8. ] cm). Agyptisches Museum. Staatliche Museen, Berlin
ol
|
famous bust of Akhenaten's queen, 101) one of the masterpieces of the "Akhena-
the plasiK
shapes,
ship with the iiisib
lull
Nofretete
anti-geometric, as
fig
the delightful
ten style not greater realism so
What distinguishes this style is as a new sense ol form thai seeks
mui
li
dition
in-
immobility
km
:
\\
\i;l
ol
Egyptian
art;
lo
unfreeze the
not only
tra
the contours
it
seem more
too.
were.
fragment
daughters of Akhenaten
We ol
a
(fig.
pliable
and relaxed.
find these qualities again in
wall
painting showing the
102).
rheir playful gestures
and informal poses seem in defiance of all rules of pharaonic dignity
101.
QUEEN nofretete Agyptisches
c.
1360 B.c Limestone, heigh
Museum.
Staatliche
l
19"
(50 cm)
Museen, Berlin
J
*
mm
i
9
102.
THE DAUGHTERS Ol \kiii\\n\
c
1360
B.<
ll
!»•
10>
10.7
cm
fhe Oriental Institute
m '.'.'.
University of Chicago
KM'IIW
Mil
•
//",
m<*
)RKMEN CARRYING
A
BEAM, from the Tomb of Horemheb, Saqqara.
Mi
|
ovei
(
Cold height
Hi,
EGYPT/AN \IH
oi
oi
the coffin
Inlaid with
"I
I
utankhamen.
c.
c.
1325
B.C.
1340 B.C
enamel and semiprecious stones,
whole 72%" (185 cm). Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Museo
Civico, Bologna
The old religious tradition was quickly restored after Ak hena ten's death, but the artistic innovations he en< ouraged could be
felt in Egyptian art for some time to tome. The scene of workmen struggling with a heavy beam fig. 103 from the Tomb of Horemheb at Saqqara, shows a freedom i,
i
and expressiveness
that
would have been unthinkable
in
earlier times.
As unique in its waj .is the gold coffin is a painted best from the same tomb showing the youthful king in kittle and hunting scenes fig 105) Phese had been traditional i
subjects since the late years
ol
the Old
Kingdom
bul here
done with astonishing freshness al leasl so fai as the animals are concerned While the king and his horse drawn hariot remain frozen againsl the usual blank ba< k -round Idled with hieroglyphs, the same It.i. kground in the the) are
<
right-hand hall the sulfate
Tutankhamen
henaten
Tutankhamen, who died at the age fame entirely to the accident that his is the only pharaonic tomb discovered in our times with most style (fig. 104).
owes
his
of its contents undisturbed. The sheer material value of the tomb (Tutankhamen's gold coffin alone weighs 250 pounds)
makes ticed in
ol
the scene suddenl) turns into a desert;
covered With stippled dots
desert plants are strewn across
Even the lace of Akhenaten's successor. Tutankhamen, as it appears on his gold coffin cover, betrays an echo of the Akof eighteen,
is
understandable that grave robbing has been pracEgypt ever since the Old Kingdom. To us, the exqui-
it
it
m
on the walls of tombs; perhaps this livelj scattering ol forms against a landscape bat kground existed only on the miniature scale of the scenes on Tutankhamen's hest, and even (
there Style.
it
became
How
possible onl) as a result of the AJchenaten these animals-in landscape survived in later
Egyptian painting we do not know, but the) must have survived somehow, for their resemblance done more than 2,000 years later is
more impressive.
ignored.
MTANKHAMEh HUNTING
from a painted chest found in the king's tomb, [hebes
Length of scene
<
20"
50.7
SUggesI sand
and the animals stampede over it helter-skelter without anv ground-lines to impede then flight. Here is an aspect ol Egyptian painting that we rarel) see
site workmanship of the coffin cover, with the rich play of colored inlays against the polished gold surfaces, is even
105.
to
considerable varietj
to Islamic
miniatures
far too striking to
be
l.UO H<
cm) Egyptian Museum Cairo
km'ii
w
Mil
•
;/:
CHAPTER THREE
ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN ART LAkE VAN
.DurSharrukin Nli
Mh '.Nt>mtd
'
ASS1RIA -t,
Teheran
Asiur
AKkAD,TeUAsmar
l
uri s
Baghdad' mCUS iplwn
"^ <
'Bah/tow
SUMER.
^
**\
5l;5(I *
ZLAM Nalsh-i-Kustnm Persepohs
ARABIA PERSIAN RED\ SI A
Mllft
200
SUMERIAN ART plates
just about the
same
have learned enough
Yel \\c
an odd and astonishing fact that human civilization should have emerged into the light ofhistory m two separate is
It
achievements
this
ol
form
to
vigorous
general
a
tun
pii
the
ol
and disciplined
inventive
people
Between 3500 and 3000 B.C., when Egypt was being united under pharaonk rule, another great Civilization arose in Mesopotamia, the "land between the rivers." And for close to 3,000 years, the two rival
RELIGION. Each Sumerian city-state had its own local who was regarded as its "king" .nu\ ownei also had a human ruler the steward ol the divine sovereign who led
centers retained their distinct character, even though the) had contact with each Other from their earliest beginnings
expected
and
deities
at
time.
god
m
the people
their destinies were interwoven in man) ways. he pressures that forced the inhabitants of both regions to abandon the pattern of Neolithic village life may well have
to
who
serving the deit)
plead the
c
ause
commands, transmitted
).
trough with lew natural defenses,
crossed by two great rivers and their encroached upon from any direction.
Thus
tributaries,
c
and
had
riss-
ambition did not appear, so
far as
we know,
tive
who until
and
it
ords.
consequence, the political history of ancient Mesopotamia has no underlying theme of the sort that divine
early
fare.
As
a
kingship provides
were
these
All
human
people bv his
to the
the popula
ol
subjeel
his
to
steward
It
was the temple
and resources
labor
ol
that controlled
communal
lor
enter-
required the keeping of detailed written
All this
Hence we need not be surprised Sumerian inscriptions deal ver)
to find that
rei
the texts
largel) with
ol
economic
and administrative rathei than religious matters although w riting was priesd) inn ilege
Egypt; local rivalries, foreign incur-
lor
products.
such as the building of dikes or irrigation ditches collet led and distributed a considerable part ol the
harvest
the cost of almost continuous war-
at
power
stale but also the labor
v
its
center was the temple.
prises,
about a thousand years alter the beginnings of Mesopotacivilization, and they succeeded in carrying it out only
and
H
(
and
the pooling
mian
lor brief periods
Ins fellow
The result was an economic svsiem that has been dubbed "theocratic mh lalism." a planned soc letv whose administra
the (acts of geography tended to discourage the idea
this
(he
tor) ol
easily
of uniting the entire area under a single head. Rulers
among
.1
wide,
shallow
was
god, in return
leililitv
Hon
41
lo< al
controlled the forces
weather, water,
But the valley of the Qgris and Euphrates rivers, unlike that of the Nile, is not a narrow fertile strip protected by deserts on either side; it resembles a fig.
he
1
his subje< ts
ol
ol nature sue b as wind and and the heavenlv bodies \,,i was the idea ol divine ownership treated as mere pious Ik Hon; the god was quite literall) believed to own not only the terri
I
been the same (see
It
,i
sudden upsurge and equally sudden collapse of military power these are its substance. Against such a disturbed background, the continuity of cultural and artistic traditions seems all the more remarkable. This common sions, the
—
heritage
conveyed
whom we
civilization,
call
Sumerians
ol
the Tigris and Euphrates.
The
Sumerians remains obscure. Then language is unrelated to any other known tongue. Sometime before 4000 B.C they came to southern Mesopotamia from Persia, and there, within the next thousand years, the) founded a number of city-states and developed their distinc tive form of writing in cuneiform (wedge-shaped) characters on clay tablets. This transitional phase, corresponding the predynastic period
m
Egypt,
is
called "protoliterate";
leads to the early dynastic period, from about
The
lit
(irst
3000
evidence of Bronze Age culture
Sumer around 4000
i:
is
23
to
seen
it
ol ol
parable
the pyramids
to
required and
then
in
cities
ol
effe<
\,ist
.i
Ihese
the local god
mountains comEgypt in the immensit) ol effort as great landmarks that towei true
I
above the featureless plain Ihev are known as zigguratS The most (anions ol them, the biblical lowei ol Babel has
been completelv destroyed
but a much earliei example 3000 b.i and thus several enturies oldei the pyramids, survives at W.uka the site ol
built shoitlv before
than the Inst
Sumerian
10
the
in
mound
ol c
<
ol
itv
I
ink
i
ailed
sloping sides reinfon
its
T let
etl
h in the Bible
b) solid
bm
k
I
he
masonr)
and ramps lead up to the called the "White temple" because ol its whitewashed brick exteriot figs 106 and 107). Its heavv walls articulated bv regularl) spaced pit) |et tions and ret esses .11 e siilllt lent v well pieseivetl to rises to a height ol
<
Sumerian was
ol
red area that
raised platform, stood the temple
.
to
a sac
platforms soon reached the height
origin of the
-
bv
clustered about
alter the re-
gion of Sumer, which they inhabited, near the confluence
the layout
rhe houses an Inlet tural complex embracing not onl) shrines but workshops storehouses, and scribes' quarters as well In then midst mi a
very largely the creation of the rounders of Meso-
is
potamian
ARCH! fECTURE. fne dominant role of the temple as the center of both spiritual and phvsical existence is strikni'Jv
H) feet; stairs
platform on which stands the sanctuar)
ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONDITIONS. tangible remains of
scanty compared
to
being unavailable
mud
Sumerian
those
m
ol
ancient Egypt; building stone
brick and wood, so that almost nothing
Egyptians' concern w
ith
ol'
Nor did
is
lilt ol
the) share the
some ri< hlv vaulted chambers below
— in the shape of — of the earl) dynastic period have been found
Ur.
pends very
Our knowledge largely
then
the hereafter, although
endowed tombs ground
the
are extremel)
Mesopotamia, the Sumerians used
architecture except the foundations.
city
Unfortunately,
civilization
of
Sumerian
numbers
ol
the
civilization thus de-
on chance fragments brought
excavation, including vast
in
inscribed
c
to lighi b) lav tablets.
I
suggest son nil un '4 line
I
he
mam
ol
room
the original appearance 01
cella
weie offered before the statue
fig ol
that runs the entire length ol the
seiies ol smallei t
ella is
chambers
on the southwest
die stairs or on one
might expet
must \h\\
t
iht
Mm
the god.
is
temple and the
side, rathei
ol
where
108
the strut sacrifices
a
narrow
hall
is
Ranked
bv a
main entrance
to
the
than mi the side
fa<
ing
o| the temple as one understand the reason I01 this we ziggural and temple as whole the entire ol
the narrow sides
In ordei to
.1
\\(
II
\l \l
\i:
I
ts;/
/;•,
\/;/
.
//<,
The "White Temple" on
106.
107 Plan or the
complex ing
.a
planned
the bottom
around cell. i.
is
White Temple" on
.is
The
sort of
ol
in
such
way
a
ziggurat (alter
many corners
II.
ziggurat,
is
forced to go
as possible before he reaches the
procession. il path, in other words, resembles a
angular
a
is
straight, single axis ol
Egyptian temples (see
m g the following 2,500 years
fig.
was elaborated
it
97). Dui
into ever
tall
n
and more towerlike ziggurats rising in multiple stages, rhe one built b) King I Irnammu at Ur about 2500 b.< (fig. 109 had three levels. Little is left of the upper two stages,
will
and
its
some
.">()
feet high,
has survived
facing of brick has been restored.
impulse behind these
sum tuns
'
<
ertainl)
pride attributed to the builders of the fowei
120-
\\(
II
\l \l Ml
I
3500-3000
\s// i;\
\in
B.C.
108. Interior of the eella. "White
Temple"
reflect, rather, the widespread belief mountaintops are the dwelling places of the gods (we
Old Testament. They th.it
need only think of the Mount Olympus of the Creeks). The
Sumerians
felt
they could provide a
own
artificial
lit
residence lor a deity
mountains.
fundamental characteristic
religious architecture, in contrast to the
but the bottom one
Iraq. c.
onl\ by creating their
spiral.
Mesopotamian
Uruk (Warka),
Frankfort)
that the worshiper, start-
the stairs on the east side,
Tins "bent-axis approach" ol
its
its
fairly
What was
the
not the kind ol ol
Babel
in
the
image of the god to whom the "White temple" was dedicated is lost— it was probably Anu, but a splendid female head of white the god of the sk\ marble bom the same period at Uruk (Warka) may well have belonged to another cult statue! fig. 110). The eves and eyebrows were originally inlaid with colored materials, and
STONE SCULPTURE. Hie
the hair
was covered w
ith a
"wig" of gold or copper. The
of the figure, which must have been close to abl\ consisted of wood. is
on the
rest
prob-
artistic achievement, this head works of Egyptian Old Kingdom
As an
level ol the finest
lifesize,
109. Ziggurat of King
I
10.
n
MALI in
Urnammu,
\i>
Marble, heighi 8"
from 20
I
I
L'r
ruk
cm
I
i
EJ Muqeiyar), Iraq.
Warka Iraq
i
1500
c.
1000
2500
B.C.
B.(
Museum, Baghdad
\\<
//
\; \i
\i:
i
\su rn
\m
•
/_>/
m
ulpture
create
he sold) swelling
balance
.1
worths
I
combined with the
the lips
sensuousness and
ol
rather than the realistic
stone
si
group
ol
ulpture
severity
lell
Asmar
outlines Liter than the head
mother goddess; the
1
Uruk
times,
The
tallest,
BRONZE OH ASSKMBLKD SCULPTURE. The
about 30 incites
vegetation; the second larg-
ol
others, priests
cylindrical simplification of the
and worshipers. rest not
teristic
the larger diameter of the pupils of their
hen insistent stare
he present
to
1
in their
images, and the
tempt
to
none
of
and schematic,
ple in nature.
in order to
Such an
windows of sense of form was es-
avokl distracting attention from the eves, "the
the soul."
II
the Egyptian sculptor's
by cutting his forms out of a
ic
achieve a real likeness. The bodies as well as the
laces are rigorously simplified
association of animals with deities
from prehistoric times; we find
T*jM
it
1
1
not only in
-,
1 4Mj^|
4I
1
"
W
**
\
mm
W
(*\H
TPKshH ^C W
^i
f^Mg?
Kol
JW
IB ^H -
-^
i\'
,
gp2r
'
HT\j
^m
jfl
1
1
IM^^L^i^B
9
-
Hal HL 1
1
I
1
122
•
ANCIENT
Nl
\lt
I
\sn
Si. lines
JO"
/,'\
(76
1/;/
from the \bu remple, I
cm)
Iraq
lell
Asmar
conic-
charac-
power of expression as it gazes at us from between the branches of the symbolic tree. And well it might, for it is sacred to the god Tammuz and thus embodies the male princi-
messages to them indicates any at-
the) portrayed, offering prayers or transmitting
the deity in their stead. Yet
is
pieces of the latter kind, roughly contemporary with the Tell
the worshipers served as stand-ins lor the persons
ol
who works
statues
Asmar figures, have been found in the tombs at Ur which we had occasion to mention earlier. They include the fascinating object shown in figure 112, an offering stand in the shape of a ram rearing up against a flowering tree. The animal, marvelously alive and energetic, has an almost demon-
"Representation" here had a very direct meaning: the statues
of the carver,
Asmar
Tell
(
is
their eyes.
gods were believed
far
A far more flexible and realistic style prevails among the Sumerian sculpture that was made by addition rather than subtraction that is. either modeled in soft materials for casting in bronze or put together by combining such varied substances as wood, gold leaf, and lapis lazuli). Some
.ill the figures are enormous. emphasized by colored inlays, which are still in place. The entire group must have stood in the cella of the Abu temple, the priests and worshipers confronting the two gods and communicating with them through I
a
solid block.
only by
although the eyes of
eyes
sculpture had acquired
and again.
as seen in a
period
when Mesopotamian
richer repertory of shapes, this quality asserted itself again
Ill) carved about five
fig.
The two deities are distinguished from the their size but b)
the
ol
ones, that survived in the
the earl) dynastic
ol
figures from
high, represents Vbu, the god est, a
Sunienan was based on the cone and cylindei Anns and lcj,s have the roundness of pipes, and the long skirts worn by all these figures are as smoothly curved as if the) had heen turned on a lathe Even in later sentially cubic, lh. it of the
<>!
huge eyes, that seems
the
ol
and expressive aspects
head
1
hecks, the delicate curves
any goddess
ol
w.is the geometrit
It
<
stead) gaze
c.
27()()
Museum, Baghdad, and The
2500
it
c
Marble, height of
Oneni.il Institute,
l
1
1
11
tallest figure
Iniversiry of
Chicago
is
a carry-over
Mesopotamia
in
the West from Aesop to La Fontaine. At least one
o|
the ass with the harp, survived as a fixed image and
counter
almost
it
I
odd years
medieval
later in
s<
them we en
ulpture
Akkadian Toward the end socialism
ol
of the earlv dvnasiu
the
"stewards
Somen, m
period, the theoi
city-States
the god" bad
m
began
rati*
decay
to
I
be
become reigning monarchs, and the more ambitious among them attempted to enlarge their domain by conquering then neighbors. \i the same time, the Semitic inhabitants ol northern Mesopolocal
ol
pr.u tice
tamia drifted south in ever larger numbers, until the) outweighed the Sumerian sioek in man) places hev had adopted Sumerian civilization but were less bound to the I
So it is perhaps not surprising that Sargon of Akkad and his successors (2340 2180 in they produced the Inst MesODOtamian rulers who openlv called themselves km
I
rule the entire earth.
Under these Akkadians, Sumerian
art laced a
sive
112.
RAM AND TREE
Wood.
gold,
The
and
Offering stand from Ur.
Museum.
What
ans
is
lore,
is
a
magnificent rov-
cm).
Philadelphia
but in Egypt as well (see the falcon of 74).
that has survived
task
2800 B.C
c.
lapis lazuli, height 20" (50.7
University
work of this kind
new
The most impres-
the personal glorification of the sovereign.
Horus
in figs.
72 and
distinguishes the sacred animals of the Sumeri-
the active part they play in mythology.
unfortunately, lias not
come down
form, hut tantalizing glimpses of
it
to
Much
of this
us in written
can be caught in
pictorial
representations such as those on an inlaid panel from a harp 113) that was recovered together with the offering
(fig.
The hero embracing two human-headed bulls compartment was so popular a subject that its design has become a rigidly symmetrical, decorative formula: the other sections, however, show animals performing a variety of human tasks in surprisingly animated and precise fashion: the wolf and the lion carry food and drink to an unseen banquet, while the ass, bear, and deer provide musical entertainment the bull-headed harp is the same type as the instrument to which the inlaid panel was attached). At the bottom, a scorpion-man and a goat carry sonic objects they stand in
at Ur.
the top
(
have taken from a large vessel.
The
skillful artist
who
created these scenes was far less
constrained by rules than his contemporaries in Egypt; even
though
on ground-lines, be
is
not
forms or foreshortened shoulders.
We
be, too, places bis figures
afraid of overlapping
must be careful, however, not to misinterpret his intention what strikes the modern eve as delightfully humorous was probably meant to be \iewed with perfect seriousness. If we onlv knew the context in which these actors pl.i\ then roles! Nevertheless, we are entitled to regard them as the
—
earliest
known
ancestors of the animal fable
th.it
flourished
1
Inlay panel
13.
from
Ur.
c.
12'/.* I
he
I
from the soundbox
2600 B.C I
niversit)
'
Shell
ad a lyre,
and bitumen,
11.1 X 11.3 in Museum. Philadelphia (
\\(
//
\/ \i
\i:
i
wii
i:\
\i:i
•
1
I
Ur The
rule of the
Akkadian kings came
to
an end
when
tribes-
men
from the northeast des< ended into the Mesopotamian plain and gained mastery of it for more than half a century.
They were driven out
in
2125
b.c.
by the kings of Ur,
reestablished a united realm that was to
last
a
who
hundred
veils.
GUDEA. During
the period of foreign dominance, Lagash
modern Tclloh one of the lesser Sumerian city-states, managed to retain local independence. Its ruler, Cudea, was careful to reserve the title of king for the city-god, whose cult he promoted by an ambitious rebuilding of his temple. Of this architectural enterprise nothing remains today, but Gu(
114. (
al
///
M>
Kuyunjik), Iraq.
portrait
head
c.
m
ing
a
the
.a
).
AN AKKADIAN RULER, from Nineveh 2300-2200 B.C. Bronze, height 12" (30.7 cm). Iraq Museum, Baghdad
in
bronze from Nineveh
(fig.
114). Despite
the gouged-out eyes (once inlaid with precious materials),
remains
the
it
persuasive likeness, majestic and
humanly mov-
same
the richness of
time. Equally admirable
is
/
the surfaces framing the lace; the plaited hair and the finely
curled strands of the beard are shaped with incredible precision
without losing their organic character and becom-
yet
mere ornament. The complex technique
ing
of casting
and
chasing has been handled with an assurance that bespeaks true mastery. Ibis head could hold its own in the company ol
the greatest works of any period.
WHAM
STELE OF
SIN. Sargon's grandson, Naram-Sin
bad himself and bis victorious army immortalized in reliei on a large stele lit; an upright stone slab used as a 15) I
which owes its survival to the fact that at a later was (allied oil as bootv to Susa. where modern arlime chaeologists discovered it. Here rigid ground-lines have marker il
been discarded; we see the kind's forces advani ing among the inrs on mountainside Above them. Naram-Sin alone ,i
stands triumphant,
mere)
Ins isolated position
//
enemy soldiers plead lor men, but his size and endow him with superhuman status
.is
the defeated
le is as vigorously active
I
as his
Moreovei he wears the horned crown hitherto reserved for Nothing appears above bun except the mountain-
the gods
and the<
top
bodies Ins "good stars." This
elestial
known monument
liest
•
\\<
li
\i \i
\i:
I
to
the glory
\s// /;\
\m
ol
a
is
conqueroi
the ear-
115.
C. 2300-2200 B.C. Musce du Louvre, Paris
VICTORY STELE OF NARAM SIN
Stone, height
(>'()"
(2 m).
merian the
(
<
arvei has
rounded
oil all
the musculai tension
the
orners
i
forms Equally
ylindrical quality of the
i
emphasize
to
hara< teristu
is
Gudea's bare arm and shouldei
in
compared with the passive
relaxed
limbs
Egyptian
ol
statues
Babylonian he second millennium
I
B
I
was
a
time
ol
almost
ontmuous
<
he ethnic upheaval that brought the Hyksos to Egypt had an even more disruptive effa on the valley ol the Lgris and Euphrates entral power by naturmoil in Mesopotamia
I
I
(
I
tive rulers prevailed only
Babylon assumed the
Hammurabi
i
nian dynasty,
is
1955
from about I760to 1600
role formerly played bv
1913
the founder of the Babylo-
Bj
prowess with tradition he saw himsell as
a
combindeep respect foi Sumerian the favorite shepherd" of the
sun god Shamash whose mission
HEAD
Oh CI OEA from Lagash Dionte. height 9"
Museum
of the
same general
type,
to
2150 H(
c.
of
himself plated in the
ol
Lagash, and some twenty examples,
ol
was "to cause justice
Donation
Bartlett
dea also had numerous statues shrines
it
Fine Arts. Boston.
ol
Frances
TcUoh). Iraq
23 cm). Courtesy
when
by far the greatest figure ol the .me
ing military
116.
B.<
Akkad and Ur
have been found so
obviously
.ill
Caned
far.
of
dionte. the extremely hard stone favored b\ Egyptian sculptors,
much more
they are
ambitious works than then prede-
Asmar Even Gudea. however devoted he
cessors from Tell
was to the traditional pattern ol the Sumerian city-State, seems to have inherited something of the sense of persona] importance that we
felt in
the Akkadian
knms although he
prided himself on his intimate relations with the gods rather
than on secular power His portrait head vidualized fleshy ity of
roundness
the
fig 116) appears far less distinctly indi-
I
when compared
fell
is
Asmar
far
with the Akkadian ruler yet
removed
statues
light
m\
iting a
upon the features The seated statue
Gudea with an
the enclosing wall lor the god's
wonderful fig
17
1
architectural plan on his lap
ol a
temple
district
its
the geometric simplic-
The stone has been worked
high and subth accented finish.
sents
I'rorn
which he
is
to a
pla\ of
repre-
perhaps offering
approval; there are six entrances framed
l>\
towerlike projections, and the walls show regular!) spaced
buttresses
we saw in the White Temple" at The (mure makes an instinctive contract Egyptian statues as in figures 84 and 86—the Suof
the kind
Uruk (VVarka with sir
1 1
DEA WITH ARCHITECTURAL PLAS from Lagash i
2150 B<
[elloh
Dioriti
\\(
//
\/
W
tfi
/
\siHt\ \Rl
lr,i<)
1ENTNI
\i:
I
\su n\
\m
119.
prevail in the land."
became the
Under him and
more than
The
city
thousand years
a
Gate, Bona/.skov, Anatolia. Turkey,
his successors,
cultural center of Sumer.
this prestige for
The Lion
was
Babylon
after its political
CODE OF HAMMURABI. is
Hammurabi's most memorable law code, justly famous as the earliest
his
uniform written body of laws and amazingly rational and hu-
mane
in
whose 18
1
).
He had it engraved on shows Hammurabi confronting
conception.
top
The
arm
ruler's right
is
a
diorite stele
tall
the sun god
I
fig.
raised in a speaking gesture, as
he were reporting his work of codification to the divine Although this scene was carved four centuries after
if
king.
Gudea
the
statues,
and technique.
it
is
strongly related to
them
In fact, the relief here is so
in
both style
high that the two
figures almost give the impression of statues sliced in half
when we compare them with Naram-Sin
stele.
render the eves niash gaze
at
As
in
the round, so that
each other with
representations of this kind.
in
ues from
tempt god
in
fell
the pictorial treatment of the
a result, the sculptor
a force
has been able
and directness unique
They make us
recall the stat-
Asmar. whose enormous eyes indicate an
to establish the
same
relationships between
an earlier phase of Sumerian
to
Hammurabi and Sha-
at-
man and
civilization.
1-400 B.C
ASSYRIAN ART
to retain
power had waned.
achievement
c.
The city-state of Assur on the upper course of the Tigris owed its rise to power to a strange chain of events. During the earlier half of the second millennium B.< Asia Minor had been invaded from the east by people of Indo-European
language.
One
group, the Mitannians, created an inde-
pendent kingdom
in
Syria
and northern
Mesopotamia,
including Assur. while another, the Ihttites. established
themselves farther north on the rock) plateau
Anatolia.
ol
Their capital, near the present-da) Turkish village of Bogaz-
was protected by impressive
kov.
fortifications built ol large,
roughly cut stones; the gates were flanked
l>\
snarling lions
or other guardian figures protruding from the
blocks that formed the jambs of the doorw av
enormous
(fig,
1 '
I
About 1360 IK the 11 it tites attacked the Mitannians. who were allies of the Egyptians, but the hitter, because ol the internal crisis provoked l>\ the religious reforms ol Akhenaten see pages 114—16), could send no effective aid; the Mitannians wen- defeated and \ssm- regained its indepen.
i
dence. Under
able rulers,
a series ol
gradually expanded until
embraced
it
Assyrian domain onh Mesopotamia
the-
not
proper but the surrounding regions as well At the height of its
power from about 1000
to
012
the \ss\ri.m empire
B.(
stretched from the Sinai peninsula
to
Egypt w.is successfully invaded
071
in
Armenia; even Lower b.<
Palaces and Their Decoration 118. (opposite)
of :.
7' (-2.1
Upper part of stele inscribed with Hammurabi, c. 1760 B.C Diorite, height
the
Law Code
of stele
mi. height of relief 28" (71 cm). Musee du Louvre, Paris
I
he Assyrians,
the
it
has been
Romans were
on the
ac
to
hievements
said, were- lo the
the (aeeks ol
\ss\
nan
Sunieiians what civilization
the south but reinterpreted
i\(
II
\
l
\l
\i;
l
wil
i:\
drew
them
\l:i
•
to
f27
120. Citadel of Sargon
Dur Sharrukin
II.
(Khorsabad), Iraq. 742-706 B.C (reconsliuction by Charles Altman)
121. Gate of the Citadel of Sargon
fit
own
its
distinctive character.
Thus the temples and
II
(during excavation)
Inside the palace, the
zig-
same impression was
reinforced by
gurats they built were adapted from Sumerian models while
long series of reliefs illustrating the conquests of the royal
the palaces of Assyrian kinu,s grew to unprecedented size
armies. Every
and magnificence.
tions supplying further data. ly
DUR SHARRUKIN. One 705
C
I!
I
at
of these, that of Sargon
II
(died
Dur Sharrukin the modern Khorsahad). dating (
from the second half of the eighth century
B.C.,
plored sufficiendy to permit a reconstruction
has been ex(fig.
120).
It
was surrounded by a citadel with turreted walls that shut it from the rest of the town. Figure 121 shows one of the
oil
two gates of the citadel
m
the process
oi
excavation. Al-
though the Assyrians, like the Sumerians, built in brick. they liked to line gateways and the lower walls of important interiors \\ ith great slabs of stone which were less difficult to procure in northern Mesopotamia). These slabs were ei(
thei de< orated with low reliefs or. as
into guardian
and by
1
si
1
it
demons
that are
meant
an odd combination of rebel
tue
examples such as the Lion Gate at Bogazkoy (fig. in size and appearance, the gates were impress the visitor with the power and majesty ol
to
the kinu.
;
>8
our case, elaborated
at
always seem
described in
is
to
detail,
The Assyrian
with inscrip-
forces, relentless-
be on the march, meeting the
every frontier of the overextended empire, destroy-
ing his strong points and carrying away booty and prisoners. There is neither drama nor heroism in these scenes the outcome of the battle is never in doubt and they are often
—
—
depressingly repetitious. Yet, as the earliest large-scale efforts at
narrative in the history of
art,
they represent an
achievement of great importance. To describe the progress of specific events in time and space had been outside the scope of both Egyptian and Sumerian art; even the scene on the stele of Naram-Sin is symbolic rather than historic. The Assyrian
artist
to develop an entirely new set of cope with the requirements of pictorial
thus had
devices in order
to
story-telling.
ulpture in the round. They must have been inspired
Awesome
119).
m
efficient,
enemy
campaign
\\(
ii
\i
\i
\i;
i
\sii
n\ \Ki
NINEVEH. tiful,
fins
is
the Palace
ol
able
If
the
artist's results
can hardly be called beau-
they achieve then main purpose certainly true of
Ashurbanipal died i
—
to
our example (>2(j?
is
r
).
be clearly read(fig.
at
122).
from
Nineveh (now
Kuyunjik), which shows the sack of the Elamite city of llain the main register: Assyrian soldiers with pickaxes
manu
and crowbars are demolishing the fortifications—notice the falling timbers and bricks in mid-air after they have set
—
the town
fire to
down
a
wooded
others are marching away from it. laden with booty. The latter group poses
itself;
hill,
problem in representation, for the road on which they walk widens visibly as it approaches the foreground, as if the artist had meant to render it in perspeca particularly interesting
tive,
yet the
same road also serves as a curved band that An odd mixture of modes but an
—
frames the marchers.
effective device for linking
Below the main scene, we
foreground and background. observe the soldiers at camp, re-
laxing with food and drink, while one of
LION HUNTS. The mass of military
directly by
of descriptive detail in the reliefs
campaigns often leaves
al glorification
them stands guard.
little
room
of the king. This purpose
for the
is
person-
served more
another recurrent subject, the royal lion hunts. in the nature of ceremonial combats than
These were more
actual hunts: the animals were released from cages within a
hollow square formed by troops with shields for the king to kill. (Presumably, at a much earlier time, the hunting of lions in the field had been an important duty of Mesopota-
mian rulers as the "shepherds" of the communal flocks. Here the Assyrian relief sculptor rises to his greatest heights; in figure 123, from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal (died 860?
B.C.) at
Nimrud
11
(Calah), the lion attacking the
from the rear is clearly the hero of the scene. Of magnificent strength and courage, the wounded animal royal chariot
seems
to
embody
all
the dramatic emotion that
the pictorial accounts of war.
equally impressive in tian artist (see fig. tion
!
We
The dying
agony.
How
lion
we miss
on the
right
in is
122.
Egyp105) had interpreted the same composiits
differently the
need only compare the horses
are less graceful but very
123.
much more
ashurnasirpal C.
850
— the Assyrian ones
British
energetic and alive as
it
B.C.
THE SACK OF THE CITY OF HAMANU BY ASHURBANIPAL,
from the Palace of Ashurbanipal, Nineveh (Kuyunjik), Iraq. c. 650 Be Limestone, 36x24'// (92.7x62.2 cm).
Museum. London
KILLING UONS, from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II. Nimrud (Calah Limestone, 3'3"x8'4" X2.5 m). British Museum. London (
l,
Iraq
1
t\(
//
\/ \i
\i:
l
is//
n\ \ki
.
J29
124.
DYING LIONESS, from Nineveh (Kuyunjik),
Limestone, height of figure 13%" (35 cm). British
125. Ishtar Gate (restored
Glazed brick Vbrderaslatisches
/
10- \N(
<
i
Ifl
/
\STERt*
Mil
i
Iraq. c.
from Babylon, Iraq
Museum
650
B.C.
Museum, London
c,
575 b.C
der Staatlichen Museen, Berlin
they flee from the attacking lion, their ears folded back
The
fear.
lion
hunt
reliefs
in
from Nineveh, about two centu-
than those of Nimrud, are the finest of all. Despite the shallowness of the actual carving, the bodies have a greater sense of weight and volume because of the subtle ries later
gradations of the surface. Images such as the dying lioness 124) have an unforgettable tragic grandeur.
(fig.
no permanent monuments or written records we can trace then wanderings only l>\ a areful study ol the obje< is the) buried with then dead. Su< h objects, of wood, bone or met al, represent a distinct kind of portable art uhu h we all the <
(
nomad's gear: weapons, bridles lor horses, buckles, fibulas and other articles of adornment, cups, bowls, and the like he) have been found over a vast area from Siberia to CenEurope, from Iran to Scandinavia The) have m common not onlv a jewellike concentration ol ornamental design but also a repertory of forms known as the "animal style." And one of the sources of this animal style appears to be anI
tral
Neo-Babylonian The Assyrian empire came veh
fell
to an end in 612 B c when Ninecombined onslaught of Medes and Scyth-
before the
cient Iran
ians from the east. At that time the
commander of the southern Mesopotamia made himself king
Assyrian army in of Babylon;
under him and
his successors the ancient cit)
had a final brief flowering between 612 and 539 B.C., before it was conquered by the Persians. The best known of these Neo-Babylonian rulers was Nebuchadnezzar (died 562 B.c ),
the builder of the
Tower of Babel. That famous structure represented only one part of a very large architectural
complex comparable
to
the Citadel of Saigon
II
at
W
I.VIAL STYLK. Its mam feature, as the name suggests the decorative use of animal motifs in a rather abstract and imaginative manner. We find its earliest ancestors on the prehistoric painted pottery of western Iran, such as the fine
is
beaker in figure 26, which shows an ibex a wild mountain goat) reduced to a lew sweeping curves, so that the body of the animal becomes a mere appendage of the huge bonis 1
(
Dur
Sharrukin.
Whereas the Assyrians had used caned stone slabs, the Neo-Babylonians (who were farther removed from the sources of such slabs) substituted baked and glazed brick. This technique,
too, had been developed in Assvria. but now was used on a far larger scale, both for surface ornament and for architectural reliefs. Its very distinctive effect becomes evident if we compare the gate of Sargon's citadel it
(fig. 121 with the Ishtar Gate of Nebuchadnezzar's sacred precinct in Babylon, which has been rebuilt from the thousands of individual glazed bricks that covered its surface )
(fig.
125).
The stately procession
of bulls, dragons,
j~
and other
—
u.
animals of molded brick within a framework of vividly colored ornamental bands has a grace and gaiety far removed from the ponderous guardian monsters of the Assyrians. Here, for the last time,
we sense again
Mesopotamian
ancient
which we noted
art
for
that special genius of
the portrayal of animals,
in early dynastic times.
PERSIAN ART the mountain-fringed high plateau to the east of Mesopotamia, takes its name from the people who occupied Persia,
Babylon in 539
B.C.
and became the heirs of what had been
the Assvrian empire. Today the country
older and
more
is
called Iran,
its
name, since the Persians, who put the area on the map of world history, were latecomers who had armed on the scene only a few centuries before they began their epochal conquests. Inhabited continuous!) suitable
since prehistoric times, Iran always
gateway
for
seems to have been a migratory tribes from the Asiatic steppes to the
north as well as from India to the east.
would
down
The new
arrivals
dominating or intenningling with the local population, until they in turn were lotted to move on— to Mesopotamia, to .Asia Minor, to southern Russettle
for a while,
—
by the next wave of migrants. These movements form shadowy area of historical knowledge; all available information is vague and uncertain. Since nomadic tribes leave sia
a
1
—
* »
V100-4000 b c m) Musee du Louvre Paris
Painted beakei; from Susa
Heighi il.
28
I
i
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II
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t
I
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l
is// it\
\hi
.
/
;/
animal's body here shows
far less arbitrary distortion,
and
the smoothly curved sections divided by sharp ridges have
no counterpart among Luristan bronzes, yet the way the been elaborated into an abstract openwork or-
antlers have
nament betrays a Whether or not tral Asiatic
similar feeling lor form. this typically
Scythian piece reflects Cen-
sources independent of the Iranian tradition, the
Scythians surely learned a good deal from the bronze casters They belonged to a
of Luristan during their stay in Iran.
group of nomadic Indo-Kuropean tribes, including the Medes and the Persians, that began to filter into the country soon after 1000 B.C. An alliance of Medes and Scythians, it will be recalled, had crushed Nineveh in 612 B.C. The Persians at that time were vassals of the Medes, but only sixty years later, under Cyrus the Creat of the family of the Achaemenids, they reversed this situation.
Achaemenid 539 B.C., Cyrus (c. 600-529 King of Babylon along with the ambitions of the Assyrian rulers. The empire he founded continued to expand under his successors; Egypt as well as Asia Minor fell to them, and Greece escaped the same fate only by the narrowest of margins. At its high tide, under Darius (c. 550-486 B.C. and Xerxes (519-465 B.C. the Persian empire
After conquering Babylon in B.C.)
assumed the
title
1
),
)
was
than
far larger
its
Egyptian and Assyrian predecessors domain endured for two cen-
together. Moreover, this vast turies
—
B.C.) in
it
331
efficiently
was toppled by Alexander the Great (356-323 and during most of its life it was ruled both B.C. and humanely. For an obscure tribe of nomads to
—
have achieved
all
this is little short of miraculous.
Within a
single generation, the Persians not only mastered the 127. Pole-top ornament, from Luristan. 9th-7th century B.C.
Bronze, height
7W (19 cm).
British
com-
plex machinery of imperial administration but also evolved a
Museum, London
monumental
art of
remarkable originality
grandeur of their rule. Despite their genius their
own
to
express the
for adaptation, the Persians retained
drawn from the prophecies of was a faith based on the dualism of Good and embodied in Ahuramazda Light and Ahriman Darkreligious belief
Zoroaster; this
racing hounds above the ibex are
The
little
more than
hori-
Evil,
(
)
(
and on closer inspection the striations below the rim torn out to be long-necked hirds. In the historic art of Siimer. this style soon gave way to an interest in the organic unity of animal bodies (see figs. 112 and 113), but zontal streaks,
Iran
in
survived
it
the
despite
powerful
influence
of
Mesopotamia. Sever, il thousand years turies
lit
,
the ninth to seventh cen-
later, in
the style reappears in the small bronzes of the
Luristan region, nomad's gear of a particularly resourceful
kmd The pole-top ornament horns, originally,
we
fig.
127) consists of a symmet-
suspect, they were pursued by a pair of
hut the bodies
lions
I
rearing ibexes, with vastly elongated necks and
rical pair nl
nl
the latter have been absorbed into
whose
ha\e been pulled out to and lor whom the Luristan bronzes were produced remains something of a mystery.
those
the ibexes,
ol
dragonlike slenderness.
I
here
linked
i
an be with
doubt
little
the
ne< ks
I!\
however, that the) are
nieuluoi
animal-style
k
of
somehow
the
Asiatic
steppes, such as the splendid Scythian gold stag from south-
ern Russia whi< b
i
;
'
•
\\<
//
\l \i
is
\i:
I
only slight
\sn
/(\
I
v later
\itl
in date
(fig.
128).
The
128. STAG, from
Chased
gold, height
Kostxomskaya Scythian. 7th-6th century c.
12" (30.5 cm),
B.C.
Hermitage Museum, Leningrad
ness). Since the cult of in the
open
Ahuramazda centered on
fire altars
the Persians had no religious architecture. Their palaces, on the other hand, were huge and impressive air,
structures.
PERSEPOLIS. The most ambitious palace, at Persepolis, was begun by Darius in 518 B.C.; its general layout is 1
shown
in figure
129— a
number
vast
of rooms, halls, and
— recalls
the royal
and Assyrian
traditions
courts assembled on a raised platform
residences of Assyria (see
120),
fig.
are the strongest single element throughout. Yet they do not determine the character of the building, for they have been combined with influences from every corner of the empire in
such
style.
a
way
Thus,
that the result
at Persepolis
is
a new, uniquely Persian
columns are used on a grand
scale.
129. Plan of the Palace of Darius and Xerxes, Persepolis. 1) Great entrance stairway; 2) Gatehouse of Xerxes; 3) Audience Hall of Darius and Xerxes; 4) Throne Hall of Xerxes; 5) Palace of Darius; 6) Palace,
probably rebuilt by Ataxerxes; 7) Palace of Xerxes; 8) Council Hall; 9) Restored area of the
"Harem"; 10) Treasury;
fortifications; 12)
1 1
)
Section of northern
Royal tomb, probably of Ataxerxes
-
1
130.
Audience Hall
of
Dan us and
Xerxes. Persepolis. Iran
c.
1
1
H
500 Re.
\\(
II
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I
M
\H
I
\s// l<\
{RT'133
combined sm^ests nothing so much as an enormously enlarged version of the pole-top ornaments of Luristan his seems to he the only instance of Persian
room 250 feet square, had a 36 columns 40 feel tall, a low of massing of col130 Su< li fig. umns suggests Eg) ptian architecture compare fig. 95 and gyptian influence docs indeed appear in the ornamental dot. ul ol the hasos and capitals, luu the slender, fluted shaft ol die Persepolis columns is derived from the Ionian Greeks rhe Audience Hall
ol
Darius,
wooden ceiling supported which arc still standing
the) are
.1
In
I
.1
1.
I
1
drawing upon nomad's gear liu,. 127).
architects'
1,
in Asia
who
Minor,
are
known
to
have furnished
Hie double stairway leading up to the Audience Hall is decorated with long rows of solemnly marching figures in low
artists to
is
the strange "cradle" for the
crowns the Persepolis columns
creatures, that
(fig.
is
I
l
I
,i
•
INC/EN'J
M
I
DMili
W;
I
s
\\i> \i ii\i
.\sil ll\
Mil
DU
\(
I
i
131);
I'll)
it
(
subservience
typical of
all
to the architectural setting that
Persian sculpture.
of special importance,
while the animals themselves are of Assyrian origin, the wav
131. Bull capital, from Persepolis.
a
We find it even in scenes such as Darius and Xerxes Giving Audience (fig. 132); the expressive energy and narrative skill of Assyrian relief have been deliberately rejected.
of the ceil-
of the front parts of two hulls or similar
composed
ing,
beams
130). Their repetitive, ceremonial character
relief (fig.
emphasizes
the Persian court. Entirely without precedent in earlier ar-
chitecture
their native artistic heritage of
(
I
c.
500
B.C.
Musee du Louvre,
Paris
Limestone, height K'4" (2.5 mi. Treasury, Persepolis, Iran
133. Gold rhyton. Achacmenid. 5th-3rd century B.C.
Archaeological
PKRSIAN STYLE. The
style
of these
Persian carvings
seems at first glance to be only a softer and more refined echo of the Mesopotamian tradition. Even here, however,
we discover
once more when Persia regained its independence and seized Mesopotamia from the Romans.
Sassanian
that the Assyrian-Babylonian heritage lias
enriched in one important respect: there
Near Eastern sculpture
is
for the layers of
been no precedent in
overlapping gar-
pleated folds such as we see in and Xerxes relief Another surprising effect is the way the arms and shoulders of these figures press through
ments,
Museum, Teheran
for the play of finely
the Darius
The
rulers
not far from Persepolis, he
for B.C.
many
diverse elements. Yet
it
is
a
remarkable
lacked a capacit)
growth; the style formulated under Uarius I about 500 continued without significant change until the end of
the empire.
The main reason
for this failure,
it
seems, was
two
that
is
observed
the bull capital of figure 131
blind
133), textiles,
Persia.
The
and other portable
of Achaemenid monumental arsomehow managed to survive the
latter tradition,
chitecture and sculpture,
art
unlike that of
more than 500 years during which the Persian empire was under Creek and Roman domination, so that it could flower
134
).
bis victory over
relief
The formal source
hewn
into the
of this scene
ol tri-
a
ol
Persian
The two elements bold each other in balance, and what makes the relief so Strangely impressive A
from their nomadic past that the) never discarded. There is no essential difference between (fig.
bouse of 272
(died
qualities.
less of scale, a carry-over
work
fig.
I
commemorated
an enormous
elaboration of the draperies indicate a revival
blending
fine goldsmith's
1
well-known composition in Roman sculpture w itb the emperors now in the role of the humiliated barbarians—but the flattening of the volumes and the ornamental is
the Persians' preoccupation with decorative effects regard-
and the
m
Roman emperors
umph
Persian art under the Achaemenids, then,
of the
)
sixth century
synthesis of
were
had the political and artistic ambitions of Darius \i Naksh-i-Rustam. the burial place of the Achaemenid kings B.C
living rock
B.C.
this feat
the Sassanians; their greatest figure, Shapur
These innovations stem from the Ionian Greeks, who had created them in the course of the the fabric of the draperies.
who accomplished
With
its
Roman and Near
ol
Shapur's palace
in
Eastern elements can also be at
Ctesiphon, near Babylon,
enormous brick-vaulted audience ball fig 135 the ades ol the facade again emphasize decorative sur.
I
,u
(
lace pattern.
but monumental
under Sassanian rule proved as init bad under the AchaemeMetalwork and textiles, on the Other band, continued
capable nids.
ol
to flourish.
art
further evolution as
The
art— and
clue! glorj ol Sassanian
iv
//
\/ \i
\it
i
a direct
\sin<\ \ni
•
l
r,
SHAPUR TRIUMPHING OVER THE EMPERORS PH1L1PPUS THE ARAB AND VALERIAN. 260-72 AD. Naksh-i-Rustam (near Persepolis), Iran
134.
I
>l
i
.
ho
oi
t
h<-
ilious. mil
ornamental tradition reaching back more than
years to the
sin h as the splendid
ously exported
West
/
;',
•
.ind
\\<
//
Shapui
we
\-i
I
><
>t
1 1
I.
mist,
sample to
m
bronzes
woven They were
is its
in figure 136.
Constantinople and
to
\i:
i
\\ii i;\
\ia
a
silks,
copi-
the Christian
shall see that their wealth of colors
\i
I.
and
pat-
Ctesiphon,
242-72
Iraq.
AD
terns excited an important stimulus dle Ages.
And
upon the
art of the
Mid-
since their manufacture was resumed alter
the Sassanian realm
fell
to
the Arabs in the mid-seventh
century, they provided an essential treasury of design motifs lor
Islamic
ait
as well.
136. Woven silk. Sassanian. c. 6th century \ I) Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence. Franchetti Collection
\\(
II
\
I
\l
\l!
I
is// li\
\m
•
I
17
CHAPTER FOUR
AEGEAN ART
If
we
from the Nile Delta northwestward across the first glimpse of Europe will be the east-
sail
Mediterranean, our
of Crete. Beyond
we
find a scattered
group of small islands, the Cyclades, and, a little farther on, the mainland of Greece, facing the toast of Asia Minor across the Aegean ern
tip
Sea. To archaeologists, cal
it,
"Aegean"
term; they have adopted
nourished
that
lenniums
B.C.,
in this area
it
to
not merely a geographi-
is
designate the civilizations
during the third and second mil-
before the development of Greek civilization
then modest stone tombs
Iroin
then dead are remarkable large
number ol marble
all ol them represenl with arms folded across the
goddess known
fertility
a
idols oi a pec uliarl) impressive kind
Almost
and
he things the) buried with
I
one respect only: the) include
in
standing nude female figure
a <
hest
to
presumabl) the mothei
us from \sia Minoi and the
ancient Near East, whose an< estr) reaches far hat k to the Old Stone Age see figs. 37, 48, and 49). i'hev also share .1
which
distinctive shape,
glance recalls the angular,
at first
proper. There are three of these, closely interrelated yet dis-
abstract qualities of Paleolithic and Neolithic sculpture: the
from each other: that of Crete, called IMinoan after the legendary Cretan king Minos; that of the small islands
and the
tinct
flat,
wedge shape
north of Crete (Cycladic); and that of the Creek mainland
the long, ridgelike nose
which includes Mycenaean civilization. Each of them has in turn been divided into three phases. Early, Middle, and Late, which correspond, very roughly, to the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms in Egypt. The most important remains, and the greatest artistic achievements, date from the latter part of the Middle phase and from the hate phase. Aegean civilization was long known only from Homer's account of the Trojan War in the Iliad and from Greek legends centering on Crete. The earliest excavations (by lemrich Schliemann during the 1870s in Asia Minor and Greece and by Sir Arthur Evans in Crete shortly before 1900 were
stable type,
(Helladic),
I
I
undertaken
to test
the factual core of these
tales.
Since then,
amount of fascinating material has been brought to light far more than the literary sources would lead us to expect but our knowledge of Aegean civilization even now is very much more limited than our knowledge of Egypt or the ancient Near East. Unfortunately, our reading of the ara great
— —
chaeological evidence has so far received almost no aid
at all
from the written records of the Aegeans.
1
B.
In Crete a system of
was developed about 2000 B.C.; a late form of this Minoan script, called Linear B, which was in use about six centuries later both in Crete and on the Greek mainland, was deciphered in the early 1950s. Flic language of Linear B is Greek, yet this apparently was not the language for which Minoan script was used before the fifteenth century B.< so that being able to read Linear
B does not help us
to
under-
stand the great mass of earlier Minoan inscriptions. More-
Linear B texts are largely palace inventories and
over, the
administrative records, which reveal very tory'
and
lack a great deal of the
both
to
about the
them.
ethnographic
1
art.
The longer we study ize th.it its qualities
thus
art.
Its
for
the
many
to real-
however incongruous such terms ma)
What an extraordinary
in context.
ganic structure of the body there
is
feeling lor the or-
in the delicate
curves of
the outline, in the hints of convexity marking the knees and
abdomen. Even if we discount its deceptively modern look, the figure seems a hold departure from anything we have seen before. There is no dearth of earlier fertility idols, hut almost all of them betray their descent from the hulhous. heavy-bodied "Venus" figurines of the Old Stone Age; in fact, the earliest Cycladic idols, too. were ol that type. What, then,
made
the Cycladic sculptors suppress the traditional
aspects of then female idols until they arrived
cal
change
in the
of figure 137?
meaning
Was
.it
the
there perhaps a radi-
or the ritual purposes of these
statues?
We
cannot even venture a guess
to
explain the mystery
ol the second produced the oldest lilesi/e liimres of the female nude we know, and that lor many hundreds ol years they were the only ones to do so. In Greek art. we find verv
Suffice
it
to sav that the
millennium
1:
Cvcladic sculptors
(
nude female statues until the middle of the fourth cenB.C., w hen Praxiteles and others began to create cult images of the nude Venus. It can hardly he coincidence that the most famous of these Venuses were made lor sane diaries on the Aegean islands or the coasi ol Asia Minor, the region where the Cvcladic idols had nourished lew
tury
forms, although linked
two worlds; they have a haunting beauty of then
Among
more we come
only he defined as "elegance" and
seem
Egypt and the Near East on the one hand and to later on the other, are no mere transition between these to neither.
this piece, the
cm
"sophistication."
MINOAN ART
art
belongs
own
strange qualities
and perhaps the most puzzling, is its air ness and spontaneity, which makes us forget how know of its meaning. gean
his-
We
background knowledge necessary
an understanding of Aegean
Greek
little
who composed
religion of the people
k.
such as that in figure 137, have a disciplined refinement utterly hevond the range of Paleolithic or
lithe, "girlish" ideal
MINOAN SCRIPT AND LINEAR
nee
the face, featureless except for
hest of them,
fertility
writing
ol
Within this narrow lv defined and however, the Cycladic idols show wide variscale from a lew inches to lilesi/e as well as form.
ations in
The
body the strong, columnar
of the
oval shield
tilted,
art.
ol
that
Ae-
ol freshlittle
we
Minoan
civilization
is
b)
civilization ol Greece,
is
have deeper causes than
CYCLADIC ART The people who inhabited the Cycladic Islands between about 2600 and 1100 B.C have left hardly any trace apart
far
Aegean world from Egypt and the Near East
strangest, ol the
the richest, as well as the
W
hat sets
it
apart, not onlv
hut also from the Classical
a lack ol continuit) that arc
haeological accident
appears
to
in survev-
mam
achievements ol Minoan art. we cannot reallv growth or development; the) appeal and disappear so abmptl) that their late must have been determined hv exsudden violent changes affecting the entire ternal forces ing the
speak
ol
\k,i \\
\m
•
1
;<>
writing but an urban civilization as well, centering on several
great palaces. At least three ol them, at Knossos, Phaistos,
and
were
Mallia,
built in short order.
Hardly anything
is left
sudden spurt of large-scale building activity, for the three palaces were all destroyed at the same time, about 1700 B C.; alter an interval of a hundred years, new and even larger structures began to appear on the same sites, only to suller destruction, in their turn, about 1500 B.C. It is these "new" palaces that are our main source of information on Minoan architecture. The one at Knossos, called the Palace of Minos, was the most ambitious, covering a vast territory and composed of so many rooms' that it survived in Creek legend as the labyrinth of the Minotaur. It has been carefully excavated and partly restored. We cannot recapture the appearance of the building as a whole, but we can assume that the exterior probably did not look impressive compared with Assyrian or Persian palaces (see figs. 120 and 130). There was no striving for unified, monumental effect. The individual units are generally rather small and the ceilings low (figs. 138 and 139), so that even those parts of the structure that were several stories high could not have seemed very tall. Nevertheless, the numerous porticoes, staircases, and air shafts must have given the palace a pleasantly open, airy quality; and some of the interiors, with their richly decorated walls, retain their atmosphere of intimate elegance to this day. The masonry construction of Minoan palaces is excellent throughout, but the columns were always of wood. Although none has survived, their characteristic form (the smooth shaft tapering downward, topped by a wide, cushion-shaped capital) is known from representations in painting and sculpture. About the origins of this type of column, which in some contexts could also serve as a religious symtoday of this
bol, or
we can
about
its
possible links with Egyptian architecture,
say nothing at
all.
Who
were the rulers that built these palaces? We do not know their names or deeds (except for the legendary Minos), but the archaeological evidence permits a
few conjecwere not warrior princes, since no fortifications have been found anywhere in Minoan Crete, and military subjects are almost unknown in Minoan art; nor is there any hint that they were sacred kings on the Egyptian or Mesopotamian model, although they may well have presided at relitures: they
Minoan palaces that can be worship are small chapels, suggesting that religious ceremonies took place out of doors). On the gious festivals (the only parts of
2500-1100 B.C. Marble, height 30" (76.3 cm). The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 137. Idol from Amorgos.
identified as places of
many storerooms, workshops, and "offices" Knossos indicate that the palace was not only a royal residence but a great center of administrative and commercial activity. Since shipping and trade formed an important part other hand, the at
about which we know
island
Minoan
little
or nothing.
Vol
which is ga) even playful, and of rhythmic motion, conveys no hint of such throats. hara<
(
tei
ol
art,
the hill
of
Minoan economic
stallations
Architecture I
I
he
in
si
ol
these unexpected shifts occurred about 2000 B.c
and elsewhere) perhaps the king should be viewed as the head of a merchant aristocracy.
mil thai time, during the eighl centuries of the Early Mi-
noan
era, the
Neolithii
engaged
in
id
\i i.i
much beyond the even though they seem to have
life,
souk overseas trade thai brought them contact
\\
I
Sculpture
Cretans had nol advanced
level ol village
with Egypi
I
life (to judge from elaborate harbor inand from Cretan export articles found in Egypt
hen they created not only thou own system of
Aid
The
religious
than the c
life
of
Minoan Crete
political or soc ial order.
red places,
It
is
even harder
to define
centered on certain sa-
such as caves or groves; and
its
chief deity (or
138. Staircase, east wing. Palace of Minos, Knossos, Crete,
139.
The Queen's Megaron.
c,
1500
B.C.
Palace of Minos. Knossos Crete
W
(./
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•
Nl
deities?)
desses
was Female, akin
we
to
the mother and
lu\ e encountered before. Since the
no temples, we are not surprised large
(
tilt
fertility
god-
Minoans
liad
lacked
to find that they
statues as well, but even on
small scale, religious
a
Minoan art are few m number and of uncertain significance, rwo terracotta statuettes of c. 1600 b.c firom Knossos may represent the goddess in one of her several identities; one of them fig. 140 shows Iter with three long sn.ikes wound around her arms, body, and headdress The meaning would seem to he clear: snakes are associated with earth deities and male fertility m main ancient religions, subjects
in
(
I
as the bared breasts of our statuette suggest female
lust
fertility.
But
is
she really a cult image? Her
would he equally
may
rigid, frontal
fitting lor a votive figure,
stance
and the snakes
represent a ritual of snake-handling rather than a di-
is a queen or priestShe seems oddly lacking in awcsomeness, and the emphasis on the costume endows her with a secular, "fash-
vine attribute. Perhaps, then, our figure
ess.
141. Beaked jug
(Kamares
Style),
from Phaistos.
c.
1800
B.C.
Height 10%" (27 cm). Museum, Heraklion, Crete
Another paradox is the fact that Crete has lew its snake cult was probably imported, not home-grown, yet no snake goddesses have so far been disionable"
air.
snakes, so that
covered outside Crete. Only the style of the statuette hints a possible foreign source: the
at
emphatically conical quality of
the figure and the large eves and heavy, arched eyebrows
suggest a kinship Asia Minor
— remote
— with
and indirect, perhaps through Mesopotamian art.
and Reliefs
Paintings, Pottery,
Our snake goddess
dates from the beginning of the brief pe-
between 1600 and 1450 B.C that produced almost everywe have of Minoan architecture, sculpture, and painting. .Alter the catastrophe that had wiped out the earlier palaces, and a century of slow recovery, there was what seems to our eves an explosive increase in wealth and an riod
thing
equally remarkable outpouring of creative energy The most surprising aspect of this sudden efflorescence,
however,
is its
great
achievement
in painting. At the
time of
the earlier palaces, between 2000 and 1700 lie, Crete had
developed
a type of pottery
famous
for its technical perfec-
1-11 but in no way preparing us for the "naturalistic" murals that covered the walls of the new palaces. Unfortunately, these paintings
tion
and
its
dynamic, swirling ornament
have survived only 110 s\ \m GODDESS (PRIESTESS?) height
.
•
J
i.l
\\
29
II
u,
I
>
<
m
(
Museum
c.
1600 B.C Faience Heraklion
I
rete
in
li
small fragments, so that
ever have a complete composition, entire wall.
I
let
),
we
hardly
alone the design of an
from thai of the Nile 1
we
bility,
instead
valley
find a passion
ol
permanent eandsta
rhythmic, undulating move-
for
ment, and the forms themselves have an oddl) weightless
«*r
as
itv.
seem
they
quality if
to float,
orsway
in a
world without gro
the scene took place under water,
Marine life as seen m the fish and dolphin fresco in fig. was a favorite subject of Minoan painting and the mai
139
I
rine feeling pervades everything else as well;
even ic
we sense
it
"The Toreador Fresco," the largest and most dynamMinoan mural recovered so far (fig. 143); the darkei in
patches are the original fragments on whi( h the restoration based. The conventional title should not mislead us u hat
is
we see here
is
not a bullfight but a ritual
game
art)
mainly by their lighter skin
color.
w
in
performers vault over the hack of the animal. slim-waisted athletes are girls, differentiated (as
hie
Two
Egyptian
in
That the
h the
of the
bull
was
a
sacred animal, and that bull-vaulting played an important role in this 142. c.
CAT STALKING A PHEASANT Mural fragment, from Hagia
1600-1580
B.C.
Triada.
Minoan
still
echo
religious
in
sacrificed to the
Height 21" (53.3 cm). Museum. Heraklion. Crete
life, is
beyond doubt; scenes such
.is
the Greek legend of the youths and maidens
mmotaur.
If
we
try,
however,
"read" the
to
fresco as a description of what actually went on during these
we find it strangely ambiguous. Do the three show successh e phases of the same action? low did
performances,
A
great
many
of
animals and birds
them were scenes from nature showing
among
figures
luxuriant vegetation, or the crea-
I
the youth in the center get onto the back of the bull, and in
tures of the sea. In the remarkable fragment in figure 142,
what direction
we see a cat cautiously stalking a pheasant behind a bush. the flat forms, silhouetted against a background of solid col-
rodeo experts without getting clear answers
or,
recall
art.
But
if
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these ques-
—
Mino-
its origin to Egyptian influence, it bean attitude of mind, a sense of beauty, very different
:
to
which docs not mean that the Minoan artist was deficient it would be absurd to blame him for failing to accomplish what he never intended to do in the first place but that fluid, effortless ease ol movement was more important to him than factual precision or dramatic power. He
an wall painting owes trays
he moving? Scholars have even consulted
tions. All of
Egyptian painting, and the acute observation of
plants and animals also suggests Egyptian
is
,
i
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Y.V.WiY.Y.W^^^ 143.
"THE TOREADOR FRESCO."
c.
1500 B.C Height including upper border
<
24
62 1cm)
Museum
Heraklion Crete
\/(./
\\
Mil
•
N
1
has as
were idealized the
n
ritual
stressing
l>\
its
harmoni-
ous, playful aspect to the point that the participants behave
dolphins gamboling
like I
native creation so
mh
ates
the sea
and original that
throughout Minoan
felt
in
Boating world of Minoan wall painting was an imagi-
hi'
in painted pottery,
its
influence can be
new
pal-
the abstract patterns of old
(fig.
art
during the era
the
ol
gave way to a new repertorj of designs drawn from and animal hie Some \csscls are covered entirely with fish, shells, and octopuses, as il the ocean itself had been aught within them (fig. 144). Monumental sculpture, had ill
plant
(
there been any, might have retained
its
Independence, hut
which the Minoan sculptor was
the small-scale works to
confined are often eloselv akin
to the style of the
murals; the
splendidly observed mountain goat carved on a stone vase
145
fig.
I
I
m
leaps
the
same
"flying"
movement
"The Toreador Fresco." These mountain goats,
as the bull of too,
were
sa-
cred animals.
Even more Wise
|
fig.
\i\id
is
the relief on the so-called Harvester
146; the lower part
is lost):
a procession of slim,
muscular men, nude to the waist, carrying long-handled implements that look like a combination of scythe and rake. A harvest festival? Quite probably, although here again the lively
rhythm of the composition takes precedence over de-
scriptive clarity.
Our view
ers led by a fourth
who
of the scene includes three sing-
is
swinging a sistrum (a
Egyptian origin); they are bellowing with
all
rattle of
their might, es-
whose chest is so distended that the ribs press through the skin. What makes the entire relief so remarkable in fact, unique is its emphasis on physical strain, its energetic, raucous gaiety, which combines sharp observation with a consciously humorous intent. How many pecially the "choirmaster,"
—
—
145.
LEAPING MOUNTAIN GOAT, on a vase from the palace Kato Zakro.
at
c.
covered with gold
1500
foil,
Museum,
146. c.
1550
HARVESTER 15(H) lie
B.C.
c.
4" (10.3 cm).
Heraklion, Crete
VASE, from Hagia Triada.
Steatite,
Museum.
Limestone, originally
length of goat
width 4V4" (11.3 cm).
Heraklion. Crete
works of this sort, we wonder, did Minoan art produce? Only once have we met anything at all like it: in the relief of workmen carrying a beam (see fig. 103), carved almost two cen-
111 i
144
•
1500
\EGl
B.<
in iori s
\
\s/
from Palalkastro,
Height Ll"(28cm)
Museum,
(
Irete,
Heraklion, Crete
turies later
under the impact of the Akhenaten
pages III
L6). Is
it
style (see
possible that pieces similar to the Har-
vester Vase stimulated Egyptian artists during that brief but
important period?
147. Interior. Treasury' of Atreus
Mycenae, Greece,
c.
1300-1250 BC.
148. Section, Treasury
of
Atreus
MYCENAEAN ART Along the southeastern shores of the Creek mainland there were during Late Helladic times (c. 1600-1 100 B.C.) a num-
many wavs to those were grouped around palaces. Their inhabitants have come to be called Mycenaeans, after Mycenae, the most important of these settlements. Since the works of art unearthed there by excavation often showed ber of settlements that corresponded in
of
Minoan
a strikingly
Crete. They, too,
Minoan
regarded as having that they
who had
character, the
come from
Mycenaeans were
Crete, but
it
is
now
at first
agreed
were the descendants of the earliest Greek tribes, entered the country soon after 2000 B.C.
Tombs and Their Contents For some four hundred years, these people had led an inconspicuous pastoral existence in their new homeland; their
modest tombs have yielded only simple pottery and a few bronze weapons. Toward 1600 B.C., however, they suddenly began to bury their dead in deep shaft graves and, a little later, in
conical stone chambers,
This development reached
its
known
as beehive tombs.
height toward 1300
B.C.
in
such impressive structures as the one shown in figures 147 and 148, built of concentric layers of precisely cut stone blocks. Its discoverer
and gave ial
it
thought
the misleading
it
far too
name
ambitious for a tomb
"Treasury of Atreus." Bur-
plates as elaborate as this can be
matched only
in
Kgvpt
during the same period.
The Treasury
of Atreus had been robbed of
149. Rhyton in the shape its
contents
at
long ago. but other
Mycenaean tombs were found intact, and what they yielded up caused even greater surprise alongside the royal dead were placed masks of gold or silver, presumably to cover their faces. II so, these masks were similar in purpose (if not in style) to the masks found in pharaonic tombs of the Middle and New Kingdoms (compare fig. 104). There was considerable personal equip-
Mycenae,
c.
1550
of a lion's
B.C. Cold,
National Archeoloiiit.il
ment
—drinking
head, from a shaft grave
height 8" (20.3
t
m
Museum. Athens
vessels, jewelry,
weapons—much
of
gold
it
and exquisite in workmanship. Some of these pieces, such as the magnify enl gold vessel in the shape of a lion's head (fiu. 149), show a boldly expressive style <>l smooth planes
W(.7 l\
Mil
•
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a
i
r\
-.
*
1
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-
*
•-)!-
/\rff*-*\
^Sr'
'
.-..
150, 151.
VAPHJO CUPS
Shown
I
16
•
\i >.l
W
Mil
c.
1500 B.C Gold, heights
actual size. National Archeological
3";
3W (7.5; 9 cm).
Museum. Athens
J
bounded by sharp ridges which suggests contact with the Near East, while others are so Minoan in flavor that they might be imports from Crete.
Crete, either b\ conquest or through dwiastic
any event, then powei rose as that
monuments
the great
Of the latter kind are the two famous gold cups from a tomb at Vaphio (figs. 150 and 151 they must have been made about 1500 B.C., a few decades after the lion vessel, but where, for whom, and by whom? Here the problem "Minoan or Mycenaean?" becomes acute. The dispute is not as idle as it may seem, for it tests our ability to differentiate between
marriage. In
Minoans
de< lined
Mycenaean architecture were
of
between 1400 and 1200
built
the
of
all
B.(
);
the two neighboring cultures.
every aspect of the cups: do
content that
is
It
we
Architecture Apart from such details as the shape of die olumns or decorative motifs of various sorts. Mycenaean architecture owes c
were
find anything in their style or
un-Minoan? Our
impulse, surely,
first
huge stone
human figures to those on the Harand the similarity of the bulls to the animal in "The Toreador Fresco." On the other hand, we cannot overlook the fact that the men on the Vaphio Cups are not engaged in the Cretan bull-vaulting game but in the far more note the similarity of the
blocks, a type of construction quite
the Hittite fortifications
to
unknown at
in
Bogazkd}
fig. 119). The Lion Gate at Mycenae (fig. 152) is the most impressive remnant of these massive ramparts, which inspired such awe in the Creeks of later times that thev were
regarded as the work of the Cyclopes a mythical race of oneeyed giants). Even the Treasury of Aliens, although built of smaller and more precisely shaped blocks, has a Cyclopean i
of catching the animals on the range, a
Minoan art, though we do find Mycenae. Once we realize this, we are also apt to notice that the design on the cups does not quite match the continuous rhythmic movement of Minoan compositions, and
lintel (see fig.
in
that the animals, for
The palaces on the mainland surrounded bv defensive walls of
tradition.
fortresses
(see
subject that does not occur in
it
hilltop
Crete but similar
is to
vester Vase,
mundane business
Minoan
the
little to
also forces us to consider
147).
Another aspect of the Lion Gate foreign
to the Minoan trathe great stone relief over the doorway. The two lions flanking a symbolic Minoan column have the same
dition
their physical power,
is
have the look of would seem, then,
grim, heraldic majesty as the golden lion's head we encountered figure 149. Their function as guardians of the >j,ate.
cups are a Mycenaean adaptation of Minoan forms, either by a mainland artist or by a Cretan working for Mycenaean patrons.
muscular bodies, and their symmetrical design again suggest an influence from the ancient Near East We
cattle rather
all
than of sacred animals.
It
m
that the
their tense,
may
at this point recall the
Mycenaeans
MYCENAE, CRETE, AND EGYPT tury
B.C.,
pears
to
In the sixteenth cen-
The center
combined with a strong artistic influence from Crete and with an extraordinary material wealth as expressed in the
its
lavish use of gold. Did the
round hearth
palaces,
it
seems, were destroyed by a natural catastrophe tidal
cano). In any event,
it
waves following the eruption of a
does not account
for the
vol-
puzzling con-
nection with Egypt.
What we need
fore the destruction of the
new
fascinating and imaginative,
palaces;
if
hard
to
has been taking shape in recent years. lows:
sites,
was the
plan
between 1700 and 1580
B.C.,
ing to rid themselves of the Hyksos,
and such It
royal
audience
runs about as
fol-
like-
the megaron. Only-
rectangular room with a
in the middle and four columns to support the beams (fig. 153). It was entered through a deep porch with two columns and an antechamber. This design is in essence no more than an enlarged version of the simple
roof
houses of earlier generations; its ancestry can be traced back to Middle Helladic times. There must have been a rich ings
scheme
of wall paintings and ornamental carv-
to stress its dignity as
the king's abode.
Sculpture No
trace has been found of
ture
—
modest shrines, as
who had
there
is
a
Mycenaean temple architecThe palaces did, however, include m Crete What nods were worshiped dispute: Mycenaean religion surely in-
ever existed.
if it
the Egyptians were Hy-
seized the Nile
hall, called
for certain: a large
a theory
confirm in detail-
seems
Mycenae and other mainland
of the palace, at
known
is
decorative
a triangular explanation that involves the Mycenaeans with Crete as well as Egypt about a century beis
B.C.; it
however, that they began to sally eastward across the Aegean, for trade or war. much earlier than that.
a strange picture: what apbe an Egyptian influence on burial customs is
(earthquakes and
Trojan War. which brought the
Asia Minor soon after 1200
ly,
Mycenae thus presents
Mycenaeans perhaps conquer the Minoans, causing the destruction of the "new" palaces there about 1500 B.C.? This idea has now been discarded; the new
to
matter
of
Delta (see page 110). For this they gained the aid of warriors
cluded Minoan elements but also influences from Asia Mi-
from Mycenae, who returned home laden with gold (of which Egypt alone had an ample supply) and deeply im-
own
pressed with Egyptian funerary customs. The Minoans. not military but famous as sailors, ferried the Mycenaeans back
and
forth, so that they, too,
with Egypt (which
may
had a new and closer contact
help to account for their sudden
prosperity toward 1600 B.C as well as for the rapid develop-
ment
of naturalistic wall painting at that time).
The
close
between Crete and Mycenae, once established. were to last a long time; toward 1400 B.C., when Linear B script began to appear, the Mycenaeans were tfie rulers of relations
nor, as well as deities of
Creek origin inherited from their way of merging or ex-
forebears. Hut gods have an odd
changing their identities, so that the religious images in \Iv cenaean art are extremely hard to interpret What, lor instance, .ire we to make of the exquisite little ivory
group
(fig.
Style of the piece
body
154
i
unearthed
.it
Mycenae
m
1939? The
Us richlj curved shapes and casv. flexible
movements—Still echoes Minoan art. but the subject Two kneeling women, closely united, lend
is
strange indeed
a
single child:
would be
to
whose
is
he'
I
he natural interpretation
regard the now headless (mure as (he mother.
\K,I \\
Mil
•
NT
-
-
\
•v
I
152.
Gate, Mycenae, Greece, 1250 B.c
The Lion
doned by his mother and reared by nymphs, goddesses, or even animals. We are thus forced to conclude rather reluctantly that our ivory in all likelihood shows a motherless
—
—
child god with his nurses.
deeper;
it
is
The
real mystery,
however,
the tender play of gestures, the intimate
feeling, that hinds the three figures together.
Nowhere
the entire range of ancient art before the Greeks do
gods
— or people,
for that
matter
lies
human we
in
find
— expressing affection with
such warmth and eloquence. 153. Plan of a
Mycenaean megaron
Something quite
basically
new
is
reflected here, a familiar
view of divine beings that makes even the Minoan snake
arm and turns toward her; the set ond woman whose left hand rests on the other's shoulder would then be the grandmother Such three-generation sin. c
the child clings to her
a well-known subject in Christian art, in which we often find St. Anne, the Virgin Mary, and the Infant Chrisi combined in similar fashion. It is the memory <>l these later works that colors our view
lamiU groups are
of the M\<
m
enaean
ivory
an< lent religion that
other hand (hen child 'his
NH
•
\l (,l
name
\\
Mil
is
,i
Yet fits
we search
in
vain for a subject
our reading of the group.
very widespread
myth ahout
varies from place to place
I
On
the
the divine
who
is
aban-
goddess dig. 140) seem awesome and remote. Was this change of attitude, and the ability to express it in art, a Mycenaean achievement? Or did they inherit it from the Minoans? However that may be, our ivory group opens up a dimension of experience that had never been accessible to Egypt or Mesopotamia.
\54. (opi>osilc) Hint:!-: c,
1500- 1100
He
Shown 250
Di- il
Ivory,
lis
,
from Mycenae.
height 3" (7.5 cm).
percent actual
National Archeologica]
si/.e.
Museum. Athens
\/(./
l\
Mil
•
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CHAPTER FIVE
GREEK ART -ADRIATIC
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The works
of art
we have come to know so far are like fasciwe approach them fully aware of their
nating strangers:
background and of the "language
alien
present.
II
it
turns out that, alter
difficulties" they
we can understand we are surprised and
all,
something of what they have to say, grateful. As soon as we reach the Greeks, our attitude undergoes a change: they are not strangers hut relatives, we feel,
members of our own family whom we recognize immeA Creek temple will remind us at a glance of the
older
diately.
bank around the corner, a Creek statue will bring to mind countless other statues we have seen somewhere, a Greek coin will make us want to reach lor the small change in our own pockets. But this air of familiarity is not an unmixed blessing. We would do well to keep in mind that the continuous tradition that links us with the Greeks is a handicap as well as an advantage. II we are to get an unhampered view of
Greek architecture, we must take care not to lie swayed by offices, and in judging Creek sculpture we had better forget its latter-day descendants in
our memories of banks and public parks.
Another complication peculiar to the study of Greek art from the fact that we have three separate, and some-
times conflicting, sources of information on the subject. are, first of
all,
the
monuments
but often woefully inadequate source.
(
great Panhellenic (all-Creek) festivals, the
divided into
may
tern
be
main v
lowed as an
ho of age-old
e<
The
pat
tribal loyalties
as
an inheritance from the Mvcenaeans or as a response to the geography of Greece, whose mountain ranges, narrow valleys,
and jagged
tion
difficult
coastline would have
any event.
in
The
reinforced one another.
made
Perhaps
political unifica-
of these
all
intense rivalry
factors
these states-
of
—
military, political, and commercial undoubtedly stimulated the growth of ideas and institutions.
Our own thinking about government continues to make number of key terms of Greek origin which reflect
the evolution of the city-state: monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, democracy, and, most important, politics (derived from polites, the citizen of the polis, or city-state). In the
end, however, the Creeks paid dearly lor their inability
broaden the concept of the state beyond the local limits ol the polis. The Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.), in which the Spartans and their allies defeated the Athenians, was a
various
and
their
accounts were eagerly collected by the Ro-
mans, who handed them down to us. From them we learn what the Creeks themselves considered their most impor-
achievements
in architecture, sculpture,
This written testimony has helped us brated artists and
to
catastrophe from which Greece never recovered.
and painting.
to identify
monuments, but much
of
some
cele-
deals with
it
Geometric Style The formative phase four
hundred
years,
of Greek civilization embraces about
from
800
the Greeks rapidly
B.C.
The earliest
ry.
c.
100
1
emerge
specific dates that
from that time: 776
to
we know
centuries of this period
B.C.,
700
very
B.C.
literary
that of the original
evidence with that of the copies and
monuments, and
to
weave these strands
coherent picture of the development of Greek
difficult task indeed, despite the vast
art, is a
amount of work
tint
has been done since the beginnings of archaeological schol-
some two hundred and
Who were
the Creeks?
twenty-five years
a
We
slightly later dates recording the foundation of various cities
That time also saw the
Greek
teristicallv
full
dev elopment of the oldest
style in the fine arts, the so-called
We know
ric.
I
it
which we now reserve the name Creek. how main separate tribal units there were
c
We
iv
ili/alion for
do not know
in the
beginning,
-
architecture and sculpture in stone |,
l.
I
wine and oil, which provided artists with a generous field. Each type, however, presented unique challenges, and
some
painters
became
circles
ing the following centuries created the great
harac
Creek potters quickly developed a considerable varietv ol shapes the basic ones are shown in fig. 155 ( hie! among these was the amphora, a two-handled vase used lor storing
sorbed the
and gradually spread to the Aegean islands and Asia Minor. It was these tribes w ho din-
c
Geomet-
only from painted pottery and small-scale
monumental
only with abstract
stock,
Games
and the starting point of Creek chronology, as well as several
have met some of them before, such as the Mvcenaeans, who had come to Greece about 2,000 B.C Other Creek-speaking tribes entered the peninsula from the north, toward 1100 B.C., overwhelmed and ab-
Mycenaean
us are
to
the founding of the Olympic
did not appear until the seventh centurv
To reconcile the
three
into the lull light of histo-
greatest masterpieces of their time, are not
at all.
first
hut after about
have come (low n
sculpture
mentioned
Of the
little,
works of which no v isible trace remains today, while other works, which do survive and which strike us as among the
arship
reeks remained
are of such high quality that
artists,
into a
(,
small, independent city-states.
themselves, a reliable
we cannot be sure that they really are copies; others make us wonder how faithfully they follow their model (especially if we have several copies, all slightly different, of the same lost original). Finally, there are the literary sources. The Greeks were the first people in history to write at length about their own
tant
coast ol Asm Minor and thus had closer contacts with the ancient Near East. Sonic en furies later, the (necks also spread westward, founding important settlements m Sicily and southern Italy Despite a strong sense of kinship based on language and common beliefs, expressed in such traditions as the four
Then we have
copies made in Roman times that tell us something about important Greek works that would otherwise be lost to us entirely. These copies, however, always pose a problem:
some
Aegean islands and the nearby
use of a
arises
There
hut two main groups stand out: the Dorians, who settled mostly on the mainland and the lonians w ho inhabited the
of
v
specialists at decorating
ertain
c
tv
pes
ases.
DIPYLON VASE.
At
had been decorated
Inst the potterv
designs— triangles,
hut toward 800
<
he< kers,
human and
B.<
(
one entric
animal figures be-
gan
to appear within the geometric framework, and in the most mature examples these figures could form elaborate ">(> scenes Our spec mien fig from the dpvlon cemeterv 1
in
\lhens belongs
to a
group
I
I
ol
verv
lame vases
CRJ
that served
/
K
\l!l
•
r,/
^sz
I Kylix
Lethykos
Imphora
Z2?
155. Creek vase shapes
as grave
monuments;
its
bottom has holes through which
down
liquid offerings could filter
to the
On
dead below.
the
body of the vessel we see the deceased lying in state, flanked by figures with their amis raised in a gesture of mourning,
and a funeral procession of chariots and warriors on foot. The most remarkable thing about this scene is that it contains no reference to an afterlife; its purpose is purely commemorative. Here lies a worthy man, it tells us, who was mourned by many and had a splendid funeral. Did the Greeks, then, have no conception of a hereafter? They did, but the realm of the dead to them was a colorless, ill-defined region where the souls, or "shades," led a feeble and passive existence without making any demands upon the living. When Odysseus, in the Homeric poem, conjures up the shade of Achilles, all the dead hero can do is mourn his own demise: "Speak not conciliatorily of death, Odysseus. than lord it over rather serve on earth the poorest man .
the wasted dead."
11
.
.
down and that the biggest fish has seized the bead of one of the men, we would read the design simplv as a pattern, rather than as a disaster at sea. And what of the swastikas? Are they ornamentalized starfish or abstract space fillers? Geometric pottery has been found not only in Greece but
and the Near East as well, a clear indication that Greek traders were well established throughout the eastern in Italy
I'd
\
tended their graves, and even poured libations over them, they did so in a spirit of pious remembrance, rather than to
needs of the dead. Clearly, they had refused
satisfy the
Memu-ti
all
marked and
the Greeks nevertheless
zhi
:.¥.*.
.
.
^ftfcasaaasM
to
adopt the elaborate burial customs of the Mycenaeans (see
page
Nor
115).
Mycenaean
is
the Geometric style an outgrowth of the
tradition
quite primitive
—
but a fresh
— and
some
in
respects
start.
Given his limited repertory of shapes, the artist who painted our vase has achieved an astonishingly varied effect. The spa< big ol the bands, their width and density show a rather snbile relationship to the structure of the vessel. in
representation, however,
is
I
lis
interest
as yet very limited: the figures
groups, repeated .it regular intervals, are little more than another kind of ornament, part of the same over-all texture so thai their size varies m accordance with the area to be
in
Organic and geometric elements still coexist in the and the distinction between them is often dil-
filled
same
held
lozenges
Ik ult
indi< ate legs,
(in les witb dots
Iiiii
may
or
whether of a man,
may
not be
a chair, or a
human
beads; and
the chevrons boxed triangles, and soon between the figures
ma} be decorative or descriptive Mik b the same ould be said i
bom
scene
another Geometric
we cannot ol
vase which
structive contrast with the Mi loan \iew of i
fig
/
i
I
'
1
I
-1.1:1
i.
/
il
k
it
Mil
weie not
for
till
figure 157,
.1
shipwreck
makes an
marine
the fact that the boat
life
is
in-
(see
upside
156.
D/PYLON VASE 8ih century B.C 42%"
The
Metropolitan
New
York.
Museum
Rogers Fund
(
of Art,
1914
108.2 cm).
SHIPWRECK. Drawing
157.
Museum
in the
at Ischia,
Mediterranean in the eighth century B.C. What is more, they had already adopted the Phoenician alphabet and reshaped it for their own use, as we know from the inscriptions on these same vases. The greatest Greek achievements of this however, are the two Homeric epics, the Iliad and the
era,
Odyssey. The scenes on Geometric vases contain hatch
a
power of these poems; if our knowledge of eighth-century Greece were based on the visual arts alone, we would inevitably think of it as a far simpler and more provincial society than the literary evidence su
There
is
a paradox here that
needs
to
alter a
Geometric vase
Greece. 8th century B.C.
Narrative painting tapped a nearly inexhaustible some e subjects from Greek myths and legends.
Oiese
tales
of
were
the result of mixing local Doric and Ionic deities and heroes
pantheon of Olympian gods and Homeric sagas. comprehensive attempt to understand the world. The Greeks grasped the internal meaning ol events in terms of fate and human character rather than as into the
They
also represent a
be resolved. Per-
was so lanand sculpture played a less than they were to assume in the following
haps, at this particular time, Greek civilization
guage-minded important role
that painting
may
centuries. In that event, the Geometric style
been something of an anachronism
in the
conservative tradition about to hurst
shipwreck scene, ing;
its
at
rigid order already
representation and narrative
new forms come Hooding another phase, which we call the hursts;
the seams. In the
seems
demand
than the style can provide. Toward 700 in,
well have
eighth century, a
B.C.,
to
he dissolv-
greater scope
the
dam
and Cheek
tinalh
enters
art
Orientalizing style.
Orientalizing Style As
name
its
implies, the
new
style reflects
powerful
in-
fluences from Egypt and the Near East, stimulated by in-
creasing trade with these regions. Between
c. 725 and 650 Greek art absorbed a host of Oriental motifs and ideas, and was profoundly transformed in the process The change becomes very evident if we compare the large amphora from
B.C.
Eleusis
(fig.
158) with the Dipylon Vase of a hundred years
earlier (fig. 156).
ELEUSIS AMPHORA. Geometric ornament peared from this vase altogether, hut
it
is
has not disap-
confined
to
the pe-
— the new. the handles, and the curvilinear motifs — such as spirals, interlacing bands, palmettos and rosettes — are conspicuous everywhere; on the ripheral /.ones
loot,
lip:
shoulder of the \essel we see a frieze of fighting animals, derived from the repertory of Near Eastern areas, however, are given over to narrative,
come
the dominant element.
The major which has he
art.
158
//// .i
Height 56"
BLINDING Ol POLYPHEMUS and GORCONS on Proto-Attu
142
I
cm
amphora Archaeological
in
Museum
i.in
Eleusis
ik Mil
•
I',
,
with the aid of the
Even here we notice an
interest in
the articulation of the body far beyond the limits of the Geo-
metric
style.
Ibe Eleusis vase belongs
to a group called Prom-Attic, the ancestors of the great tradition of vase painting that was soon to develop in Attica, the region around Athens. A sec-
ond family of Orientalizing vases thian, since
it
is
known
as Proto-Corin-
points toward the later pottery production of
Corinth. These vessels, noted lor their spirited animal
show
tils,
Near
particularly close links with the
East.
mo-
Some
of them, such as the
perfume vase in figure 159, are molded The enchanting little owl, "streamlined" to fit the palm of a lady's band and vet so animated in pose and expression, helps us to understand why Greek potthe shape of animals.
in
came
tery
to
be in
demand throughout
the Mediterranean
world.
ARCHAIC VASE PAINTING The Orientalizing phase of Greek art was a period of experiment and transition, in contrast to the stable and consistent Geometric style. Once the new elements from the East had been
fully assimilated, there
emerged another
style, as well
defined as the Geometric but infinitely greater in range: the Archaic, which lasted from the later seventh century to 159. Proto-Corinthian
650
C.
perfume
about 480
vase.
Height 2" (5 cm). Musee du Louvre, Paris
B.C.
B.C.,
the time of the famous Greek victories over
and
the Persians at Salamis riod,
we
Plataea.
During the Archaic pe-
witness the unfolding of the
genius of
artistic
Greece not only in vase painting but also in monumental architecture and sculpture. While Archaic art lacks the bal-
which they had little interest belocus was on explaining why the legendary heroes of the past seemed incomparably greater than men of the present. Some were historical figures Herakles, for example, was the king of Mycenaean Tiryns but all were believed to be descendants of the gods, themselves often very human in behavior, who had had chilthe accidents of history, in
about 500
fore
B.C.
The main
— —
dren with mortals. This lineage explained the hero's extraordinary powers.
Such an outlook
also helps us to
understand the strong
appeal exerted on the Greek imagination by Oriental lions
embodied the un-
and monsters. These
terrifying creatures
known
forces of
laced by the hero. This fascination
clearl)
seen on the Eleusis amphora.
much
life
is
The figures have
and descriptive precision that the among them can no longer interfere with then actions; ornament of any sort now belongs to a separate and lesser realm, clearly distinguishable from gained so
in size
de< orative patterns scattered
representation.
lb.it ol
As
a result, the
seus and
phora
century,
fifth
it
has a freshness that gives
strong appeal for the
with those
modern
who regard
it
beholder.
It is
it
particularly
difficult to
argue
as the most vital phase in the devel-
opment
of Greek art. Greek architecture and sculpture on a large scale must have begun to develop long before the mid-seventh century.
Until that time, however, both were mainly of wood, and nothing of them has survived except the foundations of a
lew buildings. Ibe desire to build and sculpt in stone, for the
new
sake of permanence, was the most important
idea that
entered Greece during the Orientalizing period. Moreover, the revolution in material and technique must have brought about decisive changes of style as well, so that we cannot salelv
reconstruct the appearance of the
ples or statues
on the basis of
lost
wooden temvase painting,
later works. In
on the other band, there was no such break m continuity. thus seems best to deal with Archaic vases before we turn
It
to
the sculpture and architecture of the period.
blinding of the giant Polyphemus by Odys-
companions the scene on die neck of the amena< ted with memorable directness and dramatic
liis
is
ance, the sense of perfection of the Classical style of the later
The significance of Archaic
v
ase painting
is
in
some w av
s
completely unique. Decorated pottery, however great its value as an archaeologist's tool, rarely enters into the mainstream of ibe history of art; we think of it, in general, as a
these men lack (be beauty we expect of epic heroes, movements have an expressive vigor thai in. ikes them seem thoroughly alive. The slaying of another monstrous
despite their exceptional beauty and technical refinement.
reature is depi< ted on the body of the vase, the main pan of which has been bad!) damaged, so that only two figures
Yet
Ion e
||
their
<
have survived intact; the) are Gorgons, the sisieis snake baned lernble la< ed Medusa whom Perseus
154
•'./;/
/
k
\i;i
ol
the
killed
craft or industry.
\iu\
Ibis remains line even of
Minoan
vases,
same may be said of ibe vasl bulk ol Greek pottery. we siudv such pieces as ibe Dipylon Vase or ibe am-
(be il
bom Eleusis, impressive not only by virtue of their sheer size but as vehicles of pictorial effort, we cannot esphora
cape the feeling
works of
There been
th.it
they arc
among
the most ambitious
is
lost
no way but
it
to
prove
tins,
of course
seems obvious
—
well as painters
— took pride m their work, hut also that the\
could become famous
art of their day.
far too
much
has
that these are objects of
Signatures
foi
an
duced
And. remarkably enough,
according
to set patterns.
Archaic vases
are generally a good deal smaller than their predecessors,
Archaic vase painters.
since pottery vessels no longer served as grave monuments (which were now made of stone). Their painted decoration,
style that
however, shows a far greater emphasis on pictorial subjects
are luckv
i
fig.
lt>2);
appear hi
in
scenes from mythology, legend, and everyday life endless variety, and the artistic level is often very
indeed, especially
How gready these \essels
is
among Athenian
then
artistic
even without the
that
Some
is
of
possible with
them have
Greece never achieved
individual fame; vet even the subordinate role played by our
female vase painter must he significant of women's participation in the arts. After the middle of the sixth century, the finest vases fre-
quently hear the signatures of the artists
who made them.
This indicates not only that individual artists
l(i().
\
VIS/. I'MSII-.R
— potters
AM)
many
enough to have do/ens in one instance over two hundred) ol vases by the same hand, so that we can trace one master's development over a considerable period. Ar1
is
artists in
good
"handwriting" can be recognized and in a lew cases we
evident from figure 160, which shows Athe-
women
.1
so distinctive a
aid ol a signature;
defined personalities in the entire history
lyric poets,
such
chaic vase painting thus introduces us to the Inst clearly
vases.
winner of a contest. The scene also includes a female assistant (on the extreme right), the earliest depiction we know of a woman artist at work. She was, we may assume, a member of a family workshop. Unlike Sappho, the greatest of ear-
Greek
To us
style.
a great deal; the} are
the Greeks themselves valued the beauty of
na and two Victories bestowing wreaths on a vase painter and two male assistants, presumably because he was the
ly
mean
no more than convenient labels unless we know enough ol artist's work to gain some insight into his personality.
highly individual character, rather than routine ware proin quantity
theu personal
themselves do not
in
as
ASSISTANTS,
for while
ol art.
it
true that signatures occur in Archaic sculpture and archi-
tecture
.is
well, they
have not helped us
to identilv
the per-
sonalities of individual masters.
Archaic Greek painting was. of course, not confined
to
There were murals and panels, too. Although nothing has survived ol them except a lew poorly preserved fragments, we can form a fair idea of what they looked like from the wall paintings in Etruscan tombs of the same period see figs. 242 and 243). How, we wonder, were these large-scale works related to the vase pictures 7 We do not know but one thing seems certain: (///Archaic painting was essentially drawing filled in with solid, flat color, and therefore murals could not have been very different 111 appearance from vase vases.
—
pictures.
CROWNED B1 WHENA
Detail from an Attic red-figured hydria (composite photograph
1
IN D VICTORIES
150
B.<
Private collection
(,/,•/
/
K
\ltl
•
/">">
161.
According
come
not
450
b.c
EXEKIAS. DIONYSUS
IN a BOAT. Interior of an Attic black-figured kylix. Diameter 12" (30.5 cm). Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich
to the literary sources.
into
its
own
Greek wall painting did wars (c. 475-
until alter the Persian
through the gradual discovery of modeling and
).
spatial depth.
From
that time on. vase painting
became
a
depth and modeling were beyond its limited technical means; by the end ol the filth century, its decline was obvious. Tin' great age of vase painting, then, was the lesser art, since
Archaic era Until about 475 as
much
B.C.,
good \ase painters enjoyed
Whether
prestige as other artists.
directly reflects the lost wall paintings,
\iewed as
a
or not their
it
deserves
work to
he
major achievement.
resilience to
and strength, so
c.
540
B.C.
that the composition adapts itself
the circular surface without becoming
Dionysus reclines white);
it
moves with the same ease
Exekias' image
mean?
According to a Homeric hymn, the god of wine had once been abducted by pirates, whereupon he caused vines to -row
all
over the ship and frightened his captors until they
bun here on
his return
BLACK-FIGURED STYLE. The difference between Orien-
called by every
phins and seven bunches of grapes
pline In
shown (
l
he amphora from Eleusisf
fig.
one of
artistic disci-
158), the figures are
partly as solid silhouettes, partly in outline, or as a
ombination of both. Toward the end of the seventh century,
Attn
vase painters resolved these inconsistencies
l>\
adopt-
in- the "Mac k-figured" Style,
which means thai the entire design is silhouetted in black against the oddish clay; internal details are scratched in with a needle, and while and purple ma) be added on lop of the black to make certain areas stand oul a de< orative
K>l
.',
•(,;;/
effect, are c."
sharp edged forms have
/
k
\in
to
We
see
be gratefully re-
Creek drinker), accompanied by seven dolfor good luck. the spare elegance of Exekias seems to retain some-
thing of the
spirit
of Geometric pottery (see
instructive comparison), the
work of the
fig.
157
slightly
for
an
younger
seems more akin to the forceful Orientalizing style of Polyphemus in the Kleusis amphora. The scene of lerakles killing the lion, on an amphora attributed to Psiax (fig. 162), is all grimness and violence. The two Psiax
the blinding of I
be \iilues of this procedure, which lavois
two-dimensional
a kylix (drinking cup) of
slendei
/
I
If
into dolphins.
journey (an event
talizing .Hid Archaic
is
as
forms are counterbalanced by the heavy clusters of grapes. But why is he at sea? What does the happy poetry of
light
jumped overboard and were turned
vase painting
mere ornament. was once entirely the dolphins, whose
in his boat (the sail
540
b.<
apparent b)
in figure
Exekias.
a lacelike delicacy
The
yel also
1(>'2.
(opposite) I'SIAX.
HERAKLES STRANGLING THE NEMEAN LION,
on an Auk black figured amphora from Vulci, Height 19'// (49.5 cm). Museo
C'ivieo,
Italy, c.
Brescia
525
B.C.
GREEK
Mil
•
/".7
A similar striving lor monumental effect, but with more harmonious results, may be seen in the Eos and Memnon by Douris (fig. 164), one of the masterpieces of late Archaic vase painting. It shows the goddess of dawn holding the l)o(l\ ol her son. who had been killed and despoiled of his armor by Achilles. In this moving evocation of grief, Greek art touches a mood that seems strangely prophetic of the Christian Pieta (see
fig.
505). Notable too
is
the expressive
freedom of the draftsmanship; the lines are as flexible as if they had been done with a pen. Douris knows how to trace the contours of limbs beneath the drapery, how to contrast
dynamic outlines with thinner and more
vigorous,
delicate
secondary strokes, such as those indicating the anatomical details of
Memnon's
because of
est
body. This vase also has a special inter-
elaborate inscription,
its
which includes the
signatures of both painter and potter as well as a dedication
("Hermogenes
is
beautiful").
ARCHAIC SCULPTURE The new
motifs that distinguish the Orientalizing style from
— fighting animals, winged monsters, scenes — had reached Greece mainly through the impor-
the Geometric of
THE "FOUNDRY PAINTER." lapith and centaur.
163.
Interior of
an
Attic red-figured kylix.
Staatliche
c.
490-480
combat
tation of ivory carvings
B.c
Antikensammlungen, Munich
tian influences.
Greek heavy bodies arc truly locked
in
combat, so that they almost
compact unit. Incised lines and subsidiary colors have been added with utmost economy in order to avoid breaking up the massive expanse of black. Yet Psiax succeeds to an extraordinary degree in conveying the three-dimensional quality of these figures; his knowledge of grow together into a
body structure, his
single,
ability to
and metalwork from Phoenicia or Mesopotamian as well as Egyp-
Syria, pieces that reflected
use foreshortening
soil,
Such objects have
so that
we can
actually been found
They do not help us, however, to monumental architecture and sculpture stone about 650 B.C., which must have been based on ac-
sion as well established.
explain the rise of in
quaintance with Egyptian works that could be studied only
on the in
spot.
Egypt
at
We know
that small colonies of
the time, but why,
we wonder,
Greeks existed
did Greece sud-
— note the
way the abdomen and shoulders of Herakles are rendered seem little short of amazing when measured against anything we have seen before. Only in such details as the eye of Herakles do we still find the traditional combination of front and profile views.
RED-FIGURED STYLE.
Psiax
must have
houettelike black-figured technique
shortening unduly
difficult, for in
made
some
felt
that the
sil-
the study of fore-
of his vases he tried
the reverse procedure, leaving the figures red and filling in the background. This red-figured technique gradually re-
placed the older method toward 500
B.C
Its
advantages are
shown in figure L63, a kvli.x of C. 490-480 B.C. by an unknown master nicknamed the 'foundry Painter.'' The details of the Lapith and Centaur axe now freely drawn with well
the brush, rather than laboriously incised, so the artist de-
pends
far less
on the
profile
view than before; instead, he
him show boldh foreshortened and overlapping limbs, precise del. nls of COStume (note the pleated skirt), and interest in He is so fascinated by all these new elfat ill expressions exploits the internal lines of communication that permit to
le( ts <
ould
that I
.mil a pie<
\',H •(,/;/
he has made the figures as large as he possibly seem to burst from their circular frame, e ol the Lapith's helmet has actually been cut off.
he) almost
Ik Mil
on
regard this channel of transmis-
164. interior of
Diameter
an
DOURIS. EOS IND
WJ
Attic red-figured kylix.
10W (26.7 cm),
MNON. 490-480
c.
Musee du Louvre.
B.C
I'aris
165.
FEMALE FIGURE,
height 24'/2" (62.3 cm).
c.
650
B.C.
Limestone,
Musee du Louvre,
Paris
166.
STANDING YOUTH (KOUHOS)
Marble, height G'l
Museum
denly develop a taste for monumentalitv, and artists
how
did her
acquire so quickly the Egyptian mastery of stone
standards,
stand with the the kneecaps.
c.
sors
—
similarities are certainly striking: all
we
note
four statues, the
figures, the
the
way they
emphatic rendering of
formalized, wiglike treatment
of
the hair.
ol
Archaic
resemblance. Indued by Egyptian .
seem somewhat "primiawkward, less dose to nature.
statues
die Egyptian sculptor allows the legs and hips
toes protrude
The
male
fists,
ol
the female figure to press through the skirt, the Greek
shows
85).
Fund. 1932
ley forward, the
rigid, oversimplified,
166). (fig.
The
the
650-625
the block-conscious, cubic character of
left
are further points
Whereas
B.C. (fig. 165) and a nude youth of C. 600 B.C and compare them with their Egyptian predeces-
York. Fletcher
the close-fitting garment of the female figure, and her raised
tive"
(fig.
C. 600 B C The Metropolitan
position of their amis, their clenched
arm
of
I
slim, broad-shouldered silhouette of the
clearly visible.
Let us consider two very early Greek statues, a female figure
1.9 m).
"
New
of Art.
caning? The mystery may never be cleared up, for the oldest surviving Greek stone sculpture and architecture show that the Egyptian tradition had already been well assimilated and Hellenized. though their link with Egypt is still
Kouros and Kore
1
a solid, undifferentiated
hut the
(
mass from which
Ireek st.uues also have
cannot he measured
in
\
nines
ol
Egyptian terms lust
their of all.
onlj the
ow n
that
the) are
GRl ik Mil
•
159
ceptions are the tiny bridges between the thighs of the nude youth). Apparently
is
it
and the
fists
of the greatest
him that a statue consist only of Stone that has meaning within an organic whole; the Stone must be transformed. It cannot be permitted to remain importance
to
representational
inert, neutral matter.
we must insist, a question of technique but of The act of liberation achieved in our two figures endows them with a spirit basically different from that of any of the Egyptian statues. While the latter seem becalmed by a spell that has released them from every strain Ibis
is
not,
artistic intention.
for all
den
time
to
The
life.
come, the Creek images are tense,
huge eyes
direct stare of their
telling contrast to the gentle,
full
of hid-
most
offers the
faraway gaze of the Egyptian
figures.
Whom
do they represent?
name
We
call the
female statues by
(Maiden the male ones by that of Kouros (Youth) noncommittal terms that gloss over the difficulty of identifying them further. Nor can we explain why the Kouros is always nude while the Kore is clothed. Whatever the reason, both types were produced in large numbers throughout the Archaic era, and their general outlines remained extraordinarily stable. Some are inscribed with the names of artists ("So-and-so made me") or with dedications to various deities. These, then, were votive offerings; but whether they represent the donor, the deity, or a divinely favored person such as a victor in athletic games remains uncertain in most cases. Others were placed on graves, yet they can be viewed as representations of the dethe general
of Kore
),
—
ceased only in the broadest (and completely impersonal) sense. This odd lack of differentiation
seems
part of the es-
gods nor
sential character of these figures; they are neither
mortals but something in between, an ideal of physical perfection
and
vitality
shared by mortal and immortal
Homeric epics dwell
as the heroes of the
alike, just
realms of
in the
both history and mythology. 11
the type of Kouros and Kore
its artistic
interpretation
is
narrowly circumscribed,
shows the same inner dynamic we
have traced in Archaic vase painting. The pace of
opment becomes KROISOS (KOUROS FROM ANAVYSOSt
167.
height 6 '!"
(
525
c.
1.9 m). National Archaeological
B.C.
strikingly clear
Kouros of figure 166 with another carved some seventy-five
Marble.
years later
Museum, Athens
(fig.
167) and identified by the inscription on
base as the funerary statue of Kroisos,
death
in the front line of battle.
Like
originally painted; traces of color
tnih free-standing
human said
form
in
— the earliest
large stone
figures
<
images of the
the entire history of art of which this can be
The Egyptian carver had never dared
to liberate
such
ompletely from the stone; they remain immersed in
some degree
were so that the empty spaces between the legs and between the arms and the torso (or between two figures in a double statue, as in fit;. 85) always remain parti) Idled There are never any holes in Egyptian it
to
as
il
stone figures. In that sense, they do not rank as sculpture die round but as an extreme case of high (
arvei on (he contrary does not
olhei
unless the) arc en< ased
mind holes
lengths
160 'GRl
to tut
I
k
aw as even
Mil
bit
in a skirt
).
m
The Greek the least; he
relief.
sep.uales the arms from the torso and the
in
lcj,s
and
this devel-
from a comparison of the
from each
u,oes to great
of dead material (the only ex
and the pupils of the
can
who had died
all
its
a hero's
such figures, it was be seen in the hair
still
eyes. Instead of the sharply contoured,
abstract planes of the older statue,
we now
find swelling
curves. The whole body displays a greater awareness of massive
volumes, but also a
tomical details are
The
more
new
style of the Kroisos thus
I'sia.x's
Herakles
(fig.
elasticity,
and countless ana-
functionally rendered than before.
162);
corresponds exactly
we witness
to that of
the transition from
black-figured to red-figured in sculptural terms.
There are numerous statues from the middle years of the marking previous way stations along the same road, such as the magnificent Calf-Bearer of c. 570 B.C. (fig.
sixth century
H>8). a votive figure representing the ficial
animal he
is
not a portrait, any
donor with the
sacri-
offering to Athena. Needless to say,
more than the Kroisos
is,
but
it
it
is
shows a
type: the beard indicates a
man
of
mature
years.
The Calf-
Bearer originally had the Kouros standing pose the legs are badly damaged and the body conforms to the Kouros ideal (
),
of physical perfection;
its vigorous, compact forms arc emphasized, rather than obscured, by the thin cloak, which fits them like a second skin, detaching itself only momentarily
The face, effectively framed by the soft curve no longer has the masklike quality of the early Kouros; the features have, as it were, caught up with the rest of the body in that they, too, are permitted a gesture, a at the elbows.
of the animal,
movement smile.
expressive of
We must
life:
be careful not
drawn up in a impute any psychological
the lips are to
meaning
to this "Archaic smile," for the same radiant expression occurs throughout sixth-century Greek sculpture (even on the face of the dead hero Kroisos). Only after 500 B.C.
does
it
gradually fade out.
One of the most famous derful Rampin Head (fig.
instances of this smile 169),
is the wonwhich probably belonged to
the body of a horseman. Slightly later than the Calf-Bearer,
shows the black-figured phase of Archaic sculpture at its highest stage of refinement. Hair and beard have the apit
pearance of richly textured beaded embroidery that sets off the subtly accented planes of the face.
169.
height
The Kore
THE rampin HEAD c. 560 B.C Marble, (29.3 cm). Musee du Louvre, Paris 1
type
1
W
somewhat more variable than that of the follows the same pattern of develop-
is
Kouros, although
it
ment. A clothed figure by definition, it poses a different problem how to relate body and drapery. It is also likely to
—
reflect
changing habits
or local differences of dress. Thus,
the impressive statue in figure 170, carved about the same time as the Calf-Bearer, does not represent a more evolved
stage of the Kore in figure the
same
basic task.
65 but an She was found 1
alternative approach to
in the Temple of Hera on the island of Samos and may well have been an image ol the goddess because of her great size as well as her extraordinary dignity. If the earlier Kore echoes the planes of a rec-
tangular slab, the "Hera" seems like a column Instead
come
to
life.
clear-cut accents, such as the
mpped-in waist in figure 165, we find here a smooth, continuous flow of lines uniting limbs and body Yet the majestic effect of the Statue depends not so much on its abstract quality as on the wav of
the abstract form blossoms forth into the swelling soilness a livinti body.
The meat upward sweep
ol
ol
the lower third of
the figure gradually subdivides to reveal several separate 168.
CALF-BEARER, upper entire statue 65"
(
portion,
c.
570 B.C Marble, height
165 cm). Acropolis Museum. Athens
of
layers of garments, fully
stopped) as
and us pace is slowed Further but never encounters the protruding shapes of I
it
GRl Ik Mil
•
Ihl
arms hips and torso In the end. the drapery, so completely architectonic up to the knee region, turns into a second skin.
we have scon in the Calf-Bearer. rhe Koreol figure 171. in contrast, soon is a linear descendant ol our first Kore, even though she was carved a lull century later She. loo. is blocklike rather than columnar, with a the kind
Strongly
however,
The simplicity of her garments,
accented waist. is
new and
sophisticated; the heavy cloth forms a
distinct, separate layer over the body,
covering hut not con-
cealing the solidly rounded shapes beneath.
And
the
left
hand, which originally was extended forward, proffering a votive gift of some sort, must have given the statue a spatial quality quite beyond the two
new
discussed. Equally
is
the
earlier
kore figures we have
more organic treatment of the
hair, which Tails over the shoulders in soft, curly strands, as compared with the massive, rigid wig in figure 165. Most
noteworthy or all. perhaps,
is
chantinglv gay expression
the
—a
lull,
round lace with
softer;
en-
its
more natural smile
than any we have seen hitherto. Here, as in the Kroisos, we sense the approaching red-figured phase of Archaic art. Our final kore (fig. 172), about a decade later, has none of the severity of figure 171, though both were found
on the
many ways she seems more akin to the "//ere/" from Samos: in fact, she probably came from Chios, another island of Ionian Greece. The architectural Acropolis of Athens. In
grandeur of her ancestress, though, has given way nate, perhaps overly refined grace. The garments
around the body ly
of
it
or-
loop
and textures has almost be-
must have played a particularly such works, and we are fortunate that so
in itself. Color
important role in
much
an
in soft diagonal curves, hut the play of rich-
differentiated folds, pleats,
come an end
to
still
survives in this example.
/I 170
///
/(
from
\
60 height 6'4"
li,
>
•
CRl
I
I
K
'»
m
WM
B.<
S.
mios
171.
Marble
Musee du Louvre
c.
Paris
KORE
IN
Acropolis
172. KORE, from Chios (?).
DORIAN PEPLOS
530 B.C Marble, height
18"
(
122 cud.
Museum, Athens
C.
520
B.C.
Marble, height 21 7/s" (55.3 cm).
Acropolis
Museum, Athens
173. Central portion of the west pediment of the Temple of Artemis at Corfu, c. Limestone, height 9'2" (2.8 m). Archaeological Museum, Corfu
Architectural Sculpture
When also
heir to the age-old tradition of architectural sculp-
The Egyptians had been covering
the walls (and even
the columns) of their buildings with reliefs since the time of the Old Kingdom, but these carvings were so shallow (for
example,
89 and 103) that they left the continuity of the wall surface undisturbed; they had no weight or volume of their own, so that they were related to their architectural setfigs.
ting only in the same limited sense as Egyptian wall paintings (with which they were, in practice, interchangeable).
This
is
also true of the reliefs
B.C
paratively lightweight relief panel. Here, then,
the Greeks began to build their temples in stone, they
fell
ture.
600-580
we have a kind of architectural sculpture— a work integrated with the structure yet also a separate entity rather than a mod-
new
ified wall
surface or block.
TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS, CORFU.
The Lion Gate relief is indeed the direct ancestor of Greek architectural sculpture, become evident when we compare it with the facade Temple of Artemis on the island of Corerected soon after 600 B.C bus. 73 and 74 lore again
as will
of the early Archaic fu,
1
I
1
I.
I
on Assyrian, Babylonian, and figs. 123 and 132). There
Persian buildings (for example,
existed, however, another kind of architectural sculpture in
the ancient
Near
East, originated,
it
seems, by the
Hittites:
the great guardian monsters protruding from the blocks that
framed the gateways of fortresses or palaces (see figs. 19 and 121). This tradition must have inspired, although perhaps indirectly, the caning over the Lion Gate at Mycenae 1
(see
fig.
152).
We must nevertheless
note one important fea-
Mycenaean guardian figures from their predecessors: although they are caned in high relief on a huge slab, this slab is thin and light compared to ture that distinguishes the
the enormously heavy, Cyclopean blocks around
ing the gate, the
Mycenaean
it.
In build-
an empty triangular space above the lintel, for fear that the weight of the wall above would crush it. and then filled the hole with the comarchitect
left
171
Reconstruction drawing
the Temple
ol
Artemis
.it
ol
the west front of
Corfu (after Rodenwaldt)
GRl
I
k Mil
•
l<>
I
of his figures from their architectural setting. the centra] figure actually overlaps the frame.
Who
is
of
this
Not Artemis, surely, although the
frightening creature?
CeUa
The head
temple was dedicated to that goddess. As a matter of fact, we have met her before: she is a Gorgon, a descendant of those on the Eleusis amphora (fig. 158). Her purpose here was to i
serve as a guardian, along with the two
porch
huge
lions,
warding
from the temple and the sac red image of the goddess within. (The other pediment, of which only small fragments
off evil 175. Plan of the Treasury of the Siphnlans
survive, fore,
had a similar
figure.
as an extraordinarily
frightening
)
She might be defined, thereand still rather
monumental
— hex sign. On her
face, the
—
Archaic smile ap-
pears as a hideous grin; and to emphasize further
and
flving,
how
alive
she has been represented running, or rather in a pinwheel stance that conveys movement without
real
she
is,
locomotion. heraldic arrangement of the
The symmetrical,
Gorgon
and the two animals reflects an Oriental scheme which we know not only from the Lion Gate at Mycenae but from many earlier examples as well (see fig. 71, bottom center, and fig. 1 13, top). Because of its ornamental character, it fits the shape of the pediment to perfection. Yet the early Archaic
designer was not content with that; he also wanted the to contain narrative scenes; therefore he has add-
pediment
ed a number of smaller figures in the spaces left between or behind the huge main group. The design of the whole thus shows two conflicting purposes in uneasy balance. As we
might expect, narrative will soon win out over heraldry. Aside from the pediment, there were not many places that the Greeks deemed suitable for architectural sculpture.
—
They might put free-standing figures often of terracotta above the ends and the center of the pediment to break the severity of its outline. And they often placed reliefs in the zone immediately below the pediment. In Doric temples such as that at Corfu (fig. 174), this "frieze" consists of alternating triglyphs (blocks with three vertical markings) and latter were originally the empty spaces between the ends of the ceiling beams; hence they, like the
metopes. The
pediment, could be
the Siphnians in the Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi,
Archeological
c.
525
filled
with sculpture. In Ionic architec-
were omitted, and the frieze became what the term usually conveys to us, a continuous band of painted or sculptured decoration. The Ionians would also sometimes ture, the triglyphs
176. Reconstruction of the facade of the Treasury of B.C.
Museum. Delphi
elaborate the
columns
of a porch into female statues
very surprising development in view of the of the "Hera" from
the sculpture tural
is
members
confined bui
is
to a
zone that
itself structurally
is framed by strucempty: the triangle
between the horizontal ceiling and the sloping sides of the roof all
I
area, called the
liis
except
moisture;
\nd n
is
to protect it
demands
the
pediment, need not be
wooden
rafters
behind
filled in at it
against
not a wall but merely a thin screen.
against this screen thai the pedimental sculpture
is
Samos
Technically these carvings are
in
high
relief,
like
the
170).
SIPHN1AN TREASURY, DELPHI. are
combined
in the
All
duced here
(fig.
is
the splendid frieze. The detail repro-
pull the chariot of
at this early
ment the Greek sculptor wanted
!<•! •(.!;;
I
K
Mil
stage of develop-
to assert the
independence
by
177) shows part of the battle of the Greek
gods against the giants: on the extreme
from the background. Even
B.C.
building itself is not standing any longer, it has been convincingly reconstructed on the basis of the preserved fragments (figs. 175 and 176). Of its lavish sculptural decor, the
evei
ai Mycenae. Characteristically enough, howbodies are strong!) undercut, so as to detach them
for stor-
the inhabitants of the Ionian island of Siphnos. Although the
guardian lions tin'
these possibilities
Treasury (a miniature temple
ing votive gifts) erected at Delphi shortly before 525
most impressive part
displayed.
(fig.
— not a
columnar quality
giant: in er,
left,
two
lions
(who
Cvbele) are tearing apart an anguished front of them, Apollo and Artemis advance togeth-
shooting their arrows; a dead giant, despoiled of his ar-
177.
battle of the gods AND GIANTS, from the north
frieze of the Treasury of the Siphnians.
Marble, height 26" (66 cm). Archeological
mor,
lies at
their feet, while three others enter
from the
right.
The high relief, with its deep undercutting, recalls the Corfu pediment, hut the Siphnian sculptor has taken full advantage of the spatial possibilities offered by this technique. He uses the projecting ledge at the bottom of the frieze as a stage on which he can place his figures in depth. The arms
c.
530
B.C.
Museum, Delphi
The correspondence in the poses of the fighters on the two halves of the pediment makes for a balanced and orderly it also forces us to see the statues as elements m an ornamental pattern and thus robs them of then individuality to some extent. They speak most strongl) to us when viewed one by one. Among the most impressive are the fall-
design, yet
en warrior from the left-hand corner fig. 79 and the kneeling Herakles who once held a bronze how -from the 1
I
1
—
and legs of those nearest the beholder are carved completely in the round; in the second and third layer, the forms become shallower, yet even those farthest removed from us are
right-hand half
never permitted
That in
itself,
much
we may admire the artist's command of the human action. What really moves us is their nobility of spir-
to
merge with the background. The
result
is
and condensed but very convincing space that permits a dramatic relationship between the figures such as we a limited
have never seen before
in narrative reliefs.
with older examples (such as will
show us
figs.
and 150) conquered a new
90, 122, 146.
that Archaic art has indeed
dimension here, not only
Any comparison
in the physical but also in the ex-
pressive sense.
180); both are lean,
(fig.
whose bodies seem marvelously
form
muscular figures
functional and organic.
however, does not explain their meat beauty,
as
m
whether in the agony of dying or in the act of killing. These men, we sense, are suffering - or carrying out— what late has decreed, with tremendous dignity and resolve. And this communicates itself to us in the \er\ feel ol the magit,
nificently firm shapes of
which they
are composed.
TKMPLE OF APHAIA, AEGINA. tal
sculpture, relief has been
Meanwhile, in pedimenabandoned altogether. Instead,
we
find separate statues placed side by side in complex dramatic sequences designed to fit the triangular frame. The
ARCHITECTURE
most ambitious ensemble of this kind, that of the east pediment of the Temple of Aphaia at Aegina, was created about 490 B.C., and thus brings us to the final stage m the evolution of Archaic sculpture.
The figures were found in pieces on the ground and are now in Munich, stripped of their nine-
Orders and Plans In architecture, the
since ancient
Creek achievement has been
Roman
identified
times with the creation of the three
teenth-century restorations. The position of each within the pediment, however, can be determined almost exactly, since
classical architectural orders, Doric, Ionic, .ind Corinthian
their height (but not their scale) varies with the sloping
so named because lis home is the the Ionic. The Doril Greek mainland ma\ well c [aim to he the basic order, since is older and more sharph defined than the Ionic, which it
Sides of the triangle
(fig.
178).
The center
is
accented
In the
standing goddess Athena, who calmly presides, as it were, over the battle between Greeks and Trojans that rages to either side of her in symmetrically diminishing fashion.
Actually, there are onl\ two. the Corinthian being a variant ol
I
developed on the
Aegean islands and the coast
ol
Asia
GRl Ik Mil
/(>",
Minor.
178. Reconstruction drawing of the east pediment of the
Temple
of Aphaia, Aegina (alter Furtwiinglcr)
179. DYINC warrior, from the east pediment of the Temple of Aphaia, Aegina.
Marble, length 72" (183 cm). Staatliche Antikensammlungen,
What do we mean
c.
490 B.c
Munich
by "architectural order"? By
used
common
Greek architecture only (and its descendants); and rightly so, lor none of the other architectural systems known to us produced anything like it. Perhaps the simplest way to make clear the unique character of the Greek orders is this: there is no such thing as "the Egyptian temple" or "the Gothic church" the individual buildings, however much they may have in common, are so varied that we cannot distill a generalized type from them agreement, the term
is
lor
—
while "the Doric temple" in
is
a real entity that inevitably forms
our minds as we examine the monuments themselves.
We must tion as
an
be careful, of course, not to think of this abstracideal that permits us to
measure the degree of per-
any given Doric temple; it simply means that the elements of which a Doric temple is composed are extraordinarily constant in number, in kind, and in their relation to fection of
one another. As
a result of this
ertory of forms, Doric temples
narrowly circumscribed repall
belong
to
the
same
clearly
recognizable family, just as the Kouros statues do; like the
Kouros statues, they show an internal consistency, a mutual adjustment of parts, that gives them a unique quality of wholeness and organic unity.
180.
HERAKLES, from the east pediment of the Temple c. 490 B.C. Marble, height 31" (78.7 cm).
of Aphaia, Aegina.
Staatliche
U,l,
CM
I
K
Mil
Antikensammlungen, Munich
Raking
-.iim.i
=S Metope
Guttae'
(
V
Abacus Kchinus
apiul
i Capita]
/
— Stereobab 1
Leveling in
i
oursi
euthynteria
}•
J
181. Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders
DORIC ORDER. The term Doric order relets to the standard parts, and their sequence, constituting the exterior of
of terracotta
any Doric temple. Us general outlines are already familiar to us from the facade of the Temple of Artemis at Corfu (fig.
constant.
174
):
the diagram in figure 181
names
of
all
shows
it
called
drums
(clearly visible in tiles
supported
beams were used
fig.
for the ceiling;
rhe roof consisted and wooden
184).
wooden
In
rafters,
thus the threat of
fire
was
in detail, along with
the parts. To the nonspecialist, the detailed
ter-
minology may seem something of a nuisance, yet a good many of these terms have become part of our general archi-
TEMPLE PLANS.
The
ol Creek temples are not diwhich, as we have seen, concern
plans
rectly linked to the orders
i
thinking, in architecture as in countless other fields, origi-
They may vary according to the size of the building or regional preferences, but their basic features are so much alike that it is useful to study them from a gen-
nated with the Greeks. Let us
eralized •typical" plan
remind us of the
tectural vocabulary, to
first
divisions: the stepped platform, the
lature
fact that analytical
look at the three
(which includes everything
known
on the
that rests
umns). The Doric column consists of the shallow vertical grooves
main
columns, and the entabcol-
marked by
shaft,
the elevation only).
naos
I
the
room
and the porch pronaos w I
lasters (antac).
The nucleus
182).
(fig,
which the image
in
I
the cella or
is
of the deity
is
placed
The Siphiuan
I
as flutes, and the capital,
is made up of the flaring, cushionlike echinus and a square tablet called the abacus. The entablature is the most
which
complex of the three major
units. It is subdivided into the architrave (a series of stone blocks directly supported by the
columns), the frieze with projecting cornice. nice
is
On
the long sides of the temple, the cor-
on the short sides
horizontal, while
open in such a way as upper and lower parts.
split its
The
entire structure
is
without mortar; they had sion to achieve
smooth
fastened together by
umns, with very
to
(or facades), n
is
enclose the pediment between
built of stone blocks fitted together to
be shaped with extreme preci-
joints.
means
Where
necessary, they were
of metal dowels or
rare exceptions, are
el.
composed
imps Col-
of sections.
•••••••
m • • •
STYIOBATE [L»vH on wh.ch
and metopes, and the
triglyphs
its
»
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COLONNADE
mCOLUMNS
CEILA
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or
l^ in ANTIS
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ANTA
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182
or
PTEROMA
HANK COLUMNS
.SUBSTRUCTUR E (
Iround plan
peripteral temple
or
PTERON
+ «
STEREQBATE
or
ol > typi< al i
i
two columns flanked In pireason shows this minimal
ith its
(
Ireek
after Grinnell
(,l!l
I
k Mil
•
167
plan
sec
i
hind die
17")
fig,
i.
Often we find
make
eella. to
a
larger temples, this central unit
second porch added be-
more symmetrical.
the design
is
surrounded by
nade, called the peristyle, and the structure
Hie
as peripteral.
even have
a colon-
known
then
is
In the
Greece may
\er\ largest temples of Ionian
double colonnade.
a
the Egyptians, along with architectural
ornament and the
knowledge of geometry they needed in order to lay out their temples and to lit the parts together. Yet we cannot say just how they went about all this, or exactly what they took over, technically and artistically, although there can be little doubt that they owed more to the Egyptians than to the Minoans or the Mycenaeans.
Doric Temples
How did the Doric originate? What factors shaped the rigid and precise vocabulary of the Doric order? This is an important and fascinating problem that has occupied archaeologists lor many years hut th.it even now can be answered only in part, lor we have hardly any remains from the time when the system was
stone temples
The
in process of formation.
still
known
to us,
such as
that of
Artemis
earliest
at
Corfu,
that the essential features of the Doric order yvere al-
show
ready well established soon after
600
B C.
How
developed, individually and in combination, cealed into a system as rapidly as they
these features
why
seem
to
they con-
have done,
to which we have lew reliable clues. Greek builders in stone apparently drew upon three distinct sources of inspiration: Egypt, Mycenae, and pre-Archaic Greek architecture in wood and mud brick. The Mycenaean contribution is the most tangible, although probably not the most important, of these. The central unit of the Creek temple, the cella and porch, clearly derives from the megaron (see fig. 153), either through a continuous tradition or by way of revival. There is something oddly
remains
The
a
puzzle
early
symbolic about the
fact
that
Mycenaean
the
royal
hall
should have been converted into the dwelling place of the for the entire Mycenaean era had become part Greek mythology, as attested by the Homeric epics, and the walls of the Mycenaean fortresses were believed to be
Creek gods; of
the work of mythical giants, the Cyclopes. the Creeks
felt
The
religious
awe
before these remains also helps us to under-
FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION? The becomes acute when we consider
problem of origins
a third factor: to
what ex-
tent can the Doric order be understood as a reflection of
wooden
form follows function
purpose
have pursued
approach
this line of
be-
— that an architectural form
will inevitably reflect the
ly
who
structures. Those historians of architecture
lieve that
for
which
it
was devised
at great length, especial-
in trying to explain the details of the entablature.
Up
to a
arguments are convincing; it seems plausible to assume that at one time the triglyphs did mask the ends of wooden beams, and that the droplike shapes below, called point, their
guttae (see
The
fig.
181
),
are the descendants of
wooden
pegs.
peculiar vertical subdivisions of the triglyphs are per-
haps a bit more difficult to accept as an echo of three halfround logs. And when we come to the lutings of the column, our doubts continue to rise: were they really developed from adz marks on a tree trunk, or did the Greeks take them over ready-made from the "proto-Doric" stone columns of Egypt? As a further test of the functional theory, we would have to ask how the Egyptians came to put flutes in their columns. They, too, after all, had once had to translate architectural forms from impermanent materials into stone. Perhaps it was they who turned adz marks into flutes? But the predynastic Egyptians had so little timber that they seem to have f
used of
it
only for ceilings; the rest of their buildings consisted
mud
brick, fortified by
bundles of reeds. And since the
stand the relationship between the Lion Cate relief at My-
proto-Doric columns at Saqqara are not free-standing but
cenae and the sculptured pediments on Doric temples, finally, the flaring, cushionlike capital of the Minoan-
are attached to walls, their flutings might represent a sort of
Mycenaean column
Saqqara with convex rather than concave flutes that come a good deal closer to the notion of a bundle of thin staves). On
is
a
yood deal closer
to the
Doric echi-
nus and abacus than is any Egyptian capital. The shaft of the Doric column, on the other hand, tapers upward, not downward as does the Minoan-Mycenaean column, and (his definitely points to
Perhaps we fluted trict
columns
of Zoser
at
the Doric shaft in
now — with some
surprise
— the
(or rather half-columns) in the funerary dis-
Saqqara (see
fi
r 70
)
that
had approximated
more than 2,000 years before
its
appearance
Greece. Moreover, the very notion that temples ought to
be built of stone, and that they required large
numbers
of
columns, must have come from Egypt. It is true, of course, that the Egyptian temple is designed to be experienced from the inside while the Greek temple is arranged so that the lew were allowed to enter and religious ceremonies usually took altars erected out-of-doors, with the temple facade kdrop). Hut might a peripteral temple not be inter-
impressive exterior matters most the dimly
place
at
as a b,K
lit
(
cella.
preted as (he columned court of an Egyptian sanctuary be Creeks also must have acquired turned inside-out? I
miK
H>H
h ol their stonecutting
•(./;/
I
K
Mil
the other hand, the Egyptians
and masonry techniques from
columns
may have developed
at
the habit
of fluting without reference to any earlier building tech-
niques
Egyptian influence.
will recall
abstract echo of bundles of reeds (there are also
at all;
perhaps they found
it
an effective way
to dis-
drums and to stress the continuity of the shaft as a vertical unit. Even the Greeks did not flute the shafts ol their columns drum by drum, but waited until the entire column was assembled and in posiguise the horizontal joints between the
tion.
Be
that as
it
may, fluting certainly enhances the ex-
pressive character of the column. Stronger,
more energetic and
and
rather than
this,
its
A
resilient,
manner
(luted
shaft
looks
than a smooth one;
of origin, accounts for the
persistence of the habit.
Why
then did we enter at such length into an argument seems at best inconclusive? Mainly in order to suggest the complexity— and the limitations— of the technological that
approach to problems of architectural form. The question, always a thorny one. of how far stylistic features can be explained on a functional basis will face us again and again. Obviously, the history ol architecture cannot be fully under-
183.
stood
if
stract,
we
view
it
The
"Basilica,"
c.
550
B.C.;
and the "Temple of Poseidon,"
only as an evolution of style in the ab-
without considering the actual purposes of building
technological basis. But
we must
likewise be prepared
or
its
to
accept the purely aesthetic impulse as a motivating force.
460
c.
umns themselves flaring.
The
Paestum.
(
Why
Italv
arc different: those of the older temple
more emphatically,
taper far
more
li
and
their capitals are larger
the difference?
peculiar shape of the
tures were
columns of the "Basilica" (pe< u compared to fifth-century Doric) has been explained as being due to overcompensation: the architect, not vet fullv familiar with the properties of Stone as compared
as a
with wood, exaggerated the taper
At the very start, Doric architects certainly imitated in stone
some
wooden temples, if only because these feadeemed necessary m order to identify a building temple. When they enshrined them in the Doric order, features of
however, they did not do so from blind conservatism or force of habit, but because the
wooden tonus had by now been
so
liar,
that
is,
—
we accept
the stone structure.
lor the
them of function
must confront the problem
once more when we consider the best-preserved
sixth-century Doric temple, the so-called "Basilica"
tum its
in
southern
Italv (fig. 183. left; fig.
at
Paes-
184), in relation to
neighbor, the so-called "Temple of Poseidon" (fig
183,
which was built almost a century later. Both are Doric, but we at once note striking differences in their proportions. The "Basilica" seems low and sprawling and not only right),
I
because so much of the entablature is missing), while the "Temple of Poseidon" looks tall and compact. Even the col-
the shaft lor greater sta-
c
thoroughly transformed that they were an organic part of
TEMFLKS AT PAESTUM. We
oi
and enlarged the apitals so as to narrow the gaps to be spanned by the blocks of the architrave. Maybe so but if bility
this interpretation in itself as sufficient to
design of these Archaic columns, do we not judge
expressive
a later
age? To label them smiplv
awkward, would be
to disregard the particular
standards of
b\ the
primitive, or
The
account
effe<
t
that
"Basilica's"
is
— and
theirs
columns seem
their load than those oi the
to
theirs alone
be more burdened In
"
Temple ol Poseidon." so that the contrast between the supporting and supported members ol the order
is
dramatized rather than harmoniouslv
as in the later building Various
pression; the echinus
ol
its
seems more
elastic
tors
c
and bene
h.ilani ed,
ontribute to this im-
the "Basilic a's"
counterpart
larger than
fac
i
apitals
is
not only
'Temple ol Poseidon." it more distended b\ the weight
in the
e
(,/:/
/
k
w,-/
•
/<.<*
170' CREEK Mil
185. Interior.
it
tarries,
larly
almost as
show
not only
a
if it
"Temple
Poseidon," Paestum.
of
c
460 B.C
were made of rubber. And the shafts
more pronounced taper but
also a particu-
Stereobate
strong bulge or curve along the line of taper, so that
they, too,
convey a sense of
elasticity
and compression com-
pared with the rigidly geometric blocks of the entablature. (This curve, called "entasis,"
column; although
it
may
is
a basic feature of the
be very slight,
with a "muscular" quality quite
it
endows
m
unknown
Done
the shaft
Egyptian or
Minoan-Mycenaean columns. The "Temple of Poseidon" (figs. 183. 185, and 186 was probably dedicated to Hera was begun c. 475 B.C and il
—
finished fifteen years later;
it
served of all Doric sanctuaries. terior
is ( 'I
also
among
the best pre-
special interest are the in-
supports of the cella ceiling
(fig.
two rows
185).
18(>
Clan
oi
the "Temple of Poseidon"
ol
columns, each supporting a smaller set of columns in a way that makes the tapering seem continuous despite the architrave
m
between. Such
a two-story interior,
which became
practical necessity lor the cellas of the larger
I
)oric
a
temples
(,/(/
/
K
\KI
•
171
Temple of Aphaia, Aegina
187. Sectional view (restored) of the
is first
found
at the
beginning of the tion
drawing
Temple of Aphaia
fifth
at
Aegina around the
shown here in a reconstrucconstruction scheme (fig. 187).
century,
to illustrate its
ATHENS, PERICLES. AND THE PARTHENON. shortly before their defeat, the Persians
B.C.,
In 480 had destroyed
the temple and statues on the Acropolis, the sacred
hill
above Athens which had been a fortified site since Mycenaean times. For modern archaeologists, this disaster has (
turned out
be a blessing
to
since the debris,
in disguise,
which was subsequently used as fill, has yielded many fine Archaic pieces, such as those in figures 168, 169, 171, and 172 that would hardly have survived otherwise.) The rebuilding of the Acropolis under the leadership of Pericles during the later fifth century, when Athens was at the heigh) ol her power, was the most ambitious enterprise m (be history of Greek architecture, as well as
max. Individually and
its artistic cli-
collectively, these structures repre-
phase of Greek art in full maturity. The greatest temple, and the only one to be completed be-
sent the Classical
fore the figs
Peloponnesian War(43I
188 and I8
patron deity
in
(
)i.
dedicated
101 b.c
I,
is
the Parthenon
to the virginal
Athena, the
whose honor Athens was named.
Built of
gleaming while marble on the most prominent site along the southern flank of the Acropolis, it dominates the entire n\ and the surrounding countryside, a brilliant landmark
i
against the ba< kdropol mountains to the north of it. tory of the
icance
I.
!
•',/;/
Parthenon is as extraordinary as
h
/
is
K
the onl\ sanctuary
\/(/
we know
The his-
its artistii
that
signif
has served
four different faiths in succession.
The
architects Ictinus
and Callicrates erected it in 448-432 B.C., an amazingly brief span of time for a project of this size. In order to meet the huge expense of building the largest and most lavish temple on the Creek mainland, Pericles delved into funds collected from states allied with Athens for mutual defense against the Persians. le may have felt that the danger was no longer a real one. and that Athens, the chief victim and victor at the climax of the Persian War in 480-478 B.C., was justified in using the money to rebuild what the Persians had destroyed. His act did weaken the position of Athens, however (ThuI
cydides openly reproached him for adorning the city "like a harlot with precious stones, statues,
thousand
come
talents"),
and contributed
and temples costing a to
the disastrous out-
of the Peloponnesian War. In Christian times, the Vir-
Mary displaced the virginal Athena; the Parthenon became first a Byzantine church, then a Catholic cathedral; finally, under the Turks, it was a mosque. It has been a ruin since 1087. when a store of gunpowder the Turks had put gin
exploded during a siege. Much of the sculpture was removed during the years 1801-1808 by Lord Elgin; the Elgin Marbles are today the greatest treasure of the Brit-
into the cella
ish
Museum.
As the perfect embodiment of Classical Doric architecture, the Parthenon makes an instructive contrast with the "Temple of Poseidon" (lit;. 183). Despite its greater size, it seems far less massive Rather, the dominant impression it creates is one of festive, balanced grace within the austere scheme of the Doric order. This has been achieved by a gen-
188.
ICTINUS and CALLICRATES. The
Parthenon (view from the west). Acropolis, Athens. 448-432
189. Frieze above the western entrance of the cella of the Parthenon
I
sir also
fig
209
B.C.
|
(,/:/
/
k \iu
•
173
190. Plan of the Acropolis at Athens in 400 B.C (alter A.
and readjustment of the proportions: the ento its width and to the height of the columns; the cornice projects less; and the columns themselves are a good deal more slender, their tapering and entasis less pronounced and the capitals smaller and less flaring; yet the spacing of the columns has become wider. We might say that the load earned by the columns has decreased, and as a consequence the supports can fulfill their t.isk with new sense of ease. era! lightening
tablature
is
lower in relation
.1
designed
to
W. Lawrence)
produce the
illusion of absolutely straight hori-
zontals and verticals. Unfortunately, however, this function-
we should be unable
al
explanation does not work:
to
perceive the deviations except by careful measurement;
yet the fact
is that,
if it
did,
though unobtrusive, they are
visible to
the naked eye, even in photographs such as our figure 188.
Moreover, in temples that do not have these refinements,
columns do not give the appearance of leaning outward, nor do the horizontal lines look "dished." Plainly, then, the the
deviations were built into the Parthenon because they were
THE PARTHENON'S REFINEMENTS.
These so-called
refinements, intentional departures from the
strict
geomet-
regularity of the design lor aesthetic reasons, are another
ric
feature of the Classical Doric style that can be observed in the Parthenon better than
anywhere
else.
thought is
to
meant
ways
add
to
to its
beauty; they are a positive element that
be noticed.
And
that are hard to define
they do indeed contribute— in
—
to
the integral, harmonious
quality of the structure.
Thus the stepped
The cella of the Parthenon (see plan, fig. 190) is unusualwide and somewhat shorter than m other temples, so as to
platform and the entablature are not absolutely straight but
ly
sliujitlv curved, so that the center is a bit higher than the ends; the columns lean inward; and the interval between die corner column and us neighbors is smaller than die
accommodate
a
counterpart
the western end have almost disappeared, but
Standard interval adopted
The
A
for the
colonnade as
a whole.
been written about these deviations from Thai tbev are planned rattier than beyond doubt, but why did the architects go to
greal deal lias
inec liana al exac titude a<
(
the t
idental
is
enormous
apital of the
an hitrave
174
<
I
trouble ol carrying them through? (Ever) olonnade is slighdy distorted to lit the curving he) used to be regarded .is optica] corrections
-GREEK Mil
there
is
at
second room behind
it.
The pronaos and
its
columns in front of either entrance. columns is more Ionic than no triglyphs and metopes but a continu-
an extra row
of
architrave above these
Doric since
it
lias
ous sculptured
frieze that encircles the entire cella (fig. 189).
PROPYLAEA.
Immediately alter the completion of the Par-
thenon, Pericles commissioned another splendid and expensive edifice
die
monumental
entry gate at the western end
of the Acropolis, called the Propvlaea (see plan,
fig.
190).
quitted himself nobly; his design not only terrain but also transforms
it,
rocks becomes a splendid overture
which
Of
it
fits
the difficult
so that a rude passage to
among
the sacred precinct on
opens.
the two porches (or facades)
eastern one
is
end, only the
at either
in fair condition today (fig. 191
);
it
resembles
temple front, except for the wide opening between the third and fourth columns. The western porch was flanked by two wings (figs. 192 and 193). The one to the north, considerably larger than its companion, included a a Classical Doric
picture gallery (pinakotheke), the
first
known
instance of a
room especially designed for the display of paintings. Along the central roadway that passes through the Propvlaea, we find two rows of columns which are Ionic rather than Doric. Apparently
at that
time the trend in Athenian architecture
was toward using Ionic elements inside Doric structures (we recall the sculptured frieze of the Parthenon cella).
191.
MNESICLES. The
Ionic Temples
It
was begun in 437 B.C., under the architect Mncsicles. who completed the main part in five years; the remainder had to he abandoned because of the Peloponnesian War. Again the entire structure was built of marble and included refinements comparable to those of the Parthenon. Its main fascination lor us consists in the manner in which the elements of a Doric temple have here been adapted to another task, on an irregular and steeply rising site. Mnesicles has indeed ac-
Athens, with
strong Aegean orientation, had show n
its
hospitable to the eastern Creek
and the
mid-filth century on,
vie of building
finest surviving
the Ionic order are to be found Acropolis. The previous
si
among
itscll
from the
examples
ol
the Structures of the
development of the order
is
known
only in very fragmentary fashion; of the huge Ionic temples that
were erected
esus,
little
in
Samos and
Archaic times on
has survived except the plans.
at
Eph-
vocabulary,
Its
however, seems
to have remained fairly (hud. with strong Near Past see fiys. 130 and 131 and it did not reallv become an order in the strict sense until the is Sical period. Even then it continued to be rather more flexi-
affinities to the
).
i
(
ble
than the Doric order.
column, which also,
differs
less
scroll,
most striking feature
is
the Ionic
in
body but
(see fig. 181 It rests on an ornaieh own; the shaft is more slender, and theretapering and entasis; the capital shows a large double or volute, between the echinus and abacus, which
.is it
were, in
profiled base of is
Its
from the Doric not only
I.
spirit
).
its
projects strongly beyond the width of the shaft.
That these the Doric
details add up to an entity very distinct from column becomes clear as soon as we turn from the
diagram
to
an actual building
The
column
(fig.
196).
How
shall
we
and more graceful than its mainland cousin; it lacks the hitter's muscular quality. Instead, it evokes the echo of a growing plant,
define
Propvlaea (view from the cast
it?
Ionic
Acropolis
Athens
H,
is,
432
of course, lighter
B.C.
(.HI. I K
Mil
•
175
__".
_
^ [
t
192.
93
•
CM
IK Mil
IIm
The Propylaea
(with pinahotheke), western entrance
Propylaea (view from the west) and the Temple of Athena Nike (427-424
B.C.), Acropolis.
Athens
194. (far left) Aeolian capital, from Larissa.
Archaeological
195.
Museum
600
c.
Corinthian capital, from the Tholos
(left,
Epidaurus
196. (below)
c
B
I
Istanbul
at
350 B.C Museum. Epidaurus
The Erechtheum view from 421-405 B.C I
the smith
Acropolis, Athens.
of
something
analogy
is
like a
formalized palm
not sheer fancy, for
relatives, of the Ionic capital that
were
tree.
we have hear
it
And
this vegetal
early ancestors, or
out
I
fig.
194
).
II
pursue these plantlike columns all the way hack their point of origin, we would eventually find ourselves to
Saqqara, where
we
we to at
not only encounter "proto-Doric" sup-
ports but the wonderfully graceful papyrus hall-columns of figure 79, with their tuned, flaring capitals. It may well be,
17()).
Hence the Athenian
order about 450
architects
thought of
b.c
it.
who
took
up the
at first, as suitable
Ionic-
only for
small temples of simple plan. Such a building is the little Temple of Athena Nike on the southern flank of the Propylaea (fig. 193), probably built 427-424 B.C from a design
prepared twentv years earlier bv (allic rates.
ERECHTHEUM.
1..
truer
and
more
complex
the
is
had its ultimate source m Egypt, but instead of reaching Greece by sea. .is we suppose the proto-Doric column did. it traveled a slow and tortuous path bv land through Syria and Asia Minor.
edge of the Acropolis opposite the Parthenon. It was erected perhaps b\ Mnesicles, lor. like the Propyin 421-405 B.<
In pre-Classical times, the only Ionic structures on the Greek mainland had been the small treasuries built by eastern Greek states at Delphi in the regional stvlcs (see fig.
ing of Athens, so thai the
then, that the Ionic column, too.
Erechtheum
fig.
l l
>f'
and
plan,
fiu.
190),
on the northern
.
laea.
it
is
masterfully adapted to an irregular, sloping site
The area had various associations with the mythical foundI-
manteau" sanctuary with
.rei
htheum was
at tuallv a "port-
several religious functions.
GRl
I
K Mil
•
Its
177
197. Porch of the Maidens, the Erechtheum, Acropolis, Athens.
name
derives from Erechtheus, a legendary king of Athens;
room was dedicated to Athena Polias (Athena goddess); and it may also have covered the spot contest between Athena and Poseidon was believed
the eastern the city
where a to
have taken place. (Apparently there were lour rooms, in
basement on the western side, but their exact purpose is under dispute. Instead of a west facade, the Erechtheum has two porches attached to its Hanks, a very large one lacing north and a small one toward the Parthenon. The latter is the famous Porch of the Maidens (fig. 197), its roof supported by six female figures caryatids) on a high parapet, instead of regular columns (compare fig. 176). One wonders whether these statues were the reason why a Turkish governor chose the building to house his harem two thousand years later. We cannot altogether blame him, for here the exquisite refinement of the Ionic order does indeed convey a "feminine" quality, compared with the "masculinity" of the Parthenon addition to a
(
421-405
B.C.
an inverted bell covered with the curly shoots and leaves of the acanthus plant, which seem to sprout from the top of the column shaft (fig. 195). At first, Corinthian capitals were used only for interiors. Not until a century later do we find
them replacing
known (fig.
the
instance
Ionic capitals on the exterior. is
the
Monument
198), built soon after full
sense of the term
no entrance is
B.C. It is
The round
earliest
not really a building in
interior,
— but an elaborate support
Lysicrates in a contest. base,
334
— the
The
of Lysicrates in Athens
though hollow, has for a tripod
structure, resting
won on
a
by tall
a miniature version of a tholos, a type of circular
building of which several earlier examples are
known
to
have existed. The columns here are engaged (set into the wall) rather than free-standing, to
make
the
monument
more compact. Soon after, the Corinthian capital came to be employed on the exteriors oflarge buildings as well, and in Roman times it was the standard capital for almost any purpose.
across the way. Apart from the caryatids, sculptural decora-
on the Erechtheum was confined to the frieze of which little survives). The pediments remained bare, perhaps for lack of funds at the end of the Peloponnesian War. However, the ornament. can ing on the bases and capitals of the columns, and on the frames of doorways and windows, is extion
(
very
il
traordinarily delicate
and
rich; its cost,
according
to the ac-
counts inscribed on the building, was higher than that of figure sculpture.
CORINTHIAN CAPITAL. Such seems
h. n.
i
ic
emphasis on ornament It was at this
lenstic of the late fifth century,
TOWN PLANNING AND
THEATERS. During
the three
War and Roman conquest. Creek architecture shows little further
centuries between the end of the Peloponnesian the
development. Even before the time of Alexander the Great,
volume of building activity was to be found in the Asia Minor. There we do encounter some structures of a new kind, often under Oriental influence, such as the huge Tomb of Mausolus at Halicarnassus (see figs. 216—18) and the Altar of Zeus at Pergamum (see figs. 226-28); town planning on a rectangular grid pattern, first introduced at Miletus in the mid-fifth century, assumed new the largest
Greek
cities of
time that the Corinthian capital was invented
importance, as did the municipal halls (stoas) lining the
rate substitute
market places where the
ic
178
and
(
foi
the Ionic
lorinthian capitals,
'GREEK Mil
.is an elabocomparison of Doric, Ionits shape is that of see fig. 181 I
for a
|;
civic and commercial life of Greek towns was centered; private houses, too, became larger and
198.
The Monument
more ornate than
ot Lvsicrates,
Athens,
oi'
334
200. Plan of the Theater. Epidaurus (after Picard-Cambridge)
B.<
before. Yet the architectural vocabulary,
aesthetically as well as technically, that
c.
the temples of the late
lar,
defined shape. Before the fourth century, the auditora natural slope, preferably curved,
equipped with stone benches; now the hillside was provided with concentric rows of seats, and with staircase-aisles at regular intervals, as
center
is
Kpidaurus
at
At the extreme right
(figs.
199-200). At the
where most of the action took
the orchestra,
we
place.
see the remains of a hall-like build-
ing that formed the backdrop and supported the scenery.
continuing the pace of development
How
are
did not
we
grow
to
account
oi'
Greek Architecture
Greek architecture beyond the stage it had readied at
for the fact that
significantly
the time of the Peloponnesian
War 7
After
all.
neither intel-
life nor the work of sculptors and painters show any tendencv toward staleness during the last three hundred
lectual
it
had maintained
in Ar-
A number of such limitations concern with monumental exteriors at
chaic and Classical times?
come
to
mind: the
the expense of interior space; the concentration of effort on
temples of one particular type; the lack of interest structural system i
more advanced than the
m am
post-and-lintel
uprights supporting horizontal beams). Until the late
filth
been positive advantages; without them, the great masterpieces of the Periclean age would have been unthinkable. Hut the possibilities of the tradition-
centurv. these had
al
Limitations
I!
herent limitations that prevented Greek architecture from
basic repertory of Greek architecture was increased one respect only: the open-air theater achieved a regu-
ium had simply been
we perhaps misjudging her c ? Or were there in-
architectural achievements alter -100
century.
fifth
The in
years of Greek civilization. Are
remained essentially
all
Doric temple were nearly exhausted by then, as indicated
by the attention lavished on expensive refinements.
What (.reek architecture needed after the Peloponnesian War vv as a breakthrough, a revival ol the experimental spirit of the seventh centurv. that would create an interest in new building materials, vaulting, and interior space. What prevented the breakthrough? Could
it
have been the archilec-
(,/,'/
/
K
\/;/
•
\79
CLASSICAL SCULPTURE KRITIOS BOY Among
the statues excavated from the de-
had left behind on the Acropolis, there is 201 that stands apart from the rest. It must
bris the Persians
one Kouros fig. have heen carved very shortly before the fateful year 480 B.C. This remarkable work, which some have attributed to the Athenian sculptor Kritios and which therefore has come to (
known
he
)
as the Kritios Boy, differs subtly hut importantly
lrom the Archaic Kouros figures we discussed above (figs. Kit) and 107): it is die first statue we know that stands in the sense of the word. Of course, the earlier figures also
lull
stand, but only in the sense that they are in an upright position,
and are not
their stance
reclining, sitting, kneeling, or running;
an arrested walk, with the weight of the
really
is
legs. The Kritios Boy, too, has one leg placed forward, vet we never doubt for an instant that he is standing still. Why this is so becomes evident when we compare the left and right hall' of his body, for we then discover that the strict symmetry of the Archaic Kouros has now given way to a calculated nonsymmetry: the knee
body resting evenly on both
of the forward leg
thrust
we
down and
lower than the other, the right hip
is
inward, the
hip up and outward; and
left
we
trace the axis of the body,
realize that
it
is if
not a
is
straight vertical line hut a faint, S-like curve (or, to be exact,
a reversed S-curve).
symmetry
tures lrom
mainly on the
Taken tell
left leg,
and
prop or buttress
an
elastic
its
balance.
CONTRAPPOSTO. The
together,
all
these small depar-
us that the weight of the body rests that the right leg plays the role of to
make
sure that the body keeps
Kritios Boy, then, not only stands,
And the artist has masterfully observed the balanced nonsymmetry of this relaxed natural stance. To describe it, we use the Italian word contrapposto (counterpoise); the leg that carries the main weight is commonly he stands
at ease.
called the
engaged
leg; the other, the free leg.
are a useful shorthand, for from
quent occasion discovery.
to
now on we
mention contrapposto.
Only by learning how
to
is
But
is
indeed (see
figs.
173, 170. 179,
represent the body
C.
other hand,
480 itc
we sense
and
to
show
180), but
inflexible in kind;
poses without really feeling STANDING YOUTH (KRITIOS BOY)
have
fre-
a very basic
it
at rest
in
mo-
there not plenty of motion in Archaic art? There
what mechanical and
201
was
It
could the Creek sculptor gain the freedom tion.
These terms
shall
it.
lor the first
we
read
some-
it
is
it
from the
In the- Kritios Boy,
on the
time not only a new repose
but an animation of the body structure that evokes the expe-
Marble height 34" (86.3 cm). Acropolis Museum. Alliens
of our own body. Life now suffuses the entire hence the Archaic smile, the "sign of life," is no longer needed. It has given way to a serious, pensive expression characteristic of the early phase of Classical sculpture or, as
rience
we have
figure,
mill orders, or rather the cast of mind thai produced them? I
he suspit ion
ent e lot
and
will not
rigidity ol
tyranny
loi
was the very coher-
it
made
impossible
it
i
it
It
remained
Inn k and bui h
(
great strength in earlier days for later
oik rete
to
ages
to
adaptation net essitated doing a
•
./;/
it
/
seems were incapable of
K
\i:l
'.
(
a
reek orders
arched and vaulted construction,
violence to the original character
Greeks
adapt die
became
ol
t
ertain
amount
of
the orders, and the
that
is
often called, the Severe Style).
The new
Ireek arc hite< ts to break from the established pattern.
(
What had been dun to
go away that
those orders which
articulation of the
body that appears
in
the
Boy was to reach its full development within hall a century in the mature Classical style of the Periclean era. he most famous Kouros statue of that nine, the DoryKritios
I
phorus (Spear Hearer) hv Polvclitus (fig. 202), is known to us only through Roman copies whose hard dry forms
convey
little
of the beauty of the original.
Still,
it
makes
202.
DORYPHORUS (SPEAR BEARER) Roman copy
an original of
c.
450-440
height 6'6" (2 m).
an
instructive
B.C.
by
POLYCLITUS.
Museo Archeologico
comparison
with
203. CHARIOTEER, from the Sanctuai)
after
Marble
Na/.ionale. Naples
the
Kritios
Boy.
left
and
right halves of the body
I
can be seen
every muscle, and the turn or the head, barely hinted the Kritios Boy, the precise,
if
is
he
overexplicit, anatomical detail,
and above
made
pkorus renowned as the standard embodiment
ol
all
the Dory-
the
(
cal ideal ol
human
was
its
cm
Museum. Delphi
beauty. At
t
ording
was known simply as the Canon
it
Apollo
of
470 B.C Bronze, height 71" (28
to
(rule
one an<
ient writer.
measure
s<
authority
in
at in
equally pronounced. Ibis studied poise.
the harmonious proportions of the figure
c.
\n heolouie.il
eantrapposto (with the engaged leg in the forward position has now become much more emphatic; the differentiation
between the
Delphi,
al
lassi
SEVERE
STi LE. But
let
us return to the Severe Style
I
be
reason win this term was chosen to describe the charactei
Greek
ol r.
(
s(
ulpture during the years between
bet nines
from Delphi
(
lea
i
(fig
to
us
203
.is
we one
i
180 and 150
look at the splendid ol
Itai
(
mln
the earliest extant
(./;/
/
k
\i:i
i
large
•
isi
TEMPLE OF ZEUS, OLYMPIA. ensemble
of the Severe Style
is
The greatest sculptural
the pair of pediments of the
c. 460 B.C. and now reasmuseum. In the west pediment, the more mature of the two, we see the victory of the Lapiths over the Centaurs under the aegis of Apollo, who forms the center of the composition fig. 204 His commanding figure is part of the drama and yet above it; the outstretched right arm and the strong turn of the head show his active inter-
Temple of Zeus sembled in the
at
Olympia, carved
local
).
(
vention
— he
wills the victory but, as befits a god,
physically help to achieve
it.
Nevertheless, there
is
does not a tense-
ness, a gathering of forces, in this powerful body that
makes
outward calm doubly impressive. The forms themselves are massive and simple, with soft contours and undulating, continuous surfaces. Apollo's glance is directed at a Centaur its
who has (fig.
seized Hippodamia, bride of the king of the Lapiths
205).
Here we witness another achievement of the Se-
vere Style; the passionate struggle
is
expressed not only
through action and gesture but through the emotions mirrevulsion on the face of the girl, pain and rored in the faces
—
desperate effort on that of the Centaur. Nor would an Archaic artist
have
known how
group so compact, so
full
to
combine the two figures into a movements.
of interlocking
MOVEMENT IN STATUES. Strenuous action had already been investigated in pedimental sculpture of the Late Archaic period (see figs. 179 and 180). Such figures, however, although technically carved in the round, are not free-standing; they represent, rather, a kind of super-relief, since they
204. APOLLO (portion), from the west pediment the
Temple of Zeus
Marble, over
lifesize.
at
Olympia.
Archaeological
460
c.
of
B.C.
Museum, Olympia
bronze statues in Creek art. It must have been made about a decade later than the Kritios Boy, as a votive offering after a race; the young victor originally stood on a chariot drawn by lour horses. Despite the long, heavy garment, we sense a hint of contrapposto in the body
— the
ferentiated so as to inform us thai the
feet are carefully dif-
left
leg
is
the engaged
one, and the shoulders and head turn slighdy to the right.
The garment
is
severely simple, yet
compared with Archaic
draperv the folds seem softer and more pliable; we feel (probablv for the first time m the history ol sculpture) that thej reflect the behavior of real cloth. Not only the body but
the drapery, too, has been transformed by a
new under-
standing of functional relationships, so that every
fold
is
shaped by the forces that act upon it - the downward pull of gravity the shape ol the body underneath, and the belts or straps that constrict its flow. The face has the pensive, soinewb.it c
l.u.i\\.i\
look
we saw
in
the Kritios Boy, but the
olor ml.i\ ol the eyes, fortunately preserved in this instance,
as well as the slighdy parted
lips,
give
it
a
more animated
bearing of the entire figure conveys the solemnity ol the event commemorated, for chariot races and similar ontests at thai time were competitions for divine la-
expression
["he
<
wn
18
mil sporting events in the
'
-CRl
I
k
Mil
modern
sense.
205. HIPPODAMIA ATTACKED BY A CENTAUR, from the west ol 'Zeus at Olympia. C. 460 B.C. Marble,
pediment of the Temple
slightly over lifesize. Archaeological
Museum, Olympia
arc designed to be seen against a direction only. To infuse the
background and from one
same freedom
into genuinely free-standing statues
lenge; not only did
denied mobility
to
run counter
was
of
motion are the most important achievement
movement
Style.
this
was done, the solution no longer
continuous succession of movements but as an aue-inspning gesture that reveals the
weapon
pre-
sented serious difficulties. Large, free-standing statues in
206. poseiixm // i
(fig,
t
be done in such a way as to safeguard their all-around bal-
once
the Severe
bron/.e Poseidon (or Zeus?), almost seven feet tail in theai of hurling his trident (or thunderbolt?). The pose is that ol an athlete, yet it does not strike ns as the arrested phase oi a
to
ance and self-sufficiency. The problem could not really be tackled until the concept of contrapposto had been established, but
oi
was recovered from the 206): a magnificent nude
finest figure oi this kind
sea near the coast of Greece
a far greater chal-
an age-old tradition that these figures, but the unfreezing had to
it
The
is
formance aimed
/
s
•
(
460-450
power
of the god. Hurling a
a divine attribute here, rather than a specific per-
B
at a particular
adversary
C
Bronze, height 6' 10" (2.1 m). National Archeologica]
Museum. Athens
(,;;/
/
k
\m
207. DISCOBOLUS (DISCUS THROWER). after a
bronze original of Lifesize.
Some
years alter the Poseidon, about 450
B.C.,
Museo
Myron
cre-
ated lus famous bron/e statue of the Discobolus (Discus
Throwei
which came
<
to
enjoy a reputation comparable
to
Doryphorus. Like the latter, it is known to us only from Roman copies (fig. 207). Here the problem of how to ondense a sequence of movements into a single pose with-
450
C.
delle
Roman marble copy
B.C.
Terme,
by
MYRON.
Rome
standing statue now exerted a liberating influence on pedimental sculpture as well, endowing it with a new fluidity, and balance. The Dying Niobid (fig. work of the 440s. was carved for the pediment of a
spaciousness,
that of the
208), a
(
tained, that
out freezing
it
is
a very
much more complex
one. involving a
violent twist of the torso in order to bring the action of the .11
ms
into the
same plane
as the action of the legs.
der whether the copy does not harshei and less poised than
it
make
was
in
We won-
the design
seem
Doric temple but
we
is
so richly three-dimensional, so sell-con-
hardly suspect her original context. Niobe,
according to legend, had humiliated the mother of Apollo and Artemis by boasting of her seven sons and seven daughters,
whereupon
the two gods killed
Our Niobid has been
Strength broken, she sinks
the original.
tract the fatal arrow. (
LASSICAL STYLE
threshold
mature
/84
<
ol
lassical style
'GREEK
1
he
the se< ond hall
Mil
Discobolus ol
brums
us
to
the
die century, the era of the
Hie conquest of movemenl
in
a free
made her garment nt e
The
to
in
of Niobe's children.
the ground while trying to ex-
violent
slip off;
movement
her nudity
rather (ban a ncccssarv part
primary motive
all
shot in the back while running; her
devising
it,
ol
is
of her
thus
a
the story.
however, was
arms has
dramatic de-
The
artist's
to display
a
beautiful female body in the kind of strenuous action hither-
the earliest
order to measure the astonishing development we have wit nessed since the beginnings of Greek monumental sculp-
Creek art.) Still, we must not it was not a detached interest
ture less tban two centuries before, we ought to compare the Niobid wall the earliest pednnental figure we came to know,
reserved for the male nude. (The Niobid
to
known
large female
misread the
in
aspect of the event alone but the desire to
in the physical
unite motion
nude
artist's intention:
and emotion and thus
to
make
the face of the Niobid,
human
feeling
is
we
feel that here, for
expressed as eloquently
the
the beholder ex-
perience the suffering of this victim of a cruel at
is
Looking
late.
the
first
A
brief
glance backward
at the
show us how
wounded
warrior from Ae-
separates the Niobid from the world of Archaic art ity
summed up in it
chaic art
may approach
Memnon
group
felt
conveyed with
touches rather than horrifies
(fig.
nobility
it
Niobid. despite her suffering,
now and
and
we
sud-
remains so monumentally
mentary condition. The centers of both pediments are gone completely, and of the figures in the corners only those from the east pediment are sufficiently well preserved to convey
and can be
only in Classical works such as the Niobid. Perhaps, in
208. DYING NIOBID (
so
AND THE
then, as in the Eos
height 59"
we do
PHIDIAS PARTHENON. The largest, as well as the greatest, group of Classical sculptures at our disposal consists of the remains of the marble decoration of the Parthenon, most of them, unfortunately, in battered and frag-
Late Ar-
164), yet the lull force of pathos
.is
What suf-
us.
and
sell-contained.
a qual-
means
the Greek word pathos, which
fering, but particularly suffering
restraint so that
is
173);
stance, even though its meaning has been radically reinterpreted. Once we recognize the ant lent origin of her pose, we understand better than before why the
very differently the agony of
death had been conceived only half a century before.
(fig.
shows the pinwheel
time,
in the features as
in the rest of the figure.
gina(fig. 179) will
Gorgon from Corfu
denly realize thai these two. worlds apart as they may be. belong to the same artistic tradition, lor (lie Niobid, too.
c.
450-440
B.C.
Marhlc.
150 cm). Museo delle Terme,
Home
(./;/
/
k
Mil
•
185
209. DIONYSUS, from the east pediment of the Parthenon, Marble, over
THREE GODDESSES, from
210.
something
<>l
lifesize. British
the east pediment of the Parthenon,
the quality of the ensemble.
They represent
c.
c.
438-432
438-432
B.C.
Marble, over
the forms underneath.
Athena from the head of /ens (figs. 209 and more than in the case of the Dying Niohtd. we marvel at the spaciousness, the complete ease of move-
ate their
ol
210). Here e\en
inenl in
oi
these statues There
them indeed no
fell
poetry ol being.
is
neither violence nor pathos
spec ilu action of any kind, only a
We
find
it
equally
m
deeph
the relaxed mascu-
Dionysus and in the soft fullness of the three goddesses, enveloped in thin draper) thai seems to share the
line
(86
body
•'./,'/
ol
Ik Mil
lifesize. British
qualities of a liquid substance as
various deities most in sitting or reclining poses, witnessing the birth
B.C.
Museum, London
it
Hows and eddies around
The figures are so freely conceived
own
aura
ol
space, as
it
Museum, London
in
were.
I
depth that they crelow,
we wonder,
did
pediment? Might they not have looked a hit incongruous, as il they had been merely shelved there 7 The great master who designed them they ever
lit
into the confined
must have felt something of the whole suggests that he refused .is more than a purely physical
shape of
sort, for to
a
the composition as a
accept the triangular
limit. In
field
the sharp angles at
Parthenon sculptures tided by us
doubtedly
no more than
is
convenience bul
number
a large
oi
a generii
label
|us
questionable accuracy
In
wen- involved
of masters
sin< e
the frieze and the two pediments were exe< Uted in less than ten years
440-432
(c.
B.C
I.
The metopes which we have
omitted here, date from the 440s.
PHIDIAN STYLE, style should
end of the
h
hard!} surprising that the Phidian
is
have dominated Athenian sculpture
fifth
sculptural enterprises gradually the Peloponnesian War.
The
came
the west frieze of the Parthenon.
c.
British
Museum, London
(see also
fig.
it
ol
these was the balustrade
last ol
Like the Parthenon frieze,
B.(
440 B.C. Marble, height 43" (109.3 cm).
ale
because
to a halt
erected around the small temple of Athena Nike
HORSEMEN, from
until the
century and beyond, even though large-si
shows
c.
4
10-407
procession
a festive
but the participants are winged Nike figures (personifica-
287)
One Nike
tions of victory) rather than citizens of Athens. (fig.
212)
is
taking
off
her sandals, in conformity with an
the corners, at the feet of Dionysus and the reclining goddesses, he has placed two horses' heads; they are
meant
to
represent the chariots of the rising sun and the waning
moon emerging
into
(and dipping below) the pedimental
space, but visually the heads are merely two fragments arbitrarily
cut off by the frame. Clearly,
moment when
we
are approaching the
the pediment will be rejected altogether as
the focal point of Creek architectural sculpture.
The
frieze of the Parthenon, a
continuous band 525 feet shows a procession honoring Athena in the presence of the other Olympic gods. It is of the same high rank as the pedimental sculptures. In a somewhat different way it, too, suffered from its subordination to the architectural setting, for it must have been poorly lit and difficult to see, placed as it was immediately below the ceiling. The depth of the carving and the concept of relief are not radicallong
ly
(fig.
189),
different from the frieze of the Siphnian Treasury (figs.
176 and 177), although the illusion form
is
of
space and of rounded
now achieved with sovereign ease. The most remark-
able quality of the Parthenon frieze
is
the rhythmic grace of
the design, particularly striking in the spirited the groups of
Who was tures?
horsemen
(fig.
movement
of
211).
responsible lor this magnificent array
of
sculp-
They have long been associated with the name
Phidias, the chief overseer of
all artistic
of
enterprises spon-
sored by Pericles. According to ancient writers, Phidias was particularly
famous
for a
huge ivory-and-gold
statue of Athe-
made for the cella of the Parthenon, a colossal Zeus in same technique for the temple of that god in Olvmpia,
na he the
and an equally large bronze statue of Athena that stood on the Acropolis facing the Propvlaea.
None
of these survives,
and small-scale representations of them in later times are utterly inadequate to convey anything of the artist's style. It is, in any event, hard to imagine that enormous statues of this sort,
burdened with the requirements of cult images and the
demands
of a difficult technique, shared the vitality of the
Elgin Marbles.
due
The admiration
they elicited could have been
in large part to their size, the
preciousness of the materi-
and the aura of religious awe surrounding them. Phidias' personality thus remains oddly intangible; he may have been a meat genius, or simply a very able coordinator and supervisor. The term "Phidian style'' used to describe the als,
212. NIKE, from the balustrade
Athena Nike
c.
110 407
B.<
Acropolis
ol
the
Temple
<>t
Marble, height 42" (106.7
Museum
cm)
Athens
(.Hi
I
k
\i:i
•
I8'i
213. GRAVE STELE
OF HEGESO.
410-400
c.
height 59" (150 cm). National Archeological
age-old tradition, indicating that she
ahout
is
to step
on holy
—
Her wings one open, the other closed are effectively employed to help her keep her balance, so that she performs with consummate elegance of movement what is ordinarily a rather awkward act. Her figure is more strongly detached from the relief ground than ground (see page
99).
—
B.C Marble,
Museum, Athens
ground, so that the ground no longer appears as a solid sur-
assumes something of the transparency of empty was probably inspired by the paintof the period, who, according to the literary sources, had
face but
space. This novel effect ers
achieved a great breakthrough in mastering illusionistic space.
are those on the Parthenon frieze, and her garments, with
body as
their deeply cut folds, cling to the
(we have seen an in the
earlier
phase of
Three Goddesses of the Parthenon,
"Phidian." too, and also from the is
sc
last
the beautiful Crave Stele ofHegeso
of this kind
were produced
and
ulptors,
their export
in large
they were wet
if
treatment
this
fig.
of
210).
years of the century,
(fig.
213). Memorials
numbers by Athenian
must have helped
to
CLASSICAL PAINTING
drapery
spread the
Unhappily, we have no murals or panels to verify that the Creeks had mastered illusionistic space; and vase painting by its very nature could echo the new concept of pictorial
space only that
in
rudimentary fashion.
form an exception
to this
Still,
there are vessels
general rule;
we
the lekythoi
(oil
Phidian style throughout the Greek world. Pew of them,
mostly
however, can match the harmonious design and the gentle
as funerary offerings.
melanc boh of our example. The deceased is represented in a simple domestic scene; she has picked a necklace from the
the painter could draw as freely, and with the
box held b\ the as
il
it
were
seen espe<
a
tally
beholder, such
girl
servant and
keepsake. well .is
m
lHH-l.lll
rebel
I
)
seems
to
be contemplating
it
delicacv of the carving can be
the forms Farthest removed from the
the servant's
the |ewel box. or the
Here the
The
veil
left
arm supporting the
behind Hegeso's
lid
of
right shoulder.
merges almost imperceptibly with the back
in a special class of vases,
These had
find
them
jugs) used
a white coating
on which
same
spatial
modern successor using pen and paper. The white ground, in both cases, is treated as empty space from which the sketched forms seem to emerge if the draftsman knows bow to achieve tins.
effect, as bis
—
Not
many
lekvtbos painters were capable
nicknamed the
of
bringing off
among them is the unknown artist, "Achilles Painter." who drew the woman in
the illusion, foremost
figure 214.
Hegeso
Although some twenty-five years older than the
stele, this
vase shows exactly the same scene: here,
standing maidservant holds a box from which the deceased has just taken a piece of jewelry. There is the same too, a
mood of "PhidJan" reverie, and even exactly.
or sculptured memorials of
Our
the chairs
match almost
This scene, then, was a standard subject
few
painted
young women.
chief interest, however,
ship; with a
(or
is
beneath the drapery as well
draftsman-
to per-
out boldly while others
make
merge with one
another or disappear into the white ground. However,
214.
THE "ACHILLES PAINTER" Attic
manage
foreshortening. Hut the "internal dynamics" of the lines are
fluid,
on an
low does he
equally important, their swelling and fading, which
and
the artist not
I
suade us that these shapes exist m depth rather than merely on the surface of the vase? lust of all, bv his command ol
some contours stand
in the masterly
lines, sure, fresh,
only creates a three-dimensional figure but reveals the bod)
must not assume
white-ground lekythos,
mi c,
si
\\i>
that the carver of the
Hegeso
we
stele actual!)
\t\mi\.
-440-430 B.C
HeiKht 18" (40.7 cm). Staatliche Antikensammlungen
Munic h
(,/;;
;
k \hi
•
189
more likelv they both derive from a comwhich may have been a marble stele like thai legeso Inn w ith a painted representation of the jewel-box
knew our
mon o!
I
houettelike, because of the obtrusive black background.
lrk\ thus:
has also
ancestor,
has
Considering us
artistic
advantages,
we might expect
more general adoption of the white-ground technique. Sue h however, was not the case. Instead, from the mid-filth century on. the impact of monumental painting gradually transformed vase painting as a whole into a satellite art that to
reproduce large-scale compositions
shorthand dictated by
its
own
limited technique.
matic excitement
The
flee in panic.
at
artist,
on creating
a
him
to
maximum
shade of dra-
hold the scene together; and, being a
he almost succeeds. Still, it is a success second hand, for the composition must have been in-
spired by a mural or panel picture.
result,
for a lost to
He
is,
as
it
were, battling
cause; in another hundred years, vase painting was
disappear altogether.
FOURTH-CENTURY SCULPTURE
—
Our
rely
too, fails to solve
not permit
spirited draftsman,
more often than not. was spotty and overcrowded. Even the finest examples suffer from this delect, as we can see in figure 215, which is taken from a vase produced not very long probably by a Greek master in central Italy alter 400 B.C It shows Thetis, who was about to bathe under a fountain, being abducted by Peleus as her two girl sen ants
—
to
This expedient,
medium does
He thus must
or model.
kind of
a
in
than the other figures, and some details in white.
his problem, since his
a
He
enlarge his color range: the body of Thetis
a lighter tint
have been added
scene.
tried
tried to
There
is,
unfortunately, no single word, like Archaic or Clas-
sical, that
we can use
velopment of Greek
the "Aurora Fainter," has placed
to
art
designate the third phase in the de-
from
c.
400
to the first
century
B.C.
three of the figures on a rocky slope (the fourth, intended to
The seventy-nve-year span between
he farther away, seems suspended in mid-air) in order to
nesian
suggest the spatial setting of the scene; he even shows the fountain, in the shape of two pipes coming out of a rock in
labeled "Late Classical," and the remaining two centuries
the upper right-hand corner.
Yet the effect
remains
and a
War and
the end of the Pelopon-
the rise of Alexander the Great used to be
half, "Hellenistic." a
term meant
to
convey the spread
of Greek civilization southeastward through Asia
sil-
J 215
I
HE "AURORA PAINTER"
PJ
/
/
us
AND mi
Museo Nazionale
190-CRl
I
k
\l
r/S
Detail
<>i
dj Villa Giulia,
a
FaHscan vase. Early 4th century B.C
Home
Minor and
.,S
216. Reconstruction drawing of the at
Halicarnassus (alter
Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the borders of India. It was perto expeet that the world-shaking conquests of
haps natural
Alexander in 333-323
B.C.
would
also effect an artistic revo-
lution, but the history of style is not litical history,
and we have come
always in tune with po-
decisive break in the tradition of Creek art at
The
fourth century.
was no the end of the
to realize that there
art of the Hellenistic era is the direct
outgrowth of developments that occurred, not at the time of Alexander, but during the preceding fifty years. Here, then,
is
our dilemma: "Hellenistic"
closely linked with the political
is
a concept so
and cultural consequences
we cannot very well extend it backward to the early fourth century, although there is wide agreement now that the art of the years 400-325 B.C can be
of Alexander's conquest that
far better
understood
if
we view
it
as pre-Hellenistic rather
than as Late Classical. Until the right word
wins general acceptance, we existing terms as best
we
shall
have
to
is
found and
make do with
can, always keeping in
essential continuity of the "third phase" that
we
the
mind the
are about to
examine.
F.
Mausoleum Knschen )
216 docs not pretend to be exact in detail; it probshows fewer statues than were actually there. We do
in figure
ably
know, however, that the building rose height of about 160
wide and 82 umns 40 feet
is
Hie contrast
strikingly
demon-
tall,
known number
of large statues, including portraits of the
deceased and their ancestors.
The commemorative and retrospective character of the monument, based on the idea of human life as a glorious struggle or chariot race, is entireh Greek, yet we immediately notice the un-Creek way has been earned out. The huge size of the tomb, and more particularly the pyramid, derive it
from Egypt; they imply an exaltation
human at.
gods nia\ have Apparently Mausolus took this \iew ol him-
self as a divinely in
temple but a huge tomb
— so
huge, in
It
is
fact, th.it its
not a
name.
Mausoleum, has become a generic term for all outsized fuIt was erected at Halicarnassus in Vsia Minor just before and after 350 lie by Mausolus, who was ruler of the area as a satrap of the Persians, and by bis widow
nerary monuments.
Artemisia.
The
structure
itself is
completely destroyed, but
dimensions and general appearance can be reconstructed on the basis of ancient descriptions and the excavated fragments (including a good deal of sculpture). The drawing its
the ruler far beyond
ol
status. His kinship with the
ordained sovereign from the Persians, who it from the Assyrians and Egyptians,
turn had inherited
personality as
and ambition.
The sculptural pro-
showing Lapiths battling Centaurs. Creeks fighting Amazons, and chariot races; thru combined length was twice that ol' the Parthenon frieze There were also rows of caned guardian lions and an un-
although he seems
in size
feet
of three friezes
sponds
Parthenon
in three stages to a
rectangular base 117
deep supported a colonnade of Ionic coland above this rose a pyramid crowned by
feet
strated by the only project of the fourth century that correto the
tall
gram consisted
been hinted
between Classical and pre-Hellenistic
A
a chariot with statues of the deceased.
ordinary
THK MAUSOLEUM AT HALICARNASSUS.
feet.
to
much
have wanted
to glorify his individual
as Ins high office.
The
structure em-
bodying these ambitions must have struck his contemporaries as impressive and monstrous at the same time, with its multiple Inezes and the receding laces
ol a
pyramid
place
in
of pediments above the colonnade.
SCOPAS. According to ancient sources, the sculpture on each of the lour sides of the monument was entrusted to a different
master
i
hosen from
among
the best
the time
ol
Scopas, the most famous, did the m. un side, the one
(./;/
;
k
to the
\m
•
i'n
His dynamic st\le has been recognized
east.
Amazon
tions oi the
in
some
por-
such as the portion in figure 217. can still be felt here, but there is
frieze,
lhc Parthenon tradition
umes of folds across the abdomen and below the left arm seem designed for picturesque effect more than for functional clarity.
also a decidedly un-Classical violence, physical as well as
emotional, conveyed through strained
movements and
pas-
sionate Facial expressions (deep set eyes are a hallmark of
Scopas'
As
style).
a
consequence, we no longer find the frieze; continuity and har-
rhythmic flow of the Parthenon
mony have been
sacrificed so that each figure
may have
greater scope lor sweeping, impulsive gestures. Clearly,
we
are to do justice to this explosive energetic style
not judge
it
if
we must
by Classical standards.
PRAXITELES. Some
of the features of the
sculpture recur in other important works
among
most
these
is
oi
Mausoleum
the period, fore-
the wonderful seated figure of
Demeter
from the temple of that goddess at Cnidus (fig. 219), a work only slightly later in date than the Mausolus. Here again the
more finely textured, has an impressive volown; motifs such as the S-curve of folds across the chest form an effective counterpoint to the shape of the
drapery, though
ume
of
its
in
body beneath. The deep-set eyes gaze into the distance with
the portrait statue presumed to represent Mausolus himself
an intensity that suggests the influence of Scopas. The modeling of the head, on the other hand, has a veiled softness that points to an altogether different source: Praxiteles, the master of feminine grace and sensuous evocation of flesh. As it happens, Praxiteles' most acclaimed statue, an Aphrodite (fig. 220), was likewise made for Cnidus, although
In
I
"pie-Hellenistic" flavor
218).
fig
The
colossal figure
younger than Scopas and even
is
even more pronounced
must be the work of a man encumbered by Classical
less
standards, probably Bryaxis, the master of the north side.
We know,
Roman
copies, of some Greek portraits of seem to represent types rather than individuals, whereas the Mausolus is both the earliest Greek portrait to have survived in the original and the first to show
through
Classical times, but they
a clear-cut personal character. This very fact links
it
with
probably
some years
was
some Praxitelean qualities into his own The Cnidian Aphrodite by Praxiteles achieved such
ficulty incorporating
an important part in Hellenistic times. Nor is it merely the head, with its heavy jaws and small, sensuous mouth, that records the sitter's appearance; the thick neck and the broad, fleshy body seem equally individual. The massiveness of the forms is further emphasized by the sharp-edged and stiff-textured drapery, which might be said
work.
to play
to encase, rather
21
,
than merely clothe, the body.
SCOPAS
' I
I
'
•'./;/
/
k
\l!l
great vol-
proverbial
fame
$51
i!
<
that she
is
often referred to in ancient litera-
synonym for absolute perfection. To what extent her renown was based on her beauty, or on the fact that she was (so far as we know the first completely nude cult image of the goddess, is difficult to say, for the statue is known to us only through Roman copies that can be no more than palture as a
BATTLt Of nil GREEKS IND IMAZONS, from the cast
359
/'<
The
than the Demeter. But his reputa-
well established
the future rather than the past, for individual likenesses
were
later
even earlier, so that the unknown sculptor who carved the Demeter would have had no diftion
Marble, height 35" (89 cm). British
)
frieze of the
Mausoleum. Halicarnassus.
Museum. London
218. MAUSOLl'S, from the
Mausoleum
at
219.
Haliearnassus. 359-351 B.C. Marble,
height
lid
9' 10" (3.1
m). British
c.
Museum, London
A more
in Hellenistic
faithful
She was to have countless deand Roman art.
embodiment
of Praxitelean beauty
is
the
group of Hermes with the infant Bacchus at Olympia (fig. 221 it is of such high quality that it was long regarded as );
very fine
own
some scholars believe to be a Greek copy made some three centuries later. The
Praxiteles'
work. Today
it
consequence for lis. except perhaps in one respect: it emphasizes the unfortunate fact that we do not pave a simple undisputed original by any of the famous sculptors of Greece. Nevertheless, the Hermes is the most dispute
is
of little
completely Praxitelean statue
we know. The
DEMETER from (nidus
B.C
Marble, height 60"
British
reflections of the original.
scendants
340-330
lithe propor-
tions,
I
152 3 cm),
Museum. London
the sinuous curve of the torso, the play of gentle
curves, the sense
oi
complete relaxation (enhanced
use of an outside support these agree well enough
Aphrodite.
We
\\ itli
many refinements here that .ire orsuch as the caressing treatment ol the
even the
hair, left
contrast, shares (he silk\ leel
(
.ill
(he character of the Cnidian
marble, the faint smile, the rheltingh of the features;
that the
the
also find
dinarily lost in a copy,
bland, lyrical
l>\
lor the figure to lean against
ol
soft
"veiled" modeling
comparatively rough
the rest
ol
charm of the Hermes makes
'nidian Aphrodite
was the
artist's
it
the work
lor
Hie
easj to believe
most successful
accomplishment.
(,/;/
/
K
w,'/
•
19
I
Roman copy after an original PRAXITELES. Marble, height 6'8" (2 m). Vatican Museums, Rome
221.
220. CN1D1AN APHRODITE. of
c.
300 B.C by
APOLLO BELVEDERE. The same other statues,
all
of
them Roman
qualities recur in
PRAXITELES. HERMES,
Marble, height
many
copies of Greek works in
TV
c.
300-320 B.C. (or copy?). Museum, Olympia
(2.2 m). Archaeological
bodied the essence of the Creek spirit. This enthusiasm tells us a good deal— not about the qualities of the Apollo Belve-
The best known—one is most notorious —is the Apollo Belvedere interests us less for its own sake than because of fig J.22 its tremendous popularity during the eighteenth and nine-
dere but about the character of the Creek Revival. Although our own time takes a less enthusiastic view of the statue, we
teenth centuries. Johann Joachim Winckelmann, Goethe and other champions of the Greek Revival (see page 619)
some day?
a
more
or less Pra.xitelean vein.
tempted
to sav the
i;
found
it
it
museums,
generations
1
Belvedere
Let us not discount the possibility that the Apollo
may again
hold a message lor our grandchildren.
the perfect exemplar of Classical beauty; plaster
casts or reproductions of all
bom scoffing at the naivete of our forefaWho knows whether the tide of taste may not turn
bad better refrain thers
'GREEK
art
ol
Mil
it
were thought indispensable
academies
or liberal
students grew up
in
.ills
colleges,
the belief
th.it
it
lor
LYSIPPUS. Besides Scopas and
name
Praxiteles, there
pre-llellenistic sculpture:
and
other great
em-
whose long career may have begun
in
as early as
c.
is
vet an-
Lysippus,
370
b c.
and
continued
to
the end of the century.
The main
personal style, however, are more difficult
grasp than
those of his two famous contemporaries, because of the contradictory evidence of the
reproduce his
Roman
copies that are
assumed to work. Ancient authors praised him for replac-
m
Even
features of his to
the case of the Apoxyomenos, the statue mosl in Ills name, the evident c is l.u from con-
sistenlK linked with
liu,. 223 It shows a young athlete leaning himseli with a scraper, a motif often represented in Greek art limn Classical tunes on Our version, of which onlv a single opj has turned up so far is distinguished from all the others b)
clusive
i.
(
(
(
ing the canon of Polyclitus with a
produced ism, too,
new
set of proportions that
a more slender body and a smaller head. His realwas proverbial: he is said to have had no master
other than nature
more than
itself.
But these statements describe
a general trend toward the
little
end of the fourth cen-
Certainly the proportions of Praxiteles' statues are Lysippic rather than "Polvclitan," nor could Lysippus have tury.
been the only
artist of his
time
to
conquer new aspects of
reality.
the fact that the .inns are horizontally extended in front ol the body. This bold thrust into space, at the cost ol obstructing the view of the torso, is a noteworth) le.it, whether or not
we
credit
pacity
to
it
Lysippus;
it
endows
the figure with a
new
c
a-
spontaneous three-dimensional movement \ similar freedom is suggested by the diagonal line of the free leg.
lor
Even the unruly
hair reflects the
new trend toward
spontaneity.
222. APOLLO
belvedere Roman marble
probably of a Greek original
of
copy,
the late 4th (or
223.
lsi
century B.C Height 7'4" (2.3 m). Vatican Museums.
|
Home
iPOXYOMENOS SCRAPER
probably after
a
Height 6'9"
2
I
Roman marble copy
330 B.C l>\ LYSIPPUS. m) Vatican Museums Home
bronze original
"I
<
(.in
I
K
\i:i
•
195
224. DYING
GAUL Roman copy
after a
Marble,
bronze original of
lifesize.
Museo
Of the
enterprises sponsored by Alexander the Great,
bundled years of the Hellenistic
first
era.
Even
B.c from
Pergamum, Turkey.
Rome
and pathos.
Clearly, the
ered unworthy foes. "They
such as the numerous portraits of the great conqueror by Lysippus, no direct evidence survives. In fact, we know very little of the development of Greek sculpture as a whole during the
230-220
able dignity
HELLENISTIC SCULPTURE artistic
c.
Capitolino.
after
we have few fixed points of reference; of the large number of works at our disposal only a small fraction can be that,
to date and place of origin. Moreover, Greek sculpture was now being produced throughout a vast territory, and the interplay of local and international currents must have formed a complex pattern, a pattern of
Gauls were not consid-
knew how
to die,
barbarians
though they were," is the thought conveyed by the statue. Yet we also sense something else, an animal quality that had never before been part of Greek images of men. Death, as we witness it here, is a very concrete physical process: no longer able to move his legs, the Gaul puts all his waning if to prevent some tremendous weight from crushing him against the ground.
strength into his arms, as visible
in-
securely identified as
which we can trace only some is
isolated strands.
One
Pergamum
I
northwestern Asia Minor) between
(a city in
of
work of the late third century B.C., contemporary with the Dying Caul. A drunken satyr is sprawled on a rock, asleep in
c.
the heavy-breathing, unquiet
of these
represented by tbe bronze groups dedicated by Attalus
240 and 200 B.C. to celebrate his victories over the Gauls. The Gauls were a Celtic tribe that had entered Asia Minor and kept raiding tbe Greek states there until Attalus forced them to settle down; we meet them a few centuries later as the Galatians
m
Paul's Epistle.
St.
DYING GAUL. The
statues
were reproduced
feat
in
marble
ha\ e had a special interest
with
(
eltic tribes in
m
11
fig,
1
1.
The
sculptor
have known the Gauls well, the ethnic
type
shoe k of ban
m
for the
the Gauls' de-
Romans (who may
them because
of their troubles
northwestern Europe), and a
these copies have survived
GauU
commemorating
number of
including the famous Dying
who conceived for lie
(he figure must
has carefully rendered
the facial Structure and in the bristly
The torque around
the neck
is
another charac-
Otherwise, however, the Gaul teristicall) Celtic feature shares the heroic nudity of Greek warriors sin h as those on the Aegina pediments sec fig. 179); and if his agony seems i
infinite!)
I'll,
more
•(.!
\l:i
realistic
in
comparison,
it
still
BARBER1N1 FAUN. A similar exploration of uncontrolled may be seen in the Barberini Faun (fig. 225), probably a very fine Roman copy after a Hellenistic bodilv responses
has consider-
manner
of the inebriated.
He
obviously dreaming, and the convulsive gesture of the right .irm and the troubled expression of the lace betray the
is
passionate, disturbing nature of his dream. Here again
we
witness a partial uncoupling of body and mind, no less persuasive than in the Dying Caul.
PERGAMUM ALTAR. Some decades later, we find a second sculptural style flourishing at Pergamum. About 180 had a mighty altar B.C., the son and successor of Attalus erected on a hill above the city to commemorate his father's victories. Much of the sculptural decoration has been recov1
ered h\ excavation, and the entire west front of the altar is to he seen in Berlin fig. 226). It is an impressive structure in(
deed.
The
altar
proper occupies the center of a rectangular
which rises on a tall monumental flight of stairs
court surrounded by an Ionic colonnade
base about 100
feet
square; a
leads to the court on the west side of such great size
seem
to
(
fig.
227). Altar structures
have been an Ionian tradition
since Archaic tunes, but the
Pergamum
Altar
is
the most
225. BARBER1N1 FAUN. of
c.
Staatliche
226.
The west
Roman copy
lifesize.
Antikensammlungen, Munich
Zeus at Pergamum Pergamonmuseum. Berlin
front of the Altar of
of a Greek original
220 B.C Marble, over
(
restored
I.
227. Plan of the AJtar of Zeus
Pergamum
(after
J.
at
Schrammen)
GREEK ART- 197
228.
the east side of the Great Frieze of the Altar of Zeus at
ATHENA AND ALCYONEUS, from C.
180
B.C.
Marble, height 7'6" (2.3 m).
The carving
elaborate of all, as well as the only one of which considerable portions have survived.
Its
boldest feature
is
the great frieze
covering the base, 400 feet long and between 7 and 8 feet
Pergamonmuseum,
Pergamum.
Berlin
of the frieze,
though not very subtle
in detail,
has tremendous dramatic force; the heavy, muscular bodies rushing at each other, the strong accents of light and dark,
almost detached from the background, have the scale and
the beating wings and wind blown garments are almost overwhelming in their dynamism. A writhing movement
weight of pedimental statues without the confining triangu-
pervades the entire design,
The huge
tall.
tli.it
caned
to
such a depth that they are
—a
unique compound of two separate traditions represents a thundering climax in the development of
frame
lar
figures,
Greek architectural sculpture (fig. 228). be subject, the battle of the gods and giants, is a traditional one for Ionic friezes; we saw it before on the Siphnian I
Treason (compare
fig.
a novel significance,
symbolize the victories tory into art for a
Pergamum, however, it has is meant to Such a translation of hisof Attains 177). At
since the victory of the gods I.
mythology bad been an established device m ( licek long tune; \ k lories over the Persians were habitual-
down
to the last lock of hair, link-
ing the victors and the vanquished in a single continuous
rhythm.
It is
this
sense of unity that disciplines the physical and thus keeps it
and emotional
violence- of the struggle
but just barely
— from exploding
its
architectural frame.
NIkK OF SAMOTHRACE. Equally dramatic in its impact another great victory monument of the early second cen-
is
B.C., the Nike ofSamothrace (fig. 229). The goddess has descended to the prow of a ship; her great wings spread wide, she is still partly air-borne by the powerful head wind
tury just
ly represented in terms of Lapiths battling Centaurs or (.neks fighting Amazons. But to place Attains m analogy
against which she advances. Ibis invisible force of onrush-
ing air here
becomes
with the gods themselves implies an exaltation of the ruler
the forward
movement
I
thai
is
Oriental rather than Greek in origin. Since the time
Mausolus,
who may have been
Greek
the idea
soil
Alexandei the lessei "I
I
(
Pergamum
'is
Ireal
sovereigns
.(.HI
I
k
Mil
ol
first
to
introduce
it
ol
on
divine kingship bad been adopted by
and
who
the
it
continued
to flourish
among
the
divided his realm, such as the rulers
fold of the
a tangible reality;
it
not only balances
of the figure but also shapes every
wonderfully animated drapery. As a result, there
—
an active relationship indeed, an interdependence between the statue and the space that envelops it. such as we have never seen before. Nor shall we see it again lor a long
is
nine
lame
io .is
come. The Nike ofSamothrace deserves all of her the greatest masterpiece of Hellenistic sculpture.
229. NIKE
OF SAMOTHRACE
C.
200
100 B.C
Marble, height
8' (2.4
m) Museedu Louvre. Pans
i,
HI
I
K Mil
•
/w
230. im LAOCOQNGROUP Roman copy, perhaps after AGESANDER, ATHENODORUS, and POLYDORUS OF RHODES (present state former restorations removed).
Marble height
•
«./
I
K
Mil
7' (2.1
m). Vatican
1st
century \i>
Museums, Rome
LAOCOON.
Until the Nike
was discovered over
a
hundred
years ago, the most admired work of 1 lellenistic statuary had
been a group showing the death of Laocoon and his two sons 230). It had been found in Rome as early as 1506 and
(fig.
had made a tremendous impression on Michelangelo and countless others. The history of its fame is rather like that of the Apollo Belvedere; the two were treated as complementary,
the Apollo exemplifying harmonious beauty, the La-
ocoon sublime tragedy. Today the group
somewhat
we tend
to find
the pathos of
calculated and rhetorical;
its
meticu-
lous surface finish strikes us as a display of virtuoso tech-
nique. In style, including the relieflike spread of the three figures,
it
although conscious.
descends from the Pergamum frieze, dynamism has become uncomfortably self-
clearly its It
was long accepted
identified with a
Polydorus of Rhodes that the in the palace of the
Roman copy
as a
Greek
original
and
group by Agesander, Athenodorus, and
Emperor
Roman writer now it is
Titus;
Pliny mentions
thought
to
be a
or reconstruction of a late Hellenistic work. For
Romans, the subject must have held a special meaning: punishment meted out to Laocoon and his sons forewarned Aeneas of the fall of Troy and caused him to flee that city in time. Since Aeneas was believed to have come to Italy and to have been the ancestor of Romulus and Remus, the death of Laocoon could be viewed as the first link in a chain of events that ultimately led to the founding of Rome. the
the divine
232. VEILED DANCER.
200
C.
B.C.?
Bron/e
statuette,
height 8'/2 " (22 cm). Collection Walter C. Baker,
PORTRAITS.
New
an important branch of Greek
Portraiture,
sculpture since the fourth century, continued
to flourish in
known
Hellenistic times. Its achievements, however, arc
us only indirectly,
One
of the few originals
Delos, a
not
work of the
made
is
early
the very
first
The
known. Whoever he was, we
to
copies,
bronze head from
\i\icl
century
B.C
as a bust but. in accordance with
part of a full-length statue.
him
Roman
most part through
lor the
York
I
fig
231
I,
was
It
Greek custom, as
identity of the sitter
un-
is
get an intensely private view of
The fluid modsomewhat flabby features, the uncertain, plainmouth, the unhappy c\cs under furrowed brows reveal that immediately captures our interest.
eling of the tive
an Individual beset In doubts and anxieties, an extremely
human, unheroic
personality.
thos in these features, but
Men
chological terms.
had surely existed exist today Yet
There are echoes of Greek is
a
^
STATUETTES. Bronze, height
1
2
National Archeological
Ki"
c.
80
B.C.
(32 cm).
Museum, Athens
must
haracter
Greek world,
just
traits
.is
they
significant that the inner complexity ol
such men could be conveyed by a work of Greek independence, culturally as well .is about to conic to an end
231. PORTRAIT HEAD, from Delos.
pa-
pathos translated into psy-
of these particular
earlier in the
is
it
it
Before
we
only
art
when was
politically,
leave Hellenistic sculpture,
cast at least a passing glance at another aspect ol
represented by the enchanting bronze statuette
dancer
(fig,
232
I.
She introduces us
to
ol a
we it.
veiled
the vast variety of
(,;;;
;
k
\iii
•
20
WINGED GOD
233.
Diameter
1 '
Silver coin
from Peparcthus.
" (3.7 cm). British
c.
500
234. SILENUS. Silver coin from Naxos.
B.C.
Museum, London
Diameter
1
'/>"
(3.3 cm). British
,
c. 415-400 B.C. Museum, London
236
235. APOLLO Silver coin from Catana.
Diameter
l'/«"
(3 cm). British
237.
.(
HI
I
k
\IU
1 '
i
"
i
3 .3
cm
).
Silver
British
460
B.C.
.
ALEXANDER THE GREAT WITH AMUN HORNS. Four-drachma by Lysimachus. c. 300 B.c Diameter I'/h" (3 cm)
silver coin issued
ANT1MACHUS OF BACTRIA
Diameter
.
." >"*,
c.
Museum, London
com.
c.
185 B.C
Museum, London
small-scale works produced for private ownership.
pieces were collected in
much
the
same way
Such
Characteristically enough, the finest coins of
An
and
hai<
as painted
Classical Greece were usually produced not by the most
vases had been in earlier times; and, like vase pictures, they show a range of subject matter far broader than that of
powerful states such as Athens. Corinth, or Sparta, hut by the lesser ones along the peripherv of the (.reek world Our
monumental
first example (fig. 233), from (he Aegean island of IVp.iiethus, reflects the origin of coinage: a square die deeply em-
sculpture. Besides the familiar mythological
themes we encounter a wealth
oi'
gars, street entertainers, peasants,
The grotesque,
everyday subjects: beg-
young
ladies of fashion.
the humorous, the picturesque
—
— qualities
that rarely enter into Greek monumental art play a conspicuous role here. At their best, as in our example, these small figures have an imaginative freedom rarely matched
on
a larger scale.
The bold
spiral twist of the veiled dancer,
bedded
Archaic
art.
Naxosin fills
tightlv as
multiplicity of interesting views that practically forces the
ingly
to
dinary
the rich interplay of concave
is
turn the statuette in his hands.
intriguing contrast between the
No
less extraor-
and convex forms, the compact silhouette of the
and the mobility of the body within. If we only knew when and where this little masterpiece was made! figure
COINS We rarely
think of coins as works of
art,
and the great major-
to
the frame,
down
Sicily
i
to
if
monumental
ganic
vitality of
On
com from
the
was struck
maker. Herakleidas, and
fits
Our
as
it
astonish-
third coin (fig.
or-
235)
town of Catana toward the end of
in the Sicilian
the Peloponnesian War.
An
a barrel.
he shows the articulation and
figure,
the Severe Style.
is
It
signed with the
name
well deserves to be, for
it
is
it
of
its
one
oi
Who
the true masterpieces of Greek coinage.
would have thought it possible to endow the full-face view of a head in low relief with such plasticity! This radiant image of Apollo has all the swelling roundness of the mature Classical style. Its grandeur completely transcends the limitations of the
many rewards, but visual delight is the least of these. many Greek coins form an exception to this general rule, it is
gan to show Alexander at
II
summarv-in-mmiature of
a
he were squatting inside
tiny scale of a coin.
of
is
the ubiquitous smile-.
234), almost half a century later, the die
fig.
them do not encourage us to do so. The study of their history and development, known as numismatics, offers ity
god, his pinwheel stance so per-
the entire area of the coin; the drinking Silenus
reinforced by the diagonal folds of the drapery, creates a
beholder
The winged
adapted
fectlv
m
in a rather shapeless pellet, like an impression
sealing wax.
From
the time of Alexander the Great onward, coins beprofile portraits of rulers.
The successors of
not simply because they are the earliest (the idea of stamp-
put his features on their coins to emphasize their link with the deified conqueror. Such a piece is
ing metal pellets of standard weight with an identifying de-
shown
sometime before 600 B.C. postage stamps were no more distin-
sign originated in Ionian Greece after
all,
the
first
);
guished than their present-day descendants. The reason, rather, is the persistent individualism of
Every city-state had ticular
its
own
Greek
political
coinage, adorned with
emblem, and the designs were changed
intervals so as to take
account of
at
its
in figure 236;
Alexander here displays the horns
him with the ram-headed Egyptian god Amun. His "inspired" expression, conveyed by the half-open mouth and the upward-looking eyes, is as characteristic of the emoidentifying
life.
tionalism of Hellenistic art as are the fluid modeling of the
par-
and the agitated, snakelike hair. As a likeness, this head can have only the most tenuous relation to the way Alexander actually looked; vet this idealized image of the allconquering genius projects the flavor of the new era more
frequent
treaties, victories, or
occasions for local pride. As a consequence, the
first
other
number
of
features
coins struck at any one time remained relatively small, while
eloquently than do the large-scale portraits of Alexander.
number of coinages was large. The constant demand for new designs produced highly skilled specialists who took such pride in their work that
their coins, the likenesses
they sometimes even signed
machus
Once
the
Greek coins thus are not only an invaluable source of historical knowledge but an authentic expression of the changing Greek sense of form. Within their own compass, they illustrate the development of Greek sculpture from the sixth to the second century B C. as faithfully as the larger works we have examined. And since they form a continuous series, with the place and date of almost every item well established, they reflect this development more fully in some respects than do the works of monumental art.
it.
the Hellenistic rulers started putting themselves on
became more
the most astonishing of these
at
of
Bactria
(
(fig.
237)
individual. Perhaps is
the head of Anti-
present-day Afghanistan
),
which stands
the opposite end of the scale from the Alexander-Amun.
man of sharp intelligence and perhaps about himself and others, and, in any event, without any desire for self-glorification. This penIts
mobile features show a
wit. a bit skeptical
etratingly
human
portrait
seems
to point
the
way
bronze bead from Delos (fig 231 a hundred years has no counterpart in the monumental sculpture of )
time,
and thus helps
to
fill
an important nap
m
to the
Liter its
It
own
our knowl-
edge of Hellenistic portraiture
(./;// k
\m
•
203
CHAPTER
SIX
ETRUSCAN ART
Mild
50
The
Italian
peninsula did not emerge into the light
of
history
grew into the head appeared on the vessel
peninsula only
of throne to indicate high rank
Greeks began
earliest Italy
in the
and
in Sicily.
eighth century to settle
Even
sical (Jreek historian
B.C.,
about the time the
along the southern shores of
earlier, if
we
are to believe the Clas-
Herodotus, another great migration
had taken place: the Etruscans had left their homeland of Lydia in Asia Minor and settled in the area between Florence and Rome, which to this day is known as Tuscany, the country of the Tusci or Etrusci. Who were the Etruscans? Did they really come from Asia Minor? Strange as it may seem, Herodotus' claim is still the subject of lively debate among scholars. We know that the Etruscans borrowed their alphabet from the Greeks toward the end of the eighth century, but their language of which our understanding is as yet very limited has no kin among any known tongues. Culturally and artistically, the Etruscans are strongly linked with Asia Minor and the ancient Near East, yet they also show many traits for which no parallels can be found anywhere. Might they not, then, be a people whose presence on Italian soil goes back to before the Indo-European migrations of about 2000-1200 B.C. that brought the Mycenaeans and the Dorian tribes to Greece and the ancestors of the Romans to Italy? If so, the sudden flowering of Etruscan civilization from about 700 B.C. onward could have resulted from a fusion of this prehistoric Italian stock with small but powerful groups of seafaring invaders from Lydia in the course of the eighth century. Interestingly enough, such a hypoth-
—
—
esis
comes very
Romans
close to the legendary origin of
hum. m shape:
time, the pottery urns gradually took on
The Bronze Age, which emerged first in Mesopotamia around 4000 B.C., came to an end in the Italian until fairly late.
lid
the
and body markings which could be placed on a sort
of the deceased, itself,
(fig.
238). Alongside the
modest beginnings of funerary sculpture, we evidence of great wealth
find
sudden
form of exquisite goldsmith's work decorated with motifs familiar from the Orientalizing in the
Greek vases of the same period (see fig. 159), intermingled with precious objects imported from the ancient Near East. The seventh and sixth centuries C saw the Etruscans at is
the height
of their
power. Their cities rivaled those of the
fleet dominated the western Mediterranean and protected a vast commercial empire competing with the Greeks and Phoenicians, and their territory extended as far as Naples in the south and the lower Po valley in the north. Rome itself was ruled by Etruscan kings for about a century,
Greeks, their
until the establishing of the
threw the
first
swampy
Republic in 510
B.C.
defensive wall around the seven
The kings
hills,
drained
Forum, and built the original temple on the Capitoline Hill, thus making a city out of what had been little more than a group of villages before. the
plain of the
Rome; the
believed that their city had been founded in 753
B.C.
by the descendants of refugees from Troy (see page 201) in
Was this perhaps an Etruscan story which the Romans later made their own, along with a great many other
Asia Minor.
things they took from their predecessors?
What the Etruscans themselves believed about their oriwe do not know. The only Etruscan writings that have come down to us are brief funerary inscriptions and a few somewhat longer texts relating to religious ritual, though gin
Roman
authors
We
existed.
tell
us that a rich Etruscan literature once
would, in
the Etruscans at
first
tombs, which the
fact,
know
hand were
Romans
practically nothing about it
not for their elaborate
did not molest
stroyed or rebuilt Etruscan cities and
survived intact until
modern
when
they de-
which therefore have
times.
Bronze Age burials had been of the modest sort found elsewhere in prehistoric Europe: the remains of the deceased, contained in a pottery vessel or urn, were placed Italian
simple
pit along with the equipment they required in weapons for men, jewelry and household tools for women). In Mycenaean Greece, this primitive cult of the dead had been elaborated under Egyptian influence, as shown by the monumental beehive tombs. Something very similar happened eight centuries later in Tuscany. Toward 700 B.C., Etruscan tombs began to imitate, in stone, the inte-
in a
afterlife
(
riors of actual dwellings,
covered by great conical
earth; they could be roofed by vaults or
domes
at
Mycenae
(see
h<4.
147).
of
was the TreaAnd at the same
zontal, overlapping courses of stone blocks, as
sury of Atreus
mounds
built of hori-
238. Human-headed cinerary urn c.
675-650
B.C Terracotta, height 25 Vi' (64.7 cm).
Museo
Etrusco. Chiusi, ItaJv
/
//;/ s<
\\
\m
•
205
206
'i
mi a
w
\ki
240. Sarcophagus, from Cerveteri. length 6'7" (2 m).
But the Etruscans, nation; they
like the
Creeks, never formed a unified
were no more than
a loose federation of indi\ id-
ual city-states given to quarreling
anions themselves and enemy. During the fifth and fourth centuries B.C., one Etruscan city alter another succumbed to the Romans; by the end of the third, all of them had lost their independence, although many continued to slow
to
unite against a
prosper,
if
we
common
are to judge by the richness of their
during the period of
c.
Museo NazionaJe
tombs
520 B(
Rome
expanded. The deceased themselves could now be represented full-length, reclining on the lids of sarcophagi shaped like couches, as if they were participants in a festive repast, an Archaic smile about their lips. The monumental example in figures 239 and 240 shows a husband and wife side by
side, strangely gay
work
is
and majestic at the same time. The entire was once painted in bright colors
of terracotta and
The smoothly rounded, trast to
the Creek love
forms betray the Etruscan modeling m soli materials, m con-
elastic
sculptor's preference for
political decline.
Tombs and Their Decoration The flowering
Terracotta,
di Villa Giulia.
ol
stone carving; there
is
discipline here but an extraordinary directness
less formal
and
vivacity.
of Etruscan civilization thus coincides with
It was during this period, espenear the end of the sixth and early in the fifth century that Etruscan art showed its greatest vigor. Creek Ar-
EARLY FUNERARY BELIEFS. We do not know precisely what ideas the Archaic Etruscans held about the afterlife Effigies such as our reclining couple, which for the first
chaic influence had displaced the Orientalizing tenden-
time in history represent the deceased as thoroughl) alive and enjoying themselves, surest that they regarded the tomb as an abode not onl\ lor the bod\ but lor the soul as
the Archaic age in Greece. cially
lie,
— many
Creek vases have been found in Etruscan tombs of that time— but Etruscan artists did not simplv imitate their Hellenic models. Working in a very difcies
of the finest
ferent cultural setting, they retained their
own
clear-cut
identity.
One might
expect
wane under Greek case.
On
to
see the Etruscan cult of the dead
influence, but that
was by no means the
the contrary, the tombs and their equipment grew
more elaborate
as the capacities of the sculptor and painter
welli in contrast to the Egyptians,
living.
How
else are
we
wonderfully rich arraj bers? Since nothing tory,
239. (opposite) Detail of sarcophagus, from Cerveteri. Terracotta.
Museo Nazionale
di Villa Giulia,
c.
Rome
520 B.C
who thought
of the soul as
roaming Freeh and whose Itinera) \ sculpture therefore remained "inanimate"). Or perhaps the Etruscans believed that by filling the tomb with banquets, dancing, games, and similar pleasures the) (.mild induce the soul to stay put in the city of the dead and therefore not haunt the realm of the
the)
.ire
achievement
ol
understand the purpose of the murals in these lunerar\ chamthe son has survived in Greek terrilo
ol
uniquel) important, not onl) as an Etruscan bill
also as a possible reflection ol
Creek wall
painting.
/
ltd
s(
\\
Mil
•
207
241.
Tomb
242 Wall painting
/
//,'/
v
\\
ARI
of
Hunting and Fishing, Tarquinia,
detail
(
Italy, c.
520 B.C
520 B.C Tomb of Hunting and Fishing Tarquinia,
Italy
243. MUSICIANS
TOMB OF HUNTINC; AND astonishing of murals
all
AND TWO DANCERS. Detail of a wall painting, Tomb of the Lionesses. Tarqumia. Italy
FISHING. Perhaps the most Tomb of Hunting 520 b.c Figure 24 shows the
are found in the
and Fishing at Tarquinia of c. Beat marine panorama at one end of the low chamber: a vast, eontinuous expanse of water and skv in which the fishermen, and the hunter with Ins slingshot, play only an 1
242). The free, rhythmic movement of fita.. and dolphins is strangely reminiscent of Minoan painting of a thousand years earlier see fi». 139), but the weightincidental part
(
birds
I
less, floating quality
recall Exekias'
of Cretan
Dionysus
in a
art is
Boat
I
absent.
see
fig.
We
might also
161 las the clos-
Greek counterpart to our scene. The differences here, however, are as revealing as the similarities, and one wonders if any Creek Archaic artist knew how to place human est
c.
480-470
B.C.
89? Ihe\ seem the most convincing precedent for the genconception of our subject II so. the Ktruscan artist lias
eral
brought the scene figure
to life,
.is
the reclining couple in
to life
compared with Egyptian
just
240 has been brought
funerary statues
rOMBOF
fill
LIONESSES.
from another tomb in rarquinia
^
somewhat
(fig
243
later example shows a pair of then- movements
dan< ers; the passionate energy ol again strikes us as h.uai teristK alb Etruscan rather than
ecstatic
c
Greek in spirit, oi parti< ular interest is the transparent garment of the woman, which lets the bod) shine through; in Greece, this differentiation appears onlj
a
lew years earlier
figures in a natural setting as effectively as the Etruscan
phase oi Archaic vase painting fne contrasting body color of the two figures continues a pra< tice introduced
painter did. Could the mural have been inspired by Egyptian
by the Egyptians more than two thousand years befon
scenes of hunting
fig.
in the
marshes, such as the one
in figure
in the final
86).
/
mi
s<
i\
Ma
s<
i
LATER
During the fifth century, must have become a good festive. We notice the change
more complex and less we ompare the group immediatel)
deal
it
ary
c
244, a ciner-
in figure
container carved of soft local stone soon after 400
with
the foot of the couch, but she
is
B.C.,
time
lias
Classical
the
met
Greek
same is
art
reflected:
human
new mood
supernatural forces; death
is
is
air of the
the influence of
to
style of our group. At
and rehands of inexorable
of uncertainty
in the
the great divide rather than a
on earth. In later tombs, the demons of death gain an ever more fearful aspect; other, more terrifying demons enter the
continuation, albeit on a different plane, of
life
scene, often battling against benevolent spirits for posses-
masonry construction
other purposes, rejected
for
lor reli-
The
One
demons
the simpler Greek temples tinctive features,
some
(fig.
to
246), but with several dis-
of these later perpetuated by the Ro-
mans. The entire structure rests on a tall base, or podium, that is no wider than the cella and has steps only on the south side; these lead to a deep porch, supported by two rows of four columns each, and to tfie cella beyond. The cella is generally subdivided into three compartments, for Etruscan religion was dominated by a decessors of the
Roman
triad of gods,
the pre-
Juno. Jupiter, and Minerva.
The
Etruscan temple, then, must have been of a squat, squarish
shape compared
more say,
to
the graceful Greek sanctuaries, and
closely linked with domestic architecture. Needless to
it
provided no place for stone sculpture; the plastic
decoration usually consisted of terracotta plaques covering
center of figure 245. a tomb of the third century
the architrave and the edges of the roof. Only after 400 B.C. do we occasionally bnd large-scale terracotta groups designed to fill the pediment above the porch.
lie at Cerveteri, richly
of these
decorated with stucco reliefs rather
than paintings. The entire chamber, cut into the
live rock,
closely imitates the interior of a house, including the
of the roof
wood.
ap-
sion of the soul of the deceased. peal's in the
built of
design of their sanctuaries bears a general resemblance
some extent
destiny
wore
Vpparently the Etruscans, although they wore masters of
young
which pervades the
time, however, a
vived, since the buildings themselves
not the wife of the
come." The thoughtful, melancholy to
stone foundations of Etruscan temples have sur-
gious reasons the use of stone in temple architecture.
1
two figures may be due
tin'
sits at
man; her wings indicate that she is the demon of death, and the scroll in her left hand records the fate of the dehe young man is pointing to it as if to say, "Behold, t eased.
my
Only
woman now
predecessor in figure 240. The
its
Temples and Their Decoration
NERARi BELIEFS.
l
I
the Etruscan view of the hereafter
The sturdy
pilasters
(
beams
note the capitals, which re-
VEIL We know, however,
—
of one earlier attempt
— and
an
reproductions of weapons, armor, household implements,
monumental sculpture on the exterior of an Etruscan temple. The socalled Temple of Apollo at Veii, not very far north of Rome, a
small domestic animals, and busts of the deceased. In such
structure of standard type in every other respect, had four
call
the Aeolian type from Asia Minor;
194), as well as
fig.
the wall surfaces between the niches, are covered with exact
a setting,
the snake-legged
demon and
his three-headed
hound (whom we recognize as Cerberus, the guardian the infernal regions) seem particularly disquieting.
244.
of
astonishingly bold one
lifesize terracotta statues
to find a
on the ridge of its roof (seen also in fig. 246). They formed a dramatic
the reconstruction model,
group of the
sort
we might expect
YOUTH iND DEMON OF DEATH Cinerary container Early 4ih century B.C Stone (pietra fetida),
length IT"
>ln-
1
I
hi
s(
w
\i:i
i
1
19.4 cm).
place for
Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Florence
in
Greek pedimental
245. Burial chamber.
Tomb
246. Reconstruction of an Etruscan temple
of the Reliefs. Cerveteri,
Italy.
3rd century B.C
Istitutodi Etruscologia e Vntichita Italiche
I
niversirv oi
Rome
/
//;/
s<
\\
\i:i
•
21
st
ulpture the
(
ontesl
hind, in the present e
these figures
is
masterpiece
ol
ol
len ules and Apollo for the sacred
I
ol oilier deities.
the Apollo
\
fig.
2.
17
i,
best preserved of
acknowledged
Etruscan Archaic sculpture.
body, completely revealed beneath the ol
The
to
be the
massive
lis
I
ornamental striatums
the drapery; the sinewy, muscular legs; the hurried, pur-
poseful stride
all
these betray an expressive power thai has
no counterpart
in
free-standing Greek statues of the
same
was indeed a sculptural center at the end of the seems to be confirmed In the Roman tradition
that the last ol the
master from
Veii to
Etruscan rulers of the
make
city called
//:/
SCAN \KI
1
17")
:<
c
m
1
.1
the temple on the C'apitoline
Hill. This image has disapmore famous symbol of Rome, the the she-wolf that nourished Romulus and existence fig. 248 The two babes are Re-
peared, hut an even
bronze figure of
Remus,
is still
c. 510B.C Museo Nazionale di
247. \POLLO from Veii height 69"
on
the terracotta image of Jupiter for
in
(
).
naissance additions, and the early history of the statue
date
'/.'•/
lh.it Veii
sixth century
Terracotta, Villa Giulia,
Home
is
ob-
248. she-wolf
c.
500
B.C.
Bronze, height 33'/2 " (85 cm).
Museo
Capitolino.
Rome
some scholars, therefore, have even suspected it of being a medieval work. Nevertheless, it is almost surely an Etruscan Archaic original, for the wonderful ferocity of exscute;
pression, the latent physical
power of the body and
have the same awesome quality
we sense
in the Apollo
legs,
from
In any event, the she-wolf as the totemic animal of
Veii.
Rome
has the strongest links with Etruscan mythology, in to have played an important part from
which wolves seem verv early times.
Portraiture
and Metalwork
The Etruscan concern with
effigies of the
lead us to expect an early interest
m
deceased might
individual portraiture.
Yet the features of such funerary images as those in figures 240 and 244 are entirely impersonal, and it was only toward 300 B.C., under the influence of Greek portraiture, that indi-
vidual likenesses began to appear in Etruscan sculpture.
The
finest of
them
are not funerary portraits,
which tend
be rather crude and perfunctory, but the heads
to
bronze
of
statues. Portrait of a its
to
Boy (fig. 249) is a real masterpiece of modeling lends a special poignancy the sensitive mouth and the gentle, melancholy eyes. kind; the firmness of
No
less impressive is the very high quality of the
and finishing, which bears out the ancient lame
<
.isini'j.
of
die
249
I'oiii
height 9"
i
2
\n
i<
i
c
m
<>i
<
i
boi Earl)
Jrd
Museo Archeology
century
Bronze
B.<
o Nazionale, Floreru e
/
//,'/
s<
\\
\i;i
.
even the Romans were
prestige;
them before any major I
as the
Romans
in the habit of
called the art of interpreting
traced back to ancient Mesopotamia
unknown
in
Greece
consulting
public or private event. Divination
— but
omens can )
be
— the practice was not
the Etruscans carried
it
further
than any of their predecessors. They put especial trust in the animals, on which, they thought, the
livers of sacrificial
gods had inscribed the hoped-for divine message. In fact. they viewed the liver as a sort of microcosm, divided into regions that corresponded, in their minds, to the regions of the
Weird and irrational as they were, these practices bepart of our cultural heritage, and echoes of them persist to this day. True, we no longer try to tell the future by watching the flight of birds or examining animal livers, but skv.
came
tea leaves and horoscopes are still prophetic to many people; and we speak ol auspicious events, that is. of events indicating a favorable future, unaware that "auspicious" originally referred to a favorable flight of birds. Perhaps we do not believe very seriously that four-leaf clovers bring good luck and
black cats bad luck, yet a surprising
number
of us admit to
being superstitious.
The
Architecture of Cities
Roman
Etruscans were masters of and of town planning and surveyThat the Romans learned a good deal from them can
According
to
writers, the
architectural engineering, ing.
hardly be doubted, but exactly 250. Engraved back of a mirror, Bronze, diameter 6"
(
15.3 cm). Vatican
c.
400
B.C.
contributed to
Museums, Rome
Roman
how much
architecture
hardly anything of Etruscan or early
is
the Etruscans
difficult to say, since
Roman
architecture re-
mains standing above ground. Roman temples certainly retained many Etruscan features, and the atrium, the central ballot the Roman house (see fig. 275), likewise originated in Etruria. In town planning and surveying, too, the Etruscans Etruscans as master craftsmen
in metal.
Their
ability in this
was of lout; standing, for the wealth of Etruria was founded on the exploitation of copper and iron deposits. From the sixth century on, they produced vast quantities of bronze statuettes, mirrors, and such, both for export and do-
respect
The charm
mestic consumption.
of these small pieces
is
well
displayed by the engraved design on the hack of a mirror
done soon
400
alter
u reath of vines,
we
examining
chas,
a
that
(fig.
250). Within an undulating
see a winged old man. identified as Chal-
roundish object. The draftsmanship
and assured
beautifully balanced
sume
B.C
Classic. il
Greek
ail
that
we
was the
is
so
are tempted to asdirect
source of
have a good claim to priority over the Greeks. The original of the Etruscans, Tuscany, was too hilly to en-
homeland
courage geometric schemes; however, when they colonized the flatlands south of Rome in the sixth century, they laid out their newly founded cities as a network of streets centering on the intersection of two main thoroughfares, the cardo
(which ran north and south and the decumanus which ran and west). The four quarters thus obtained could be further subdivided or expanded, according to need. This system, which the Romans adopted for the new cities they were to found throughout Italy, western Europe, and North Africa, max have been derived from the plan of Etruscan )
camps. Yet
military
inspiration.
liefs that
DIVINATION this
ma\
can
for
ficial
So
far as the style of
our piece
well he the case, hut the subject
the
winged genius
is
gazing
at
is
is
concerned.
uniquely Etrus-
We
arc witnessing a practice that loomed as large in the
ans as the care of the dead: the search for omens or portents he EtTUS< ans believed that the will of I
the gods manifested
itself
through si^ns
world such as thunderstorms or the
in
the natural
flight ol birds,
and
ih.a
h\ reading them people could find out whether the gods he priests who smiled or frowned upon then enterprises knew the sec ret language ol these si'j,ns enjoyed enormous I
i
I
I
III
S(
also
it
to the points of the
along
north-south
a
seems
to reflect the religious be-
the Etruscans divide the sky into regions ac-
compass and place
their temples
axis.
The Etruscans must also have taught the Romans how to bridges, drainage systems, and aque-
build fortifications,
lives ol the EtTUS(
'/
made
cording
the liver of a sacri-
animal
(
east
\\
Mil
ducts, but very
these is
fields.
The
remains of their vast enterprises
little
only truly impressive surviving
in
monument
the Porta Augusta in Perugia, a fortified city gate of the
second century B.< fig, 251). The gate itself, recessed between two massive towers, is not a mere entry but an architectural facade The tall opening is spanned by a semicircular arch framed by a molding; above it is a balustrade of I
dwarl pilasters alternating with round shields, a pattern ob-
251. Porta Augusta, Perugia. 2nd century B.C
viously derived from the triglyphs
and metopes of the Doric
supports a second arched opening (now flanked by two larger pilasters. frieze;
I
it
UK ARCH. The
arches here are true, which
are constructed of
wedge-shaped blocks,
means
of masonry or brickwork
(
like the
the Lion Gate at Mycenae,
fig.
of horizontal courses
opening above the
152).
The
from the
they
called voussoirs,
).
composed
to
true arch
)
—
each pointing toward the center of the semicircular opening (sec fig. 252 Such an arch is strong and self-sustaining, in contrast to the "false" arch
monumental architecture. In Mesopotamia, the was used for city gates (see fig. 121 and perhaps elsewhere as well to what extent we cannot determine for lack of preserved examples. The Greeks knew the principle unsuited
filled in)
refusing to orders. it
is
And
the
in
c. 2700 B.C., but the Egyptians had used it mainly in underground tomb structures and in utilitarian buildings
invented
it.
fig.
98), never in temples. Apparently they
thought
lies
instance
the importance of the Porta Augusta:
we know
in
which arches were
inte-
monu-
mental whole. The Romans were
its
bination
(see
herein
first
extension, the barrel vault, had been discovered in Egvpt as early as
century on. but they confined the use of the
underground structures or to simple gateways, combine it with the elements of the architectural
grated with the vocabulary of the Greek orders into a
lintel of
true arch, and
fifth
true arch to
belong
to
to develop this comthousand ways, hut the merit of having of having made the arch respectable, seems to
a
the Etruscans.
it
Voussoirs
ARCH
BAKKl.l.Ml
1.1
UU)I\ Ml
I
I
252. Arch, barrel vault, and groin vault
/
I
in
s<
i\
\iu
.
215
CHAPTER SEVEN
ROMAN ART
Among
the civilizations or the ancient world, that of the Ro-
mans
far
more accessible to us than any other. The growth of the Roman domain from city-state to empire; its military and political struggles, its changing social structure, the development of its institutions; the public and private lives of is
Us leading personalities
—
have
that way. Articulate
it
to
amaze
trace with a
Nor
us.
Romans themselves seem
matter of chance. The
wanted
we can
these
all
wealth of detail that never ceases
is
to
this a
have
and posterity-conscious, they
us a vast literary legacy, from poetry and philos-
left
ophy to humble inscriptions recording everyday events, and an equally huge mass of visible monuments that were scattered throughout their Empire, from (
from Spain
.nil
England
to
the Persian
Romania.
to
Vet. paradoxically,
there are few questions
more embar-
"What is Roman art.'" The Roman genius, so clearly recognizable in every other sphere ol human activity, becomes oddly elusive when we ask whether there was a characteristic Roman style in the fine ails Win is this so? The most obvious reason is the great admiration the Romans bad forGreek an of every period and Not only did they import originals or earlier date
haii
\i<
(
lassK
,il
have them copied
and lellenistic by the thousands, and even greater numbers; their own proI
m
duction was clearly based on Greek sources, and many of then artists, from Republic .in times to the end of the Empire
were
ol
liul<
l
oik
cm
Greek
Roman authors show own lime They tell us a
origin. Moreover,
with the
art
of their
d deal about the development of Greek art as described in (
.nek writings on the subject, or they speak of
duction during the earh davs
216
•
i:o\l \\
\l:i
a trace survives today, but rarely
rary works.
ol
the
Roman
artistic pro-
Republic, of
about contempo-
names may be menother contexts, the Romans never
While anecdotes or
tioned incidentally in
artists'
history, theory, and criticism of art such as had existed among the Greeks. Nor do we hear of Roman artists who enjoyed individual lame, al-
developed a rich literature on the
—
though the great names of Greek art Polyclitus, Phidias, Praxiteles, Lysippus were praised as highly as ever. One might well be tempted to conclude, therefore, that the Romans themselves looked upon the art of their time as being in decline compared with the great Creek past, whence all important creative impulses had come. This, in-
—
deed, was the prevalent attitude
Roman
very long ago.
rassing to the art historian than
variety.
which not
Roman
among
they claimed,
decadent phase
art in its final
rule; there
art,
— Greek
no such thing as Roman
is
scholars until not
is
Greek under Roman
essentially
art
style,
there
is
only
subject matter. Yet the (act remains that, as a whole,
the art produced under different from
have arisen.
Greek
II
we
Greek standards,
it
Roman
art;
insist
auspices does look distinctly
otherwise our problem would not
on evaluating
appear as
will
a
this difference by
process of decay.
II,
on
we interpret as expressing different, unin a less negative Greek intentions, we are likely to see light; and onto we admit that ail under the Romans had positive un-Greek qualities, we cannot very well regard the other hand,
it
it
phase of Greek Greek origin we may find in Roman records. Actually, the Greek names of these men do not signify much; most of the artists, it seems, were thorough "Romanized." The Empire was a cosmopolitan socieiv in which national or regional traits were soon absorbed these innovations as belonging
art.
no mailer bow many
to the- final
artists of
.11,
I
Pronaos or
253. "Temple of Fortuna
Virilis."
Rome. Late 2nd century
254. Plan of the
B.C.
"Temple
into tin-
common
Rome.
all-Roman pattern
set by the capital, the
any event, the great majority of Roman are unsigned, and their makers, for all we know,
city of
In
works of art may have come from any part of the far-flung Roman domain. But
Roman
society from the very start proved astonish-
ingly tolerant of alien traditions; the all-Roman pattern
and sa»es were hospitably received in the capital, and eventually they themselves would be given the rights of citizenship. Roman civilization - and Roman art thus acquired not only the Greek heritage but, to a lesser extent, that of the Etruscans and of Egypt and the Near Last as well. All this made lor an extraordinarily complex and open society, homogeneous and diverse at the same time. The sanctuary of Mithras accidentally unearthed in the center of London offers a striking illustration oi the their t;ods
—
it
and consistent quality of form.
gle
ARCHITECTURE II
the
ol Roman sculpture and painting has been Roman architecture is a creative feat ol such
autonomy
questioned,
magnitude as
final
century
age
roic
ol
Roman
were
art
to
show
a consistent style
such
.is
we
in Egypt, or the clear-cut evolution that distinguishes
the art of Greece.
Its
development— to
the extent that
we
expansion.
Religious Architecture
"TEMPLE OF FORTUNA
second century
found
These links with the
i,
Roman
ol
Empire.
if
Roman
temple ivpes developed during the the Republican period (510 60b.< the he-
ol
short ola miracle
growth,
Its
a specifically
past are strongest in the
now thoroughly and uniquely Roman in form, tan be matched by hundreds of Others throughout the little
Roman stamp
with an unmistakable
and
would be
start reflected
wav of public and private life, so that whatever elements had been borrowed from Ltruscans or Creeks were soon marked
sanctuary seems
bis sanctuary,
doubts of this son
to silence all
moreover, from the very
cosmopolitan character of Roman society; the god is Persian in origin but he had long suae become a Roman "citizen,"
it
Virilis"
had a
conquered provinces were not forced into a uniform straitjacket but. rather, were put into a fairly low -temperature melting pot. Law and order, and a token reverence lor the symbols of Roman rule, were imposed on them; at the same
conditions,
Fortuna
today—might be likened to a counterpoint of may exist side bv side, even within a single monument, and none of them ever emerges as overwhelmingly dominant. The "Roman-ness" oi Roman an must be found m this complex pattern, rather than in a sinunderstand
all. so long as they did not threaten the security of the state. The populations of newly
Under such
of
divergent tendencies that
way of accommodating them
time, however,
pon h
"
temple
Fortuna
Ionic
i
fig.
is
the
name
rhe delightful small sheer fancy,
is
is
to
Home durum
the
last
ol
god
example
the oldest well-preserved
Built in
for the
Roman
the
ve.ns
(i|
i
opv
be
Roman
concpiesi ofGree<
Greek
ol
em
I
16
ol
the
n suggests, in the elegant proportions
b.<
columns and entablature, the wave
no mere
number
VIRILIS." i
have been dedicated
to
253
fluent e following it
Virilis"
harbors PortunUS
Us kind
its
ol
ol
in
Yel
Greek temple, for we recognize a Etruscan elements the high podium the deep c
oi
a
IK)\I\\
\ni
.
>l
255. "Temple
porch, and the wide cella, which engages the
On
peristyle.
it
century
Be
columns of the
no longer subdihad been under the
the other hand, the cella
vided into three compartments as
of the Sibyl," Tivoli. Early 1st
is
now encloses a single unified space (fig. 254). The Romans needed spacious temple interiors, since they used them not only lor the image of the deity hut also lor the Etruscans;
display
it
trophies (statues, weapons, etc.
ol
)
brought hack by
conquering armies. The "Temple of Fortuna Virilis" thus represents a well-integrated new type of temple designed lor Roman requirements, not a haphazard cross of Etruscan and Greek elements. It was to have a long life; nutheir
merous examples
of
it.
usually large and with Corinthian
columns, can he found as both in
and
Italy
m
late as the
second century
SIBYL. Another type of Republican Temple ol the Sibyl at Tivoli (figs. 255 and 256), erected a lew decades later than the "Temple ol Fortuna Virilis." It. too. was the result of the merging of two separate traditions. Its original ancestor was ,i
seen
is
in the so-called
strut lure in the center of
Home
m
of the city was kept. This building
which the sacred flame had the shape of
at first
the traditional round peasant huts in the
on
was redesigned
Roman
country-
under the influence of Greek structures of the tholos type (see page 178). and thus became the model for the round temples of late Republican times. [ere again we find the high podium, w ith steps side; later
it
in stone,
I
and
onl\ opposite the entrance,
a graceful
we
look closely
al
the cella. however,
while thedooi and window built in a lee
I
rallies are ol
I
118
•
i:o\t\\
\m
is,
in this case,
small pieces of building stone and brick)
— and.
faced with small. Hat pieces of Stone. Concrete
m the Near East more than had been used mainly for forti-
construction had been invented a
thousand years
earlier but
it was the Romans who de\ eloped its potentialities became their chief building technique. Its advantages are obvious: strong, cheap, and flexible, it alone made
fications;
until
it
possible- the vast architectural enterprises that are
still
the
mementos of "the grandeur that was Rome." The Romans knew how to hide the unattractive concrete surface
chief
behind
a facing of brick, stone, or marble-, or
by covering
it
Today, this decorative skin has disap-
with smooth plaster.
we
peared from the remains of most Roman buildings, leaving the concrete core exposed and thus depm ing these- ruins of
notice thai
ol si one.
the wall
hnique we have not encountered before ll is made of concrete a mixture ol mortar and gravel with rubis
ble (that
Greek-inspired
exterioi \s
the Sibyl'
ol
OF THE
IIMIM.I.
temple
256. Plan of the "Temple
\l>.
the provincial capitals of the Empire.
the appeal that Creek in
other
ways,
conception.
rums have
through
for us.
massive
size
They speak and
to
us
boldness
of
SANCTUARY OF FORTUNA PRIMIGENIA. The monument
in
which these
oldest
qualities are fully in evidence
is
the Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia at Palestrina, in the foothills of the Apennines east of Rome. Here, what had
m
once been an important Ftruscan stronghold, a strange cult had been established since early times, dedicated to Fortuna Fate as a mother deity and combined with a famous oracle. The Roman sanctuary dates from the early first century (
its
size
zu:
the
ol
the later houses and thus laid
huge ancient temple
prei in<
t.
which
ties of
ramps and terraces
(clearly visible in
\
se
257) lead up to a
th.it crowned the entire strucArched openings, framed b\ engaged columns and entablatures, play an important part in the elevation, just as semicircular recesses do m the plan One
and shape were almost completely hidden by the metown that had been built over it. until a bombing at-
in
ol
has been thoroughly explored during the past dec ades
ture
<
;
dieval
bare the rem, mis
the semicircular colonnade
)
i:
tack in 1944 destroyed most
258).
(fig.
-riv^nr
»!!!•
4 '^ v* '
r^ m 0* r> /*Ufc,2 .
y &' •
v5
-
ir**^***
1
257. Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, Praeneste
,,
.
I
Palestrina
i.
Early
1st
century B C
™
iiniuiiiiiiiinr
BT
is
Jfes*. >•
-i 258. Reconstruction model of the Sanctuary
of
Fortuna Primiuenia
Museo Archeologico Nazionale,
Palestrina
at
Praenestc
i
Palestrina
ItaK
/io\i\\
\/
•
219
259. Lower terraces. Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia
of these openings appears in our view of the lower terrace (
259
fig.
it
>;
covered by a barrel vault, another characteris-
is
Roman
architectural vocabulary. Except
tic
feature of the
for
the columns and architraves,
are
ol
the surfaces
all
concrete, like the cella of the round temple
imagine how
and
it
this
could have been constructed otherwise.
indeed hard
is
What makes however,
An
site
ens
now
in
is
to
its
entire hillside,
vast as
to the
position, has
FORUMS.
11
Sulla did order
way
it
fits
the
Acropolis of Ath-
been transformed and seem to grow out
the
self:
Forum Julium,
beings had simply completed a de-
molding of great open spaces had never been possible or even desired— in the lassical Greek world; the only comparable projects are found m Egypt see the Temple of latshepsut, figs. 93 and
Such
1
1
N01 did
1,
it
express the
spirit ol
the
Roman
Republic. Sig-
enough the Palestrina sanctuary dates from the time of Still, whose absolute dictatorship (82-79 B.C.) marked the transition from Republican government to the nificantly
1.
one
in.
rule of Julius
111
Caesar and
which were linked
to
it
by a
even more
all
his Imperial successors
had won a great victory against his enemies in war al Palestrina it is tempting to assume that he
man
world. Unfortunately, nothing field of
!
JO
•
lio\t
W
\l:l
a
is left
(fig.
260),
of the forums
ruins that conveys
little
to-
of their
Secular Architecture The arch and
vault,
an essential part of
which we encountered
Roman monumental
monument
to his
own
fame.
at Palestrina as
architecture, also
formed the basis of construction projects such as sewers bridges, and aqueducts, designed for efficiency rather than beauty.
The
the city of B.C
;
were built to serve end of the fourth century
Inst enterprises of this kind
Rome
as early as the
only traces of
them survive
today.
as the exceptionally well-preserved
Oltuna and as
axis
forming the most magnificent architectural sight of the Ro-
the
personally ordered the san< tuary built, both as a thanks ofI
reli-
This Forum
the later Imperial forums,
numerous others
fering to
overt.
common major
Siik e Sulla civil
it-
framed
architecturally
.1
(
9
is
of Caesar set the pattern for
original splendor.
if
great
a
life
Rome
ancestress of Caesar's family. Here the merging of
ical
human
the rock, as
the end of his
square adjoining the Temple of Venus Genetrix, the myth-
dav hut a stubbly
sign laid oul by nature herself.
the Palestrina complex per-
who near
sponsored a project planned on a similar scale in
articulated so that the architectural forms of
it,
haps inspired Julius Caesar,
gious cult and personal glory
scale but the superb
comparable
commanding
us
at Tivoli,
complex as
Palestrina so imposing.
the sanctuary at
not merely
a
visible
Fraeneste (Palestrina)
at
There
are,
however,
of later date throughout the Empire, such
aqueduct
southern fiance known as the Pont du Card
at (fig.
Nimes 261
).
in Its
rugged, clean lines that span the wide valley are a tribute not
to the high qualit) oi Roman engineering but also to the sense of order and permanence thai inspired these efforts
only
COLOSSI. I'M in the rial
in
he qualities we mel here impress us again Colosseum, the enormous amphitheater for gladiato-
games
SO
\
i).
I
in the it
is
home figs. 262 64 Completed terms of mass one of the largest single
tenter of
in
buildings anywhere;
when
I.
i
intact
accommodated more
it
than 50,000 spectators. The concrete core, with vaulted corridors and stairways,
neering efficiency
from the arena.
to
is
its
miles
of
masterpiece of engi-
a
ensure the smooth (low
oi traffic to
and
both the familiar barrel vault and a more complex form, the groined \ ault see fig. I'rl that reIt
utilizes
I
),
from the interpenetration of two barrel vaults at right angles. The exterior, dignified and monumental, reflects the sults
interior articulation of the structure hut clothes
tuates
it
in
cut stone. There
is
a fine
and accen-
balance between
verti-
and horizontal elements in the framework of engaged columns and entablatures that contains the endless series of arches. The three Classical orders are superimposed accordcal
ing to their intrinsic "weight": Doric, the oldest and most severe,
on the ground
floor,
followed by Ionic and Corinthian.
The lightening of the proportions, however,
"^W^ 260. Plan of the Forums,
adaptation, are almost alike.
Structurally, they have
become
ghosts, vet their aesthetic
this
261. Ponl
(In (laid
Early
1st
barely notice-
Roman
function continues unimpaired, lor
Rome
is
able; the orders, in their
enormous facade becomes
it
is
through them that
related to the
human
scale
Mines Prance
centun
v
n
now
\\
\i:i
•
221
•
i:o\l r.
\l:l
265. (upper
Interiors Arches, vaults, and the use of concrete permitted the Romans, for the first time in the history of architecture, to cre-
These were explored especially in which had become important centers of social life in Imperial Rome. The experience gained there could then be applied to other, more traditional types of buildings, sometimes with revolutionary results. ate vast interior spaces. tiie
great baths, or thermae,
Ujh nu iNTERIOROf mi PANTHEOh
Giovanni Paolo Pannini,
c,
1740.
The National
Painting by
Gallery
oi Art.
Washington. DC. Samuel H. Kress Collection 266.
267. (abate 268. (below
(
top
I
Plan of the Pantheon
Transverse section of the Pantheon
I
)
The Pantheon. Rome.
1
18-25 A
1)
PANTHEON.
Perhaps the most striking example of this Rome, a very large round temple of the early second century A D whose interior is the
process
is
the famous Pantheon in
best preserved as well as the
ing
Roman
structure
(
fi«s.
most impressive of any surviv265-68). There had been round
temples lon
On
the outside,
the cella of the Pantheon appears as an unadorned cylindrical
drum, surmounted by a gendy curved dome; the enis emphasized In a deep porch of the kind familiar to
trance
us from
and 254 abrupt,
Roman
temples of the standard type (see
figs.
253
The junction of these two elements seems rather but we must remember that we no longer see the ).
i:o\i \\
\i:i
•
22
I
As
name
its
the gods"
or.
the Pantheon was dedicated to
sun
more
(there are seven niches).
assume
that the golden
Dome
represented the
it
seems reasonable,
It
dome had
"all
seven planetary gods
precisely, to the
therefore, to
symbolic meaning, that
a
solemn and
of Heaven. Yet this
humble antecedents. Ihe Roman architect Vitruvius, writing more than a century earlier, describes the domed steam chamber of a bathing essplendid structure grew from rather
Dome
tablishment that anticipates (undoubtedly on a very
much
smaller scale) the essential features of the Pantheon: a
hemispherical dome, a proportional relationship of height
Drum
and width, and the circular opening in the center (which could he closed by a bronze shutter on chains, to adjust the temperature of the steam room).
Pendentive
BASILICAS. The
Basilica
fourth century ad.,
is
of
silicas,
of the
of Constantino,
a similar example,
which we speak below,
it
lor,
early
unlike other ba-
derives
shape from
its
the main hall of the public baths built by two earlier emperors,
269. Parts of a
dome
Caracalla and Diocletian. But
scale.
It
must have been the
it
is built
on an even vaster
largest roofed interior in
all
of
—
Rome. Today only the north aisle three huge barrel-vaultis still standing (fig. 270). The center ed compartments tract, or nave, covered by three groined vaults (figs. 271 and
—
272), rose a good deal higher. Since a groined vault resem-
building as
was meant
it
be seen. Today the level of the
to
good deal higher than it was in ansurrounding tiquity, so that the steps leading up to the porch are now submerged; moreover, the porch was designed to form part of a rectangular, colonnaded forecourt, which must have streets
had the cella
is
is
a
effect of detaching it from the rotunda. So far as the concerned, therefore, the architect apparently dis-
bles a canopy, with
all
the four corners (see (
called the clerestory
the weight and thrust concentrated
)
could be pierced by large windows, so
that the interior of the basilica
quality despite in
many
its
at
252), the upper walls of the nave
fig.
enormous
later buildings,
must have had a light and airy We shall meet its echoes
size.
from churches
to railway stations.
Basilicas, long halls serving a variety of civic purposes,
on the great domed space that opens before us with dramatic suddenness as we step through the entrance.
had first been developed in Hellenistic Greece. Under the Romans, they became a standard feature of every major town, where one of their chief functions was to provide a
awe-inspiring and harmonious
dignified setting for the courts of law that dispensed justice
counted the
effect of the exterior, putting
The impact of this at
the
same
time,
interior,
the emphasis
all
impossible to convey in photographs;
is
even the painting we have chosen (fig. 266) renders it only imperfectly. In any event, the effect is quite different from what the rather forbidding exterior would lead us to expect.
The dome
is
not shallow, but
circular
opening
derfully
even—flow
floor,
and that
is
dome and drum,
On
in its
is
hemisphere; and the
a true
center admits an ample
of light. This "eye"
is
also the diameter of the interior also of equal heights,
won-
above the I
fig.
268);
exact balance.
.ire in
the exterior, this balance could not be achieved, lor the
outward thrust of the dome had
lo
he contained by
us base considerably heavier than the top the
— and
13 feet
1
I
making
the thickness of
(> feet). Another which show that the weight of the uniformly on the drum but is concentrat-
dome decreases upward from 20
feet to
surprise are the niches,
dome does
not rest
ed on eight wide course, .no closed
'pillars'
m
ba<
k.
(see hut
fig.
wnh
2d
1 )
i
I
he niches, of
columns adjoining rooms
their screen of
they give the effect ol openings that lead to and thus prevent us from feeling imprisoned inside the Panhe ol umns the colored marble paneling of the wall theon. surfaces, and the floor remain essentially .is they were in Roman nines the recessed oilers ol the dome. too. are origic
I
(
hut the
nal
•
ROM
t\
nilt
Mil
thai covered
them has disappeared
name
in the
the emperor.
of
basilicas, but very little
Rome
provinces have fared somewhat is
Magna
that at Leptis
which has most
of
the-
in
its
the side aisles.
better.
North Africa
had
today.
a
number
Those
of
in the
An outstanding one (figs.
273 and 274),
characteristics of the standard type.
The long nave terminates either end;
itself
remains of them
in a
semicircular niche, or apse,
at
walls rest on colonnades that give access to
These are generally lower than the nave
to
permit clerestory windows in the upper part of the nave wall
had wooden ceilings instead of masonry convenience and tradition rather than technical necessity. They were thus subject to destruction by fire; the one at Leptis Magna, sadly ruined though it is, counts among the hest-prcserved examples. The Basilica of
These
basilicas
vaults, lor reasons of
(
onstantine in
Rome was
a
daring attempt
to create a novel,
vaulted type, hut the design seems to have met with
little
had no direct successors. Perhaps people felt that it lacked dignity because ol its obvious resemblance to the public baths. In any event, the Christian basilicas of the fourth century were modeled on the older, wooden-roofed public
type
i
lav or;
see
fig.
it
318). Not until seven
vaulted basilic an churches
Europe
hundred years
become common
in
later did
western
270.
271. Reconstruction drawing
The
Basilica of Constantine,
of the Basilica of
Rome.
c.
310-20
AD
272. Plan of the Basilica of Constantine
Constantine (after Huelsen)
KO.\M.\
Mil
•
22.5
273. Basilica, Leptis Magna, Libya. Early 3rd century AD.
Many examples of the domus, in various stages of development, have come to light at Hereulaneum and Pompeii, the two famous towns near Naples that were buried under volcanic ash during an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. House of the Silver Wedding at The view in figure 275 is taken from the vestibule, along the main axis of the domus. Here the atrium has become a room of impressive size; the four Corinthian colLet us enter the so-called
Pompeii.
umns at the corners of the opening in the roof give it something of the quality of an enclosed court. There is a
C^dlc
shallow basin in the center to catch the ram water (the roof 274. Plan of the Basilica. Leptis
of
Domestic Architecture Roman architecture
the delights in studying
is
that
it
includes not only meat public edifices but also a vast variety of residential dwellings, from Imperial palaces to the quarters of the
scale,
we
urban
are
left
poor.
II
we
disregard the extremes of tins
With two basic types that account
of the domestic architecture that has survived, The a Single-family
house based on ancient
distinguishing feature
is
the atrium,
.1
Italic
lor
most
domus
tradition.
is
Its
square or oblong cen-
around which the had been a other rooms are grouped. In Etruscan times, rural dwelling, but the Romans "citified" and elaborated it tral hall
lighted by an opening in the root,
it
into the typical
ROMAS
\KI
home
oi
the well-to-do.
the traditional place for
images of the ancestors of the family. At its far end we see a recess, the tablinum, and beyond it the garden, surrounded by a colonnade, the peristyle. In addition to the chambers grouped around the atrium, there may be furkeeping
One
The atrium was
slants inward).
Magna
ther
portrait
rooms attached
to
The
the back of the house.
entire es-
from the street by windowless walls; obviously, privacy and self-sufficiency were important to the tablishment
is
shut
oil
wealthy Roman. Less elegant than the domus, and decidedly urban from the very start,
mainly
in
is
Rome
the insula, or city block,
itself
and
which we
ancient port of
fiber. The insula modern apartment house;
near the mouth of the features of the
in Ostia, the
anticipates it
is
find
Rome many
a good-sized
concrete-and-brick building (or a chain of such buildings) around a small central court, with shops and taverns open to the street on the ground floor and living quarters for
numer-
275. Atrium, House of the Silver Wedding, Pompeii. Early 1st century
276. Insula
of tlu
>f
Some insulae had as many as five stories, with balconies above the seeond floor (fig. 276). The daily
ous families above.
life
of the craftsmen
and shopkeepers who inhabited such
an insula was oriented toward the large extent in
modern
Italy.
The
street, as
reserved for the minority that could afford
Late
Roman
it
privacy of the
still
is
to a
domus was
it.
Diana. Ostia.
to the Classical
Greek
orders,
t.
[50 V.D
longer relied on them in the structural sense, he remained
acknowledging the aesthetic authority .is an organizing and articulating principle. Column, architrave, and pediment might be merely superimposed on vaulted brick-and-concrete core. but their shape as well as their relationship to each other, was still determined In the original grammar ol the orders faithful to their spirit,
of the post-and-lintel system
.1
Architecture
This orthodox, reverential attitude toward the
new forms based on arched, vaulted, and domed construction, we have noted the Roman architect's In discussing the
continued allegiance
AD
if
he no
al
vocabulary
from the century
Roman onquesl d Alter thai, we c
\
arc hitectur-
the (.reeks prevailed, generally 'speaking
ol
of Greece until the end find
ol
the fust
nu reasing evidence of a con-
«(MM\ Mil
•
227
277. Market Gate from Miletus (restored),
2iH
[emple
ol
Venus, Baalbek, Lebanon
First half of the
228 -/(0\M\
\/,'/
3rd century
\
D
c.
160 AD. Staatliche Museen, Berlin
279. Schematic reconstruction of
Temple of Venus. Baalbek
trend, of a
trary
taste
for
imaginative, "ungrammatical"
transformations of the Greek vocabulary. Just
when and
mar" <>l the Greek orders was in process oi dissolution ever) where. In the peristyle of the Palace of Diot Ictiun fig. 280) at Spalato Split the architrave between the two centei olI
where it began is still a matter of dispute; there is some evidence that it may go back to late Hellenistic times m the Near East. The tendency certainly was most pronounced in the Asiatic and African provinces of the Empire. A characteristic example is the Market Gate from Miletus, c. 160 \ D (rebuilt in the state refer to
and of
it
museums in
Berlin;
fig.
277).
One might
as display architecture in terms both of ancestry, for the picturesque facade, with
its
its
effect
its alter-
nating recesses and projections, derives from the architecstage backgrounds of the Roman theater. The
tural
I
),
on the
left
we
Equally astonishing
is
see an even
ing a
new
play of forces into the conventional ingredients of
the round temple (compare
figs. 255 and 256). unorthodox ideas such as these had become so well established that the traditional "gram-
By the
late third century,
280. Peristyle, Palace
of Diocletiafi,
more revolutionary device
arches resting directly on columns stances of such an arcade can be found only now, on the eve of the victory
of
\
— a se-
lew isolated in-
earlier,
but
it
was
Christianity, that the
marriage of arch and column became fully legitimate In union, indispensable to the future development of architecture, seems so natural to us that we can hardly understand I
why
it
was ever opposed.
SCULPTURE
the small Temple of Venus at Baal-
and refurbished in the third (figs. 278 and 279). The convex curve of the cella is effectively counterbalanced by the concave niches and the scooped-out base and entablature, introduc-
the arch of the doorwa) below, and
ries of
continuous in-and-out rhythm has even seized the pediment above the central doorway, breaking it into three parts. bek, probably built in the early second century ad.
<
umns is curved, echoing
The
dispute over the question is there such a thing as a Roman style'" has centered largely on the field of sculpture,
and
for quite
understandable reasons. Even
if
we discount
the wholesale importing and copying of Greek originals, the reputation of the Romans as imitators seems borne out by vast quantities of works that are obviously
ably
— adaptations
period.
— or
at least prob-
and variants of Greek models of every While the Roman demand for sculpture was tremen-
Spalato (Split), Yugoslavia
c.
300
ad
l«)\!\\
\KI-229
dons
a
good deal of it may be attributed
to
Republican
antiquarianism,
We know
from
accounts
that,
from early Republican
both the learned and the fashionable variety, and to a taste for sumptuous interior decoration. There arc thus whole categories of sculpture produced under Roman auspices that deserve to be classified .is "deacth ated" echoes of Greek creations, emptied of then former meaning and reduced to
ored by having their statues put on public display.
the status of highly refined works of craftsmanship. At times
(
literary
times on. meritorious political or military leaders were hon-
The
habit
continue until the end of the Empire a thousand years later. Its beginnings may well have derived from the
was
to
custom
Ireek
of
placing votive statues of athletic victors and
extended to Egyptian sculpture as well, creating a vogue for pseudo-Egyptian statuary. On the other hand, there can be no doubt that some kinds of sculpture had serious and important functions in ancient Rome. They
other important individuals in the precincts of such sanctu-
represent the living sculptural tradition, in contradistinction
can be dated before the first century B.C. with anv degree of confidence. How were those early statues related to Etruscan or Greek sculpture? Did they ever achieve
this attitude
to
the antiquarian-decorative trend.
We
shall
concern our-
Roman sculpture Roman society: por-
selves here mainly with those aspects of that are traiture
most conspicuously rooted and narrative relief.
in
and Olympia (see fig. 203). Unfortunately, hundred years of this Roman tradition are a
aries as Delphi
the
four
first
closed book
not a single
to us;
Roman
portrait
has yet come
to light that
any
specifically
Roman
qualities?
Were they
individual like-
nesses in any sense, or were their subjects identified only by pose, costume, attributes,
L'ARRINGATORE. Our
sole clue in
answer
to
these ques-
the lifesize bronze statue called L'Arringatore
(fig.
now
gen-
tions
is
281
once assigned
),
and inscriptions?
to the
second century
erally placed in the early years of the
southern Etruscan
territory
B.C.
first.
but
comes from
It
and bears an Etruscan
inscrip-
name Aule Metele (Aulus Metellus in presumably the name of the official represented. He
tion that includes the
Latin),
must have been a Roman, or at least a Roman-appointed official. The workmanship is evidently Etruscan, as indicated by the inscription, but the gesture, which denotes both address and salutation, recurs in hundreds of Roman statues an early of the same sort, and the costume, too, is Roman
—
kind of toga. to
conform
One
to
suspects, therefore, that our sculptor tried
an established
Roman
type of portrait statue,
not only in these externals but in style as well. For
we
find
here of the Hellenistic flavor characteristic of the later Etruscan tradition. What makes the figure remarkable very
little
is its
down to the neatly The term "uninspired" suggests itself, not as but as a way to describe the basic attitude of the
serious, prosaically factual quality,
tied shoelaces.
a criticism artist
in
contrast
to
the attitude of Greek or Etruscan
portraitists.
PORTRAITS. That as a positive value
Roman
seriousness was consciously intended
becomes
clear
when we
familiarize our-
heads of the years around 75 B.C., which show it in its most pronounced form. Apparently the creation of a monumental, unmistakably Roman portrait style was achieved only in the time of Sulla, when Roman architecture, too, came of age (see page 219). We see it at its most impressive perhaps in the features of the unknown Roselves with
man
of figure 282,
portrait
contemporary with the fine Hellenistic
from Delos in figure 231. A more telling contrast could hardly be imagined; both are extremely persuasive likenesses, yet they seem worlds apart. Whereas the Helleportrait
nistic
head impresses us with
psychology, the
Roman may
its
subtle grasp of the sitter's
strike us at first glance as noth-
ing but a detailed record of facial topography 281. Earl)
isi
At
Ms
Ml
11
in
s
(VARRINCATORE)
century B.C Bronze, height 71" (280 cm).
Museo Archeologico Nazlonale, Florence
>
\0- I«>\1\\
Mil
character emerges only incidentally, as is
it
not really the case: the wrinkles are true to
but the carver has nevertheless treated
— the
were.
And
life,
them with
sitter's
yet this
no doubt, a selective
^^K
i'
"^CP|
H% ^^L
v..
v
/
*
"^
i^E'WiH
Jfirr*' 1
*^^^^^l
/ 282. PORTRAIT OF A ROMAN, lifesize.
emphasis designed ality
to
c.
80
Palazzo Torlonia,
B.C.
Marble,
Rome
bring out a specifically
— stern, rugged, iron-willed in
its
\
Roman
devotion
person-
to duty.
It is
a "lather
image" of frightening
observed
facial details are like individual biographical data
that differentiate this father Its
and the minutely
authority,
image from
peculiar flavor reflects a patriarchal
others.
Roman custom
of
considerable antiquity; at the death of the head of the family,
a
waxen image was made
of his face,
preserved in a special shrine, or family
which was then
altar.
At funerals,
We
these ancestral images were carried in the procession.
have seen the roots of this kind of ancestor worship "primitive" societies (compare trician families of perial times.
Rome clung
The images
than works of
figs.
to
it
in
40 and 55-60); the patenaciously well into Im-
were, of course, records rather
and because of the perishability of wax last more than a few decades. Thus the have them duplicated in marble seems natural art,
they probably did not desire to
enough, yet the demand did not arise until the early first century B.C perhaps the patricians, feeling their traditional ;
position of leadership endangered,
wanted to make a greater way of emphasizing
public display of their ancestors, as a
then ancient lineage.
That displav certainly
is
the purpose of the statue in figure
283, carved about half a century later than our previous ex-
ample.
It
shows an unknown Roman holding two busts ol presumably his father and grandfather. The
his ancestors,
work has
little
distinction, vet the "father-image" spirit
can
283. A
ROMAN Late
PATRICIAN WITH BUSTS OF HIS ANCh:STORS 1st
century B.C Marble,
lifesize.
Museo Capitohno, Rome
liuuw
\ltl
-23J
284.
AUGUSTUS OF PRIMAPORTA. c. 20 B.C. Museums, Rome
Marble, 6'8" (2 m). Vatican
even here. Needless to say, this quality was not preswax images themselves; it came to the lore when they were translated into marble, a process that not only made the ancestral images permanent but monumentalized them in the spiritual sense as well. Nevertheless, the marble heads retained the character of records, of visual docube
fell
ent in the
ments, which means that they could be freely duplicated; what mattered was only the facial "text." not the "handwriting" ol the artist who recorded it. The impressive head in
•
ROMAN M
figure
282
is itself
a copy,
made some
fifty
years later than
and so are the two ancestors in figure 283 (differences in style and in the shape of the bust indicate that the original of the head on the left is about thirty years the
lost original,
older than that of
its
companion). Perhaps
this
Roman
lack
of feeling lor the uniqueness of the original, understandable
enough
in the
explain
why
context of their ancestor cult, also helps to
they developed so voracious an appetite for
copies of famous Greek statues.
fig.
Imperial
POR TRAITS. As we gustus (27 hi -14 A
approach the reign of the Emperor AuD.
traiture that reaches
we
),
himself, as, for example, in
porta
(fig.
whether
it
284). At
first
find a
climax
its
Roman
we meet
por-
images of Augustus the splendid statue from Prima-
we may
glance,
human
represents a god or a
soil,
Roman
trend in
in the
entirely appropriate, for the figure
on
new
is
meant
to
fifth
ruler. It
B.c (sec fig.
218); Alexander the Great had
made
(see
had
selves only in the eastern provinces,
belief in a divine
work may survive
302). In
would have
bis
where
that
fig.
Rome,
the
in
not
know how specific Roman writer
these Pliny,
in his
in a
famous Pompeian mosaic events had been depict-
too, historic
ed from the third century
own, and so did his successors, who modeled themselves after him. The latter, in turn, transmitted it to Julius Gaesar and the Roman emperors, who at first encouraged the worship of themit
we do
century, although
echo of
be both. Here,
a concept familiar to us from Egypt
and the ancient Near East: that of the divine
poses of defeat rather than
Philoxenus of Eretria at the end of the fourth century painted the victory of Alexander the Great over Darius at Issus; an
is
entered the Greek world in the fourth century
in typical
pictures were in detail. According to the
well be uncertain of
being; this doubt
224) but
framework of a particular battle. Greek painters, on the other hand, had depicted historic subjects such as the battle of Salainis as early as the mid-
B.C.
on; a victorious military leader
his exploits painted
on panels that were carried
triumphal procession, or he would show such panels
in public places. These pictures seem to have had the fleeting nature of posters advertising the hero's achievements.
None has Republic
survived.
— we do
Sometime during the
not
know
when
late years of the
— the
was a long-established tradition. The idea of attributing superhuman stature to the emperor, thus enhancing his authority, soon became official policy, and while Augustus did not carry it as far as his successors, the Primaporta statue clearly shows him envel-
temporary such events began to assume more monumental and permanent form, no longer painted, but carved and attached to structures intended to last indefinitely. They were thus a ready tool for the glorification of Imperial rule, and the emperors did not hesitate to use them on a
oped in an
large scale.
ruler
air of divinity. Still, despite its heroic, idealized
body, the statue has
Emperor's gesture
is
an unmistakably
familiar from Aulus
Roman
(
fig.
28
1
);
the costume, including the rich allegorical program on the breastplate, has a concreteness of surface texture that con-
veys the actual touch of cloth, metal, and leather. too,
is
idealized,
or,
The head,
better perhaps, "Hellenized";
small
physiognomic details are suppressed, and the focusing of attention on the eyes gives it something of the "inspired' look we find in portraits of Alexander the Great (compare fig. -
236). Nevertheless, the face
but clearly individual, as
is
a definite likeness, elevated
we can determine
by comparison
with the numerous other portraits of Augustus. All Romans would have recognized it immediately, for they knew it from coins and countless other representations. In fact, the em-
image soon came to acquire the symbolic significance of a national flag. As a consequence of such mass production, artistic quality was rarely very high, except when portraits were produced under the ruler's direct patronage. That must have been true of the Primaporta statue, which was found in the villa of Augustus' wife. Livia. peror's
NARRATIVE RELIEF. fined to portraiture.
Imperial
art,
The emperors
ARA
PACIS. Since the leitmotif of his reign was peace. Auto appear in his monuments as the "Prince
gustus preferred
of Peace" rather than as the all-conquering military hero.
The most important
of these
monuments was the Ara Pacis Roman Senate in 13 B.C.
(the Altar of Peace), voted by the
and completed four years later. It is probably identical with the richly carved Augustan altar that bears this name today. Parts of it were found as early as the sixteenth centurv ad,
(
but their reintegration was not achieved until 1938.) entire structure
though on a 228). tal
On
(fig.
much
285) recalls the
Pergamum
smaller scale (compare
figs.
the wall that screens the altar proper, a
frieze depicts allegorical
The
Altar,
226 and
monumen-
and legendary scenes as well as emperor himself.
a solemn procession led by the
however, was not con-
also
outstanding achievements in narrative tal altars,
of
the
flavor;
MeteUus
representations
exactly
commemorated reliefs
on
their
monumen-
triumphal arches, and columns. Similar scenes are from the ancient Near East (see figs. 15, 122
familiar to us
1
—
and 132) but not from Greece. Historic events that is, events which occurred only once, at a specific time and in a particular place had not been dealt with in Classical Greek sculpture; if a victory over the Persians was to be commemorated, it would be represented indirectly, as a combat of Lapiths and Centaurs, or Cheeks and Amazons a mythical
—
—
event outside any space-time context. Even in Hellenistic times, this attitude persisted, although not quite as absolutely;
when
the kings of
Pergamum
celebrated their victories
over the Gauls, the latter were represented faithfully
I
see
285. The Ara Pacis.
width
ol altar c
55'.
c.
Museum
13
9 B.C Marble,
of the Ara Pacis,
Rome
li()\l\S
ART-233
286. IMPERIAL PROCESSION, a portion
of
the frieze of the Ara Pacis. Marble, height 63" (160
cm)
287. PROCESSION, a portion of the east frieze, Parthenon, c. 440 B.c Marble, height 43" (109.3 cm). Musee du Louvre, Paris
I
[ere the "Hellenic," classicizing style
mapoita statue readies
compare the Ara
therefore, to that ol the
Parthenon
I
.ill
place
m
What
holds
•
ROM
(fig.
in the Pri-
instructive,
286) with
189 and 287 Only a direct conshow how different they really are,
timeless world;
the remote it
ual itself, not
ontiast
is
).
surface similarities. The Parthenon Ine/.e belongs
to .in ideal,
(
noted It
Pacis frieze
figs.
frontation of the two will
despite
we
fullest expression.
together its
we
see
w
\IU
it
is
shows
procession that took
past,
variable particulars.
a proc
a
beyond living memory. the great formal rhythm of the rit-
mythic
ession
m
i
On
eh bi.ilion
the Ara Pacis ol
in
one particular
recent event
— probably the founding of the
idealized to evoke
altar in 13 B.C.
something of the solemn
air that sur-
rounds the Parthenon procession, yet filled with concrete details of a remembered event. The participants, at least so Ear
.is
they belong to the Imperial family, are
meant
to
be
identifiable as portraits, including those of children dressed
young to grasp the significance of how the little hov in the center of our group is tugging at the mantle of the young man in front of him w bile the somewhat older child to his left smilingly tells him to behave. The Roman artist also shows a greater con-
in
miniature
totals hut too
the occasion: note
cern with spatial depth than Ins Classical Greek predecessor: the softening of the relief background, which we first
observed in the Grave Stele of Hegeso
(fig.
213), has been
sign as a whole, with its emphasis on bilateral symmetry never violates the discipline of surface decoration and thus
serves as an effective
for the spatially
foil
removed from us seem partly immersed in the stone (such as the woman on the left whose face emerges behind the shoulder of the young moth-
above.
er in front of her).
chanting product of the Augustan era
carried so far that the figures farthest
The same
interest in space appears
the allegorical panel in figure 288, the
embodiment
of
even more strongly
in
showing Mother Earth as
human, animal, and
plant
fertility,
flanked by two personifications of winds. Here the figures are placed in a real landscape setting of rocks, water,
vegetation,
and the blank background
empty
Whether
sky.
this pictorial
and
clearly stands lor the
treatment of space
is
a
Roman
invention remains a matter of dispute. There can be no question, however, about the Hellenistic Hellenistic or
look of the three personifications,
which represent not only a and less dis-
different level of reality but also a different
—
—
tinctly Roman style from the Imperial procession. The acanthus ornament on the pilasters and the lower part of the
on the other hand, has no counterpart in Greek art, although the acanthus motif as such derives from Greece. The wall,
plant forms are wonderfully graceful
and
alive, vet
the de-
Much
same
the
conceived
reliefs
contrast of flatness and depth occurs
the stucco decoration
of
a
Roman
m
house, a casual but en-
The modeland sketchv throughout, but the meaning of the blank surfaces to which it is applied varies a great deal. On the bottom strip of our illustration, there are two winged genii with plant ornament; here depth is carefully eschewed, since this zone belongs to the framework. Above it, we see that which is being framed; it can only be described as a "picture painted in relief," an as suits the light material,
ing,
idyllic
i
landscape of great charm and
depth, despite the fact that rather than clearly defined.
its
space
The whole
painted room decorations (see
fig.
289).
fig.
delicate
is
of atmospheric
full is
merely suggested
effect
echoes that of
304).
ARCH OF TITUS. The
spatial qualities of the Ara Pacis rereached their most complete development in the two large narrative panels on the triumphal arch erected in 81 lief's
A
D.
to
commemorate
k ~* »
<• -.
..
the victories of the
wjaatw will—
flliHUHIfll r'*"" "'"""'""'"'1 "''"
A
Kmperor Titus. One
..
..4ii».i
t. u» viar«t»uiuM«iiul
AX \
288. Allegorical and ornamental panels of the Ara Pacis
28<).
Stucco decoration from the vault Late
1st
o\ a
Roman houseRome
century B.C Museo delle Ternie,
ROW
\\
W<7
•
235
290. SPOILS
FROM THE TEMPLE
IN
JERUSALEM
Relief in passageway, Arch of Titus,
Rome. 81 All Marble, height
1
291. LRU
236
•
i«>\i\\
\i:i
urn
Of
mis
Relief in passageway. Arch of Titus
7' 10" (2.4
m)
of
them
290) shows part of the triumphal procession
includes the seven-branched candlestick and other sacred
formed the center of a small court flanked In public buildings at least two stories tall, but even that docs not quite answer our question. Nor does it explain the ev ident suc< ess ol
objects. Despite the mutilated surface, the
our column, which served as the model
(fig.
celebrating the conquest of Jerusalem; the booty displayed
crowd of figures
On
depth
movement
of a
appears strikingly successful. the procession turns away from us and disap-
the right,
in
still
pears through a triumphal arch placed obliquely to the back-
ground plane so that only the nearer half actually emerges from the background
— a radical but effective device.
The companion panel (fig. 291 avoids such experiments, number of layers of relief is equally great here. )
We
also sense that
design has an oddly stationary quality,
its
The
simply another part of the same
is
must be due to the subject, which is the emperor himself in his chariot, crowned by the winged Victory behind him. Apparently the sculptor's first concern was to display this set image, rather than to keep procession.
difference
the procession moving.
Once we
try to
same
read the Imperial
type.
But
let
at
ble in our figure 292: in the center of the
ube: to the
and
left,
some
there are
Roman town on
a
others
for several
us take a closer look
see the upper part of a large river
plies,
although the
despite the fact that this
the
the
sc
enes
bottom
\
strip,
ol
isi
we
representing the Dan-
river boats laden with sup-
the rocky bank; to the right, the
Roman arm) crosses the river on a pontoon bridge. The second strip shows Trajan addressing his soldiers (to the left) and the building of fortifications: the third, the construction of a garrison camp and bridge as Roman cavalry (on the right) sets out on a reconnaissance mission. In the fourth mountain stream emperor addresses his troops m front of a Dacian fortress. These scenes are a fair sampling; among the more than a hundred fifty separate episodes, acstrip,
Trajan's foot soldiers are crossing a
(center); on the right, the
and the surrounding figures in terms of real space. we become aware of how strangely contradictory the spatial chariot
shown
relationships are: four horses,
move
in strict profile view,
bottom edge of the panel, ought to be if they were really
in a direction parallel to the
but the chariot
is
not
where
it
Moreover, the bodies of the emperor and of most of the other figures are represented in frontal view, rather pulling
it.
than in
profile.
These seem
be fixed conventions for rep-
to
resenting the triumphant emperor which our
artist felt
con-
strained to respect, though they were in conflict with his desire to create the kind of consistent
movement
in
space he
achieved so well in figure 290.
COLUMN OF TRAJAN.
That the purposes of Imperial
art,
were sometimes incompatible with a realistic treatment of space becomes fully evident in the Column of Trajan, erected in 106-113 A.D. to celebrate that emperor's victorious campaigns against the Dacians (the ancient inhabitants of Romania). Single, free-standing columns had been used as commemorative monuments from narrative or symbolic,
may have been The Column of Trajan is distinguished not only by its great height ( 125 feet, including the base) but by the continuous spiral band of relief covering its Hellenistic times on; their ultimate source
the obelisks of Egypt.
292) and recounting, in epic breadth, the histoDacian wars. The column was crowned by a statue of the emperor (destroyed in the Middle Ages) and the base surface
(
fig.
ry of the
chamber we would
served as a burial
for his ashes. If
the relief band,
find
thirds the
soleum
at
it
to
we
could unwind
be 656 feet long, two-
combined length of the three friezes of the MauHalicarnassus and a good deal longer than the
Parthenon
terms of the number of figures and the density of the narrative, however, our relief is by far the most ambitious frieze composition attempted up to that time. It is also the
r 1
frieze. In
most
frustrating, for beholders
circles like a circus horse" (to
one scholar)
if
the fourth or
fifth
must "run around
'
,^*MCm>.$ I
••
w
- -
MMll
v
V
r :
-'
v'l
>
"'
•
'
V
-
\ '
|
in
borrow the apt description of
they want to follow the narrative; once above
turn, they find themselves defeated b) the wealth of detail unless equipped with field glasses.
One wonders count was
lor
whose
intended.
In
benefit this elaborate pictorial ac-
Roman
times,
the
monument
292. Lower portion ol the Column ol Trajan. Rome. 106-13 A i) Marble, height of relief band c. 50" (127 cm)
/;o\i
w
\i:i
•
S»
I
tual tic,
combat occurs and
political
much
attention,
count
his
ol
only rarely, wink' the geographic, logis-
aspects of the campaign receive detailed as they do in Julius Caesar's
conquest
ol
famous
ac-
Gaul.
one other time have we seen this matter-of-fact operations—in Assyrian reliefs such as that in figure 122. Was there an indirect link between the two? And. it so. of what kind? The question is difficult to ()nl\
at
visualization of military
nants of
illusionistic spatial depth.
Landscape and architecand the ground upward. All these devices
ture are reduced to abbre\ iated "stage sets."
on which the figures stand is tilted had already been employed in Assyrian narrative reliefs; here they asserted themselves once more, against the tradi-
and perspective space. In another two were to become dominant, and we shall
tion of foreshortening
hundred
years, they
find ourselves at the threshold of medieval
art.
In this re-
band on the Column of Trajan is curiously prophetic of both the end of one era and the beginning of
answer, especially since there are no extant copies of the Ro-
spect, the relief
man antecedents for our reliefs: the panels showing military conquests that were carried in triumphal processions (see page 233 At any rate, the spiral frieze on the Column of
the next.
I.
new and demanding framework for historic which imposed a number of difficult conditions upon the sculptor: since there could be no clarifying inscriptions, the pictorial account had to be as self-sufficient and explicit as possible, which meant that the spatial setting of each episode had to be worked out with great care; visual continuity had to be preserved without destroying the inner coherence of the individual scenes; and the actual depth of the carving had to be much shallower than in reliefs such as those on the Arch of Titus, otherwise the shadows cast by the projecting parts would make the scenes unreadable Trajan was a narrative
from below.
Our
artist
has solved these problems with conspicuous
success, but at the cost of sacrificing
all
but the merest rem-
PORTRAITS. The Ara Pads, the Arch of Titus, and the Colof Trajan are monuments of key importance for the art
umn
Rome
of Imperial
at
the height of
equally significant works period
very
is
among
much more
its
styles mirrors the ever
Roman
of
same was
their production
difficult;
and the diversity of types and
vast,
more complex character
power. To single out
the portraits of the
society.
If
we
regard
the Republican ancestral image tradition and the Greekinspired Augustus of Primaporta as opposite ends of the
we can find almost any variety of interbreeding between the two. The fine head of the Emperor Vespasian, of c. 75 ad, is a case in point (fig. 293): he was the first of the Flavian emperors, a military man who came to power after the Julio-Claudian (Augustan) line had died out and who must have viewed the idea of emperor worship with considerable skepticism. (When he was dying, he is reported to have said, "It seems I am about to become a god." His humble origin and simple tastes may be reflected in the anti-Augustan, Republican flavor of his portrait. The soft, veiled quality of the carving, on the other hand, with its emphasis on the texture of skin and hair, is so Creek that it immediately recalls the seductive marble technique of Praxiteles and his school. A similar refinement can be felt in the surfaces of scale,
)
the slightly later bust of a lady lest
portrait of a
graceful
tilt
woman
(fig.
294), probably the subt-
in all of
Roman
sculpture.
The
of the head and the glance of the large eyes con-
mood
vey a gentle
of reverie;
softness of skin and lips
is
and how
effectively the silky
set off by the
many corkscrew
curls of the fashionable coiffure.
The wonderful head
of Trajan
(fig.
another masterpiece of portraiture. recall the
c. 100 ad., is rounded forms
295). of
Its firm,
Augustus of Primaporta, as does the commanding
look of the eyes, dramatized
by the strongly projecting
brows. The face radiates a strange emotional intensity that difficult to
Roman
define
is
— a kind of Greek pathos transmuted into
nobility of character.
Trajan
still
conformed
to
age-old
Roman custom
by be-
ing clean-shaven. His successors, in contrast, adopted the
Greek fashion of wearing beards as an outward sign of admiration for the Hellenic heritage. lore, to find a
It
is
not surprising, there-
strong neo-Augustan, classicistic trend, often
of a peculiarly cool, formal sort, in the sculpture of the sec-
ond century
I
with
238
/
SPASIAN
damaged chin
'ROMAS
\KI
I
75 A.D Marble, lilcsi/c
repaired.
Museo
delle
Terme,
Home
V.D.,
especially during the reigns of Hadrian and
Marcus Aurelius. both of them introspective men deeply interested in Creek philosophy. We can sense this quality in the equestrian bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius (fig. 296), which is remarkable not only as the sole survivor of this class
294. PORTRAIT OF A LADY lifesize.
Museo
c.
90
Capitolino,
296. EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF
AD
Marble,
295. IRAJAN.
c.
100 A O Marble,
lifesize.
Museum,
Ostia
Rome
MARCUS AUREUUS 161-180
\1) Bronze, over lifesize. Piazza del Campidoglio.
Rome
li()\l\\
Mil
•
2 \9
297. (above) PH1UPPUS Marble,
lifesize.
298. (above right) PORTRAIT
AD
century
THE ARAB 244-49 AD. Museums, Rome
Vatican
head
Marble,
(probably Plotinus). Late 3rd
lifesize.
Museum,
Ostia
monument but as one of the few Roman statues that remained on public view throughout the Middle Ages. The equestrian image of the emperor, displaying him as the allof
conquering lord of the earth, had been a firmly established tradition ever since Julius Caesar had permitted such a statue of himself to be erected in the Forum Julium. That of
Marcus Aurelius,
too,
was meant
to characterize the
emper-
or as ever victorious, for beneath the right front leg of the
horse according to medieval accounts) there once crouched (
bound barbarian chieftain. The wonderand powerful horse expresses this martial spirit. But the emperor himself without weapons or armor, a bringer of peace presents a picture of stoic detachment rather than a military hero. And so indeed he saw himself a small figure of a lullv spirited
—
(161-180 A.D.). was the calm before the storm. The third century saw the Roman Empire in almost perpetual crisis. Barbarians endangered its far-flung frontiers while internal conflicts undermined the authority of the Imperial office. To retain the throne became a matter of naked force, succession by murder a regular habit; the "soldier emperors" mercenarfollowed one ies from the outlying provinces of the realm
and
his reign
It
—
—
another
men.
at
intervals.
briel
SU< h as Philippus tbe
reigned from 244 likenesses
mising as
m
all
ib.it
to
of
249
art.
The Arab
\ i>.
Their
portraits of I
are
fig.
among
facial
human mind
fear,
realism
is
of these
134
),
who
is
as its
uncomproaim is ex-
tbe dark passions
suspicion, cruelty
revealed bere with a dire< tness thai
240- l«>\l\\ Mil
all
fig.
the most powerful
of Republican portraiture, but
pressive rather than documentary: the
some
297; see
ol
— suddenly stand
almost unbelievable.
299. CONSTANT1NE Marble, height
8' (2.4
I
III
GREA1
l'.arly
4th century
m). Palazzo dei Conservator!,
AD Rome
The
face of Philippus
in a
strange way
logical
it
minors
also
all
the violence of the time. Yet
moves us
nakedness about
that
it
doomed and cornered. Clearly, world was not only physical but should have been able ing this crisis
is
to
its
a
psycho-
brute creature
a
recalls
is
Roman Roman art man embody-
the agony of the spiritual.
create an
a tribute to
new
to pity; there
That
image of a
continued
plastic
achieved:
is
and the hollowed-out
line of the iris
pupils, devices alien to
earlier portraits, serve to fix the direction of the glance.
rendered
The
thoroughly un-Classical fashion as a close-fitting, textured cap; and the beard has been replaced hair, too, is
by a peculiar
in
unshaven look
that results
from roughing up
the surfaces of the lower part of the lace with short chisel strokes.
A somewhat
later portrait,
probably that of the late Creek
philosopher Plotinus, suggests a different aspect of the third-century crisis (fig. 298). Plotinus' thinking abstract,
— —
and strongly tinged with mysticism marked a retreat from concern with the outer world that seems closer to the Middle Ages than to the Classical tradition of Creek
speculative,
philosophy.
popular
tery cults
sprang from the same mood expressed
itself in
throughout the
the spread
that, of
Roman empire. How
on a more
Oriental mys-
trustworthy a
head represents is hard to say; the ascetic feathe intense eyes and tall brow, may well portray inner
likeness our tures,
It
level,
any portrait made of himself. The body, he maintained, was an awkward enough likeness of the true, spiritual sell. \\h\ then go
the bother of
to
"likeness of
vitality.
means through which the imwe are struck, first ot all, by the way expression centers on the eves, which seem to gaze at some unseen but powerful threat. The engraved outLet us note the
pact of these portraits
more accuratel) than outward appearan< e \( c ording to Ins biographer, Plotinus was so contemptuous oi the imperfections of the physical world (hat he refused to have qualities
Such
known
.1
making an even more awkward
likeness"/
a view presages die it
so
far.
II
end of portraiture as we have
a physical likeness
becomes meaningful only
is
worthless, a portrait
as a visible
symbol of the spiritual self It is in these terms that we must view the head oi Constantino the Croat, the first Christian emperor and reorgani/.erof the Roman state fig. 2W) Originally, it belonged to a colossal statue which stood in the Basilica of Constantino. 1.
1
We may call it superhuman, not only because of its enormous size, but even more so perhaps as an image of Imperial majesty. The huge, radiant eves, the massive, immobile features do not tell us much about Constantino's actual appearance; they
and
tell
us a great deal about how he viewed lumsell
his exalted office.
ARCH OF CONSTANTINE. his role
is
Constantino's conception of
clearlv reflected in his triumphal arch
erected near the Colosseum
and most elaborate of
312-315
\ i>
One
I
fig.
300),
of the largest
kind, it is decorated for the most from earlier Imperial monuments. Ibis procedure has often been viewed as dictated by haste and by the poor condition of the sculptural workshops of its
part with sculpture taken
Rome
at that time.
300. Arch of Constantine, Koine 312
These may have been contributory
fac-
15 V.D
l«)\l\\ Mil
2->l
tors,
but there appears to be a conscious and carefully con-
sidered plan behind the way the earlier pieces were chosen
and employed.
Ml
them come from
ol
the
1
The figures themselves have an oddly
first.
quality: the
heads are very
large, while the bodies
doll-like
seem
not
us Vurelius, and the portraits of these emperors have been
only dwarfish (because of the thick, stubby legs) hut also lacking in articulation. The mechanism of contrapposto has
reworked into likenesses of Constantine.
disappeared completely, so that these figures no longer
monuments, those dedicated i
group of Trajan, Hadrian, and Mara related
of figures appears simply as a series of heads above those of
systematically
Does
this not
restorei
ol
to
convej Constantine's view of himself as the
Roman
glory,
the legitimate successor of the
stand freely and by their
seem All
"good emperors" of the second century?
The arch also contains a number of reliefs made especially however, such as the friezes above the lateral openand these show the new Constantinian style in full force. If we compare the medallions of figure 301, carved in Hadrian's tune, with the relief immediately below them, the contrast is such that they seem to belong to two different for n.
ings,
worlds into
Hie scene
Rome
in
312
from the rostrum
represents Constantine. alter his entry
\i>.
in
addressing the Senate and the people
the Forum.
The first thing we notice here- is the avoidance of all the numerous devices developed since the filth century B.c lor creating spatial depth; we find no oblique lines, no foreshortening, and only the barest ripple of movement in the listening crowds.
The
architecture has been flattened out
against the relief background,
which thus becomes
a solid,
impenetrable surface. The rostrum and the people on or bethe second row side it form a second, equally shallow layer
—
01
•
ROM
t\
\l:i
Medallions (117
138
\.D.)
and
own muscular
effort; rather,
dangle from invisible strings. the characteristics we have described so
far are
essen-
negative, judged from the Classical point of view: they
tially
represent the loss of many hard-won gains
more primitive
earlier,
proach does not
new
they
to
style.
the result
The ol a
really
— a throwback
levels of expression. Yet
to
such an ap-
advance our understanding
of
the
C'onstantinian panel cannot he explained as
lack of ability, lor
it
is
far too
consistent within
be regarded as no more than a clumsy attempt to imitate earlier Roman reliefs. Nor can it he viewed as a return to Archaic art, since there is nothing in pre-Classical itself to
it. No. the Constantinian sculptor must have had a positive new purpose of his own. Perhaps we can approach it best by stressing one dominant feature of our re-
times that looks like
lief:
its
sense of sell-sufficiency.
The scene fills the available area, and fills it completely note how all the background buildings are made to have the continues beyond same height), but any sut2,ue st ()n that
(
it
i
the frame
frieze (early
kh
is
carefully avoided.
It is
century). Arch of Constantine
as
if
our
artist
had asked
mmm m^mmmmmmiiimmmmtimmiim
302. THE BATTLE
OF 1SSUS
or
BATTLE OF ALEXANDER AND THE PERSIANS Mosaic copy from Pompeii.
of a Hellenistic painting. 8'll"x 16'9'/2" (2.7x5.1 m).
"How can get all of this complicated ceremonial my panel?" In order to do so, he has imposed an
himself,
I
event into
abstract order
upon the world
of appearances: the middle
third of the strip is given over to the
and his entourage, the
tine
buildings that identify the action scale
(
they are
all
rostrum with Constan-
rest to the listeners
Roman Forum
and the
as the scene of the
quite recognizable, even though their
and proportions have been
drastically adjusted).
The
symmetrical design also permits him to make clear the unique status of the emperor. Constantine not only occupies the exact center; he nately,
is
shown
has been knocked
turn their heads toward tionship.
That the
him
while
all
the other figures
express their dependent
to
frontal pose
reserved for sovereigns,
full-face (his head, unfortu-
off),
is
human
rela-
indeed a position of majesty or divine,
is
nicely
demon-
strated by the seated figures at the corners of the rostrum.
Museo Archeologico
the Etruscan murals and because to light iar;
only in
baffling
do about
modern
all
of
it
B.<
of it, having come-
charm of the unfamilabout
infinitely less
architecture or sculpture.
material, with very lew exceptions,
range; almost
century
much
times, has the
because we know
Roman
1st
Nazionale. Naples
is
it
The
than
we
surviving
severely limited in
consists of wall paintings, and the
great majority of these come from Pompeii. Herculaneum, and other settlements buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 a i) or from Rome and its environs. Their dates cover a span of less than two hundred years, from the end of the first century B.C to the late first century \i>; what happened before or after remains largely a matter of guesswork. And since we have no Classical Greek or Hellenistic wall paintings, the problem of singling out the Roman element as against the Greek is far more difficult than in sculpture or ,
architecture.
the only ones besides Constantine to face us directly: these figures are statues of emperors
we met elsewhere on
— the same "good emperors"
the arch. Hadrian and
Marcus Aure-
litis. Looked at in this way, our relief reveals itself as a bold and original creation. It is the harbinger of a new vision that \\ ill
become
basic to the
development of Christian
art.
Greek Sources That there was copying of Greek designs, that Creek paintings as well as painters were imported, nobody will dispute But the number of instances strated
is
earlier point,
PAINTING
we mentioned
i
this
cm
Pliny's reference to a
ture of the late fourth century B
Issus
which
in
he demon-
small indeed. Let us consider two of these
see page 233
i.
<
or. at
any
other battle
shown
in
sents the only large body of ancient painting subsequent to
tury H(
Figure 302 illustrates the center and right
—
an
pic-
representing the battle of
The same subject
Hie modern beholder, whether expert or amateur, is apt to find painting the most exciting as well as the most baffling aspect ol art under Roman rule exciting because it repre-
ol
At
Creek
rate, an-
Alexander's war against the Persians
is
an exceptionally large and techmcalh accomplished floor mosaic from a I'ompeian house ol the first cen-
lto\l\\
hall,
\iti
with
•
24
;
ALEXANDROS OF ATHENS. THE KNUCKLEBONE
303.
1st
century B.c Marble panel, I6V2X 15"
Museo Archeologico
Dai ins and the fleeing Persians, and the badly portion, with the figure of Alexander.
hand
special reason to link this
can hardly doubt that ficient
one—of
is
it
a
The crowding,
Roman
no
But a Hellenistic
the air of frantic ex-
citement, the powerfully modeled and foreshortened forms,
when
shadows
the precise cast
did
reach this particular stage of development? for
even the great
frieze of
these qualities
all
We do not
Pergamum seems
know,
restrained in
comparison.
Our second
the very opposite of the first. A Herculaneum painted in a delicate group of five women, two of them en-
instance
is
style,
gaged
in
.1
shows a game of knucklebones it
\ttii
in fig. 214), vet
white-ground lekythos
seems so much weaker than the conception copy or better perhaps, an imitation to
longs
to a spec lal
representative
ol
(
in
for the
that
it
style
must he
the Classical
lass of "collector's
Roman Hems"
a
man-
market. that
is
It
be-
no more
painting as a whole than the Alex-
Roman
We
wonder, moreover, whether anything .is attenuated is this a< tuall) existed in Classii al Athenian art. Was n perhaps a late "neo Attic" invention meant to cater to andii mosaic
the tasie
•
ROM
ol
t\
seme
\/:/
p.utK
1
1
l.i
i
Mediterranean. Unfortunately,
ol
it
is
not
consists entirely of the imitation
it
colored marble paneling. About 100
this so-called
B.C.,
more ambitious and elaborate style that sought to push back or open up the Hat surface of the wall by means of illusionistic architectural perspectives and "window effects,'' including landscapes and figures. Three phases of this more elaborate style have First Style
began
to
be displaced by a
far
the time of the eruption of
The
the topics or adaptations of Classical
comparable (aeek si, noes manufactured nei
in the eastern
found
very informative for us, as
the execution
inscription
this.
plainly recalls that ol the late fifth century B.C
earliest
(compare the
An
303).
(fig.
us that Alexandras of Athens painted
tells
Illusionism
phase of Roman wall painting, known from a few examples of the second century B.C., does show a clear connection with the Hellenistic world, since it has also been
The
been distinguished, known as the Second, Third, and Fourth Stvles. but the differences between them are not always clear, and there seems to have been considerable overlapping in their sequence, so that we can largely disregard this classification here. The Fourth Style, which prevailed at
small marble panel from
Imeai
Nazionale, Naples
leftis
mosaic with Pliny's account, we copy— and an astonishingly pro-
Hellenistic painting.
a
painting of what date?
damaged
While there
PLAYERS.
(42x38 cm).
gTOUp of Itoiuan connoisseurs
'
most
intricate of
House
in the
all;
Mount Vesuvius
in
79
At)., is
our example, a corner of the Ixion
of the Vettii at Pompeii
(fig.
the
Room
304), combines
imitation marble paneling, conspicuously framed mythological
scenes intended
to give the effect of
panel pictures
and fantastic architectural vistas seen through make-believe windows. This architecture has a strangely unreal and picturesque quality that is believed to set
into the wall,
304. (opposite) The Ixion Room, House Pompeii.
63-79
ad
of
the
Vettii,
ItoMW
\l;i
305.
ARCHITECTURAL VIEW Wall painting from a villa at Boscoreale, 1st century B.C. The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
near Naples.
New
York. Rogers
backdrops of the theaters of the often anticipates effects such as that of the Market
reflect the architectural
time;
it
Gate of Miletus (see
fig.
277).
Fund, 1903
This is most strikingly demonstrated by the famous Odyssey Landscapes, a continuous stretch of landscape subdivided into eight compartments by a framework of pilastions.
Second Style, as representgood deal more substantial and
ters. Each section illustrates an episode of the adventures of Odysseus (Ulysses). One ol the adventures with the Laes-
thus provide a better measure of the illusionistic devices by which the Roman painter achieved these breakthroughs,
create a wonderful feeling of atmospheric, light-filled space
The
architectural vistas of the
ed by our figure 305, are a
lie
is
clearly a
master of modeling and surface textures; the the lustrous, richly decorated col-
forms framing the vista
—
umns, the moldings, the mask
at
the
top— have an
extraor-
dinary degree of three-dimensional reality. They effectively set off the distant view of buildings, which is flooded with light to convey a sense of free, open-airspace. But as soon as
we
try
selves
penetrate tins architectural maze,
to lost;
the individual structures
(
we
find our-
annot be disentangled
horn each other, their size and relationship are obscure. And we qui< klv realize that the Roman painter has no systematic grasp oi spatial depth, that bis perspective is haphazard and inconsistent within
itself.
Apparently he never intended us
enter the spa< e he has created; remains forever beyond us. to
When
like a
promised land,
it
ol
•
the
HOMAN
Roman
Mil
painter's
approach outweigh
is
reproduced
vistas,
bis limita-
306).
(fig.
The
bluish tones
airy,
and binds together all the forms within this fairyland, where the human figures no more than an incidental role. Only upon fur-
that envelops
warm Mediterranean seem
to play
ther reflection do
we
realize
bow
frail
the illusion
ol
coher-
ence is even here: if we were to try mapping this landscape, we would find it just as ambiguous as the architectural perspective discussed above. ic,
like that of the
Ifs
unity
is
stucco landscape
not structural but poetin figure
289.
The Odyssey Landscapes contrast with another approach to nature, which we know from the murals in a room of the Primaporta (fig. 307). Here the architectural framework has been dispensed with altogether; the entire wall is given over to a view of a delightful garden lull of
Villa of Livia at
flowers, fruit trees,
landscape takes the place of architectural
exact foreshortening becomes less important, and the Mi-
mes
trygonians
the
same
and
birds.
These charming
tangible quality, the
details
same concreteness
have
of color
and texture as the architectural framework of figure 305, ,iiid their apparent distance from the beholder is also about
306.
THE LAESTRYGONIANS HURLING ROCKS AT
Wall painting from a house on the Esquiline
' I
Hill,
Rome. Late
I
III
1st
FLEET OF ODYSSEUS.
century B.C Vatican Museums.
Rome
,***
'M),
.
yii
w oi
\(.\/{/)/\ Wall paintinu 1'rom the
\ ilia
of Livia at Primaporta
<
20
B.(
Museo
delle
ferme Home
l!<)\1
\\
Iftj
•
308. PEACHES
AND GLASS JAR.
Wall painting from Herculaneum.
Musco Archeologico
same
the
— they seem
there
torn,
low
a
is
to
be within arm's reach. At the hot-
beyond
trellis,
it
narrow
a
strip of
lawn
and immediately alter that the garden proper begins. Oddly enough, however, we cannot enter it; behind the front row of trees and flowers with a tree
then a low
in the center,
wall,
an opaque mass of greenery that shuts off our view as dense hedge. This garden, then, is another
lies
c.
50
A.D.
Nazionale, Naples
be done, because the shadows cast by the various objects are
seems
to
he imprisoned within the
systematic in his approach
promised land made only lor looking. The wall has not really been opened up but merely pushed hack a lew feet and re-
details, his
depth that
h is this very limitation of spatial endows our mural with its unusual degree of wall of plants,
coherence.
On a large scale, such restraint does not occur often m though, in the still Roman mural decoration. We do find lifes that sometimes make their appearance within the liitriit.
ment
rier that
rendering
ol
the translui ent glass jar half
refle< tions
I'he
m
JUSI this
(
'
liOMW
ua\ Cut
Utl
with water
we
feel
the
opied (hem Irom an actual jar illuminatil
we
tr\
lo
determine (he source and
dire< tion ol the lighi in the pi< tine
2-4H
filled
are so acutely observed thai
painter must have
ed
particularly noteworthy for the
we
find thai this cannot
examples,
this
differentiates
Roman
painting from that of the
Renaissance or of modern times.
form
is
In the finest
in its overall structure.
real the
a basic unifying ele-
is
Out example
308)
Roman no more
amply compensated for by other qualities, so that our observation must not be regarded as condemning him to an inferior status. I'he absence of a consistent view of the visible world should he thought of instead as a fundamental hailack
anticipated to
(fig
is
However sensuously
work nearly always lacks
.lie .iK hite< tural schemes. These usually take the form of make-believe niches or cupboards, so that the objects, whu h arc often displayed on (wo levels remain close to us.
i
Clearly, the
the behavior of light than in
lo
his handling of perspective.
,1
jar.
despite his striving for illusionistic effects,
artist,
effectively as a
placed by
Nor do we have the impres-
not consistent with each other.
sion that the jar stands in a stream of light; instead, the light
The
illusionistic
tendencies that gained the upper hand in
the first century b.c may have been some extent by lellenistic painters, hut in the which we know them they seem to he a specifically
Roman murals during in
Roman development, tive
I
as against the reproductive or imita-
works we had examined
sist in
before.
Echoes of the
latter per-
the mythological panels that occur like islands within
an elaborate architectural framework (see fig. 304). While these scenes hard!) ever give the impression of straightfor-
ward copies
somewhat
after Hellenistic originals, they often
have the
disjointed character of compilations of motifs
from various sources.
A characteristic example is the picture of lercules discovering the infant Telephus in Arcadia, from the basilica at i
1
lerculaneum
of a
Roman
(
fig.
309
painter
).
What stamps
is its
this as the
handiwork
oddly unstable style; almost every-
thing here has the look of a "quotation," so that not only the forms, but even the brushvvork varies from one figure to the
Thus the personification of Arcadia, seated in the censeems as cold, immobile, and tightly modeled as a statwhereas Hercules, although his pose is equally
next. ter,
ue,
Statuesque, exhibits a broader and nique.
Or compare
more luminous
tech-
the lion, painted in sketchy, agitated
dabs, with the precise and graceful outlines of the doe. The
sparkling highlights on the basket of fruit are derived from vet another source: still lifes such as figure 308. And the
mischievously smiling young Pan in the upper-left-hand corner
is
composed
have a character
all
of quick, feathery brushstrokes that their
own.
VILLA OF THE MYSTERIES. There exists, however, one monument whose sweeping grandeur of design and coherence of style are unique in Roman painting: the great frieze one of the rooms in the Villa of the Mysteries just outside Pompeii (fi». 310). Like the garden view from the Villa of
in
310. SCI \i
s
'" c.
\
DIONYSl u
50 lie
Villa
<>l
\nsn
309.
to
nil
HERCULES AND TELEPHUS Wall paintiriR from Herculancum c. 70 AD Museo ArcheoloKico Na/.ionale. Naples
Wall painting frieze
the Mysteries, Pompeii
i:o\i \\
\in
Livia,
ii
dates from the latter pan of the
when
the Se< ond Style
ment more
of the wall space in
common
Style murals, for
was
at its
first
century
the studied and sell-conscious quality
B.<
height, So far as the treat-
is concerned, the two works have with each Other than With other Second both of them are conceived in terms of
rhythmic continuity and arm's-length depth.
The artist who created
the frieze in the Villa of the Myster-
placed Ins figures on a narrow ledge of green against a regular pattern of red panels separated l>\ strips of black, .1 kind ol running stage on which they enact their strange and
we
call classicism.
of exceptional greatness of vision has
artist
filled
An
these forms
Whatever his relation to the famous masters whose works are lost to us forever, he was their legitimate heir in the same sense that the finest Latin poets of the Augustan age were the legitimate heirs to the with new
fife.
of Greek painting
Greek poetic
tradition.
ies lias
solemn cult
•'.'
ritual.
Many
Who details
they, and what is the meaning of the remain puzzling, but the program as a
.ire
whole represents various aspects of the Dionysiac Mysteries, a semisecret cult of very ancient origin that had been from Greece. The sacred rites are performed brought in the presence ol Dionvsus and Adriadne, with their train of satyrs and sileni, so that human and mythical reality tend to to Italy
merge
into one.
We ties
sense the blending of these two spheres in the qualitheir dignity of bearing all the figures have in common
—
and expression, the wonderful firmness of body and drapery, the rapt intensity with which they participate in the drama of the ritual fig. 311). Many of the poses and gestures are (
taken from the repertory
of Classical
Greek
311.
art,
yet they lack
woman with WEIL
PORTRAITS.
ROM
I
IB!
to Pliny, was an Rome, serving the ances-
according
tor cult as did the portrait busts discussed earlier (see pages 230-33). None of these panels has survived, and the lew portraits found on the walls of Roman houses in Pompeii
may
well derive from a different, a Hellenistic, tradition.
only coherent group of painted portraits
at
The
our disposal,
comes from the Faiyum district in Lower them found so far seem to date from or rethe second century ad We owe them to the survival
strangely enough,
Egypt. The earliest of
—
vival
— of an
ancient Egyptian custom, that of attaching a
portrait of the
deceased
fig.
104), but
wrapped, mummified body. had been sculptured (compare
to the
Originally, these portraits
became replaced
in
Roman
times by painted
ones such as the very fine and well-preserved wooden panel
reproduced in figure 312.
Detail of wall painting frieze
Villa dI the Mysteries,
ISO'
Portrait painting,
established custom in Republican
Pompeii
c.
50 B.c
312. portraii oi
,\
boy from the Faiyum,
Lower Kgypt. 2nd century \ D Encaustic on 13X7W (33x 18.:-! cm).
The Metropolitan Museum oi Art, New H8 Gift of Edward S. Harkness,
panel,
York.
(
l
The amazing Freshness of its colors is due to the Fact that was done In a technique of great durability tailed encaustic, which moans that the pigments arc suspended in hot
quicklj a\h\ in lame numbers, the) tend to have
wax. The mixture can be opaque and creamy,
ments
it
from a snapshot it
becomes apparent
onl)
when we compare
with other Faiyum portraits. Since the) were produced
main
ele-
m common,
and translucent. At their best, these portraits have an immediacy and soreness of touch that have rarely been sur
such as the emphasis on the eyes the placing ol the highlights and shadows, the angle from v\ bi< h the face is seen In the later examples, these mi\ entional
passed; our dark-haired boy
elements
like oil paint,
or thin
a piece of reality as
hire
— and
it
is
as solid, sparkling, and lifelike
anyone might w
does have
si vie.
ish.
The style of the
otherwise we could not
pic
tell
-
it
i
stiffen
more and more
ours the) merel) furnish
into a fixed type, while in
a flexible
mold within which
to
cast the indl\ idu.il likeness
ROM
l\
\l!l
•
251
Eastern terms, the most successful product ol this crossbreeding process was Islam, which still dominates the entire see pages 290-91
area to this da)
Hie growth
ol
as yet very incompletely understood, since
rule
is
was
part ol
Roman much ol
the Graeco-Oriental religions under
an underground movement which has
it
lew
left
where it took place has war and destruction so many times that important discoveries, such as ol the Dead Sea Scrolls, are rare events indeed. There is mounting evidence, however, that the new taiths also gave birth to a new style in art. and that this style, too. resulted from a lusion of Graeco-Roman tangible traces. Besides, the area
been
OF
313. PORTRAIT
Archaeological
MAN
\
diameter
2
c
250 a
c
t)
and Oriental elements. The artists who struggled with the task ol coining images to express the contents ol these kuths were not among the most gifted ol their time: they were provincial crattsmen ot modest ambition who drew upon whatever visual sources happened to be available to them, adapting, combining, and reshaping these as best thev
Glass,
nm
Museum,
a theater ol
Arezzo. Italy
could. Their efforts are often clumsy, vet find the beginnings of a tradition that
importance
Whether
D
Roman
or Hellenistic
is
an
idle
do know, however, that it was not confined to :. since it can be linked with some portrait miniatures — apparently done in Italy during the third century
_
\
to call this stvle
We
question.
The
finest ot
them
is
the medallion
shown
in its actual
1 Its power ot characterization, superior to that ot any Faivum portrait, represents the same climax ot Roman portraiture that produced the marble bust of Philippus the Arab seeh_ 297 si/t in figure 31
DLRA-ELROPOS. The style
In di-
ss
tury
\D
the
mood
I
the
_
c risis
see page 240
ot .
most
of the times the spread of Oriental mystery
They were of various origins
-
— and
reli-
— Egyptian. Persian. Se-
development naturally centered in their home territory, the southeastern provinces and border regions of the Roman Empire Although based on traditions in etlect long before the conquest ot these ancient lands by Alexander the Great, the cults had been strongly influenced mitic
their early
bv Greek ideas during the Hellenistic period:
it
was. in
tact.
and Greek elements that thev owed
to this fusion of Oriental
and appeal. The names ol most ot these
remembered only bv
today
powerful rivals
ot
cults,
taiths.
their doctriii'
even though thev
Christianity during the earlv centu-
In those davs. the I
and
specialists,
cultural melting pot
Near East was a vast reliwhere all the competing
including Judaism, Christianity, Mithraism,
Mam-
and many more, tended to influence that thev had an astonishing number of thin_ non. whatever their differences ot origin, ritual, or nomenclatu: hem shared such teatur- - s 'ruth the hope ot salvation, a chiel the dichotomy ol good and evil, a ritual prop' and the dutv to seek Of initiation baptism flu- last and in N sticism,
-
•
:
.
•
we
of basic
art.
illustrations of this
telling
Dura-Europos on the upper Euphrates, a Roman was captured by the resurgent Persians under Shapur about 256 v D and abandoned by its population soon alter. Its ruins have vielded the remains of sanctuaries of several religions, decorated with murals which all
town
ot
1
show
essentially the
same Graeco-Oriental
character.
The
best preserved are those from the assembly hall of a synaof their
:
numerous compart-
one representing the consecration ol the tabernacle fig. 314 It is characteristic of the melting-pot condidons described above that even Judaism should have been affected by them Momentarily, at least, the age-old injunction against im agi was relaxed so that the walls of the assembly hall could be illustrate the
.
I
-
covered with a richly detailed visual account of the histon
ol
Chosen People and their Covenant with the Lord. The new attitude seems to have been linked with a tendency to change Judaism from a national to a universal faith by misthe
sionary activity
some
ingly,
among
the non-Jewish population: interest-
such as the
of the inscriptions on the murals
314 are in Greek. In any event, we may be sure that the artists w ho designed these pictures laced an unaccustomed task. )ust as did the painters who worked for the earliest Christian communities: thev had to cast into visible torm what had hitherto been expressed only in
name Aaron
their vitalitv
here that
frontier station that
ments, we
the Roman world in the third cenwe mentioned a> characteristic of
is
become
have been found in the Mesopotamian
gogue, painted about 250 VD
Eastern Religions
it
to
development of mediev al
tor the
new compound
was
words
How
in fig.
did thev go about
our illustration
we can
it?
Let us take a closer look at
— animals, human — without trouble, but their
read the details
beings, buildings, cult objects relationship eludes us There
is
no
action,
no
story,
onlv an
nblv ol forms and figures confronting us in the expectation that
we
will
tween them The
be able
a similar dithcultv
know
— vet
it
to establish
the proper links be-
frieze in the Villa ol the Mysteries presents
— there,
too.
strikes us as verv
the beholder
much
figures have an eloquence ot gesture
is
supposed
to
less puzzling, for the
and expression
that
makes them meaningful even though we maj
nol under-
stand the context of the scenes. II the synagogue painter Tails to be equally persuasive must we attribute this to his lack of competence, or arc there
Other reasons as well? laced
The question
when discussing
is
rather like the one
we
the Constantinian relief in figure
301, which resembles the Dura-Europos mural in a Of ways.
The synagogue
self-sufficiency, of
condensation
ness, but his subject
is
number same sense of
painter exhibits the
far
for the
sake of complete-
more demanding: he had
sent a historic. d event of vast
to repre-
religious importance (the
consecration of the tabernacle and
its
priests,
which began
humanity and God as described in detail in the Holy Scriptures, and lie had to represent in such a way as to surest that it was also a tuneless, recurrent ritthe reconciliation of
I
it
ual.
Thus
his picture
ficance far greater and
burdened with a wealth of more rigidly defined than that
is
accordance with the
he mere empty gestures
our artist could not imagine
biblical description, as a tentlike
construction of poles and goat's-hair curtains.
Roman
The attendant
and red heifer in the lower-left-hand corner are derived from Roman scenes of animal sacrifice, hence they show
I
1
derstood as behind, rather than on top
of,
the crenellated
wall that shields the precinct of the tahernac
tion in
Their si/e
le
governed by their important e not by then posispace Aaron, as the principal figure, is not onlv large]
however,
is
than the attendants hut also more
costume, because of
its
rigid
and
ritual significance,
detail, at the cost of obliterating
is
His
abstract.
diagramed
the hodv underneath.
in
The
still show a residue ol mobiland three-dimensional existence. Then garments sur-
attendants on the other hand, ity
enough
are Persian,
hie artistic influences
from
,1
fashion
indication not only
the
ol
holder area hut of possi
Persia.
combines — in none-too— a considerable variety oTlorm.il elements
Our synagogue mural, skilllul
.111
in this
then,
whose onlv common denominator is the religious message hands ol a gre.it artist, this message
of the whole. In the
might have been a stronger unifying force, but even then the shapes and colors would have heen no more than a humhie,
imperfecl simile of the spiritual truth they were meant
to serve. That, surely,
was the outlook
of the authorities
who
supervised the execution of the mural cycle and controlled its
program. The essential quality of these pictures can no
longer he understood in the framework of ancient
express an attitude that seems
spective view of the altar table next to the figure of Aaron, in the perfunctory modeling here and there, and in the rudi-
could hardly do better than
mentary cast shadows attached
legentibus
the painter
freefj
to some of the- figures. Did understand the purpose of these shadows'
sine e (he rest ol the
either light 01 space in the
conveyed by other means: the seven-bran* hed andlestii k the two incense burners, the alt. 11, and Aaron are to he un-
remnants of foreshortening not found among the other figures. Other echoes of Roman painting appear in the per-
still
ol
sense Even the oc< asional overlapping ol forms aphe sequence ol things in spa< e is
pears largely accidental.
prisingly
him visualize the tabernacle and the consecration ceremony No wonder he has fallen hack on a sort of symbolic shorthand composed of images borrowed from other, older traditions. The tabernacle itself, for instance, is shown as a in
to
odd mixture of civilizations
his disposal to help
it,
seem
signi-
relief. Nor did he have Jewish religious painting at
Classical temple simply because
hey
of the
Dionysiac frieze or the Constantinian a well-established tradition of
I
picture betrays no awareness
If
we were
to
sum up
their
Tar closer to the
purpose
art;
they
Middle Ages
in a single
phrase we
quote a famous dictum justifying the pictorial representation of Christian themes: t\)//or/ scriptura,
to
Ihh
painting conveys the
314.
idiotis
Word
of
.
.
.pictura
God
THE CONSECRATION Of
AND
its PRIESTS
to
I
III
translated
the unlettered
FABERNACLl
from the Assembly Hall
of the Synagogue .it Dura-Kumpos. 245-56 A n Mural. 4'8'/r x 7'8'/V (1.4x2.3 mi National Museum. Damascus Syria
i:o\l\\
\l;i
CHAPTER EIGHT
EARLY CHRISTIAN
AND
BYZANTINE ART p
^
Vewa
,5».*
CYCLADES
V
/I
{J_
In
the
323 An Constantine the Great made a fateful decision consequences of which are still felt today he resolved
—
Roman Empire
to
move
of
Byzantium, which henceforth was
the capital of the
stantinople,
and
to
be
to
the
town
Ireek
(
known
as Con-
today, as Istanbul. Six years later, after
energetic building campaign,
an
was officially completed. In taking this step, the Emperor acknowledged the growing strategic and economic importance or the eastern provinces (a development that had been going on for some time The new capital also symbolized the new Christhe
transfer
).
tian basis of the
Roman
since
state,
it
was
in the heart ol the
most thoroughly Christianized region of the Empire. Constantine could hardly have foreseen that shifting the
power would
seat of Imperial vet within less
result in splitting the realm,
than a hundred years the division had be-
come an accomplished
fact,
even though the emperors
Constantinople did not relinquish their claim provinces.
The
latter,
Roman
ruled by western
Germanic
at
the western
to
emperors,
— Visigoths,
soon
fell
dals.
Ostrogoths, Lombards. By the end of the sixth century
prey to invading
tribes
the last vestige of centralized authority
The
Van-
had disappeared.
eastern, or Byzantine, Empire, in contrast, survived
these onslaughts, and under Justinian (527-565) reached
new power and
With the rise of Islam a hundred Near Eastern parts of the Emwere overrun by conquering Arab armies: in the elev-
years pire
later,
stability.
the African and
enth centurv. the lurks occupied a large part of Asia Minor, while the last Byzantine possessions in the West (in southern Italy) fell to the Normans. Yet the Empire, with its do-
"EARLY CHRISTIAN" UMD "BYZANTINE West
makes
that
Christian
impossible
it
the
art in
Style;
Christians during the lime prior
Church— or.
Orthodox our
era.
designate
produced
ol art
a
bv oi for
the splitting off
to
ol
single heading.
a
speaking
sine ih
any work
refers, rather, to
it
reli
fast and
ol
uss the development
to dis<
Roman Empire under
"Earl) Christian" does not
the
is
It
gious even more (ban the political separation
the
ol
roughly, the lust live centuries
ol
on the other hand designates not of the eastern Roman Empire but a specific
"Byzantine
only the art
art."
qualitv ol stvle as well
Since this style grevi out ol certain tendencies that can be traced back to the tune ol Constantine or even earlier, there is no sharp dividing line between Early Christian and Byzantine
Thus
art
the reign
ol .Justin-
been termed the lust Golden Age of Byzantine art. Justinian himsell was a man of Strongly western. Latin
ian has vet
who almost succeeded in reuniting the Constantmian domain; and the monuments he sponsored, especially those on Italian soil, mav be viewed as either Earl) Christian
orientation
or Byzantine,
depending on which frame of reference we
select.
Soon alter, it is true the political and religious cleavage between East and West became an artistic cleavage as well. In western Europe, Celtic
and Germanic peoples fell heir to which Early Christian art
the civilization of late antiquity, of
had been
a part,
The
A'jes.
and transformed
it
Middle no such break; in
into that of the
East, in contrast, experienced
the Byzantine Empire, late antiquity lived on. although the
Balkans and Greece, held on until 1453.
Creek and Oriental elements came increasingl) to the fore at the expense of the Roman heritage. As a consequence,
when the lurks finally conquered Constantinople itself The division of the Roman Empire soon led to a religious
Byzantine Civilization never became wholly medieval "Ihe Byzantines mav have been senile." one historian has ob-
main reduced
to the
as well. At the time of Constantine, the bishop of
split
deriving his authority from
St. Peter,
Rome, was the acknowledged
head, the pope, of the Christian Church. His claim to pre-
the development
eminence, however, soon came-
best, therefore,
to
be disputed by the patri-
arch of Constantinople, differences in doctrine began to
tian
develop, and eventually the division of
Middle
Christendom into a Western, or Catholic, and an Eastern, or Orthodox. Church, became .ill but final. The differences between them went very deep; Roman Catholicism maintained its independence from Imperial or any other state authority and became an international institution reflecting
its
character
the
.is
I
tra-
Church, while the Orthodox Church was based on the union of spiritual and sec ul.u authorit) in the person of
versal
remained Creeks
served, "but thev
the end."
to
sense of tradition, of continuity with the
if
Byzantine
ol
we
see
in
it
We
art
can understand
the context of the
m
phase of antiquity rather than
he same
I
determines
past,
final,
the context
it
hris-
(
ol
(he
.Vj.es.
EARLY CHRISTIAN ART When
and where the first Christian works ol art were produced remain a matter ol conjecture Ol ihe surviving monuments, none can be dated earlier than about 200 v D ;
we
therefore,
lack
all
knowledge
direct
ol art
in the service ol
(he emperor, who appointed (he patriarch. It thus remained dependent on the power ol the Slate, exacting a double alle-
Christianit) before that time
giance from the faithful and sharing the vicissitudes
Constantine the Creat. because ihe third century, too is poorlv represented Ihe painted decorations ol the Roman
litical
power.
We
will
recognize this pattern as the
(
ol
po-
hiisiun
adaptation of a verv ancient heritage, the divine kingship
Egypt and the Near East;
if
oi
the Byzantine emperors, unlike
pagan predecessors could no longer claim the status ol retained an cquallv unique and exalted role bv placing themselves at the head of the Church as well as ol the State. Nor did the tradition die with the fall ol oust. in
lor certain
about Christian
these are morel v one tian art
Ihe tsars
ol
Russia claimed the mantle
Moscow became "the Russian Orthodox Church was .is
zantine emperors the
Slate as
was us Byzantine parent
body.
<
ol
the B)
third
Koine
loselv
tied
'
to
and the
t
there
Before faith;
(
among
(be reign
ariisiK
Lome
I
ol
Chris-
embed) the
and the Neat East such as
own
traditions of theii
\i:i
hristians.
(
material, but
\lex
he) had probabl) developed separate (The extraordinar)
the synagogue at Dura-Europos
/
did not
ol
hrisuan communities existed in the
<
great cities of North Africa
andria and \ntio< h
ol
various possible kinds
onstantine's reign,
older and larger
we know
is little
we reach
provide the onlv sizable and coherent bod)
gods, thev
tinople
fa<
until
catacombs, the underground burial places ol (he
their
(
In
art
)
t
see fig
iihisii \\
\\i>
114
murals
ol
suggest thai
n)/\\ii\i
\i:i
315. Painted ceiling. 4th century A.D. Catacomb of SS. Pietro e Marcellino,
paintings similarly orientalizing in style
may have decorated
the walls of Christian places of worship in Syria and Pales-
since the earliest Christian congregations were formed
tine,
members
by dissident the
home
of the Jewish community. Alexandria,
of a large and thoroughly Helleni/ed Jewish colo-
ny dining the
first
or the second century
duced
illustrations of the
that of
Pompeian murals.
Old Testament in
We meet
hristian art later on, but
(
ad may have
pro-
a style akin to
echoes of such scenes in
we cannot be sure when
or
where
they originated, or by what paths they entered the Christian tradition.
Rome
nize the division of the ceiling into
compartments as
figures, as well as the landscape settings, betray their de-
scent from the
same Roman
which here, in the hands become debased by But the catacomb painter has used this idiom,
of an artist of very modest ability, has
endless repetition.
traditional vocabulary to
convey a new. symbolic content,
and the original meaning of the forms is of little interest to him. Even the geometric framework shares in this task, for the great circle suggests the Dome of Heaven, inscribed with the cross, the basic symbol of the
Catacombs II
medallion
the dearth of material from the eastern provinces of the
Empire makes
judge the position of the catacomb paintings withm the early development of Christian art the paintings nevertheless tell us a good deal about the spirit
of the
it
difficult to
communities
that
sponsored them. The burial
tomb were
of vital concern on the hope of eternal life in paradise II ie imagery of the catacombs, as can be seen m the painted ceiling in figure 315 learl) expresses rite .ind
the safeguarding of the
to the early
(
Ihristian,
whose
faith rested
i
1
1
us otherworldly outlook although the lorn is are in essence
still
those of pic
256 •/ Mil.)
(
(
In isiiau
///
mural decoration. Thus we recog-
w WD BYZANTINE
Mil
a late
and highly simplified echo of the illusionistic architectural schemes in Pompeian painting, and the modeling of the
we
faith.
In the central
see a youthful shepherd, with a sheep on his
shoulders, in a pose that can be traced back as far as Greek
(compare fig. 168); he stands lor Christ the SavGood Shepherd who gives His life for His sheep The semicircular compartments tell the story of Jonah: on the left he is cast from the ship, on the right he emerges
Archaic iour,
art
the
at the bottom he is sale again on dry upon the mercy of the Lord. This Old Tes-
from the whale, and land, meditating
tament miracle, often juxtaposed with
New
Testament mir-
enjoyed immense favor in Early Christian art as proof of the Lord's power to rescue the faithful from the jaws of death. The standing figures represent members of the acles,
/r\
.13
316. Reconstruction
Begun
of
Old
333 AD.
c.
St. Peter's,
Rome,
(after Frazer)
D Church, with their hands raised in prayer, pleading for divine help. The entire scheme, though small in scale and unimpressive in execution, has a coherence and clarity that set it apart from its pagan ancestors as well as from the synagogue murals of Dura-Europos (see fig. 314 Here is, if not ).
the reality, at least the promise of a truly
form (compare
monumental new
fig 349).
317. Plan
Architecture
of
Old
St
Peter's
i
after I-'ra/en
make Christianity the state reliRoman Empire had a profound impact on Chris-
Constantine's decision to gion of the
tian art. Until that time,
meet
worship
congregations had been unable
to
were held covertly in the houses of the wealthier members. Now, almost overnight, an impressive architectural setting had to be created for
new
for the
in public; services
official faith, so that
the
Church might be
visible
Constantine himself devoted the full resources of his and within a few years an astonishing
to all.
office to this task,
number
Rome
only in
and
at
THE
of large. Imperially sponsored
but also in
other important
churches arose, not Constantinople, in the Holy Land,
familiar features of the earlier structure
was indeed
a uniquely suitable
churches, since by Christian
model
combined the spacious
it
ritual
with
The pagan lor
basilica
Constantmian
demanded
interior
Imperial associations that
religion.
But a church had
to
be more than an assembly
addition to enclosing the
the sacred
I
community
hall:
of the faithful,
louse of God, the Christian successor
in
was
it
the tem-
to
ples of old. In order to express this function, the design of
sites.
the pagan basilica had to be given a new focus, the
BASILICA.
pro-
claimed the privileged status of Christianity as the new state
These structures were a
new
type,
altar.
now
called the Early Christian basilica, that provided the basic
model
development of church architecture
for the
ern Europe. Unfortunately, none of
original form, but the plan of the greatest
church. Old
in west-
them has survived
in its
Constantmian
Rome, is known with considerable A\H and 317). For an impression of the interior, we must draw upon the slightly later basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, built on the same pattern, which remained essentially intact until it was wrecked by fire m 1823 accuracy
St. Peter's in
(figs.
dig. 318>.
these two
The Early Christian basilica, as exemplified in monuments, is a synthesis of assembly hall, tem-
ple, and private house It also has the qualities creation that cannot be wholly explained
m
sources.
What
owes
it
times becomes obvious ter's
with
th.it
lit
I
fig.
when we compare 27
1
an original
terms of
the Imperial basilicas
of the basilica
dred years earlier
and
to
ol
):
.it
Leptis
ol
its
pagan
the plan of St. Pe-
Magna, erected
a
hun-
the long nave flanked In aisles
by clerestoiy windows, the apse, the
wooden
root
.ire
318 Interior, Si Paul Outside the Walls, Rome Begun 386 A. D. (etching by G B. Piranesi l7J h l
/
\i:i)
<
iiiu\ii\\
\\i)
h)/\\ii\i
\i:i
•
257
319.
S.
320. Plan of
ApoUinare in Classe, Ravenna. 533-49 AD.
(after
S.
De
ApoUinare in Classe
Angelis d'Ossat)
which was placed in front of the apse at the eastern end of the nave, and the entrances, which in pagan basilicas had usually been on the flanks, were shifted to the western end. The Christian basilica was thus oriented along a single, longitudinal axis that
is
curiously reminiscent of the layout of
Egyptian temples (compare
fig.
97).
Before entering the
traverse a colonnaded court, the atrium
church proper, we (see page 226), the far side of which forms an entrance hall, the narthex. Only when we step through the nave portal do we gain the view presented in figure 318. The steady rhythm of the nave arcade pulls us toward the great arch at the eastern end (called the triumphal arch), which frames the altar and the vaulted apse beyond. As we come closer, we realize that the altar stands in a separate compartment of space placed sept
in
at right
angles to the nave and
aisles,
321. Interior (view toward the apse),
the tran-
the lesser basilican churches, this feature
S.
is fre-
ApoUinare in Classe, Ravenna. 533-49 AD.
quently omitted).
One
essential aspect of Early Christian religious architec-
emerged from our discussion: the contrast
ture lias not yet
demonstrated between exterior and interior. It is in the sixth-century church of S. ApoUinare in Classe near strikingly
Ravenna, which still retains its original appearance for the most part. The plain brick exterior (figs. 319 and 320) remains conspicuously unadorned; it is merely a shell whose shape reflects the interior spate it encloses— the exact opposite <>l the Classical temple. (Our view, taken from the west. shows the narthex but not the atrium, which was torn down a long time ago; the round bell tower, or campanile, is a meThis ascetic, antimonumental treatment of the exterior gives way to the utmost richness as we inter the Here, having left the everyday world bechurch (fig. 321
dieval addition
decorations
Before dealing with these mosa-
at greater length,
we must
take note of an-
other type of structure that entered the tradition of Christian architecture in Constantinian times: round or polygonal buildings crowned with a dome. They bad been developed, will recall, as part of the elaborate Roman baths; the de-
we
was derived from that source (see page had been built to serve as monumausoleums, by the pagan emperors. In
sign of the Pantheon
224). Similar structures
mental tombs, or
the fourth century, this type of building
meaning
in the baptisteries
is
given a Christian
(where the bath becomes a
sa-
I
I.
we find ourselves in a shimmering realm of light and olor where precious marble surfaces and the brilliant glitter mosaics evoke the spiritual splendor of the Kingdom of
hind, .
DOMED STRUCTURES. ic
cred rite) and the funerary chapels linked with basilican churches. The finest surviving example is Sta. Costanza (figs. 322-24), the mausoleum of Constantine's daughter
<>l
322. (opposite)
God
2~>H •/ .Mil.Y
I
IIRISII \\ \\l)
H)/.\\IIM
Mil
Interior, Sta.
Costanza, Rome.
c.
350 AD.
/
\i:i)
(
l
mis
1 1
\\
\\D h\/\\ii\i
iflr«259
mural painting. Mosaics
— designs composed of small pieces — had been used by the Su-
of colored material set in plaster
merians as early as the third millennium B.C. to embellish The Hellenistic Creeks and the Ro-
architectural surfaces.
mans, employing small cubes of marble called tesserae, had refined the technique to the point that it could reproduce paintings, as in The Battle oflssus (see fig. 302). But these
were mostly
floor
mosaics, and the color scale, although rich
in gradations, lacked brilliance, since
it
was
limited to the
various kinds of colored marble found in nature.
mans would
also
The Ro-
produce wall mosaics occasionally, but
only for special purposes and on a limited scale.
The
vast
and
intricate wall
mosaics of Early Christian
art
The same is true of their material, for they consist of tesserae made of colored glass. These, too, were not entirely unknown to the Romans,
thus are essentially without precedent. 323. Plan of Sta. Costanza
had never been exploited before;
yet their special virtues
they offered colors of far greater range and intensity than marble tesserae, including gold, but lacked the fine gradations in tone necessary for imitating painted pictures. over, the
More-
shiny (and slightly irregular) faces of glass tesserae
act as tiny reflectors, so that the over-all effect
is
that of a
immaterial screen rather than of a solid, continuous surface. All these qualities made glass mosaic the ideal complement of the new architectural aesthetic that conglittering,
324. Section, Sta. Costanza
fronts us in Earlv Christian basilicas.
Constantia, originally attached to the
(now ruined) Roman
Agnes Outside the Walls. In contrast
church of St. gan predecessors,
shows
domed
space into a
dows
it
to its pa-
a clear articulation of the interior
cyclindrical core
by clerestory win-
lit
— the counterpart of the nave of a basilican church
and a ring-shaped "aisle" or ambulatory covered by a barrel Here again the mosaic decoration plays an essential
vault.
part
m
mood
setting the
of the interior.
Painting and Mosaic
CONTRASTS WITH GRAECO-ROMAN PAINTING. The guiding principle of Graeco-Roman architecture, we recall, had been to express a balance of opposing forces, rather like
—
the balance within the contrapposto of a classical statue muscular, physical display of active and passive, supporting and supported members, whether these were structurally
merely superimposed on a concrete core. Viewed in such terms. Early Christian architecture is strangely inexpressive, even antimonumental. The tangible, material structure has become subservient to the creation and defini-
real or
he rapid growth ol Christian architecture on a large scale must have had an almost revolutionary effect on the development of Early Christian painting. All of a sudden, huge
tion of immaterial space; walls
be covered with images worthy of their monumental framework. Who was equal to this challenge?
light-filled,
I
wall surfaces
(
had
lertainly not the
combs with
to
humble
artists
who had
their limited stock of types
decorated the cata-
and subjects. They
were superseded by masters of greater ability, recruited,
may suppose, under K(
is
of the
new
we
Imperial auspices, as were the archi-
basilicas.
Unfortunately, so
little
has sur-
vived of the decoration of fourth-century churches that
its
history cannot be traced in detail. Apparently, great pictorial c
ycles were spread over the nave walls, the triumphal arch,
.ind the
apse from the very
drawn upon
start.
These cycles must have
a great variety of earlier sources, reflecting the
rather than emphasized as before.
riors to perfection.
new an form, the
greal
Earl) christian wall mosaic. whi< h
to a large extenl repla< ed the older and cheaper technique
>(,!)•
I
Mil )(
illtisnw
a
\\l>
I'A/WIIM
Mil
ol
)
say, in fact, that
Early Chris-
the wall. In Early Christian mosaics the flatness of the wall is also denied, but lor the purpose of achieving an "illusion of unreality." a
beings or symbols,
flic-
luminous realm peopled by celestial difference in aim becomes particu-
whenever these mosaics make use of the old formulas of spatial illusionism. Such is the case in figure .525. which shows a section of the magnificent dome mosaics
emerged
(
One might
surface
end
there
brilliant color, the
tian and Byzantine chinches demand mosaics the wa\ Creek temples demand architectural sculpture. Roman mural painting had developed elaborate illusionissurface of tic devices in order to suggest a reality beyond the
WALL MOSAK
of this process
The
metric order of the images in a mosaic complex such as that fit the spirit of these intefig. 321
of S. Apollinare in Classe
larly striking
Oul
of
transparent brightness of gold, the severe geo-
whole range ofGraeco-Roman painting. The heritage of the past however, was not onl) absorbed but transformed so as to make it lit its new environment, physical and spiritual. S
and vaults have the quality
weightless shells, their actual thickness and solidity hidden
from the church of
St.
of the fourth century.
George
Two
at
Salome a, done at the hands raised in
saints, then
prayer, stand against a background that clearly betrays its descent from the perspective \istas of "stage architecture"
325.
Dome
mosaic
(detail).
Late 4th century AD.
St.
George, Salonica. Greece
Pompeian painting; the foreshortening, to be sure, seems somewhat askew, but a surprising amount of it survives intact. Even so, the structure no longer seems real, for it lacks all physical substance: its body consists of the same gold as
in
the background (other colors, mainly purple,
blue,
and
green, are used only in the shaded portions and the orna-
ment), so that the entire building becomes translucent. This is
not a stage set but a piece of symbolic, otherworldly archi-
tecture
meant
to
evoke such concepts as the Heavenly Jeru-
salem, or the City of God.
MARIA MAGGIORE, ROME.
STA. too,
we
In narrative scenes, see the illusionistic tradition of ancient painting be-
ing transformed by
new
selected from the Old
content.
and
New
Long sequences
of scenes.
Testaments, adorned the
nave walls of Early Christian
basilicas. The Parting of Lot taken from the oldest surviving cycle of this kind, executed about 430 in the church of Sta. Maria Maggiore in Rome. Abraham, his son Isaac, and the
and Abraham
(fig.
326)
is
occupy the left half of the composition; Lot two small daughters, turn toward of Sodom on the right.
rest of his family
and
his clan, including his
the city
The
task of the artist
who designed our panel is comparaColumn of Trajan
ble to that laced by the sculptors of the
(see
fig.
292):
how
to
condense complex actions
into a visual
326.
THE PARTING OF c.
430
\ i)
St. i
LOT
WD
ABRAHAM
Maria Maggiore,
Mms.ik
Home
EARLY CHRISTIAN IND BYZANTINI \lll-Jhl
Form thai would permit them to be read at a distance. He has in i.u i. employed many of the same "shorthand" de\ ii es, sm h as the abbre\ iative formulas for house, tree, and
showing
or the trick of
city,
crowd of people
a
a "grape-
.is
cluster oi heads" behind the foreground figures. Bui in the Rrajani< reliefs, these devices could be used only to the extent that they
were compatible with the
realistic
aim of the
scenes, which re-create actual historic events. "Look, this
is
on the growth of book illustration. As long as the roll form prevailed, illustrations seem to have been mostly line drawings, since lasers of pigment would soon have cracked effect
and come oil m the process of rolling and unrolling; only the vellum codex permitted the use of rich colors, including or, as we usualh
—
illumination
say,
of the Scriptures (in our instance. Genesis 13), which
roll to
is
a
than something that
.it
what pace
ed,
biblical or classical subjects
how much codex
—
were primarily depict-
of a carry-over there might have been from all
these are
still
unsettled problems.
artist
VATICAN VERGIL. There can that the earliest illuminations,
context of the external world.
tinic
When, where, and
the development of pictorial book illumination took place,
whether
and beholder alike, rather happened only once in the space-and-
small-scale counterpart of murals.
mosaics, and panel pictures.
what happened in the Dacian wars." we are told. The mosaics in Sta. Maria Maggiore, on the other hand, depict the histoid oi salvation; the reality they illustrate is the living word present reality shared by
— the
be
little
question, however,
whether Christian, Jewish, influenced by the
Our panel does not tell us, "This is what happened in Genesis 13" we are expected to know that already), hut "Behold the working of the Lord's will." Hence the artist need not
pagan, were clone
clothe the scene with the concrete details of historic narra-
known, the Vatican
glances and gestures are becoming more important to him than dramatic movement or three-dimensional form. The symmetrical composition, with its cleavage in the cen-
time of the Sta. Maria Maggiore mosaics, reflects this
in a style strongly
sionism of Hellenistic-Roman painting of the sort
or
illu-
we met
at
I
tive;
makes
ter,
clear the symbolic significance of this parting:
way of Abraham, which is that of righteousness and the Covenant, as against the way of Lot, destined for divine vengeance. And the contrasting late of the two groups is further emphasized by the juxtaposition of Isaac and the daughters of Lot, whose future roles are thus called to mind. the
Pompeii.
One
of the oldest illustrated manuscript books Vergil,
Book, and Illustration
From what source cles
such as
sitions 7
Were they the
to illustrate
first
compo-
in Italy about the tradi-
although the quality of the miniatures is far from inspired (fig. 327); the picture, separated from the rest of the
page by a heavy frame, has the effect of a window, and in the landscape we find remnants of deep space, perspective, and the play of light and shade. The oldest illustrated Bible manuscripts so far discovered apparently belong to the early sixth century (except for one fragment of style, in
did the designers of narrative mosaic cy-
of Sta. Maria Maggiore derive their
ih.it
made
tion,
five leaves that
Vergil); they, too, contain
Roll,
probably
seems
related to the Vatican
echoes of the Hellenistic-Roman
various stages of adaptation to religious narrative,
Near Eastern flavor that Dura-Luropos murals (see fig. 314).
often with a
at
times recalls the
scenes from the
Bible in extensive fashion? Lor certain subjects, they could
among the catacomb murals, but their most important prototypes may have come from illustrated manuscripts, especially of the Old Testament. As a scriptural religion, founded on the Word of God as revealed in Holy have found models
Writ, the early Christian
Church must have sponsored on
duplic atingof the sacred text
a vast scale;
the
it was handled with a reverence quite unlike the treatment of an} book in Graeco-Roman civilization. But when did these copies become works of pictorial art as well.' And
the ancient world
b
evidence,
when
CM5CiiNniNVlNTMMCUC^!,mNLCMK\C0\\.VMTl NMVC15JUM\vJTlLixn\cviL^lul\\lN\c.\xiiHr
-
LNlUM^HIOUXMUMNNm^lne^XM-VMOS
begins
trail
known
thinus; thus, their history
us largely from indirect Egypt- we do not know exactlv
is
in
to
with the discovery of a suitable material, paperlike
but lather ol
AVOC'MO00t0II>GNV4DmrNJUNTlE>\Mc;y
earliest Bible illustrations look like?
Books, unfortunately, are in
0&^\saKx^MM-MHMaui.\e<\M\nsTi'
and every copy
of
what did the
loR>ii\MnriNcVii
more
brittle
papyrus were
in
made from
the form of
the papyrus plant. Books
rolls;
they remained in use
throughout antiquity Not until late Hellenistic times did a better substance become available: parchment or vellum, thin, bleat bed animal hide, far more durable than papyrus. It
was strong enough
thus
made
hnic all)
lee
c
ailed a
odex gradually
rus
his
I
I
tec
\i:l)
be
<
<
c
reased without breaking, and ol
bound book we know
today,
odex.
and the fourth entur\ \li. the \elluin roll, whether vellum or papyhnologii al change must have had an important
Between the c
to
possible the kind
first
c
replac ed the
IIKIsnw Wl) BYZANTIN1
\i:i
327. Miniature from the vi/k v\ VERGIL Earlj 5th century
\n
Biblioteca Apostolica Vatic-ana,
Rome
Ib^^oivit^fF-A^f T**ydco mxpKtiO &*M& *&*& :
^in WRESTLING THE ANGEL, from the VIENNA genesis Early 6th century \3'Ax9V>" (33.6x24 cm). Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek. Vienna
328. Page with JACOB
VIENNA GENESIS. The enna Genesis, Wergil.
is
a Tar
most important example, the
more
Written in silver
Vi-
work than the Vatican (now turned black) on purple velstriking
tory going back as far as ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia; us appearance in miniatures such as ours may reflect earlier illustrations
lum and adorned with brilliantly colored miniatures, it achieves a sumptuous effect not unlike that of the mosaics we have seen. Figure 328 shows a part of the story of Jacob; in the foreground, we see him wrestling with the angel and
pack
receiving the angel's benediction.
disposal.
The picture, then, does
show a single event but a whole sequence, strung out Song a single U-shaped path, so that progression in space becomes progression in time. This method, known as continuous narration, has a complex and much debated —hisnot
—
\ I)
made
for
books
tainly looks like a frieze
For manuscript the advantage a
oi
Our
form.
(Our picture itself
artist
to
continuous method offers
economy;
it
permits the painter
to
his
at
apparently thought of his picture as
a
than as
a
be
re. id like
a frame.
on the purple
ba<
lines of text, rather
The painted forms are placed
kground
that holds the letters,
phasizing the importance of the page
/
cer-
I
of narrative content into the area
window demanding directly
roll
illustration, the
spatial
maximum
running account
m
turned back upon
Mil) CHRISTIAh
.is
WD
em-
a unified field.
H)/\\ll\l
\ia
Sculpture c
ompared
to
secondary role tion ol
Christian
In Early
lone
to large cult statues,
ples;
il
man
art.
graven images was thought
it
had
figure.
to est
["he biblical prohibi-
apply with particular
was
avoid the pagan taint of
to
lifesize
representations
thus developed from the very
It
monumental
hew
to
away from the
direction:
a
the idols worshiped in pagan tem-
religious sculpture
idolatry,
Jerusalem, Daniel in the Lions' Den, and
painting and architecture, sculpture played
massive scale of Graeco-Roman
start in
spatial
the hu-
of
an
anti-
depth and
sculpture toward shallow,
small-scale forms and lacelike surface decoration.
The
earli-
works of Christian sculpture are marble sarcophagi, which were produced from the middle of the third century on for the more important members of the Church. Before
est
the time of Constantine, their decoration consisted mostly of
the
same
murals forth
limited repertory of
themes
familiar
from catacomb
— the Good Shepherd, Jonah and the Whale, and so
— but
within a framework borrowed from pagan sar-
cophagi. Not until a century later do
we
find a significantly
broader range of subject matter and form.
beholder,
highly characteristic of
is
of thinking,
man
those years
is
the richly carved Sarcophagus of Junius Bas-
sus, a prefect of Its
colonnaded
Rome, who died
in
359
front, divided into ten
(figs.
329 and 330).
square compartments,
shows a mixture of Old and New upper row left to right the Sacrifice of Isaac, St. Peter Taken Prisoner. Christ Enthroned between SS. Peter and Paul,
Testament scenes: in the
),
(
Christ before Pontius Pilate (two compartments); in the lower,
the Misery of Job, the Fall of
'•2')
•
\i:i
)
<
Man,
Christ's Entry into
SARCOPHAGUS Ol 1UNIUS BASSUS
///;;s// \\
\\i>
r,)/\\n\i
\m
(
359
A.
D
Paul Led to
I
lis
modern the Early Christian way to the
which stresses the divine rather than the hu-
nature of Christ. Hence His suffering and death are
merely hinted
at;
He appears
before Pilate as a youthful,
long-haired philosopher expounding the true wisdom (note the scroll), and the martyrdom of the two apostles is repre-
sented in the same discreet, nonviolent fashion. The two central scenes are devoted to Christ the King: as Ruler of the
enthroned above the personification of the He enters Jerusalem triumph. Adam and Eve, the original sinners, denote the
He
Universe
sits
firmament, and as an earthly sovereign in
burden of guilt redeemed by Christ, the Sacrifice of Isaac is the Old Testament prefiguration of Christ's sacrificial death, while Job and Daniel carry the same message as Jonah— they fortify the hope of salvation. When measured against the anti-Classical style of the frieze on the Arch of Constantine, carved almost halt a century before (see fig. 301 ), the Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus
seems decidedly
SARCOPHAGUS OF JUNIUS BASSUS. A key example for
St.
Martyrdom. This choice, somewhat strange
classicistic.
The
figures in their deeply re-
cessed niches betray a conscious attempt to recapture the statuesque dignity of the Greek tradition. Yet beneath this superimposed quality we sense a basic kinship to the Constantinian style in the doll-like bodies, the large heads, the oddly becalmed, passive air of scenes calling for dramatic
The events and personages confronting us are no tell their own story, physically or emotionally, but to call to our minds a higher, symbolic meaning
action.
longer intended to that binds
Marble. 3' 10'// x 8'
(
them
1.2
together.
x 2.4 m). Museo Petriano.
S(
Peter's,
Rome
ENTHRONED (detail
A'AO. ciikisi
CLASSICISM.
329)
oi fig.
Classicizing tendencies of this sort
seem
to
have been a recurrent phenomenon in Early Christian sculpture horn the mid-fourth to the early sixth century.
Their causes have been explained in various ways.
On
the
had many important adherents who may have fostered such revivals as a kind of rear-guard action; recent converts (such as Junius Bassus himself, who was not baptized until shortly before one hand, during
this period
paganism
still
his death) often kept their allegiance to values of the past, artistic
the
and otherwise. There were
Church who favored
also important leaders of
a reconciliation of Christianity with
the heritage of Classical antiquity; the imperial courts, too,
both East and West, always remained aware of their institutional links with pre-Christian times,
and could thus become its roots in any giv-
centers for revivalist impulses. Whatever
en instance, classicism had tion, for
future
it
—a
preserved
— and
to
transmit to the
treasury of forms and an ideal of beauty that
might have been irretrievably
IVORY DIPTYCHS. class of objects
All
whose
lost
without
it.
tins holds true particularly
artistic
physical size: the ivory panels in
virtues in this age of transi-
its
thus helped
importance
far
for a
exceeds their
and other small-scale
reliefs
precious materials. Designed for private ownership and
meant
to
be enjoyed
lector's taste,
.1
at
close range, they often
minor
refined aesthetic sensibility not found
a col-
331. PRIESTESS Ivory,
1 1
OF BACCHUS Leaf of
1/IX5 // (30 x 14 cm). Victoria 1
a diptych,
&
Albert
(Crown copyright reserved
c. 390-400 \ D Museum, London
I
among
Church or State. Such a piece is the ivory leaf (fig. 331 forming the right half of a hinged diptych that was carved about 390—400, probably on the occasion of a wedding among the Nicomachi and the large, official enterprises sponsored by 1
EARLY CHRISTIAN iND BYZANTINl
Mil '• 265
main centuries
perfection had an appeal for
later: its cool
the Middle Ages as well.
Our seeond eastern
ivory
(fit;.
332), done soon alter
m
500
the
Empire, shows a elassieism that has become
Roman
an eloquent vehicle of Christian content. The majestic archangel is clearly a descendant of the winged Victories of
Graeco-Roman art. down Yet the power he heralds
to
the richly articulated drapery.
is
not of this world; nor does he
The architectural niche against
inhabit an earthly space.
which he appears has lost all three-dimensional reality; its relationship to him is purely symbolic and ornamental, so that he seems to hover rather than to stand notice the posi(
on the
tion ol the feet
steps).
It is
this
disembodied
conveyed through classically harmonious forms, him so compelling a presence.
PORTRAITURK. by the Church,
it
If
monumental
statuary
quality,
that gives
was discouraged
retained, for a while at least, the patronage
of the State. Emperors, consuls,
and high
officials
continued
the old custom of erecting portrait statues of themselves in public places as late as the reign of Justinian, and some-
times later than that the (
eighth centurv). Here,
during the
last
too,
recorded instance
we
latter half of the fourth
years of the
fifth,
is
in the late
find retrospective tendencies
century and the early
with a revival of pre-Constantinian types
and a renewed interest in individual characterization. From about 450 on, however, the outward likeness gives way to the image of a spiritual ideal, sometimes intensely expressive, but increasingly impersonal; there were not to be any
more
portraits, in the
Graeco-Roman sense
almost a thousand years
332.
////
ARCHANGEL MICHAEL
Early 6th century A. D British
Symmachi, two vative outlook
is
Ivory,
17
Leal
of a
to
of the term, for
come.
diptych.
*5W (43.3x14 cm).
Museum, London
Roman
aristocratic
reflected not only
families.
m
Their conser-
the pagan subject (a
ol I>.k thus and her assistant before an altar of Jubut also in the design, which harks back to the era of Augustus ompare fig. 28(x At Inst glance, we might well
priestess piter)
i
1
mist. ike
lor a
it
much
earlier work, until
we
realize,
from
sm. ill spatial incongruities such as the priestess' right overlapping the frame
that these
produced With loving tare hut no longer Signifii
iiith
enough
the pagan
theme
fully
I
\/
\
(
///;/s//\\
\\h
/:>/
\\//\/
re-
understood
did not prevent our
panel from being incorporated into the shrine
•
loot
forms are quotations,
\i;i
ol
a
saint
333. height li'
PORTRA11 OF EUTROPIOS C 450 ;
'
(31.7 cm). Kunsthistorisches
A.
D
Marble.
Museum. Vienna
The process is strikingly exemplified by the head of Eufrom Ephesus (fig. 333). one of the most memorable
tropios
of its kind.
It
of "Plotinus"
(
reminds us of the strangely sorrowful features see fig. 298) and of the masklike colossal head
of Constantine ical
see fig, 299), but both of these have a physconcreteness that seems almost gross compared to the I
extreme attentuation of Eutropios. The face is frozen in visionary ecstasy, as if the sitter were a hermit saint; it looks, in fact,
more
blood.
The avoidance of
than of a being of flesh and volumes has been carried so far that the features are lor the most part indicated only by thin ridges or shallow engraved lines. Their smooth curves emphasize the elongated oval of the head and thus reinforce its abstract, otherworldly character. Not only the individual person but the human body itself has ceased to be a tangible reality here; and with that the Greek tradition of sculpture in the round has reached the end of the road. like that of a specter
solid
though the leadership tended to shift more and more to the East as the position of the West dec lined. During the reign
was completed; Constandominance over the
of Justinian (527- 565) this shift tinople not only reasserted
its political
West but became the undisputed
artistic capital as well
tinian himself was an art patron on a scale
onstanline's day; the works he sponsored or promoted have an Imperial grandeur th.it fully justifies the a< claim ol those who have termed his era a golden age. They also display an inner coherence of style which links them more (
strongly with the future development of Byzantine art than
with the art of the preceding centuries.
Architecture and Decoration of the First Golden A",e enough, the richest array of monuments ol the Golden Age (526-726 ad survives today not in Constantinople where much has been destroyed but on Italian soil, m the town of Ravenna. Originally a naval station on the Adriatic, it had become the capital of the West Rom, m emperors in 402 and, at the end of the century, of Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, whose tastes were patterned after those of Constantinople. Under Justinian, Ravenna was the Ironically First
)
(
BYZANTINE ART There
no clear-cut line of demarcation between Early Christian and Byzantine art. It could be argued that a Byzis
antine style (that
a style associated with the imperial
is,
court of Constantinople)
becomes discernible within Early
Christian art as early as the beginning of the
fifth
Roman — or,
as
some
scholars prefer to call them. Eastern
— characteristics are often
main stronghold
I
of Byzantine rule in
Italy.
century,
soon after the effective division of the Empire. We have avoided making this distinction, lor East Roman and West
and Western Christian
S.
VITALE, RAVENNA. The most important church of that 526-547, is of a type derived mainly
time, S. Vitale, built in
from Constantinople.
We
recognize
its
octagonal plan, with
domed central core (figs. 334-87). as a descendant of mausoleum of'Sta. Costanza in Rome see figs. 322-24),
difficult to
the
separate before the sixth century. Until that time, both areas
the
contributed to the development of Early Christian
but the intervening development seems
AAA.
Jus-
unmatched since
art.
S. Vitale,
al-
Ravenna, 526-41
I
to
have taken place
\i>
/
\i:n
(
iu:isii\\
\\n r.)/\\u\i
ifil
•
mav be really
relevant, vet,
if
the truth be
told,
they
fall
short of a
persuasive explanation In any event, from the time of
Justinian,
domed, central-plan churches were
to
dominate
the world of Orthodox Christianity as thoroughly as the basilican plan
dominated the architecture of the medieval
West.
As for S. Vitale, its link with the Byzantine court is evidenced by the two famous mosaics flanking the altar (figs. 338 and 339), whose design must have come directly from the Imperial workshop. Here Justinian and his empress, Theodora, accompanied by officials, the local clergy, and ladies-in-waiting, attend the service as if this were a palace chapel. In these large panels, cration of the church,
we
made
find
shortly before the conse-
an ideal of
human
beauty
quite distinct from the squat, large-headed figures we encountered in the art of the fourth and fifth centuries; occa335. Plan of
S. Vitale
sionally (figs. 315, 331 this
emerging new
extraordinarily
336. Transverse section of
Costanza. richer in
S.
Vitale
is
both larger in scale and very
spatial effect;
its
slim figures, with tiny feet, small
al-
S. VitaJe
during the previous century. Compared
built
tall,
where domed churches of various kinds had
in the East,
been
and 332) we had caught a glimpse of but only now do we see it complete:
ideal,
to Sta.
much
below the clerestory, the nave wall
turns into a series of semicircular niches that penetrate into
the aisle and thus link
The
way.
leries
aisle itself
were reserved
it
nave in a
to the
new and
intricate
has been given a second story (the for
women A new economy ).
gal-
in the con-
windows on every which flood the interior with light. We find only the merest remnants of the longitudinal axis of the Early Christian basilica: a cross-vaulted compartment for the altar, ba( ked by an .ipse, toward the east, and a narthex on the other side Us odd. nonsymmetrical placement has never been fully accounted for).
struction of the vaulting permits large level,
(
Remembering S. Apollinare in Classe (see figs. 319-21), same time on a straightforward basilican plan. we are particularly struck by the alien character of S. Vitale. built at the
How
did
it
happen
radically different
point ol view
from the basilica and
ol
<
— from the Western
so ill-adapted to Christian ritual? Alter
all,
been backed by the authoroust. inline himself? Main different reasons have
had not the design of the ity
church mausoleums) so
that the East favored a type of
building (as distinct from baptisteries and
been suggested
338. (opposite topi
S. Vitale
EMPEROR JUSTINIAN AND HIS ATTENDANTS.
Mosaic,
c.
547
AD
S. Vitale
basilica
practical, religious, political. All of
268 • EARLY CHRISTIAN
337. (above) Interior (view from the apse into the choir),
WD
I'A/WIIM Mil
them
339. (opposite bottom)
EMPRESS THEODORA AND HER
Mosaic,
c.
547 AD.
S. Vitale
-VI
TENDANTS.
/
Mil.)
(
///(/s;/\\
\\l) l>,)/\\ll\l
Mil-2h<>
340. Section of Hagia Sophia. 532-35 AD. (after Gurlitt)
341. Plan of Hagia Sophia (after
v.
Sybel)
mond-shaped laces dominated by their huge, staring eves, and bodies that seem to he capable only of slow ceremonial gestures and the display of magnificently patterned cos-
movement or change is carefully exdimensions of time and earthly space have given way to an eternal present amid the golden translucency of Heaven, and the solemn, frontal images seem to present a celestial rather than a secular court. This union of tumes. Every hint of
cluded
— the
and
political
spiritual authority accurately reflects the "di-
vine kingship" of the Byzantine emperor.
We
are, in fact, in-
and Theodora as analogous to Christ and the Virgin: on the hem of Theodora's mantle (just visible in figure 339) is conspicuous embroidery showing the three Magi carrying their gifts to Mary and the newborn King; and Justinian is flanked by twelve companions the vited to see Justinian
—
Imperial equivalent
crowded behind II
we
of
the twelve apostles (six are soldiers,
a shield with the
monogram
342.
ANTHEMIUS OF TRALLES
of Christ).
and ISIDORUS
OF MILETUS.
Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
turn from these mosaics to the interior space of the
church,
we
discover that
it.
too.
shares the quality ol'dema-
slenderness that endows the figures with
terialized, soaring
mute exaltation. Justinian, Theodora, and their immediate neighbors were surely intended to be individual likenesses, and their features are indeed differentiated to a their air of
degree those of the archbishop, Maximianus, more so than I
the rest), but the ideal type has molded the laces as well as all have a curious family resemmeet the same large dark eves under (lined brows the same small mouths and long, narrow, slightlv aquiline noses countless times from now on in Byz-
the bodies, so that they
We
blance.
antine
shall
art.
HAGIASOPH1 ments
b\
portant
W isdom ol
ISTANBUL. Among the
\
surviving
),
tar
Sophia
Hagia
is
(the
Church
the
532 537,
architects,
Iralles
of
Holy
the arc hitectural masterpiece of that age and one
the great creative triumphs of any age (figs.
Built in
monu-
Justinian's reign in Constantinople, the most im-
ol
too.
and Isidorus
340
44).
achieved such lame that the names of
it
ol
remembered—Anthemius
were
of
Miletus Alter the Turkish conquest
be< .nne mosque the four minarets were added and the mosah dec oration was largely hidden undei whitewash Some ol the mosaics were uncovered in our cen-
in
145
then
I
it
.i
I
313. (above) Capital. Hagia Sophia
I
270 • EARLY CHRISTIAN \\h
ID /.\\
I
l\l
Mil
34
I
(opposite)
Interior.
Hagia Sophia
/
\i:i
)
<
iinisn
w
wit
i',)/
\\ii\i
\i:i
•
r
iwrv
since
345),
(fig.
museum. The design
building
the
was turned
into
a
of Hagia Sophia presents a unique combina-
tion of elements:
it
has the Longitudinal axis of an Early
Christian basilica, but the central feature of the nave
is
a
square compartment crowned by a huge dome and abutted at either end by half domes, so that the nave becomes a great
Attached
oval.
to
these half
with open arcades, similar say,
then, that the
dome
domes
to
are semicircular niches
those in
S. Vitale;
one might
of Hagia Sophia has been inserted
between the two halves of a central-plan church. The dome rests on four arches that carry its weight to the great piers at the corners of the square, so that the walls below the arches have no supporting function at all. The transition from the
square formed by these arches to the circular rim of the dome is achieved by spherical triangles called pendentives (see fig. 269); hence we speak of the entire unit as a dome
on pendentives. This device permits the construction of taller, lighter, and more economical domes than the older method (as seen in the Pantheon, Sta. Costanza, and S. Vitale) of
dome on a round or polygonal base. Where or dome on pendentives was invented we do not know; Hagia Sophia is the earliest case we have of its use on
placing the
when
the
a monumental scale, and its example must have been of epoch-making importance, for from that time on the dome on pendentives became a basic feature of Byzantine architecture and, somewhat later, of Western architecture as well.
*Zfl
There
is,
however,
still
another element that entered into
the design of Hagia Sophia.
main
piers,
The
plan, the buttressing of the
and the vast scale of the whole
345. CHRIST, from DEiSIS mosaic. 13th century. Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
346 Churches of the Monaster)
•
I
\i:n
(
iiiusiiw \\D n)/\\ii\i
\i;i
oi
Hosios Loukas
(St.
Luke of
Stiris),
Greece. Early llth century
recall the Basilica
cross with arms
ol equal length contained in a square with narthex added on one side and an apse sometimes Willi flanking chapels) on the other. he central feature is a dome on a square base; it often rests on a cylindrii aldrum with tall i
a
I
windows, which raises u ln also show other chara< teristii s of later Byzantine architecture: a tendency toward more I
I
elaborate exteriors, in contrast to the extreme severity
we
observed earlier (compare
loi
elongated proportions. The
I
I
I
334), and a preference
In;.
lull
impact of this
verticality,
however, strikes us only when we enter the church 348 shows the interior of the katholikon. on the left in figs H and 347). The tall, narrow space compartments produce a I
li'j,
i
347. Plan
of
churches of the Monastery of
Hosios Loukas (after Diehl)
sense of crowdedness, almost of compression. whi< h is dramatically relieved as we raise our glance toward the luminous pool of space beneath the dome
of Constantine (figs. 270-72), the most ambitious achieve-
ment
of Imperial
monument
est
Roman
vaulted architecture and the great-
whom
associated with a ruler for
Justinian
had particular admiration. Hagia Sophia thus unites East and West, past and future, in a single overpowering synthesis. Its
great
massive
mound,
exterior, firmly planted
though
its
upon the earth
rises by stages to a height of
higher than the Pantheon
diameter
is
— and
184 feet
therefore
like a
feet
1
dome,
its
somewhat smaller (112
—4
feet
),
al-
stands
more boldly. Once we are within,
out far
all sense of weight disappears, as if the material, solid aspects of the structure had been ban-
ished to the outside; nothing remains but an expanding space that inflates, like so many sails, the apsidal recesses, the pendentives, and the
we saw
aesthetic
dome
itself.
Here the architectural
taking shape in Early Christian architec-
ture (see pages 257-60) has achieved a new, magnificent dimension. Even more than previously, light plays a key
dome seems
the
role:
according
to a
because
rests
it
to float
—
"like the radiant
contemporary description
upon
of
heavens,"
the building
a closely spaced ring of windows,
the nave walls are pierced by so
many openings
and
that they
have the transparency of lace curtains. The golden glitter of the mosaics must have completed the "illusion of unreality." We can sense the new aesthetic even in ornamental details such as moldings and capitals (fig.
such— all is
343).
The
motifs
—
scrolls,
acanthus
foliage,
and
derive from classical architecture, but their effect
radically different; instead of actively
cushioning the im-
upon the shaft of the column, the caphas become a sort of openwork basket whose delicate
pact of heavy weight ital
surface pattern belies the strength and solidity of the stone.
Architecture and Decoration of the
Second Golden Age
Byzantine architecture never produced another structure
to
match Hagia Sophia. The churches of the Second (.olden Age from the late ninth to the eleventh century and after were modest in scale, and monastic rather than imperial m (
spirit.
)
Their usual plan
is
that of a
i
Creek cross
(that
is
a
348
Interioi
/
\i:n
k.itholiknn
(
Hosios Loukas
miisiiw \\n id/wiim
\i:i
349.
Dome
mosaics. 11th century.
Monastery Church, Daphne, Greece
itself to
us in the
Daphne, where the
pictorial
Figure 349 shows this view as
Greek monastery church
dome
decoration of the
is
of
it
presents
better preserved than in the Katho-
down from the center of the dome is an awesome mosaic image of Christ the Fantocrator Ruler of the Universe) against a gold background, its huge likon of Hosios Loukas. Staring
(
scale
emphasized by the much smaller figures of the sixteen
Old Testament prophets between the windows. In the corners we see lour scenes revealing the divine and human
—
the Annunciation (bottom left) counterclockwise order by the Birth, Baptism, and Trans-
natures of Christ in
followed
The entire cycle represents
figuration.
gram
so
perfectly
in
a theological pro-
harmony we cannot with
relationship of the images that
the say
geometric
whether the
an hitecture has been shaped by the pictorial scheme or vice versa A similarly strict order governs the distribution of subthroughout the rest of the interior largest and most lavishly decorated church of the Second (.olden Age surviving toda\ is St. Mark's m Venice, jei is
The
he Venetians had long been under Byzantine sovereignty and remained artistically dependent on the East well alter thev had hecome politically and commercially
begun
in 1063.
powerful t
I
in their
own
right. St
Mark's, too. has the Crook-
ross plan ins( ribed within a square, hot here
the
i
loss
emphasized by
is
a
dome
ol its
own
351
Ihese domes are not raised on drums;
27-v •/
Mil)
I
lliasliw
WD
H)/\\ll\l
Mil
I
each arm of 350 and
figs.
instead, they
have been encased in bulbous wooden helmets covered by gilt copper sheeting and topped by ornate lanterns, to make them appear taller and more conspicuous at a distance.
They make
a splendid
landmark
cious interior, famous for
meant
its
lor the seafarer.
The
to receive the citizenry of a large metropolis,
just a small
monastic community as
at
Daphne
spa-
was and not
mosaics, shows that
it
or Hosios
Loukas.
During the Second Golden Age, Byzantine architecture Orthodox faith. There the basic type of the Byzantine church underwent an amaz-
also spread to Russia, along with the
ing transformation through the use of
wood
as a structural
most famous product of this native trend is the Cathedral of St. Basil adjoining the Kremlin in Moscow (fig. 352). Built during the reign of Ivan the Terrible, it seems as unmistakably Russian as that extraordinary ruler.. The domes, growing in amazing profusion, have become fantastic towerlike structures whose vividly patterned helmets material. The
may resemble anything from mushrooms and hemes to OriThese huge ice-cream cones have the gay un-
ental turbans.
realitv ol a fairy tale, yet their total effect is
oddly impressive;
keyed as thev are to the imagination of faithful peasants (who must have stared at them in open-mouthed wonder on their rare visits to the capital), thev nevertheless convey a sense of the miraculous that is derived from the more austere miracles of Bvzantine architecture.
350.
351.
Interior. St. Mark's.
St.
Venice Begun 1063
Mark's
(aerial view), Venice.
Begun 1063
352. Cathedral
of St
Basil
Moscow
EARLY CHRISTIAN \ND
li)
1)54-60
/ \\ ll\l
IRT-275
• I
\i:d
(
///;/s//\\
\\i>
i;)/\\ll\l
\l;l
354. Scenes from Genesis. Mosaic,
ICONOCLASTS AND ICONOPHILES. The
development
of Byzantine painting and sculpture alter the age of Justin-
was disrupted by the Iconoclastic Controversy, which began with an Imperial edict of 726 prohibiting religious images. It raged for more than a hundred years, dividing the population into two hostile groups. The image-destroyers ian
(Iconoclasts), led by the
emperor and supported mainly
the eastern provinces of the realm, insisted on a
pretation of the biblical ban against graven images
ducive
in
literal inter.is
con-
they wanted to restrict religious art to abstract symbols and plant or animal forms. Their opponents, the Iconophiles. were led by the monks and centered in the
to idolatry;
western provinces, where the imperial edict remained most part. The roots of the conflict went
c.
1200.
St.
Mark's. Venice
we know
philesin843. While
Byzantine
artistic tradition
was
not affected In the ban
CLASSICAL REVIVAL. art of the
Second
(, olden
si
ape that
re< alls
it
have dealt Byzantine religious art a fatal blow. It did succeed in reducing the production of sac red images \cr\ greatly, hut failed to wipe it out altogether, so that there was a fairly rapid recovery alter the victory of the Icono
music
and
his
c.
900
ad
COMPOSING m cm)
14'/sx 10 /V'(3()X-2(, l
i
PSAl MS, from he Paris Psalter i
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris
in /)(/
m
Composing
(fig.
353).
the the
was
It
Classical models
David himsell could
Orpheus harming the beasts with his companions prove even more surprising, loi
(
figures that have nothing
al
at
.ill
to
young woman next to David is Melody, the one coyly hiding behind a pillar is Echo, and the male figure with a nee trunk personifies the mountains ol Bethlehem. The late date of the picture is evident on!) mm en. an do with the
Bible: the
i
I
qualities ol style sue h as the abstrac
draper)
t
overing Melod)
's
t
zigzag pattern of the
legs.
Another fascinating reflection of an early source is the quence ol scenes from .cues is among the mosaii s ol (
seSt
which must have been adapted from an Earl) hristian illuminated manusc ript rhe squat, large-headed figures re< .ill the art ol the fourth entun as Mark's in Venice
353. (apposite) david
explain
I'nmpeian murals, hut the figures, too oh
hem
since the) are allegoric
lad the edict been enforceable throughout the Empire,
^ge as
to
Classical mollis
probably illuminated about 900, although the temptation to put it earlier is almost irresistible. Not onl) do we find a land-
person of Christ; socially and
I
ol l.ate
Psalms from the so-called Paris Psalter
well he mistaken
illicit well
max help
This interest
the astonishing reappearance
verv deep: on the plane of theology they involved the basic issue of the relationship of the human and the divine in the
power struggle between State and Church. The Controversy also marked the- final break between Catholicism and the Orthodox faith.
how the
survive from thecal
eighth to the mid-ninth century, Iconoclasm seems to have brought about a renewed interest in sec ular art. which
\iousK derive
they reflected a
to
l\
ineffective lor the
politically,
certain about
little for
managed
fig
354
(
i
/
\HI)
(
IIIHSIIW
\\l)
H)/\\n\i \m
.
355.
THE CRUCIFIXION.
Mosaic. 11th century.
Monastery Church, Daphne, Greece
does the classical young philosopher type representing the Lord (compare fig. 330), which had heen long since replaced in general usage by the more familiar bearded type (see fig. 349). Of particular interest is the scene in the
upper-right-hand corner. Ancient
man this
art
had visualized the hu-
soul as a tiny nude figure with butterfly wings; here image reappears or survives, rather under Christian
—
—
spirit of life
auspices as the
that the Lord breathes into
Adam. The Paris Psalter and the Genesis mosaics in St. Mail's betray an almost antiquarian enthusiasm for the traditions of Classical art. Such direct revivals, however, are extreme cases. The finest works of the Second Golden Age show a classicism that has been harmoniously merged with the spiritualized ideal of human beauty we encountered in the art of Justinian's reign. Among these, the Crucifixion mo-
Daphne
saic at
qualities are
those
ol
there
is
I
(it;.
355) enjoys special lame.
Its
more fundamental, and more deeply
Classical fell,
than
the Parts Psalter, vet are also completely Christian:
no attempt
to re-create a realistic spatial setting,
but
the composition has a balance and clarity that are truly monumental as against the cluttered Pompeian landscape of the
I
)a\ id
miniature.
(
classical, too. is
the statuesque dignity
gentle pathos conveyed by their gestures and facial expressions, a restrained
met
in
Greek
and noble suffering of the kind we first century B.C. (see pages 184-87).
art of the fifth
Karly Christian art had been quite devoid of this quality. Its view of Christ stressed the Saviour's divine wisdom and
power, rather than His sacrificial death, so that the Crucifix-
was depicted only rarely and in a notably unpathetic The image of the Pantocrator as we saw it on the Sarcophagus ofJunius Bassus and above the apse of S. Apollinare in Classe (figs. 330 and 321) retained its importance throughout the Second Golden Age the majestic dome ion
spirit.
—
it
— but alongside
Daphne stems from that tradition we now find a new emphasis on the Christ
mosaic
at
When and where this human
of the Passion.
interpretation of the Saviour
its first appearance we cannot say for sure; it seems to have developed in the wake of the Iconoclastic Controversy. There .ire lew examples of it earlier than the Daphne Cru-
made
and none of them has so powerful an appeal to the emotions of the beholder. To have introduced this compassionate quality into sacred art was perhaps the greatest achievement of the Second Golden Age, even though its full
cifixion,
possibilities
were
medieval West
to
he exploited not in Byzantium but in the
at a later date. Yet
human
Byzantine
art,
view of Christ
too, pre-
in the cen-
which seem extraordinarily organic and graceful compared to those of the Justinian mosaics at s. \ il. ile (figs. 338 and
served and developed the
he most important aspe< of these figures' ( lassu al heritage however is emotional rather than physical; it is the
longer has the forbidding severity of the Daphne Pantocrator: instead, we find an expression of gentle melancholy,
the
ol
figures,
t
I
•
Mil)
i
llinsliw
WD
l'A/\\ll\l
\i;i
turies to
Sophia
come. The wonderful mosaic fragment from Hagia 315), probably of the thirteenth century, no
(fig.
along with a subtlety of modeling and color the best Classical tradition of the
tti.it
perpetuates
Second Golden Age.
Adam and Eve
from the dead
central group
Us dramatic Ion c aqualitv
expect
Late Byzantine Painting 1201 Byzantium sustained an almost
In
fatal
defeat
when
the armies of the Fourth Crusade, instead of warring against the lurks, assaulted and took the city of Constantinople lor
over
fifty
years, the core of the Eastern
Empire remained
m
Latin hands. Byzantium, however, survived this catastro-
phe; in 1261,
it
once more regained
fourteenth century saw a painting, with a distinct
last
and
its
sovereignty,
and the
lai
<>|
(
\
energy, tearing
they appear sive
image
known
m
to
ol
\d.un and Eve from (hen
through the an
llv
a
graves, so thai
magnificend) expres-
Such dynamism had been un-
divine triumph.
the earlier Byzantine tradition.
fourteenth century,
it
shows
Justinian, Byzantine art
still
that eight
Coming
the
in
hundred years
aftei
had us creative powers.
efflorescence of Byzantine
original flavor of
its
own, before
the Turkish conquest in 1453.
Because of the impoverished
to find
tine ail so
What amazes US about this we would hardlv on the basis what we have seen ol liv/anlnisi line moves with extraordmai phvsii al
is
state of the greatly
shrunken
ICONS. During the Iconoclastic Controversy one ol the chief arguments in favor of sacred images was the< laim that Christ Himself had permitted St. Luke to paint lis portrait, I
Empire, mural painting often took the place of mosaics, as in the recently uncovered wall decoration of a mortuary chapel
and
attached to the Kariye Camii (the former
"true" sacred images were supposedly the source lor the
Church
of the
Saviour in Chora in Istanbul.
From this impressive cycle of pictures, done about 1310-20, we reproduce the Anastasis (Creek word for resurrection), in figure 356. The scene ac)
tually
depicts
the event
just
before the Resurrection
Descent into Limbo. Surrounded by a radiant glorthe Saviour has vanquished Satan and battered down
Christ's iole,
the gates of Hell (note the
bound Satan
at
His
feet, in
midst of an incredible profusion of hardware), and
356. ANASl
\s/s
Fresco,
c.
1310
is
20.
the
raising
that other portraits ol
lously appeared
er,
man-made
hnst or of the Virgin had miracu-
(
on earth
ones.
Such
bv
fig.
li.u
These
pictures, or icons,
in early Christian tunes out
(such as
divme
ofGraeco-Roman
original lat-
had developed portrait panels
known about their origins, lor exIconoclastic Conn overs are ex-
312). Little
is
amples antedating the
\
tremely scarce.
Of the few discovered so far, perhaps the most important the Madonna from Sta. Francesca homana in home, brought to light some years ago by the cleaning of a muchis
Kariye Camii (Church of the Saviour in Chora
/
Mil.)
(
Istanbul
IlltlsllW \\l) l',)/\\ll\l
\lil-27<<
357.
MADONNA
(detail).
6th-7th century AD.
Encaustic on wood. Sta. Francesca Romana,
shows the
repainted panel. Only the Virgin's face
still
nal surface in lair condition
Its link
Roman
portraiture
medium, which that also
is
(fi«.
357).
evident not only from the painting
is
encaustic (see page 251). a teehnique
went out of use
alter the Iconoclastic Controversy, but
the fine gradations of light
from
origi-
with Graeco-
themselves, however
and shade. The forms
— the heart-shaped outline of the
the tiny mouth, the long, narrow nose, the strongly arched brows
lace,
huge eves under
— reflect an ideal of human beauty as
Rome
abound: the graceful pose, the rich play of drapery tectural perspective of the throne
have become oddly abstract. The throne, despite its foreshortening, no longer functions as a three-dimensional object,
and the highlights on the drapery resemble ornamental
sunbursts, in strange contrast to the soft shading of hands
and
faces.
The
total effect is
somewhat
transparent,
higher degree of three-dimensional solidity. What makes this image so singularly impressive is the geometric
the shapes look as
far
which endows the features with a monumental grandeur such as we never encounter again in Early Christian or Byzantine art. Where and when was it produced? In the sixth or seventh century, we must assume, but whether in Italy or the East we cannot say, lor lack of
severity of the design,
comparable material, lie that as it may, it is a work of extraordinary power that makes us understand how people c
ame
to believe in the
superhuman
origin of sacred pictures.
Because ol the veneration in which they were held, icons had to conform to strut formal rules, with fixed patterns repeated ovei and over again Vs a onsequence, the majority of them are more conspicuous lor exacting craftsmanship than for artistic inventiveness, The Madonna Enthroned <
work of this kind; although painted in the thirteenth centur) reflects a type of several hundred years hoes <>i the Classicism ol the Second Golden Age earliei fig
158
is
I
,i
ii
I
\80'l
IflJ
<
>
(
/f/;/sn r,
\\n i;)/\\ll\i
\in
(which looks rather like a all these elements
miniature replica of the Colosseum). But
spiritualized as that of the S. Vitale mosaics, while retaining a
folds, the
tender melancholy of the Virgin's face, the elaborate, archi-
almost
if
they were
literally true, for
neither
flat
nor spatial but
like that of a stained-glass lit
window;
from behind. And
this is
they are painted in a thin film on a
highly reflective gold surface that forms the highlights, the halos.
and the background, so that even the shadows never
seem wholly opaque. This all-pervading celestial radiance, quality
first
encountered
we
will recall, is a
in Early Christian mosaics. Panels
such as ours, therefore, should be viewed as the aesthetic equivalent, on a smaller scale, of mosaics, and not simply as the descendants of the ancient panel painting tradition. In fact, the most precious Byzantine icons are miniature mosaics done on panels, rather than paintings. Along with the Orthodox faith, icon painting spread throughout the Balkans and Russia, where it continued to even alter the disappearance of the Byzantine EmThe shifting of the creative impulses within this tradito the outlying areas of the Orthodox world is signalized
flourish pire.
tion
by the
work
ol
Andrei Uuhlev. the finest Russian icon paint-
er
and a great
artist
by any standard. Figure
J
>5f)
shows
his
Constantinople
)
<
—
358.
madonna enthroned
32^x19%"
(81.9
>
\Q
Late
-in
with Greek painters
in Russia or through a sojourn in The most individual element and also the most distinctivel) Russian is the color scale brightei more omplex, and different in key from that of am Byzan-
tact
famous panel Old Testament Trinity, done about 1410 20. (The title refers to the three angels who visited Abraham .it Mamre. Although parts of it are poorly preserved—most <>l the picture reveals a harthe background has disappeared monious beauty of design and a depth of lyrical feeling thai vie with the most Classical products of the Second Golden Bge. Rublev must have been thoroughly acquainted with the best that Byzantine art had to offer, either through con-
tine work,
hi the
hands
ol
tions as orange, vermilion,
primitive garishness of the sort here, the controlled intensity
pan
I
master, sue h combina-
a lesser
and turquoise might ol
we
easily
often find
these tones
is
m
have
a
lolk art;
an essential
of the composition.
Hid century. Tempera on panel,
[Tie
National Gallery
d
\n
Washington, D.C Andrew Mellon Collection, 1937
EARLY CHRISTIAN
WD
ID / \\
I
l\l
\lll-2sl
SftrtNSStf^"**!^
359.
ANDREI RUBLEV. old testament trinity,
Panel, 55'/2x44'//
(141x113 cm). Tretyakov
Sculpture Monumental
sculpture, as
pear completely from the
we saw
fifth
tended
to disap-
and stone carving was confined almost entirely to architectural ornament (see fig. 343). But small-scale reliefs, especially in ivory and metal, continued to be produced throughout the Second Golden Age and beyond. Their extraordinary variety of content, style, and purpose is suggested by the two samples shown here, both of them is
a triptych
portable altar shrine with two hinged wings
high dignitary might carry traveling
I
fig,
for his private
it)
and
who
<
— of the kind a
devotions while
St.
we
John the Baptist and
plead for divine mercy on behalf of human-
five apostles
.
small
360); in the upper half of the center panel
sec Christ Enthroned, Hanked by the Virgin
—a
below.
The exquisite refinement of
IllilSIIW |\l) ll)/\\ll\l
Mil
cifixion
(fig.
(
fig.
361
),
Daphne Cru-
355).
Our second
art,
large-scale statuary died out with the last Imperial portraits,
One
Moscow
this icon-in-miniature recalls the style of the
earlier,
century on. In Byzantine
dating from the tenth century.
1410-20.
c.
Gallery,
panel, representing the Sacrifice of Iphigenia
belongs
to
an ivory casket meant
that, rather surprisingly, is
for
wedding
gifts
decorated with scenes of Greek
mythology. Even more than the miniatures of the Paris Psalter, it illustrates the antiquarian aspects of Bvzantine
Classicism after the Iconclastic Controversy, for the subject is that of a famous Greek drama by Euripides; and our composition
(which
is
curiously shallow, despite the deep under-
cutting of the relief) probably derives from an illustrated Euripides manuscript, rather than from a sculptural source.
Though drained
of
all
tragic
emotion and reduced
of ornamental playfulness, these knobby
little
art. It was through Graeco-Roman heritage en-
coherent visual quotation from ancient
channels such as tered
thi'
this that the
to a level
figures form a
mainstream of Byzantine
tradition.
360.
THE HARBAV1LLE TRIPTYCH
361.
Late 10th century. Ivory. 9Vi X 11" (24 X 28
THE SACRIFICE OF IPHIGl \i Detail ol Ivor) casket & Albert Museum. London (Crown copyright
Victoria
\
t iti
Musee du Louvre.
|.
Paris
10th centurj
reserved
/
\i;i
)
<
mtlsiiw
\\i)
H)/\\ll\l
\m
ILLUSTRATED TIME CHART POL]
I
ICAL HIS Oil
Sumerians
LIGION
H E
lower Mesopotamia
settle in
m
Predynastic period unites
Y,
I
Menes
Egypt;
Upper and Lower Egypt
c.
3100
I
#
I
T
I
:
R
AT V
SCI E N C E
R E
TEC
.
1
1
NOLOG
V
c. 3500 3500-3000 3300 3250
Pictographic writing, Sumer,
Wheeled U
Inn-
•iiul
remple"
ziggurat,
Uruk
Sumer, Sailboats used on Nile Potter's wheel. Sumer. carts.
c. c.
e.
Hieroglyphic writing, Egypt,
Old Kingdom, Egypt (dynasties l-VI) 1100 2185 Divine Kingship ol the Pharaoh Earl) dynastic period. Sumer. e. 3000-
Cuneiform
i
bronze Plows drawn First
c.
3000
Sumer. c. 2900 and weapons. Sumer
writing, tools l>\
oxen
Akkadian Kings 2340-2180; Gudea c. 2130 23
10;
Theocratic socialism
m Sumer
f Tomb
Sphinx Giza
conquer Babylon
c.
1600
Flowering of Minoan civilization c.
1700- 1500
New Kingdom, Monotheism
of
Egypt, c. 1580-1085 Akhenaten (r. 1372-
13,58,
Dorians invade Greece
c.
Khnum-hotep, Beni Hasai
ot
Bronze tools and weapons in Egypt Canal from Nile to Red Sea Mathematics and astronomy flourish in Babylon under Hammurabi Hittites employ iron tools and weapons Book of the Dead, first papyrus book. XVI 11 dynasty Hyksos bring horses and wheeled vehicles to Egypt c. 1725 China develops silk production c. 1500
Middle Kingdom, Egypt 2133-1786
Hammurabi founds Babylonian dynasty c. 1760, writes Code of Hammurabi Hittites
\
1100
*
;•
rn
-jjf
IIIIHIHA
Stonehenge l.nuland
Hebrews accept monotheism Jerusalem capital
ol
(bom c. 660) Nebuc fiadnezzar destroys Jerusalem 586 .nil. una Buddha 563 183), India
I
'
l
179),
Chinese philos-
ophei
I
vs»
mocracy 310 revoll against
republit
Etruscans, set up
509
s/„
284
•
i
mi
>60 geographic map and celestial globe Aeschylus. Greek playwright (525-456) Pythagoras, Greek philosopher (fl. c. 520) <
Athenians expel tyrants establish de-
Romans
I,
(
Thales of Miletus calculates solar eclipse 585; Anaximander of Miletus designs
Persians conquei Babylon 539; Egypt
323
1000; Greeks adopt
Earliest iron tools
Zoroaster, Persian prophet
551
i
ii\i;i
i
el-Bah
it c. 800 and weapons in China Ideographic writing in China First Olympic names 776 lomor fl. c. 750 700 Iliad and Odyssey Coinage invented in Lydia (.Asia Minor) c. 700-650; soon adopted by Greeks
c.
Solomon (died 926) Assyrian Empire c. 1000-612
onfin ins
Dm
Phoenicians develop alphabetic writing
Palestine; rule of
David; of
(
Funeral) templeol Hatshepsul
Stele of ilaniniui.ilii
\\,,ii
from R
K\h\ painted
l>\
Exekias
FAINTI NG, SC Fortifications
U
1.1'
I
U RE,
ARCH FECTURE I
and Sculpture, Jericho, Jordan
Houses. Shrine, and Wall Painting, Qatal Hiiyiik Painted beaker, Susa
Female Head from I ink "White Temple" and ziggurat, Uruk 1
Plastei skull
lei
ii
ho
Mural, Hierakonpolis Palette of
Narmer Abu
Statues from
temple. Tell
Step pvramid and funerarj Saqqara, by Imhotep
Asmar
district ol Zoser,
Harp and offering stand horn Rahotep and Nofret
L'r
Sphinx, Giza
Pyramids
at
Giza
Cycladic Idol from Amorgos Ziggurat of King Urnammu
Tomb
of Ti, Saqqara
Naram-Sin
Stele of Palette of
Nairn
Gudea
Tomb
statues from Lagash
Khnum-hotep, Beni Hasan
of
Sesostris
III
Stonehenge, England •,
Tf
Hammurabi
Stele of
Cat Stalking Pheasant, Hagia Triada Snake goddess. Crete "Toreador Fresco" Harvester Vase from Hagia Triada
Vaphio Cups Palace of Minos. Knossos, Crete
Funerary temple of Hatshepsut, Deir el-Bahari Lion Gate, Bogazkoy Temple of Amun-Mut-Khonsu, Luxor
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LITERATURE, SCIK NC
LIGION
160
460 440 Sophocles, Greek
1
1
Sparta against Athens, 131
104
Rome
Greek historian
tragic playwright
406)
196
.
Euripides, Greek tragic playwright (died 406)
Hippocrates, Greek physician (born 469)
conquers Near East defeats Carthage in First Punic
.
TECH NO LOGY
c.
129
Vlexander the Great nniipu's Egypt 333; defeats Persia ;
K.
[ravels of Herodotus,
ITS
199
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Socrates, philosopher (died 399)
\\ ai 264 241; acquires Spam 20 Gauls invade eastern Greek states; repulsed 2
Plato,
philosopher (427-347); founds
I
10.
Academy 386
200
Aristotle (384-322) Theophrastus of Athens, botanist (fl. c. 300) Euclid's books on geometry (fl. c. 300-280) Archimedes, physicist and inventor (287-212) Eratosthenes of Gyrene measures the globe c. 240 Plautus, Roman comedies (255-184)
ielphi
200
Invention ol' paper. China Carneades of Cyrene, head ol' Academy, brings delegation of Greek
Rome dominates
Asia Minor and Egypt; annexes Macedonia (and thereby Greece) 147: destroys Carthage 146
to Rome 156 Roman comedies (died
philosophers
Terence,
Golden Age of
Rome 82-79
Sulla, dictator of
dictator of
Rome 49-44 (
Earliest water
27
r.
B.C.— 14
\ I)
i
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literature; Cicero,
Catullus, Vergil. Horace, Ovid, Livy
Julius Caesar conquers Gaul 58-49;
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Roman
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De architect lira
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:
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Vsia
c.
65) spreads Christianity
to
Tacitus.
German ia
Seneca,
Roman statesman
Minor and Greece
Eruption
Mt. Vesuvius buries Pompeii.
ol
IcKulaneum 79
1
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itus
Paul 'died
Natural History, dies
Pompeii 79
Imperor Trajan
( i
Roman Empire
r.
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117) rules
Ptolemy, geographer and astronomer
largest extent
(died 160) Galen, physician and anatomist (died
at its
Emperor Marcus Aurelius author
Shapui
212
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PART TWO
THE MIDDLE AGES
When we
think of the great civilizations of our past,
we tend to do so in terms of visible monuments that have come to symbolize the distinctive character of each: the pyramids of Egypt, the ziggurats of Babylon, the
Parthenon of Athens, the Colosseum, Ha-
in such a review of would he represented by a Nolre-Damein Paris, perhaps, or Gothic cathedral Chartres, or Salisbury. We have many to choose horn, hut whichever one we pick, it will he well
gia Sophia.
The Middle Ages,
climactic achievements,
—
190'
mi
MIliDI
I
v.i s
north of the Alps, although in territory that formerly
belonged
to
the
Roman
Empire. And
if
we were
to
bucket of water in front of the cathedral of our choice, this water would eventually make its way to the English Channel, rather than to the spill a
Mediterranean. Here, then,
we have
the most important single
about the Middle Ages: the center of gravity of European civilization has shifted to what had been
fact
the northern boundaries of the
Roman
world.
The
many
Mediterranean, for so
centuries the great
highway of commercial and cultural exchange binding together
become
We
all
the lands along
its
shores, has
a barrier, a border zone.
have already observed some of the events that for this shift— the removal of the im-
paved the way
perial capital to Constantinople, the
between the Catholic and Orthodox cay of the western half of the
growing
Roman Empire under
the framework of late
Roman, Christian civilization, however imperfectly; the local kingdoms they founded the Vandals in
—
North
Africa, the Visigoths in Spain, the
Gaul, the Ostrogoths and all
Lombards
Franks
in Italy
in
— were
Mediterranean-oriented, provincial states on the
periphery of the Byzantine Empire, subject
to
the
commercial, and cultural power. As late as 630, after the Byzantine armies had recovered Syria, Palestine, and Egypt from the Sassanid pull of its military,
Persians, the reconquest of the lost
The Church in Rome broke its with the East and turned for support to the
Germanic north, where the Frankish kingdom, under the energetic leadership of the Carolingian dynasty, rose to
the status of imperial power during the
eighth century.
split
faiths, the de-
the impact of invasions by Germanic tribes. Yet these tribes, once they had settled down in their
new environment, accepted
mic, and spiritual. last ties
Western prov-
inces remained a serious possibility.
When
the pope, in the year 800, bestowed the title emperor upon Charlemagne, he solemnized the new order of things by placing himself and all of Western Christianity under the protection of the king of the Franks and Lombards. He did not, however, subordinate himself to the newly created Catholic emperor, whose legitimacy depended on the pope, whereas hitherto it had been the other way around (the emperor in Constantinople had formerly ratified the newly elected pope). This interdependent dualism of spiritual and political authority, of Church and State, was to distinguish the West from both the Orthodox East and the Islamic South. Its outward symbol was the fact that though the emperor had to be crowned in Rome, he did not reside there; Charlemagne built his capital at the center of of
Aachen, close to France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and in Germany on the
his effective power, in
Ten years later, the chance had ceased to exist, for meanwhile a tremendous and completely unforeseen new force had made itself felt in the East: the Arabs, under the banner of Islam, were overrunning the Near Eastern and African provinces of Byzantium. By 732, within a century after the death of
Mohammed,
they had swallowed
all
of North Africa
and threatened
to
add southwest-
as well as Spain,
ern France to their conquests. It
would be
difficult to
exaggerate the impact of
present-day
map
of Europe.
Meanwhile, Islam had created a new
civilization
stretching from Spain in the west to the Indus Valley in the east, a civilization that
reached
its
highest
more rapidly than did that of the medieval West. Baghdad on the Tigris, the capital city of Charlemagne's great contemporary, Harun al-Rapoint far
shid, rivaled the splendor of
left the European shore of the western Mediterranean, from the Pyr-
Byzantium. Islamic art, and craftsmanship were to have a farranging influence on the European Middle Ages, from arabesque ornament, the manufacture of paper, and Arabic numerals to the transmission of Greek philosophy and science through the writings of Arabic scholars. (Our language records this debt in such words of Arabic origin as algebra and alco-
enees
hol.)
It is
with
some
the lightninglike advance of Islam
upon the Chris-
tian world. The Byzantine Empire, deprived of its western Mediterranean bases, had to concentrate all its efforts on keeping Islam at bay in the East. Its impotence in the West (where it retained only a pre-
carious foothold on Italian soil)
to Naples, exposed to Arabic raiders from North Africa or Spain. Western Europe was thus
forced to develop
its
own
resources, political, econo-
learning,
fore
we
well, therefore, that
we acquaint
ourselves
of the artistic achievements of Islam be-
turn to medieval art in western Europe.
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CHAPTER ONE
ISLAMIC ART CHINA
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The
incredible speed with which Islam spread throughout Near East and North Africa remains one of the most astonishing phenomena in world history. In two generations, the new faith conquered a larger territory and greater numbers of believers than Christianity had in three centuries. How was it possible for a group of semicivilized desert tribes suddenly to burst forth from the Arab peninsula and to impose their political and religious dominance on populations far superior to them in numbers, wealth, and cultural heritage? That they had the advantage of surprise, great fighting skill, and a fanatical will to win, that both Byzantine and Persian military power was at a low ebb, has been pointed out often enough; these favorable circumstances may help to account for the initial Arab successes but not for the endurthe
What had begun
ing nature of their conquests.
as a triumph
of force soon turned into a spiritual triumph as Islam gained
the allegiance of millions of converts. Clearly, the
new
faith
must have satisfied the needs of vast multitudes of people more fully than any of the older religions of the Hellenized Orient.
Christian tradition.
Moslems
are those
of
essential elements to the Judaeo-
its
The word Islam means "submission";
who submit
to the will of Allah, the
and all-powerful God, as revealed
to
ran, the sacred scriptures of Islam-.
Mohammed The Koran
one
in the Ko-
often draws
upon the contents of the Bible and counts the Old Testament prophets as well as Jesus among the predecessors of
Mohammed.
Its
teachings include the concepts of the Last
Judgment, of Heaven and to
ethical
commands
Hell, of angels
and
is
ing absorbed by the inhabitants of the regions the) ruled Instead, they absorbed the
no
ritual
demanding
a priesthood;
all
conquered populations, along
with their cultural heritage, which they the requirements of Islam
Moslems have
In art. this heritage
Byzantine
encompassed the Early Christian and its echoes of Hellenistic and Roman
with
style,
forms, as well as the artistic traditions of Persia (see pages 131-35). Pre-Islamic Arabia contributed nothing except the beautifully ornamental Arabic script; populated largely by
nomadic
tribes,
had no monumental
it
sculptured images of local deities
ity,
art hitecture. and its under Mohammed's
idolatry. Originally, Islam, like early Christian-
made no demands
first fifty
fell
at all
upon the
visual arts.
a Persian columned
rounded by
hall,
or
a fence or a ditch.
even a rectangular
The one element
Mohammed,
are
Mecca.
members
All
of
one great community. During his lifetime, he was their leader not only in the religious sense but in all temporal affairs as well, so that he bequeathed to posterity a faith which was also a
new
religious
pattern of society.
and
political
The
tradition of placing both
leadership in the hands of a single rul-
er persisted after the Prophet's death; his successors
the caliphs, the deputies of
Mohammed, whose
mosques had in common was the marking of the qihlti which Moslems turn in praying): the side facing toward Mecca had to be emphasized by a colonnade,
on the opposite side end of the seventh century, however, the Moslem rulers, now firmly established in their conquered domains. began to erect mosques and palaces on a large scale .is visiAt the
ble
symbols of their power, intended
dous appeal
—
is
it
— and the core of
opened
its
ranks
outdo
all
pre-Islamic
monuments
of
architecture do not, for the most part, survive in
their original form.
What we know
of their design and decowere produced by craftsmen gathered from Egypt, Syria, Persia, and even Byzantium, who continued to practice the stvles in which they had been
shows
ration
trained.
A
that they
m
distinctive Islamic tradition crystallized only
the course of the eighth century
were
its
tremen-
the blending of ethnic and universal ele-
ments. Like Christianity,
to
claim to au-
on their descent from the families of the Prophet or his early associates. quality of Islam
sur-
(the direction to
Eastern Islam
thority rested
The unique
field
these impro-
vised
Moslem
true believers, according to
Moslem
place of prayer could be a church taken over lor the purpose,
mosque), almsgiving,
to
During the
years after the death of the Prophet, the
structures in size and splendor. These early
and a pilgrimage
to
ARCHITECTURE
equal access to Allah, and the observances required of them are simple: prayer at stated times of day (alone or in a fasting,
adapted
skillfull)
or merely by placing the entrance
devils.
of Islam, too, are basically similar
those of Judaism and Christianity. As to dissimilarities,
there
).
ban against
many
Islam owes
The
tongues but also had to adopt the social, l("j,.il .iikI political framework of the Moslem community. As a result, the Arabs, though lew in numbers, were never in danger of be-
to
everyone,
GREAT MOSQUE, DAMASCUS. Thus at
Damasc us.
built
sanctuary, had
its
Mosque
the Great
706- 5 within the enclosure 1
of a
Roman
walls covered with wonderful ijass mosa-
ics of Byzantine origin.
The
surviving remnants, such
.is
the
stressing the kinship of the faithful before God, regardless of
section reproduced in figure 362, consist entiieh
race or culture. Yet, like Judaism,
landscape and architecture framed by richly ornamented borders against a gold background. Nothing quite like them
it
was
also a national reh-
The Arab warriors under the conquer the earth for Allah did convert the unbelievers to Islam; their aim was
gion, firmly centered in Arabia.
early caliphs
not expect to
Simply
who
to rule, to
vants of the
set out to
enforce obedience to themselves as the ser-
One True
God. Those
privileged status by joining Islam
who wanted had
to
to
share this
become Arabs-by-
adoption: they not only had to learn Arabic in order to read the Koran (since Allah had chosen to speak in that lan-
guage,
his
words
must not be
translated
into
lesser
ol
\
tews
ol
known in Bvzantine art, but then style obviousl) reflet ts an illusionism familiar to us from Pompeian painting. Apparis
ently,
m the Near Byzantium than in Europe. Caliph althe mosque, must have welcomed these
ancient traditions persisted more strongly
Eastern provinces Walid,
who
built
ol
Hellenistic-Roman motifs, so different from the symbolic and narrative content of Christian mosaic s A somewhat later Arabic author records that the
countn contained main
/s/
\\i/(
\m
2')',
The Great Mosque, Damascus,
362. Landscape mosaic. 715 AD.
churches "enchantingly
and
dor,"
that the Great
fair
and renowned
Mosque
at
character of the plant motifs are strongly reminiscent of
for their splen-
Damascus was meant
Byzantine architectural ornament (compare
to
date of the
huge desert
craftsmen conscripted from several provinces of the former Byzantine domain in the Near East. There is also, however,
pal-
a notable Persian element, evidenced by
ace at Mshatta (in the present-day kingdom of Jordan) has been much disputed; we can well understand why, for the style of the facade decoration (fig.
363 harks back )
probably about 743.
The
cal abstract patterns characteristic of
and the
;.^,f«~» .-r •..„....•
363. Ration c.
oi
743
the facade \ i)
2'K,
•
i\i
\\j/(
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ol
.;.
the Palace at Mshatta,
Height of triangles
Staatliche
lions
and
metalwork (see fig. 136). On the other hand, the geometric framework of zigzags and rosettes, uniformly repeated over the entire width of the facade, suggests a taste for symmetri-
to various
lace-like carving
winged
similar mythical animals familiar from Sassanian textiles or
pre-Islamic sources. According to the best available evidence, the palace was erected by one of al-Walid's successors,
343), and were done by
fig.
variations within the reliefs indicate that they
keep the Moslems from being dazzled by them.
PALACE AT MSHATTA. The
Syria
9W (24
Museen, Merlin
cm).
.
j
J<
Moslem
art.
365. Plan of the 364.
Mosque
848-52 AD.
of aJ-Mutawakkil (view from the north), Samarra, Iraq.
Mosque
of aJ-MutawakkiJ
(after Creswell)
GREAT MOSQUE. SAMARRA. A
striking
early caliphs' architectural enterprises,
all
example of the of which were
in Syria, which may also have influenced the church towers of medieval Europe.) The floor area of the Great Mosque at Samarra is more than 45,000 square yards almost ten acres, of which five and a half were covered by a wooden roof resting on 464 supports. These have all disappeared now, along with the mosaics that once covered the walls. The most spectacular aspect of the building
churches
on an immense scale at incredible speed, is the Great at Samarra (on the Tigris, northwest of Baghdad), under al-Mutawakkil, 848-52. Only an aerial view (fig.
built
—
Mosque built
364) can convey est
mosque
its
365) are typical of the
main
(
is
Mecca, encloses a court that run toward the qibla side, the cen-
axis pointing south (up) to
surrounded by ter of
which make it the largThe basic features of the plan fig. mosques of this period: a rectangle, its
vast dimensions,
in the world.
which
is
aisles
marked by
were summoned
to
mosque by
a ramp. Its bold
a spiral staircase leading to the
platform at the top, reflects the ziggurats of ancient Mesopo-
a small niche, the mihrab; on the
tamia, such as the
northern side rises the minaret, a tower from which the faithful
the minaret, linked with the
and unusual design, with
that time
prayer by the cry of the muezzin.
to
(This feature was derived from the towers of Early Christian
still
announce
famed Tower of Babel (see page
to the
1
19), at
Did al-Mutawakkil wish
in a fair state of repair.
world that the realm of the caliphs was
heir to the empires of the ancient
Near
East.'
Western Islam '
MOSQUE, CORDOVA. to
mosque
the
converted *
*
I
J
»
to
at
some notion of the Mosque at Samarra, we must turn
In order to gain
interior effect of the Great
Cordova
in Spain,
1236, the structure retains
IIIUIIitMIt (
fig,
to
its
we came
the
Although
in 786.
to
(jihla side.
The plan
Islamic character
366) was originally designed as
type
begun
Christian use after the reconquest of the city in
a
simpler version of the
know at Samarra, the aisles being confined Haifa century later, the mosque was en-
larged by extending the length of these aisles; in <)(>l-65
III
ilic\
I
Hypostyle
hall
more
were lengthened attain, and twent\ years aisles were added on the east side, since a
later eighl
river
barred any further extension to the south. These su< statues illustrate the flexible
which made
it
nature of early
mosque
366. Flan of the
enlarged
in
987
Mosque \
at
Cordova. Spain
D (from Gomez-Moreno
I
seemingly endless
forest of
columns confronts
nothing but the direction of the aisles (///>/(/
bank
essive
plans
possible to quadruple the size of the sanctu-
ary without departing from the original pattern. As a
i
to
we enter us,
with
guide us toward the
side
isiwik
\ki
•
297
367. Interior of the sanctuary (view from the east). Mosque, Cordova
The sanctuary was covered by
a
wooden
roof
(now
re-
of a Byzantine church
(fig.
344): in the
latter,
space always
volume and has a clearly defined shape, while
placed by vaults) resting on double arcades of remarkable
is
and picturesque design (fit;. 367), The lower arches are horseshoe-shaped, a form that sometimes occurs in Near Eastern buildings of pre-Islamic date but which Moslem architecture made peculiarly its own. They rise from short, slender columns of a kind familiar to us from Roman and Early Christian times. These columns, however, also support stone piers that carry a second tier of arches. Was this piggy-back arrangement a practical necessity because the
Cordova its limits are purposely obscured, so that we experience it as something fluid, limitless, and mysterious. Even in the Capilla de Villaviciosa, the surfaces and cavities prevent us from perceiving walls or vaults as continuous surfaces; the space is like that of an openwork cage, screened
who began
architect ly at
maximum
the building of the
speed
umns from some
— had
mosque
— apparent-
to utilize a set of too-short col-
he certainly has used the (lex ice to excellent advantage, for it produces an far lighter and airier than a system of single arcbes effe< earlier structure? If so,
t
and supports could have achieved, A further elaboration of the same principle Capilla de Villaviciosa
(fig.
368), a vaulted
is
found
chamber
in
the
to the
treated as
continuous with its surroundings. This distinctively Moorish (North African and Spanish) style reaches its ultimate stage of refinement m the Alhambra Palace in Granada, the last Islamic stronghold on the
off yet
Iberian peninsula during the late Middle Ages. portion, the built
paign
(
)()l
().")
Here we meet lobed
arc lies in
three
tiers.
way as to form a complex, ornamental screen l»t- \ault is e\en more imaginative; eight slender arc Iks or ribs ross ea< b other above the square compartment, subdh iding il into a network of colls. It is instructive interlaced in sucb a I
i
(ix
ompare the
298'ISLAMK
spatial effects of the
\l;l
Mosque
at
Cordova and
Its
Court of the Lions and the rooms around
between 1354 and 1391
(fig.
369).
richest it,
was
The columns now
have become slender as flower stalks; they support stilted arcbes of extravagantly complex shape, cut into walls that seem to consist of nothing more than gossamerlike webs of
ornament.
On
north of the mihrab, which dates from the building camol
at
I.k
the interior surfaces
(fig.
370) we find the same
ework of arabesque decoration, earned out
colored stucco or
tile
in delicately
— a limitless variety of designs, includ-
ing bands of inscriptions, yet disciplined by
symmetry and
infinitely richer
than that of
the Mshatta fac.ade, but in retrospect the two
monuments.
rhythmic separated
order.
l>\
The
six
effect
is
centuries and the entire expanse of the
W*^A
1
368. Capilla de Villaviciosa, Mosque,
370. Stucco decoration. Hall of the
Two
Sisters, the
"
Alhambra
Cordova. 961-65 A.D.
Mediterranean, appear clearly linked by the same basic process of evolution: the ribs of the Capilla de VUlaviciosa have
disappeared behind a honeycomb of ever-multiplying cells framed by tinv arches that hang like stalactites from the ceil-
wonder that the Alhambra is enshrined in the romantic imagination of the West as the visible counterpart ings. Little
of
all
the wonders of
The Thousand and One Siqhts.
The Turks From
the tenth century onward, the Seljuk lurks gradually
advanced into the Near East, where they adopted Islam, seized control of most of Persia. Mesopotamia, Syria, and the Holy Land, and advanced against the Byzantine Empire in Asia Minor. They were followed in the thirteenth century by the Mongols of Genghis Khan whose armies included the Mamelukes (a people related to the Turks) and by the Ottoman lurks. The hitter not only put an end to the Byzantine Empire by their capture of Constantinople in 1453, but occupied the entire Near East and Egypt as well, thus becoming the most important power in the Moslem world The growing weight of the turkish element in Islamic civilization is reflected by the westward spread of a new type ol mosque, the madrasah, which had been reated in Persia under Seljuk domination in the eleventh century.
—
—
<
MADRASAH OF SULTAN HASAN, 369. Court of the Lions, the Alhambra, Granada, Spain. 1354-91
most imposing examples
is
the
CAIRO. One
Madrasah
ol
Sultan
/SM\|/(
I
the
ol
lasan in
Mil
•
2<>
371. Court (view from the qibla side),
Madrasah
of
Sultan Hasan, Cairo, Egypt. 1356-63
372. Mausoleum attached
Madrasah
of
to the
Sultan Hasan
373. (opposite) Taj Mahal. Agra. India. 1630-48
;00-/SM\f/<
\m
Cairo, spirit.
contemporary with the Alhamhra hut very different in Its main feature is a square court (fig. 371 with a ).
Opening onto each
I
A.
I
lamic
MAHAL ar< Inlet
AGRA. lure
is
The most famous mausoleum of the Taj
Mahal
al
Agra
I
fig,
Is-
373), built
had been unknown to early Islam; they were borrowed from the West (see page 257) in the ninth century and became especially popular among the Mameluke sultans of Egypt.
Moslem ruins of India, Shah Jahan, as a memorial to his wile He belonged to the Mogul dynasty w hich had come from Persia, so that the basic similarity of the Taj Mahal and the mausoleum of Sultan Hasan is less surprising than it might seem al first glance. At the same time, such a comparison emphasizes the special qualities thai make the Taj Mahal a masterpiece of its kind. The massiveness ol the Cairo mausoleum, with its projecting cornice and firmly anchored dome, has given way to a weightless elegance not unlike that of the Alhamhra The white marble walls, broken by deep shadowy recesses, seem paper-thin, almost translucent, and the entire building gives the impression of barely touching the ground, as if it were suspended from the balloonlike dome. Its mood of poetic reverie is greatly enhanced by the setting; the long reflect-
The dome
ing pool lined with dark green shrubs sets off the cool white-
fountain in the center. is
side of this court
a rectangular vaulted hall; that on the qibla side, larger
than the other three, serves as the sanctuary The
mental scale of these halls seems of Sassanian Persia (see
fig.
to
monu-
echo palace architecture
135), while the geometric clar-
whole design, emphasized by the severe wall surfaces, is a Turkish contribution that we shall meet again. It represents an attitude toward architectural space completely opposed to that of many-aisled Arabic mosques. Attached to the qibla side of the Madrasah of Sultan Hasan is the sultan's mausoleum, a large cubic structure surity
of the
mounted by a dome
tine
in
domes.
(fig.
372).
Such funerary monuments
our example betrays
its
descent from Byzan-
three centuries later In one of the
ness of the great pavilion in trulv magnificent fashion.
/SMW/(
\Hl
•
)()1
MOSQUES once they
\l
ERZURUM AND ISTANBUL.
The Turks,
settled in Asia Minor, developed a third variety of
mosque l>\ interbreeding the Seljuk madrasah with the domed Byzantine church. Among the earliest and most astonishing results of this process is the wooden dome of the I In Mosque at Erzurum (see fig. 76-1). which has successfull) withstood the earthquakes common in that region: The Turks, therefore, were well prepared ty
of
I
to appreciate the beauSophia when they entered Constantinople. It imthem so strongly that echoes of it appear in
la
pressed
numerous mosques 1453.
One
of
thi'
erected 1609-16
built in that city
most impressive (figs.
374-76).
is
Its
and elsewhere
that of Sultan
alter
Ahmed
1,
four smaller
abutted by four half domes instead of two, and
domes next
to the
minarets
at the corners.
\02»ISLAMH
Moslem
Mil
1
Mosque
(after
Unsal)
architectural genius.
375. (below)
Mosque
of
Ahmed
1
(view from the west), Istanbul, 1609-16
The
mounting sequence of these domes has been handled with marvelous logic and geometric precision, so that the exterior is far more harmonious than that of Hagia Sophia. Thus, the first half of the seventeenth century, which produced both the Taj Mahal and the Mosque of Ahmed 1, marks the final flowering of
Ahmed
plan elaborates and reg-
ularizes the design of Hagia Sophia into a square, with the
mam dome
374. Plan of the of
376. (opposite) Detail,
Mosque
of
Ahmed
1
lem theology, suggests that painted sacred images never posed a serious problem to Mohammed and his immediate
REPRESENTATION
successors; since there was no pictorial tradition
we can enter into a discussion of Islamic painting and sculpture, we must understand the Moslem attitude toBefore
ward representation. It has often been likened to that of the Byzantine Iconoclasts (see pages 279-81 ), but there are significant differences. The Iconoclasts, we will recall, were opposed to sacred images that is. images of religious personages rather than to representation as such. Mohammed. too, condemned idolatry; one of his first acts alter his triumphant return to Mecca in 630 was to take over the Kaaba, an |
)
age-old Arabic sanctuary, and to
remove
all
found there. These were always understood
the idols he
have been
to
among
the
Arabs, Islamic religious painting could have been created only by borrow inu from outside sources, and such a de\ elop-
ment was most
unlikely as lorn; as the authorities did not
encourage it. They could afford to display indifference or even at times a certain tolerance toward the sacred pictures of other faiths
i
Mohammed ma)
Child from destruction
former Christians
in
among
have saved the Virgin and
order not
to
hurt the feelings
oi
his followers
Ibis passive iconoclasm did not prevent the Arabs from
accepting the nonreligious representational
m
the newlj conquered territories. Statues
art the) oi
found
an) sort the)
statues,
and the Koran expressly places statues among the handiwork of Satan, while painting and representation in
surely abominated, but Hellenistic landscapes could be in-
general are not mentioned.
scattered
Mohammed's attitude toward painting seems to have been ambiguous. An early Arabic source informs us that in 630 the Kaaba also contained murals of religious apparently I
biblical) subjects; the
Prophet ordered them
stroyed, except for a picture of
Marv with the
all
to
be de-
Infant Jesus.
which he protected with his own hands. This incident, is well as the lack of any discussion of the subject in earl) Mos-
troduced into mosques see I
i
sec
fig,
(ig.
362
I
.ind
among the relief decoration The rums of another '>(>;•>).
Sassanian animals
of the Mshatta facade pal, ice.
contemporar)
with Mshatta. have even yielded fresco fragments with human figures. ()nl\ from about 800 on do we find strictures against representation as such
verts.
but
m
perhaps under the influence
ture,
ol
Moslem of
religious litera-
prominent Jewish con-
hie! argument became not the danger ol idolatr) hum, in presumption in making imam's ol living
I'he
c
/s/
\\//(
\ia
•
(03
a creative act th;u is reserved to God can breathe a soul into living creatures.
Characteristically enough, a good
things, the artist usurps
alone, since only
1
le
specimens are
to
number
of the finest
be found in the churches and palaces of
western Europe; whether acquired by trade, by
DECORATED OBJECTS. or animal figures of
Theoretically, therefore,
any kind were forbidden by Islamic
Yet in actual practice the ban lart;e-scale representational
seems
to
human law.
imitated.
lor
public display. There
of the
art
at
and other Moslem princes, that images of living things were harmless if they did not cast a shadow, if they were on a small scale, or applied to objects of daily use, such as rugs, fabrics, and pot-
As a
result,
human and
animal figures did survive in
but they tended to become reduced to decorative motifs, intrinsically no more important than geometric or Islamic
art,
We must
remember,
among
in
German emperors
Palermo
for
Roger
II
(fig.
too, that this
the peoples
lions attacking
camels on either side of a symbolic tree of life
ment, the animals have yielded their original fierceness
tendency was an age-
who shaped Moslem
Turks, and Mongols
civi-
It
the element of pattern that links
is
bronze creature
Moslem
made
fifty
to a
heritage of their nomadic past (see pages 131-32). Islam,
almost three feet
was natural to these culrugmaktures. When the techniques of the nomads' arts merged with the vast ing, metalwork, and leathercraft repertory of forms and materials accumulated by the craftsmen of Egypt, the Near East, and the Graeco-Roman world, the decorative arts of Islam reached a level of sumptuous-
free-standing sculpture in
—
—
ness never equaled before or since.
can convey only the
The few samples
illus-
faintest suggestion of their
endless variety.
377 Coronation cloak width
of the '2" 1
I
tall; it
all
of Islamic
statue of an animal hardly does justice to It
ter.
is
the
(fig. 378). This one and a sizable one at that, since it is is, in fact, one of the largest pieces of
certainly casts a shadow,
then, merely reinforced a taste that
them with
years later in a very different part
world, northeast Persia
of the
Mil
years after
a motif
common
ISI \\ll(
fifty
whose ancestry goes back thousands of years in the ancient Near East (compare fig. 127); here, inscribed within quarter-circles and filled with various kinds of orna-
is
shared a
•
by Islamic artisans
133-34,
Normans had captured that city from the Moslems (who had held it for 241 years). The symmetrical grouping of two
all
lization, Arabs, Persians,
UN
made 1
the
love of portable, richly decorated objects as the
trated here
377),
of Sicily in
splendid sense of pattern.
plant ornament.
old tradition;
or as
Ages as marvels of imaginative craftsmanship and often Such a piece is the embroidered coronation cloak
effective only against
the luxury-loving courts of the caliphs
tery.
dle
was
have been a widespread conviction, especially
gilt,
crusaders' booty, they were treasured throughout the Mid-
art. its
Yet to call
it
the
peculiar charac-
primarily a vessel, a perforated incense burner
whose shape approaches tional aspect of the
that of
an animal; the representa-
forms seems secondary and casual.
We
what kind of beast this is meant to be; if only a part of it had survived, we might even be doubtful whether it represented anything at all, so abstract and ornamental is the handling of the body. The object becomes a "living creacannot
German emperors.
1
tell
133-34. Red
(3.4 m). Kunsthistorisches
silk
and gold embroidery,
Museum, Vienna
378. Incense burner, from Khurasan, Iran. 1181-82. Bronze, height 33'// (85 cm).
New
ture" only while it is serving its proper function; filled with burning incense, breathing fire and smoke, our animal might well have seemed terrifyingly real to a naive beholder.
The Seljuk prince who owned
The
Metropolitan
York. Rogers
undoubtedly enjoyed the performance of this half-comic, half-demoniacal guardian monster, which he himself could "bring to life" whenever he it
wished.
Museum
of Art,
Fund, 1951
by artists of other faiths. Byzantine masters were imported occasionally to work for Arab rulers, and the Oriental Christian churches that survived within the Islamic empire must have included many painters who were available to Moslem art patrons. But what kind of pictures could the Moslems have wanted?
We may assume that there was a more or less continuous demand for the illustration of scientific texts. The Arabs had
PAINTING. The
fate of
painting in the
Moslem world
be-
inherited such manuscripts from the Byzantines in the Near East, and. being keenly interested in Greek science, they re-
tween the eighth and thirteenth centuries remains almost entirely unknown to us. So little has survived from the five hundred years following the Damascus mosaics that we
illustrations
should be tempted
essential part of the content,
pictorial
to
assume the complete disappearance
expression under Islam
if
literary
of
sources did not
contain evidence to the contrary. Even so, it seems clear that the tradition of painting was kept alive, not by Moslems but
produced them
grams
had
own language. This meant that the be copied as well, since they formed an
in their to
or botanical treatises liest
whether they were abstract
or representational images
Islamic
|
Works
illuminated
<
as in zoologil
of this sort are
.il
among
manuscripts known so
ISLAMH
dia-
medical. the earfar,
Mil
•
al-
105
s*'s
* J
'.
4
^1
9
^\^A> *^&*ti&3 *s
K
y
uMjkl*J{Jy*
s
)
-ffelrfjil
AND AN ASSISTANT, from an Arabic translation 12% x9%" (32.5x24.8 cm). Courtesy of the Freer Gallery
379. ERASISTRATUS
Baghdad School
106
•
/s/
\\f/<
Mil
1221
of Dioscorides'
^^Ou
De Materui Medica.
of Art, Smithsonian Institution. Washington, D.C.
though none of them can be dated before about 1200. This example (fig. 379) is from an Arabic translation, signed and dated 1224, of Dioscorides' De Materia Medica; it shows the Greek physician Erasistratus reclining on a couch and discoursing with an assistant. Both are equipped with halos to indicate their venerabilitv. Interestingly enough, the scribe (
)
instance also did the illustration; or, rather, he copied along with the text. The ultimate source of the picture
It is
its
tempting
way
to
draftsmen,
tures
if
the text
this incidental
ligrapher's style of
Antique miniature with three-dimen-
the imagination to see
The forms remain
the page, like the script a
takes a real effort of
remnants of these
present version, in which everything
namentalized.
it
itself,
rhythmic assurance akin
is
qualities in the
flattened out
and
or-
on the surface of and our artist's pen lines have strictly
to that of the lettering.
380. Pen drawing
Mesopotamian
in red ink. '
<
).
the calling of scribe was an an-
a skilled
calligrapher might do
pi<
-
demanded them without having to feel that activity stamped him as a paintei and an
it
late
rip« illumination found through scribes who doubled .is
Moslem
lor to a
and honorable one;
abomination
sional figures in a spatial setting, but
art
cient
in this
must have been a
think that manusi
into Islamic
in the sight of Allah
pen-drawn
I.
He that as
illustrations,
it
may, the
with
oi
<
al-
without
the addition of color, soon made its appearance in seculai Arabic literature such as the Maqamai of Hariri, rhese delightful stones, composed about 100. were probably illus1
trated
withm
a
hundred years
after the)
were written, since
we have illuminated lanri manuscripts from the thirteenth century on. The drawing in (inure -580, from a cop) dated 132.-!. is clearly a descendant of the style we saw in the DiosI
from
a Hariri
manuscript
1323 British Museum. London
ISI.WIK
Mil
•
i07
corides illustration of a century before.
same
much
The
lnu-s
have the
quick, rhythmic quality, but they are handled very more freely now. and with an extraordinary expres-
sive power.
Our
artist's
grasp of
the response of the eleven
men
human to
character,
showing
the plea of the clever ras-
and witty that we must regard more important than a mere copyist.
cal in the center, is so precise
him
as far
in the uity,
West, which had been dormant since the end of antiq-
began
about this time (see figs. 534 and 539). which Chinese influence transformed the
to revive
The extent
to
tradition of Islamic miniature painting
is
well demonstrated
by the combat scene of prince and princess in a landscape (fig. 382): this is no colored drawing but an ambitious pictorial
composition that
fills
the entire page.
The
narrative to be
has served merely as a point of departure for our most of his effort is devoted to the setting, rather than
illustrated artist;
Persia
to
Arab merchants had been in touch with the Far East even before the advent of Islam, and occasional references to Chinese painters by early Moslem authors indicate that these contacts had brought about some acquaintance with the art of China.
It
was only
after the
Mongol invasion of the
thir-
the action described in the text.
He must have been
great admirer of Chinese landscapes, for the graceful delicately
shaded rocks,
trees,
and flowers of our picture
clearly reflect their Far Eastern source. At the
the design has a decorative quality that Islamic; in this respect,
it
a
and
is
same
time,
characteristically
seems more akin
to the pattern of
a Persian carpet than to the airy spaciousness of Chinese
teenth century, however, that Chinese influence became an important factor in Islamic art. It can be felt most strongly in
landscape painting.
Mongol rule, from about 1300 on, such as the Summer Landscape in figure 381. More than three centuries earlier, under the Song Dynasty, the painters of China had created a land-
Another important result of Far Eastern influence, it would seem, was the emergence of religious themes in Persian miniatures. The Mongol rulers, familiar with the rich tradition of Buddhist religious art in India and China, did not
Persian illuminated manuscripts done under
scape
art of great
atmospheric depth, mist-shrouded moun-
and rushing streams embodying a poetic vision of untamed nature. Our Mongol painter must have known this tradition well; most of the essential elements recur in his own work, enhanced by a lively sense of color that made him stress the red and yellow of leaves turning in early fall. Did such landscapes reach medieval Europe? We do not know, but it may be more than coincidence that landscape painting tains
381.
i08
•
fs/
win
\m
share their predecessors' horror at the very idea of pictures Mohammed. In any event, scenes from the life of the
of
Prophet do occur in Persian illuminated manuscripts from the early fourteenth century on. Since they had never been artists who created them had to rely on both Christian and Buddhist art as their source of inspiration. The result was a curious mixture of elements, often far
represented before, the
from well integrated.
from the Album of the Conqueror (Sultan Mohammed Mongol Mid- 14th century. Topkapu Palace Museum, Istanbul
SUMMER LANDSCAPE,
11).
382.
JUNYAD.
SOLITARY COMBAT OF PRINCi
HUM
from a Persian manuscript. 1396. British
\)
\\l> ritl\(
I
ss
ill
\i
\)i
\
Museum London
ISI.W1K
Mil
•
109
383.
THE ascension OF MOHAMMED, from
a Persian manuscript.
1539-43. British Library, London
Only on rare occasions does Islamic religious painting rise level that hears comparison with the art of older faiths. Such a picture is the wonderful miniature in figure 383,
to
.1
showing Mohammed's ascension
we read
the Koran.
Lord "caused lis servant to make a journey the remote place ol Worship which We have
that the
by night... to
to Paradise. In
1
We might show him of Our Moslem authors added elaborate details to this ount: the as< enl was made from Jerusalem, under
encircled with blessings, that
Later
si'^ns brie! a.
i
the guidance
ol
the angel Gabriel;
Mohammed
rose through
the seven heavens where he met his predecessors, includVI. mi Abraham Moses, and Jesus, before he was ing
was
said to
have ridden a miraculous mount named buraq, mule and larger than an ass," and
"white, smaller than a
having a
cheek— or
some authors
a
also gave
lace— like it
wings.
that of a
We
will
human
being;
recognize the an-
from the winged, humanit derives headed guardian monsters of ancient Mesopotamia (see fig. 121 and their kin, the sphinxes and centaurs, all of which had survived as ornamental mollis in the great melting pot of Islamic decorative art, where they lav dormant, as it were,
cestry of this beast:
)
until
Moslem
miniature,
writers identified
them with buraq.
the wings are reduced
to
a
In our
ring of feathers
p.iienlK
around buraq's neck, so as not to interfere with the saddle. The animal follows Gabriel across a deep-blue, star-studded skv; below, among scattered clouds, there is a luminous ce-
,is(
lestial body,
broughl into the present e
ol
\llah
The entire journey ap-
was though) ol as analogous lo that ol Elijah, who ended to heaven in a fien chariot. Mohammed, however,
;/o-
/s/
win
\l:l
probably the moon.
The Far Eastern elements
384. Calligraphic page from the Album of the Conqueror (Sultan
Turkish
in this poetic vision are striking.
We
find
them
(?).
in the flame-
golden halos behind Gabriel and Mohammed, a familiar feature of Buddhist art; in the curly, "intestinal" stylization of the clouds; in the costumes and facial types of the angels. like
Yet the
composition as a whole
— the agitated movement of
the angelic servitors converging from
Prophet— strongly
recalls Christian art.
all
sides
upon the
Our miniature thus
represents a true, and singularly felicitous, meeting of East and West. There is only one small concession to Islamic iconoclasm: the Prophet's face lias been left blank. e\ ulentlv it was thought too holy to be depicted. Scenes such as this one occur in manuscripts of historical
because
or literary works, but not of the Koran.
apparently did not dare
to illustrate
Mohammed
II
Topkapu Palace Museum. Istanbul
Even the Persians
the Sacred Book direct
although—or perhaps because— illustrated copies of the
I
v.
were not altogether unknovt n m the Moslem world The Koran remained the calligraphers' domain, as it had been from the very beginning of Islam. In then hands. Arabic lettering became an amazingly flexible set ol shapes, capable ble
of an infinite variety of decorative elaborations, both geometric
and curvilinear
At then best, these designs are master-
pieces of the disciplined imagination that in a
strange way, the abstract
art
of our
seem
to anticipate,
own mne The page
shown
in figure
pher
the fifteenth century, renders the single word Allah
It
is
ol
indeed
.1
384, probably done b\ a Turkish calligra-
marvel
ol
inn
i<
.11
\
w ithin a rigorous
set of for-
mal rules, sharing the qualities ol a maze, ol rug pattern. and even ol certain non-obje< tive paintings More than an) othei single object, it sums up the essence ol Islamic ,111. ,1
Bi-
/s/
\w/(
\iu
.
\\
1
CHAPTER TWO
EARLY MEDIEVAL
ART
the Roman Empire carried with them, in the form ol nomads' gear an ancient and widespread artistic tradition, the
THE DARK AGES The labels we use for historical periods tend to be like the nicknames of people: once established, they are almost imthough they may no longer be suitThose who coined the term "Middle Ages" thought of
possible to change, even able.
the entire thousand years from the filth to the fifteenth century as an age of darkness, an cal antiquity
and
its
then, our view of the Middle
we no
empty
rebirth, the
interval
between
Renaissance in
classi-
Italy.
Since
Ages has changed completelv;
longer think of the period as "benighted" but as the
"Age of Faith." With the spread of this new, positive conception, the idea ol'darkness has become confined more and more to the early part of the Middle Ages. A hundred years ago, the "Dark Ages" were generally thought to extend as far as the twelfth century: they have been shrinking steadily ever since, so that today the term covers no more than the two hundredyear interval between the death of Justinian and the reign of
Charlemagne. Perhaps we ought to pare down the Dark Ages even further; lor in the course of the century 650-750 \ i) as we have pointed out earlier, the center of gravity of European civilization shifted northward from the Mediterranean, and the economic, political, and spiritual framework of the Middle Ages began to take shape. We shall now see ,
that the tic
same century
also gave rise to
some important
artis-
achievements.
it
in the Luristan
ornaments from southern Russia (see page 32 and figs 127 and 128). This style, with its combination of abstract and organic shapes, of formal discipline and imaginative 1
freedom, became an important element
manic
art of the
purse cover
(fig.
who
East Anglian kins;
On
in the
(
eltic-Ger-
Dark Ages, such as the gold-and-enanicl 385) from the grave, .it Sutton Hon. of an died between 625 and 633
are lour pairs of symmetrical motifs: each lias
it
own distinctive character, an
its
indication that the motifs have
been assembled from four different sources. One motif, the standing man between confronted animals, has a very long history indeed we first saw it in Sumerian art more than
—
3,000 years before (see
ducks bring
to
mind
in Luristan bronzes.
hand,
is
of
lig.
1
The eagles pouncing on
13).
similar pairings of carnivore-and-\ lctim
The design above them, on
more recent
origin.
It
the other
consists of fighting animals
whose tails, legs, and jaws are elongated into bands forming a complex interlacing pattern. Interlacing bands as an ornamental device occur
in
Roman and
Early Christian
art.
espe-
cially
along the southern shore of the Mediterranean, but
their
combination with the animal Style, as shown here, to be an invention ol the Dark Ages, not much before
seems
the date of our purse cover.
Metahvork,
Celtic-Germanic Style
ANIMAL STYLE. The
We have cue ountered early examples bronzes of Iran and the Scythian gold
so-called animal style,
of
Germanic
tribes that
had entered
western Europe from the east during the declining years of
.185.
in a variety of materials
and techniques and
often of exquisitely refined craftsmanship, had been the principal
medium
of the animal style.
durable, and eagerly sought
Purse cover, from the Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial,
t>^
r >
33
after,
Such
account
objects, small,
for the rapid dif-
\ i>
Gold with garnets and enamels, length K" (20.3 (mi British Museum, London
/
\ni)
\//
dii
v
i/
i/,'/
•
;;
;
386.
Wood, height
fusion of
repertory
its
ever, these
of
ANIMAL HEAD, from c.
5"
(
the Oseberg Ship-Burial,
12.7 cm). University
forms. During the Dark Ages,
how-
forms migrated not only in the geographic sense
but also technically and
artistically, into
wood, stone, and
even manuscript illumination. Wooden specimens, as we might expect, have not survived in large numbers; most of them come from Scandinavia,
where the animal
else.
ninth century,
with
style flourished longer
The splendid animal head
much
is
the terminal
than anywhere
in figure 386, of the early
of a
post that
was found, along
other equipment, in a buried Viking ship at Ose-
berg in southern Norway. Like the motifs on the Sutton
Hoo
shows a peculiarly composite quality: the basic shape of the head is surprisingly realistic, as are certain details (teeth, gums, nostrils), but the surface has been spun over with interlacing and geometric patterns that bepurse cover,
it
tray their derivation from metalwork. Snarling monsters such as this used to rise from the prows of Viking ships, endowing them with the character of mythical sea dragons.
Museum
825
c.
come Rome-oriented.
Hiberno-Saxon Style
framework of the Roman Church, being was ill-suited to the rural character of Irish life. Irish Christians preferred to follow the example of the desert saints of Egypt and the Near East who had left the
The
institutional
essentially urban,
temptations of the city
the Alps also reflet ted the pagan
animal
Style.
In order to
produced, however,
made
north of
Germanic version of the
understand how they came
we must
first
to
be
acquaint ourselves with
the important role played by the Irish (Hibernians), who,
during the Dark Ages, assumed the spiritual and cultural leadership of western Europe. The period 600-800 \ D deserves, in fact, to be tailed the l
Roman Empire; pel to
.olden
Age of
thus the missionaries
them from England
sot ietv
in
the
entirely barbarian by
readily accepted Christianity, tact
(
Ireland. Unlike
English neighbors, the lush had never been part of the
lieu
filth
Roman
who
carried the Gos-
century found
a Celtic
The lush
standards.
which brought them
into con-
wuli Mediterranean civilization, but thev did not be-
l/4 •! Mil) Ml Dll
\
\l
\i:i
seek spiritual perfection in the
to
soli-
tude of the wilderness. Croups of such hermits, sharing a
common
ideal of ascetic discipline,
monasteries. By the far
had founded the
century, monasteries
fifth
earliest
had spread as
north as western Britain, but only in Ireland did monasti-
cism take over the leadership of the Church from the bishops. Irish monasteries, unlike their Egyptian prototypes, soon became seats of learning and the arts; they also developed a missionary fervor that sent Irish monks to preach to the heathen and to found monasteries in northern Britain as well as on the European mainland, from Poitiers to Vienna.
These Irishmen not only speeded the conversion
to Chris-
northern France, the Netherlands, and
monastery as a cultural European countryside. Although their Continental foundations were taken over before long by the monks of the Benedictine order, who were advancing north from Italy during the seventh and eighth centuries, Irish influence was to be felt within medieval civilization for
Germany, they
Christian works of art that were
Rather, they adapted what they had
received in a spirit of vigorous local independence.
tianity of Scotland,
[Tie earliest
A.u.
of National Antiquities, Oslo
also established the
center throughout
several
the
hundred years
MANUSCRIPTS. monasteries had Christian books
to
tome.
In order to spread the Gospel, the Irish to
produce copies of the Bible and other
in large
numbers. Their writing workshops
became tenters of artistic endeavor, for a manuscript containing the Won! of (Jot! was looked upon as a s,ic red object whose visual beauty should reflect the importance of its contents. Irish monks must have known Ear-
(scriptoria) also
<^s>
387. Cross Page from the Lindisfurne Gospels. c.
700 AD. 13'/2x9'/4 " (34.3x23.5 cm).
British Library',
London
ly
Christian illuminated manuscripts, but here again, as in
denly been subdued by the superior authority of the
so
many
In order to
other respects, they developed an independent
dition instead of simply
copying their models. While pictures
them, they decorative embellishment. The finest
illustrating biblical events held
devoted great effort
to
tra-
little
interest for
of these manuscripts belong to the Hiberno-Saxon style,
combining Celtic and Germanic elements, which flourished in the monasteries founded by Irishmen in Saxon England. The Cross Page in the Lindisfarne Gospels fig. 387 is an |
I
imaginative creation of breathtaking complexity; the minia-
working with a jeweler's precision, lias poured into compartments of bis geometric frame an animal interlace so dense and yet so lull of controlled movement that the fighting beasts on the Sutton Hoo purse covet seem child-
achieve this effect, our
(
Iross
impose ol
game" demand, for instance, that organic and geometric shapes must be kept separate; that within the animal compartments every line must turn out to be part ol an animal's body,
if
we
take the trouble to trace
it
back
to its point of
There are also rules, too complex to go into here, concerning symmetry, mirror-image (fleets and repetitions ol shapes and colors. Onh b\ working these out for ourselves origin.
intense observation
l>\
tins strange,
(
an we hope
to
enter into the
Ol the representational images they found tian
manusc
spirit ol
mazelike world.
ripts,
m
Earl) Chris-
the Hiberno-Saxon illuminators generally
the world of paganism,
retained only the symbols of the four evangelists, since these
these biting and clawing monsters, bad sud-
could be translated into their ornamental idiom uitbout
simple in comparison. in
to
the
the
ishly
has had
an extremely severe discipline upon himself His "rules
turist,
embodied
artist
It
is
as
if
/
\i:i)
\u
/>//
\
\i
\iti
•
lis
much
The
difficulty.
lion of St.
Mark
iti
the Echternach Gos-
388), sectioned and patterned like the
enamel inanimated by the same curvilinear sense of movement we saw in the animal interlaces of the previous illustration. Here again we marvel at the masterly balance between the shape of the animal and the geometric framework on which it has been superimposed (and which, in this instance, includes the inscription, imago leonis). pels
(fit;.
lays of the
The
Sutton Hoo purse cover,
human
figure,
is
on the other hand, remained beyond
the Celtic or Germanic
artist's
reach for a long time. The
bronze plaque of the Crucifixion
(fig.
389), probably
made
book cover, shows how helpless he was when faced with the image of a man. In his attempt to reproduce an Earfor a
ly
Christian composition, he suffers from an utter inability to
conceive
of
the
human frame
as an organic unit, so that the
becomes disembodied in the most literal sense: the head, arms, and feet are all separate elements joined to a central pattern of whorls, zigzags, and interlacing bands. Clearly, there is a wide gulf between the Celtic-Germanic and the Mediterranean traditions, a gulf that the Irish artist who modeled the Crucifixion did not know how to figure of Christ
bridge.
388.
SYMBOL OF
ST.
MARK, from the Echternach Gospels,
c.
690 AD.
12 3/4 x 10y8 " (32.4x26.4 cm). Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris
389. CRUCIFIXION, plaque from a book cover Bronze. National
;/'.
•
I.
Mil) Ml
I'll
\
M
Mil
Museum
(?).
8th century AD.
of Ireland, Dublin
390. Balustrade rebel inscribed by the Patriarch Sigvald (762-76 AD), probably caned Marble,
3x5'
c.
magne:
Lombard The
situation
we even
find
Style
was much the same in Continental Kurope: among the Lombards in northern Italy. The
it
representation. His evangelists' symbols are strange crea-
lour of
all
725
collecting and copying of ancient Roman The oldest surviving texts old great main classi-
the
literature.
Germanic stone carver who did the marble balustrade relief in the Cathedral Baptistery at Cividale (fig. 390) was just as perplexed as his Irish contemporaries by the problem of tures indeed;
c.
(91.3 x 152.3 cm). Cathedral Baptistery, Cividale, Italy
them have the same spidery
front
and their bodies consist of nothing but head, wings, and (except for the angel) a little spiral tail. Apparently he
legs,
he was violating their integrity by forcing them frames in this Procrustean fashion. On the other hand, he had a well-developed sense of ornament; the panel as a whole, with its flat, symmetrical pattern, is an ef-
cal Latin authors are to be
found
manu-
Carolingian
in
which, until not very long ago, were mistakenly regarded as Roman, hence their lettering, too. was called scripts,
roman. This interest in preserving the classics was part of an am-
Roman
bitious attempt to restore ancient
civilization,
along
Charlemagne himself took an active hand in this revival, through which he expected to implant the cultural traditions of a glorious past in the minds ol the with the imperial
title.
did not feel
semibarbaric people of his realm. To an astonishing extent,
into their circular
he succeeded. Thus the "Carolingian revival' mav he termed the first and in some ways the most important phase of a genuine fusion of the Celtic-Germanic spirit with
fective piece of decoration, rather like
He
may, in
tal textiles
fact,
an embroidered
have derived his design
(compare
fig.
in part
cloth.
—
that of the
Mediterranean world.
from Orien-
Architecture
136).
PALACE CHAPEL. AACHEN. The
CAROLINGIAN ART The empire dure
built
for long.
verj start.
by Charlemagne see page 291 (
His grandsons divided
it
)
did not en-
into three parts,
and
proved incapable of effective rule even in these, so that political
power reverted
to
the local nobility.
The cultural
achievements of his reign, in contrast, have proved far more lasting; this very page would look different without them, for it
is
printed in letters
whose shapes derive from
Carolingian manuscripts.
known
The
fact
line arts played
an im-
portant role in Charlemagne's cultural program from the
the script in
that these letters are
today as "roman" rather than Carolingian recalls an-
other aspect of the cultural reforms sponsored by Charle-
On
his usits to Italy,
the architectural
Home and his
own
monuments
with those
capital at
ol
he had become familiar with the Constantinian era in
ol
the reign of Justinian in Ravenna;
Aachen, he
felt,
must convey the majest)
Empire through buildings ol an equally impressive kind )1 and 3 )_> is. in I.k lbs Famous Palai e Chapel figs directly inspired l>\ S. Vitale compare figs 13 V? To erect such a structure on Northern soil was drfffr tilt undertaking; columns and bronze gratings had to be imported horn hah. ,\\u\ expert stonemasons musl have been hard to find. The design, hv Odo of Met/ probably the earliest an hitct
of
J (
(
>
t
i
I
i
I,
,i
t
i
;
urn
\n dii
\
\i
\m
•
;;:
391. Interior
of
the Palace Chapel of Charlemagne, Aachen.
792-805 AD.
»1 the Alps known to us by name), is by no means a mere echo of S. Vitale but a vigorous reinterpretation, with purs and vaults of Roman massiveness and a geometric
north
clarity ol the spatial units very different
from the
lluid
space
of the earlier structure.
Equally significant trance
(
now
is
Odo's scheme
lor the
largely obscured by later additions
western enand rebuild-
ing); at S. Vitale. the entrance consists of a broad, semidetached narthex with twin stair turrets, at an odd angle to the main axis of the church, while at Aachen these elements have been molded into a tall, compact unit, in line
mam axis and closely attached to the chapel proper monumental entrance structure, or weslwork (from the German Westwerk), which makes one of its first known appearances here, holds the germ of the two-tower facade with the Ibis
familiar
bom
so
318 -EARLY UI-.DU
many
\
\l
later
\i:i
medieval churches.
392. Cross section
of
the Palace Chapel of
Charlemagne
(after
Kubaeh)
393. Plan
of
the Abbey
Church
Consecrated 799 A.D
run. ver^rtrji uvrxrrn. ix •
*n.£ coi.
in ttn-anrSu rnj-n>nr9(bt.n
^
of St.-Riquier, France.
(alter Efifmann, 1912)
The
stair towers.
JPt^*f
>#
icas
(compare
lig.
apse, unlike that of Early Christian basil-
317),
separated from the eastern tran-
is
sept by a square compartment, called the choir. St.-Riquier
was
widely
imitated
churches, but these, later
other
in
too.
monastery
Carolingian
have been destroyed or rebuilt
m
shown
in
importance
of
times a fine westwork of the tenth century (
is
figure 403).
PLAN OF A MONASTERY, ST GALL. The
monasteries, and their close link with the imperial court, are
suggested by a unique document of the period, the drawing of a plan for a monastery preserved in the Chapter Library at St. (Jail in Switzerland fig. 395). Its bavividly
large
I
seem to have been determined at a council held near Aachen in 816-17; this copy was then sent to the abbot sic features
of
St.
Gall for his guidance in rebuilding the monastery.
may regard according
We
therefore, as a standard plan, to be modified
it,
to local
The monastery
needs is
a
complex, sell-contained
rectangle about 500 by 700 feet trance-way, from the west
fi«.
(
396).
unit, filling a
mam
The
en-
passes between stables and a
which admits the visitor to a colonnaded semicircular portico flanked by two round towers, a sort of strung-out westwork that looms impressively above hostelry toward a gate
the low outer buildings.
It
emphasizes the church as the
center of the monastic community. The church
is
a basilica,
with a transept and choir in the east but an apse and altar either end; the nave altars,
394. Abbey Church of St.-Riquier (engraved view by Pctau, 1612, after an 11th-century manuscript illumination)
and
at
containing numerous other
aisles,
do not form a single continuous space but are subdiThere are numerous
\ided into compartments bv screens.
entrances; two beside the western apse, others on the north
and south
flanks.
This entire arrangement reflects the functions of a monastery church, designed lor the liturgical needs of the
ST-RIQUIER,
ABBEVILLK. An
even
more
elaborate
westwork formed part of the greatest basiliean church of Carolingian times, that of the monastery of St.-Riquier also called Centula), near Abbeville in northeastern France. It has been completely destroyed, but its design is known in detail from drawings and descriptions (figs. 393 and 394). I
Several innovations in the church were to
importance
for the future: the
narthex which
is
in effect a
become
westwork leads
of basic
into a vaulted
western transept; the crossing
where the transept intersects the nave) was crowned by a tower, and the same feature recurred above the crossing of the eastern transept, again with two round (the area
monks
rather than lor a lav congregation. Adjoining the
church
to
the south
is
an arcaded
cloister,
around w huh are
grouped the monks' dormitorj ton the east side), a refectory and kitchen on the south side and a cellar The three large buildings north of the church are a truest house, a school. i,
i
and the abbot's house. To the east are the infirmary, a chapel and quarters lor novices, the cemetery (marked by a large cross), a garden, and coops for chit kens and geese. The south side is occupied bv workshops barns, and otliei service buildings. actly like this
earned out
.is
There
is.
anywhere
needless
even
drawn—yet
its
m
to say,
St
no monastery ex-
Gall the plan
was not
layout conveys an excellent
notion of such establishments throughout the Middle Ages.
/
\nn
\n dii
\
\i.
\m
.
uu
1
395. Plan of a monastery. Original in red ink on parchment,
c.
820 AD. 28 x 44
W
Stiftsbibliothek, St. Gall, Switzerland (inscriptions translated into English
396. Reconstruction model, alter the
•
/
Mil) Ml
1)11
\
\l
Mil
c.
820
ad
(71.
1
x
1
12.
1
from Latin)
plan of a monastery (Walter
I
lorn.
1965)
cm).
397.
ST.
MATTHEW.
from the Gospel Booh of Charlemagne. c.
800-10 AD. 13 x Kunsthistorisches
398. PORTRAIT
10"
(33x25.4 cm).
Museum. Vienna OF MENANDER
Wall painting.
C. 70 \ D House of Menander. Pompeii
Manuscripts and Book Covers GOSPEL BOOK OF CHARLEMAGNE. We know
from
lit-
erary sources that Carolingian churches contained murals,
mosaics, and relief sculpture, but these have disappeared almost entirely. Illuminated manuscripts, ivories, and goldsmiths' work, on the other hand, have survived in consid-
They demonstrate the impact of the Caromore strikingly than the architectural the period. The former Imperial Treasury in Vi-
erable numbers.
lingian revival even
remains of
enna contains a Gospel Book said to have been found in the tomb of Charlemagne and, in any event, closely linked with his court at Aachen. As we look at the picture of St. Matthew (fig. 397), we find it hard to believe such a work could have been executed in northern Europe about the year 800; if it were not for the large golden
from that manuscript
that
halo, the Evangelist
Matthew might almost be mistaken for one of Menander (fig.
a classical author's portrait like the
Pompeii almost eight centuries
398). painted at
Whoever
the artist
he plainly was painting,
fully
down
to
was— Byzantine,
Italian, or
conversant with the
earlier.
Prankish—
Roman
the acanthus ornament on
tradition of
the wide
frame, which emphasizes the "window" aspect of the pichare.
The
St.
Matthew represents
of the Carolingian revival;
it
is
the most orthodox phase the visual counterpart of
copying the text of a classical work of
literature.
/
Mil.)
Ml
1)11
\
M
Mil
•
\21
GOSPEL BOOK OF ARCHBISHOP EBBO. A miniature of sonic three decades later for the Gospel Book of Archbishop
Ebbo of Reims fig. 399) shows the classical model translated into a Carolinian idiom. It must have been based on an evangelist's portrait of the same style as the St. Mull hen. I
but now the entire picture
is filled
with a vibrant energy that
sets everything into motion: the drapery swirls about the figure, the hills
heave upward, the vegetation seems
to
be
tossed about by a whirlwind, and even the acanthus pattern
on the frame assumes a strange, flamelike character. The Evangelist himself has been transformed from a Roman author setting down his own thoughts into a man seized with the frenzy of divine inspiration, an instrument for recording the Word of God. His gaze is fixed not upon his book but
upon
his
symbol the winged (
with a
lion
as the transmitter of the Sacred
scroll),
Text.
which
acts
This dependence
upon the Will of the Lord, so powerfully expressed here, marks the contrast between classical and medieval images the dynamism of line of men. But the means of expression
—
that distinguishes our miniature calls the
passionate
movement
manuscripts of the Dark Ages
UTRECHT PSALTER.
from
its
predecessor
in the
ornamentation of
(figs.
387 and 388).
The Reims School
also
—
re-
Irish
produced
the most extraordinary of all Carolingian manuscripts, the Utrecht Psalter (fig. 400). It displays the style of the Ebbo Gospels in an even more energetic form, since the entire the artist is illustrated with pen drawings. Here again has followed a much older model, as indicated by the architectural and landscape settings of the scenes and by the use of Roman capital lettering, which had gone out of general
book 399. ST MARK, from the Gospel Book of Archbishop Ebbo of Reims.
816-35
A.I)
Bibliotheque Municipale, Epernay, France
use several centuries before. The wonderfully rhythmic
MM-QUAUMMJfruiiS-
ADDMQUlUtllflCAJ rAJUUUiIU5 MWT0/M ,
OaMADiliCiTMnKJiMICU^f^^r,
100 Illustration
•
/
\in
)
\u nil
\
\l
\m
to
Psalm
11
from the
f©w
run
lit
i'saltcr. c.
820-32 a d University
Library, Utrecht
401. Upper cover of binding, the Lindau Gospels,
Gold and jewels,
13% x
lOVa"
c. 870 \ D (35x26.7 cm). The Pierpont Morgan Library New York
quality of his draftsmanship, however, gives to these sketch-
LINDAl
es a kind of emotional coherence that could not have been
Sc hool
present in the earlier pictures, Without the Utrecht Psalter would carry etic
m
little
it.
the drawings
ol
conviction, lor the po-
language of the Psalms does not lend itsell to illustration same sense as the narrative portions of the Bible.
the
The Psalms can he literally
and then
illustrated only by taking
In visualizing
the top of our picture,
we
it
each phrase
some manner Thus,
in
at
see the Lord reclining on a bed.
c
GOSPELS COVER, an
still
and
sheep
trian artist, this
at
the city gate
m
the foreground the\ are
for the slaughter." In the
hands
ol a
pedes-
procedure could well turn into a wearisome charade; here, it has the force ol a ureal drama.
I
mi
fig
a
work
ol
ol
the
ol
Reims
jeweled front cover the third quarter
the goldsmith's art
-
it
(
ed turrets, so dial the light can penetrate beneath them,
cified
the earth."
style
shows how splendidh, the Celtic-Germanic metalwork tradisell to the ( a inhuman re\ i\ tion of the Dark Aues adapted al. The clusters ol semiprecious stones are not mounted direc ll\ on the gold ground but raised on law leet or arcad-
"Awake, why sleepest thou. () Lord?" On the left, the faithful crouch before the Temple, "lor. our belly cleaveth unto killed "as
The
in the reliefs of the
the ninth century. Ibis masterpie< e
bring out then
.
felt
of the Lindau Gospels ol
flanked by pleading angels, an image based on the words.
.
be
lull brilliance,
(bust betrays no bun
stand rather than gesture.
was
h>
endow
to 1
hang, 1 1
111
among
ol lis
wub
not \ei conceivable,
hand as we can see
I
bom
Interesting!)
pain or death.
I
arms spread oui
the si^ns
ol
le
seems to solemn
in a
human
suffering
even though the means were the eloquent expressions
the small figures in the adjoining
/
w;/
)
to
enough, the cru-
compartments
\u dii
\
\i
al
ol griei
\iu
•
Sicily
when the Lindau Gospels cover was made, the remains of Charlemagne's empire were ruled by bis two surviving grandsons: Charles the Bald, the West Frankish king, and Louis the German, the East Prankish kiim. whose domains corresponded roughly to the France and Germany of today. Their power was so weak, however,
In 870. about the tone
Europe once again lay exposed to attack. In Moslems resumed their depredations, Slavs and Magyars advanced from the east, and Vikings from that Continental
the south, the
Scandinavia ravaged the north and west. These Norsemen (the ancestors of today's Danes and Norwegians) had been raiding Ireland and Britain by sea
from the
late
eighth century on;
now
Norman nobles expelled the Arabs from and the Byzantines from South Italy. In Germany, meanwhile, after the death of the last Carolingian monarch in 911, the center of political power had shifted north to Saxony. The Saxon kings (919-1024) reestablished an effective central government, and the greatgland while other
OTTONIAN ART
they invaded north-
them. Otto I, also revived the imperial ambitions of Charlemagne. After marrying the widow of a Lombard king, he extended his rule over most of Italy and had himself crowned emperor by the pope in 962. From then on the Holy Roman Empire was to be a German institution or perhaps we ought to call it a German dream, for Otto's successors est of
—
never managed
to consolidate their
claim to sovereignty
south of the Alps. Yet this claim had momentous conse-
quences, since
it
led the
German emperors
into centuries of
western France as well, occupying the area that ever since has been called Normandy. Once estabhshed there, they
conflict with the
papacy and
North and South
in a love-hate relationship
soon adopted Christianity and Carolingian civilization, and, from 911 on, their leaders were recognized as dukes nomi-
can be
During of major
felt to
Normans assumed
a role
importance in shaping the political and cultural destiny of Europe, with William the Conqueror becoming king of En-
402.
THE GERO CRUCIFIX
Sculpture During the Ottonian period, from the mid-tenth century to the beginning of the eleventh, Germany was the leading nation of
c.
Europe,
I
\i:d Ml dii
\
\i
\m
politically as well as artistically.
975-1000 A.D Wood,
height 6'2" (2 m). Cathedral, Cologne
•
whose echoes
the present day.
nally subject to the authority of the king of France.
the eleventh century, the
local Italian rulers, linking
German
403. Westwork,
achievements
in both areas
traditions but
soon developed new and original
began as
St.
Pantaleon, Cologne. Consecrated 980 A.D.
revivals of Carolingian traits.
had married a Byzantine princess, establishing a direct link between the two imperial courts. It remained for the Ottonian artist to translate the Byzantine
GERO CRUCIFIX.
These changes of outlook are impressively brought home to us if we compare the Christ on the cover of the Lindau Gospels with The Gero Crucifix (liu,. 402) in the Cathedral at Cologne. The two works are separated by little more than a hundred years' interval, but the contrast between them suggests a far greater span. In The Gero Crucifix we meet an image of the crucified Saviour new to Western art: monumental in scale, carved in powerfully rounded forms, and filled with a deep concern lor the sufferings of the Lord. Particularly striking
is the forward bulge of the heavy body, which makes the physical strain on arms and shoulders seem almost unbearably real. The lace. with its deeply incised, angular features, has turned into a
mask
which all life has lied. Ottoman sculptor arrive .it
of agony, from
How
did the
bold conception 7
We
do not
belittle his
this startlingly
greatness by recall-
ing that the compassionate view of Christ on the Cross had
been created
sculptural terms and to replace
its
pressive realism that has been the art
image
into large-scale
gentle pathos with an ex-
mam
strength of German
ever since.
Architecture Cologne was closely connected with the imperial house through its archbishop, Bruno, the brother of Otto I. who left a strong mark on the city through the numerous churches he built or rebuilt lis favorite among these, the Benedictine Abbey of St. Pantaleon. became his burial place 'as well as 1
that of the wife of Otto (fig.
II.
103) has retained
Only the monumental westwork original shape essentially un-
its
changed until modern times; we recognize n as a massive and well-proportioned successor to Carolingian westworks. with the charac teristU tower over the crossing (in transept and a deep porch flanked b)
in Byzantine art of the Second Golden Age see 355)and that The Gero Crucifix clearly derives from thai source. Nor need we be surprised that Byzantine influence
Si:
should have been strong
judged
tall
ol
the west
stair turrets
I
fig.
in
Germany
at that
time, lor Otto If
MICHAEL'S, HILDESHEIM. The most ambitious
tron of architecture in
terms
ol
and
m
pa-
Ottoman age, however, surviving works, was Bemward, who. art
the
/
Mil) Ml Dll
\
W
Mil
having been one of the tutors of Otto 111. became Bishop of 1 lildesheim. His chief monument is another Benedictine abbey church, St. Michael's (figs. 404-6). The plan. alter
its two choirs and lateral entrances, recalls the monaschurch or the St. Call plan (fig. 395). But in St. Michael's the symmetry is carried much further: not only are there two identical transepts, with crossing towers and stair but the supports turrets see St.-Riquier, figs. 393 and 394
with tery
),
(
of the nave arcade, instead of being uniform, consist of pairs Reconstructed plan. Hildesheim Cathedra]
104
i
of columns separated by square piers. This alternate system
1001-33
Michael's).
St.
divides the arcade into three equal units of three openings
each; the
and
first
third units are correlated with the en-
trances, thus echoing the axis of the transepts. Since, more-
and nave are unusually wide in relation to Bernward's intention must have been to achieve a harmonious balance between the longitudinal and
over, the aisles
/X
length,
their
transverse axes throughout the structure.
The
nrnnnnnnnn
rr
.
Bernward's church
(
-
between arcade and
405. Reconstructed longitudinal section,
Hildesheim Cathedral
exterior, as well as the choirs, of
have been disfigured by rebuilding, but the interior of the nave fi^s. 405 and 406), with its great expanse of wall space
(
clerestory, retained the majestic spatial
feeling of the original design until World
after Beseler)
War
reduced
11
it
to
columns date from the twelfth century, the painted wooden ceiling from the thirteenth. (The
ruins.
capitals of the
The Bernwardian western
choir,
as reconstructed in our
plan on the basis of recent studies, ing: its floor
was
church, so as
ment
to
is
particularly interest-
raised above the level of the rest of the
accommodate
a half-subterranean base-
chapel, or crypt, apparently a special sanctuarv
of St.
Michael, which could be entered both from the transept and from the west. The crypt was roofed by groined vaults resting on two rows of columns, and
its
walls
were pierced by
arched openings that linked it with the U-shaped corridor, or ambulatory, wrapped around it. This ambulatory must have been visible above ground, enriching the exterior of the western
were windows
choir, since there
in its outer wall.
Such crypts with ambulatories, usually housing the venerated tomb of a saint, had been introduced into the repertory of Western church architecture during Carolinian times; the Bernwardian design stands out
lor its large scale
and
its
carefully planned integration with the rest of the building.
Metal work OF BISHOP BFRNWARD. How much DOORS BRONZE importance Bernward himself attached to the crypt at St. Michael's can be gathered from the fact that he commissioned a pair of richly sculptured bronze doors which were probably meant lor the two entrances leading from the tran-
'l£.!# 106
Interioi (view
toward the west, before World
Hildesheim Cathedral
War
11).
were finished in 1015, the year was consecrated The idea may have come to him result of his visit to Rome, where he could see ancient
sept to the ambulatory (they
the crypt as a
).
—
Roman— and perhaps Byzantine bronze doors. The Bernwardian doors, however, differ from their predecessors; they are divided into broad horizontal fields rather than vertical panels, and each field contains a biblical scene in high relief. Our Below
man
i
detail it.
I
li'j,.
407) shows
in inlaid letters
haracter,
is
Adam and Eve
rem. likable
/
\i:l)
\il
on
\
\l
Mil
Ro-
part of the dedicatory inscription, with the
date and Bernward's name. In these figures
•
alter the Fall.
lor their classical
we
find nothing
407.
monumental
ADAM AND EVE REPROACHED BY THE LORD, from the Bronze Doors of Bishop Bernward. 1015. c. 23x43" (58.3 x 109.3 cm). Hildesheim Cathedra]
The scene of Christ washing the feet of St. Peter contains notable echoes of ancient painting, transmitted through
ofThe Gero Crucifix: they seem far one might easily mistake them for a piece of goldsmith's work such as the Lindau Gospels cover (compare tig. 401). The entire composition must have been derived horn an illuminated manuscript;
tectural
the oddly stylized hits of vegetation have a good deal of the
chitectural perspectives as the mural from Boscoreale
of the
spirit
smdllei' than they actually are, so that
movement we recall from Irish miniatures. conveyed with splendid directness and ex-
Byzantine
art;
the soft pastel hues
ol
the background
ret all
the illusionism of (iraeco-Roman landscapes, and the archi-
frame around Christ
is a
late
descendant of such
ar-
sec
twisting, turning
tig.
Yet the story
Ottoman artist is obvious enough; but he has also put them to a new use, so that what was once an architectural vista now becomes the Heavenly City, the House of the Lord
is
pressive force.
The accusing
a great void of blank surface, it
points to a cringing
finger of the Lord, seen against is
the local point of the drama;
Adam, who passes the blame
mate, while Eve, in turn, passes
it
to the
serpent
.it
to his
her
feet.
305). That these elements have been misunderstood bv
the
lilted with golden celestial space as againsi the atmospheric earthh space w ithout The figures have undergone a similar
transformation: in ancient
Manuscripts
GOSPEL BOOK OK OTTO glance and of
used
The same intensity of gesture characterizes Ottoman manuscript III.
which blends Carolingian and Byzantine elements into a new style of extraordinary scope and power The most important center of Manuscript illumination at that time was the Reichenau Monastery, on an island in the Lake of Constance. Perhaps its finest achievement and one of the painting,
great masterpieces of medieval art
Otto (bus.
III
.
from w
—
is
huh we reproduce two
408 and 409).
the Gospel Hook of full-page miniatures
to
represent
a
art
this
composition had been
doctor treating a patient
Now
St
Peter
takes the place of the sufferer, and Christ that of the phvsician (note that
type here physical
i,
to
He
is still
the beardless
young philosopher
a consequence, the emphasis has shifted from spiritual action, and ibis new kind ol a< lion is not ^s
only conveyed through glan< es and gestures, n also the scale of things: Christ and St
'j,ovei
figures, are larger than the rest, (bust's "active
arm
dial
we
see hide
tinj
space
more than then eves and hands
/
Mil
)
Ml Dll
\
M Mil
i--
who
longer than His 'passive'' one, and the eight disciples
merer) watch have been compressed into a
ns
most active
Peter, the
•
so
•
/
Mil) mi dii
\
\i
\i;i
409. ST LUKE, from the Gospel Book of Otto c.
The other ic
1000.
13x9%" (33x23.8
miniature, the painting of St. Luke,
image of overwhelming grandeur. Unlike
is
a
III
cm). Staatsbibliothek, Munich
symbol-
his Carolingian
his
symbol,
the ox.
surrounded by
Old
five
no longer shown writing; his
lambs dunk the
life-gh ing waters that spring
Enthroned on two rainbows, he holds aloft a huge cluster of clouds from which tongues of light radiate in every direction. Within it we sec
the Evangelist's
feet.
predecessors, the Evangelist
Gospel
lies
is
completed on his
lap.
inscription: Fonte
"From water
from the Gospel Book of Otto
111
c.
1000.
Staatsbibliothek,
artist
FEET OF PETER,
13x9%" (33x23.8
Munich
cm).
The ke\
to the entire
patrum ductas
from beneath
design
bos agnis
elicit
is
in the
undas
the source of the lathers the ox brings forth a flow
for the
message 408. (opposite) CHRIS! WASHING THE
Testament
prophets and an outer circle of angels. At the bottom, two
ol
lambs"
that
is.
St
Luke makes
salvation explicit for the faithful.
has truly "illuminated" the meaning
enigmatic phrase usual terms
In
translating
it
/
into
ol
die prophets'
The Ottoman
ol tins
terse
and
such compelling
\i:n \u nil
\
\i
\m
*
CHAPTER THREE
ROMANESQUE ART
Looking hack over the ground we have covered so
most
in this
hook
a thoughtful reader will be struck by the fact that
far,
al-
of our chapter headings and subheadings might
all
Some
serve equally well lor a general history of civilization. are based on technology
others on
geography,
<
lor
example, the Old Stone Age),
ethnology,
whatever the
religion;
source, they have been borrowed from other fields, even
though in our context they also designate artistic styles. There are only two important exceptions to this rule: Archaic and Classical are primarily terms of style; they icier to qualities of form rather than to the setting in which these forms were created. Why don't we have more terms of this
We
sort?
do, as
we
shall see
— hut only for the
art of the past
nine hundred years.
Those who
first
conceived the idea of viewing the history
of art as an evolution of styles started out with the conviction that art in the ancient world
developed toward a single
cli-
and the Celtic-Germanic heritage. these different components into a coherduring the second half ol the eleventh cnturv was
lamic influence,
What welded ent stvle
all
<
not anv single force but a variety of
lac tors that
made
a
foi
new burgeoning ol vitality throughout the West Christianity had at last triumphed everywhere in Europe; the Vikings still largely pagan in the ninth and tenth centuries when their raids terrorized the British Isles and the Continent, had entered the Catholic
fold,
not only in
Normandy
but in Scan-
Cordova had disintegrated in 1031 into many small Moslem states, opening the way for the reconquest of the Iberian peninsula; and the Magyars had settled down in Hungary. There was a growing spirit of religious enthusiasm
dinavia as well: the Caliphate
m
reflected
of
the greatly increased pilgrimage traffic to sacred
and culminating, from 1095 on, in the crusades to liberate the Holv Land from Moslem rule. Equally important sites
the thirteenth century to the fifteenth. For whatever was
was the reopening of Mediterranean trade routes by the navies of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa; the revival of commerce and manufacturing; and the consequent growth of city life. During the turmoil of the early Middle A^es, the towns of the West Roman Empire had shrunk greatly in size (the population of Rome, about one million in 300 ad. fell to less than 50,000 at one point); some were deserted altogether. From the eleventh century on, they began to regain thenformer importance. New towns sprang up everywhere, and an urban middle class of craftsmen and merchants established itself between the peasantry and the landed nobility
not-yet-Gothic they adopted the label Romanesque. In doing
as an important factor in medieval society
max: Greek
art
from the
au,e of Pericles to that of
the Great. This style they called Classical
(
that
Alexander perfect
is.
Everything that came before was labeled Archaic, cate that
was
it
I.
to indi-
old-fashioned and tradition-hound, not-
still
vet-Classical but striving in the right direction, while the
times did not deserve a special term had no positive qualities of its own, being merely an echo or a decadence of Classical art. Style of post-Classical
since
it
The
early historians of medieval art followed a similar pat-
tern; to
so,
them, the great climax was the Gothic
from
they were thinking mainly of architecture: pre-Gothic
churches, they noted, were round-arched, (
style,
as against the pointed arches
and the soaring lightness
Gothic structures), rather like the ancient building,
and heavy
solid,
Roman
and the term "Romanesque" was meant
just that. In this sense,
all
of
style of
to
convey
of medieval art before 1200, inso-
shows any link with the Mediterranean tradition, could be called Romanesque. Some scholars speak of medieval art before Charlemagne as pre-Romanesque. and of Carolingian and Ottoman as proto- or early Romanesque, far as
it
and they are (that
is,
to
ri
medieval
art
the extent that
Romanesque
from about 1050
art
proper
1200) would he un-
to
In many respects, then, western Europe between 1050 and 1200 became a great deal more "Roman-esque" than it had been since the sixth century, recapturing some of the international trade patterns, the urban quality, and the military strength of ancient imperial times.
authority
was
did not extend
The
central political
even the empire of Otto farther west than modern German)
lacking, to he sure.
much
I
I
does), but the central spiritual authority of the pope took
place to
some extent
as a unifying force.
The
its
international
armv that responded to Urban ll's call for the First Crusade was more powerful than anything a secular ruler could have raised for the purpose.
thinkable without the contributions of these earlier stvles.
On do
the other hand,
if
we
than justice
to
those qualities that
less
we are likely to make the art of the
Follow this practice
ARCHITECTURE
Dark Ages and of Carolingian and Ottoman times different from the Romanesque. Carolingian
art.
Charlemagne and
we
The most conspicuous
will recall,
was brought
his circle, as part of a
into being
l>v
conscious revival
chitecture and that
ol
difference between
ing increase in building activ
summed
Romanesque
the preceding centuries itv
is
ar-
the amaz-
An eleventh-century monk.
remained strongly linked with his imperial court. Ottoman art. too. had this sponsorship. and a correspondingly narrow base. The Romanesque, in contrast, sprang up all over western Europe at about the
up well when he triumphantly exclaimed that the world was puttinu on a "white mantle of churches." These churches were not onh more numerous
same
it
and more "Roman-looking," of wooden roots, and then exteriors, unlike those ol Early Christian, Bv/antme. Carolingian, and Ottoman churches were decorated with
includes the Carolingian-Ottonian tradition along with a
both architectural ornament and sculpture. Geographically,
policy;
even
time;
alter his death,
it
it
consists of a large variety of regional stvles, dis-
many
tinct vet closely related in
source. In this respect,
it
ways, and without a central
resembles the
art ol the
rather than the court styles that had preceded
good
many
other, less clearly traceable ones,
Classical, Early Christian,
it.
Dark Ages although
such as Late
and Byzantine elements, some
Is-
Raoul Claber.
it
than those of the early Middle Ages, they were also generally larger,
more
lor their
richly articulated,
naves now had vaults instead
Romanesque monuments
ol
the
first
importance are
distrib-
uted over an area that might well have represented the
l«>\l\\l SQl
/
\in
.
|
;/
410. St.-Sernin, Toulouse (aerial view),
Plan of Si
111
•
OM Wl
SQJ
/
\i:i
Semin
(after
Conant)
c.
1080-1120
412. Axonometric projection of nave, St-Semin (alter Choisy)
— the Catholic
world
northern Spain
to
border to central
is— to Raoul
world, th.a
Glaber: from
the Rhineland, from the Scottish-English
Italy.
The richest crop, the greatest variety
of regional types, and the most adventurous ideas arc to be
found in France.
If
we add whose
disfigured buildings
group those destroyed or
to this
known
original designs arc
us
to
through archaeological research, we have a wealth of architectural invention unparalleled by
any previous
era.
Southwestern France ST-SERNIN, TOULOUSE. We begin our sampling
—
of Ro-
—
cannot be more than that with St.-Sernin, in the southern French town of Toulouse figs 410-13), one of a group of great churches of the "pilgrimage
manesque churches
it
I
type," so called
because they were
ing to the pilgrimage center
oi'
built
along the roads lead-
Santiago de Compostela
in
northwestern Spain. The plan immediately strikes us as \ ery
much more complex and more
fully integrated
than those of
such as St.-Riquier, or St. Michael's at Hildesheim (see figs. 393 and 404). It is an emphatic Latin earlier structures
cross, with the center of gravity at the eastern end. Clearly, this ty
church was not designed
only but (like Old
to
serve a monastic
St. Peter's in
modate large crowds of
lay
Rome,
316)
fig.
worshipers in
its
communito
accom-
long nave and
transept.
The nave
is
flanked by two aisles on either side, the inner
continuing around the arms of the transept and the
aisle
apse and thus forming a complete ambulatory circuit an-
chored
we
the two towers of the west facade.
to
had developed as a feature of the crypts now it has emerged above ground and it is linked with the aisles of nave and transept, and enriched with apsidal chapels that seem to radiate from the apse and continue along the eastern face of the transept. (Apse, ambulatory, and radiating chapels form a unit known as the pilgrimage choir. The plan also shows tory,
413. Nave and choir. St.-Sernin
The ambula-
will recall,
of earlier churches (as at St. Michael's);
)
look Early Christian
I
see
fig.
vaults, arches,
here tion
poses a high degree of regularity upon the entire design: the
physical, "muscular" forces
of square bays,
which serve
as a basic
pilasters firmly knit
— has indeed been recaptured
remarkable degree; vet the forces whose interacexpressed in the nave of St.-Sernin are no longer the
that the aisles of St.-Sernin are groin-vaulted throughout.
made up
while those of St ,-Sernm
>.
engaged columns, and
together into a coherent order
This, in conjunction with the features already noted, im-
aisles are
318
seem more akin to structures such as the Colosseum (see fig. 263). The syntax of ancient Roman architecture
to a is
ol
Craeco-Roman architecture we have
but spiritual forces— spiritual tones of the kind
human body
Carolingian and Otto-
module, for the other dimensions, so that the nave and transept bays equal two such units, the crossing and the
seen governing the
facade towers four units.
height of the nave wall would appear |ust as unnaturallv
unit, or
On
the exterior, this rich articulation
is
further
enhanced
man
drawn-out
an ancient
to
in
The hall-columns running
miniatures.
Roman seem
against the inner and outer aisles, the apse, the ambulatory,
some tremendous, unseen
and the radiating chapels; by the buttresses reinforcing the walls between the windows, so as to contain the outward thrust of the vaults; by the decorative framing of windows and portals; and by the great crossing tower (completed m Gothic times and taller than originally intended). The two
transverse arches thai subdivide the barrel vault
to
pressure, hastening to meet the
bulator) In
i
now obscured
huge
bv a
As we enter the nave, we are impressed with its tall proportions, the architectural elaboration of the nave walls, and
achieve this
effect.
inseparable
Vaulting the nave so as
Very different from the
chad's, with
space (see structures
its
figs. is
ample and serene
a
sensation
interior of Si
Mi
simple and clearly separated "blocks" of 405 and 400). The contrast between these
such as
to
make
the nave walls
ol St.
Michael's
the nave
altar ol later date).
thus describing our experience
mean
which create
ol
Their insistentl) repeated rhythm propels us toward the eastern end of the church, with its light-filled apse and am-
facade towers, unfortunately, have remained stumps.
of
ol
be driven upward bv
Christ in figure 409. They
all
enure
beholder as the arm
by the different roof levels that set off the nave and transept
the dun, indirect lighting,
the
to
we do
not, ol
course
set out
suggest that the architect consciously
to
For him. beauty and engineering were to
eliminate the
fire
wooden tool was not only a practical aim; it also challenged him to make the louse ol the Ford grander and more impressive. And since a vault becomes the more difhazard
ol a
I
ficult to
sustain the faithei
every resource
to
make
it
is
from the ground, he strained tall as he dared He had.
(he nave as
ROMANESQl
I
\R1
the clerestory for safety's sake. Instead.
however,
to sacrifice
he
galleries over the inner aisles, to abut the lateral
limit
pressure of the nave vault, hoping that enough light would
through them into the central space. St. -Serum serves remind us that architecture, like polities, is "the art of the possible." and that its success, here as elsewhere, is measured by the degree to which the architect has explored the limits of what was possible to him under those particular circumstances, structurally and aesthetically. filter
to
Burgundy and Western France The
builders oi'St.-Semin would have been the
answer
final one.
impressive though
to
first to
admit
the problem of the nave vault was not a
that their
it
is
in its
own
terms.
AUTUN CATHEDRAL. Hie architects of Burgundy armed at a more elegant solution, as evidenced by the Cathedral of Autun
(
414).
fig.
where the
galleries are replaced by a
blind arcade (called a triforium, since
openings per bay
I
and
story elevation possible
often has three
it
a clerestory.
What made
was the use
of the pointed arch for
this three-
more nearly downward than outward. For reasons of harmony, the pointed arch also appears in the nave arcade (it had probably reached France from Islamic architecture, where it had been employed for some time). Autun, too, comes close to straining the limits of the possible, for the upper part of the the nave vault, which produced a thrust
414. (above) Nave wall.
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415. (left) Choir
(c.
120-32
1
1060-75)
.and nave (1095-1
115),
St.-Savin-sur-Gai'tcmpc
1i
-flE-i
Autun Cathedral
nave wall shows a slight but perceptible outward lean under the pressure of the vault, a warning against any further attempts
to
increase the height of the clerestory or
to
enlarge
the windows.
HALL CHURCHES. A own, appeals
in the
third alternative, with virtues of its
west of France, in such churches as that
b£ St.-Savin-sur-Gartempe
(fig.
415).
lacks the reinforcing arches, since
continuous surface
which
the nave to
the
(
well
height,
lit,
lor the
making
it
two
on the nave
earned almost
aisles are
a "hall
er walls have generously sized
church," and their out-
windows. At the eastern end
— happily unobstruct— beyond the crossing tower.
qf the nave, there
ed in this case
directly
to oiler a
cycle, the
supported by a majestic set of columns. Vet
is
is fairly
same
The nave vault here
was meant 446 for this
murals see fig. great weight rests
for
finest of its kind). Its
arcade,
it
The nave and
is
a pilgrimage choir
aisles of hall
gle roof, as at St. -Savin.
churches are covered by a
The west facade,
too,
tends
to
sin-
be low
and wide, and may become a richly sculptured screen. That of Notre-Dame-la-Grande at Poitiers (fig. 416), due west from St. -Savin, is particularly noteworthy in this respect. with
its
elaborately bordered arcades housing large seated or
standing figures.
A wide band
of relief stretches across the
facade on either side of the doorway, which
is
deeply re-
cessed and framed by a series of arches resting on stumpy
columns. Taller bundles of columns enhance the
turrets,
whose conical helmets match the height of the gable
in the
center (which rises above the actual height of the roof be-
hind
it).
The
sculptural program spread out over this entire
417. West facade St.-Ktienne. Caen. Begun 1068
area
a visual exposition of Christian dot trine that
is
for the
is
a feasl
eves as well as the mind.
England and Normandy farther north,
m
Normandy, the west fagade evolved
cntireh different direction
Caen
I
hat of the abbe)
417), founded
Etienne
at
queror
year or two alter his invasion
a
(fig.
l>\
ol
c
hint h
in
an
ol Si
William the Con-
England, oilers
striking contrast with Notre-Dame-la-Grande. Decoration
a is
hum' buttresses divide the front ol the and the vertical impetus continues triumphantly m the two splendid towers, whose height would be impressive enough even without the tall at a
minimum,
lour
church into three
Earl) Gothic lull in
to
416. West facade. Notre-Dame-la-Grande, Poitiers. Early 12th century
order
to
helmets Hie interioi is equall) remarkable, understand its importance We must Inst turn
the extraordinary development
tecture in Britain t
vertical set turns,
durum
the
last
ol
Vnglo-Norman
quarter
ol
archi-
the eleventh
entury.
I«>\! \\l S(jl
i
\ri
CATHEDRAL,
Dl 1MIW1
the Cathedral of
Durham begun
Scottish border,
austere in plan,
it
Its
most ambitious product
(figs.
H8
1093.
in
is
20), just south of the
Though somewhat more
has a nave one-third wider than
um's, .md a greater overall length (400
feet),
St. -Ser-
which places it
the largest churches of medieval Europe. Hie nave ma\ have been designed to be vaulted from the start; and 107; the vault over its eastern end had been completed by
among
1
same
the rest of the nave, following the
This vault
is
of great interest, lor
it
pattern. In
1130.
represents the earliest
systematic use of a ribbed groined vault over a three-story nave, and thus
we saw
marks
a basic
Autun. Looking
at
at
advance beyond the solution
the plan,
consist of the usual groin-vaulted
proaching
a
we
see that the aisles
compartments
closely ap-
square, while the bays of the nave, separated by
strong transverse arches, are decidedly oblong and groinvaulted in such a way that the ribs form a double-X design, dividing the vault into seven sections rather than the con-
419. Plan of
Durham
ventional four. Since the nave bays are twice as long as the aisle bays,
numbered
piers of the nave arcade,
and the
alternate in size, the larger ones being of I
that
is.
(after
the transverse arches occur only at the oddpiers therefore
compound shape
bundles of column and pilaster shafts attached
to a
420. Transverse section of
square or oblong core), the others cylindrical.
Perhaps the easiest way
system
culiar
is to
Cathedral
Conant)
Durham
to visualize the origin of this pe-
(after
Cathedral
Acland)
imagine that the architect started out by
designing a barrel-vaulted nave, with galleries over the aisles,
and without
a clerestory, as at St.-Sernin, but
with
the transverse reinforcing arches spaced
more
widely.
As he
he realized that he could have a clerestory after all if the barrel vault of each nave bay was intersected by two transverse barrel vaults of vval shape (see fig. 421);
was doing
so,
the result would be a pair of Siamese-twin groined vaults, and the ends of the transverse barrel vaults could become the clerestory, since the outward thrust and the weight of the whole vault would be concentrated at six securely anchored points on the gallery level. The ribs, of course, were 11H
;
;',
•
Nave (looking
/,'om \\l SQl
l
\l:i
east),
Durham
Cathedral
10'^
1130
necessary
to
provide a stable skeleton for the groined vault.
421. Rib vaults (after Ac land
so that the curved surfaces
with masonry of
minimum
between them could be
filled in
thickness, thus reducing both
We
I
ST-ETIENNE, CAEN. of St.-Etienne at
Caen
Let us now return to the interior (fig.
422).
The
nave,
it
seems, had
do not know whether this ingenious scheme was actually invented at Durham, but it could not
originally
much earlier, for it is still in an experimental stage. While the transverse arches at the crossing are round, those to the west of it are slightly pointed, indicating a continuous search lor improvements in detail. Aes-
possible, in the early twelfth century, to build a groined nave
weight and thrust.
have been created
thetically,
the nave at
Romanesque
Durham
is
among
the finest in
all
architecture: the wonderful sturdiness of the
alternating piers
makes
a splendid contrast with the dra-
matically lighted, saillike surfaces of the vault.
wooden
been planned with
ceiling. Alter the
galleries
experience
and
of
and a
clerestory,
Durham,
it
became
vault instead, with only slight modifications of the wall design.
But the bays of the nave here are approximately
square, so that the double-X rib pattern could be replaced by a single
X with an
additional transverse rib (see
producing a groined vault of
421
fii>.
),
six sections instead of seven.
These sexpartite vaults are no longer separated by heavy transverse arches but by simple ribs
weight
that, besides, gives a
— another
saving
in
stronger sense of continuity to
makes for a less emphatic alCompared to Durham, the nave of
the nave vault as a whole and ternating system of piers.
St.-Etienne creates an impression of graceful, airy lightness
was added
closely akin to the quality of the Gothic choir that
And structurally, too, we have where Romanesque merges into Ear-
in the thirteenth century.
here reached the point ly
Gothic.
Lombardy At the time
when
the
Normans and Anglo-Normans
structed their earliest ribbed groined nave vaults, the
con-
same
problem was being explored in Lombardy, where ancient cities bad once again grown large and prosperous. Lombard
Romanesque
architecture was both nourished and impeded
by a continuous building tradition reaching back to
Roman
and Early Christian times and including the monuments of Ravenna. S
AM BROCK). MILAN. We
approach one of
its
tures. S. Ambrogio been occupied by
in
sense this background as
we
most venerable and important strucMilan figs. 423-25 on a site that had ).
i
church since the fourth century. The present building was begun in the late eleventh century, except for the apse and southern tower, which date from the tenth.
though more ornate and far more and the geometric simof the Ravennate churches (compare bus 319 and
The
brick exterior,
monumental, plicity
422. Nave (vaulted
5-20). St.-Ktienne.
C'ac-n
334).
a
recalls the proportions
Upon entering
the atrium,
we
are confronted by the
;;o\f \\i s(jt
i
\i;
:
severely
handsome
facade, with
its
deeply recessed arcades;
beyond it are two bell towers, separate structures just touching the outer walls of the church. We had seen a round probably the earliest surviving example, tower of this kind just
—
—
on the north side of S. Apolmost of its successors are square, of the free-standing bell tower, or campani-
the ninth or tenth century
ol
linare in Classe (fig. 319);
but the tradition
remained so strong in Italy that they hardly ever became an integral part of the church proper. The nave of S. Ambrogio, low and broad (it is some ten feet wider than that at Durham), consists of four square le,
423.
S.
424. Interior,
•
425. Longitudinal section of
Ambrogio, Milan. Late 11th and 12th centuries
<>\i\\i SQI
/
\/:/
S.
Ambrogio
S.
Ambrogio
426. Speyer Cathedral, from the cast
bays separated bv strong transverse arches. There
is
no tran-
but the easternmost nave bay carries an octagonal,
sept,
domed crossing tower or lantern. This was an afterthought, and we can easily see why, tor the nave has no clerestory and the windows of the lantern provide badly needed illumination. As at Durham, or Caen, there is an alternate system of nave piers, since the length of of
two
each nave bay equals
The nave
however, differ significantly from their northern
vaults,
counterparts. Constructed of brick and rubble, in a tech-
nique reminiscent of
Roman
groined vaults such as those in
the Basilica of Constantine, they are a good deal heavier; the
diagonal
ribs,
moreover, form true half circles
and Caen, they are flattened
),
(at
Durham
so that the vaults rise to a
point considerably above the transverse arches. This pro-
duces
a
domed diet and t
gives each bay the appearance of a
separate entity, apart from further increasing the weight of the vault.
On
and never approached the prolo-Colhit
and he shared with
Germany and the Low Countries SPEYER CATHEDRAL. German Romanesque architecture,
centered
although
in the Rhineland, was equallv conservative, conservatism reflects the persistence ol
Carolingian-Ottonian rather than earlier traditions Imperial
the
Cathedral
ol
at-
his patrons a taste lor
ample
interi-
has
,i
Norman contemporaries
did.
Under these circumstances,
lat-
i
I
I
i
I,
c hurch of the period. The nave, one-third tallei and widei than that ol Durham has a generous lerestory, since it was planned for a wooden roof; in the earl) twelfth
every other
(
was divided into square bays and covered with it unribbed groined vaults akin to the Lombard rathei
heav)
instead of striving lor height and light as his
begun
westwork now sheathed bv a modern reconstrucand an equallv inonunient.il eastern grouping ol tion crossing tower and paired stair towers fig 126 he an In tectural detail derives from l.oinbardv. long a locus ol Gei man imperial ambitions compare S Ambrogio but the tall proportions are northern, and the sc ale is so vast as to dwarl er,
century,
)
lis finest
Spever
about 1030 but not completed until more than a cenlurv
pare
321
its
achievement,
or proportions like those of Early Christian basilicas (comlig.
stage.
I
a smaller scale, the Milanese architect might have
tempted a clerestory instead of galleries; bul the span of the nave was determined bv the width of the tenth-century apse,
he saw no reason to take risks by experimenting with more economical shapes and lighter construction, so that the ribbed groined vault in Lombard) remained conservative
that
aisle bays; the latter are groin-vaulted, like the first
three of the nave bays, and support galleries.
Ik-nun 1030
than the
Norman
type
ItoMWI
sew
/
\l:l
•
I
\9
427. Tournai Cathedral. Nave 1110-71; transept and crossing
TOURNAI CATHEDRAL. The Speyer Cathedral
is
echoed
in a
of
time of Charlemagne (see St.-Riquier, lew complete sets were ever finished
394), although
fig.
and even fewer have
their practical functions
(
as stair towers,
can hardly be way not easily fathomed today, they expressed medieval man's relation to the supernatural, as the ziggurats had done lor the ancient Mesopotamians (he storj of the lower of Babel always fascinated the people of the Middle A^es Perhaps then symbolic meaning is best illustrated by a "case history.'' A certain count had a bell
towers, or watc htowers
accounted
for
on
).
this basis.
their popularity
In a
I
).
quarrel with the people of a nearby town, led by their bishop. sieue to the town, captured it. and, to express triumph and humiliate his enemies, he lopped the top off then cathedral tower Evidently, loss of tower meant loss of I
le finally laid
his
I.
K
i
lowers being architectural symbols of strength, power,
CAMPANILE, BAPTISTERY, AND CATHEDRAL, The most famous tower an accident.
It
is
of
all,
the Leaning
however, owes
Tower
of Pisa
its
(or,
PISA.
renown to more pre-
cisely,
the Campanile of Pisa Cathedral), which began to as-
sume
its
present angle, because of poor foundations, even
before completion slightly bent).
(figs.
428 and 429; note
The tower forms
that
its
part of a magnificent
axis
is
ensem-
on an open site north of the city that includes the Catheand the circular, domed Baptistery to the west of it. They represent the most ambitious monument of the Tuscan Romanesque, reflecting the wealth and pride of the city ble
dral
republic of Pisa.
Par more than Lombardv, with
its
strong northward con-
Tuscany retained an awareness of its classical heritage throughout the Middle Ages. The plan of Pisa Cathedral is essentially that of an Early Christian basilica, elaborated into a Latin cross by the addition of two transept nections,
that resemble smaller basilicas in themselves, with apses of their own; the crossing is marked by a dome, but the rest of the church is wooden-roofed except for the aisles
arms
(four in the nave, two in the transept arms),
which have
430) has somewhat taller proportions (ban an Early Christian basilica, because there groined vaults. The interior
(fig.
are galleries over the aisles, as well as a clerestory, yet the
and authority
140* l:o\l\\l so/
Tuscany
churches of the
Rhine Valley and the Low Countries. In the Cathedral of (fig. 427), it occurs twice, at either end of the transept—the most memorable massing of towers anywhere in Romanesque architecture. Originally, there were to have been four more: two at the west facade (later reduced to turrets) and two flanking the eastern apse (replaced by a huge Gothic choir). Such multiple towers had been firmly established in medieval church design north of the Alps since the
Whatever
1165-1213
impressive eastern end of
number
Tournai
surviv ed
c.
/
\i:i
428. Pisa Baptistery, Cathedral, and Campanile (view from the west). 1053-1272
429. Plan of Pisa Cathedral. Baptistery,
and Campanile
1
K).
Interior
Pisa Cathedral
i:o\l\\l sqi
i
\RT*341
splendid Ides
ol classical
columns supporting the nave and
arcades inevitably recall such
aisle
Paul Outside the Walls (see Pisa Cathedral in tal
white marble inlaid patterns
m
From Imperial in central Italy is
and
fig.
structures as
St.
companions are sheathed entirely with horizontal stripes and ornamen-
its
dark-green marble.
Roman
Roman
during the Middle Ages. On the exteriors, blind arcades and galleries, producing
temples.
GIOVANNI. FLOHKNCE.
In Flor-
ence, which was to outstrip Pisa commercially and artistically,
the greatest achievement of the
the Baptistery
(fig.
Tuscan Romanesque
431). opposite the Cathedral, a
is
domed
Here the marble paneling follows severe geometric lines, and the blind arcades are extraordinarily classical in proportion and detail. The entire building, in fact, exudes so classical an air that the Florentines themselves came to believe, a lew hundred years later, that it had originally been a temple of Mars. And even today the controversy over its date has not yet been settled to octagonal structure of impressive
everyone's satisfaction. tistery a
number
We
shall
of times, since
size.
have it
to
return to this bap-
was destined
to play
is
even more
as-
tonishing than the architectural achievements of the Ro-
after the fifth century; stone relief survived only in the
had long passed when it might be thought undesirable for a church to compete with the outward splendor of classical
S.
monumental stone sculpture
a
and color very different from the
austerely simple Early Christian exteriors. But then the time
BAPTISTERY OF
revival of
it
was revived) only
combined with
The
manesque era, since neither Carolinian nor Ottonian art had shown any tendencies in this direction. Free-standing statues, we will recall, all but disappeared from Western art
This practice, familiar
times, survived (or
lacelike richness of texture
SCULPTURE
318).
an
form
ornament or surface decoration, with the depth of the carving reduced to a minimum. Thus the only continuous sculptural tradition in early medieval art was that of sculpture-in-miniature: small reliefs, and occasional statuettes, in metal or ivory. Ottonian art, in works such as the bronze doors of Bishop Bernward (see fig. 407), had enlarged the scale of this tradition but not its spirit; and its of architectural
sculptural
large-scale
truly
impressive Gero Crucifix
represented
efforts,
(fig.
by
the
402), were limited almost en-
wood. What little stone carving there was in western Europe before the mid-eleventh century hardly went beyond the artistic and technical level of the Sigvald relief tirely to
390).
(fig.
Southwestern France Fifty years later, the situation
when and where
Just
we cannot claim
had changed dramatically.
the revival of stone sculpture began
say with assurance, but
to priority
it
if
any one area has a
southwestern France and northern
is
Spain, along the pilgrimage roads leading to Santiago de
important role in the Renaissance.
Compostela. The link with the pilgrimage cal
enough,
traffic
seems
for architectural sculpture, especially
plied to the exterior of a church,
worshiper rather than
to the
is
meant
members
to
appeal
logi-
when to
ap-
the lay
of a closed monastic
community.
ST-SFRNIN, TOULOUSF.
Romanesque
Like
architec-
the rapid development of stone sculpture between
ture,
1050 and
100 reflects the growth of religious fervor
1
among
the lay population in the decades before the First Crusade. St.-Sernin at Toulouse contains several important examples
probably carved about 1090, including the Apostle in figure 432. This panel tion
now
is
remains uncertain
Be
altar.
that as
it
in the
ambulatory;
— perhaps
it
its
original loca-
decorated the front of an
may, the figure (which
is
somewhat more
was not intended for viewing at close range only. Its impressive bulk and weight "carry" over a considerable distance. This emphasis on massive volume hints at what may well have been the main impulse behind the revival of large-scale sculpture: a stone-caned image, being tangible and three-dimensional, is far more "real" than a painted one. To the mind of a cleric steeped in the abstractions ol theology, this might seem irrelevant, or even than half
lifesize)
dangerous.
St.
Bernard of Clairvaux, writing
in
1127, de-
nounced the sculptured decoration of churches as a vain folly and diversion that tempts us "to read in the marble rather than in our books." His was a voice not very much heeded, however;
lor the
unsophisticated layman, any large piece
sculpture inevitably had something of the quality of an 431. Baptistery
•
ROM
i\/
sor/
"I
\i:i
s Giovanni, Florence,
c.
1060-1150
and
il
was
this very fact that
gave
it
of
idol,
such great appeal.
close-fitting cap, the bod) severe
has. in fact,
much
sculpture
Arc
oi
the
li.uc
same
and
direc
Another important
Romanesque sculpture was tance north of Toulouse. a
bloc klike
Our Apostle mess .is the
(.recce
ST-PIERRE \K)lss\(
carved
and
dignit)
the abbe)
at
earl) centeroi
Moissac
The south portal of
.
some
its
dis-
church.
generation later than the Apostle from St.-Sernin
displays a richness of invention that would have made- St
Bernard wince in figure
i
The parts of the medie\
435.) In figure 433
we
portal are
al
show
see the magnificent tru-
meau the center post supporting the lintel and the western jamb. Both have a scalloped profile— apparend) a bit of I
I
Moorish influence see I
columns applied pattern as tube.
432. APOSTLE
But
let
us return
have we seen
its like
C.
1090. Stone. St.-Scrnin. Toulouse
to
the Apostle from St.-Sernin.
if
Human
to
fig.
368
I
— and the shafts
jambs and trumeau
ol
the hall-
follow this sc alloped
they had been squeezed from a giant pastry
and animal forms are treated with the same
Where
before? The solidity of the forms has a
air, indicating that our artist must have had a close look at late Roman sculpture of which there are considerable remains m southern France). The design as a whole, on the other hand the solemn frontalitv of the
strongly classical
I
—
figure,
its
placement
in
from a Byzantine source,
the architectural frame in all likelihood
scended from the Archangel Michael enlarging such reinllated
it:
a
— derives
an ivory panel de-
in figure 332. Yet in
miniature, the carver of our relief has also
the niche
is
a real cavity,
the hair a round,
AVA South
portal (portion), Si -Pierre, Moissac
Early 12th century
ROMANESQl
I
Mil
•
14
I
cannot
account
fully
presence
lor their
Moissac
at
in
terms
of their effectiveness as ornament.
family of savage or that retain their
compelled
—
They belong to a vast monstrous creatures in Romanesque art
demoniacal
—
even though they are
vitality
perform a supporting func(Similar examples may be seen in figs. 433 and 439).
tion.
like
Their purpose
is
our lions
thus not merely decorative but expressive;
embody dark
they
to
fixed
lor
holds
to a position that
however much they may
eternity,
all
been domesticated into
forces that have
guardian figures or banished
them
snarl in
protest.
The
Moissac
portal proper at
we see,
preceded by
is
On
with lavishly sculptured sides.
a
deep porch,
the east Hank
434)
(fig.
within the arcade, the Annunciation and Visitation,
as well as the Adoration of the Magi. Other events from the early
life
of Christ are
same
find the
shown on the frieze above. Here we same eloquent gestures we
thin limbs, the
on the trumeau note especially the wonhands in the Visitution and Annuciation); only the proportions of the bodies and the size of the figures
saw
in the prophet
(
derful play of
vary with the architectural context.
What
matters
is
the viv-
idness of the narrative, rather than consistency of treatment.
Burgundy AUTUN CATHEDRAL. The tympanum the lintel) of the
main
portal of
(the lunette above
Romanesque churches
(see
435) is usually given over to a composition centered on the Enthroned Christ, most often the Apocalyptic Vision or
fig.
awesome scene
the Last Judgment, the most art.
Autun Cathedral, the
At
latter subject
ized with singularly expressive force.
shows
part of the right half of the
weighing of the 434. East flank, south portal,
St. -Pierre,
(the angel of the Annunciation, bottom
some
souls cling like children to the
incredible flexibility, so that the spidery prophet on the side
trumeau seems
how
perfectly adapted to his precarious
he, too, has
been
fitted into
from their
the scalloped
outline).
man
like
thighs,
He even remains free to cross his legs in a dancemovement and to turn his head toward the interior of
at
hem
the other.
The saved
of the angel's
garment
in
while the
general outline but with spidery, birdlike legs, furry tails,
pointed ears, and enormous, savage mouths.
the church as he unfurls his scroll.
But their violence, unlike that of the animal monsters,
But what of the crossed lions that Conn a symmetrical zigdo they have a meaning? zag on the face of the trumeau
checked; they enjoy themselves
—
So
fat as
we know,
fate
condemned are seized by grinning devils and cast into the mouth of Hell. These devils betray the same nightmarish imagination we observed in the Romanesque animal world; they are composite creatures, hufor protection,
perch (notice
rise
quite literally hangs in the balance, with devils yanking at
modern)
one end of the scales and angels
of the
dead
are already beset by
snakes or gripped by huge, clawlike hands. Above, their
Moissac
left, is
Our detail (fig. 436) tympanum, with the
souls. At the bottom, the
graves in fear and trembling;
of Christian
has been visual-
they simply "animate" the shaft as the
cupation.
No
speak with
St.
visitor,
to the lull in their
having "read
Bernard), could
fail
in the to
is
un-
grim oc-
marble" here
(to
enter the church in a
(whose descendants compartments assigned to them. In manuscript illumination, this tradition had never died out;
chastened
our sculpture has undoubtedly been influenced by
Romanesque tympanums is that of Ste. -Madeleine in Vezelav, not far from Autun in Burgundy (fig. 437). Its subject, the Mission of the Apostles, bad a special meaning
interlacing beasts of Irish miniatures
spirit.
they are) animate the
the agitated in
movement
of the prophet has
miniature painting see <
fig,
111
).
its
it,
just as
ultimate origin
The crossed lions, howwe find theni in Persian
another source as well; metalwork (although not in this towerlike formation), u bene e they can be traced back to the confronted animals of
ever, reflect
ancienl Neai Eastern
i44
•
ROMANESQUl
\l:l
art
(see bus.
113 and 152). Yet
we
STE.-MADELEINE, VEZELAY
Perhaps the most beauti-
ful of all
for this
age of crusades, since
it
proclaims the duty of every
Christian to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth. (be bands of the majestic ascending Christ of the Holv Spirit pouring clown
upon the
we
From
see the rays
apostles,
all
of
I.
mill
figures
II
ill
St.ll
ROMANESQUE PORTAL
GOTHN PORTAI
435. Romanesque and High Gothic portal ensembles
them equipped with copies
of the Scriptures in token of their
mission. The lintel and the tral
group arc
compartments around the cen-
with representatives
filled
the heathen
ol
world, a veritable encyclopedia of medieval anthropology
whieh includes
all
sorts of legendary races
archivolt (the arch framing the
(
438
fit;.
1.
On
the
tympanum) we recognize
the signs of the zodiac and the labors appropriate to every
month is
of the year, to indicate that the preaching of the Faith
as unlimited in time as
it
is
m
space.
Romanesque Classicism PROVENCE.
The portal sculpture
Moissac, Autun. and
at
Ve/ela\. although varied in style, has
many
qualities in common: intense expression, unbridled fantasy, and a nervous agility of form that owes more to manuscript illumination and metalwork than to the sculptural tradition ol antiquity
The Apostle from St.-Sernm. with
its
stoutlv
monuments
is
"Roman"
in contrast,
flavor.
had impressed us
The influence of classical
particularly strong
m
Provence, the coastal
region of southeastern France (which had been part
Graeco-Roman world and
is lull
Perhaps
far
of splendid this
lor
longer than the rest
Roman remains the
reason
church
436.
Ms; JUDGMENT (detail), Autun Cathedral
c.
west I
tympanum
130-35
at
style persisted
St.-Gilles-du-Gard (fig
the great masterpieces of
Romanesque
art.
the
hah
as well as in
Romanesque
longer in these areas than elsevt here Looking portal of the
ol
the country
ol
the
at
139),
we
(
entei
one
ol
are struck
immediately by the classical flavor of the architectural
framework, with terns, c
and
its
flesh} .u
free-standing columns
arved almost in the round, have a
ume
akin to that
being ness
hall a
ol
c
detail
meander
pat-
anlhus ornament
of
The two huge statues sense ol weight and vol-
the Apostle from St -Scrum, although
entury later
in date, they also display
we have observed
in the
the rich-
intervening
ko\m\/-s
/
monu-
uti
\4S
437.
THE MISSION OF THE APOSTLES, tympanum
of
center portal of narthex, Ste. -Madeleine, Vezelay. 1120-32
438. PIG-SNOUTED ETHIOPIANS, portion of tympanum, Ste.-Madeleine, Vezelay
ments. They stand on brackets supported by crouching beasts of prey, and these, too, show a Roman massiveness, while the small figures on the base (Cain and Abel) recall the style of Moissac.
FIDENZA CATHEDRAL. The akin
to
two statues
at St.-Gilles are
the splendid figure of King David from the facade of
Fidenza Cathedral
in
Lombardy
(fig.
440), by Benedetto An-
telami, the greatest sculptor of Italian
we should know
his
name
is
a considerable
art.
—
That
artists'
Romanesque
what shows
signatures are far from rare in
makes Antelami exceptional
Romanesque
not surprising in itself
is
times;
the fact that bis work
degree of individuality, so
that, for the first
time since the ancient Creeks, we can begin
to
speak
(though with some hesitation) of a personal style. And his David, too, approaches the ideal of the self-sufficient statue more closely than any medieval work we have seen so far. The Apostle from St.-Sernin is one of a series of figures, all of them immutably fixed to their niches, while Antelami's David stands physically free and even shows an attempt to recapture the Classical contrapposto. To be sure, he would
awkward if placed on a pedestal m isolation; he demands the architectural framework for which he was made.
look
146
•
i:o\l\\l so/
/
\iu
59.
North jamb, center
Second quarter
440.
portal. St.-Gilles-du-Gard.
hut certainly to a far lesser extent than do the two statues at St.-Gilles. ries; his
Nor
only
is
he subject
companion
er side of the portal. especially
if
we consider
dred vears separate
to
the group discipline of a se-
second niche statue on the othAn extraordinary achievement indeed, is
it
a
much more
that not
than a hun-
from the beginnings of the sculptural
the north,
The Meuse The emergence twelfth century
of distinct is
a
Valley
artistic
phenomenon
edged, perhaps because
to
confined
the vallev
oi
the
Mouse
River,
c.
it
that
is
Antclami
is
rarely
in
the
acknowl-
contravenes the widespread as-
not an isolated case: he cannot even
he the earliest. Nor to Italy.
We
also find
is it
the revival of individuality
m
1180-90.
which runs from This region
had been the home of the "Reims style" in Carolingian times see fi»s. 399 and 400), and that awareness o| classu.il
i
its art during the Romanesque period Here again, then, interesting!) enough, the revival ol indi-
sources pervades
art.
although
monumental
influence did not produce works on a
Mosan" Romanesque sculpture excelled in metalel 1107-18 in iegi fig. 141), which is also the masterpiece of the earliest among the mdiv iduallv know n artists of the region, Renier scale
personalities
sumption th.tt all medieval art is anonymous. It does not happen very often, of course, hut it is no less significant foi claim
m
I
northeastern France into Belgium and Holland
this
that
KING DAVID West facade. Fiden/.a Cathedral
viduality is linked with the influence ol ancient
revival.
all
BENEDETTO ANTELAM
the 12th century
of
one particular region
ol
work, such as the splendid baptismal loot I
of lluv
The vessel icsis on twelve oxen (symbols ol the like Solomon's basin in the Temple at Jeru-
twelve apostles
.
salem as described in the Bible. The reliefs make an instru< live contrast w ith those ol Rernward's doors see fig 107 sum e thev are about the same height. Instead
l«)\!\\l
s(ji
I,
the rough
ol
I
uti
.
147
expressive power of the Ottoman panel,
we
find here a har-
monious balance of design, a subtle control of the sculptured surfaces, and an understanding of organic structure that, in
medieval terms, are amazingly
classical.
seen from the back (beyond the tree on the ture), with its graceful
turning
The
left in
movement and
figure
our
pic-
Greek-look-
ing drapery, might almost be taken for an ancient work.
Germany The one monumental art
—
free-standing statue of
Romanesque
perhaps not the only one made, but the only one that
has survived
—
is
that of
an animal, and in a secular rather
than a religious context: the lifesized bronze lion on top of a tall
shaft that
Duke Henry
front of his palace at
the Lion of Saxony had placed in
Brunswick
in
1
166
(fig.
442).
The won-
derfully ferocious beast (which, of course, personifies the
duke, or
him ic
his
at least that
aspect of his personality that earned
nickname) reminds us
bronze she-wolf of
Rome
in a curious
(see
fig.
way of the archa-
248). Perhaps the re-
semblance is not entirely coincidental, since the she-wolf was on public view in Rome at that time and must have had
Romanesque artists. The more immediate relatives of the Brunswick
a strong appeal for
ever, are the countless
dragons,
griffins,
twelfth century for the ritual
RENIER OF HUY.
—
Baptismal Font. 1107-18.
Bronze, height 25" (63.5 cm). St.-Barthelemy, Liege
442. Lion Monument. 1166. Bronze, length
c.
6' (1.8
Cathedral Square, Brunswick, Germany
>,-iH-l«)\l\\l
\(JI
I
Mil
m).
how-
and such, that came into use in the washing of the priest's hands during Mass. These vessels another instance of monsters doing menial service for the Lord were of Near Eastern inspiration. The beguiling specimen reproduced in figure 443 still betrays its descent from the winged beasts of Persian art, transmitted to the West through trade with the Islamic lions,
441.
lion,
bronze water ewers in the shape of
world.
—
dimensional aspects
ol
the
pi<
ture are reduced to overlapped
Even Ottoman painting
planes.
see figs. 408 and 409) seems ill usior ustu in omparison. Yet by sacrifi( ing the las) remnants of modeling in terms of light and shade, the Romanesque artist has endowed Ins work with an abstract clarity and precision that had not been possible m Carolingian 01 Ottoman limes; only now can we truly sav that the representational, the symbolic, and the decorative elements of the dec
sign are knit together into a single, unified structure.
This style of rhythmic lines and planes eschews .ill effects might he termed specifically pictorial not only tonal
—
that
values hut the rendering of textures and highlights such as
we
still
Ottoman painting
find in
gains a new
universality
ol
— and
scale.
because
ol
this
ii
The evangelists of the
Ebho Gospels, the drawings of the Utreckl Psalter, and the miniatures in the Gospel Hook of Otto III are made up of open, spontaneous flicks and dashes of brush or pen that
443. Ewer. Mosan. Victoria
&
Albert
c.
1130. Gilt bronze, height
Museum, London (Crown
PAINTING
7W'
(18.5 cm).
copyright reserved)
AND METALWORK
Unlike architecture and sculpture, Romanesque painting
shows no sudden revolutionary developments
that set
it
Nor does it look more "Roman" than Carolingian or Ottoman painting. This does not mean, however, that in the eleventh and twelfth centuries painting was any less important than it had been during the earlier Middle Ages; it merely emphaapart immediately from Carolingian or Ottoman.
sizes the greater continuity of the pictorial tradition, espe-
manuscript illumination.
cially in
France GOSPEL BOOK, CORBIE. Nevertheless, year 1000
we
find the
soon alter the
beginnings of a painting style that cor-
—
—
to and often anticipates the monumental qualRomanesque sculpture. The new attitude is clearly evident in the St. Mark fig. 144 from a Gospel Book prob-
responds
ities
of
I
i,
done toward 1050 at the monastery of Corbie m northern France. The twisting and turning movement of the lines, which pervades not only the figure of the Evangelist but the winged lion, the scroll, and the curtain, recalls Carolingian miniatures of the Reims School such as the Ebbo Gospels (see fig. 399). This very resemblance helps us see the differences between the two works: in the Corbie manuably
every trace of classical illusionism has disappeared;
script,
Reims School, with its suggestion and space, has been replaced by firmly drawn con-
the fluid modeling of the of light
tours
filled
in
with bright, solid colors, so that the three-
111 at
Corbie
s/ <
MARK, from a Gospel Book produced 1050 Bibliotheque Municipale, Amiens
/.'mm/
so/
/
\Ki
•
149
445.
THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
Detail of the
BAYEUX TAPESTRY,
height 20" (50.7 cm). Centre Guillaume
le
c.
1073-83. Wool embroidery on linen,
Conquerant, Bayeux, France
fv»
S8
146
r><)-
nil BUILDING OF
ROMANESQl
I
Mtl
III!
rOWEROf BABEL
-
'—
'
'
— ^^^^^^^^^^
Detail of painting Oil the nave vault. Si .-Savin-sur-Gartempe Karly 12th century
have an intimate, hand-written if copied
strange
on
.1
would look
they
flavor;
larger scale or in another medium.
The
Corbie miniature, on the contrary, might be translated into a mural, a stained-glass window.
without losing any of
its
BAYEUX TAPESTRY in
the Vezelay
,1
tapestry, or a relief panel
essential qualities.
This monumentally
tympanum
(fit;.
437).
the
is
same
as
where much the same
pleated drapery patterns are rendered in sculptural terms; or in the so-called feet
Baveu.x Tapestry, an embroidered frieze 230
long illustrating William the Conqueror's invasion of
England. Our detail tings,
has
stylistic
in the lively
like the
I
liu.
445), portraying the Battle of Has-
kinship with the Corbie manuscript even
somersaults of the
pose of the lion
in the
Fallin g
horses, so strikingly
we marvel
miniature. Again
.it
which the designer has integrated narrative and ornament: the main scene is enclosed by two border the ease with
perform their framing function equally well, although the upper one is purely decorative while the other consists of dead warriors and horses and thus forms part of strips that
the story.
Sf-SAVIN-SUR-CARTEMPE. Firm sense
of
outlines and a strong
pattern are equally characteristic
Romanesque
of
The Building of the Tower of Babel (fi^. 446) is taken from the most impressive surviving cycle, on the nave vault of the church at St.-Savin-sur-Gartempe (com415). It is an intensely dramatic design, crowded pare fi with strenuous action; the Lord Himself, on the far left, parwall painting.
tz..
He
ticipates directly in the narrative as
ers of the colossal structure.
He
is
addresses the build-
counterbalanced, on the
Nimrod, the leader of the enterprise, who hands blocks of stone to the masons atop the tower, so that the entire scene becomes a great test of strength between God and man. The heavy dark contours and the emphatic play of gestures make the composition eminently readable from a distance, vet these same qualities occur in the illuminated manuscripts of the region, which can be equally monumental despite their small scale. right, bv the giant
frantically
The Channel Region
southern England. The works produced it
is at
in this
area are so
times impossible
on which side of the English Channel
JOHN mi: evangelist, from
the Gospel Book oj
Abbot Wedricus. Shortly before
11 -17
Socicte Archeologique ct Historique.
Avesnes-sur-Helpe, Frani e
of the composition into a coherent whole. ITus quality
While Romanesque painting, like architecture and sculpture, developed a wide variety of regional styles throughout western Europe, its greatest achievements emerged from the monastic scriptoria of northern France, Belgium, and closely related in style that
447. sr
a given
to
be sure
manuscript
belongs.
betrays
still
tage;
if
of line
ultimate source, the Celtic-Germanic heri-
its
we compare our miniature
with the Lindisfarne Gos-
387 we see how mm h the interlai ing patterns ol the Dark Ages have contributed to the design ol the St John page, fhe drapery folds aiu\ the (.lusters ol floral ornament have an impulsive vet disciplined aliveness that ec hoes the intertwined snakelike monsters ol the animal stvle. even though the foliage is derived from the lassital acanthus and the hum. m figures are based on arolingian and Byzantine models fhe unit) ol the entire page, however, is conveyed pels
I
fig.
l,
t
(
COSPEL BOOK OF ABBOT WEDRICUS. Thus of the wonderful miniature of St John
(fig.
the style
447) has been
linked with both C ambrai and Canterbury, fhe abstract Im
ear draftsmanship of the Corbie manuscript
1
fi<>.
444
1
has
been influenced by Byzantine Style note the ropelike loops of drapery, w hose origin can be traced back to such works is 1
fig.
332) but without losing
its
energetic rhythm.
It
is
the
dynamics of every contour, both m the the frame, th.it unite the v aned elements
not
onh
bv the
(
remove him from it Ins fered by the donor ol the manus( ript, \bboi Wedric us source of inspiration the dove ol the oh spun in the hand ol Cod 01 his identifying symbol, the eagle. he other meI
1
1
I
1,
precisely controlled
dallions,
main figure and
scenes horn the
in
fhe Evanframe in SU< h a wa) that we ould not w ithout cutting oil his ink supplv prof-
forms but bv the content as well
gelist "inhabits" the
less direcU) lile ol
linked with the St
mam
(mure
show
John.
/fo\n\/
s(,K
/
\/;/
•
;-,/
clothed in rippling, "wet" draperies familiar to us from
countless classical statues, have achieved so high a degree of organic body structure
tend
to
think of
them
as the final phase of the to call
it,
and freedom of movement that we
as harbingers of Gothic art rather than
Romanesque. Whatever we choose
the style of the Klostemeuburg Altar was to have a
profound impact upon both painting and sculpture during the next
years (see
fifty
figs.
The astonishing humanity
496 and 497). of Nicholas of Verdun's art
must be understood against the background of a general reawakening of interest in man and the natural world throughout northwestern Europe. This attitude could express itself in various ways: as a
new
regard for classical
lit-
erature and mythology, an appreciation of the beauty of
ancient works
of art, or
simply as a greater readiness
to ac-
knowledge the enjoyment of sensuous experience.
CARMINA BURANA. The latter aspect is reflected particusuch lighthearted poetry as the well-known Carmina Burana, composed during the later twelfth century and preserved in an illuminated manuscript of the early thirteenth. That a collection of verse devoted largely and at times all to the delights of nature, love, and drinking too frankly larly in
448. PORTRAIT
OF A PHYSICIAN, from a medical 1160. British Museum, London
C.
PORTRAIT OF A PHYSICIAN. Soon
—
—
treatise.
should have been embellished with illustrations
after the
is signif-
middle of
the twelfth century, an important change of style began to
make
itself felt in
Romanesque
painting on either side of the
English Channel. The Portrait of a Physician (fig. 448), from a medical manuscript of about 1 160, is surprisingly dif-
John miniature, although
ferent from the St.
duced
in the
same
it
was
pro-
region. Instead of abstract patterns,
we
suddenly find lines that have regained the ability to describe three-dimensional shapes; the drapery folds no longer lead
an ornamental
ume est
pictorial
own
but suggest the rounded vol-
even a renewed interthen, we meet the counterpart of that classicism which we saw earlier
Here
at
baptismal font of Renier of
In fact, its
of their
foreshortening.
in
in the
life
the body underneath; there
of
in metal, rather
Liege (see
at
if
fig.
441).
at Liege, too,
and
they had been engraved
than drawn with pen or brush.
NICHOLAS OF VERDUN. should have originated it
Huy
our miniature was probably done
sharp, deliberate lines look as
than
is
last,
might seem
in
That a new painting
metalwork
at first, lor
is
perhaps
style
less strange
the style's essential qualities
are sculptural rather than pictorial; moreover, metalwork
(which includes not only cast or embossed sculpture but ;ilso engraving, enameling, and goldsmithing) had been a high!) developed art in the Mouse valley area since Carolingian times
Nicholas
ol
Its
greatest practitioner after Renier of
Verdun,
in
whose work the
dimensional style of draftsmanship reaches
The engraved and enameled plaques
Huy was
classicizing, threelull
maturity.
of the Klostemeuburg
which he completed in 1181 (fig. 449 shows one of them The Crossing oj the Red Sea), clearly belong to the \l(.n
same
tradition
\OMANESQl
as
the
Liege miniature,
but
the figures,
449.
NICHOLAS OF VLHDUN. THE CROSSING OF THE RED SEA. 1181.
Enamel on
gold plaque, from the
KLQSTERNEUBURG ALTAR,
height
5W (14 cm).
Klostemeuburg Abbey, Austria
450. Pase
witii
SUMMER LANDSCAPE,
Carmina Burana. Early
from a manuscript of
13th century. 7 x 4 7A"
17.8 x 12.5 cm).
(
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich
We arc even more surprised, however, to find one of the miniatures (fig. 450), coupled with a poem
icant in itself
theonh wax
that
of anthology
praising spring, represents a landscape
we know,
in
Western
art
— the
first,
so far as
Echoes of ancient landscape painting, derived from Early Christian and Byzantine sources, can be found in Carolinian art (see fi
page with a sort ornament interspersed
by filling his
plant
with birds and animals
The
since late classical times.
<>l
—
him Romanesque
possible for
trees, vines,
and flowers remain so abstract
that
we
cannot identify a single spec ies the birds and animals, probably copied from a zoological treatise, are lai more realistic -
I,
vet the)
have an uncanny
them seem
to
\italit\
sprout and unfold as
season were compressed into
of their il
own
that
makes
the growth of an entire
a lew frantic
moments
I
hese
exuberance oi early summer, of stored energy suddenly released, far more intensely than any normal vegetation could Our artist has created a fairygianl seedlings convey the
tale lands<
ape but his enc banted world nevertheless evokes
essential aspe<
t^ ol
reality
no\i\\i soi
/
\i:i
.
153
CHAPTER FOUR
GOTHIC ART
Time and space, we have been taught, arc interdependent. Yet we tend to think of history as the unfolding of events in time without sufficient awareness of then
space— we
visualize
unfolding
in
as a stack of chronological layers, or
it
periods, each layer having a specific depth that corresponds
duration, lor the
to its
more remote
where our sources simple image works reason-
of information are scanty, this ably well.
It
past,
becomes less and less adequate as we draw closand our knowledge grows more precise.
this unity
breaks apari
north of the Alps ing position
with Florence in the lead ere
Italy
new art
ates a radically
that of the Early Renaissance while
landers assumes an ec|uallv
1
command-
the development of Fate Cothic painting and
in
A centurv later, fmallv. the Italian Renaissance becomes the lusis of another international stvle With this skeleton outline to guide US, we can now explore the unfoldsculpture.
ing of Cothic art in greater detail.
er to the present
Thus we cannot define the Gothic era in terms of time .done; we must consider the changing surface area of the layer as well as
its
ARCHITECTURE
depth.
At the start, about
1
140. this area
braced only the province
known
was small indeed.
em-
It
as the Ile-de-France (that
and vicinity the royal domain of the French kings. A hundred years later, most of Europe had "gone Gothic," Paris
is,
from
I,
Sicily to Iceland, with only a lew
Romanesque pockets
here and there; through the crusaders, the new stvle had even been introduced to the Near East. About 1450, the
left
Gothic area had Italy
begun
— and by about
The Gothic
1550
layer, then,
it
— no
longer including
had disappeared almost
entirely.
has a rather complicated shape,
depth varying from close
minimum
shrink
to
400 years
to
in
some
its
places to a
of 150 in others. This shape, moreover, does not
emerge with equal clarity in all the visual arts. The term "Gothic" was first coined lor architecture, and in
is
architecture that the characteristics of the stvle are
certainty about the exact limits of the Gothic stvle in these
This evolution of our concept of Gothic
art
suuuests
way the new stvle actually grew: it began with architecand for a century—from about 1150 to 1250, during the Age of the Great Cathedrals— architecture retained its dominant role. Gothic sculpture, at first severely architecthe
ture,
tended
become
and less so alter 1200; its greatest achievements are between the years 1220 and 1420. Painting, in turn, reached a climax of creative endeavor between 1300 and 1350 in central Italy. North of the Alps. it became the leading art from about 1400 on. We thus find, tural in spirit,
to
Origin of no previous stvle
less
.is
the city of Paris.
we
can pinpoint the
th.it
of Gothic.
was
It
in the rebuilding, by
Church
Suger, of the royal Abbey
We
exactly as
horn between 1137 and 1144
Abbot
of St. -Denis just outside
how Cothic archihappened to come into being at this particular spot. we must first acquaint ourselves with the special relationship between St. -Denis. Suger, and the French monarchy I'he km»s of France derived their claim to authority from the Carolinian tradition, although they belonged to the CaIf
are to understand
tecture
Hugh Capet
petian line (founded hv it
most easily recognized. And although we speak of Gothic sculpture and painting, there is. as we shall see, some unfields.
Fiance ST-DENIS AND ABBOT SUGER.
Carolinian
last
c
in
)87
m
w ho.
that of the nobles
I.
alter the death of the
But their power was eclipsed by theory, were then vassals; the only
area they ruled directly was the ile-de-France, and they
of-
ten found their authority challenged even there. Not until
the early twelfth centurv did the royal power begin
pand; and Suger, as chief adviser
to
ex-
to
Fouis VI, played
a kev
It was he who forged the alliance between the monarchy and the Church, which brought the bishops of France (and the cities under their authority) to
role in this process.
the kind's side, while the king, in its
struggle against the
Suger, however, the plane
ol
m turn, supported
championed the monarchy
practical politics hut
ficance, by glorifying
as the strong right
it
v
not onlv on
on that of "spiritual
by investing the royal office with
tics";
the pap.u
German emperors
arm
poli-
signi-
religious
of justice,
he
surveying the Gothic era as a whole, a gradual shift of emphasis from architecture to painting or. better perhaps,
sought
from architectural
context, lor the church, founded in the late eighth centurv
in
to pictorial qualities.
I
Characteristic
enough, Early Gothic sculpture and painting both discipline of their
monumental
allv
reflect the
setting, while Late Gothic
to rail)
the nation behind the
plans lor the Abbe) of
enjoyed
a
St.
it
1
lis
architec tural
made
was the shrine
it
ideall)
of
France,
the sac red protector of the realm as well as the chief
rather than clarity or firmness).
rial
Overlving this broad pattern cal
development
from there conies
to
(modern
to
he or
centurv. the
in
is
another one; international
independence Starting as
the ile-de-France. Gothic art radiates
the rest of France and to
known
a lo-
as opus
all
modemum
Europe, where or
it
francigenum
French work). In the course of the thirteenth new stvle gradually loses its "imported" flavor;
regional variety begins to reassert itself toward the middle
of the fourteenth century,
we
notice a growing tendency lor
these regional achievements to influence each other until,
about
1400.
,i
surprisingly
homogeneous
"International
Gothic" stvle prevails almost everywhere. Shortly thereafter.
of the Carolingian dynasty
father, Pepin,
I
the Bald ter of
i.
memo-
both Charlemagne and his
had been consecrated kin^s there, and
also the burial place of Charles
Suger wanted
to
make
this
suitable for
of the Apostle
architecture and sculpture strive for "picturesque" effects
diffusion as against regional
m
-Denis must he understood
dual prestige that
Suger's purpose:
kimj,.
M artel,
it
was
Pepin, and Charles
the abbe) the spiritual cen
France, a pilgrimage church
to
outshine the splendoi
the others the local point of religious as well as patriot-
of
all
ic
emotion hut
in
order
to
become
the visihle
embodiment
of such a goal, the old edifice had to he enlarged and rebuilt. file great in
abbot himself has desc nhed the entire campaign
such eloquent
west lacade and
we know more ahout what he we do ahout the final result lor the
detail that
desired to achieve than its si
ulptuie are sadlv mutilated todav. and
the choir, w hie h Suger regarded as the most important part
aoiiiu
\i:i
{55
ambulatory, and ribbed groined vaulting based on the pointis employed throughout (in the Romanesque pilgrimage choir, only the ambulatory had been groin-vaulted As a result, the entire plan is held together by a new kind of geometric order: it consists of seven identical wedge-shaped
ed arch
).
units fanning out from the center of the apse. We experience this double ambulatory not as a series of separate compartments but as a continuous (though articulated) space, whose shape is outlined lor us by the network of slender arches, ribs, and columns that sustains the vaults. What distinguishes this interior immediately from its preis its lightness, in both senses; the architectural forms seem graceful, almost weightless as against the massive solidity of the Romanesque, and the windows have been
decessors
enlarged to the point that they are no longer openings cut they fill the entire wall area, so that they theminto a wall
—
selves
walls. If we now examine the we realize what makes this abundance of The outward pressure of the vaults is con-
become translucent
plan once more, light possible.
tained by heavy buttresses jutting out between the chapels (in the plan, they look like stubby black
ward the center of the
apse).
arrows pointing
The main weight
of the
ry construction is concentrated there, visible only
outside.
to-
mason-
from the
then, that the interior appears so amaz-
No wonder,
and weightless, since the heaviest members of the beyond our view. The same impression would be even more striking if we could see all of Suger's choir, for the upper part of the apse, rising above the double ambulatory, had very large, tall windows (the effect, from the nave, must have been similar to that of the somewhat later choir of Notre-Dame in Paris; see fig. 454). ingly airy
structural skeleton are
451. Ambulatory, Abbey Church of St.-Denis,
Paris.
1140-44
SUGER AND GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. Suger's choir,
we have
In describing
also described the essentials of Goth-
none of the individual elements that enis really new; the pilgrimage choir plan, the pointed arch, and the ribbed groined vault are familiar to us from the various regional schools of the French (and
ic
architecture. Yet
tered into
its
design
Anglo-Norman) Romanesque, even though we never encounter them all combined in the same building until St.-Denis. The lle-de-France had failed to develop a Romanesque tradition of its own. so that Suger— as he himself tells
us— had
to
bring together artisans from
We must
regions for his project.
many
different
not conclude from this,
however, that Gothic architecture originated as a mere synthesis of Romanesque traits. If it were no more than that, we
would be hard pressed 452. Plan of the choir and ambulatory of St.-Denis (after
us so forcibly
Sumner Crosby)
at
to explain the
new
spirit that strikes
St.-Denis: the emphasis on strict geometric
planning and the quest
lor luminosity.
Suger's account of
the rebuilding of his church insistently stresses both of these as the highest values achieved in the new structure.
of the enterprise, retains
ambulatory
(figs,
its
original
appearance only
in the
451 and 452).
we recognize familiar elements of the Romanesque pilgrimage choir (compare fig. 412), with an Looking
at
the plan,
arcaded apse surrounded by an ambulatory and radiating chapels Yel these elements have been integrated m Strikingly novel fashion; the chapels, instead of remaining separate entities
an
JilllH
Mil
merged
so as to form, in effect, a second
"Harmony"
(that
is,
the perfect relationship
among
parts in
terms of mathematical proportions or ratios) is the source of which all beauty, since it exemplifies the laws according to divine reason has constructed the universe; the "miraculous'' light that Hoods the choir through the "most sacred"
windows becomes the
spirit of
the Light Divine, a mystic revelation of
God.
This symbolic interpretation of light and of numerical har-
mony had been thought.
It
established over the centuries in Christian
derived from the writings of a fifth-century
Creek theologian who, in the Middle Ages, was believed to have been Dionysius the Areopagite, an Athenian disciple of St. Paul. Through this identification, the works or the fifthcentury writer,
known
as the Pseudo-Dionysius,
came
to
be
vested with great authority. In Carolingian France, however,
Dionysius the disciple
Paul was identified both with
ol St.
the author of the Pseudo-Dionvsian writings and with )enis, the
I
St.
Apostle of France and the special protector of the
realm.
The
monarchic power during the
revival of
century gave new importance Dionysius, attributed
to St.
to
early twelfth
the theology of the Pseudo-
Denis and therefore regarded as
France's very own. For Suger, the light-and-number sym-
bolism
ol'
Dionysian thought must have had a particularly We can well understand why his own mind
Strong appeal.
m
and why he wanted to give it visible exrebuilt the church of the royal patron That he succeeded is proved not only by the inherent
was steeped pression saint.
it,
when he
qualities of his choir design but also by pact; every visitor to St. -Denis,
it
had spread
far
conundrum
church, alter
space with
.1
the chicken and the egg
ol
he fun<
I
minimum
tion ol
maximum
not merely to enclose a
is
all,
who
of material; for the mastei
ol
built
the choir of St. -Denis under Suger's supervision the techni-
problems of vaulting must have been inextru ably bound up with considerations ol form that is. of beauty, harmony, fitness, and so forth As a matter of lac l. bis design includes various elements that express function without ai lual v per-
cal
1
I.
I
forming
seem
it.
Such as the slender shafts
I
(
responds
ailed
the weight of the vaults to the
thai
I
hurch floor. Bui 111 order to know what constituted beauty hannonv. and fitness the medieval architect needed the guidance ol to carry
Such guidance might be
ecclesiastical authority.
some
directive to follow
c
established model
a
simple
m the case ol
or,
patron as actively concerned with architectural aesthetic Suger.
it
process. is
S
a
as
might amount to lull participation in the designing Thus Suger's desire to "build Dionysian theology"
likely to
have been a decisive factor from the very begin-
shaped
his mental image of the kind of structure he wanted, we may assume, and determined his choice of a
ning:
it
seems, was overwhelmed
master of Norman background as the chief architect This man, a great artist, must have been singularly responsive to
new
the abbot's ideas and instructions. Between them, the two
its
extraordinary im-
by Suger's achievement, and within a few decades the stvle
the a
beyond the confines of the
Ile-de-
together created the Gothic
stvle.
France.
NOTRE-DAME,
SUGFR AND THE MFD1FVAL ARCH1TFCT The
how
and why of Suger's success are a good deal more difficult to Here we encounter a controversy we have met sev-
explain. eral
times before
— that
of
form versus function. To the advo-
was an abbey, towns rather than in rural monastic communities. There had been a vigorous revival of urban life, we will recall, since the early elevPARIS. Although
St. -Denis
the future of Gothic architecture
enth century;
this
in the
lav
movement continued
at
an accelerated
cates of the functionalist approach, Gothic architecture has
pace, and the growing weight
seemed the result of advances in architectural engineering, which made it possible to build more efficient vaults, to con-
only economically and politically but in countless other w.ivs as well: bishops and the city clergy rose to
centrate their thrust at a few critical points, and thus elimi-
cathedral schools and universities took the place of monas-
nate the solid walls of the Romanesque. Suger, they would
was fortunate
argue,
who
in
securing the services of an architect
evidently understood the principles of ribbed groined
vaulting better than anybody else at that time.
II'
the abbot
chose to interpret the resulting structure as symbolic of Dionysian theology, he was simply expressing his enthusiasm over it m the abstract language of the churchman; his account does not help us
to
understand the origin of the new
perfectly true, of course, that the choir of St. -Denis
It is
is
planned and constructed than any Romanesque church. The pointed arch (which can be "stretched"' rationally
reach any desired height regardless of the width of its base) has now become an integral part of the ribbed groined
to
As a result, these vaults are no longer restricted to square or near-square compartments; they have gained a flexibility that permits them to cover areas of almost anv vault.
shape such as the trapezoids and pentagons of the ambulatorv The buttressing of the vaults, too, is more fully under(
I.
stood than before.
have led
to
I
low could the theological ideas of Suger
these technical advances, unless
we
are willing
assume that he was a professionally trained architect? II we grant that he was not. can he claim anv credit at all for the stvle of what he so proudly calls "his" new chuK h ? Perhaps the question poses a false alternative, somewhat like to
made
itself felt not
new importance;
teries as centers of learning, while the artistic efforts of the
m
age culminated
the great cathedrals. That
("Our Ladv," the Virgin Mary)
at
ol
Notre-Dame
Pans, begun in
1163,
more
direct-
reflects the salient features of Suger's St. -Denis ly
than anv other
The axis,
plan
(
fig.
of major
its emphasis on the longitudinal compact and unified as against that
with
I,
extraordinarily
is
453-57).
(figs.
453
Romanesque churches;
the double ambulator)
ol
the choir continues directly into the aisles, and the stubby
style.
more
the cities
ol
transept barely exceeds the width rior (fig.
454
)
we
still
galleries
ol
the facade. In the inte-
echoes of the Norman Roman-
nave vaults over squarish
sexpartite
esque:
find
above the inner
aisles
The columns
and
bays,
of the nave
11
cade are another conservative- feature. Vet the large clerestory windows and the lightness and slendemess of the forms create an unmistakably Gothic effect note how thin the nave walls are made to seem Gothic, too, is the "vcrticalism"
the interior spa<
ol
proportions of the
actual
naves are equallv
tall,
constant accenting
wnb which teriors effort
In
1
ol
the sense
such as
required
fig.
in
Notre-Dame
e.
nave
I
bis
— for
relative to their
depends
less
on the
some Romanesque width
— than
on the
the verticals and on the soaring ease ol
height
is
attained.
413), bv contrast,
Romanesque
in-
emphasize the great
supporting the weight of the vaults as
m
Suger's choir, the buttresses
coiliK
Mil
the
•
157
453. Plan
of
Notrc-Dame,
Paris.
1163-c. 1250
454. (right) Nave and choir, Notre4Dame, Paris
455. (below) Notre-Dame (view from the southeast), Paris
fVitd
u "*
•
GOTHIC Mtl
l
«">HfrAfcu^
i
I
R»ii
(St''&r
Much more
important than these resemblances are the
qualities that distinguish the facade ol Notre
Romanesque
ancestors, foremost
among
Dame
these
from
its
the waj
is
all the details have been integrated into a wonderful!) balanced and oherent whole, the meaning ol Suger's emphasis on harmony geometric ordei and proportion becomes i
evident here even more strikingly than in St.-Denis itseli Ibis formal discipline also embraces the sculpture, u hit b is
no longer permitted the spontaneous trolled
)
growth so characteristic
ol
the
and often uncon-
Romanesque
but has
been assigned a precisely defined role within the an nit al framework. At the same time, the cubic solidit) facade of St.-Etienne
at
very opposite; lacelike
hite< ol
the
Caen has been transformed into its arcades, huge portals and windows
dissolve the continuity of the wall surfaces, so that the total
approximates that of a weightless openwork screen. advanced during the first half of the thirteenth century can be seen by comparing the west
effect
How
rapidly this tendency
facade
ol
Notre-Dame with the somewh.it
south transept, visible
window
in
the center
in figure
is still
later
lacade
ol
the
455. In the former the rose
deeply recessed and. as a result,
the stone tracery that subdivides the opening
is
clearly set
456. Flying buttresses. Notre-Dame, Paris
"heav v hones" of the structural skeleton are not visible from )
the inside. The plan
shows them
as massive hlotks of
ma-
sonry that stick out from the building like a row of teeth.
Above the
aisles,
these piers turn into flying buttresses
arched bridges that reach upward
to
the critical spots be-
tween the clerestory windows where the outward thrust of the nave vault
is
concentrated
(fig.
455). This
method
of
an-
choring vaults, a characteristic feature of Gothic architecture, certainly
Even the ly i
owed
its
origin to functional considerations.
flying buttress, however, soon
important as well, and
its
apart from actually providing
cording
to
became
aesthetical-
shape could express support it)
in a variety of ways, ac-
the designer's sense of Style
The most monumental aspect
I
fig.
456
I.
of the exterior of Notre-
Dame is the west facade fig. 457). Except for its sculpture. which suffered heavily during the French Revolution and is lor the most part restored, it retains its original appearance. I
Fhe design reflects the general disposition of the facade <>l which in turn had been derived from Norman Ro-
St. -Denis,
manesque facades such as that of St.-F.tienne at Caen (see fig. 417). Comparing the latter with Notre-Dame. we note the persistence of some basic features: the pier buttresses that reinforce the corners of the towers into three Story
mam
and divide the facade
parts; the placing of the portals; the three-
arrangement, fhe rich sculptural decoration, however, France (see fi'j, 416) and
recalls the facades of the west of
the elaborately
caned
portals of Burgundy.
15'
West facade Notre-Dame
I'.ms
(.oillH
Mil
•
(59
surrounding wall surface; on the transept fawe can no longer distinguish the rose win-
off against the
cade, in contrast, clow
from
its
frame
— a single network of tracery covers the
entire area.
CHARTRES CATHEDRAL. Chartres,
began
who
to rebuild bis
later, all
Toward 1145 the bishop
of
befriended Abbot Sugerand shared his ideas, cathedral in the
new
style. Fifty
years
but the west facade, which provided the main en-
trance to the church, and the east crypt were destroyed by a fire for sculpture of the west portals, see figs. 493 and 494); a second rebuilding was begun in 1 194 (fig. 458), and as the result of a huge campaign was largely accomplished within the astonishingly brief span of twenty-six years. The basic design is so unified that it must have been planned by a single master builder. However, because the construction proceeded in several stages and was never entirely finished, the church incorporates an evolutionary, rather than a systematic, harmony. For example, the two west towers, though similar, are by no means identical.
disastrous
(
Moreover, their spires are radically different: the north spire
on the left dates from the early sixteenth century, nearly three hundred years later than the other. The church was erected on the highest point in town and the spires can be seen for miles in the surrounding farmland (fig. 459). Had the seven other spires been completed as originally planned, Chartres would convey a less insistent directionality.
Both arms of the transept have three deeply
recessed portals lavishly embellished with sculpture and 458. West facade, Chartres Cathedral (north spire
is
16th century). 1145-1220
surmounted by an immense rose window over five smaller lancets (fig. 460). Perhaps the most striking feature of the
159. Chartres Cathedral (aenal view)
',<><)•(;<
HUH
Mil
460. Portals, north transept, Chartres Cathedral
flanks
is
whose massing lends
the flying buttresses,
presence
erfully organic
to
the semicircular apse
461. Transverse section of
end, with Chartres Cathedral
seven subsidiary chapels
its
The impressive west
(after Acland)
three, is a
(figs.
at
a
pow-
the east
459 and 461
).
facade, divided into units of two and
model of lucidity.
Its
soaring verticalitv and punc-
tuated surface are important in shaping our expectations
about the
we
interior.
will first
The shape
of the doors tells us. too. that
chamber As soon
be ushered into a low
enter the narthex. as the covered anteroom
have
left
is
as
called,
the temporal world completely behind.
It
we we
takes
some time for our eyes to adjust to the darkness of the interior. The noise of daily life has been shut out as well; at first, sounds are the void.
eerily muffled, as
Once we
if
swallowed up with
light b\
recover from the disorienting effect
strangely cavernous realm,
we become aware
ing light, which guides us into the
full
of this
of a glimmer-
height of the chore
h.
Conceived one generation after the nave of Notre-Dame in Pans, the rebuilt nave fig. 462 represents the first masterpiece of the mature, or High Gothic, style. The openings of the pointed nave arcade are taller and narrower (see fig. )
I
454).
They
are joined to a clerestory
of
the
same height by
a
which have now Responds have been added
short triforium screening the galleries,
been reduced to a narrow wall. the columnar supports, so as to stress the continuity of the vertical lines and guide our eve upward to the quadripartite vaults, which seem like diaphanous webs stretched across to
the slender ribs terior
nate.
space It
is
ol
Because there are so lew
Chartres Cathedral
made
to
seem even
initially
walls, the vast in-
seems indetermi-
larger by
the sense
of
disembodied sound l'he elicit is so striking that it would seem to have been thought of from the beginning with music in
mind, both antiphonal choirs and large pipe organs, in use lor over (wo centuries in
which had alreadv been
some
parts of Europe.
(.oiHK
w;
•
The alternating sequence of round and octagonal piers demark each bay marches down the nave toward the
that
apse
— the east end
of
the church
— where the liturgy
is
per-
Beneath the apse is the crypt, which houses Chartres' most important possession: remnants of the robe formed.
said to
thedral ly
462. Nave and choir, Chartres Cathedral 463. (above right) Plan, Chartres Cathedral
464. (below right) Clerestory wall of the nave,
Chartres Cathedral.
l62«COTH/<
l/(/
have been worn by the Virgin Marv, is
dedicated.
survived the great
The venerable fire
of
1
194,
relic,
to
whom
the ca-
which miraculous-
drew pilgrims from
all
over
Europe. In order
to
accommodate
large
numbers
oi visitors
ing
it
with the poetic and symbolic values
the "mirac ulous
without disturbing worshipers, the church incorporates a
light"
wide
ethereal light, which dissolves the physical solidity
running the length of the nave and around the transept; it is joined at the choir by a second aisle, forming an ambulatory that connects the apsidal chapels see plan. aisle
i
fig.
463
).
among all major Gothic cathedrals, Chartres still remost of its more than 180 original stained-glass windows. The magic of the colored liy.li streaming down from the clerestory through the large windows is unforgettable to anyone who has experienced their intense, jewellike hues on the spot {tig. 464). The windows admit far less light than one mi^ht expect; they act mainly as multicolored diffusing Alone
tains
t
filters that
change the quality of ordinary
daylight,
lt)5
Choir
endow
vault.
so highly praised h\ Abbot Suger.
I
he sensation oi
of
the
church and. hence, the distinction between the temporal and the divine realms, creates the intensely mystical experience that lies at the heart of Gothic spirituality. The aisles however, are considerably darker because the stained-glass windows on the outer walls, though relatively large, are at
ground
level,
where they admit much
less light
than
at
the
clerestory level.
AMIENS CATHEDRAL. The Chartres reaches of
its
High Gothic style defined at climax a generation later in the interior
Amiens Cathedral
<
figs.
465 and 466). Breathtaking
Amiens Cathedral. bVnun 1220
col
I
IK
Iftl
466. Nave and side
see
(
fig.
most precarious
The inner
limits.
membranes, and
which now includes the triibrium so
(.titer
Acland)
and
carried to
system
vaults, taut
window
the expanded
above the nave arcade becomes
is
logic of the
shape of the
in
467. Transverse section, Amiens Cathedral
technically
467); skeletal construction
forcefully asserts itself in the
thin as
Amiens Cathedral
become the dominant aim, both
height has
aesthetically its
aisle,
and
area,
that the entire wall
a clerestory (fig. 466).
REIMS CATHEDRAL. The same emphasis on vertically and translucency can be traced in the development of the High Gothic facade. The most famous of these, at Reims Cathedral
4(i8).
(fig.
makes an
west facade of Notre-Dame
instructive contrast with the
m
Paris,
even though
design was conceived only about thirty years the
same elements
Cathedral of the
common
are
kin
to
of France,
later.
its
basic
Many
of
both (as the Coronation
Reims was
closely linked
but in the younger structure they have been re-
to Paris),
shaped into
ensemble. The portals, instead
a very different
being recessed, are projected forward as gabled pore lies, wuli windows in place ol tympanums above the doorways;
ol
the gallen
royal statues,
ol
horizontal between the raised until tail
ii
which in Paris forms an incisive and second stones, has been
first
merges with the third-story arcade; every dewindow has become taller and narrower and a multitude of pinnacles further accentu-
e\i epi the lose
than before;
ates die teslless upw.ird dec oration
•
nl
UK
b\
far the
Mil
,
x
nut ii
i'j,
movement.
most lavish of
its
I
be sculptural
kind (see
figs.
497
468, West facade, Reims Cathedral,
c.
1225-99
im*ite? ^ftifktr&.ti **
469. Comparison
of
nave elevations in same
3)
Reims Cathedral;
4)
scale.
1
)
Notre-Dame,
Amiens Cathedral
(after
^Mm&
Chartres Cathedral,
Paris; 2)
Grodecki)
470. Axonometric projection of a High Gothic cathedral (after Acland).
1
)
Bay; 2) Nave; 3) Side aisle;
4) Nave arcade; 5) Trilonum. 6) Clerestory; 7) Pier; 8) Compound pier; 9) Sexpartite vault. 10 Buttress 1
1
I
)
Flying buttress; 12) Flying arch; 13) Hoof (after Acland)
and 498
no longer remains
).
has now spread
mam
to so
in clearl)
marked-off /ones
hitherto unacc
it
ustomed perches,
not only on the facade but on the flanks as well, that the exterior of the cathedra] in's.
The
begins
to look like a
dm ecote
for stat-
swift progression toward verticalit)
relative!)
in
French Gothic cathedral architecture is clearl) seen in figure 469, while figure 170 shows how both height and large expanses ol window wore at hieved toward the end ol this
development,
latep run;
1
1
ih-ckmi ky comic,
n
i
rhe High
Gothic cathedrals of France represenl a concentrated expenditure ol effort sin h as the world lias rarel) soon before or since.
mense
Hie) are trul) national
cost
was borne
countr) .md from sion
ol
that
all
(
b)
monuments, whose im-
donations collected
merging
ol
religious
all
over the
The tangible expres-
lasses ol so< iet)
and
patriotit
fervor that
Abbot Suger As we approach the second hall ol the thirteenth century, we sense thai this wave Ol enthusiasm has passed Us crest work on the \asl structures begun during the firsi hall now proceeds al a
had been the goal
slower pa<
e;
new
ol
proje< is are lower
and generall) on
a far
ambitious scale; and the high]) organized teams ol masons and S( ulptOTS thai had developed at the sites ol the less
(.olllH
\i:i
471. St.-Urbain, Troyes. 1261-75
great cathedrals during the preceding decades gradually
break up into smaller units.
A
church of the later years of the century, (figs. 471 and 472). leaves no doubt that the "heroic age" of the Gothic style is past. Refinement of detail, rather than toweling monumentality, has been the designer's chief concern; by eliminating the triforium and simplifying the plan, he has created a delicate cage of glass 'in the choir the windows begin ten feet above the floor), characteristic
St.-Urbain in Troyes
sustained by flying buttresses so thin as to be hardly noticeable.
The same spiny, attenuated elegance can be
felt in
the
architectural ornament.
FLAMBOYANT GOTHIC.
In
some
respects. St.-Urbain
is
prophetic of the Late, or Flamboyant, phase of Gothic architecture.
The beginnings
of
Flamboyant Gothic do indeed
seem to go hack to the late thirteenth century, but its growth was delayed by the Hundred Years' War with England, so that we do not meet any full-fledged examples of it until the early fifteenth, lis name, which means flamelike, refers to the undulating patterns of curve and countercurve that are a
prevalent feature of Late Gothic tracery, as
Rouen
i
fig.
at
St.-Maclou
473). Structurally, Flamboyant Gothic
in
shows no
developments of its own; what distinguishes St.Maclou from such chur< ties as St.-Urbain in Troyes is the luxuriant profusion of ornament. The architect has turned signifii ant
into a virtuoso
well
dl
who
overlays the structural skeleton with a
dei oration so
\66'GOTHI(
\i:i
dense and fanciful as
to
obscure
it
al-
[nterior toward northeast,
St.-Urbain
the great strut ture behind
it
has
far
more the
palace than of a fortress, Symmetrical!)
square court, famil)
it
c
hara< ter
laid oui
provided comfortable quarters
and household note the countless i
c
II
the exterior
ol
the second Louvre
court displayed a sculpture.
ol
a
conveys
has some
still
well
.is
1
(Figure 544
another miniature from the same manuscript good impression ol such a hall forbidding qualities
.1
for the royal
himneys
as lavishly decorated halls lor state occasions
ol a
around
a
the
ol
Stronghold, the sides toward the
wealth
architectural
ornament and
The same contrast also appears
in the house' ol
Jacques Coeurin Bourges.
ol
I
unit in die
l
We
IK is
as a house, not a palace, onl\ because Jacques
(
speak
ol
Oeur was
it
a
silversmith and merchant, rather than a nobleman. Since
however, he also was one of the richest
men
he
of his da\
could well afford an establishment ob\ iously modeled on the
mansions of the its
The courtyard
aristocracy.
high-pitched roofs,
its
silicosis the picturesque qualities familiar to us
boyant church architecture
473. St.-Maclou, Rouen. Begun 1434
(fig.
an echo of the Louvre court
473). That
dle class during the later Middle
most completely. locate
to
It
becomes
a fascinating
the "hones'' of the
picturesque tangle of
game
1
hom
the-
Amon«
Vges.
the astonishing things about Gothic art
is the enthuresponse this "royal French style of the Tans region" evoked abroad. Even more remarkable was its ability to ac-
is
gious structures, the most ambitious as well as the most rep-
Secular building, indeed,
resentative efforts of the age.
same general
trends, but these are often ob-
M\
*
scured by the diversity of types, ranging from bridges and fortifications
royal
to
from barns
palaces,
to
town
halls.
Moreover, social, economic, and practical factors play a
more important useful
life of
church design, so that the much briefer and their
part here than in
the buildings
is
apt to be
chance of preservation correspondingly less. fortifications, indeed, are often made obsolete by even minor advances 111 the technology of warfare. As a consequence, our knowledge of secular structures of the pre-Gothic Middle Ages remains extremely fragmentary, and most of the surviving examples from Gothic times belong to the latter half of the |
I
period.
I'his fact,
however,
is
not without significance; non-
and public, became far more elaborate during the fourteenth and fifteenth centur-
religious architecture, both private
ies
than
The
it
had been before.
history of the Lou\ re in
ple: the original building,
Pans prov ides
a telling
exam-
erected about 1200. followed the
severely functional plan of the castles of thai
time—it
con-
donjon or keep, surrounded by a heavy wall. In the 1360s, King Charles Y had it built as a sumptuous royal residence Although this second sisted mainly of a stout tower, the
Louvre, like
tur\
i
has now disappeared, we know what looked (me miniature painted in the early fifteenth cen-
too.
from see
a
fig.
it
543).
There
is still
is
urban mid-
England
this
lines.
Since our account of medimainly concerned with the development we have until now confined our attention to reli-
reflects the
find
of hide-and-
building within
SECULAR ARCHITECTURE. of style,
with
Flam-
we should
siastic
eval architecture
1,
merchant's residence
in a
striking proof of the importance attained h\
seek
17
fig.
I
pinnacles and decoratix e can ings,
a defensive outer wall
hut
\,
1
Court
Housed
lacques Coeui Bourges
l
I
(.OIIIU
\l:
475. (left) Salisbury Cathedral. 1220-70
476. Plan of Salisbury Cathedral
477. (below) Nave and choir, Salisbury Cathedral
climate itself to a variety of local conditions fact, that
the Gothic
monuments
of
— so much
so, in
England and Germany
have become objects of intense national pride in modern times, and critics in both countries have acclaimed Gothic as a peculiarly "native" style.
How
rapid spread of Gothic art? cited, singly or in
are we to account for the A number of factors might be
combination: the superior
skill
of
French
architects and stone carvers; the vast intellectual prestige of
French centers of learning, such as the Cathedral School of of Paris; and the influence of the Cistercians, the reformed monastic order founded by St. Bernard of Clairvaux. He, we will recall, had violently denounced the fliubts of fancy of Romanesque sculpture see
Chartres and the University
I
page 333). In conformity with his ascetic
abbey chur< hes were of any sort
was held
ideals, Cistercian
a distinctive, severe type
to a
minimum, and
a
— decoration
square choir took
the place of apse, ambulatory, and radiating chapels. For that very reason, however, Cistercian architects put special
emphasis on harmonious proportions and exact craftsmanship; and their "anti-Romanesque" outlook prompted them to adopt certain basu features of the Gothic style. During the latter half of the twelfth century, .is the reform movement gathered momentum, this austere Cistercian Gothic i
.inn
to
be
\68*COTHH
known throughout western Europe.
Mil
Still,
one wonders whether any of the explanations we
have mentioned
go
really
the heart of the matter.
to
The
ulti-
mate reason for the international victory of Gothic art seems to have been the extraordinary persuasive power of the Style itself, its ability to
gious leeling even
kindle the imagination and to arouse
among
reli-
people far removed from the cul-
tural climate of the Ile-de-France.
That England should have proved particularly receptive to new style is hardly surprising. Yet English Gothic did
the
not grow directly from Anglo-Norman Romanesque but from the Gothic of the Ile-de-France introduced in 1 175 by (
who
the French architect
rebuilt the choir of
Canterbury
Cathedral) and from that of the Cistercians. Within less than fifty years, it developed a well-defined character of its
own, known as the Early English style, which dominated the second quarter of the thirteenth century. Although there was a great deal of building activity during those decades, it consisted mostly of additions to
Anglo-Norman
structures.
A
many
English cathedrals had been begun about the same time as Durham (see figs. 418-20) but remained unfinished; they were now completed or enlarged. As a consegreat
we
quence,
few churches that are designed in the Early
find
English style throughout.
SALISBURY CATHEDRAL. Among bury meets this requirement
we
(figs.
realize immediately
cathedrals, only Salis-
475-77). Viewing the ex-
how
it is from its would be to judge it by French Gothic standards. Compactness and vertically have given way to a long, low, sprawling look (the great crossing tower, which provides a dramatic unifying accent, was built a century later than the rest and is much taller
tenor,
counterparts in France
— and how
different
futile
it
than originally planned). Since there height, flying buttresses have
is no straining after been introduced only as an
Characteristically enough,
afterthought.
478. Choir. Gloucester Cathedral. 1332-57
the west facade
has become a screen wall, wider than the church itself and stratified by emphatic horizontal bands of ornament and statuary, while the towers
The
plan, with
tains the
its
have shrunk
to
stubby turrets.
strongly projecting double transept, re-
segmented quality of Romanesque structures: the
square east end derives from Cistercian architecture. As we enter the nave, we recognize the same elements miliar to us from
Chartres (see
fig.
French
interiors of the time,
described as conservative
sense
in the positive
the French system but tones
down
its
it
so as to maintain a strong sense of continuity
Anglo-Norman
accepts
revolutionary aspects
with the
past
fa-
such as
462), but the English interpretation of
PERPENDICULAR STYLE. The bold
upward
contrast
between
these elements produces a very different total effect. As on
horizontal progression throughout the rest
the facade, the horizontal divisions are stressed
thedral suggests dial English Gothic had developed in a
pense of
thi' vertical,
so that
we
at
the ex-
see the nave wall not as a
succession of bays but as a continuous series of arches and supports.
These supports, carved
against the rest of the interior special Function that
English
style.
the nave vault.
um
level,
is
and the
— a method of Stressing then
one of the hallmarks of the Early
clerestory, as a result, gives the impression
among
the vaults. At Durham, more same treatment had been a technecessity compare tig. 420 now it has become a mat-
than a century
earlier,
the
I;
(
ter of style,
Earl)
dark marble, stand out
Another insular feature is the steep curve of The ribs ascend all the way from the trifori-
of being "tucked away"
nical
of
thoroughly
in
keeping with the character of
English (Gothic as a whole. This character might be
the
thrust of the crossing tower and the leisnielv
hundred
direction during the intervening
becomes very evident
it
we compare
ol
Salisbury Ca-
years.
new
hec hange
I
the interior ol Salisbury
with the choir of Gloucester Cathedral, built in the second
quarter of the next century
ample The
of English
name
I.
eerlamlv
vertical accent thai
English stvle line lar
i
is
I
so
to
it
c
i.
1
his
would look ol
is
a striking ex-
we now
find the
dominant
m
the Earl)
onspic uouslv absent
the floor
much more
he repetition
since
tits,
is
cludes so manv features that
I7
fig.
note the responds running
from the vault
Gothic
I
ate Gothic, also called "Perpendicular."
verv
i.
in
an unbroken
In this respect Perpendicu-
akin to French source's, vet
we have come
much
out
ol
to
know
it
in-
as English
place on the Continent
small uniform tracerv panels recalls the
col UK
Mil
•
169
form an ornamental network that screens the boundaries between the bays and thus makes the entire vault look like one continuous surface. This, in turn, has the effect of emphasizing the unity of the interior space. Such decorative elaboration of the "classic" quadripartite vault tic
is
characteris-
of the Flamboyant style on the Continent as well, but the
and carried it to greater lengths. amazing pendant vault oi Henry VII's Chapel at Westminster Abbey, built in the early years of the sixteenth century (figs. 479 and 480), with its lanternlike knobs hanging from conical "fans." This fantastic scheme merges ribs and tracery patterns in a dazzling English started
The ultimate
is
it
earlier
reached
in the
display of architectural pageantry.
Germany In Germany, Gothic architecture took root a good deal more slowly than in England. Until the mid-thirteenth century,
the
Romanesque
tradition,
with
its
persistent Ottonian rem-
iniscences, remained dominant, despite the growing accep-
tance
of
Early Gothic features.
From about 1250
on, the
High Gothic of the Ue-de-France had a strong impact on the Rhineland; Cologne Cathedral (begun in 1248) represents an ambitious attempt to carry the full-fledged French system beyond the stage of Amiens. Significantly enough, however, the building remained a fragment until it was finally completed in modern times; nor did
it
have any successors.
479. Chapel of Henry VII, Westminster Abbey, London (view toward west). 1503-19
480. Diagram of vault construction. Chapel of Henry VII,
Westminster Abbey
(after
Swaan)
bands of Statuary on the west facade at Salisbury; the plan simulates the square east end of earlier English churches; .mil the upward curve of the vault is as steep as in the nave dl
Salisbury. I
be
ribs ol the vaults,
altogethei
370
•(,()!
I
new
IK
\HI
role
on the other hand, have assumed an
they have been multiplied until they
481. Choir,
St.
Sebald, Nuremberg.
1361-72
HALL CHURCHES. Gothic
Such churches
kirche.
height (see
Far more characteristic of
German
the development of the hall church, or Iltilltu-
is
— are
— with
aisles
familiar to us from
and nave of the same
Romanesque
architecture
415). Lor reasons not yet well understood, the type
fig.
found particular favor on German soil, where its artistic poswere very fully explored. The large hall choir added
sihilities
1361-72
to the church of St. Sebald in Nuremberg fig. one of many fine examples from central Germany. The space here has a fluidity and expansiveness that enfold us as if we were standing under a huge canopy; there is no pressure, no directional command to prescribe our path. And the unbroken lines of the pillars, formed by bundles of shafts which gradually diverge as they turn into ribs, seem
in
481
to
I
is
)
echo the continuous movement that we
feel in the
space
itself
Italy Italian
Gothic architecture stands apart from that of the rest Judged by the formal criteria of the Ile-de-
of Europe.
France, most of
it hardly deserves to be called Gothic at all. produced structures of singular beauty and impreseness that cannot be understood as mere continuations of
Yet si\
it
Romanesque.
the local
We must
be careful, therefore,
to
avoid too rigid or technical a standard in approaching these
monuments,
we
lest
fail
to
do justice
to their
unique blend of It was the Cis-
Gothic qualities and Mediterranean tradition.
tercians, rather than the cathedral builders of the Ile-de-
Lrance.
who
provided the chief exemplars on which Italian
482. Nave and choir. Abbey Church of Fossanova.
Consecrated 1208
architects based their conception of the Gothic style. As ear-
end of the twelfth century. Cistercian abbeys and central Italy, their designs patterned directlv alter those of the French abbeys of the order. ly
as the
sprang up
in both north
ABBLY CHURCH. FOSSANOVA. One ings, at Lossanova,
some
consecrated in 1208
(figs.
its
location,
on
a
map —
of the finest build-
Rome, was 482 and 483). Without knowing we would be hard put to decide where to place it it might as well be Burgundian or English; the sixty miles south of
plan looks like a simplified version of Salisbury, and the finely proportioned interior bears a strong family
blance
to all
resem-
Cistercian abbeys of the time. There are no
cade towers, only
a lantern
fa-
over the crossing, as befits the
The groined vaults, although based on the pointed arch, have no diagonal ribs, the win-
Cistercian ideal of austerity.
dows
.ire
deal of
small,
and the architectural
Romanesque
solidity,
unmistakably Gothic. Churches such as the one
detail retains a
good
but the flavor of the whole
lossanova made
at
a
is
deep im-
pression upon the Franciscans, the monastic order founded In St. Francis of Assisi in the early thirteenth
mendicant ity,
friars
century
\s
48:-!
Abbe)
Plan
Chun
h
ol
ol
the
Fossanova
dedicated to poverty, simplicity, and humil-
they were the spiritual
km
of
St.
Bernard, and the severe
beauty of Cistercian Gothic must have seemed to them to express an ideal closelv related to theirs. Be that .is it may, their churches from the first reflected Cistercian influence and thus played a leading role in establishing Gothic archi-
tecture in Italy
(.OIHH
Mil
•
484. Nave and choir, Sta. Croce, Florence.
Begun
c.
1295
485. Plan of Sta. Croce
CROCE, FLORENCE.
STA.
Sta.
aboul a century after Fossanova,
Croce
may
in Florence,
begun
well claim to be the
484 and 485); it is also a masterpiece of Gothic architecture, even though it has wooden ceilings instead of groined vaults. There can be no greatest of all Franciscan structures (figs,
was a matter of deliberate choice, rather than economic necessity— a choice made not only on the basis of local practice (we recall the wooden ceilings or the uscan Romanesque) but also perhaps from a desire to evoke the simplicity of Early Christian basilicas and in
doubt that dl te<
1
iii
1
this
aJ
or
I
doing so
to link
Franciscan poverty with the traditions of
the earl) Church. (
tract
of the
•
The
plan, too,
liiisiian features.
Earl)
<
We
combines Cistercian and shows no
note, however, that
lothic structural system,
COTHH Mil
except
it
for the groin-
vaulted choir; the walls remain intact as continuous surfaces (indeed, Sta. Croce owes part of its fame to its in contrast to Fossanova, there are no longer any buttresses, since the wooden ceilings do not require them. Why, then, do we speak of Sta. Croce as Gothic? Surely
wonderful murals) and,
the use of the pointed arch
is
not sufficient to justify the
term 7 A glance at the interior will dispel our misgivings. For we sense immediately that this space creates an effect fundamentally different from that of either Early Christian or Romanesque architecture. The nave walls have the weighdess, "transparent" quality we saw in northern Gothic churches, and the dramatic massing of windows
cm
end conveys the dominant
at
the east-
role of light as forcefully as
486. Florence Cathedral
(S.
Maria del Fiore).
Begun by ARNOLFO DF CAMBIO. 1296; dome by FILIPPO BRUNELLESCHI, 420-36 1
Abbot Suger's choir at tional impact. Sta.
St. -Denis.
Croce
is
Judged
in
terms
profoundly Franciscan— and Florentine— in the tal
means
simplicity of the
oJ its
Gothic beyond doubt;
In
which
this
emoalso
is
it
monumen-
impact has been
achieved.
FLORENCE CATHEDRAL.
Croce the architect's
If in Sta.
m. nn concern was an impressive
interioi
I
lorenci
was planned .is a monumental landmark to towering above the entire city (figs 186 and 1ST
dral
nal design, h\ the
Sta 487.
Plat) of
Florence Cathedral
(
s(
ulptor Vrnolfo di
Iroce
known
not
is
in detail,
smaller than the present building,
same hasK
plan
based large!) on over around [agonal
mately
I
dome <>l
(
late
'>
13.
tion
probabl)
design h\ Francesco
a
with
it
I
Roman
subsidiary origin
hall
see figs
pride
rheorigi
was begun
at
showed the howevei
it
who
lalenti,
he most striking feature its
athe-
although somewh.it
he building as we know
I
(
ivi<
amino. whi< h dates
about the same time construe
from 1296
c
is
domes
the great .i
motil
266 267 and
<.oiiih
\i:i
is
took oi
ulti'>_!_!
488. Nave and choir, Florence Cathedra]
24 It may have been thought of at first as an oversize dome above the crossing of nave and transept, but it soon grew into a huge central pool of space that makes the nave look ).
an afterthought. The basic characteristics of the dome were set by a committee of leading painters and sculptors in
like
1367; the actual construction, however, belongs to the early fifteenth century (see
page 455).
Apart from the windows and the doorways, there is nothing Gothic about the exterior of Florence Cathedral (flying buttresses to sustain the nave vault but proved unnecessary).
The
may have been planned
solid walls,
encrusted with
geometric marble inlays, are a perfect match
The
for the
Roman-
on the other hand, recalls Sta. C'roce, even though the dominant impression is one of chill solemnity rather than lightness and grace. The ribbed groined vault of the nave rests directly on the huge nave arcade, producing an emphasis on width instead of height, and the architectural detail throughout has
esque Baptistery (see
a
massive 188).
fig,
I
the spirit
solidity that
431).
fig.
interior,
seems more Romanesque than Gothic
Thus, the unvaulted interior of Sta. C'roce reflects of the new style more faithfully than does the Ca-
thedral, which,
on the basis of its structural system, ought
to
be the more Gothic of the two. I
ypically
enough,
facade
towers
the
churches.
It
a separate
familiar
campanile takes the place of to
was begun by the
us
in
northern
Gothic
great painter Giotto,
who
and continued by the si ulptor Andrea Pisano, son of Nicola Pisano(see page 386), who was responsible for the niche /one. The rest represents
managed
tbe work I
to finish
ol
only the
lalenti,
first story,
who completed
be west facade so dramatic
drals
never
)74'GOTHU
a<
hieved the
Mil
it
design
by about 1360.
a feature in
same importance
It
for
Museo
French cathe-
in Italy.
489.
is re-
BERNARDINO POCCETTI of ARNOLFO DI CAMBIO'S
Drawing
the facade of Florence Cathedral,
dell'Opera di
S.
c.
1587.
Maria del Fiore, Florence
markable how few Italian Gothic facades were ever earned to completion before the onset of the Renaissance, Chose ol Sta.
Croce and Florence Cathedral both date from the nine-
teenth century. Fortunately. Arnolfo's design for the latter
preserved fore
in
a drawing
made
by Bernardino Poccetti just be-
being demolished in 1587
half of the decorations
is
is
(fig.
shown
489). Only the bottom
in detail,
but
it
provides us
dispute between the
loi al architet is and consulting experts from France and Germany Only the apse begun first i<
tains the original flavoi of the building whi< h belongs to the
Flamboyant phase ol Gothii architecture fig 190 Otherwise the decoration strikes us as an oveilv elaborate piling up ol detail applied in mechanical fashion ovei the late.
centuries without an)
iiiutv
SECULAR
(
ol
feeling
with a clear idea of what an Italian Gothic facade would have looked
like,
though
devised an ornate
is
it
not without Liter alterations. Arnollo
scheme
of pilasters and niches with sculp-
which was further embelmust have been a dazzling fusion of sculpture and architecture, classical severity' and Gothic splendor. tures to articulate the surface, lished by mosaics.
The
over-all effect
Gothic
There
\l((
lllll
hah convey is
nothing
II
Ihe secular buildings
111
as distinct
,i
in the cities ol
the impressive grimness
ol
local flavor as
ol
thechun his
northern Europe
the Palazzo Vecchio
to
mat< h
fig
I'M
the town hall of Florence. Fortresslike stuntuics such as tins reflect the factional strife— among political parties so
and prominent families— SO charac teristic ol life ihe wealthy man's home oi term denoting any large urban house) was quite
cial classes,
MILAN CATHFDRAL. Work often continued for
hundreds
on
Italian
of years.
Gothic churches
Such was the case
withm
the Italian city-states,
palazzo, a
with Milan Cathedral, by far the largest Gothic church on
literally his castle,
designed both
one most nearly comparable to Northern structures. Begun in 1386, it was completed only
and
Ihe Palazzo Vecand more elaborate, follows the same pat-
Italian soil as well as the
in
1910.
Its
structural design
was the subject
of a
famous
490. Milan Cathedral
to
chio. while larger tern.
apse)
to
w ithsland armed assault
proclaim the owner's import. nice
Behind
Begun
I
its
1
battlemented walls, the
citv
government
«•>
l.OIHH
Mil
could
The
feel well
tall
protected from the wrath of angry crowds.
tower not only symbolizes civic pride but has an
eminently practical purpose; dominating the the surrounding countryside,
it
city as well as
served as a lookout against
enemies from without or within.
Among
Italian cities
Venice alone was ruled by a mer-
chant aristocracy so firmly established that internal disturbances were the exception rather than the rule. As a
consequence, Venetian palazzi, unhampered by defensive requirements, developed into graceful, ornate structures
such as the Ca' d'Oro
(fig.
492). There
is
more than a touch
of the Orient in the delicate latticework effect of this facade,
even though most of the decorative vocabulary derives from the Late Gothic of northern Europe. Its rippling patterns, ideally designed to be seen against their own reflection in the water of the Grand Canal, have the
we
ity
from the exterior of
recall
St.
same
fairy-tale qual-
Mark's (see
fig.
350).
SCULPTURE France Although Abbot Suger's story of the rebuilding of does not deal
at
St.
-Denis
length with the sculptural decoration of the
church, he must have attached considerable importance
to
fagade were far larger
The three portals of his west and more richly carved than those of
Norman Romanesque
churches. Unhappily, their condition
this aspect of the enterprise.
491. Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. Begun 1298
today
is
so poor that they do not
tell
us a great deal about
Suger's ideas of the role of sculpture within the total context of the structure
C^JWffh
'•''^ ff
^^fotn
**:
he had envisioned.
CHARTRES CATHEDRAL, WEST PORTALS. We may assume, however, that Suger's ideas had prepared the way for
the admirable west portals of Chartres Cathedral
(fig.
begun about 1145 under the influence of St. -Denis, but even more ambitious. They probably represent the oldest full-fledged example of Early Gothic sculpture. Comparing them with Romanesque portals, we are impressed first of all with a new sense of order, as if all the figures had sud493),
come
denly
to attention,
conscious of their responsibility
to
The dense crowding and the movement of Romanesque sculpture have given way
the architectural framework. frantic to
an emphasis on symmetry and clarity; the figures on the and tympanums are no longer entangled
lintels, archivolts,
with each other but stand out as separate entities, so that the entire design carries much farther than that of previous portals.
Particularly striking in this respect of the 492. Cad'Oro, Venice. 1422-c. 1440
jambs
tached
to
(fig.
494),
which are
is
the novel treatment
lined with
tall
figures at-
columns. Similarly elongated figures, we
recall,
had occurred on the jambs ottrumeaux of Romanesque portals (see figs. 433 and 439), but they had been conceived as reliefs
carved into
— or protruding from — the masonry of the
doorway. The Chartres tially
least,
',?(,'
(iOIIIK
\m
jamb
figures, in contrast, are essen-
each with its own axis; they could, in theory at be detached from their supports. Here, then, we wit-
statues,
493. West portal, Chartres Cathedral,
ness a development of truly revolutionary importance; the first
basic step toward the reconquest of monumental sculp-
round since the end of classical antiquity. Apparcould be taken only by "borrowing" the rigid cylindrical shape of the column for the human figure, with
with the theology
the result that these statues
Romanesque
seem more
abstract than their
predecessors. Yet they will not regain their im-
mobility and unnatural proportions lor long; the very fact that they are
round endows them with
presence than anything
heads show damentally
Realism
a
gende,
realistic is,
in
more emphatic Romanesque sculpture, and their
human
a
quality that betokens the fun-
trend of Gothic sculpture.
of course, a relative term
whose meaning
var-
gready according to circumstances. On the Chartres west portals, it appears to spring from a reaction against the ies
and demoniacal aspects of Romanesque art. reaction that may be seen not only in the calm, solemn spun oi the figures and their increased physical bulk (compare the
fantasic
.1
Christ of the center
437) but
m
tympanum
with that
at
Vezelay,
fig.
the rational discipline of the symbolic program
underlying the entire scheme While die subtler aspects of this program are accessible only to a mind full) conversant
the Chartres Cathedral School,
ol
its
mam
all
three
elements can be readily understood fhe iamb statues,
ture in the
ently, this step
1145-70
c.
a
continuous sequence linking
portals, represent the prophets, kings, ble; their
purpose
is
both
to
and queens
ol
the Bi-
acclaim the rulers of France as
the spiritual descendants of Old Testament rovaltv and to
harmony of secular and spiritual rule, of priests and kmys an ideal insistend) put forward by Abbot Suger Christ Himself appears enthroned above the main doorway as Judge and Ruler of the Universe, flanked stress the
1
or bishops
—
1
bv the sv mbols ol the lour evangelists, with the aposdes assembled below and the twentv-lour elders ol the \poc alvpse in the archivolts. The right-hand tympanum shows His inthe Birth, the Presentation in the Temple, and carnation the Infant Christ on the lap ol the Virgin v\ ho also stands foi
—
I
the
Church I— while
tions
in
the archivolts
and representatives
paying homage
to
hand tympanum, Christ, the (bust
ol
ol
the
see the persomlic
wisdom of we see die
W ension,
Christ
In the left-
timeless
Heavenly
trained bv the
si<_mis ol
the zodiac and then earthly counterparts, the labors
twelve months
the ever-repeating evile
a-
human wisdom
the liberal arts:
the divine finally,
we
ol
o|
the
the yeai
comic
Mil
•
<77
By now, the symbiosis or statue and column has begun columns are quite literally put in the shade by the greater width of the figures, by the strongly projecting canopies above, and by the elaborately carved bases of ture.
to dissolve: the
the statues.
on the right, we still find echoes of the shape of Early Gothic jamb statues, but even here the heads are no longer strictly in line with the central axis of the body; and St. Theodore, the knight on the In the three saints
rigid cylindrical
left,
already stands at ease, in a semblance of classical con-
trapposto. His feet rest on a horizontal platform, rather than
on a sloping shelf as before, and the axis of his body, instead of being straight, describes a slight but perceptible S-curve.
Even more astonishing
is
the abundance of precisely ob-
— the weapons, mail — and, above
served detail
chain body.
all,
the texture of the tunic and the organic structure of the
Roman
Not since imperial
times have
as thoroughly alive as this. Yet the of the statue
is
not
anced image of
its
realism;
man which
it
we seen
a figure
most impressive quality
is,
rather, the serene, bal-
this realism conveys. In this
ideal portrait of the Christian Soldier, the spirit of the cru-
sades has been cast into
The rectly
style of the St.
Jamb
most elevated form.
It
incorporates another, equally important tradition:
statues, west portal. Chartres Cathedral
GOTHIC CLASSICISM. When
Chartres Cathedral was
re-
built after the fire of 1195, the so-called Royal Portals of the
west
facade
fashioned
m
must
for that reason, the
large I
Ik
in
and
have seemed
small edifice.
and oldPerhaps
preceded by deep pore
lies
such as the group shown represent an early phase of High (Jot hie sculp-
jamb statues of these
378'COTHK
new
two transept facades each received three
lavishly carved portals
figure IT),
rather
relation to the rest of the
\KI
portals,
di-
from the elongated columnar statues of Chartres' west
facade.
494.
its
Theodore could not have evolved
495.
Jamb
statues, south transept portal,
Chartres Cathedral,
c.
1215-20
Mcuse
which we traced in the to Nicholas of Verdun (compare figs. 441. 448. and 449). At the end of the twelfth century this trend, hitherto confined to metalwork and minthe classicism of the
valley,
previous chapter from Renier of
iatures, well,
began
to
appear
transforming
Gothic.
The
it
Huy
monumental stone sculpture
in
from Early Gothic
link with Nicholas of
Classic
to
Verdun
is
496.
DEATH OF THE VIRGIN, tympanum
the
of
south transept portaf. Strashourg Cathedraf.
c.
1220
as
High
striking in the
Death of the Virgin (fig. 496), a tympanum from Strasbourg Cathedral contemporary with the Chartres transept portals; here the draperies, the facial types, and the movements and gestures have a classical flavor that immediately recalls the
Klosterneuburg Altar
What marks other hand, tire
scene.
figures,
an
is
We
it
449).
(fi^.
as Gothic rather than
the deeply
felt
sense a bond of shared emotion
ability to
has classical roots
among
the
communicate by glance and gesture
such as we have never met too,
Romanesque, on the
tenderness pervading the en-
before.
— we recall
its
This quality of pathos,
entering into Christian
in Byzantium (see fig. how much warmer and more eloquent it is at Strasbourg than at Daphne! The climax of Gothic classicism is reached in some ol the statues at Reims Cathedral, the most famous among them
art
during the Second Golden Age
355). But
being the Visitation group
jamb
(
fig.
497, right
lb
I.
have a pan
ol
figures enact a narrative scene such as this would
have been unthinkable
in Early
Gothic sculpture; the
fact
can do so now shows how far the sustaining column has receded into the background. Characteristicall) enough, the S-curve, much more conspicuous than in the that they
St.
Theodore, dominates the side view
view,
.is
and the physical hulk of the bod)
sized In horizontal folds pulled across the
well as the front
further emphaabdomen The re-
is
497. ANNUNCIATION and VISITATION, wist
Reims
(
athedral
c
1225
portal.
15
(,<)IUH
Mil
498.
MELCHIZEDEK AND ABRAHAM,
interior west wall,
Reims Cathedral. After 1251
two women shows the same human warmth and sympathy we found in the Strasbourg tympanum, but their classicism is of a far more monumental
lationship of the
kind; they remind us so forcibly of ancient Roman matrons (compare fig. 286) that we wonder if the artist could have been inspired directly by large-scale Roman sculpture. The
influence of Nicholas of Verdun alone could hardly have
produced such firmly rounded,
The
solid
volumes.
program for Reims Cathecall upon the services of mas-
vast scale of the sculptural
had made it necessary to and workshops from various other building sites, and so we encounter several distinct styles among the Reims sculpdral ters
ture.
Two of these
styles,
both clearly different from the clas-
sicism of the Visitation, appear (fig.
197. left).
The
m
the Annunciation group
Virgin exhibits a severe manner, with a
body axis and straight, tubular folds meeting sharp angles, a style probably invented about 1220 by the
rigidly vertical at
sculptors of the west portals of Not re- Dame in Paris; from there it traveled to Reims as well as Amiens (see fig. 500,
above
I.
note the ic
conspicuously graceful: we round lace framed by curly locks, the emphat-
flic angel, in contrast, is tiny,
smile, the strong S-curv e of the slender body, the ample,
accented drapery. Ibis "elegant style," created around 1240 by Parisian masters working for the royal court, was lo spread far and wide during the following decades; it richly
soon became, sc
ulpture.
We
in
lad. the standard formula lor High Gothic
shall leel
lis
effect for
many
years to come, not
only in France hut abroad.
A
characteristic instance of the "elegant Style"
499. is
the line
group of Melchizedek and Abraham, carved shortly alter the middle ol (he century lor the interior west wall of Reims Ca-
380 'GOTHIC \HI
THE VIRCIN OF
PARIS. Early 14th century. Stone.
Notre- Dame, Paris
500. SIGNS
thedral
(tig.
knight,
still
OF THE ZODIAC and LABORS OF THE MONTHS
498).
Abraham,
in the
costume of
iJULY.
a medieval
recalls the vigorous realism of the St.
Theodore
Chartres; Melchizedek, however; shows clearly his de-
at
scent from the angel of the Reims Annunciation
— his hair
and beard are even more elaborately curled, the draperies more lavishly ample, so that the body almost disappears among the rich play of folds. The deep recesses and sharply projecting ridges betray a new awareness of effects of light and shadow that seem more pictorial than sculptural; the same may be said of the way the figures are placed in their cavernous niches.
A
half century later every trace of classicism has disap-
human
figure itself
now
becomes strangely abstract. Thus the famous Virata oj'Parts (fig. 499) in Notre-Dame Cathedral consists largely of hollows, the projections basing been reduced to the point where they are seen as lines rather than volumes. The statis
quite literally disembodied
>,
west facade. Amiens Cathedral.
the realism of Early and classic spite the fact that the
new
I
why
1220-30
ligh Gothic sculptures. De-
style
was backed by the
court and thus had special authority, plain
C.
we
find
it
hard
royal to ex-
attenuated elegance and calligraphic, smoothly
flowing lines
came
dominate Gothic
to
ern Europe from about 1250
to
art
1400.
It
throughout northis
neverthe-
clear,
The Virgin of Paris represents neither a return to the Romanesque nor a complete repudiation of the earlier
less, that
realistic trend.
Gothic realism had never been of the all-embrac ing sysit had been a "realism of particulars," locused on specific details rather than on the over-all structure of the visible world. Its most characteristic products are not the
tematic sort;
peared from Gothic sculpture. The
ue
AUGUST, SEPTEMBER
—
its
swaying stance no
classically oriented
iamb statues and tympanum composi-
tions of the early thirteenth century, but small-scale carv-
ings such as the Labors oj the
Months
on the facade of Amiens Cathedral lightful observation of
everyday
(fig.
life
in quatreloil
frames
500), with their de-
Ibis intimate kind
of
longer bears any relationship to the classical contrapposto.
realism survives even within the abstract formal framework
to such unearthly grace, the angel of the Reims Annunciation seems solid and tangible indeed, vet it con-
of
tains the seed of the very qualities so strikingly expressed in
ing the beholder, but as a thoroughly
Compared
The Virgin of Pans. When we look back over the century and a halt that separates The Virgin of Paris from the Chartres west portals, we cannot help wondering what brought about tins retreat from
The Virgin
oj
Pans, we see a
who
in the Infant Christ,
appears here not as the Sav iour-in-mini.ilure austerel) with his mother's
veil
Our
human
statue thus retains an emotional
appeal thai links u to die Strasbourg Death to
the Reims Visitation.
sicism
.is
such, that
is
It
fai
child playing
is
oj tin
Virgin and
this appeal, not realism or
the essence
ol
Cotbic
c
las-
ail
<.()////(
Mil
•
181
England rhe spread of Gothic sculpture beyond the borders of
France began only toward 1200
— the style of the Chartres — but, once under
west portals had hardly any echoes abroad way,
it
may
proceeded
an astonishingly rapid pace. England
at
well have led the way, as
its own vermuch English
did in evolving
it
sion of Gothic architecture. Unfortunately, so
Gothic sculpture was destroyed during the Reformation that
we can study
development only with difficulty. Our which did not arouse the
its
richest materials are the tombs,
iconoclastic zeal oi anti-Catholics. trated by the splendid
example
They include a
type, illus-
in figure 501, that
deceased, not in quiet repose as does the vast
has no
shows the majority of me-
counterpart on the other side of the Channel:
it
dieval tombs, but in violent action, a fallen hero, fighting to
the last breath. According to an old tradition, these dramatic figures,
whose agony so oddly
224). honor the
fig.
memory
struggle for the Holy Land.
Christian Soldiers,
help
to
account
cany
for their
recalls the
If so,
who
died in the
they would, as the tombs of
meaning
a religious
that
might
compelling expressive power. In
any event, they are among the lish
Dying Gaul (see
of crusaders
finest
achievements of Eng-
Gothic sculpture.
Germany In Germany, the growth of Gothic sculpture can be traced
more
easily.
From
the 1220s on,
the sculptural workshops
transplanted the
man
new
of
German masters
trained in
the great French cathedrals
homeland, although Gerstill predominantly Ro-
style to their
502. CRUCIFIXION, on the choir screen,
was
architecture at that time
Naumburg
Cathedral,
1240-50. Stone
c.
manesque. However, even after the middle of the century, Germany failed to emulate the vast statuary cycles of France. As a consequence, German Gothic sculpture tended to
be less closely linked with
its
architectural setting (the
work was often done for the interiors rather than the exteriors of churches and this, in turn, permitted it to develop an individuality and expressive freedom greater than that of its French models. finest
)
ries of statues
Naumburg
All
ingly evident in the style of the
Naumburg
of real genius
these qualities are strik-
whose best-known work
is
Master, an artist
the magnificent se-
relief's
he carved, about 1240-1250,
The
Crucifixion
(fig.
for
502) forms the
central feature of the choir screen; enclosed by a deep, ga-
bled porch, the three figures frame the opening that links
the nave with the sanctuary. Placing the group as he did (
THE NAUMBURG MASTER.
and
Cathedral.
rather than above the screen, in accordance with the usual
practice), to
our sculptor has brought the sacred subject down
earth both physically and emotionally: the suffering of
Christ
becomes
the weight and
a
human
volume
reality
because of the emphasis on
of the Saviour's body,
and Mary and
John, pleading with the beholder, convey their grief more eloquently than ever before.
The pathos of these figures
is
heroic and dramatic, as
against the lyricism of the Strasbourg
Reims
Visitation.
If
tympanum
or the
the Classic High Gothic sculpture of
France evokes comparison with Phidias, the Naumburg Master might be termed the temperamental kin of Scopas (sec pages
191-92).
The same
intensity of feeling domi-
nates the Passion scenes, such as The Kiss of Judas (fig. 503), with its unforgettable contrast between the meekness of Christ
and the
violent,
sword-wielding
St.
Peter, finally
there are, attached to the responds inside the choir, the stat)i)l
Idinl) oi a
knight,
c.
1260, Stone
Dorchester Abbey, Oxfordshire
182
-col
I
IK
Mil
ues of nobles associated with the founding of the cathedral,
among them
the famous pair
Ekkehard and Uta
(fig.
504).
Although these
men and women were
not ol the artist's OW n knew them onl\ as names in hronii le he has given each ol them a personality as distin< use and forceful as if he had portrayed them Iron hie rhey make an time, so that he
.1
1
1
instructive contrast with the St. Theodore fig.
THE so
at
far,
PIETA.
(
lot
art
we have come
hie sculpture, as
reflects a desire to
Christian
endow
see
new kind
devotion; a
know
it
ol
with an ever greater emotional appeal. Toward \
gave
rise to
of religious imagery, designed to serve private is
often referred to b>
dachtsbild, suite
opment.
to
the traditional themes
the end of the thirteenth century, this tendenc a
Chartres
495
Germany
played
.1
the
German term An-
leading part in us devel-
The most characteristic and widespread type of I'ictci (an Italian word derived from
Andachtsbild was the
the Latin pietas, the root word for hoth "pity" and "piet>
"
.
a
representation of the Virgin grieving over the dead Christ
No such scene occurs
in the scriptural
account of the Pas-
THE KISS Uh' JUDAS, on the choir screen. Naumburs Cathedral, c. 1240-50. Stone
503.
505 in 504.
EKKEHARD IND
I
/i.e.
1240-50 Stone Naumburg Cathedral
Wood, height 34
W
i
\
I
87.5
,nl\
14th centurj
cm) Provinzialmuseum Bonn
(.oihh
w,\
506.
sion;
it
was invented, rather
—
when as a tragic Madonna and Child.
or
CLAUS SLUTER.
Portal of the Chartreuse
— we do not know exactly where
counterpart to the familiar motif of the
period as The Virgin of Paris; like most such groups, it is carved of wood, with a vividly painted surface to enhance its
become purely
impact. Realism here has sion
— the
Claus
a vehicle of expres-
agonized faces; the blood-encrusted wounds of
Sluter, a sculptor of
the duke of
Burgundy
Champmol
de
The Pwtci reproduced in figure 505 dates from the same
de Champmol, Dijon. 1385-93. Stone
the
(fig.
monumental
Netherlandish origin working
at Dijon.
506),
The
for
portal of the Chartreuse
which he did
in
1385-93,
recalls
statuary on thirteenth-century cathedral
have grown so large and expansive overpower their architectural framework.
portals, but the figures
that they almost
This effect
due not only
is
and the bold three-
to their size
dimensionality of the carving, but also to the fact that the
Christ that are enlarged and elaborated to an almost gro-
jamb
his wife,
accompa-
tesque degree; and the bodies and limbs, puppetlike in their
nied by their patron saints) are turned toward the
Madonna
thinness and
rigidity.
The purpose
of the work, clearly,
is
to
arouse so overwhelming a sense of horror and pity that the. beholder
will identify his
of the Krief-stricken
own
feelings completely with those
Mother of God. would seem
At a glance, our Pietd
mon
flavor of
century find
Northern European
to the
is
art
have
little
newed impulse
in to
Philip the Bold
on the trumeau, so that the
in
com-
five figures
we again
Champmol
portal did not
for a revival of architectural sculpture;
it
re-
isolated effort.
Sinter's other
works belong
for lack of a better
term
which church furniture
to a different category,
we must
label
combining large-scale sculpThe most impressive of these is The Moses Well at the Chartreuse de Champmol fig. 507), a symbolic well surrounded by statues of Moses and other Old Testament prophets and once surmounted by a crucifix. The majestic Moses epitomizes the (tombs, pulpits, and the
explore tangible reality
In both
—
Reims. Significantly enough, the
mained an
re-
Naumburg.
perimposed however skillfully on the shape of the doorway, not developed from it as at Chartres, Notre-Dame, or
from the
weight and volume, coupled with a
form a single, coher-
instances, the sculptural composition has simply been su-
pave the way
late thirteenth
and
ent unit, like the Crucifixion group at
the characteristic period
mid-fourteenth. Only after 1350 do
an interest
(Duke
—
to
with The Virgin of Paris. Yet they both share a lean,
"deflated" quality of form that
statues
like),
ture with a small-scale architectural setting.
(
The
International Style in the North
SLUTER, The climax of this new trend came around 1400, during the period of the so-called International Style (see pages 338-39 and 404-1
:',H4
-GOTHIC Mil
1 ),
and
its
greatest exponent
was
same ly
qualities
we
find in Sluter's portal statues; soft, lavish-
draped garments envelop the heavy-set body
like
an am-
507.
CLAUS SLUTER. THE
height of figures
6'
c.
i
1.8
MOSES WELL 1395-1406. Stone, Champmol. Dijon
m). Chartreuse de
seem to reach out into the surrounding space, determined to capture as much of it as possible note the outward cunt- of the scroll pie shell, the swelling forms
).
(
hi the Isaiah, facing left in of
our
rather,
artist's style is
our
are less pronounced:
what
strikes us
the precise and masterful realism of every detail.
from the minutiae of the costume kled skin.
illustration, these aspects
The
head, unlike
ualuv of a portrait. Nor
th.it
this
is
to
the texture
of Moses, has
ol
all
the wrin-
the indiv
impression deceiving,
id-
for the
Italy
We
have
last,
left a
lor here.
discussion of Italian Gothic sculpture too.
as in Gothic architecture. Itah
apart from the rest of Europe. The earliest
(
inline
to
the
stands
sculpture
was proluhh produced in the extreme south, in \pulia and Sicily, the domain of the German Emperor Frederick II. who employed Frenchmen and Germans along with native artists at Ins court Of the works he sponsored
on
Italian soil
sculptural development that culminated in Clans Sinter had
little
produced, from about 1350 on, the
vored a strongly classic style derived from the sculpture
first
since late Antiquity.
And
splendid examples
the heads of the
in
the Chartreuse portal.
and
It
is
genuine
Sluter himself has
this
left
portraits
us two
duke and due hess on
attachment
to
the tangible
specific that distinguishes his realism from that of the
thirteenth century.
has survived, hut there
is
evidence that his taste
fa-
of
the Chartres transept portals and the Visitation uroup at
Reims. This style not onlj provided a fittmu visual language lei il
a ruler
who
saw himseli as the heir of the Caesars of old;
also blended easih with the classical tendenc ies
m
Italian
Romanesque sculpture see above, page
(.aillH
\l
•
185
NICOLA PISANO.
508.
Pulpit.
509. NATIVITY, detail of the
1259-60. Marble
NICOLA PISANO. Such was
the background of Nicola Pisano, who came to Tuscany from southern Italy about 1250 (the year of Frederick IPs death). In 1260 he completed the
marble pulpit in the Baptistery of Pisa Cathedral (fig. 508). His work has been well defined as that of "the greatest and of medieval classicists." In the Pisa Bapin a sense the last tistery pulpit the classical flavor is indeed so strong, whether we look at the architectural framework or at the sculptured
—
—
parts, that the
Gothic elements are hard
we do
glance. But
find
such
NICOLA PISANO,
Pulpit by
height 15' (4.6 m). Baptistery, Pisa
to detect at first
elements in the design of the
sculptor, did a
marble pulpit
cludes a Nativity things in
for Pisa Cathedral.
It,
too, in-
510). Both panels have a good
(fig.
common,
Baptistery, Pisa
we might
as
many
well expect, yet they also
—
—
sharp and instructive contrast. Giovanni's slenswaying figures, with their smoothly flowing draperies, recall neither classical Antiquity nor the Visitation group at offer a
der,
Reims; instead, they reflect the elegant style of the royal become the standard Gothic formula
court at Paris that had
during the there has
later thirteenth century.
come about
a
new
And with
treatment of
this
relief: to
as important as plastic form.
The
change
Giovanni
figures are
arches, in the shape of the capitals, and in the standing
Pisano, space
figures at the corners (which look like small-scale descen-
no longer tightly packed together; they are now spaced far enough apart to let us see the landscape setting that contains them, and each figure has been allotted its own pocket
dants of the jamb statues on French Gothic cathedrals). More striking, perhaps, is the Gothic quality of human
such as the Nativity on the other hand, (fig. has no counterpart in northern Gothic sculpture (aside from the Nativity the panel also shows the Annunciation and the Feeling in the reliefs of narrative scenes
509). The dense crowding
oi figures,
shepherds
in the fields receiving the glad tidings of the birth
of Christ
Ibis treatment of the relief as a shallow box filled
).
almost to the bursting point with solid, convex shapes
tells
us that Nicola Pisano must have been thoroughly familiar with
Roman
sarcophagi (compare
fig.
of space. If Nicola's Nativity strikes us as essentially a se-
quence of bulging, rounded masses, Giovanni's appears to be made up mainly of cavities and shadows. Giovanni Pisano, then, seems to follow the same trend toward "disembodiment" that we encountered north of the Alps around 1300. He does so, however, only within limits. Compared to The Virgin of Paris, his Madonna at Prato Cathedral (figs. 511 and 512) immediately evokes memories of* Nicola's style.
329).
ing
GIOVANNI PISANO. Haifa vanni
<
1
245/50-aftei
;h<>-<;<>iiik
\i;i
century later Nicola's son Gio-
1314),
who was an
is
equally gifted
is
The three-dimensional firmness
of the model-
further emphasized by the strong turn of the head and
the thrust-out folds that
left
hip;
we
also note the heavy, buttresslike
anchor the figure
to its base. Yet
there can be no
510. (left)
GIOVANNI PISANO
(l.-t.ul ol
pulpil
1
$02
10
////
NATIvm
Marble
Pisa Cathedral
l^LPSmiQbHPiSIPT^NPi^sni fi
511. 512.
CIOVANNI PISANO MADONNA
c.
1315.
Marble, height 11" (68.7 cm). Prato Cathedral
doubt that the Prato statue derives from a French prototype which must have been rather like The Virgin of Paris. (The
back view, with
its
suggestion of "Gothic sway," reveals the
connection more clearly than the front view.
CHURCH
FACADES. The
churches, we
will recall,
do not
facades rival
of
I
Italian
Gothic
those of the French ca-
thedrals as local points of architectural and sculptural endeavor. The
French Gothic
portal, with its jamb statues and tympanum, never found favor in the south. Inwe often find a survival of Romanesque traditions of
richly carved stead,
architectural sculpture, such as statues in niches or small-
compare fig. 440 Lorenzo Maitam (before 12701330) covered the wide pilasters between the portals with relief carvings of such lacelike delicacy that we become aware of them only if we see them at close range. The torscale reliefs overlaying the wall surfaces
At
I
1.
Orvieto Cathedral.
damned from The Last Judgment on the south513) make an instructive comparison similar scenes Romanesque art (such as fig, 436):
tures of the
ernmost with
pilaster (fig.
it
i
the hellish monsters are as vicious as ever, hut the sinners
now evoke compassion rather than sheer horror. Even here, we feel the spirit of human sympathy that distinguishes the Gothic from the Romanesque.
then,
TOMBS.
Gothic sculpture tailed to emulate the programs of northern Europe, it excelled 111 the held which we have called church furniture, such as II
Italian
Vast sculptural
513
LORENZO MAITAN1
rHE LAST judgmeni
from the facade of Orvieto Cathedral
i
detail
1320
(,<>llll<
\i;i
•
187
514.
EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF CAN GRANDE DELLA SCALA,
from his tomb. 1330. Stone. Museo
pulpits, screens, shrines,
most remarkable perhaps
and tombs. Among the is
monument of A tall structure
the
della Scala, the lord of Verona.
latter,
it
Alps, not only in architecture (see Milan Cathedral,
Can Grande
490), but in sculpture as well.
built out-of-
screen of
doors next to the church of Sta. Maria Antica (and the courtyard of the Castelvecchio),
the
now
in
consists of a vaulted
canopy housing the sarcophagus and surmounted by a truncated pyramid which in turn supports an equestrian statue of the deceased (fig. 514). The ruler, astride his richly caparisoned mount, is shown in full armor, sword in hand, as if he were standing on a windswept hill at the head of his troops; and, in a supreme display of self-confidence, he wears a broad grin. Clearly, this is no Christian Soldier, no crusading knight, no embodiment of the ideals of chivalry,
western Europe about 1400
GHIBERT1. The ian sculpture
1455),
who
French
art.
to
vied himself "the Great Khan," thus asserting his claim
the absolute sovereignty of an Asiatic potentate. His free-
— a form of monument traditionemperors — conveys the same ambition
standing equestrian statue ally
reserved
lor
in
visual terms.
The
International Style in the South
During the later fourteenth century, northern Italy proved particularly hospitable to artistic influences from across the
388-COTHH
fig.
Apostles atop the choir
even though these qualities are not yet fully developed here. With the Apostles from St. Mark's, we are on the threshold of the international Style," which flourished throughout
Can Grande, remembered today mainly as the friend and protector of Dante, was indeed an extraordinary figure; although be held Verona as a fief from the German emperor, st
The
St. Mark's in Venice (fig. 515), carved by Jacobello and Pierpaolo dalle Masegne about 1394, reflect the trend toward greater realism and the renewed interest in weight and volume that culminated in the work of Claus Sluter,
but a frank glorification of power.
be
Verona
di Castelvecchio,
won for
style's
was
outstanding representative in Ital(c. 1381 —
a Florentine, Lorenzo Ghiberti
must have had
as a youth
We
to 1420.
first
encounter him
in
close contact with
1401-02,
when he
a competition for a pair of richly decorated bronze doors
the Baptistery of
Giovanni in Florence.
S.
(It
took
him
complete these doors, which fill the north portal of the building. Each of the competing artists bad to submit a trial relief, in a Gothic quatrefoil frame,
more than two decades
to
)
representing the Sacrifice of Isaac. Ghiberti's panel
(fig.
with the perfection of its craftsmanship, vvhicb reflects bis training as a goldsmith. The silkv shimmer of the surfaces, the wealth of beautifully ar-
516) strikes us
first
ticulated detail,
make
was awarded the
of
all
it
easy
prize. If the
to
understand
why
this entry
composition seems somewhat
lacking in dramatic force, that ti's
calm,
lyrical
as characteristic
is
temper as of the
of
Ghibei
taste of the period, lor the
realism of the lnternation.il Slvledid not extend to the realm of the emotions.
The
garments, retain an
figures, in then softl) draped,
air of courtly
elegance even
ample
when
the)
enact scenes of violence.
However much
his
work may owe
French influence,
to
Ghibertj proves himself thoroughly Italian in one respect his admiration lor ancient sculpture, as
nude
beautiful
torso of Isaac,
tion of classicism
that
i
[ere
our
had reached
evidenced by the
artist revives a tradi-
highest point in
its
durm»
Nicola Pisano hut had gradually died out
the four-
teenth century.
But Ghiberti
Nut nit
is
also the heir of Giovanni Pisano. In the lat-
fig. 510) we noted a bold new emphasis on the spatial setting; the trial relief carries this same tendency a good deal further, achieving a far more natural sense of recession. For the first time since classical antiqui-
ter's
ty,
we
are
not as a
if
panel
made flat
to
(
experience the background of the panel
surface but as empty space from which the
sculptured forms emerge toward the beholder note particu(
larly the
angel in the upper right-hand corner). This "picto-
work to the painting of the where we find a similar concern with spatial depth and atmosphere (see below, pages 407-11 While not a revolutionary himself, he prepares the ground for the great revolution that will mark the second decade of the fifteenth century in Florentine art and that we call the rial"
quality relates Ghiberti's
International Style,
).
515.
JACOBELLO
and
PIERPAOLO DALLE MASEGNE
APOSTLES, on the choir screen. 1394. Marble, height
c.
53" (134.6 cm).
St.
Early Renaissance.
Mark's, Venice
516.
LORENZO GHIBERTI
THE SACRIFICE OF ISAAC 1401-02. Gilt
bronze.
21 x 17" (53.3x43 4 cm).
Museo Nazionale
del Bargello.
Florence
i.oiHU
\ir
^^hbk,
PAINTING France STAINED CLASS.
Although
Gothic
sculpture began so dramatically
Gothic painting developed stages.
The now
Suger gave
at a
at St.
and
architecture
-Denis and Chartres,
rather slow pace in
its
early
~?
ft
architectural style sponsored by Abbot
now conception of monumental sculpdemand any radical change
birth to a
ture almost at once but did not
of style in painting. Suger's account of the rebuilding of his
church,
be sure, places a great deal of emphasis on the
to
miraculous effect of stained-glass windows, whose "continuous light" Hooded the interior. Stained glass was thus an integral
!
U arc %^v*\
element of Gothic architecture from the very begin-
ning. Yet the technique of stained-glass painting had
Romanesque
ready been perfected in
masters from different regions"
do the choir windows task and a
at St.
more complex
whom
-Denis
times;
the
al-
"many
Suger assembled
may have
to
\7
During the next
came ever more
pictorial
hall century, as
skeletal
its
Gothic structures be-
and clerestory windows grew to manuscript illumination as
HRTH
vast size, stained "lass displaced
the leading form of painting. Since the production of stained
was so intimately linked with the great cathedral workcame to be influenced more and more by architectural sculpture, and in this way, about the year 1200, arrived at a distinctively Gothic style of their own. The majestic lohel (Joel) of Bourges Cathedral (fig. 517), one of a series of windows representing Old Testament prophets, is the direct kin of the jamb statues on the Chartres transept portals and of the Visitation at Reims. All these works share a common ancestor, the classicizing style of Nicholas of Verdun (compare 449), yet the Joel figure glass
Ct)i
shops, the designers
resembles a statue projected onto a translucent screen rath-
Klosterneuburg
The window small pieces
hundreds of bound together by strips of lead. these pieces was severely limited by
consists not of large panes but of
of tinted
The maximum
glass
size of
methods of medieval
the primitive that the artist
enamel plaques of the
Altar.
who
glass manufacture, so
window could
created this
not simply
"paint on
somewhat
his design,
the way one would a mosaic or a
saw puzzle, out of odd-shaped fragments which he cut
jig-
to
fit
the contours of the forms. Only the finer details, such as
eves ban. and drapery ing
or
folds,
glass surfaces.
ornamental
While
style,
it
wore added by actually paintin black or gray on the
drawing
better perhaps,
—
this process
tends
encourages an abstract,
to resist
any attempt
to
render
three-dimensional effects. Yet in the hands of a great master he maze ol lead snips could resolve itself into figures havi
ing the looming
monumentally
517. IOHEL height
;'in.(,()illl(
Mil
c.
c.
of our lohel.
1220 Stained-glass window,
14' (4
!m) Bourges Cathedral
rtliH
"ii"r«^,
mm
mWiMmLM
mm i()
fit:,.
er than an enlarged figure from the
If
laced a larger
program than before, but designs remained Romanesque.
the style of their
a
/if \*/ v*/
\
V
M9BI&J
what
it
does
to
us
—
meant
it
filling
m an abstra<
with details based on direct observation.
If
t
framework
we now
turn bat k
once more to the firmly drawn, simplified outlines ol the lohel, we cannot help wondering to what extent they, too geometric scaffolding of
reflect a
some son
The period 1200-1250 might be termed the golden age
ol
stained glass. Alter that, as architectural activity declined
and the demand
for
si, lined
glass
began
to
script illumination gradually recaptured its
slacken,
manu-
former position
By then, however, miniature painting bad been thoroughly affected by the influence ol both stained glass and stone sculpture, the artistic pacemakers ol the first
of leadership.
half of the century.
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS. The of style
is
scene
VILLARD DE HONNECOURT wheel of fortune. C.
change
(St. Louis) of France. The Samuel 1:2, in which Nahash the Ammonite threatens the Jews at Jabesh. We notice first of all the careful symmetry of the framework, which consists of flat, ornamented panels very much like those in the lohel window, and of an architectural setting. The latter recalls the canopies above the heads of jamb statues (see fin, 495
about 1260
518.
resulting
evident in figure 520. from a psalter done
fully
1240. Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris
King Louis IX
for
illustrates
1
I
I
and the arched twin niches enclosing the edek and
Abraham
at
Reims
(fig.
relief of Melchiz-
498).
Against this emphatically two-dimensional background.
Apart from the peculiar
demands
who
stained-glass workers
medium, the windows of the great
the figures are "relieved" by smooth and skillful modeling.
to face the difficulties arising
which are defined by heavy dark lines rather like the lead strips in stained-glass windows. The figures themselves
filled
Gothic cathedrais also had
of their
the
from the enormous scale of their work.
upon
painter had ever been called
window
the lohel
bound
is
more than
to
No Romanesque
show
cover areas so vast
14 feet
tall
— or
But their sculptural quality stops short
so firmly
all
at
the outer contours,
the characteristics of the elegant style originated
about twenty years before bv the sculptors of the royal court
an architectural framework. The task required a for which the medieval paint-
into
technique of orderly planning
ing tradition could offer no precedent.
VILLARD DE HONNECOURT. Only
architects
and stone
masons knew how to deal with this problem, and it was their methods that the stained-glass workers borrowed in mapping out their sign, as
we
Denis (see
own
recall figs.
compositions. Gothic architectural de-
from our discussion of the choir of
St.-
451 and 452), uses a system of geometric-
relationships; the
same
rules could be used to control the
design of a stained-glass window, or even of an individual figure.
We
gain
some
insight into this procedure from the draw-
ings in a notebook compiled about 1240 by the architect Villard
de Honnecourt, such as the Wheel of Fortune fig. 518). see here is not the final version of the design but (
What we
(ft i
the scaffolding of circles and triangles on to
be constructed.
The pervasiveness
which the image
\nt buQcfel*
Una 6
«.<
q»
is
of these geometric
schemes is well illustrated by another drawing from the same notebook, the Front View of a Lion (fig. 519). Accord-
jrfMfc
ing to the inscription. Villard has portrayed the animal from life,
but a closer look
was able
to
at
do so only
the figure will coin nice us that he after
he had
laid
down
a
geometric
between the eyes is its center) and a second, larger circle for the body. To Villard, then, drawing from life meant something far different from pattern: a circle for the face (the dot
519.
VILLARD DE HONNECOURT
FRON1 VIEWOl
I
I
H>\
(
1240
Bibliotheque Nationale, I'.ms
(,()/;//<
\ki
•
191
Hi iik
\i:i
(compare the Annunciation angel
in figure
497 and Mel-
chizedek in figure 498): graceful gestures, swaying poses, smiling faces, neatly waved strands of
hair.
Of the expres-
energy of Romanesque painting we find no trace
sive
(figs.
408 and 409); our miniature exemplifies the subtle and refined taste that
made
the court art of Paris the standard for
Europe.
all
Until the thirteenth century, the production of illuminat-
ed manuscripts had been centered in the scriptoria of monasteries. Now, along with a great many other activities once the special preserve of monasteries,
it
shifted ever
more
to
urban workshops organized by laymen, the ancestors of the publishing houses of today. Here again the workshops of sculptors and stained-glass painters may have set the pattern.
Some members of tbis new, secular breed of illuminator known to us by name, such as Master Honore of Paris, who in 1295 did the miniatures in the Prayer Book of Philip the Fair. Our sample fig. 521 shows him working in a style are
(
)
derived from the Psalter of St, Louis. Significantly enough, however, the framework no longer dominates the composi-
flat
become larger, and their relieflike more emphatic; they are even permitted to overthe frame, a device that helps to detach them from the pattern of the background and thus introduces a cer-
tain
— though
the figures have
tion;
modeling lap
is
very limited
— spatial
range into the picture.
Italy
We must now
turn our attention to Italian painting, which
at
the end of the thirteenth century produced an explosion of creative energy as spectacular,
pact
upon the
France. will
A
and as far-reaching
in its im-
future, as the rise of the Gothic cathedral in
single glance at Giotto's
Lamentation
(fig.
528)
convince us that we are faced with a truly revolutionary
521.
development here. How, we wonder, could a work of such intense dramatic power be conceived by a contemporary of Master Honore? What were the conditions that made it pos-
Oddly enough, as we inquire into the background of we find that it arose from the same "oldfashioned" attitudes we met in Italian Gothic architecture
MASTtR HONORE.
DAVID
AND GOLIATH,
from the Prayer Book of Philip the h'uir. 1295. Bibliothcquc Nationale. Pans
sible?
Giotto's art.
Medieval ait
appearance soon alter the conquest of Constantinople by the armies of the Fourth Crusade in 1204 one thinks ol the way Greek art had once captured (be taste ol die victorious
—
and sculpture. Italy,
although strongly influenced by Northern
from Garolingian times on. nevertheless had always
Romans
of old.
He
.is it may, the Greek manner preend of the thirteenth century, so thai
that
maintained close contact with Byzantine civilization. As a result, panel painting, mosaics, and murals techniques
vailed almost until the
had never taken linn root north of the Alps were kept alive on Italian soil; and at the very time when stained ulass
During tbis same periand sculptors followed a verv different course; untouched by the Greek manner, they were assimilating the Gothic style. Eventually, toward 1300. Gothic influence spilled over into painting as well and it was
— —
that
became
the dominant pictorial art in France, a
new wave
of
Byzantine influence overwhelmed the lingering Roman-
esque elements in Italian painting. There is a certain irony m the fact that tbis neo-Rv/anline style (or "Greek manner," as the Italians called it made its I
Italian painters
were able
to
absorb die Byzantine tradition
far
more thoroughly than ever
od,
we
before.
recall. Italian architects
the interaction of tins element with the neo Bv /amine dial
produced the revolutionary
ne
le ol
w
hit
b
(
iiotto is
die
greatest exponent.
TKMPKRA NAHASH llll- AMMONIT1 THREATENING THl II us [TJABESH,
520. (opposite)
from
tin-
Psalter of St. Louis
c.
1260.
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris
wood panel
Altarpieces in
ol
die Gothic era were painted on
tempera, an egg-based
medium
quickly to form an extremelv tough surface.
that dries
The preparation
die panel was a omplev Imie-c OnSUIlling pnx ess Inst it was planed and coated with a mixture ol plaster and glue
ol
c
i.oiiih
\ki
•
;'»;
522.
CIMABUE. MADONNA ENTHRONED,
1280-90. Tempera on panel,
c.
I2'7¥i"x7'4" (3.9x2.2 m). Galleria degli
known as gesso, which was sometimes reinforced with linOnce the design had been drawn, the background was
en.
almost invariably
filled in
with gold leaf over red sizing; then
Uffizi,
Florence
on such a monumental scale had never been attempted in the East. Likewise un-Byzantine is the picture's gabled shape, and the way the throne of inlaid wood seems to echo this shape.
ment, was added. The image
chitectural style
layers of thin
itself
tempera with very
process that placed a
was executed
in multiple
fine brushes, a painstaking
premium on
the painters of the Greek manner, the
Florentine master Cimabue (c. 1250-after 1300), who may have been Giotto's teacher, enjoyed special fame. His huge .ih.
ii
panel.
Madonna Enthroned
(lit;.
522), rivals the finest
Byzantine icons or mosaics (compare figs. 345 and 358); what distinguishes it from them is mainly a greater severity ol design and expression, which befits its huge size. Panels
\94'GOTHU
\lil
ar-
431).
neatness, since few cor-
rections were possible.
CIMABUE. Among
fig.
inlays — indeed, the throne's — remind us of the Florence Baptistery (see
The geometric
the underpainting, generally a green earth (terra verde) pig-
DUCCIO. The Madonna Enthroned
(fig.
century later by Duccio of Siena
1255-before 1319)
the
main
altar of
(c.
523), of a quarter for
Siena Cathedral, makes an instructive
comparison with Cimabue's. The Sienese honored this pan"majesty" to identify the Virel by calling it the Maestd gin's role here as the Queen of Heaven surrounded by her celestial court of saints and angels. At first glance, the two
—
pictures basic
may seem much
scheme;
yet
alike,
—
since both follow the
the differences are important.
same They
523.
52-4.
of Siena
DUCCIO. \NNUNCIATI0N Of
gentleness of Duccio
— but also the rapid evolution of
In Duccio's
zen, as
— the
it
hands, the Greek
were: the
rigid,
i
in in \TH Of
is
characteristic
style.
manner has become
angular draperies have given waj
an undulating softness, the abstract shading-in-reverse with lines of gold is reduced to a minimum, and the bodies,
and hands are beginning
dimensional
life.
we sense
it
naturalness
in ol
is
or
submerged,
is
Duomo, Siena
virgin from the Maestd Altar
which the figures communicate with each other The chief source of this Gothic influence must have been Giovanni Pisano sec page 386 w ho was in Siena from 1285 to 1295 i,
as the sculptor-architect in charge of the cathedral facade
Apart
from the Madonna, the Maesta includes main of Christ and
small compartments with scenes from the h\es
the Virgin. In these panels, the most mature works
ot
I
hu
mi's career, the cross-fertilization of Gothic and Byzantine
Hellenistic-Roman
elements has given rise to a development ot Fundamental importance a new kind ol picture space The Annuncia-
Clearly, the heritage of
however dormant
more. But there
mi
dell'Opera del
with a subtle three-
to swell
illusionism that had always been part of the Byzantine tradition,
Museo
I
unfro-
to
laces,
center of the Maesta Altar.
panel, height 6T0'/2" (2.1 m).
two contrasting personalities and contrast-
reflect not only
ing local tastes
DUCCIO. madonxa ENTHRONED,
Tempera on
308-
asserting itself once
also a half-hidden Gothic
element here;
the fluency of the drapery folds, the appealing the Infant Christ, and the tender glances by
tion of the Death oj the Virgin
we have never seen
I
fig
524 shows us something i
before in the history
ol
painting: two
figures enclosed by an architectural interior.
\ncient painters (and then Byzantine successors)
(All
UK
\R1
wen
enough of the devices of Hellenistic-Roman illusionism to let them render such a framework without draining it of its three-dimensional qualities. Even in the outdoor scenes on the back of the Maesta, such as Christ Entering Jerusalem 525), the architecture keeps
(fig.
movement
diagonal
tion: the
the figures
— which
space-creating func-
its
conveyed not by
into depth is
have the same scale throughout
by the walls on either side of the road leading
to
the
— but by
city,
the gate that frames the welcoming crowd, and by the structures beyond.
Whatever the shortcomings of Duccio's
spective, his architecture again demonstrates
per-
capacity
its
to
contain and enclose, and for that very reason strikes us as
more
than similar vistas in ancient
intelligible
art
(compare
305).
fig.
GIOTTO. Turning from Duccio to Giotto 12677-1336/7), we meet an artist of far bolder and more dramatic temper. (
Ten to fifteen years younger, Giotto was less close to the Greek manner from the start, despite his probable apprenticeship under Cimabue. As a Florentine, he fell heir to Cimabue's sense of monumental scale, which made him a wall painter by instinct, rather than a panel painter.
Of
his sur-
viving murals, those in the Arena Chapel in Padua, done in
1305-6, are the best preserved as well as the most charac-
The decorations
teristic.
from the
life
are devoted principally to scenes
of Christ, laid in a carefully arranged program
consisting of three tiers of narrative scenes and culminating in the Last
Judgment
Giotto includes
at
many
the east end of the chapel of the
same subjects
that
(fig.
we
526).
find on
the reverse of Duccio's Maesta, such as Christ Entering Je-
rusalem (fig.527). The two versions have
common,
many elements
in
since they both ultimately derive from the
same
Byzantine source; but where Duccio has enriched the
tradi-
tional
scheme,
subjects
it
spatially as well as in narrative detail, Giotto
The
to a radical simplification.
action proceeds
and
parallel to the picture plane; landscape, architecture,
figures have been reduced to the essential
minimum. And
the sober technique of fresco painting (water-based paint applied to the freshly plastered wall
DUCCIO. CHRIST ENTERING JERUSALEM,
525.
from the back of the Maesta Altar. 1308-1
Tempera on
panel, 40'/2 x 21
Museo
dell 'Opera del
W
(
1.
103 x 53.7 cm).
Duomo, Siena
quite unable to achieve this space; their architectural set-
which
ture,
on
a stage
they were taking place in an open-
without a
contrast, inhabit a space that
architecture, as el.
Perhaps we
work:
it
if
will
is
Duccio's figures, in
roof.
created and defined by the
the artist had carved a niche into his pan-
recognize the origin of this spatial frame-
derives from the architectural "housing" of Gothic
sculpture (compare especially
Gothic painters,
too.
bad
tural settings, but they
figs.
tried to
498 and 502). Northern
reproduce these architec-
could do so only by flattening them
out completely (as in the Psaltei oj
St,
Lotus,
Italian painters of Duccio's generation,
fig.
520). The
on the other hand,
trained as they were in the Greek manner, had acquired
196
'GOTHIC
\ltl
limited range of
is
executed in egg tempera on gold ground.
)
Yet Giotto's it
work has
makes us
far the
more powerful impact
feel so close to the
event that
of
we have
a
sense of being participants rather than distant observers.
How
tings always stay behind the figures, so that their indoor
air theater,
its
(Note the sparkling colors of the Maesta panel in figure the two;
to look as if
with
Giotto's art as against the jewellike brilliance of Duccio's pic-
525.
scenes tend
),
and intensity of tones, further emphasizes the austerity
does
does the
artist
so, first of all,
achieve this extraordinary effect?
He
by having the entire scene take place in
—
—
even more important by presenting such a way that the beholder's eye-level falls within the lower half of the picture. Thus we can imagine ourselves standing on the same ground plane as these painted figures, even though we see them from well below, while Duccio the foreground and
it
in
makes us survey the scene from above tive.
The consequences of
this
in bird's-eye perspec-
choice of viewpoint are truly
—
epoch-making; choice implies conscious awareness in this case, awareness of a relationship in space between the beholder and the picture the
first to
— and Giotto may well claim
to
be
have established such a relationship. Duccio, cer-
526.
Interior,
Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel, Padua
forceful that they
seem
as solid
and tangible as sculpture
in
the round.
With Giotto
it
is
the figures, rather than the architectural
framework, that create the picture space. As a result, this space is more limited than Duccio's its depth extends no
—
further than the
combined volumes
ies in the picture
— hut within
its
of the overlapping bod-
limits
is
it
very
much more
persuasive. To his contemporaries, the tactile quality of Giot-
must have seemed praise him as
to's art
made them
a near-miracle;
was
it
this th.it
equal, or even superior, to the
greatest of the ancient painters, because his tonus looked so litelike that
they could he mistaken tor reality
Equally
itself.
significant are the stories linkinu Giotto with the claim that
painting
is
superior
to
sculpture
— not
an
idle boast, as
turned out. for Giotto does indeed mark the
might he called 'the era of symbolic turning point
is
painting'' in
the year 1334,
start of
Western
it
what
art.
when he was
The ap-
pointed the head of the Florence Cathedral workshop, an
honor and responsibility hitherto reserved
lor architects or
sculptors. 527.
GIOTTO. CHRIST ENTERING JERUSALEM
Yet Giotto's
1305-6.
Fresco. Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel, Padua
aim was not simpl)
to
transplant Gothic statu-
ary into painting. By creating a radically
new
kind of picture
space, he had also sharpened his awareness of the picture surface. tainlv,
docs not yet conceive his picture space
.is
continuous
with the beholder's space (hence we vaguely Floating above the scene, rather than of knowing
have the sensation of
and even ancient painting .it its most illusionistic provides no more than a pseudo-continuity in this respect (see page 235, discussion of figures 268. 288. and 289 Giotto, on the other hand, tells us where we stand, and he also endows his forms w ith a three-dimensional reality so
where we
)
stand),
When we
look at a
and medieval predecessors ments, as leisurely
on
thi'
it
work by Duccio
we tend
to
(or his ancient
do so
were: our glance travels from detail
in
instill
to detail at a
pace until we have surveyed the entire area Giotto, whole at one glance.
contrary, unites us to see the
His large, simple forms, the strong grouping ol his figures all these l.u tors help to en-
the limited depth of his "stage,"
dow
his
scenes with an inner coherence such as
never found before
Notice how dramatical!)
the
(.()////(
we have massed
\li:
verticals oi the "block" ol apostles
on the
left
are contrasted
with the upward slope formed In the welcoming crowd on the right;
how
l Ihrist,
alone
in the center,
bridges the gull
between the two groups. The more we studv the composition, the more we come to realize its majestic firmness and Giotto's
achievement as a master
emerge from any si.
single work.
Only
ol if
enes horn the Padua fresco cycle
perfectly the composition
emotional content
ol
m each
the subject
design does not
fully
we compare a number do we understand how
instance
Thus
is
attuned
to the
the artist has
"'re-
phrased'" the traditional pattern ol Christ's Entry into Jeru-
salem
to stress
the solemnity ol the event as a triumphal
procession of the Prince of Peace, while the tragic
mood
of
The Lamentation fig. 528 is brought home to us by the formal rhythm ol the design as much as by the gestures and expressions
ol
the participants.
The
very low center of grav-
and the hunched, bending figures communicate the somber quality of the scene and arouse our compassion even ity
before
angels, small
we have grasped
the specific
meaning
of the event
With extraordinary boldness. Giotto sets oil the frozen grief of the human mourners against the frantic mo\ ement of the weeping angels among the clouds, as if the
depicted.
528
GIOTTO XniKi
"I
UK
Mil
lllh
1
and weighdess
Let us note. too.
ol
their collective
the composition while the
as birds,
the
how the impact
In the severely
do not share
this
acts as a unifying element
hill
of the
drama
is
height-
simple setting; the descending slope of
rects our glance toward the
and
at the
same time
di-
heads of Christ and the Virgin,
which are the
focal point of the scene.
twin function.
Its
Even the
tree has a
barrenness and isolation suggest that
all
of
somehow shares in the Saviour's death, vet it also invites us to ponder a more precise symbolic message. For it as does Dante in a passage m the Divine Comalludes nature
edy
—
—
to the
Tree of Knowledge, which the
Eve had caused life through the
to
wither and which was
sacrificial
sm to
ol
Adam
and
be restored
to
death of Christ.
The art of Giotto is so daringly original that its sources are more difficult to trace than those of Duccio's style. Apart
far
from his Florentine background as represented by the Greek
manner
of
Cimabue. the young Giotto seems to have been neo-Bvzantme painters of Rome: in that
familiar with the city,
he probably also became acquainted with older monu-
ments
\\n\l\llo\
Scrovegni
ground were restrained by
burden
ened
clarity.
nt
figures on the
duty to maintain the stability
— Early Christian and ancient
1305-6 Fresco
Chapel. Padua
Roman mural
decora-
529.
GIOTTO, madonna ENTHRONED
c.
1310.
10'8"x6'8" (3.3x2 m). Galleria degli
tion.
Classical sculpture, too,
More fundamental than any fluence of the Pisanos
left
an impression on him
of these, however,
— Nicola,
was the
in-
and especially Giovanni They were the
the founders of Italian Gothic sculpture. chief intermediaries through
whom
Giotto
came in conAnd the latter
first
with the world of Northern Gothic art. remains the most important of all the elements that entered into Giotto's style. Without the knowledge, direct or indirect. tact
of Northern
works such as those
illustrated in figure 4
(
)(>
or
Tempera on panel
Uffizi,
Florence
figure 503, he could never have achieved the emotional im-
pact of his Lamentation.
What we have said of the Padua frescoes applies equally to Madonna Enthroned (fig ~>2 )'. the most important among the small number of panel paintings l>\ our master Done about the same time as Duccio's Maestd, it illustrates the
1
once again the difference between Florence and Siena, its architectural severitj learl) derives from Cimabue see fig, 522 The figures, however, have the same overpowering (
I
1.
(.oiiih
\ia
•
m
greatness, however, tended to dwarf the next generation of
Florentine painters, which produced only followers rather
new
than
leaders. Their contemporaries in Siena
were more
fortunate in this respect, since Duccio never had the
overpowering impact. As a consequence,
who
Florentines,
ment
who
ry
tinguished of Duccio's disciples. his
Simone Martini (c. 1284Road to Calva-
painted the tiny but intense The
530) about 1340, may well claim
(fig.
town
in Avignon, the
life
same
they, not the
took the next decisive step in the develop-
of Italian Gothic painting.
1344),
was
it
He
to
be the most
spent the
last
dis-
years of
France that served most of the
in southern
as the residence-in-exile of the popes during
Our
fourteenth century.
was probably done
tar,
In
panel, originally part of a small
al-
there.
sparkling colors, and especially in the architectural
its
background,
it
echoes the
still
The vigorous modeling
Duccio (see
art of
525).
and expressions, betray the
well as their dramatic gestures
influence of Giotto. While Simone Martini
cerned with spatial
fig.
of the figures, on the other hand, as
clarity,
he proves
to
is
not
much
con-
be an extraordinarily
acute observer; the sheer variety of costumes and physical types and the wealth of
human
incident create a sense of
down-to-earth reality very different from both the lyricism of
Duccio and the grandeur of
Giotto.
THE LORENZETTI BROTHERS. day
life
This closeness
work of the brothers
also appears in the
to every-
Pietro
and
Ambrogio Lorenzetti (both died 1348?), but on a more monumental scale and coupled with a keen interest in problems of space. The boldest spatial experiment is Pietro's triptych of 1342, The Birth of the Virgin (fig. 531 ), where the painted architecture has been correlated with the real architecture of the frame in such a way that the two are seen as a single system. Moreover, the vaulted 530.
SIMONE MARTINI. THE ROAD TO CALVARY,
Panel, 9 7/8x6'/8" (25 x 15.5 cm).
Musee du Louvre,
birth takes place occupies
1340.
c.
two panels
chamber where
—
it
the
continues unbro-
ken behind the column that divides the center from the right wing. The left wing represents an anteroom which leads to a vast and only partially glimpsed architectural
Paris
space suggesting the interior of a Gothic church. What Pietro Lorenzetti achieved here is the
sense of weight and volume
we saw
Arena Chapel, and the picture space
much
so
bodies in
so, in fact, that
in the frescoes in the is
just as persuasive
the golden halos look like foreign
Italian
(compare
began three decades fig.
525), but only
assume the quality which not on which
now become a nichelike Madonna on three sides and thus
we know from
Gothic architecture, has
structure that encloses the
"insulates" her from the gold background.
Its
lavish orna-
mentation includes one feature of special interest: the
col-
ored marble surfaces of the base and of the quatrefoil within
Such make-believe stone textures had been highdeveloped by ancient painters (see figs. 304 and 305), but
the gable. ly
that
—
it.
Characteristically enough, the throne, of a design based
on
ment
the tradition had died out in Early Christian times.
Its
sud-
Yet
now does transparent
the picture surface
window through
— we perceive the same kind of space
daily experience.
Duccio's work alone
Pietro's astonishing er,
of a
outcome of a developwork of Duccio
earlier in the
is
not
breakthrough;
it
sufficient
became
to
explain
possible, rath-
through a combination of the architectural picture space and the sculptural picture space of Giotto. The
of Duccio
same procedure enabled Ambrogio Lorenzetti, in his frescoes of 1338-40 in the Siena city hall, to unfold a comprehensive view of the entire town before our eyes
Again we marvel
at
(fig.
532).
the distance that separates this precisely
den reappearance here
articulated "portrait" of Siena from Duccio's Jerusalem
familiarity with
525). Ambrogio's mural forms part of an elaborate allegorical
in
offers concrete evidence of Giotto's whatever ancient murals could still be seen
medieval Rome.
program depicting the contrast of good and bad government; hence the artist, in order to show the life of a wellordered city-state, had to fill the streets and houses with 1
MARTINI. There to
arc few artists in the entire history of art
equal the stature of Giotto as
400 -COTI IK Mil
a radical innovator.
His very
(fig.
teeming
activity.
531.
Tempera on
PIETRO LORENZETTI. THE BIRTH
panel, 6'l'/>"x 5'1
532.
S.il.i
1
'/>"
(1.9x
1.8 m).
Of
Museo
nil-
VIRGIN
dell'Opera del
dclla Pace, Palazzo I'uhbluo
1342.
Duomo, Siena
Siena
(.o////(
\/;/
•
-401
533.
AMBROGIO LORENZETTI. GOOD GOVERNMENT IN THE
CITY
1338-40. Fresco, width of entire wall 46' (14 m). Palazzo Pubblico, Siena
The
gay and busy crowd gives the architectural vista
striking reality by introducing the
human
On
scale.
its
the
beyond the margin of figure 533, the Good Government fresco provides a view of the Sienese countryside, the fringed by distant mountains. It is a true landscape first since ancient Roman times full of sweeping depth yet distinguished from its classical predecessors (such as figure right,
—
—
306) by an ingrained orderliness,
man
the presence of
is
a
domesticated
Here
air.
not accidental; he has taken
lull
pos-
ed crop failures, and in 1348 the epidemic of bubonic plague throughout Europe, the Black Death, wiped out more than half their urban population. The popular reaction to these calamitous events was mixed. as signs of divine wrath,
the fear of sudden death merely intensified the desire to en-
while there was yet time. These conflicting attitudes theme of the Triumph of Death.
are reflected in the pictorial
a setting,
charac teristic
hundred
Ambrogio observes the peasants I,
years,
BLA< K DEATH. The
llll
teenth politic
(
.il
.iiiisiii
ries ol
enlin
first lour decades of the fourand Siena had been a period of and economic expansion as well as of great
in F lorcnc e
Stability a<
'
\
hievement. In the 1340s both
atastrophes whose echoes were
cities suffered a seto
be
felt
for
many
m
'
•coiiih
\i:i
TRA1N1. The most impressive version of this subject is an enormous fresco in the Camposanto, the cemetery building next to Pisa Cathedral. From this work, attributed to the Pisan master Francesco Traini (documented c. 1321-1363), we reproduce a particularly dramatic detail (fig. 535). The elegantly
costumed men and women on horseback have
suddenly come upon three decaying corpses in open coffins; even the animals are terrified by the sight and smell of rotting,
flesh.
Only the hermit, having renounced
all
earthly
in-
pleasures, calmly points out the lesson of the scene. But will
shook the government, there were repeat-
the living accept the lesson, or will they, like the characters
years banks and merchants went bankrupt by the score ternal upheavals
life
at their
534 recording a rural Tuscan scene so that it has hardly changed during the past six fig.
|
to
Death engendered a mood of otherworldly exaltation. To such as the gay company in Boccaccio's Decameron.
terning the valleys with the geometry of fields and pastures.
such
humanity
others,
joy
In
people regarded them
to a sinful
forsake the pleasures of this earth; in such people the Black
session of nature, terracing the hillsides with vineyards, pat-
seasonal labors
Many
warnings
534.
AMBROGIO LORENZETTI. GOOD government in
iiii
<
or.vy/n
Palazzo Pubbiico. Siena
535.
FRANCESCO TRAIN
I.
/;/;•:
/k/i ui'iioi Di w/i
portion)
<
1325
50
Fresco
<
amposanto
Pisa
<.ni
mi
u:i
away from the shocking spectacle more determined than ever to pursue their own hedonistic ways? The artist's own sympathies seem curiously divided; his of Boccaccio, (urn
from being otherworldly, recalls the realism of Am-
style, far
brogio Lorenzetti, although the forms are harsher
and more
expressive In a fire that occurred in 1944, Traini's fresco was badly damaged and had to be detached from the wall in order to save what was left of it. This procedure exposed the first,
rough coat of plaster underneath, on which the artist had (fig. 536). These drawings, of
sketched out his composition
are done in red, hence they word derived from ancient Sinopc, in Asia Minor, which was famous as a source of brickred earth pigment); amazingly free and sweeping, they
the
same
size as the fresco
itself,
are called sinopie (an Italian
more directly than the painted which was earned out with the aid of assistants.
reveal Traini's personal style version,
Sinopie also serve
to
acquaint us with the standard tech-
nique of preparing frescoes in the fourteenth century. Traini still retains a strong link with the great masters of the second quarter of the century.
Tuscan painting
after the Black
More
characteristic of
Death are the
artists
who
reached maturity around the 1350s. None of them can compare with the men whose work we have discussed; their style,
in
comparison, seems dry and formula-ridden. Yet
thev were capable,
mood lano's
at their best,
memorable (documented 1346-1369)
of
the time with
of expressing the intensity.
somber
Giovanni da Mi-
Pietd panel of 1365
(fig.
6*1•
9
537.
GIOVANNI DA MILANO.
48x22Ki" (122x57.5 cm).
537) has
all
(compare clearly
the emotional appeal of a
fit!,.
felt
PlETA. 1365. Oil
on panel,
Galleria deU'Accademia, Florence
German Andachtsbild
505), although the heritage of Giotto can be
even here.
North of the Alps ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS. We are now 536.
FRANCESCO
TRAINI. Sinapia drawing
TRWMPHOl DEATH
tot -(.oiiik
\i:i
(detail)
Camposanto,
for the
Pisa
in a posi-
once more to Gothic painting north of the Alps. What happened there during the latter half of the fourteenth century was determined in large measure by the influence tion to turn
538. J KAN PUCELLE. BETRAYAL Of CHRIST and ANNUNCIATION, from the Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux. 1325-28. Tempera and gold leaf on parchment (shown a< tual 3'/2x2 7/k," (8.9x6.2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The
Cloisters Collection. Purchase, 1954
Some examples
of this influence can be such as The Annunciation (fig. 538) from the private prayer book called "book of hours" illuminated by Jean Pucelle in Paris about 1325-28 for Jeanne
of the great Italians.
found even
earlier,
—
—
d'Evreux,
Queen I
(
than twenty years to
the
I
for the
had
to
52
1
style of the figures )
still
re-
but the architectural inte-
(fig.
524).
It
fame of the Maesta
had taken less to spread from
adapt
it
new
picture space, however, Jean Pu-
die special character of a manuscript
to
page, which lends itself far less readily than a panel to being
chamber no longer fills the entire picture surface; it has become an ethereal cage that floats on the blank parchment background (note the supporting angel on the right) like the rest of the ornamentreated as a "window."
The
Virgin's
framework, so that the entire page forms a harmonious unit. As we explore the details ol this framework, we realize tal
most of them have nothing
that
to
is
but
surclv
who
seems dril
to
meant
to
be Jeanne d'Evreux
could be the
man
with the
game
at
designs
(see
fig,
a characteristic feature ol Northei n
Gothic manuscripts. The) had originated more than
cen-
a
tury before Jean Pucelle in the regions along the English
Channel, whence they spread
to Paris
and
the other ten-
all
Their subject matter encompasses a vast range of motifs: fantasy, fable, and grotesque humor, as well ters of
Gothic
art.
as acutely observed scenes
which marks
playfulness, artist c
everyday
ol
it
.is
a special
dmlcnc is its domain where the
enjoys almost unlimited freedom
omparable
jester, that
to
appear side by
life,
The essence
of
is
It
this
freedom,
the license traditionally claimed b) the
accounts
for the
wide appeal
ourl
i
drolerie during
ol
the later Middle Ages
FRESCOES AND PANEL PAINTINGS.
\s
we approach
the middle years of the fourteenth century, Italian influence
initial
her devotions,
(see page K)0). fhe delightful frest oes with scenes of coun-
next
to
her?
He
be listening to the lute player perched on the ten-
above him. The lour figures
playing a
stall
at
mammal
fanciful
— or droleries — are
becomes ever more important in Northern Gothic painting Sometimes this influence was transmitted l>\ Italian .mists working on northern soil: an example is Simone Martini
do with the religious pur-
pose of the manuscript: the kneeling queen inside the
D
DROLFRIF. These 538)
side with religious themes.
le-de- France.
In taking over the celle
fig.
from Duccio
rior clearly derives
Tuscany
The
of France.
Master lonore see
calls
size)
the bottom of the page are
of tag outdoors; a rabbit peers from
its
row beneath the girl on the left; and among the foliage ing up to the initial we find a monkey and a squirrel.
burlead
try life in
die Palace of the Popes
done by one
at
\\
ignon
I
fig
539 were
who must have been
of his Italian followers,
thoroughly familiar with the pioneer explorers oi landscape lis work shows manv in Sienese painting.
and deep space of tbe qualities l>\
I
we
re< all
from the Good Gox ernment fresco
Ambrogio Lorenzetti (see
fig
534
Another gateway
(.(HUH
\in
•
ol
-to',
539. Italian
Mower
of
SIMONE MARTINI (MATTEO GIOVANNETTI?).
SCENES OF COUNTRY LIFE
540.
(detail), c.
1345. Fresco. Palace of the Popes, Avignon
BOHEMIAN MASTER.
DEATH OF THE VIRGIN. 1350-60.
Tempera on panel, 39Vhx28" (100x 71 cm). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. William Francis Warden Fund: Seth K. Sweetser Fund, The Henry C. and Martha B. Angell Juliana Cheney Edwards Collection, Gift of Martin Brimmer, and Mrs. Frederick Frothingham: by exchange
UK, -comic
Mil
Coll.
541.
MELCHIOR BROEDERLAM.
annunciation and
Oil on panel,
Italian influence
came
VISITATION, PRESENTATION IN
53% x 49'/."
(
was the city of Prague, which in 1347 Emperor Charles IV and rapidly
the residence of
THE TEMPLE; and FLICH1 INTO EGYP1
Musee de
136.5 x 125 cm).
la Ville.
1394-99.
Dijon
be-
The
de-
International Style
The Death of the Virgin (fig- 540), by an unknown Bohemian painter of about 1360, again brings to mind the achievements of the great Sienese masters, although these
ol Northern and Italian had given rise to a single dominant style throughout western Europe. This International Style was not confined to painting— we have used the same term for the
were known
sculpture of the period
veloped into an international cultural center second only
to
Paris.
to
our
artist
only
at
second or third hand.
Its
glowing richness of color recalls Simone Martini (compare figure 530),
and the carefully articulated architectur.il intedescent from such works as Pietro Loren/ct-
rior betrays its ti's
Birth of the Virgin
(fig.
531), although
spaciousness of its Italian models.
it
lacks the
Italian, too, is the vigor-
ous modeling of the heads and the overlapping of the figures, which reinforces the three-dimensional quality of
awkward question of what to do we will remember, had laced the Madonna Enthroned; compare fin.
the design but raises the
Toward the year 1400. the merging
traditions
main
role in
— but
painters
c
learh
played the
development.
its
Anionu the most important was \lekhior a Fleming who 1387 1409 c. worked for the court of the duke ol Burgundy in Dijon Figshowing the panels ol a pan ol shutters for an altai ure 5 shrine that he did in 1394 99 is really two pictures within each frame; the temple ol the Presentation and the land BIIOI' Dl' III..WI
Broederlam (flourished
1
1
.
with the halos. (Giotto,
scape of the Flight into Egypt stand abrupd) side
same problem
even though the artist has made a halfhearted effort to persuade us that the landscape extends around the building.
529).
Still,
the
in
his
Bohemian master's picture
is
not a
mere echo
of Italian painting. The gestures and facial expressions con-
Compared
vey an intensity of emotion that represents the finest heri-
picture space
tage of Northern Gothic
more akm (fig.
to
art.
In this respect, our panel
the Death of the Virgin
490) than
to
any
Italian work.
at
is
far
Strasbourg Cathedral
to Pietro .\tn\ still
landscape are quite out a Lit
side
Ambrogio Lorenzetti Broederlam's
strikes us as naive in
chitecture looks like a doll's house
panels convej
l>\
ol
main
and the
\\a\s
the ar-
details of the
stale with the figures. Vet the
stronger feeling
ol
depth than we have
I.OIHH
Iftl
•
found
any previous Northern work. The reason
in
for this is
the subtlety of the modeling; the softly rounded shapes and the dark, velvety shadows create a sense of light and air that more than makes up for any shortcomings of scale or perspective. The same soft, pictorial quality a hallmark of the International Style
— appears in
—
the ample, loosely draped
garments with their fluid curvilinear patterns of folds, which remind us of Sluter and Ghiberti (see figs. 507 and 509).
Our panels
also exemplify another characteristic of the In-
ternational Style:
its
"realism of particulars," the
we encountered
of realism
among
500) and somewhat later manuscripts.
We find
first in
same kind
Gothic sculpture (see
fig.
the marginal droleries of
rendered foliage and donkey (obviously drawn from the rustic figure of St. Joseph, who looks and a simple peasant and thus helps to emphasize it
in the carefully
flowers, in the delightful
and
life),
behaves
in
like
the delicate, aristocratic beauty of the Virgin.
It is
this pains-
taking concentration on detail that gives Broederlam's work the flavor of an enlarged miniature rather than of a large-
though the panels are more than
scale painting, even feet
five
tall.
THE LIMBOURG BROTHERS.
That book illumination reEurope at the time of the International Style, despite the growing im-
mained the leading form
of painting in northern
portance of panel painting,
well attested by the miniatures
is
Heures du Due de Berry. Produced for the brother of the king of France, a man of far from admirable character but the most lavish art patron of his day, this luxurious book of hours represents the most advanced phase of the International Style. The artists were Pol de Limbourg and his two brothers, a group of Flemings who, like Sluter and Broederlam, had settled in France early in the fifteenth century. They must have visited Italy as well, for their work includes a great number of motifs and whole compositions borrowed from the great masters of Tuscany. The most remarkable pages of Les Tres Riches Heures are ot'Les Tres Riches
542.
THE LIMBOURG BROTHERS.
those of the calendar, with their elaborate depiction of the life
of
Such
man and
Musee Conde,
Chantilly,
Even such
intangible, evanescent things
cycles, originally consisting of twelve single figures
aspects of nature in addition to the labors of the months.
Limbourg
brothers, however, integrated
into a series of
panoramas of human
February miniature in the history of
(fig.
Western
account of village
huddled together
life
life
all
in nature.
542), the earliest art,
in the
The
these elements
Thus
the
snow landscape
gives an enchantingly lyrical
dead of winter, with the sheep
in their fold, birds hungrily scratching in
the barnyard, and a maid blowing on her frostbitten as she hurries to join her
companions
in the
warm
hands
cottage
spheric space.
as the frozen breath of the maid, the
the chimney,
and the clouds
Our figure 543 shows the sowing of winter grain during month of October. It is a bright, sunny day, and the fore-
the
ground figures uity
— cast
marvel in the soil
at
—
shadows on the ground. Once more we the wealth of realistic detail such as the scarecrow
middle distance or the footprints of the sower in the
of the freshly plowed
go beyond mere description.
ized by the splendid castle
the
hills.
Here the promise
of
the Broederlam panels
ors,
and exteriors are harmoniously united
fulfilled,
COll IK Mil
as
it
were: landscape, architectural interiin deep,
atmo-
That sower
field.
is
memorable
in
other ways as well; his tattered clothing, his unhappy mien,
among
been
time since classical Antiq-
for the first
visible
figure, to
lias
smoke curling from become
the sky have
in
"paintable."
the front wall has been omitted for our benefit), while in the middle distance we see a villager cutting trees for firewood and another driving bis laden donkey toward the houses (
>
France
nature throughout the months of the year.
each performing an appropriate seasonal activity, had long been an established tradition in medieval art (compare fig. 500). Jean Pucelle had enriched the margins of the calendar pages of his books of hours by emphasizing the changing
408
February, from
Les Tres Riches Heures du Due de Berry. 1413-16.
peasantry in contrast to the
castle,
we
He
is
meant
to
be a pathetic
arouse our awareness of the miserable life
lot
of the
of the aristocracy, as symbol-
on the
far
bank of the
will recall, is a "portrait" of the
most lavish structure of its kind
river.
(The
Gothic Louvre, the
at that time; see
page 367.)
^Uk*
*A~
543.
THE LIMBOURG BROTHERS. Les
Tre.s
October, from
The most
interesting perhaps
ture, the only interior
duke huge ly,
(
fig.
544
).
I
fireplace, with a screen to protect
kind of secular halo that
le is
to
of the
seated next to a
him and. sets him
the multitude of courtiers and attendants.
known
life
the January pic-
scene of the group, which shows the
of Berry at a banquet
to act as a
is
incidentaloff against
His features,
us also from other works of the period, have
all
the
distinctive qualities of a fine portrait, but the rest of the
— except the youth and the cleric on the duke's — displays an odd lack of individuality. They are of
crowd right
for
all
same type, in face as well as stature: aristocratic mannequins whose superhuman slenderness brings to mind then the
feminine counterparts day.
They
in the fashion
magazines
of our
own
and varibetween them and the
are differentiated only by the luxuriance
ety of their clothing. Surely the gulf
THE LIMBOURG BROTHERS. JANUARY,
melancholy peasant of the October miniature could not have been greater in real life than it appears in these pictures!
GENTILE DA FABRIANO. From January page in
it
is
from
Due de Berry
Les Ires Riches Heures du
Several of the calendar pages are devoted to the nobility.
544.
Riches Heures du Due de Bern/
the courtly throng of the
but a step to the three Magi and then train
the altarpiece by Gentile da Fabriano(c. 1370-1427), the
greatest Italian painter of the International Style
ifig.
545).
ample and softlv rounded, .is in the North The Holy Family on the left almost seems in danger of being overwhelmed b\ the gay and festive pageant pouring down upon it from the hills in the distance. Again we admire the marvelousb well observed animals, which now include not only the familiar ones but hunting leopards, amels. and monkeys. (Such creatures were eagerly collected by the princes ol the period, be Mental background many of whom kept private zoos. of the Mam is further emphasized by the Mongolian facial cast of some of their companions. It is not these exotic lout lies, however, that mark our picture as the work ol an Italian master but something else, a greater sense ol weight, ol physical substance, than we could hope to find among the
The costumes here
are as colorful, the draperies
is
i
I
(
COiniC
\RI
•
4(M
545.
GENTILE DA FABRIANO. THE adoration of THE
Oil on panel, 9'10'/8 "x9'3"
410- COIIIIC
Alii
(3x2.8 m).
MAGI. 1423.
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
546.
GENTILE DA FABRIANO. THE 1423.
Northern representatives of the International Gentile, despite his love of fine detail,
er used to working
on a monumental
manuscript illuminator to
is
cm). Galleria degli
Style.
scale, rather
than a
had command of a miniaturist, as we see on
Tics Riches
(fig.
observed in the October page of Les
Hemes — light
as an independent factor, sepa-
IG1
—
fields, their effect is as
etic
The Nativity first
M
(
546) the new aware-
we
Till
I
of the angel bringing the glad tidings to the shepherds in the
ows
ness of light that
OF
Florence
from form and color dominates the entire picture Even though the mam sources of illumination are the di\ me radiance of the newborn Child "the light oi the world" and
the small panels decorating the hase, or predella,
of his altarpiece. In
Uifi/.i.
rate
obviously a paint-
at heart. Yet he, too,
of the delicate pictorial effects
turning
nativity, from the predella of the ,\IX)H,\T1()N
l2Ytx29W (31x75
— as
il
natural
— note the strong cast
shad-
the Virgin were kneeling by a campfire. The po-
intimacy of this night scene opens up a whole new world were not to be fully
ol artistic possibilities, possibilities th.it
explored until two centuries
later.
COTHK
Mil
-J'/
ILLUSTRATED TIME CHART POLITICAL HISTORY. RELIGION
II
LITERATURE. SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY
I.IK)
Golden Age of Ireland, 600-800 Mohammed (570-632)
Stirrup introduced into Western
Europe c. 600 China Porcelain invented in China c. 700 Paper-making introduced into Near East from China Earliest cast iron in
Omayyad caliphs (Damascus) 661-750 Moslems invade Spain 711-718; defeated by Franks, battle of Tours 732 Abbasid caliphate Baghdad) begins 750 St. Boniface (died 755) converts Germans Pepin the Short crowned king of Franks by St. Boniface 751; conquers Ravenna and donates it to papacy 756 (
Moslem
state established in
Isidore of Seville, encyclopedist (died 636)
The Venerable Bede, English
historian
(673-735) Beowulf epic, England, early 8th cent.
Spain 756
Viking invasions begin 794
Sigvald
rebel',
Cividale Cathedr
Charlemagne (r. 768-814) crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope 800; empire extends from northern Spain Germany and northern Italy
to
Earliest version of 1001 Nights, Arabian stories
documented church organ, Aachen 822 Carolingian revival of Latin classics Earliest printed book, China, 868 Earliest
western
Treaty of Verdun 843, split of Carolingian empire: France, Germany, Lorraine
Horse
collar
adopted in Western Europe efficient draft animals
makes horses
Rhabanus Maurus, German encyclopedist
Vikings discover Iceland 860
(784-856) Alfred the Great
(r. 871-899?), AngloSaxon king of England, defeats Danish
invaders
Palace Chapel of Charlemagne,
Monastic order of Cluny founded 910 Normandy awarded to Vikings by king of France 911 Otto
Oseberg ship-burial
documented use of windmills, Near East
Earliest
Earliest application of water
crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope 962 Otto II (r. 973-983) defeated by Moslems I
Aachen
(the Great)
power
in
to in-
dustry
Vikings discover Greenland
c.
980
southern Italy Ethelred the Unready in
(r. 978-1016) buys Danish invaders of England Hugh Capet (r. 987-996) founds Cape-
off
tian
dynasty in France
Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim 1022)
Normans Ban,
arrive in Italy 1016;
last
Sicily
(r.
993-
Leif Ericsoh sails to North America 1002 Avicenna (980-1037), chief medical authority in Middle Ages
conquer
Byzantine stronghold, 1071;
Hariri, Arabic writer
1072-92
Omar Khayyam,
Reconquest of Spain from Moslems begins 1085
(1054-1121)
Persian poet
Chanson de Roland, French
William the Conqueror (Norman) defeats English king Harold at Battle of Has-
1066 Crusade 1095-99 takes Jerusalem Cistercian order founded 1098; St. Bertings
First
nard
oi
Clairvaux (1090-1153) becomes
principal abbot
Gospel Book
412- TIME CHART
11
oj
On
BuycuK Tapestry
(fl.
c.
epic
c.
1100) 1098
PAINTING, SCULP
II R
I.
ARC HITECTU
R
Sutton Hon shlp-buiia] treasure
Lindisfame Gospels Echternach Gospels Sigvald
Palace
Cividale Cathedra] Mshatta, Jordan
relief,
at
Damascus Mosque at Cordova Abbey Church of St.-Riquier Mosaic, Great Mosque.
Lindisfame Gospels
Sutton linn ship-burial treasun
Palace Chapel of Charlemagne, Aachen
^FSfS^^^fW^J:
Gospel Book of Charlemagne Gospel Book of Ebbo of Reims Utrecht Psalter
Monastery plan. St. Gall Oseberg ship-burial
Mosque
Crucifixion Mosque
ot
jo*!*
of Mutawakkil. Samarra. Iraq relief,
cover of Lindau Gospels
Mutawakki], Samarra. Iraq
-
MonasU
ry plan
St.
Gall
Gero Crucifix, Cologne Cathedral St. Pantaleon, Cologne
St
Pantaleon, Cologne
'
Gospel Book St.
oj
Otto
rui it>\
Cologne
t
athedral
111
Michael's. Ilildesheim
Bronze doors of Benin aid. Ilildesheim oj Cor hie
Gospel Book
Speyer Cathedral Pisa Cathedral. Baptistery. Bell Towel Baptistery. Florence
St.-Ktienne.
Caen
Bayeux Tapestry St.-Sernin, Toulouse, and Apostle
S Ambrogio, Milan
Durham
Baptistery
1
lorei
Cathedral
n
lnulmis
IIMI
(
ll\KI
II ' -il
I
POL! IK AL HISTORY, RELIGION Mediterranean made sate
LITERATURE, SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY
commerce Moslems founded 1113; Temfor
Rise of universities
by Italian naval supremacy over
Knights Hospitalers plars
1
1
and
1
Peter Abelard, French philosopher and teacher (1079-1142)
(Duke Henry the Lion)
lohenstaufen emperors in
Norman Kingdom
of Naples
and
Louis the Fat of France (died strengthens monarchy
1
Germany Sicily
1
medicine, theol-
ogy
Teutonic Knights 1190
18;
Rivalry of Guelfs
Bologna, Paris, Ox-
(
ford); faculties of law,
Geoffrey of
139-1373
Monmouth, English
historian
(died 1154)
137)
Crossbow gains in use over bow and arrow St. Bernard denounces sculpture in churches 1127 Flowering of French vernacular literature
Portugal becomes independent 1143
Frederick
I Barbarossa (r. 1155-90) titles himself "Holy Roman Emperor," tries to dominate Italy King Henry II founds Plantagenet line 1154
(epics, fables, chansons); troubadours
Mined
coal
supplements charcoal as fuel magnetic compass for navi-
Earliest use of
gation
documented windmill
Earliest
in
Europe
1180
Lion
monument. Brunswick
ympanum.
center portal. Vezelav
Fourth Crusade (1202-4) conquers Con-
Nibelung,
stantinople St.
Dominic (1170-1221) founds Domin-
epic
1205; minne-
c.
Golden Legend by Jacobus de Voragine
ican order; Inquisition established to
written
combat heresv St.
German
singers
St.
Francis of Assisi (died 1226) founds Franciscan order
Emperor Frederick
II 1 194-1250) neGermany, resides at Palermo Magna Carta limits power of English kings 1215 King Louis IX (St. Louis, 1226-70) leads Seventh and Eighth Crusades
(1193-1280) Roger Bacon, English philosopher and scientist (Franciscan) (1214-1292) Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), Divine Comedi/ in Italian vernacular
(
r.
Mongol invasion
of Russia
1237
Italian scholastic
philosopher (died 1274) Albertus Magnus, scholastic philosopher
glects
Sketchbook, Villard de Honnecourt
1266-83
Thomas Aquinas,
Madonna Enthroned,
hv
Omab
Interior west wall sculpture,
Reims Cathedral
Teutonic Knights colonize Prussia
Marco Polo travels c. 1275-93
Edward
Arabic (actually Indian) numerals intro-
1272-1307) conquers Wales 1285-1314), king France, humiliates Pope Boniface 1
(r.
Philip IV (the Fair, of
r.
VI 1303
stronghold
TIME
in
Acre,
last
Christian
Holy Land. 1291
(II Mil
II
in
Europe
Spectacles invented First
Moslems reconquer
~iN
duced
in
China and India
to
c.
documented use
1286 of spinning wheel
Europe 1298, replaces
spindle
distaff
and
FA
I
NT NG. SCULP] I
I
1!
I.
ARC
II
I
I
I
A II R
I.
Nave auk murals, Si -Savin-surGartempe South Portal. Moissac \
&
Notre- Dame-la-Grande, Poitiers
.2i\.fc'
Font, St.-Barthelemy, Liege, by Renier of
Huv
Tournai Cathedral Tympanum, center
portal.
Ye/elav
Judgment tympanum, Autun Coronation Cloak of German Emperors Abbey Church of St. -Denis. Pans Last
Gospel Book of Wedricus Portal sculpture. St.-Gilles-du-Gard
West
portals,
Chartres Cathedral
Notre- Dame, Paris
Lion monument. Brunswick Klosterneuburg altar, by Nicholas of
Verdun Fagade sculpture. Fidenza Cathedral, by Antelami Chartres Cathedral (rebuilding after
fire)
Abbey Church. Fossanova (Cistercian) West
Notn
Dame
I'.ti
i
Stained glass, Chartres Cathedral
Canmnci Burana manuscript. Munich Transept portals. Chartres Cathedral Stained glass, Bourges Cathedral
South transept
portal.
Strasbourg Cathe-
dral
Amiens Cathedral Salisbury Cathedral Illustrated Arabic Dioscorides
Reims Cathedral
Tomb
of a Knight, Dorchester Abbey Sketchbook, Villard de Honnecourt
Choir screen and "portraits." Naumburg Cathedral Interior west wall sculpture. Reims Cathe-
Stained glass Bourges Cathedral
dral Pulpit, Baptistery, Pisa, by Nicola Pisano
Psalter of St. Louis
St.-Urbam. Troves Madonna Enthroned, by Cimabue Prayer Book of Philip the hair. b\ Master
Honore Sta. Croce,
Florence
Florence Cathedral Choir screen and "portraits
Naumburg
Palazzo Vecchio, Florence
Cathedral
1300
ll\ll
(
ll\HI
II
•
-J/")
POLITICAL HISTORY, RELIGION
LITER AT U RE, SCIENCE,
TECHNOLOGY
1300'
1309-76 War between England
Exile of papacy in Avignon
Hundred
Years'
First large-scale production of Italy
and France begins 1337 Black Death throughout Europe 1347-50 Jacquerie (peasant) revolt in France 1358 Bridget of
Sweden
1303-1373) Russians defeat Mongols at Kulikovo 1380 Wat Tyler leads peasant uprising in EngSt.
(
land 1381
English
paper in
Large-scale production of gunpowder; earliest
known use
of cannon 1326 Europe
Master Eckhart, German mystic (died 1327) William of Occam, English scholastic philosopher
John Wycliffe (died 1384) challenges church doctrine; translates Bible into
ARCHITECTURE
and Germany
Earliest cast iron in
Longbow
(c.
PAINTING, SCULPTURE,
1300-1349)
replaces crossbow. Battle of
Crecy, 1346 Canterbury Tales by Chaucer c. 1387 Decameron by Boccaccio 1387
Virgin of Paris, Notre Dame Cathedral pulpit, Pisa, by Giovanni Pisano Arena Chapel frescoes, Padua, by Giotto
Maestd
altar,
Siena, by Duccio
Bonn
Pietd {Andachtsbild),
Facade sculpture, Orvieto Cathedral Triumph of Death, Pisa, by Traini Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux, by Jean Pucelle
Equestrian statue of Can Grande, Verona Choir, Gloucester Cathedral
Good and Bad Government frescoes, Siena, by Ambrogio Lorenzetti Country Life fresco, Avignon Alhambra Palace, Granada Madrasah of Sultan Hasan, Cairo Choir, St. Sebald,
Nuremberg
Portal of Chartreuse, Dijon, by Sluter;
Claus
Moses Well
Altar wings, Dijon, by Broederlam
Pwta (Andachtsbild), Bonn
Madonna Enthroned,
by Giotto
Choir. Gloucester Cathedra]
1400.
Teutonic Knights beaten by Poles and Lithuanians at Tannenberg 1410
Gutenberg invents printing with movable type 1446-50
Competition
Jan Huss, Czech reformer, burned stake for heresy 1415
Earliest account of sea quadrant in navi-
Tres Riches Heures du
at
gation 1456
Great Papal Schism (since 1378) settled by election of Martin V at Council of
Constance 1417; Pope returns
to
relief for Baptistery doors,
Florence
Ca' d'Oro, Venice Adoration of the Magi Fabriano
Rome
Due de Berry, by
Limbourg brothers
St.-Maclou,
House
altar,
Rouen
of Jacques Coeur,
Chapel of Henry
VII,
Bourges Westminster Abbey
u_i_ \doratiom
416' liwi
<
li
\l;i
II
oj tfa
Vagi
altai
l>\
Gentile da Fabrian
by Gentile da
Ca' d'Oro, Venice
BOOKS FOR FURTHER READING
Ins
I
English
in
Books with material
relc-
ant to several chapters are cited only under the
first head have written other works on their all volumes of which arc cited here, are the Pelican History of Art and the World oj Art series. Two excellent general bibliographies are Guide to the Literature of Art History by E Amtzen and R Rainwater American Library Association, 1980) and Art Books: A Basic Bibliography by E L Lucas (New York Graphic Society. 968 Many libraries now have access to electronic data bases, such as Art Bibliographies Modern and RLIN, which can help \
PART ONE THE ANCIENT WORLD
includes standard works and the most recent and
list
comprehensive books
Main authors
ing
Two
fields.
cited
1
to art historical
N.Y, 1975 A. Arrest and Movement.
GROENEWEGEN-FRANKEORT H
Univ. of Chicago Press, 1951; reprint. Hacker Art Books
.
the South Sea Islands.
Crown.
NY.
1962
The Dawn of European Knopf NY. 1958
CHILDE. V
research
CORNET.
G.,
1972
&
ASHMOLE.
B
Art of the Ancient World. Abrams,
N.Y, 1975
NY.
Arl oj Africa. Phaidon.
J.,
NY,
Civilization. 6th ed.,
HAYES.
1971
DAVIES. O West Africa Before the Europeans: Archaeology and Prehistory. Methuen, London, 1967 ELDER, N American Indian Art. Ahrams. NY. 1971 G1MBUTAS, M A.. The Gods and Goddesses of Old Europe. 7000-3500 B C. Myths. Legends and Cult Images. Umv,
.
W.C., The Scepter of Egypt, 2 vols.. Harper, in cooperation with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. N.Y..
.
indicate
)
i
R. A. Cordingley. Scribner.
.
Methods and Resources by Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co.. c 1990) titles available in paperback; for publishers, distributors, and the like, see Puperhound Books in Print RR Bowker. annual). Jones (3d ed
L. S.
Asterisks
Graphic Society, Greenwich, 1964 A., The Pyramids. 2d ed., Univ. of Chicago Press. 1962 FLETCHER, B, A History oj Architecture. 18th cd„ rev.
'BASCOM. W. R African Art ni Cultural Perspective. Norton NY, 1973 BUHLER. A T BARROW. & C. T. MOUNTFORD. The Art of
'Art Information: Research
is
Univ of California
Tutankhamen. New York
.
"FAKHRY.
ETHNOGRAPHIC ART
).
vou find other works A useful guide
11-111,
Press. Berkeley, 1966-68
PREHISTORIC AND
1.
useful series, not
i
Studio Misr.. Giza, 1954. Vols
DESROCHES-NOBLECOURT. C
1953-59
LANGE. K„ & M. H1RMER, Egypt
Architecture. Scitlplur
,
1974
of California Press, Berkeley.
GRAND. P M Prehistoric Art: Paleolithic Painting andSculpture. New York Graphic Society. Greenwich, 1967
Painting
in
Three Thousand Years. 4th
ed.,
Phaidon. Lon-
don, 1968
"MEKH1TAR1AN, A, Egyptian Rizzoli, NY. 1977
NY.
Painting. Skira.
1954;
.
GRAZIOSI.
GU1DONI. E
INTRODUCTION •ARNHEIM. R
Art
..
GUNDON,
and Visual Perception. 2d
ed..
HEYDEN.
Univ of
California Press. Berkeley. 1974 •
Visual Thinking, Univ. of California Press. Berkeley.
CAHN. W.
Architectural Styles. Praeger.
of
C
DICKIE,
and
Art
Institutional Analy-
Cornell Univ. Press. Ithaca. 1974
Beacon
"/ Art,
I
.
Press. Boston.
1963
Phaidon Oxford. 1979 The Sen^e of Order a Cornell Uni\
MEGAW,
S„ Art Row. N.Y. 1970
Press Ithaca
NY
KEPES.G
Documentary History of Art. 2d
1
Haven
ed..
row
ill.
G
r.
RENFREW
E
C
in
.
B
.
&
Sculpture: Its Aspects from Ancient
Abrams, N.Y, 1969
R. L. B.
MOSS.
Topographical Bibliography
and
Paint-
Oxford Univ. Press. N.Y, 1927-51; 2d ed.. 2-3. 1960-74 POULSEN, V,. Egyptian Art. New York Graphic Society. Greenwich. 1968 SCHAEER, H Principles of Egyptian Art. Clarendon Press. Oxford. 1974 SMITH, W. S..& W. K. SIMPSON, The Art and ArchitectuA of Ancient Egypt, rev. with additions. Pelican History of Art, Penguin. Baltimore. 1981 WOLF, W. The Origins of Western Art- Egypt. Mesopotamia. the Aegean. Universe Books. N.Y. 1971 ings. 7 vols..
1(2
parts). Vols,
,
Prehistoric Art
Prehistoni Art in Europe, Pelican History Builders
Ancient America
The
rev.
.
Near East. Abrams. N.Y, 1980 The Art and Architecture of the Ancient
impression with additional bibliography,
Peli-
can Hislorv of Art, Penguin, Baltimore. 1969 Cylinder Seals: A Documentary Essay on the Ail and Religion of the Ancient Near Last. Gregg. London. 1968 GHIRSHMAN. R, (ran from the Earliest Times to the IsConquest, Penguin, Harmondsworth, N.Y. 1978 oj Prehistoric Mesopotamia. Yale Univ
luniic oj
Art oj the Hittites. Abrams. N.Y, 1962
P. Art of the Ancient
"FRANKFORT. H Orient. 4th
Praeger. N.Y., 1966
Penguin. Baltimore. 1968
Mound
ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN ART
AKURGAL. E„ AMIET,
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ami Prehistorh Europe, Knopf. NY., 1973
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W..
Bible Illumination, Cornell Univ,
1982
Press. Ithaca.
•FRISCH.
Early Medieval Art
(
and Documents
100
USO-.Sources
Englewood Cliffs 1971 DODWELL R Painting in Europe 800 1200 Pelican Histor) "l An Penguin, Harmondsworth, Baltimore 1971 Hl'RI G History oj Medieval \n 980 1440 new vol ed sku.i Rizzoii Geneva N ) 1986 trlii, \ii FINLAV Introduction Faber&Fabei LonPrentice-Hall
i
I
U
I
don
I-
Pen-
Gothit Art
T. G..
1
140-1450 Sources and Docu-
ments. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs
1971 i
den
G. D. S..
,
Gothic Style and Civilization, Pen-
1957
City.
"JANTZEN, H
High Gothk The Classic Cathedrals vj and Amiens. Pantheon. N Y. 1962 KRAUTHEIMER, R & T KRAUTHEIMER-HESS, Lorenzo Ghiberti. 2d ed Princeton Univ Press. 1970 LARNER. L., Culture and Society in Italy. 1290-1420. ..
Chartres, Rheims,
,
,
NY.
Scribner.
"MALE, E The S
.
J.
LEJEUNE. & J. ST1ENNON. A
Treasury of Romanesque Art, Metalwork, Illumination and Sculpture from the Valley of the Meuse, Phaidon,N.X, 1972 DEMUS, O. Romanesque Mural Painting, Abrams, NY. 1971 DUBY, G„ The Age oj the Cathedrals Art and Society,
980-1420. Univ. of Chicago Press. 1981 J., The Romanesque Architecture of Cluny 2d ed., AMS Press. N.Y. 1972
EVANS.
Order
ol
1971
Gothic Image: Religious Art
MARLE. R VAN. The Development Painting. 19
vols, (reprint.
MARTINDALE.
M
MF.ISS,
,
The Art and Architecture oj the Crusadei Stutes Univ. of Wisconsin Press. Madison. 1977 KAUFMANN. C. M., Romanesque Manuscripts 1066-1190 (Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles. Ill), New York Graphic Society Boston 1978 KUBACH. II E Romanesque Architecture Abrams, N.Y.
OK FURTHER READING
ed
,
.
1975 H.. Medieval Cities
Braziller
SCHAPIRO, M
1968 N.Y 1977
N.Y.,
Romanesque Art, Braziller, Art and Architecture in Medieval France, Harper 8t Row N V, 1972 SWARZENSKI, II Monuments of Romanesque Art The An
STODDARD
•
•I (
ol
s
hurt h Treasures in North-Western Europe. 2d ed., Univ,
Chicago Press
WEBB ed.
W
(.
1967 The Middle Ages 2d Penguin Baltimore. 1965
Architecture in Britain
t
Pi4k.hi History of Art <•
Romanesque \n Universe Books, N.Y, 1971
oj the
of the Italian Schools
|
923-38 ed). Hacker. N.Y. 1971
NY,
Paint mil in Florence
and Siena
after the Black Death.
Princeton Univ Press, 1951 lion
WILSON. Women
J
I
and Reappraisal from
POPE-HENNESSY Phaidon. NY, 1970
Artists
Recogjfj
the Early Middle Aqes to the
&
Row. N.Y. 1976
VV, Italian Gothit Sculpture. 2d ed.,
ROWLEY, G Ambrogio
Lorenzetti, 2 vols., Princeton Univ.
Puss, 1958
SAUERLANDER, W, Gothic Sculpture inFrance, 1140-1279 Abrams, NY, 1973 STUBBLEBINE H. DucciodiBuoninsegnaandHisSchaA I
2 vols
Princeton Univ Press
.
WATSON,
SAALMAN.
1
Gothic Art, Praeger
Twentieth Century, Harper the
France
1967 Giotto and Assist Norton. N.Y. 1967 A..
PETERSEN. K. &. ed.
in
Thirteenth Century. Harper, N.Y, 1958
,
the
FOCILLON, II The Art oj the West in the Middle Aqes. b) Kan Bony. 2 vols.. Phaidon. N.Y, 1963 GRABAR. A Romanesque Painting from the Eleventh to
ZARNECK1
1973
420 -BOOKS
of Art,
1977 GRODECKI. L. Gothit Architecture, Abrams, N HARVEY. J. H Medieval Craftsmen. Batsford, London. 1978
,
COLLON-GEVAERT.
I
DAVIS-WEYER.
NY.
Abrams.
E. G. ed.. A Documentary History oj Art Vol I. The Middle Aqes and the Renaissance. 2d ed.. Doubledav. Gar-
AUBERT, M., Romanesque Cathedrals and Abbeys of France, Vane. London. 1966
HAZARD. H
Insular Manuscripts, 6th to the 9th
ol
&B LOHSE
Art.
guin, Baltimore. 1962
.1
t
.
P.Golhii Architet lure. Pelican History
*HOLT
ROMANESQUE ART
.
ALEXANDER.
A Gothic
1989
FRANKL.
.
Thirteenth Century: Mural Painting, Skira. Geneva. 1958
EARLY MEDIEVAL ART
2.
Gothit Painting. Rizzoii, N.Y.
1977
ERLANDE-BRANDENBURG.
guin, Baltimore. 1967
POPE, A U Persian Architecture The Triumph I)
•DUPONT.
HENDERSON,
1952-
1979
i
Univ of California Press. Berkeley. 1965
SAALMAN. H. Medieval Architecture, Braziller. N.Y, 1962 SNYDER, J Medieval Art Painting, Sculpture. Architecture 4th-14th Century, Abrams, NY. 1989 STOKSTAD. M.. Medieval Art, Icon Ed., Harper & Row, NY.
Skira. Geneva.
(. History of Ottoman Architecture. Johns Hopkins Univ Press. Baltimore, 1971 GRABAR, 0., The Formation oj Islamit Art. Yale Univ Press, New Haven. 1973 HILL. D. Islamit Architecture and lis Decoration A I) 800-1500. Univ. of Chicago Press. 1964 HOAG. J ll Islamit Architecture Abrams, N Y. 1977 PAPADOPOULO A Islam and Muslim Art Abrams. N. Y,
Kl(
Dissent and Reform in the Early Middle
.
1976
ETTINGHAUSEN, K Arab Painting (reprint, 1962. ed). Rizzoii. NY. 1977
GOODWIN
B
,|.
1986
I
59 ed
Architecture, 6th
Penguin. Baltimore. 1960
Aiies.
Turkish Art. Smithsonian Institution Press.
ed..
E..
ed..
RUSSELL,
ISLAMIC ART
1.
Geneva/N Y. 1988 N.. An Outline oj European
PEVSNER.
P.,
1979
Building the Medieval Cathedrals, Cambridge
Univ. Press, 1976 Art and Architecture in Italy. 1250-1400. Peltcan History of Art, Penguin. Baltimore, 19G6 Duccio Tuscan Art and the Medieval Workshop. Thames & Hudson, N.Y. 1979
WHITE. .
.1
GLOSSARY
ABACI'S A CAPITAL
slab ol stone al the top ol a classi<
\IK
the
111
1
1
A\
1
al
)
A
religious
i
monks
the
CHOIR
large
especially
nuns
or
ACADEMY. A
place
|
provide space
to
122
fig
foi
word coming garden neai Athens
from the Creek name ol a Plain and lain Platonic philosophers hold philosophical discussions from the 5th the 6th century
to
AD. The
firsi
academy ol lino arts, properlj speaking, was the Academy ol Drawing lounded 1563 in Florence
Important
Giorgio Vasari
l>\
latei
academies were the Royal Academy ol Painting and Sculpture in Pans founded 16 18, and the Royal Academy ol Arts in London, founded
was
1768. Their purpose
and occasionally A<
the arts by
to foster
teaching, exhibitions, discussion
systematic
Willis
by financial assistance
Mediterranean plani having spun or toothed leaves 2) Vn architectural ornament resembling the leaves ol this plant. used on MOLDINGS FRIEZES and Corin\
I
CAPITALS (figs 151 164) AERIAL PERSPECTIVE See PERSPECTIVE. \IS1 See SIDE VISLE thian
PRIMA A PIGMENTS are
little
or
no
painting technique laid
on
one
in
in
which
applic ation with
UNDERPAINTING
ALLAH The unique and personal God ol the MOSLE M faith \l TAR I) A mound or structure on which sa< ri-
made
fices oi offerings are deity
2'
In
Catholic
a
in
the worship
church
structure used in celebrating the
Mass
A painted oi carved work placed behind and above the ALTAR i
hurc h
orplate 59) or a
It
m.n be
or a
art
ol
ol
a single panel
TRIPTYCH
ol a
table-like
a
ALTARPIECE Christian
i
a ol-
<
POLYPTYC
II
having hinged wings painted on both sides (fig 494). Also called a reredos oi retable ALTERNATE SYSTEM A system developed in
Romanesque church
architecture
to
SIDE-AISLE bays. ["hePIERSol thenave size;
in
the heavier
AR-
COM
POl M) puis support the mam nave vaults where the IIIKl'Sl is concentrated and smaller usually cylindrical purs support the side-aisle vaults \\1 in
AZON One
figs
19]
196
female warriors said dwell near the Blai k Sea
ol a tribe ol
Greek legend
(fig
i
to
\ covered walkway In a BA SILICAN church, the semicirculai passage 2 In a CEN around the APSE (fig 122 [HAL-PLAN cfiurch the ring-shaped AISL1 I
>
and
seals
ill
oval .u
I
ess
1
1
Grei
large
\
1
dish
lh<
i.
h
fi
in
BISHOPol
hiel
i
an
membei
he lowermost \BI.\ll Rl Le I
classical
tow.ud the base; tWO handles extend from
stone blocks thai rest direcdy on the
below the
\\1A(
the shouldi
lip to
lllslill
German
.1)
JUSI
UMNS
I
I
devotional pic-
foi
A picture oi sculpture
ture
figs
i
\l!(
1
TYMPANl M \IIKK
(
\l i;ii
Mi
Hie front end ol a wall ol a Greek temple, thickened to produce a PILASTemples having COL TER-like member UMNS between the antae are said to be in antis"
APOCALYPSE hook
rhe Book
Revelation the
ol
In
1
I
Judas IscariOt Matthew Pelei Philip Siinnn ["haddeus oi Jud the Canaanite Thomas In an howevei the same twelve are not always represented since "aposde" was hristians sometimes applied to othei early I
(
\psl
V
I
semicircular or polygonal niche both ends
oi
2 \ Unman BASH figs 246 is usually plat ed al the him h the nave beyond the TRANS1 PI it
289
fig ol
transept
AQl in
n
1.1)1 i.il
t
I
aims aim 1
hannel
i
also
is
oi
W
ter-
in a
I
lu.it h'nslian
l<
i
\
the
ol
sometimes used
oi
at
(
ol
HOIR
the end
foi
duct
walei
Ol
I
\n
aiti
transporting watet
foi
overground structure which carries the conduit across val Irom le\s
a
distant
ii\els
Pll
ADE RS
oi
u
hed
in a
\i;<
i.
10
\
soun
eli
fig
series
ol
2
e.
2
I
he
AR<
III
fig
these form a
S supported when 290 blind an .^U
by at
ing
\l
curved structure used
Masonry arches
blocks
ire built
called voussoirs
set
figs
span an openof wedge-shaped to
with their narrow
opt rung so that they link tohe topmost voussoii is 226 234
side toward thi
gethei
Al
1
ABLAT1
oi
289
figs
mam
building w inilows and PI \S
ten deioialed w ith
ol
RS RIGNA<
II
W
I
Rl
a
ol
I
An adjective used
describ
foi
ol UK ul ppei I'M an the iiue preceding the M AGDALI NIAN; wind comes from Aurignac Haute-Garonne), a sue m southern France where such work ing aitilai
is ol
I
I
1
i
1
was found
BACCHAN
tem
I
BA(
fig
USTRADE
to
railing
\
I
any low parapet
i;\PI is
1
R\
1
oi
Greek
in
who wen- sunn
male followers
maenads
priesl
\
I
oroni of hisecstatii fetunes called
mythology Dionysus
BA1
IIWI
(
wine god Bacchus
priestess of the
\
2
supported
slum
by
Occasionally applied
figs
building
oi
a pari ol a
church,
often round oi o< (agonal in whic h thi fig mi ol baptism is administered foni a rei eptat leol stone ioni.il ns baptism
m
il
i
oi
metal whit h holds the walei
BARR1 ,„
I
VAUL1
I
BASI
lln
foi
i
in
fig
I'll
2
I
set
VAUL1
Set
The lowermost
I
K
In
i
n ol a
i
sll Al
in. nil tin
he lowest
lement
ol
a
PRI
1
DOM
wall
oi
A\
I
oi
painting
DELLA
\
l
In ancient
Roman
architectun
building used as a hall
N
MN
COLl
figs
I
onally "I a statui
BASILK and
V
oi
fig
I
II
church
a
ol
low uppei story pla< ed above the
ORNIC1
buildii
1
I
COLl MNS wall
hum
in
112
onduil
i
end
east
COLONNADED
sometimes
D
Roman house rt. 2) An
ourl ol a
i
pillars called balusters
Paul
minating one
\
It
l
and
last
Evangelist describes Ins visions experienced on the island ol Patmos ol heaven the future ol mankind, and the Last Judgment APOSTLE One oi the twelve disciples hosen by Christ to accompany him in Ins lifetime and to he tradispread the GOSPEL altei Ins death 10 1-1 iiu hides Andrew tional list in Mali Bartholomew, .lames the Greatet sun ol Zebeess sun ol Upllaells John dee James ill.
sin h as Si
entral
i
us open en
195 \l
John the
St
it
SINOPIA
In
oi
\DI
\IU
t
New Testament
the
oi
l
open court
160
fig
i
often decorated with sculpture
10 See
247
fig
ANTA(pl. ANTAE)
sin h
ol
108
fig
VAUU1
OL
(
hand framing an hands framing 3
molded
\
a
ol
»
a
161
sines
a
ni
1
ring-shaped form, especially an annulai
barrel
159
figs
Inst agery intended loi private devotion developed in northern E urope ANNl LAR From the Latin word for ring Signi lies a
I
HIVOL1
\l!(
with a type of im-
N
1
ni
fig
i
ARCHITRAVE
I
m
Islamit
n
diffi
in h
lothil
I
require support from othei n;i ssi s
astii al
\l
STILTED
the
oi
the pointed
in
HBISHOP
\i;<
1.
as
all
BI
ol
I
!
WIPIIol;
pi
an mini
lors
c
figs
in
i
but
\
consisting
plan
in
shapes
lurtyard
nil Mil;
An hes may lake
d the keystone
illi
i
oi
storage vase with an oval body usually tapering
AR<
194)
AMBULATORS
tiers
usually
central theatei .m.i
provide
adequate support foi a GROIN VAULTED NAVE having BAYS twice as long as the CADI-, alternate
building
AD1 D
open d
thi
double
\
In a
I
ONN
01
I
walk around
)
AMPHITHE Mil;
10'
fig
the covi red
(
l
ALI.A
ill
\1
entral spat e
<
11
AMPHORA
I
study, the
ol
where
century B.C.
LOISTI
\K(
community headed l>\ an abbot or abbess 2) rhe buildings which house tin ommunity An abbe) church often has an I
around the (
I
n.
159,
(figs
ABBEY
beneath
just
ol
justit
a i
meeting place generally having s slid and one oi more AISI
public
i
1
I
\PS| s
fig
2 16
in
2
(
hiisii.in
architecture
church derived Irom thi basilica and having a nave apse two oi foui hapels .mil sometimes a side aisles in side Miidm.il
i
GLOSSARY- 4J/
NARTHEX churches
One
Rome
oi
side the Walls, Si
church
other
seven
the
oi
main
recognized
Out-
nnds
Peter's, St. I'aul
(St.
John Lateran,
accorded
etc.),
same
die
or an-
religious
pri\ ileges
BATTLEMENT
A parapet consisting of alterparts and open spaces designed defense and later used for decora-
nating solid originally for
454
tion (fig
the interior space of a
of
bounded by con-
building, usually in a series
time architectural supports.
BENEDICTINE ORDER. Founded
at Subiaco Benedict of Nursia (c. 480-c. 543). Less austere than other earl) ORDERS, it spread throughout much oi' western Europe and England in the next two
near
Rome
529 AD. by
in
St.
centuries.
BISHOP The
number
spiritual overseer of a
churches or
of
His throne, or cathedra,
a diocese.
placed in the principal church of the diocese,
designates
BLIND ARCADE. BOOK. A
written work of
CODEX. BOOK COVER. The
stiff
bound pages of
outer covers protecting
BOOK.
a
In the medieval
period, frequently covered with precious metal
and elaborately embellished with jewels, embossed decoration,
etc. (colorplate
BOOK OF HOURS. A
41
).
private prayer book con-
taining the devotions for the seven canonical
hours
Roman
the
of
Catholic church (matins,
liturgies for local saints, and sometimes a calendar (colorplate 58). They were often elaborately ILLUMINATED for
vespers, etc.
),
persons of high rank, whose names are attached to certain extant examples (fig. 500).
BRACKET. A
wooden, or metal support
stone,
projecting from a wall and having a
The lower
410).
(fig.
form of a
SCROLL:
it
is
fiat
top to
CORNICE, beam,
bear the weight of a statue, etc.
1
part
may
take the
then called a
scroll
BROKEN PEDIMENT.
See PEDIMENT. copper and tin, used since sculpture. See BRONZE ACE,
alloy of
early times for
CI RE-PERDU.
BRONZE AGE. The BRONZE was used
earliest
period in
which
and weapons. In Age succeeded the NEOLITHIC period in c. 3500 B.C., and preceded the Iron Age, which commenced c 1900 B.C. for tools
the Middle East, the Bronze
BUTTRESS.
A
1)
projecting
support
built
against an external wall, usually to counteract the lateral
THRUST
within
425). 2)
(fig.
VAULT or ARCH FLYING BUTTRESS. An of a
arched bridge above the aisle roof that extends from the upper nave wall, where the lateral thrust of the solid pier (fig
beau-
for
mam
vault
is
greatest,
down
to a
427).
City on the Sea of Marmara. founded by the ancient Greeks and renamed Constantinople In 330 Today called Istan-
AD
I.
and used
letters,
form a pattern (colorplates
to
CAMPACNA. Italian word for countryside. usually refers to the When capitalized, countryside near Rome CAMPANILE. From the Italian word campana, it
meaning
A
bell.
tower, either round or
bell
square in plan, and sometimes freestanding
word for holy field. A cemetery near a church, and often enclosed. CANOPY. In architecture, an ornamental, roofItalian
like projection or
object
cover above a statue or sacred
458).
(fig.
COLARCHI-
of a
the
the
Roman
Catholic church, a
of the Sacred College, the ecclesiastibody which elects the pope and constitutes
his advisory council.
Originally a 12th-centu-
hermitage claimed to descend from a community of hermits established by the Prophet Elijah on Mt. Carmel, Palestine. In the early 13th century it spread to Europe and England, where it was reformed by St. Simon Stock and became one of the three great mendicant or-
ry
FRANCISCAN, DOMINICAN). CARTHUSIAN ORDER. See CHARTREUSE The
the additive technique of
contrasted
to
ELING.
A work executed
2)
in this
MOD-
technique
figure used as an architectural support (figs. 154, 174). A similar male figure is an atlas (pi. atlantes).
duplicating a work of
of
sculpture by pouring a hardening substance
such as plaster or molten metal into a mold. See CIRE-PERDU. CATACOMBS. The underground burial places the early Christians, consisting of passages services.
CATHEDRA, CATHEDRAL. 1
)
The
The
the naos. 2) tinct
from
room
of a tem-
182). Also called
(fig.
entire body of a temple as dis-
CENTERING. A wooden framework ARCH, VAULT,
support an its
or
built
DOME
to
during
construction.
CENTRAL-PLAN CHURCH. ing four arms of equal length. often covered with a
A church havThe CROSSING
1)
DOME.
(fig.
The surname ol the Roman dictator, ( .ics.ir subsequently used as the tide of an emperor; hence the German Kaiser, .md the Russian zai tsai M.IPII \ Moslem ruler; the firsl caliph sucS\li
<
(
i
eeded
and
•
IHAMME D
and
i
laimed
political
religious authority by his descent from the
Prophet
422
\1<
I
Subsequently three caliphates were
GLOSSARY
France
A
1)
worship. 2)
finely in
ground
GESSO.
to It
ar-
make a may be
CHOIR. private or subordinate place of
A place
of worship that
monastery sian
1030 1081
ORDER I
It
I'll is
French word
was founded by at
in
in
ORDER, and life
reasserting
its
original ideals of a
of severe simplicity.
An autonomous
CITY-STATE.
unit
political
and the surrounding coun-
city
CLERESTORY. A row
of
windows
upper
in the
part of a wall that rises above an adjoining roof;
BASIL-
built to provide direct lighting, as in a
ICA
or
church (colorplate 1)
A
47).
place of religious seclusion
such as a monastery or nunnery. 2) An open court attached to a church or monastery and
surrounded by a covered
AMBULATORY, Used
as
ARCADED
Salisbury
in
for study, meditation,
CODEX (pi. CODICES).
and exercise.
A manuscript
in
form made possible by the use of
MENT instead of PAPYRUS. 4th centuries A.D.,
SCROLL
or
t)
A
walk or
Cathedral.
BOOK
PARCH-
During the
1st to
gradually replaced the
it
previously used for written
small chest or casket. 2)
A
re-
cessed, geometrically shaped panel in a ceiling.
A
ceiling decorated with these panels
said to be coffered
COLUMNS
(fig.
series
supporting a
LATURE (fig. COLUMN. An
is
239).
spaced
of regularly
LINTEL
or
ENTAB-
76).
approximately cylindrical, up-
right architectural support, usually consisting
of a long, relatively slender a
CAPITAL
in a wall,
175).
(
it
figs. is
SHAFT,
159, 161
called an
).
a
BASE,
When
imbed-
engaged column spiral RE-
Columns decorated with
LIEFS were used occasionally as free-standcommemorative monuments (fig. 265).
ing
COMPOUND
PIER. See PIER. mixture of sand or gravel with
CONCRETE. A
mortar and rubble, invented in the ancient Near East and further developed by the Ro-
mans
digs. 235, 236).
CONTRAPPOSTO.
Carthusian
the body are placed asymmetrically in opposi-
part of a
St.
Bruno
(c.
Chartreuse near Grenoble in an eremetic order, the hie of the i
with molten
The Carthu-
lor a
Italian, Certosa).
(in
filled
is
Italian word for set against. A method developed by the Greeks to represent freedom of movement in a figure. The parts of
is
church, but separately dedicated.
CHARTREUSE.
mold
1098 by Robert of'Molesme with the objective of reforming the BENEDICTINE
(fig.
carbonate, either natural or
prepared,
lost-wax process
BRONZE) or liquid plaster. CISTERCIAN ORDER. Founded at Citeaux
hav-
(figs.
CHAPEL.
CHOIR TRANSEPT
metal (often
306-8).
A church
ing a circular or polygonal plan.
See
or
CASTING. A method in which an original is MODELED in wax or coated with wax, then covered with clay. When the wax is melted
and ded
322). Also
called a Greek-cross church. 2)
CHALK. Calcium
NAVE
of
COLONNADE. A
external parts.
its
screen, frequently orna-
323, 465). In Orthodox Christian churches it is decorated with ICONS, and thus called an iconostasis (fig. 320).
COFFER,
See BISHOP.
principal enclosed
house an image
ple, to
CHOIR
sculpture, separating the
church from the
ROLL
CHANCEL .mis Julius
mented with of a
usually
is
Also called the chancel. See PIL-
GRIMAGE CHOIR. CHOIR SCREEN. A
documents.
CELLA.
reserved for the
is
It
by steps, a railing, or a
off
commemorative
pressed in sticks and used in its white form, or mixed with colored pigments to make pastels. \1
marked
with niches for tombs, and small chapels for
white substance used
(
TRANSEPT.
or
CLOISTER.
206).
CARYATID. A sculptured female
of
NAVE
clergy and the singing choir, and
tryside.
cutting of a figure or design
out of a solid material such as stone or wood, as
(figs. 55,
church architecture, a square or rectangular area between the APSE and the In
comprising a
ders (see
)
).
CHOIR
out, the resulting
CARMELITE ORDER.
1
In Gothic architecture, the term for developed and unified east end of a church, including choir, apse, ambulatory, and radiating chapels (fig. 431
the
CIRE-PERDU PROCESS. The
159. 173).
member
CARVING
a
2)
raw bronze
finish a
to
tools.
(figs.
PILLAR supporting
or
TRAVE (figs. CARDINAL. In
ornamenting
of
CHEVET
SCREEN.
291, 395).
(figs.
CAMPOSANTO.
tificially
(
A technique
1)
metal surface by the use of various cast.
is
BYZANTIUM.
CHASING
The procedure used
CASTING. A method
bracket
BRONZE. An
word
the Creek
Decorative or formal hand-
)
with a brush (colorplates 28, 29; figs. 299, 351 2) A design derived from or resembling
cal
and aus-
of silence, prayer,
writing executed with a quill or reed pen, or
UMN
ARCADE
See
some length on consecutive sheets oi PAPER, PARCHMENT, etc., fastened or bound together in a volume. See
the
writing
CAPITAL. The uppermost member
as a cathedral
it
monks being one terity.
CALLIGRAPHY. From tiful
Fati-
37, 38).
i.
BAY A subdivision se<
Omayyids, Abbasids, and
tion to
each other around a central
careful attention
is
axis,
and
paid to the distribution of
the weight (figs. 178, 179).
CORINTHIAN ORDER. See ORDER, AR< III TECTURAL lie projecting, framing members CORNICE including the horioi a classical PEDIMEN l
I
i
probably the setting
m
DOL-
religious
foi
ere-
(
TRANSEPT
crosses
emphasized hv tower
a
the
DOMK
i
NAVE, fin
NAVE
wedge-shaped by the ancient Mesthe
characters written on clay
ELEVA1 Ion
unhewn
with large,
\n
stones,
fig.
i
131).
ii
techniques
from the Frenc h
i
11 10 drawing pre-
the
Two "champlev6" in w hi* h the
dug
out
i,
1
The
the Greek word for entreaty.
representation of Christ enthroned between
Mary and
the Virgin
St.
John the
Baptist, fre-
quent in Byzantine MOSAICS (colorplate 30) and depictions of the Last Judgment refers to the roles of the Virgin Mary and St. John as intercessors for mankind. DIORITE An igneous rock, extremely hard and usually black or dark graj in color
DIPTYCH.
1
Originally
I
a
used
tor
writing,
CARVINGS
or
PANEL
tablet
hinged together
(fig.
I
l
fig
>7
ENTABLATURE.
CORNICE(figs
UMN
hinged two-leaved
A
pair
of ivory
paintings,
usually
2)
CORNK
Christ.
large,
more
the vision
ol
I
Mark to
for
ulpture
I
and
ol
oi
New
the
is I
he triangulai area framed bv the eaves ol a building and the slop-
hiteclure
decorative element
the
ol
STORY fig 424 pan ELEVATION
DIMI N
shape
ol simil.u
m
man or
I
162
1
2
sin h as
PORTALS
(
133
fig
m
01
a
<
below
N
Lamb m
a winged
i,
i
foul
from those
01
In classi-
176
fig
called a PI
is
it
and sometimes at the top ol a Gothic picture frame GALLERY ^ second stor) placed ovei the SIDI MSI IS ol a church and below the CLER1
and death of
1.
fig
II
I
in
I
the triangular structures above the
COL-
ol a
Luke
life
I
27
lattei ol
159).
fig
I
I
in
il
i
gelists (colorplate
thi
frieze
ing sides of a pitched rool
i
I
S
Rl
A
be the authors
lour books
Revelation (4:7 4-14 E/eku I
the
frieze consists of alternat-
Vn Ionic 166) dei mated with continuous
cornk
1
Matthew fig 651 a winged lion for Mark fig 372 a winged ox foi Luke coloi plate 42 and an eagle for John (colorplate 1"; These symbols ma) also represent the van
i
I
of
ENTABLA
ARCHITRAVE and
the
V Doric
I
In a
259) 2
154
pan of the
the
USUall)
GABLE
usu-
They are usuall) shown with theit sym-
the Book
angel
thought to be a prehistoric tomb fig $2 A true dome is a VAULTED roof of circular, polygonal, or elliptical plan, formed with hemispherical or ovoidal curvature Ma) be supported hv a circular wall or DRUM fig 238), and b) PENDENTIVES (fig 309) or reslab,
1
\1
I
beasts surrounding the throne
upright stones capped by a horizontal
DOME
first
pari oi
rest a
I
ten sculptured (fig
sc
the enthis
which are probabl) derived horn the
bols,
I
structure formed by two or
I
Testament, which recount the
funerary vase with
were poured to the dead fig. 135). Named for the cemetery near Athens where the vases were lound \
the
Omes
be<
1
i
ofa Gothic church
Matthew
GOSPELS,
the
5
rRIGLYPHSand Ml fOPl
ing
II /I and The same struc-
2)
the si
ol
olot plate
RE between
II
162. 166
(figs.
c
classical building
ol a classical style
John, tradition. ilh thought
holes in the bottom through which libations
DOLMEN
swelling
\
COLUMNS;
159, 161
an) building
EVANGELISTS
303)
DIPVLON VASE. A Greek
m
ture
True fresco is
I
ol
(colorplate 25)
In a classical ordei
I
for fresh
COLl M\
ARClll TRAVI
includes
ally
ENTASIS
I
1
See
structure above the
tire
wax
hot
the poor.
iii
word
.Ml NTS absorbed b\ the plaslei and
l
i
MENTS dissolved in ENGAGED COLUMN
mendi
.,
The monks
1226
181 82
1
as
Francis of Assisi Giovanni
sculptured decoration (figs
i
DEESIS From
ounded
I
a public
i
and "cloisonne' from the F rench foi partitioned in whit h ompartments oi loisons to be filled are made on the surface with thin metal strips. 2) A work executed in eithei tei h nique bus 357 120 ENCAUSTIC. A technique oi painting with PIGt
R
it)
i
lb.
lors the tei hnique ol painting with the sa on div plasiei 2 \ painting done in eithei ol these u-c hniques \ ontinuous band iii painted 01 RIEZ1
face;
).
h w.is
painting on moist plastei wiih mound III walei SO tli.it thl
hnique
the wall useli
the metal sur-
ol
tec
Italian
I'll
is
by firing
it
held
for raised
be treated are
areas to
to
ORDI
the spiritual needs
FRESCO
Re\
developed
oi
om
(
aim was to imitate the life of Christ in its povei tv and humility to preach and to ministei to
projected on a vertical
metal surface and fused
to a
W
IS<
ORDER by St
Bemardone
di
el
Ms
ln<
vv
and business .nuviiv and
gath
RAN<
I
plane parallel to one of its sides 2 Term used m describing the virtu al plane ol a building ENAMEL 1) Colored glass) substances either opaque or translucent applied in powdei form
thought by the
legendary race of one-eyed giants
God
ol
\n architec tural
l
senting a building as
masonry
(.reeks to have been built by the Cyclopes, a
the
159
I
mam adjec tive describing
R
figs
<
opotamians
CYCLOPEAN An
\BM US
squan
publil
judicial
ol
of Romanesque and Gothic churches fig 156 are those des< ribed b) St John the vangelisl in his vision ol heaven lad in while and sr.,i
a
379) CUNEIFORM Describes
mini
cant
ed around the throne
(fig
ORD1
Tuscan
oi
the
,,,i(l
I
I
400). or crossing
See SECTION church, a VAULTED space beneath the CHOIR, causing the Boor ol the choir to be raised above the level ol that of the In
\1
I
strip
and
orinthian
i
I
cushion-like element between the top
the si
lonit
h
l
narrow
positi
FOI R Thetwent) foui deis frequent!) represented on the POR
frequently
CROSS SECTION CRYPT.
In the Dorii
ELDERS rWl
383).
(fig.
tin
in
in th<
a
FLYING Bl TIKI ss Sei Bl 1TRI ss lo\l s,, BAPTIST! R> ORl M pi OR \ In an ancient Roman
162)
I
i
be separati d bv
is
lb,
ol
sharp edge as
el in a
mi
>1
supp
wall
\
R
)l
I
England figs CROSSING. The area in a church where the prehistoric
2
iO
ol
fig
round
circle of large upright stones, or
MENS,
245
169
UT
SH
section ol the
figs
DOME
concave
(
monies
A
1) '
ECHINUS
decorative purposes
A
m I
horizon-
it
CRENELATED See BATTLEMENT ROMLECH From the Welsh foi stone.
tRVINGSon
<
mime
UMN
I
one beneath and the two sloping or "raking" ones above (figs 159 161) 2) \nv projecting, horizontal element surmounting a tally for
in
DRl M.
zontal
wall or othei structure, or dividing
and occasionally in wood
(00 t
hint b with a four-
IRIIORH M
the
\\ and above the \R( Mil which supports it on lis open side M K in ,1 SS( \ smooth mi Mine of ground ( M plaster and glue, used as the basis foi PERA PAINTING and Im OIL PAINTING on I
)
1
1
I
PANEL GILDING
V coat
I
substance c
hemic
that
allv to
is
I
of gold or of a gold-colored applied mechanical!) or
surfaces
ol a
painting
sc
ulptun
architectural decoration (colorplati
oi
l
The process of applying same \ thm lavei ol translucent GLAZI
lated constructions
ORDER 1206
Dominic
St
by
in
Toulouse about
Latin word for house
laiia
with
garden and surrounded
a oi
private Tamil)
i
COLONNAD1
was
b\
I
a
the
for
2 17
fig
DONJON DONOR
See KEEP The patron or clienl at whose order a work ol art was exet uted. the donor ma\ be depicted in the work fig 169 DORIC ORDER See ORDER \RCIIITK i
rURAL DROLERIES
WARE
for jests Used to deand small figures m medieval manuscripts fig
French word
the margins ol late
i
oi
made
in
the
the present Civil
inhabitants
its
.
Potter)
Falerii
known
as
i
the
I
mis
1
alls,
l
ol
the 6th V clasp
buckle
biooc h
oi
often
oma
relative!)
terminating
I
1
l
I
a
(.Mil
small I
decorative element
l'l\\
u
1
I
01
i
ol
i
damn
the like
mation
dei
id
oi
ORl
Th<
In
an
Intel lure
ol
radiant (
it
GOI D LEA1 II
thl
grooves channeled vertical!) into the SHA1 MN 01 I'll \su 1; fig 169 The) ol a ( ol I
l
circlt
hrisl around the head or figures of God the Virgin Mar) or a saint When it surrounds the head on!) it is called a halo or nimbus col surrounds the enure figorplate 56); when ure with a large ova! figs 128 156 it is called amandorla the Italian word for almond It iniIk atesdivinit) oi holiness, though original!) was pi.H ni around the heads ol kings and u
light
S1LV1 R
II
Into very thin sheets oi
;
l\(.
wolk before firing and often as
as a protective seal
it
mented
EINIAL A
|
a plei
GLORIOLI (
FIB! LA
a
the kiln
111
m
painted surface or to parts () it iihkIiIv the tone 2 \ glass) coating
applied to applied In
astel-
(
III R< H Earl) teachers Mill lis OF 1111 and defenders ol the ( hristian faith. Those most frequent]) represented .uc the lour Latin Vu lathers Si Jerome St Ambrose and St gustine all ol the Ithcentur) and Si Gregor)
(fig
scribe the live!) animals
a
192
fig
taining and conducting business, the second
PERISTYLE
oi
ordei to
iv
\
around one. or frequend) two open courts The first, the ATRIUM was used for enter-
the front
oi
building
Rom. m detached, one-famil] house with rooms grouped
usuall)
The principal lace
FALIS( \N
16
DOM US,
FACADE
color
oil
I
DOMINICAN ORDER Founded as a mendicant
I
I
I
l
Ml\ Ml D MAN!
paintings
lure. or to the
t
M
l
S<
olorplati
-
back
the J.iss
ol
Gold beaten
'andappbedto RIFTS and PAN
leaves
•
II
to sculp SSI
GLOSS WO
KM
•
423
is,
MOSAICS
in
,1
vei
leal
(colorplates 27. 29). 2) Sil-
though ultimately
also used,
is
tar-
it
nishes (colorplate 28). Sometimes called gold silver
foil, i
foil.
IRI ION. In Greek mythology, one of three hideous female monsters with large heads, and snakes for hair ifig. 152). Their glance turned
.<
men
to stone.
1
these, usually called a Gospel Book, often rich-
ILLUMINATED (figs. 370, 372). GREEK-CROSS CHURCH. See CENTRALPLAN CHURCH. GROIN VAULT See VAULT ly
GROUND
architectural drawing pre-
|
456,
figs.
cut horizontally at the
ENTABLATURE,
In a Doric
peglike projections above the
ERIEZE;
from pegs originally used
en construction
HALL CHURCH, HALL CHOIR. German
possi-
wood-
for
hall
NAVE and
same
are of the
See HAL-
word
church. A church in which the
SIDE AISLES
in
159, 161).
(figs.
LENKIRCHE. HALLENKIRCHE.
small
height.
the
The
was developed in Romanesque architecture, and occurs especially frequently in German Gothic churches (figs. 388, 444). type
which
been turned black either
said to have
is
by the tears of pilgrims, or by the sins of those
who have touched it. The innermost and
KEEP.
picture of a figure, animal, or
object, standing for a word, syllable, or sound.
or central tower of a medieval castle,
some-
times used as living quarters, as well as for defense. Also called a donjon colorplate 58 2) A
medieval
ALLAH
vealed by
to
the
MOSLEMS,
MOHAMMED
at
re-
Mecca
LABORS OF THE MONTHS. The various occupations suitable to the
months
of the year.
illustrating these
represented
were
fre-
ILLUMINATED
in
LANTERN. A relatively small structure crowning a DOME, roof, or tower, frequently open to ICON. From the Greek word for image. A PANEL painting of one or more sacred personages such as Christ, the Virgin, a ticularly
venerated in the
saint, etc., par-
ORTHODOX Catho-
church (colorplate 34). ICONOSTASIS. See CHOIR lic
SCREEN.
SCRIPT
decorated with drawings (fig. 373) or with paintings in TEMPERA colors (colorIn artistic terms, the technique
of manipulating pictorial or other
means
in
order to cause the eye to perceive a particular reality. May be used in architecture and sculpture
220), as well as in painting (color-
(fig.
277-279). IN ANTIS. See ANI'A plate 23; figs.
INSULA 1)
An
INSULAE).
(pi
ancient
Roman
Latin word for island.
city block. 2)
A Roman
"apartment house" a CONCRETE and brick building or chain of buildings around a central court, up lo five stones high. The ground floor contained shops, and above were living quarlers
IONN
i
248)
fig
ORDER
rURAL. ISLAM. The
religion ol the
on the submission
ALLAH
,is
ibis
MOHAMMED I
ho adjei
424
•
ORDER. ARCHITEC-
See
tival
"I
MOSLEMS,
and recorded
GLOSSARY
based
the faithful to die will of
was revealed
form
is
an enclosed area below
to
Islamii
to
m
the Prophet
the
KORAN
for
343).
MAESTA. Italian word for majesty, applied in the Nth and 15th centuries to representations of the Madonna and Child enthroned, and surgels
celestial court of saints
and an-
487).
(fig.
MAGDALENIAN. An
adjective used for describ-
ing artifacts of the latest culture of the Upper PALEOLITHIC; the word comes from La
Madeleine (Dordogne), a site in southwestern France where such work was found. MAGUS (pi. MAGI). A member of the priestly caste of ancient Media and Persia. In Christian literature (Matt. 2:1-12). one of the three Wise Men or Kings who came from the East bearing gifts to the newborn Jesus (fig. 507, )
See GLORIOLE. MANUSCRIPT. From the Latin word
for handbook written by hand, as distinguished from such a work in print (i.e., after c. 1450). 2) A book produced in the Middle Ages, frequently ILLUMINATED.
written.
1
A document,
)
MASTABA. An
scroll, or
ancient Egyptian tomb, rectan-
gular in shape, with sloping sides and a roof.
flat
covered a chapel for offerings and a
It
shaft to the burial
MAUSOLEUM.
1)
chamber (fig. 56). The huge tomb erected
at
Halicarnassus in Asia Minor in the 4th century B.C. by King Mausolus and his wife Artemisia
A
193). 2)
(fig.
generic term for any large fu-
monument. MEANDER. From the name Maeander (modern nerary
(fig.
for stone of
A deep-blue stone used first for ornamenpurposes (colorplate 9), or, after the 12th century, for preparing the blue PIGMENT blue.
known
as ultramarine.
LAPITH. A member
of a mythical Greek tribe
that defeated the centaurs in a battle, scenes
vase
which are frequently represented in painting and sculpture (colorplate
14, fig. 182).
LEKYTHOS
LEKYTHOI). A Greek
oil jug narrow neck, a flanged mouth, a curved handle extending from below the lip to the shoulder, and a narrow base terminating m a foot. It was used chiefly for ointments and funerary offerings
(pi.
with an ellipsoidal
(colorplate
body,
a
to Plato,
Traditionally
thought
go
to
they comprised the intellectual
disciplines considered suitable or necessary to
complete education, and included Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Music, Geometry, and Astronomy. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, they were often represented a
allegorically
sculpture
(fig.
Sea.
A
decorative
MEGALITH. A huge
stone such as those used in
CROMLECHS and DOLMENS. MEGARON (pi. MEGARONS, or MEGARA). From
the Greek word for large.
The
central au-
dience hall in a Minoan or Mycenaean palace or home (fig. MESOLITHIC.
Age,
118).
Transitional period of the Stone
between the PALEOLITHIC and the
NEOLITHIC.
METOPE.
In a Doric
GLYPHS.
FRIEZE, one of the
Originally
it
panels,
between the TR1-
probably covered the
empty spaces between the ends of the wooden ceiling beams (figs. 159-66). MIHRAB. The small niche which marks the QIBLA wall of a mosque showing the direction of Mecca.
MINARET. A
tall, slender tower with balconies from which Moslems are summoned to prayer by the chant of the MUEZZIN (fig. 346). MINIATURE. 1) A single illustration in an ILLUMINATED manuscript (colorplates 36-
A
39). 2) trait
on
very small painting, especially a por-
ivory, glass, or
MINOTAUR.
metal
(fig.
285).
Greek mythology, a monster having the head of a bull and the body of a
man, who
In
lived in the Labyrinth of the palace
of Knossos on Crete.
1(>).
LIBERAL ARTS. back
Aegean
motif of intricate, rectilinear character, applied to architecture and sculpture (figs. 261, 410).
either decorated or plain,
LAPIS LAZULI. From the Latin
from
plates 42, 45).
ILLUSIONISM.
admit light 322).
tal
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT. A MANU-
(fig.
the-
quarters
living
Menderes). a winding river in western Turkey
manuscripts (colorplate 58, fig. 504); sometimes with the symbols of the ZODIAC signs, CARVED around the PORTALS of Romanesque and Gothic churches (figs. 456, 463).
See RELIEF.
students
with
that flows into the
Scenes or figures
73).
school,
colorplate 59).
140).
quently
(fig.
ological
MANDORLA.
and Medina, and transcribed by the Prophet himself, or by one of his associates. The text was established 651-52 A.D. KORE (pi. KORAI). Greek word for maiden. An archaic Greek statue of a clothed, standing female (fig. 150). KOUROS (pi. KOUROI). Greek word for male youth. An archaic Greek statue of a standing, nude youth (fig. 146). KYLIX. In Greek and Roman antiquity, a shallow drinking cup with two horizontal handles, often set on a stem terminating in a foot (fig.
monuments
HIGH RELIEF.
A combi-
Mohammedan mosque and
).
castle.
KEYSTONE. See ARCH. KORAN. The scriptures of
These symbols are found on ancient Egyptian as well as in their written records
Arabic for place of study.
nation of a
1
strongest structure
1 )
HALO. See GLORIOLE.
HIEROGLYPH. A
MADRASAH.
rounded by her
KAABA. An ancient Arabic SANCTUARY in the Great Mosque at Mecca which became the most sacred shrine of the MOSLEMS. The small building in the mosque contains a stone
fortified if
floor level.
bly derived
surface for sculptural decoration 457).
(
PLAN. An
senting a building as
GUTTAE.
doors and windows are often cut on a slant outward, or "splayed," thus providing a broader
Medusa, the most famous of the
Gorgons, was killed by Perseus only with help from the gods. The first four books of the New TesGOSPEL. tament They tell the story of Christ's life and death, and are ascribed to the EVANGELISTS Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 2) A copy of 1
JAMBS. The vertical sides of an opening. In Romanesque and Gothic churches, the jambs of
in
painting,
engravings,
and
456).
LINTEL. See POST
AND
MODEL.
1
)
The preliminary form
of a sculpture,
often finished in itself but preceding the final
CASTING
or CARVING. 2) Preliminary or reconstructed form of a building, made to scale (figs.
231. 369). 3)
A person who poses
for
an
artist (fig. 7).
MODELING.
1
)
In sculpture, the building
a figure or design in a soft
clay or
wax
up of
substance such as
(colorplate 19). 2) In painting
and
LINTEL. LONGITUDINAL SECTION. See SECTION.
drawing, producing a three-dimensional effect by changes m color, the use of light and shade,
LOW
etc.
RELIEF. See RELIEF
MOHAMMED
Muhammad
Arab prophet 570 632 His first revelations were 610 and continued his throughout lifetime; collected and recorded, these form the basis of the KORAN Mowas forced to Bee from Men a Ins hammed birthplace, to Medina in (>22; the date oi tins "Hegira" marks the beginning oi the Islamii also
I
and the founder
ISLAM
oi
I
(<
<
In architecture, any oi various long
mu
narrow, ornamental bands ha\
shade
a distinctive
which project from the surface
structure and give variety
means
the
oi
the surface In
t<>
and
of their patterned contrasts of lighl
154
262) Decorative work
(figs
MOSAIC
loi walls VAULTS. composed of small pieces oi
ceilings, or floors,
TESSERAE)
colored materials (called
set
in
plaster or CONCRETE The Romans, whose work was mostly lor floors, used regularly shaped pieces of marble in its natural colors
(colorplate
pieces
The whose
brilliant
glittering effect (color-
different,
plates 27. 29). See also
MOSLEM 1
An
GOLD
Muslim)
(also
ISLAM
braced 2
used
hues mi hiding irregular surfaces produced
slightly
entirely
Christians
early
21).
glass
oi
and
gold,
an
1
1
One who
I
follower
a
LEAF. has em-
MOHAMMED
oi
adjective for the religion, law, or civiliza-
MOUNDS
Enormous
pries of earth erected by
exported
sin< e
othi
to
part of a building.
ORCHES1
R
\
l
the round spae e se.iis
tin- tiers ol
176)
in
ORDER
the stage .mil
reserved
lna Roman
2
ol
I
I
foi
theatei
the
I"
li
horns
.
a similai
i
MANI
v
fig
spai e
important guests
foi
murus A
the Latin word lor wall,
on a wall FRESCO or done separateand affixed to it. MUSKS, In Greek mythology, the nine goddesses who presided over various arts and sciences. Thev are led bv Apollo as god ol music and poetry, and usually include Calliope Muse directly
)
(
ly
Muse
of Epic Poetry; Clio,
History; Erato,
of
Museol Love Poetry; Euterpe, Museol Musk; Melpomene, Muse of Tragedy; Polyhvmnia. Muse of Sacred Music; Terpsichore, Muse of Dancing; Thalia, Muse of Comedy; and Urania.
Muse
of Astronomv.
<
.
NICAN, FRANCISCAN. ORTHODOX From the Greek word
NARTHEX
The
transverse entrance hall of a
RUM
1
I
ICA, as distinguished from the I
fig
'
called
the
Byzantine church
The same
have begun etv to live
or
TRANSEPT
I'he
I
fig.
settled
Ihe
Communities,
cate animals, and to cultivate crops,
beginning
ol
mam
ning, weaving,
new
skills
and building
lii
to it
si
soc
saw the
such as spin-
fig
with Victoria
winged
she
woman
Athena and is
Romans
usually represented as a
windblown draperies
with
19, 189 206 s See GLORIOl
le.is
b\ the
ol
buildings
I
fig.
Refers either
i.
454
).
to
w
or to important pri-
PALKOLITHIC. Ihe Old Stone Age:
usually di-
vided into Lower, Middle, and Upper (which \ soc iety ol nomadbegan about 35,000 B.Q. ic hunters who used stone implements later developing ones of bone and flint Some lived in caves, which they decorated during the latat ter stages of the age (colorplate 2. fig 5 which time they also produced small CARVINGS m bone, horn and stone figs 19, 20). PALKTTK. A thm. usually oval or oblong board with a thumb hole at one end. used by painters to hold and mix then colors 2 he range of colors used bv a particular painter In Kgyptian art a slate slab, usualh dc< orated with sculpture in low Rf LII he small ones with a recessed circular area on one side are thought to have been used loi eve makeup fhe largei ones wen' ommemoi ali\< objo ts I
1
1
a
tall,
tapering, four-sided stone shall
pyramidal top
Inst
constructed
as
ii
with
filled
53
(figs
PANKL.
1
I
34). 1
moie
PAN
II
eiihei
round or
w indow
t]
used
suil.ni'
painting,
foi
TEMPERA, and prepared before a layer ol GESSO Large Ml \l!
require the joining togethei
ION
temple dedu ated
\
ol
two
oi
the uods
to all
238 139 or housing tombs of the illustrious dead ol a nation or memorials to them
(figs
PANTOCRATOR
broken pediment
ailed a
i
hie
h
1\
1
(
l
in.
On
ol
2 19
fig
a
fi
or
1
the
to
\
representation
ol
picture
snn.i
2
\
and
tall
plant
aquatic
ihe Neai
I
asl
I
paperlike material
Romans
SCROLL
|
a
116
160
i
Rom.,,, house oi
2)
.!.~>J.
ol
thai
gypl
ihe pith
ol
mows
by
laying
this plant
\n
am
I
gyptians
lent
document
written on this material
Ol
A colonnade around a
160).
(fig.
the
surface on which a
flat
painted
is
OH
(
il
compound
called a I'll,
I
A
word
Italian
resentation
^ rep-
When used in a seem
ailed a
(
591).
fig
both pity and piety
moment after the (
ing a specific
usualh
pica
for
the Virgin griei tag ovei the dead
ol
Christ: bn 468
I
anient. ilion"
rucifixion n fig
is
I'll
N olored substanc es found in organii and inorganic sources Pigment finely divided and suspended in a liquid medium bee nines a mk it. s,e II Ml'! i;\ PAIN ll\(. paint
I'K .Ml-
u
\l
\s
t
I
OR
ER( oi
SCO
Rl
I
element projecting and normally having a a .md \l'l \l It has general BAS1 SHA1 K a dec orative rather than strut tural purpose I'll GRIM V.I IIOIR lu unit m a Roman esque bun b composed "I the APSE \MI'.l \|UK1 and II \IU\II\(. HUM I'll
1
R
1
\
vertical
flat
wall suit. hi-
from
(
I
I
I
i
(
I
18
I
!
I
PILLAR. A general term loi a vertical architectural support which iih bides (OH MNS I'll lis and I'll VSTI RS
PINNvil-
V
decorative structure cap
small
m
IKI ss or othei and used especially
owe, I'll i; (hiteiiui.il membei ping
a
Gothic buildings
\N s,e
I
M I
i.
tall
Roman
"i
Boor
sm POLYPTY<
figs
ol
a
I
134
at
in
i
PLAN
i;oi \|>
fhe
I
nose an
and Vbys
mule
DOMl S a COL
by
PIER. An upright architectural support, usually rectangular and sometimes with CAPITAL and BAS1 MNS PI 220 When fig LASTKRS. or SHAFTS are attac bed to as m many Romanesque and Gothic ihurthes it is
bust as
(
121) \
in
fig
rURl PLANE
I'K
PciDli
I
oi
I
(figs
lna
-
building or court
PI
abundantly
si
round BAS1 the supporting DRf M bus
ONNADE
churches
PAPYRUS
ovei
spiii in al
hieve the transition
.H
COLONNADE
universe whie h appeals frequendy in the DOMEoi M'si MOSAK Sol Byzantine (fig
oil
I
oi
<
A wooden
bo. nils I
reliel
fij
I
I
(
ing material by the ani ienl
with
I'
hori-
.i
320)
I
I
OBELISK A
be
low
,1
framed l>\ and iwo ral
PEPLOS An outer garmenl worn draped in folds K by women in anc ienl Ireec e fig PERIPTERAL Vn adjective describing a build in>j, surrounded by a single row ol OI.UM NS
I
and then soaking pressing and dryi whole he resultant sheets were used as win
I
line
llllei
,1,
1
luently
DOME
large
vate town houses.
togethei thin strips
i
NIMBI
CORNIC1
polygonal opening
rulei of the
2.',
NEV\ STON1 \(.l See NEOLITHIC NIKE. The ancient Creek goddess of victor) ten identified With
i
domesti-
1
.
(
See ENCAUSTIC, FRESCO, TEMPKRA PAINTING. VYATKRCOLOR PALAZZO (pi. PALAZZI). Italian word for pal-
PIECES
289).
Age, thought to
9000 8000 B C
c
III
New Stone
is
it
PAINT
usuallv in
to the APSE NEOLITHIC
.1
I.1SSH
i
an open garden court surrounded
hand with
ol a
III
ol
in pic torial
al fo
I
PERISTYLE
official
vents
i
typic ally triangulai
I
dooi
or
Christian
section
the
e.u:'
on he Whi n cornice are either turned at an angle oi broken
(
Sometimes
patriarch.
church extending from the entrance
246). 2)
basilican
SIDE AISLES
1
membei a
for right in
Orthodox hurch which split from the Western Catholic Church during the 5th century A I) and transferred its allegiance from the pope in Rome to the Byzantine emperor in Constantinople and Ins ap-
I
church, sometimes enclosed but often open on one side to a preceding \I fig 289) NAVE The central aisle of a Roman BASIL-
events
PENDE N
Eastern
I'he
ihesi
musii
terms
si istii
mils
See BENEDICTINE, CARMELCHARTREUSE, CISTERCIAN DOMI-
opinion,
Ineccli
i
week on
zontal
set ol rules
ITE,
\KI
(
whose
religious society
\
colorpl
s last
PEDIMI N
together undei an established
live
il
mi:
,1
sculpture
I
CELLA
See
ol a
allskn
•I
i
members
from
i
I
I
POSED ORDER ORDER, MONASTIC
IS
(bust nun oi
I
I
R1PTS
S(
lum
PASSION
.'.
NAOS
name
ihe ;
this in
Hill If RAL \n archi s\slem based on the COLUMN and lis \ TABLATURE in which the form ol the elements themselves (< AIM \l sii \| BAS1 and then relationships to each othei are et< spccilicaJh defined Ihe live classical orders are the Doric hum Corinthian fuscan and Composite fig 159) See also SUPERIM\i:<
ace (in French, palais
large painting or decoration, either executed
Asia Minoi
d m the 2nd m. nen. ,1 made from thm bleat bed anim bides used extensively in ihe Middle
for a
RKT or high MURAL. From
tmum when
I
in
il\
i
like
Mound
Builders, as a grave and/or temple or other structure Sometimes m the form of an animal (fig. 35). MUEZZIN. In Mohammedan countries, a crier who calls the faithful to prayer from a MINA-
BASK
k
'
ti
See PALEOLITHIC In an am leui Greek theati
\(.l
the Indians of the central United States, the so tailed
.n
(
tries
OLDSTON1
pointed
tion of Islam.
PAR< IIMl \
lis in ancient Egypt
1
examples
usually reserved
calendar.
MOLDING. profile,
MEGA1 lain
base upon which rests an temple fig
building
made
to n
h a has.
work
oi
II
\n
an made
\l
ol
rplate 51
I
Mil'll
t
l
i
i
devotional
several panels joined
often
to-
hit
PORCH General term lor an exterioi appendage to a building w hit h forms a overed approai h i
PORTH o
loi
GLOSSARY «425
porches consisting of columns. for door or gate
PORTA. Latin word PORTAL. A door or
gate, usually a
226).
monumental
one with elaborate sculptural decoration
(fins.
TABLATURE
often
and
ap-
227).
(fig.
monumental covered entrance
provides a
ing
steps
of
an EN-
a roof or
PEDIMENT,
and
proached by a number building,
It
to a
a link with the space surround-
which two
basic system of con-
more uprights, the "posts." support a horizontal member, the "lintel." The lintel may be the topmost element struction in
or
33. 34), or support a wall or roof (fig
PREDELLA. The
base of an
ALTARPIECE,
of-
which are reof the main panel or
ten decorated with small scenes lated in subject to that
One
)
PRONAOS.
In a Greek or
open vestibule
Roman
temple, an
CELLA
in front of the
(fig.
COLONNADE
(fig. 249) which echo or "recolumns, but are largely decora-
to" the
One
3)
tive.
which seems
PROPYLAEA).
(pi.
1)
The
en-
trance to a temple or other enclosure, especial-
when
an elaborate structure. 2) The monumental entry gate at the western end of the Acropolis in Athens (figs. 169). PSALTER. 1 ) The book of Psalms in the Old Testament, thought to have been written in part is
it
by David, king of ancient Israel. 2) A copy of the Psalms, sometimes arranged for liturgical
and often
or devotional use,
NATED
richly
ILLUMI-
(colorplate 33).
PULPIT. A raised platform in a church from which the clergyman delivers a sermon or conducts the service.
Its railing or
may be elaborately PYLON. Greek word
decorated
PIER
1
)
The monu-
to
wall with sloping sides pierced by a doorway, or of two
such walls flanking
A
2)
(fig. 76).
tall
a central
gateway
structure at either side of a
gate, bridge, or avenue,
marking an approach
a
to
394, 430).
(figs.
RHYTON. An
made from
ancient drinking horn
and frequently having a base or animal head fig. 1 12).
human
formed by a
(
A slender, projecting archlike member which supports a VAULT either transversely fig. 386 or at the GROINS, thus dividing the
RIB.
(
),
surface into sections
(fig.
394). In late Gothic
purpose is often primarily namental (fig. 441 RIBBED VAULT. See VAULT
or-
its
).
PAPYRUS
ROLL. A long
sheet of with a written
illus-
used as a book before the introduction
trated,
CODEX.
of the
PARCH-
or
sometimes
text,
Also called a
SCROLL,
and, in
by the
MIHRAB (niche) in
the"qibla
wall."
QUARTZITE. An
extremely compact, granular rock, consisting essentially of quartz (fig. 72). QUATREFOIL. An ornamental element composed of four lobes radiating from a common center (figs. 463, 479).
FACADES and
used on
SEPTS
CHAPELS arranged around the AMBULATORY (and sometimes the TRANSEPT) of a medieval
RADIATING CHAPELS. Term
(figs.
for
A room
1)
hall of a
for
refreshment. 2)
monastery, college, or oth-
)
The
projection of a figure or part of a
design from the background or plane on which li is CARVED or MODELED Sculpture done
manner is described as "high relief" or "low relief" depending on the height of the profigs. 55. 265). 2) The apparent projecjet Hon in this
i
of forms
represented in a painting or
drawing
RESPOND
frequently
ends of
TRAN-
for
ramming
Roman FORUM,
the enemy. 2) In the
the
raised platform decorated with the beaks of
captured ships, from which speeches were debvered (fig. 274). 3) A platform, stage, or the
used
like
for
pubhc speaking.
A
half-PIER,
PILASTER,
or simi-
element projecting from a wall to support a or an ARCH whose other side is sup-
LINTEL,
GLOSSARY
BASE and
the
COLUMN
CAPITAL
SIDE AISLE. A passageway running parallel to the NAVE of a Roman BASILICA or Christian church, separated from
COLONNADE
it
by an
ARCADE
altar of a
church, or a small building attached to a church, where the vessels and vestments required for the service are kept. Also called a
be one on either side of the nave, or two, an inner
and outer. SILENI. A class of minor woodland gods in the entourage of the wine god, Dionysus (or Bacchus). Like Silenus, the wine god's tutor and drinking companion, they are thick-lipped and snub-nosed, and fond of wine. Similar to SA-
TYRS,
they are basically
cept for horse's
tails
human
in
form ex-
and ears (colorplate
SILVER LEAF. See GOLD LEAF. SINOP1A (pi. SINOPIE). Italian word which was famous
FRESCO
In
1 )
buildbuild-
24).
taken
Minor
city in Asia
for its brick-red
PIGMENT.
paintings, a full-sized, prelimi-
nary sketch done in this color on the
first
rough coat of plaster or "arriccio" (fig. 498). SKENE. See THEATER. SPANDREL. The area between the exterior curves of two adjoining ARCHES, or, in the case of a single arch, the area around its outside curve from its springing to its keystone 273, 304).
SPHINX.
In ancient Egypt, a creature having
1 )
man, animal,
the head of a
and the
or bird,
body of a lion; frequently sculpted in monumental form (fig. 64). 2) In Greek mythology, a creature usually represented as having the head and breasts of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle. It appears in classical. Renaissance, and Neoclassical art. (fig.
CARVED
or gray-
125).
STELE. From the Greek word block. An upright stone slab or
for
standing with a
pillar
commemorative design
or inscrip-
tion (figs. 95, 190).
STEREOBATE. The
vestry.
SANCTUARY. A sacred or holy place or ing. 2) An especially holy place within a
or
may
246, 289). There
(figs.
ish-green in color
SACRISTY. A room near the main
(fig.
159).
STEATITE. Soapstone, commonly gray
substructure of a classical Greek temple (fig. 159).
building, especially a
STOA.
In Greek architecture, a covered
COL-
ONNADE,
stone coffin usually decorated with sculpture
sometimes detached and of considerable length, used as a meeting place or promenade. STOIC. A school of philosophy founded by Zeno about 300 B.C., and named after the STOA in Athens where he taught. Its main thesis is that
and/or inscriptions (figs. 216, 301). The term is derived from two Greek words meaning flesh
man should be free of all passions. STUCCO. 1) A CONCRETE or cement
SARCOPHAGUS
(pi.
SARCOPHAGI). A
and eating, which were applied
to a
large
kind of
limestone in ancient Greece, since the stone
was said to turn flesh to dust. SATYR. One of a class of woodland gods thought to be the lascivious companions of Dionysus, of
wine
counterpart).
room
(pi.
STEREOBATE
SCRIPTORIA). A workfor
copying and
MANUSCRIPTS.
DERS text:
1
of
)
An
for
159).
the Latin word stilus, a pointed
instrument used in ancient times for writing on tablets of a soft material such as clay. SUPERIMPOSED ORDERS. Two or more rows of
COLUMNS,
PIERS, or PILASTERS placed
above each other on the wall of a building
(fig.
architectural
a partially unrolled spiral, as
(figs.
see
STYLUS. From
forming the foundation
236).
ornament with the on the CAPITALS of the Ionic and Corinthian ORform
such as
COLUMNS of a classical temple (fig.
monastery reserved
illustrating
decorations
the
202).
in a
architectural
CORNICES, MOLDINGS, etc., (fig. 342) or for sculptured RELIEFS (figs. 220, 262). STYLOBATE. A platform or masonry floor above the
having the legs and tail of a goat, the body of a a head with horns and pointed ears. A youthful satvr is also called a faun (colorplate fig.
for
to
of plaster
Bacchus, his Ro-
man, and 24,
used
used
A kind
coat the walls of'a building. 2)
are represented as
(or of
They
A form
1
)
BRACKET.
to
house the Ark
architectural drawing presenting
26
).
ROLL.
a building as
A place or house of worship. A CANOPIED niche or recess built for an image. 3) The portable shrine used by the Jews
2)
SCROLL BRACKET SECTION. An
TABERNACLE.
of written
159, 174). 2)
if
See
cut across the vertical plane,
at
Cross section: a cut along the transverse axis. Longitudinal section: a cut along the longitudinal axis. SEXPARTITE VAULT. See VAULT. right angles to the horizontal plane.
1 )
In architecture, the part of'a
between the
(figs.
projection from the
prow of an ancient warship, used
SCROLL
er large institution. 1
at the
A beak-hke
1)
SCRIPTORIUM
383. 423. 434).
REFECTORY.
RELIEF
window with
TRACERY,
of Gothic churches (figs. 426, 429).
ROSTRUM.
man
The dining
CHOIR SCREEN.
large, circular
stained glass and stone
the Greek god
church
See
ROSE WINDOW. A
such as the CELLA of a temple, or the part of a church around the altar. SANGUINE. A reddish-brown CHALK stick used for drawing.
QIBLA. The direction of Mecca, toward which Moslems turn when praying. It is indicated in
mosque
ROOD SCREEN.
SHAFT.
from Sinope, the ancient
ing,
or entrance.
•
of
471).
an Egyptian temple or forecourt, consisting either of a massive
426
shafts
medieval church carry the weight of the VAULT a
in
enclosing wall
(fig.
for gateway.
mental entrance building
lar
slender
the
of
COMPOUND
Latin, a rotulus (fig. 219).
160).
PROPYLAEUM
tion
or pier, as
(colorplate 27).
of several pilasters on a wall behind a
MENT
panels (colorplate 59).
a
2
ARCADE
an
of
architecture,
131).
ly
the end
potterv or metal,
it.
POST AND LINTEL. A
(figs.
at
spond
456, 469).
PORTICO. A porch supporting
COLUMN
ported by a free-standing fig.
(
TABLINUM. From
of
the Covenant (colorplate
the
Latin
word meaning
writing tablet, or written record. In a
house, a small room
at
Roman
the far end of the ATRI-
UM, or between it and the second courtyard. was used for keeping family records.
It
FEMPERA PAINTING A painting made with PIGMENTS mixed wall egg yolk and watei In i
I
the
15th centuries,
1th ,ukI
1
PANELS which had coating
GESSO;
oi
LEAF .md
was applied
to
tral I'll
it
the application
ol
(.oil)
underpainting in green oi brow n preceded the actual tempera painting (color~> plates 54, 2) The technique ol executing l
*
1)
GLAZED
word
Used
lor pottery,
this material
1
fired
sculpture, or as a building
An
material or decoration. 2) .5
lor
various colors and
in
Color
made
object
ol
the natural material.
of
A small pun e of col pi. TESSERAE ored stone, marble, glass, or gold-backed glass
(TESSERA
m
used
(
I.
MOSAIC
a
THEATER. lor lar
275 an outdoor pi, ice
(coiorplate 29. fig
In ancient Greece,
-
dramatic performances, usually semicircuin plan and provided with tiers ol seats, the
ORCHESTRA, and scenerv
the skene, or support lor
AMPHITHE-
See also
176).
(fig.
ATER.
THERMAE. A
public bathing establishment
Romans which
the ancient
and
ious types of baths
ol
consisted of var-
social
and gymnastic
In classical architecture,
a circular
building ultimately derived from early tombs 175).
fig.
t
THRUST. The lateral pressure exerted by an ARCH. VAULT or DOME, which must be counteracted
point of greatest concentra-
at its
thickness of the wall or by
tion either by the
some form
of
BUTTRESS.
a single, long piece of material
draped
in a variety of
ways
(
which could be
fig.
255).
assumed as the emblem of a tribe or family, or the representation of it, such as those CARVED on the posts or natural object or animal
TRACERY
1
solid
(
devotional
oi
l
\l si
pii
painted with
\
TRIUMPHAL ARCH sometimes
in
c
art
ommemora
m
these deeds
III
III
i
ALTAR and APSE and
from the main bodv ol the hun h quently decorated with MOSAICS or paintings (coiorplate 27, fig. 290). c
TROPHY
1
)
In ancient
them
separates
Rome arms
is
li
fre-
commemoration
or decoration.
triangular wooden or metal support which may be left exposed m the in-
be covered by a
terior (figs. 290, 447), or
TUNIC.
.',7'),
ceil-
402).
Rome,
In classical Greece and
a loose
knee-length garment worn by both sexes It could have sleeves or not, and was generally
worn unbelted. TLiRRFd' A small tower, 1
have been cut through the
A small tower at an angle ol a building. frequently beginning some distance from the
I
etc
and applied
figs
!
TRANSEPT A
to walls, shrines, fa-
arm
cross
a
BASILICAN to the NAVE,
church, placed at right angles and usually separating it from the
APSE
(fig.
CHOIR
or
289).
TREE OF KNOWLEDGE. The
tree
m
the Gar-
Eden from which Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit which destroyed their inno-
den
ol
cence (Gen.
2:9. 17).
lite;
in
A tree in the Garden ol Eden was reputed to give everlasting medieval ail it was frequently used as
svmhol
fruit
,i
ol
Chrisl (Gen. 2 9, 3:22).
17'
It
UNDERPAINTING.
TEMPERA
See
PAINT-
ING
frequentl)
consists
ol
,i
walls ol
Doric
a
FR1EZ1
Separating two consecutive METOPES, and being divided In channels (or glyphs) into three sections I'lobablv an imitation in stone
wooden
celling
CAPITALS
227) but also used decoratively on
174
FAQADES and VOUSSOIR See ARCH. building
interiors
WATERCOLOR PAINTING Painting, usually on paper, in PIGMENTS suspended in watei WESTWORK. From the German word Westwerh
In Carolingian
Romanesque
Ottoman and German a monumental
architecture,
western front of a church, treated as a tower or combination ol lowers, and containing an entrance and vestibule below, and a CHAPEI
and GALLERIES above. Later examples often added a TRANSEPT and a CROSSING tower 376).
WING. The
side
panel
ALTARPIECE
an
of
1
I
iiu
and thus twelve divisions called sinus which have been associated with the months
lations
lion;
VAULT. An arched
of stone, brick, or
CONCRETE
at
the point
THRUST is concentrated semic vlindncal structure sive VRCHES (fig 388)
ANNULAR in plan (fig is
the result
ol
l
I
need
lateral
A barrel vault is a
balance.
I
represented around the
PORTALS
esque and Gothic churches
of succes-
with the
may be
straight or
408. 16
294) 2
the
Capricorn the goat; Aquarius, the water-bearhev are frequently er, and I'isces the fish
all
where the
the intersection
Libra,
Several dis-
made up [t
the virgin.
Scorpio the scorpion. Sagittarius, the archer;
have been developed,
BUTTRESSING
Virgo,
made
root or ceiling usually
I
in
ol
Roman
conjunction
ABORS OF THE MONTHS
(figs
I
Agroinvaull two barrel
ol
which produces a BAY of compartments with sharp edges, or "groins," where the two meet liu 237 ribbed groin vault is one in which RIBS are added to the groins, for Strut tural strength and vaults of equal size
i
nlis are
(
Ing form I
391)
When
the diagonal
onslriK led as hall circles, the resultis
a
domical ribbed vault dig. 396).
Sexp.iitiic vault
a
ribbed
groin
vault
m
vault
of
and
element found
notably on Ionic and Composite (figs
ripts
signs are: Aries, the ram; Taurus, the bull, Gemini, the twins. Cancer, the crab. Leo, the
being between the gallery and clerestory It ma\ also occur in the FRANSEPT and the
,i
Fhe element
spiral architectural
femper-
The
which each bav is divided into six compartments bv the addition ol transverse rib ac loss the center (fig 194) 5) The norma] Gothic
CHOIR
Prudence Justice Fortitude and e were frequent!) repn see lv partii ul.iilv in medieval manusi
VOLUTE. A
aith
An imaginary belt circling the heavludmg the paths of the sun. moon, and major planets, and containing twelve constel-
BLIND ARCADE with three openings in eat h hav When the GALLERY is also present, Four-storj ELEVATION results, the triforium
TRIGLYPII
I
ZODIAC
for decoration (fig
TRIFORIUM rhesa tionol a N WE wall above the ARCADE and below the CLERESTORl (coiorplate
theoli
and the four cardinal ones,
four
TREE OF LIFE whose
barit)
408).
In classical architecture, the
1)
recessed, usually triangular area, also called a
tinct varieties in
thre
hi <
PEDIMENT often decorated with sculpture 161). 2) In medieval architecture an arched area between an ARCH and the LINTEL of a door or window, frequently caned with RELIEF sculpture (coiorplate 49, fig.
TYMPANUM
figs
436, 455).
I
Hope and
house
countr)
large
i
S
which is frequently decorated on both sides and also hinged, so that it may be shown either open or closed. ZIGGURAT From the Assyrian word ziqqurulu meaning mountain top or height. In ancient Assyria and Babylonia, a pyramidal tower built of mud brick and forming the BASE of a temple; it was either stepped or had a broad ascent winding around it which gave it the appearance ol being stepped (figs. 86, 89).
ture. 2)
(
434, 435) 2) Similar ornamentation using var-
DOMl
VIRTUES
fig
part of a larger struc-
)
stone coiorplate 47). In "bar tracery" the
ious materials
See
sculpture.
Gothic PORTAL, where it was frequently decorated with sculpture digs. 405, 469). lor a roof
loin see MKl VILLA Original])
or other
TRUMEAU. A central post supporting tin LIN TEL of a large doorway, as in a Romanesque or TRUSS A
s
sllllsli
.ini
from a defeated enemv and publicly displayed on a tree, PILLAR, etc. 2) A representation of these objects, and others symbolic ton, as a
on-
the)
others so. h as Injustii e an somi timi
i
MURAL
spoils taken
ol vie
i
vi< I
sculpture (fig 273), 2) The great transverse aid) .11 the eastern end ol ,1 lime li whic h
frames
In
VIRTUES
Wrath Gluttony, Unand ln< on Foil)
toaria
Luxur)
hastit)
i
hes
and usuallv d&
lion ol his milit.irv exploits, ol
three
ol
Roman emperor
ere< ted b) a
ARCH
monumental
\
I
combination
a
Pride
gorii all)
till
en Includi
glass predominates, the slender pieces of Stone
cades,
I'd See s\t RJSTi is Often represented
fij
in Gothic-
having been added within the windows
l<
ens
earlier or "plate tracery," the to
"i
of their dwellings.
Ornamental stone work
i
windows. In the windows appear
ED
(fig.
the Indians of North America, a
"totem poles" in front
\KNI
I
ground
TOGA. A garment worn by ancient Roman citizens when appearing in public. It consisted of
TOTEM. Among
\l
\l!\
(
panel and two hinged wings
ing (figs
facilities.
TIIOLOS
eithei
rated with scenes
cooked earth Earthenware, naturally reddish-brown but
often
ink
been prepared with a
ol
smh a painting. TERRACOTTA. Italian
TRIPTYCH An
beam ends
(
figs
159, 166).
.1
quadripartite with
is
all
the
arc lies point
ed to some degree fig 120 6 V fan vault is an elaboration ol a ribbed groin vault with elements ol IHU ER\ using conelike forms It was developed bv the English 111 the 15th en lurv. and was employed fol decorative purc
poses
figs
VELUM
in PAW HVU \l
142,
See
GLOSSARY 427 •
INDEX
Works ascribed to a specific artist are indexed under the artist's name, shown in CAPITAL letters. Insofar as possible, unascribed works, including buildings and archaeological remains,
are indexed by
See references
site.
(e.g.. Bull's
Head, see Picasso; Colosseum, see Rome) are provided
to assist in
finding the correct
Illustration references,
site.
shown
name
or
in italic tvpe,
numbers rather than page numbers; but when a figure is also shown on a color plate page, that page number is given with the figure number (e.g., 358 and p. 9). are to figure
Akkad, Iraq, 123, 125 Akkadian art, 123-24 Alaska: Eskimo mask, 93; 66; Tlingit war helmet, 94; 67 Album of the Conqueror (Sultan Mohammed II): calligraphic page, 311; 384; Summer Landscape, 308; 381 Alexander the Great, 132, 178, 190-91, 196, 198, 233, 243-44, 252, 331; see also Battle of Issus
Alexander the Great with coin, 203, 233;
Amun
256
ALEXANDROS OF ATHENS, Alhambra
Granada Ephesus Allah, calligraphic name, 311; 384 al-Mutawakkil, sec Mutawakkil Altamira, Spain, cave
A
Spirit
Man
Spearing
Abu Temple,
see Tell
89
Adams County,
Ohio, Great Serpent
54 Addaura, cave
Monte
of,
Ritual Dance
Sicily,
(?),
Mound,
86;
Pellegrino (Palermo),
77-79, 92; 35
Adoration of the Magi, Florence, see Gentile da
Fabnano Adoration of the Magi.
St. -Pierre,
see Moissac
aecumanus, 214 Aegean art, 139-48 Aegina, Greece, Temple of Aphaia, 165, 172; east pediment: drawing of; 165; 178; Dying Warrior,
165, 180, 182-83, 185, 196; 179; Hera-
fefes,
165,
180,
182-83; 180, sectional view,
187 Aeneas, 201 Aeolian capital, sec Larissa
Aesop
123
42
Baluba carving. 92; 62; Bamenda mask, 93; 64; Kola guardian figures, 88-89, 231; 58, 5.9; Nigerian bronzes, 90, 231;
African
tribal
art
60, 61
AGESANDER
see also Laocoon
Croup
Mahal 301, 302; 373 Ottoman sultan. Mosque
Agra. India
Mimed
201
laj
|
of.
see
Istanbul
\mc uliolep IV
\klienalen
111
II
428
•
127;
17
portrait of
INDEX
1
I
1
klngof Egypt, 110 The Daughters of, 14; 102;
100
j
1
of,
see
Greek
coin, see Herakleidas
art,
75, 77, 79;
and Daphne,
see Bernini
Masegne Apoxyomenos (Scraper), applied arts, denned, 49 Apostles, see
Wounded
Bison, 75; 30
Apulia,
393-94
Ara
see Lysippus
385
Italy,
Rome
Pacis, see
Arabic script, 295, 311 Arabs, 255, 291, 295, 303, 304, 324
229
alto (high) relief, 61
arcade,
al-Walid, see Walid
Archaic smile, 161, 164, 180, 207
ambulatory, 326, 333; double, 356
Archaic style: Etruscan, 207-9, 212-13; Greek, 154-65, 172, 175, 183, 185, 203, 331, 343
AmenhotepIII, king of Egypt, 111, 113, 114; colonnade and court of, see Luxor Amenhotep IV, see Akhenaten American art, sec Colonial American art; Indian
Anastasis, Kariye Camii, see Istanbul
ancestor worship, 81, 86-89, 178-79, 231
Near Eastern art, 119-36, 218; compared to: Greek, 153, 154, 175; Islamic, 304; Mycenaean, 147; Roman, 217, 233; Romanesque, 344, 348 Andacktsbild Pietd), see Bonn Anglo-Norman Romanesque art, 356, 357, 359, 369 Animal Head, see Oseberg Ship-Burial Animal 1 1 mil, see Catal Hiiyiik animals, sacred, 122-23 animal style: Celtic-Germanic, 313-14, 316; Persian. 131-32 Ancient
Ankh-Haf, Egyptian prince, bust of, sec Giza Annunciation, Dijon, sec Broederlam Annunciation, from the Hours oj Jeanne d'Evreu
Archangel Michael, The, Early Christian ivory, 266, 268, 343, 351; 332 arches, 215; 252; and columns, 229; of Constantine, see
art
Amiens, France, Cathedral, 363-64, 370; 465, 466, 467; comparative nave elevation, 469; sculpture. Signs of the Zodiac and Labors of the Months (July, August, September), 380, 381, 408; 500 Amorgos, Cyclades, Greece: Harpist (Orpheus), 43-44; 1; idol from, 139; 137 and p. 5 amphora, 151 Amun-Mut-Khonsu, Temple of, see Luxor
I
aesthetics, defined,
Temple
Apostle, St.-Sernin, see Toulouse
Augustus (Ara Pacis), see Rome; Early Christian, 257-58; of Zeus, see Pergamum
Asmar
Apollo,
Apollo
altars: of
academic painters, 49 Achaemenian art, 132-35; goldrhyton, 135; 133 ACHILLES PAINTER, Muse and Maiden, lekythos, 188-90, 244; 2/4 Acropolis, see Athens Adam and Eve Reproached by the Lord, see Hildesheim
see Delphi;
of,
237
coin, 203;
Apollo Belvedere, 194, 201; 222
Harun
altarpieces, Gothic,
abstraction, in primitive art,
The Knucklebone
Palace, see
Abbeville, France, see St.-Riquier
Kangaroos, 79-80; 39
Istanbul
Antimachus of Bactria, Greek Antioch, Turkey, 255 Aphaia, Temple of, see Aegina
Apollo, sculptures, see Olympia; Veii
Alkestis Leaving Hades, see
aborigines, Australian,
346, 347; King DaFidenza Cathedral, 346-47; 440 ANTHEMIUS OF TRALLES, Hagia Sophia, see vid,
Veu
303
Aachen, Germany, 291, 319, 321; Palace Chapel of Charlemagne (Odo of Metz), 317-18; 391, 392 abacus, 167
al-Rashid, see
ANTELAMI, BENEDETTO,
Apollo, Sanctuary
Alexandria, Egypt, 255, Players, 244;
Horns, Greek
236
Annunciation, St.-Pierre, see Moissac Annunciation of the Death of the Virgin, see Duccio anta, 167
v
see I'm elle
Annunciation, Reims Cathedral, see Reims
Rome;
of Titus, see
Rome
architectural engineering, Etruscan,
214
Architectural View, see Boscoreale architecture: as applied
art,
49; Classical orders,
165-66, 168, 175, 178, 179-80, 221, 227-29; 181; expressive forms,
103; megalithic, 84;
and space, 62-64 architrave, 167
Arena Chapel, see Padua; murals, see Giotto
ARNOLFO
DI
CAMBIO,
design
Florence
for
Cathedral facade, 373, 375; 489 Arringatore, see Aldus Metellus Artemis, Temples
of,
see Corfu;
Ephesus
Artemisia, 191
and His Model, see De Andrea Ascension of Mohammed, The, Persian miniature, 310-11; 383 and p. 10 Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria, Palace of, see Artist
Nineveh Ashurbanipal
II,
king
of Assyria,
Palace
of,
see
Nimrud Ashurbanipal
11
Killing Lions, see
Nimrud
Asia Minor, 139, 151, 178. 190, 205, 210,
255
Assur, Iraq, 127 Assyria, Assyrians, 127, 132, 134
Assyrian
art,
163, 191;
127-31, 133; compared
to:
Roman, 238
Athena and Alcyoneus, see Pergamum Athena Nike, Temple of, see Athens
Greek,
ATHKNODORUS,
201; see also Laocoon
Group
Athens. Greece, 151, 154, 172, 175, 290 Acropolis, 162, 172-75, 187; 190
234, 290; 188, 189, 190; sculpture (Phid-
185-87,
209;
Horsemen.
Dionysus,
237;
187;
185-87;
Procession,
211;
234; 287; Three Goddesses, 186-87, 188;
2/0 Propylaea (Mnesicles).
174-75, 177; 190,
191, 192. 193 Standing Youth (Kritios Boy), 180-81; 20/ Temple of Athena Nike: architecture (Calli-
193;
177;
crates),
balustrade sculpture,
Nike, 187-88; 2/2
Monument
Vase,
151-52,
of Lysicrates. 178; 198 see
of,
Kretria
beehive tombs, 145 Belgium, 291, 347, 351 see
Hildesheim;
St.
St.
Mi-
Pantaleon,
see
Bushmen
Savin sin
107.
Roman-
79
Prince Ankh-Haf, see Giza art,
161;
456 461 467
255, 267-82; compared
to: Italian
Gothic. 393, 394, 395-96. 398; Islamic. 295,
296, 298, 301. 302. 305; Ottoman, 325, 327;
Khnum-
Benin, Nigeria, Hornbloiver, 90; 6/
Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint, 342, 343, 344, 368, 371
BERNINI, GIANLORENZO,
Romanesque. 331, 333 34 Byzantine
I
Eastern
Roman
1,
351, 353
Empire, 255, 279.
i
291, 295, 299, 324 Byzantium. 255, 279, 291, 295; see aha ( lonstan tinople; Istanbul
and Daph-
Apollo
Ca' d'Oro, see Venn e
325-26;
Bernward, bishop of Hildesheim, bronze doors of, see Hildesheim
Caen. France
St ,-F.tienne.
335, 337, 339, 359;
4/7, 422
duke of, 409; Les Ires Riches Hemes of Limbourg Brothers Bible subjects, 261. 262-63, 314-15, 322; see also Gospels; illuminated manuscripts; Old
Egypt, Madrasah
Cairo
see
atrium, 214, 226, 258
i'i
art,
Byzantine
Cologne Beni Hasan, Egypt, 108-9; Tomb of hotep. Feeding the Oryxes, 109; 92
Berry,
Mycenae
si
set
Gartempe Bull's Head see Pit asso buraq, 310 Burgundy France duke ol 184, esque works. 334-35. 344-45
buttresses, 356; flying, 359,
Benedictine order, 314, abbey churches: chael's,
Building of the Tower of Babel,
Bust
ne, 62; 2/
Cemetery, Dipylon 153, 154-55; J 56
Dipvlon
Atreus, Treasury
of
Cuth and Giants see Delphi Battle oj the Creeks and Amazons, see Scopas Bayeux Tapestry. 351; The Battle of Hastings horn, 351; 445 Bedroom, see Hooch Battle uj the
Erechtheum(Mnesicles), 175, 177-78; 190, 196; Porch of the Maidens, 178; 197 Kore figures, 162; 171, 172 Parthenon: architecture (Ictinus and Callicrates), 172-74, 175, 177, 187, 191, 192, ias),
Pompeian mosaic. 233, 243-44,
Persians).
260; 302; see also Philoxenus
$01;
Sultan Hasan. 299-
ol
mausoleum,
171;
101
Calf-Bearer, Greek. 160-61, 162, 172, 256; 168
king of Pergamum, 196, 198 Attica, Greece, 154 Augustus, Roman emperor, 233, 266; Altar of (Ara Pacis) and Forum of, see Rome
Bison, see La Madeleine
Parthenon and lempleol Athens calligraphy Arabic 311; 384 tailing
Augustus ofPrimaportu, 233, 234, 238; 284
Black Death, 402
CAM BIO,
black-figured style. 156-58
Cambrai Frani e 151 Cameroon, Bamenda area mask Camposanto. Pisa, fresco, sec fraini Can Grande della Scala, lord ol Verona Eques
Attalus
I,
Auius Metellus (L'Arringatore), 233; 28/
Aunnacian
Roman, 230,
Peteus
and
Thetis,
190;
2/5
Boccaccio. 402. 101
117, 163;
Autun, France, Cathedral, 334-35, 336; 414; Last Judgment,
sculpture.
portal
344, 345,
387; 436
Lascaux Cave
279
Tower
of,
119. 120. 131. 297,
340
Babylon, Iraq, 125, 127, 131. 132, 290; Ishtar
Cue,
BOHEMIAN MASTER.
Death
oj
131; /25
Bonn. Germany, Pieta Andat htsbild 84. 404; 505
.
158,
383-
Bourges, France: Cathedral, stained-glass window, lohel (Joel), 390-91; 5/7. House ,,!
Jacques Coeur. court. 367; 474 Brakebill Mound, tennessee, mask, 94; 68 Brasilia, Brazil city plan (Niemeyer), 64; 21
Balkans, 280 Baluba carving, Kneeling Woman, 92; 62 Bamenda mask. 93; 64
Broadway Bougie Woogie,
258 Barherim Faun. Graeco- Roman, 196; 225 barrel vault, 215. 220. 221; 252 "Basilica," see Paestum basilicas: Christian, 257-60, 268; Roman, 224 has low relief. 6 Battle of Hastings, see Bayeux Tapestry baptisteries,
)
The Battle of Alexander and the
Hugh
apel
Capetian
<
i
Mondrian 407 8. Annun-
Visitation;
Presentation
m
the
Bronze Age. 119. 205 BRUNELLESCHI, FILIPPO,
ai di
2\
i
dome
ol
I
58;
1
Brittany
Cathedral, see Florence
Cologne, 325
Brunswick German) Lion Monument, 348; 442 192. Wuttsolus so Halicamassus Buddhist an. influence on Islamic, 308, 311
Sumrnei Landscape
53;
France, dolmen 83; 50
317 23 326; and Ottoman
arl
Romanesque
125
I
153 (
i
(
i
of Florence
ordova
(
22 The Calling of Si Vattheu A 67; David with the Headoj Goliath
ind
Temple and Flight into Egypt, 407-8; 54/
BRYAXIS
Baths
arai alia
CARAVAGGIO
Carolingian see
355
de Villavit ms,i see capital 167 Capitoline Mill see Borne
Carnai
BROEDERLAM. MELCHIOR.
ol
line.
151; Cathedral
Hugh Capet
see
lapilla
Museum, 172
Bruno, archbishop
1<
Verona
Curminu Burana, C>2 from 153; 450
England
ciation .mil
see
Canterbury, England
<
books. Earl) Christian, 262-63; see also illumi-
British
1
Cambio
see Arnolfo di
trian statue oj
(
Britain, see
<
Virgin,
407. 540
Babylonian art, 125-27, 135. 163 Baghdad, Iraq. 291
Battle of hsns.
the
Boscoreale,
Baalbek, Lebanon, Temple of Venus, 229; 278,
\t
sec
Canon. 181
nated manuscripts Italy, Architectural View, wall painting. 246-48, 327, 396, 400; 305
follower of
Axial Gallery, see
Babel,
119
•
Avignon, France, 400, 405; Palace of the Popes. 405; fresco. Scenes of Country Life, see Marti-
(
I'
Bogazkoy, Anatolia, Turkey, Lion Gate. 127. 128,
Australia, see aborigines
ni,
Birth oj the Virgin, see Lorenzetti
Blowing Bubbles, see Chardin
AURORA PAINTER,
CALLICRATES na Nike
Blinding oj Polyphemus, see F.lcusis
75
art,
Testament
.milium. in dynast)
355
bio, see Verona ombs, 255. 256-57
.istehei .it.u
291,
178
.m.ilicls. i
Huvuk
M
82, 83; Animal Hunt, Goddess si 45; houses and shrines in terraces Bl;42;Twin Leopards B2 44. \ n,t oj Town and Volcano 82; 46 47 C. il. m. Su il\ IpoUO COin sei llei.ikleid.is Cat Stalking a Pheasant set Hagia friada
Catal si
4
I;
turkey,
Fertility
I
/\/)/
V'42.9
Cattle lording a River, see Saqqara
cave
art,
columns: and arches, 229; styles: Doric, 167, 168; Egyptian. 102-3; Persian, 134
74-79
168 Celtic-Germanic style, 313-14, 315, 323, 331, 351 Celts, 255, 314, 315 Cemavoda, Romania, Fertility Goddess, 82-83, cella, 167,
139; 48, 49 Cerveteri,
sarcophagus, 207, 209, 213: of the Reliefs, burial chamber,
Italy:
239, 240;
Tomb
210; 245 drolerie, 405;
Roman'
CHARDIN, JEAN-BAPTISTE-SIMEON,
Blow-
ing Bubbles, 59-60; 16
Charioteer, see Delphi
Charlemagne, Holy Roman emperor, 291, 313, 317, 324, 331, 340, 355; Gospel Book of, see Gospel Book of Charlemagne; Palace Chapel of,
Aachen
Charles Martel, Frankish
ruler,
355
Charles the Bald, West Frankish king (Charles II, Holy Roman emperor), 324, 355 Chartres, France, Cathedral, 290, 360-63, 369,
390; 458, 459, 460, 461, 462, 463, 464; comparative nave elevation, 469; portal sculpture, 376-79, 382, 384, 385, 390, 391; 493, 494,
Theodore, 378, 379, 381, 383, 391; 495; School, 368, 377 Chartreuse de Champmol, Dijon, sculpture for, St.
Greece,
Sanctuary
230;
of
Apollo:
Charioteer, 181-82, 230; 203; Treasury of the Siphnians, 164-65; facade, 164, 177, 178,
concrete, 218
Consecration of the Tabernucle and
Its Priests,
Dura-Europas Constantia, daughter of Constantine, 260 Constantine the Great, 241-42, 255, 257, 267, 268, 273, 317; Arch of and Basilica of, .see Rome; head of, 241, 267; 299 see
299, 302, 393; see also Byzantium; Istanbul
continuous narration, 263 contrapposto, 180, 183, 242, 260, 346, 378 COPLEY, JOHN SINGLETON, 68-69; Nathaniel Hurd, 69; 28; Paul Revere, 68-69; 27 Corbie, France, see Gospel Book from Corbie Cordova, Spain, 331; Capillade Villaviciosa, 298, 299, 343; 368; Mosque, 297-99; 366, 367 Corfu, Greece,
Charles IV, Holy Roman emperor, 407 Charles V, king of France, 367
495;
58-60
Constantinople, 136, 255, 257, 267, 279, 291,
Channel region: Gothic esque works, 351-53
see
composition,
203, 230; 231 Delphi,
Temple
of Artemis, 163-64, 165,
Gods
180, 187; 176; north frieze, Battle of the
and Giants, 164-65,
187, 198; 177; plan, 164,
167-68; 175
De Materia Medica (Discorides), 307 Demeter, see Cnidus Denis, Saint (Apostle of France), 355, 357
Diana, Insula of the House
of,
see Ostia
Dijon, France, 407; Chartreuse de portal
sculpture
Champmol,
and church furniture, see
Sluter Diocletian,
ace
of,
Roman
emperor: Baths
of,
224; Pal-
see Spalato
Dionysius the Areopagite, 357 Dionysus, Parthenon, see Athens Dionysus in a Boat, see Exekias Dioscorides, 307
Corinthian order, 165; 181, capital, 178; 181, 195
Dipylon Vase, see Athens Discobolus (Discus Thrower), see Myron Divine Comedy (Dante), 398 dolmens, 83; 50
cornice, 167
domes: Roman, 224, 272; 269; Early Christian,
167, 168, 180, 185; J73, 174
Corinth, Greece, 154
Coronation cloak of the
German emperors,
304;
377
258-60 domus, 226, 227
craftsmen, 45-47, 69 creativity,
Dorchester Abbey, see Oxfordshire
44-47
Dorians, 151, 205
Crete, Cretans, 139, 140, 147; see also
Minoan
Doric order, 165-66, 167, 168-75; 181
168-75,
Doric temples,
art
179;
see also
Corfu;
Syria, Great Mosque, 295-96; landscape mosaic, 295-96, 303; 362 Danes, 324
Paestum Doryphorus (Spear Bearer), see Polyclitus DOURIS, Eos and Memnon, 158, 185; 164 drawings, 53 droleries, 405, 408 DUCCIO, 394-96, 397, 398, 400; Maestd Altar, Siena Cathedral, 394-96, 405; Annunciation of the Death of the Virgin. 395, 405; 524; Christ Entering Jerusalem, 396-97, 400; 525; Madonna Enthroned (Maestd), 394-95, 399; 523 Dura-Europas, Syria, 252; Synagogue, The Consecration of the Tabernacle and Its Priests, 252-53, 255-56, 257, 262; 314 Durham, England, Cathedra], 336-37, 338, 339, 369; 418, 419, 420 Dur Sharrukin (Khorsabad), Iraq, Citadel of Sargon II, 128, 131, 133, 140, 215; 120; gate of,
cinerary urn, Etruscan, see Chiusi
Dante Alighieri, 388, 398 Daphne, Greece, monastery church mosaics: The Crucifixion, 278, 282, 325, 379; 355; dome, including Pantocrator, 257, 274, 278; 349
Dying Dying Dying Dying
cire-perdu (lost-wax) process, 90
Darius
see Sluter
Chefren, 105; Pyramid
of,
see Giza
Crucifixion, Celtic-Germanic bronze, 316;
Chefren, see Giza
Cheops, Pyramid chiaroscuro, 58
Crucifixion, Early Christian mosaic, see of,
see Giza
Crucifixion, Gothic
China, 89, 97, 308 Chios, Greek island, Kore from, 162, 172; 172 Chiusi,
Italy,
cromlechs, 84 Crossing of the Red Sea, see Nicholas of Verdun
human-headed cinerary
urn, 205;
238
sculpture,
Naumburg
see
Master Crusades, 279, 331, 344, 393 Ctesiphon, Iraq, Palace of Shapur 135
I,
135, 301;
cuneilbrm writing, 119
Christ, Hagia Sophia, see Istanbul
Cycladic
Christ Entering Jerusalem, Padua, see Giotto
Cyclopes, Cyclopean, 147, 163, 168
Christ Entering Jerusalem, Siena, see Duccio Christ Enthroned, see Sarcophagus of Junius
Cyrus the Great, 132
Bassus Christian
see Early Christian art
Christianity, 252, 255, 257, 295, 314, 324, 331
Christ Washing the Feet of Peter, see Gospel
Book of Otto
C1MABUE,
III
394, 396, 398, 399;
Madonna En-
throned, 394-95, 399; 522
Cistercian order,
368;
Gothic churches, 368,
369, 371, 372; see also Fossanova
Dur Sharrukm
Citadel of Sargon
II,
city planning, see
town planning
relief
see
Cathedra] Baptistry, balustrade inscribed by Patriarch Sigvald, 317, 342;
Cividale,
139; see also
art,
Amorgos
Dacians, 237 art,
Christian Church, 255, 262, 265, 291
Italy,
390 Classical orders, see architecture
Classical style. 331: Greek, 180-90, 203; Etrus-
can, 210, 214; Early Christian, 265-66; Byzantine, 277-79, 280, 281, 282;
Romanesque,
345-48; Gothic, 378-81 224 Cnidian Aphrodite, see Praxiteles Cnidus, Greek island, Demeter from, 192; 219 clerestory,
codex, 262
Damascus,
I,
Palace
Darius
of,
Xerxes
Giving
Audience,
Crucifix, 325, 327, 342; 402; St. Panta-
Colonial American
69 56-57; and light, 58
olosscum, see
430
INDEX
art,
Rome
403
Niobid, Greek, 184-85, 186; 208
Warrior, see Aegina
ic,
art,
255-67; compared
to:
Goth-
372, 379; Mycenaean, 148; Islamic, 295,
315;
Roman, 243, 252, 253; Romanesque,
331,
337, 339, 340, 342, 353 Early English style, 369
102 David, see Michelangelo
Early Gothic style, 337, 355, 370, 376, 379, 381
David and Goliath, see Master Honore David Composing the Psalms, see Paris Psalter David with the Head of Goliath, see Caravaggio Dead Sea Scrolls, 252 DE ANDREA, JOHN, The Artist and His Model,
Early Medieval
50; 7
Death of the Virgin, panel, see Bohemian Master Death of the Virgin, portal sculpture, see Strasbourg
leon, 325; westwork. 319, 325;
Pergamum
Lioness, see Nineveh
297, 298, 305, 308, 311; Early Medieval, 313,
Persepolis
DE HOOCH,
see
el-Bahari,
earth
art,
86
Easter Island, stone images, 87-88, 231; 57 Eastern Orthodox Church, 255, 268, 277, 291
Eastern Roman Empire, see Byzantine Empire Ebho Gospels, see Gospel Book of Archbishop Ehbo of Reims St.
Mark
from,
316, 322; 388
Hooch
Egypt, Egyptians, 71, 97, 98, 108, 110-11, 119,
Egypt,
DE KOONING WILLEM, Woman Delos,
313-29
Echternach Gospels, Symbol of
Funerary Temple Queen Hatshepsut, 111, 220; 93, 94 Dejeuner sur I'Herbe, see Manet Deir
art,
Early Renaissance, 58, 355, 389
echinus, 167
Deesis mosaic, Hagia Sophia, see Istanbul
(
see
Dark Ages, 313-17, 331 Daughters of Akhenaten, The, Egyptian, 114;
Decumeron (Boccaccio), 402
Gem
Gaul, see
Early Christian
see Persepolis
and
Coeur, Jacques, 367; House
of, see Bourges 203 Cologne, Germany, 325; Cathedral, 370; The
128, 131, 163, 310; 121
king of Persia, 132, 133, 135, 233, 244;
coins, Greek,
color,
389
Daphne
II, p.
Greek island, Portrait Head from,
of
30
90, 201,
127, 132, 140, 147, 191, 255, 262, 290, 291,
299, 314 art, 61, 97-117; compared to: Ancient Near Eastern, 120-22, 123, 125, 129, 134; Ae-
Egyptian
gean, 143, 144, 145, 147; Early Christian, 258;
Etruscan, 207. 209, 215; Greek. 158-60, 163,
Roman, 217, 220, 230, 250 Ekkekard and Uta, Naumburg Cathedral,
see
Naumburg Master Polyphemus and Gorgons, amphora, 153-55, 156, 164; 158 Greece,
I'hc
Blinding
oj
Forum,
sec
Fossanova,
Emperor Justinian and His Attendants, tale, see Ravenna Empress Theodora and Her Attendants, tale, see Ravenna encaustic, 251, 280
S.
Vi-
S.
Vi-
Rome Italy,
I
Abbey Church, 371, 372; 482,
PAINTER. Lapith and Centaur
158; 163
entasis, 171
frescoes, Gothic, 404,
282
Euripides,
Eutropius, Portrait of 267; 333 Evans, Sir Arthur. 139
Hours of, see Pucelle ewer. Mosan, 348; 443 EXEKIAS, Dionysus m a Boat, 156, 209; 161 EYCK, JAN VAN, Wedding Portrait, p. 16 Evreux. Jeanne
d'.
tury portraits, 69; Gothic works,
405-7
Freud. Sigmund, 43 167
frieze, 164,
Front View
de llonnecourt
oj a Lion, see Villard
funerary chapels, 258
Gabon, Kota area, guardian 58, 59
figures,
88-89, 231;
GAINSBOROUGH, THOMAS. Mrs
Siddons,
p.
25
Gaul, Gauls. 196, 233, 238, 291
New
Britain,
mask, 93; 65
da Fabriano Faivum, Egypt, portraits, 250-52; Portrait of a Boy, 250-51, 279; 312 see Gentile
February, see Limbourg Brothers Feeding the Oryxes, see Beni Hasan
Female Figure, Greek, 159-60, 161. 162; 165 Female Head, see Uruk Fertility Goddess, see Cutal Hiiyuk; Cernavoda Fidenza, Italy. Cathedral, King David, see Antelami Fifer. see
Manet
Golden Age, Byzantine, 267-73 Roman, 244 Flamboyant Gothic style. 366-67, 370, 375 Flanders, 355 Flight into Egypt, see Broederlam Florence, Italy, 355, 400. 402 First Style,
GENTILE DA FABRIANO.
The Adoration
oj the
Maqi. 409-11; 545; The Nativity, 411; 546 Geometric style Greek. 151-53. 154. 158 coronation cloak. 304; 377
388-89; 516 and
p.
14
GUles and Four Other Characters from the Come-
-mat
hit
h. l.indau.
355-
131
Lindisfarne
II
252 compared to: By/. mm Early Christian, 260-61, 264, 265-66 r Ottoman, 327; Romanesqi Gothic o-< IrientaJ religions, art.
279;
l
l
)
>;
345; see also Creek
art;
Roman
art
Granada, Spam Alhambra Palace, 298-99, 301; Court ol the Lions. 298. 369; Hallo! the ["wo Sisters, stucco decoration, 298-99; 370 graphic arts 49, 53 Grave Stele oj Hegeso, 188, 189-90, 235; 213 Great Mosques, see Damascus; Samarra Great Serpent Mound, Adams County, Ohio. 86; 54 Great Sphinx, see Giza
GR1
Agony
o. EL, The
(
145,
Garden, 60; 18 152-53, 154. 156,
in the
151,
264; Egyptian. 103; Etruscan, 207. 209, .
238 243-44, 250; Romanesque, 343, 348; see
Graeco-Roman
art
391,
groined vault, 215. 221, 224; 252; ribbed. 33637, 339, 356. 357. 421
GROS. ANTOINE-JEAN, Napoleon
at Arcole, p.
26
GRUNEWALD. MATTHIAS
Isenheim Altarpie< e, pp 18-19 Gudea. king of Lagash. 124-25; portrayals of see Lagash Gudea with Architectural Plan, sec Lagash Guggenheim Museum, see Wright guttae, 168
GIOTTO,
393. 394, 396-400, 404 Arena Chapel. Padua, frescoes. 396-99, 400; 526; Chnst
Entering Jerusalem, 396-98; 527; The Lamentation. 393, 398, 399; 528 Florence Cathedral: Campanile, 374; workshop, 397
Madonna Enthroned, 399-400, 407; 529 GIOVANNETTI, MATTEO. see Martini follow er of
GIOVANNI UA MILANO.
Pietd, 404;
537
Prune Ankh-Haf,
Giza, Egypt, 111; Bust oj
i
•
Chefren,
glazes.
125;
105.
98,
84.
331-32
Harpist 44;
Head Head
Vermeer in
(
the
'ity,
see Lorenzetti,
Country
caliph
fifth
ester Vase
set
291
Hagia Iriada
el-Bahari
GOGH. VINCENT VAN. 56-57 in the
the Cycladi
Hasan Sultan Madrasah SO Cairo Hatshepsul queen of Egypt temple ol seeDeii
Goethe. Johann Wolfgang von, 194
Good Government Good Government
in
ol
Gnostic ism, 252
set
from Amorgos
1
Han
Gloucester England, Cathedral, 369-70; 478
\
Law Code of, 127; 118 HarbaviUe Triptych, The Byzantin Hariri manuscript, pen drawing, 307-8; 380
Harun al-Raslud
57
Gold Weigher,
I,
|
The (.nut Si>lun\, 10 1. 83; Mycerinus and His Queen, 105. 159-60; 85; Prince Rahotep and His Wife Nofret, 105. 125. 209; 86; Pyramids ol Mycerinus. Chefren. and Cheops, 103-5; 80, 81 82 107; 8H.
zetti
Hadrian. Roman emperor. 238. 242. 21 Hagia Sophia see Istanbul Hagia Triada. Crete Cat Stalking a Pheasant 143. 165; 142; Harvester Vase, 144, 147; 146 Halicarnassus. Turkey, Tomb of Mausolus Mausoleum). 178, 191. 237; 216. east frieze Battle oj the Greeks ami Amazons Skopas?), 192; 217; Mausolus Bryaxis?), 192, 233. 218 s.^e 171 hall churches Hullenkm hen Hamanu sack ol see Nineveh Hammurabi, king of Babylon, 125-26; stele with i
Glaber, Raoul,
168
1
Creek manner. Gothic. 393. 394. 395, Greek Revival style, 194
of Isaac, for Florence Cathedral Baptis-
bronze doors lor, 388; see ulso Ghiberti Campanile. 374 Cathedral (S. Maria del Fiore). 373-75; 486, 487, 488; design lor facade Arnolfo di Cambio), 375; 489; workshop, Giotto's appointment. 397 Palazzo Vecchio, 375-76; 491 Sta. Croce. 372-73. 374, 375; 484. 485 fluting, 167,
/
290
art
Graeco-Roman
also
Germanic style, sec Celtic-Germanic style Germanic tribes, 255, 291 Germany, 291, 314, 324-25, 331, 355; Gothic works, 358, 370-71, 382-84; Romanesque works. 339-40, 348 Gero Crucifix. Cologne Cathedral, see Cologne GHIBERTI, LORENZO, 388-89, 408; The Sac-
Baptistery (S. Giovanni), 342, 374, 394; 431;
I
Gothic
St.
393, 395, 396; Roman, 215, 216, 217, 218, 220. 227-30, 232, 233, 234 35,
Girl Before a Mirror, sec Picasso
First
Gospels, sec
408;
i
409
149;
13
210, 215; Gothic
dia deWArte, see Watteau
FABRIANO,
Feet oj PeU
',
tian,
Genghis Khan, 299 Genoa, Italy, 331
rifice
Wattheu
Si
Greek art, 49, 61-62, 151-203, 331; compared to Aegean. 139; Bv/antmc. 255; F.arlv Chris-
Galatians. I'M,
German emperors,
Si
205, 217
Galatea, see Raphael
Gazelle Peninsula,
Reims
oj
327. 349-51; Christ
Otto Hi
oj
Washing the Luke 129
Graec
the
197
Greece. Greeks,
tery doors,
:il
152
151
Gospel Booh oj Irchbishop Ebbo Mark from 122 147 149 il Gospel Book of Ckarlemagnt 121 Gospel Booh
France. 291, 314, 324, 355, 364, 366; 18th-cen-
English Late Gothic (Perpendicular style), 369 engraved back of a mirror. Etruscan. 214; 2.50 engravings, 49, 69 entablature, 167, 168
Eos and Metnnon, see Uouris Ephesus, Turkey. 267; Ionic temples, 175; Temple of Artemis, lower column drum, Alkestis Leaving Hades, 61-62; 19; see also Portrait of Eutropios Epidaurus, Greece, Theater, 179; 199. 200; Tholos, Corinthian capital, J 95 Equestrian Statue oj Can Grande delta Scala, see Verona Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius, Roman, 238-40; 296 Erasistratus and an Assistant, miniature from Arabic translation of Dioscorides' De Materia Medica, 307-8; 379 Erechtheum, see Athens Erechtheus, king of Athens, 178 Erzurum. Turkey. Ulu Mosque, 302 Eskimo mask, 93; 66 ethnographic art, 43, 86-95 Etruria. Etruscans, 205-7, 214, see also Tuscany Etruscan art, 155, 205-15; compared to Roman, 217-18, 226, 230
vangelist from
Iron,
355-67, 387, 390-93; Romanesque works, 333-35, 34244, 347, 349-51, 356 Franciscan order, 371; churches, 371, 372-73; Sta. Croce see Florence Francis of Assisi, Saint, 371 Franks, 291 Frederick II, Holy Roman emperor, 385, 386 French Revolution, 359
manesque works, 335-37
<
I
Fourth Style, Roman, 244
England. 314, 315, 324, 351, 366; 18th-century portraits. 69; Gothic works, 367-70, 382; Ro-
Gorgon lempli ol Artemis si ortu Gorgons sn Eleusis Gospel Book from orbie Si \iarh from )1 149 444 Gospel Book at ibboi Wedricus st John •
Tschumi
60-62
FOUNDRY
Greco
see
Pans, see
la Villette
483
Elgin Marbles. 172. 187
EL GRECO,
form,
de
Fortuna Primigenia, Sanctuary of, see Praeneste "Fortuna Virilis, Temple ol see Rome
elegant style (Gothic), 380 Eleusis,
467
living buttresses, 359, 361; 456, 461,
Folic P6, Pare
168;
sec
\
Loren-
oj
an Akkadian Rulei
oj
Gudea
Hegeso Grave Helladic
art,
Hellenistic
see
I.,
see
Nineveh
mash
stele oj
188,
189 90 235; 21
I
139
art,
190
91
192
196
203,
224
l\l)l \
•
4 .1/
I
England Chapel
[enrj VII, king oi
of,
Westmin-
Abbey, see London
sii'i
duke of Saxony, 348; of see Brunswick "Hera" from Samos, 161-62. 164; 170 Henrj
the
Lion
Lion,
Monument
HERAKLEIDAS,
Herakles Strangling the from: Hercules
and
Nemean
Lion, see Psiax
Telephus, 249; 309; Peach-
Hermes, see Praxiteles Herodotus, 205
Tomb
Panel of and
of,
see
Saqqara
303-4
295-311; compared to: Egyptian, 117; Romanesque, 331, 334, 343, 348; Sassan-
Islamic
art,
Turkey,
Amiens Cathedral,
255;
see
also
Byzantium;
Constantinople
style,
314-16
Egypt,
98;
Hagia Sophia, 270-73, 290, 302; 340, 341, Palette
of
King
Narmer, 98-101, 103, 105, 123; 72, 73; People, Boats, and Animals, 98, 164; 71 hieroglyphics, Egyptian, 98 style,
361, 363, 364, 365, 370, 378,
379, 380, 381, 382; axonometric projection of
470
342; capital, 273, 282, 296; 343; interior, 298; 344; Christ, from Deesis mosaic, 27879, 394; 345 Kariye Camii (Church of the Savior in Chora),
(St.
Michael's),
325-26,
333; 404, 405, 406; Bernward's bronze doors for, 326; detail, Adam and Eve Reproached by the Lord, 326-27, 342, 347,
Italy,
Gothic
style.
371-76, 385, 393-404, 407
291, 317, 324, 342, 345, 355
Ivan the Terrible, 274
265-66 Room, House of the
Hittites, 127, 147, 163;
see
Olympia
Lion Gate, see Bogazkoy
Pompeii
Roman Empire,
Holy
Homer, Homeric
324, 331
epics, 139, 153, 156, 160, 168
HONNECOURT, see Villard de Honnecourt HONORE, see Master Honore HOOCH, PIETER DE, The Bedroom, 59; 15 Horemheb, Tomb of, see Saqqara Hornblower, see Benin Horse, see Vogelherd Cave Horsemen, Parthenon, see Athens Hosios Loukas (St. Luke of Stiris), Greece, monastery churches, 273, 274; 346, 347, 348 Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux,
Hugh
see
PuceUe
Capet, king of France, 355
Hundred
Years' War,
Jacob Wrestling the Angel, see Vienna Genesis Jahan, see Shah Jahan
January, see Limbourg Brothers Jeanne d'Evreux, queen of France, Hours
Holland, see Netherlands
366
see
Jericho, Jordan, 80-81, 83; early Neolithic wail
and tower, 81, 97; 41; Neolithic plastered skull, 80-81, 87, 90, 231; 40 Jerome, Saint, 69 Jerusalem, 310 Jewish art, 252-53, 255-56 Joel (lohel), Bourges Cathedral, see Bourges JOHNS, JASPER, Target with Four Faces, 6768; 26 Judaism, 252, 295 Judgment of Paris, see Rairnondi
Forum
of.
220; 260
Solitary Combat of Prince Humay and Princess Humayun, 308; 382
JUNYAD, 279, 280. 282, 303
Nigeria,
male
see
Athens
tendants,
60 405
Ihad (Homer). 139, 153 illuminated manuscripts; Carolingian, 321-23; Early Christian, 262-63, 277; Gothic, 390, 391 93, 404-5, 408; Hiberno-Saxon, 314-16; Islamic, 305-11; Ottoman, 327-29; Romanesque, 344. 349,
351-52
Early Christian. 260-61;
Islamic.
295; Italian Gothic, 395, 396; Roman, 244-49 102-3, 113; Funerary District of
IMHOTEP, Zosei
sec
Saqqara
Imperial Procession, Ara Pacis, see ini
Rome
ense burner from Khurasan, Iran, 304-5; 378
India, 191, 301,
308
art. North American, 86, 94-95; Great Serpent Mound, 86; 54; mask, 94; 68; Navajo sand painting, 94-95; 70; Nootka painting, 94;
Indian
69; Thngit war helmet, 94; 67 insula, 221)
27
Interioi "/ the Pantheon, see Pannini lnicin.ninn.il Style, Gothic, 355,
432
•
INDEX
emperor, 255, 266,
S, Vitale,
see
and His
At-
Ravenna
384-85, 388-
Kaaba, see Mecca Kariye Camii, see Istanbul Kato Zakro, Crete, vase painting. Leaping Mountain Goat, 144; 145 Khnum-hotep, Tomb of, see Beni Hasan
Khurasan, Iran, incense burner, 304-5; 378 King David, see Antelami kingship, concepts of, 89-90, 97, 1 10, 198, 233 Kinshasa, Baluba area, Zaire, Kneeling Woman, 92; 62 Kippcl, Lotschental, Switzerland, mask, 92; 63 Kiss of Judas,
Naumburg
Eyzies,
Dordogne,
48 Laocoon Group, The (after Agesander, Athenodorus, and Pblydorus of Rhodes?), 201; 230 Lapith and Centaur, see Foundry Painter
Lascaux
Cave, near Montignac, Dordogne, France, 75-77, 79; 32, 33; Axial Gallery, 31 and p. 2
Last Judgment, Autun Cathedral, see Autun
Last Judgment, Orvieto Cathedral, see Maitani "Late Classical" period, 190-91 Late Gothic
Cathedral, see
355,
style,
366-67
Leaping Mountain Goat, see Kato Zakro lekythoi, 188 Leptis
Magna, Libya,
224; 273; plan,
basilica,
257; 274 Letter, see
Libyan
Vermeer
Sibyl, see
Michelangelo
Liege, Belgium, 352; St.-Barthelemy, baptismal
Renier of
Huy
58 Lightning Snake, Wolf and Thunder Bird on Killer Whale, Nootka painting, 94; 69 LIMBOURG BROTHERS, Les Tres Riches
light.
Heures du Due de Berry, 408; calendar pages p. 15; January,
from: February, 408; 542 and
367, 409; 544; October, 367, 408, 409, 411;
portrait head, 90, 231;
ile-de-France. 355, 356, 369, 370, 371,
illusionism:
Roman
267, 268, 270, 273, 278, 313, 317;
ICTINUS, Parthenon, Iff.
Justinian, Eastern
279-81
icons,
Les
near
La Magdelaine Cave, Penne (Tarn), France, Nude Woman, 77; 34 Lamentation, Arena Chapel, see Giotto
font, see
Junius Bassus, 264, 265; Sarcophagus of, 264, 386; 329; detail, Christ Enthroned, 278; 330
Iconoclasts, Iconoclastic Controversy, 277, 278,
Head of Gu-
dea, 125, 127; 116
Larissa, Greece, Aeolian capital, 177, 210; 194 of,
Pucelle
Julius Caesar, 220, 233, 238, 240;
Hungary, 331 Hurd, Nathaniel, portrait of, see Coplev Hyksos, 108, 110, 125, 147
Architectural Plan, 125, 127; 117;
landscape painting: Gothic, 402; Roman, 244Vettii, see
353; 407
Hippodamia Attacked by a Centaur,
August, September),
Amiens
France, Bison, 79; 38
ivory diptychs,
Ixion
(July,
see
Luestrygonians Hurling Rocks at the Fleet of Odysseus, The (Odyssey Landscape), 246, 402; 306 La Fontaine, 123 Lagash (Telloh), Iraq, 124-25; Gudea with
La Madeleine,
279; chapel fresco, Anastasis, 279; 356 of Ahmed I, 302; 374, 375, 376
Mosque Italian
Hildesheim, Germany, Cathedral
Knucklebone Players, see Alexandras of Athens Koran, 295, 303, 310, 311 Kore, from Chios (?), 162, 172; 172 Kore in Dorian Peplos, 162, 172; 171 and p. 5 Kore statues, 159-60, 161-62 Kostromskaya, Russia, Stag (Scythian), 132, 313; 128 Kota guardian figures, 88-99, 231; 58, 59 Kouros statues, 159-61, 166, 180 KRITIOS (?), Standing Youth (Kritios Boy), 180-81, 182; 201 Kroisos (Kouros from Anainjsos), 160, 161, 162, 180; 167 kylix, 156 Labors of the Months
Issus, Battle of see Battle of lssus
Istanbul,
Hibernians, 314
cathedral,
Istanbul Islam, 252, 255, 291, 295,
ian Persian, 136
Portrait
High Gothic
131-32; see also Persia 324 Isenheim Altarpiece, see Griinewald Ishtar Gate, see Babylon ISIDORUS OF MILETUS, Hagia Sophia, see Ireland, 314,
and Class Jar, 248, 249; 308; see also Alexandras of Athens Hercules and Telephus, see Herculaneum
Hiberno-Saxon Hierakonpohs.
203
Iran,
es
Hesy-ra,
Bourges Cathedral, see Bourges Ionian architecture. 164, 175-78, 196-98; see also Chios; Delphi Ionic order, 165; 181
226, 243; wall paintings
Italy,
407-11
Ionians, Ionian Greece, 134, 135, 151, 164,
Apollo coin, 203; 235
Herakles, king of l'nvns. 154 Herakles, see Aegina
Herculaneum,
89,
lohel (Joel),
Naum-
burg Master Klosterneuburg Altar, see Nicholas of Verdun Kneeling Woman, see Kinshasa Knight, Tomb of a, Dorchester Abbey, see Oxfordshire Knossos, Crete Palace of Minos, 140; Queen's Megaron, 140. 143, 209; 139; staircase. 140; J 38 Snake Goddess (Priestess?), 142, 148; 140
543 Lindau Gospels, upper
cover, 323, 324, 325, 327;
401 Lindisfarne Gospels, Cross Page, 58, 315, 316, 322, 351; 387 and line,
53-55;
p.
vs. color,
11
56
Linear B, 139, 147 linear perspective,
58-59
Lion Gates, see Bogazkoy; Mycenae lion hunts,
Lion
129-31
Monument,
see
Brunswick
Livia, 233; Villa of, see
Primaporta
Lombards, 255, 291 Lombard Style, 317 Lombardy, Romanesque works, 337-39, 346-47 London, England: Chapel of Henry VII, Westminster Abbey, 370; 479, 480; Royal Academy, 69; Sanctuary of Mithras, 217 Longfellow, Henrv Wadsworth, 68 LORENZETTI, AMBROGIO. 400-402, 404, 407; Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, frescoes, 400402; 532;
Good Government
in the City, 402;
533;
Good Government
in
the Country, 308,
Medieval Gothic
402, 405; 534
LORENZETTI, PIETRO,
400, 407; The Birth of
see also Early
art
49
.ut;
Islamic art.
~>s
Medieval art;
Romanesque
Mediterranean, 290, 291
megabthic monuments 83, 88
Louis VI, king of France, 355 Louis IX (St. Louis), king of France, Psalter of see Psalter of St. Louis
Melchizedek and Abraham, Reims Cathedral,
Louis the German, East Frankish king, 324 Louvre, sec Paris
Low Countries
Netherlands), 314, 340; see also Belgium; Flanders; Netherlands (Holland) Luke, Saint, 279 Luncheon on the Grass, see Manet (
Luristan, Iran, bronzes, 132, 136; pole-top orna-
ment, 132, 134, 304, 313; 127
Amun-Mut-Khonsu. 111-13; court and pylon of Ramesses II and colonnade and court of Amenhotep III, 111— Egypt, Temple of
Luxor,
134; 95, 96; plan, 120, 258;
13,
Lydia,
Monument of, see Athens Lysimaehus, coin issued by, 203; 236 LYSIPPUS, 194-95, 196, 216; Apoxyomenos Lysicrates,
after,
195; 223
Madonna, Prato Cathedral, see Pisano, G. Madonna, Sta. Francesca Romana, see Rome Madonna Enthroned, Byzantine, 280, 394; 358 and p. 9 Madonna Enthroned, Florence, see Cimabue
Madonna Enthroned, Padua, see Giotto Madonna Enthroned, Siena Cathedral,
see
Duccio
Madonna with
the Long Neck, see Parmagianino madrasah, 299-301, 302; of Sultan Hasan, see
Cairo
Muesta Altar, Siena Cathedral, Magdalenian art, 75-77
see
Duccio
Magyars, 324. 331
MAITANI, LORENZO, The Last Judgment, Or5/3 Male Figure Surmounted by a Bird, vieto Cathedral, 387;
see Sepik
Reims Menander, Portrait of. see Pompeii Mesopotamia, 71, 97, 119, 123, 124, 125, 127, 135, 191, 205, 214, 252, 299 Mesopotamian art, 1 19-31; compared to: Etruscan, 215; Islamic, 297, 310; Minoan, 142; Neolithic, 80; Romanesque, 340; see also Ancient Near Eastern art Meuse Valley, 347-48, 379 mezzo (middle) relief, 61 MICHELANGELO, 44-45, 55, 56, 201; David, p 17. St Matthew. 45, 62; 3; Sistine Chapel: Libyan Sibyl, 55; 10; study foe 53-55; 9
Milan,
Italy:
Cathedral, 375, 388; 490;
S.
Am-
337-39; 423, 424, 425 MILANO, see Giovanni da Milano Miletus, Turkey, 178; Market Gate, 229, 246; 277 minaret, 297 miniatures: Early Christian, 262-63; 327, 328; Islamic (Persian), 308-11; Irish, 344 Minoan art, 139-44, 147, 148; compared to: brogio,
Etruscan, 209; Greek, 152, 154, 171
cheon on the Grass 47-49; 4
I
The
Eifer.
p.
27;
Lun-
Le Dejeuner sur 1'Herhe).
400, 405, 407; The
Road
MARTINI. SIMONE, ITALIAN FOLLOWER OF (MATTEO GIOVANNETTI?), Palace of the Popes, Scenes of Country Life. 308, 405;
539
MASEGNE, JACOBELLO and PIERPAOLO Apostles, St. Mark's. Venice. 388;
5/5
masks, ethnographic, 92-94; Mycenaean, 145 mastabas, 101-2; 75, 76 MASTER HONORE, Prayer Book oj Philip the Fair. 393. 405; David and Goliath from, 393, 405; 521 Mausolus. 191. 198; Tomb of, see Hahcarnassus Maxmuanus, archbishop of Constantinople, 270 meaning, 49—50; in context, 66-69 Mecca. Saudi Arabia, 295, 303; Kaaba, 303 portrait
of.
see
145, 147; Lion Gate
$9,
117
megaron, 147, ol a lion s bead
145-47 Treasun
205
Mycenaean
rhree
19
1
Atreus,
ol
Deities 15
I
145—48;
art,
17
l
17
I
ompared
i
and Ancient Near Eastern
I
147, to
148
I
'.nek
163
163
168, 171
205
leans, 151, 152, \I\<
enaean
I
ns,
ir)
154
Mycerinus, Pyramid ol see Mycerinus and His Queen
(.i/.i
s,e
MYRON, Discobolus (Discus
Giza
Thro
Mysteries, Villa of, see Pompeii mystery religions, 250, 252-53
Rubens
Nahash the Ammonite Threatening labesh, see Psalter oj St
MNESICLES, Erechtheum and
sion
of,
Propylaea, see
291, 295, 303, 308, 310; The Ascenp. 10
310-11; 383 and
Mohammed
see
Sultan,
II.
Iran, 135; Shapur 1 TriumphEmperors Philippus the \>uh and
Naksh-i-Rustam. ing over the
Valerian. 135, 240;
14
1
naos, 167
Napoleon at Arcole, see Gros Naram-Sin, king of Akkad, 124; Vu lory Stele 124, 127, 128, 233; ZZ5 Narmer, king of Egypt, see Hierakonpolis
Album
the
of
St. -Pierre,
343; portal sculp-
343-44. 345, 346; on east Hank. Annunciation. Visitation, and Adoration oj the Magi, 344; 434; on trurncuu. 343-44, 376; 433 ture,
monasteries, 314, 319; standard plan, see Si
Reichenau
MONDRIAN, PIET Broadway
Boogie Woogie,
258
Pellegrino, see
mosaics, 260 Mosan sculpture,
N.
NAUMBURG MASTER,
Naumburg
382-83;
The Kiss of Judas, 382, 399; 503 Navajo Indians, sand painting ritual for a sit k child. 94-95; 70 Naxos, Cyclades. Greece, coin from. SUenus, 203; 234 Near East, 295. 299, 314, 355; Neolithic art. 80 82; see also Ancient Near Eastern art Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. 131 Neo-Babylonians, 131-32
neo-Byzanun. Neolithic
i
393, 393, 394. 395-96, 398 art, 80-86, 87. 89;
style,
New Stone Age
compared
Cycladk
to:
i'l
1
Egyptian, 98. 107;
ethnographic, 86-87. 89 Neolithic Revolution. 80. 81, 82. 86, 97
Roman
Nerva,
emperor.
Forum
ol St
Basil,
274;
see
of,
Rome
'.17
Sepik River
see
see Neolithic art
352. 379. 380. 390;
Builders, Great Serpent
Nicomachi. 265-66
Ml MEYER OSCAR.
Brasilia. 64;
22
lemple ol Vthena Nike see Vthens Nikeoj Samothrace 198 201 229 and p 7 Nimes France Pom du Gard, 220 21; 261 Nimrod. 351 Nike,
Mound.
Is-
St
Nimrud (Calah \shurbanipal
mask, 94; 68
Iraq II
Palace
ol
\shurbanipal II 129 11, 163;
Killing Lions.
1
Mrs. Siddons. see Gainsborough Mshatta. Jordan. Palace at. 296, 298-99: facade
Nineveh (Kuyunjik
DyingLumess Hnlei
296. 298. 30
muezzin, 297
MUNCH, I>\ \KD. The MURRAY ELIZABETH
art,
New Testament 261 NICHOLAS OF VERDUN.
347-49
Mt. Vesuvius, 226, 243. 2
Guinea
New Stone Age
Moslems. 2<)5. 301 324, 131; see also Islam mosques, see Cordova; Damascus. Erzurum; tanbul; Samarra
31
(.
Nativity, Pisa Cathedral Baptistery, see Pisano,
Klostemeuburg Utai The Crossing of the Red Sea, 152 179 390; 449
Moscow, Russia, 255; Cathedral 352 Moses Well, see Sluter
p.
Nativity, Pisa Cathedral, see Pisano
New
Addaura
Moorish style, 298 More Than You Know, see Muit.iv
1
Nativity, Florence, see Gentile da Fabriano
Netherlands (Holland), 291, 314,
58, 59. 14
Mound
••:
Nefertiti, see Nofretete
Moissac, France,
Gall; see also
m
has
the
Louis
Cathedral sculpture: Cruulixion. 382, 384, 396; 502; Ekkehard and I'ta. 382-83; 504;
Mission of the Apostles, see Ve/elay Mitannians, 127 Mithraism, 252 Mithras, Sanctuary of, see London
Monte
Calvary, 400, 407; 530
Medes, 131. 132 Medici. Mane de\
i
168
164
;
Nathaniel Hard, see Copley
Mongols, 299, 304, 308
Rubens
Market Gate, see Miletus Martel, Charles, see Charles Martel
MARTINI, SIMONE.
Greece
215 144; 152 168; 153; rhyton in the shape it,
narthex,
Conqueror
Manichaeism, 252 illuminated illumination, see manuscript manuscripts Maqamat (Hariri), pen drawing from, 307-8; 380 Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor, 238, 242, 243; Equestrian Statue of, 238-40; 296 Marie de'Medici, Queen of France, Landing in Marseilles, see
B
Minoans, 139, 140, 147 Minoan script, 139 Minos, king of Crete, 139, 140; Palace of, see Knossos Minotaur, 140, 143 mirror. Etruscan, engraved back, 214; 250
Mohammed,
Mamelukes. 299, 301
MANET, EDOUARD.
aliph
Minoan-Mycenaean column. 168
Mogul dvnasty, 301
Mallia, Crete, palace at, 140
DALLE,
set
c
so Samarra
ni
Mycenai
1(>8
Athens
River
to
17
I'
l.iiquima al-
'>!
Middle Ages. 290-91, 313, 340 mihrab, 297
97
205
(Scraper)
1
see Achilles
kiiis ai
Mutawakkil,
the Virgin, 400, 407; 53/ lost-wax (cire-perdu) process, 90
megaron
Muse and Maiden
Musk
art
I
Scream p 28 \jore Than You Know,
lie
pal,
124,
Iraq.
131; 124;
125;
/
128-29. 131
14; Palace ol
Sat k oj the City o\
132;
Head of an Akkadian \shurbanip.il
llamanu by Ashurham-
128-29. 165. 233. 238; /22
Niode, 184 Nofrei
Egyptian princess portrait
ol
see Giza
INDEX
Nofretete,
quern
of Egypt, bust
of,
1
and
14; 101
Louvre:
first, 367; second, 367, 408; 543 Notre-Dame, 290, 356, 357-60, 361 453, 454, 455 and p. 13, 456; west fagade, 359-60, 364; 457; comparative nave elevation, 469; ;
Nootka Indians.
Lightning Snake. Wolf, and on Killer Whale, 94; 69
Thunder Bud Normans, Normandy. 255, 304, 324, 331, 337, 339; Romanesque works, 335, 337, 339 Norsemen, 324 North Africa, Islamic, 291, 295 Norway, Norwegians, 314, 324 Notre-Dame. see Paris Notre-Dame-la-Grande, see Poitiers Nude Woman, see La Magdelaine Cave numismatics, 203 Nuremberg, Germany, St. Sebald, choir, 371; 481
sculpture, 359, 380, 384; 381, 384, 386-87; 499
Pare de
la Villette, Folie
P6, see
Tschumi
University
of,
368
Composing
Limbourg Brothers
re,
"Octopus Vase," see Palaikastro ODO OF METZ, 317-18; Palace Chapel of Charlemagne, see Aachen Odyssey (Homer), 152, 153, 154 Odyssey Landscapes, 246, 402; 306 Old St. Peter's, see Rome Old Stone Age, see Paleolithic art Old Testament, 256, 262, 295 Old Testament Trinity, see Rublev Olympia, Greece, 230; Temple of Zeus, 182; west pediment: Apollo, 182; 204; Hippodamia Attacked by a Centaur, 182; 205 Olympic Games, 151 Op Art, 56 opus modernum (opus francigenum), 355 orders. Classical, see architecture
Oriental
255, 317
art,
Orientalizing style, Greek, 153-54, 156, 158 Oriental mystery religions, 252 Orvieto,
Cathedra], The Last Judgment, see
Italy,
Maitani
Oseberg Ship-Burial, Animal Head, 314; 386 Ostia, Italy, 226; Insula of the
House
of Diana,
227; 276
with the Long
21
Rome
see
357
Italy,
71; 183, 184
of,
178,
p. 6;
"Temple of Poseidon,"
397
Florence
Notre-Dame-la-Grande
314;
335, 359; 416
perfume vase, Proto-Corinthian, Pergamum, Turkey, 196, 233
La Magde-
154, 205;
159
195, 216; Doryphorus Bearer), 180-81, 184; 202
196-98; Athena and Alcyoneus from Great Frieze, 198, 201, 233, 244; 228; plan, 227; west front, 196, 233226 Dying Gaul, 196, 233, 382; 224 331
period styles, 50
168
226
Perpendicular
style,
243, 256, 261, 262, 277, 295; The Battle of Issus (Battle of Alexander and the Persians), 233. 243-44, 260; 302; House of Italy,
Menander, Portrait of Menander, 321; 398; of the Silver Wedding, atrium, 214,
226; 275;
House
of the Vettii, Ixion
Room, 235,
244-46, 248, 400; 304; Villa of the Mysteries, Scenes of a Dionysiac Mystery Cult, 249-50, 252-53; 310; detail. Woman with a Veil, 250; 311 and p. 8 Pond in a Garden, see Thebes Pont du Gard, see Nimes of,
see
Avignon
Porta Augusta, see Perugia
369-70
portal ensembles, 344;
Persepolis, Iran, Palace of Darius
134,
201; see also La-
ocoon Group Pompeii,
Popes, Palace
peristyle, 168,
(Spear
House
Altar of Zeus, 178,
Hall,
135,
129; Treasury, Darius
134,
175;
and Xerxes,
140, 175; 130;
131; plan,
133;
and Xerxes Giving Au-
dience, 134-35, 163, 233; 132
131, 132, 154, 156, 172, 191,
198, 217,
perspective, one-point,
"Octopus Vase," 144, 152;
Perugia,
Palazzo Vecchio, see Florence Paleolithic (Old
Italy,
58-59
Porta Augusta,
435
Portrait Head, Greek, see Delos Portrait Head, Roman, probably Plotinus, 241,
267; 298 Portrait of a Boy, Etruscan, 213-14; 249 Portrait of a Boy, Roman, see Faiyum Portrait of a Lady, Roman, 238; 294 Portrait of a
Man, Roman medallion, 252; 313 Romanesque, 352, 379;
327 beaked jug (Kamares 142, 144; 141; palace, 140 Crete:
PHIDIAS, 216, 382; Parthenon sculpture,
Philip the Fair, king of France, Prayer see Master Honore
Palestrina, Italy, see Praeneste
Philippus the Arab,
Palette of King
Warmer, see Hierakonpolis PANNINI, GIOVANNI PAOLO. The Interior of the Pantheon, 224; 265 Pantheon, see Rome Pantocrator, see Daphne papyrus, 262 la Villette, Paris,
style),
see
Athens
Roman
Book
of,
emperor, portrait
of,
'
240-41, 252; 297; see also Naksh-i-Rustam
PHILOXFNUS OF FRETRIA,
Battle of Issus
233 Bull's Head, 44, 45, 47, 49, 67; 2; Girl Before a Mirror, 57; 12 and p. 29
France, 355. 393, 407. see ulso ilc-de-
80-81; Roman, 241 of, see Paestum Poseidon (Zeus?), 183-84; 206 Post-Impressionists, 56 pottery, 49; see also vases
duke of Burgundy, 384
PICASSO, PABLO,
Tschumi
108; 18th century, 68-69; Greek, 192, 201;
Neolithic,
Phoenicia, Phoenicians, 158, 205
see
7,
Poseidon, Temple
Stone Age) art, 74-80, 81, 92; compared to Cycladic, 139 Palermo, Sicily, 304 see ulso Addaura Palestine, 256, 291 ;
111, Egyptian, 108; 91 Portrait Panel of Hesy-Ra, see Saqqara portraiture: Early Christian, 266; Egyptian, 105-
pharoahs, 97, 110 Phidian style, 187-88
Philip the Bold,
448
Portrait ofSesostris
214-15; 251
Peter, Saint, 255,
Phaistos,
375
INDEX
for the facade of
Portrait of a Roman, 230-31, 232; 282 Portrait of Eutropios, Early Christian, 267; 333 Portrait of Menander, see Pompeii
zetti, A.
•
France,
Poitiers,
Greek, 163; Romanesque, 344, 348; see ulso Achaemenian art; Sassanian art Persian wars, 156, 172
Palazzo Pubblico, Siena, frescoes, see Loren-
434
179,
Doric temples: "Basilica," 169-
and
144
I'rance
Cambrio's design
Portrait of a Physician,
Palaikastro, Crete,
Paris,
97
243-44, 252, 291, 295, 299, 304 Persian art, 131-36, 308-11; compared to:
Palace of the Popes, see Avignon
palazzo,
The Nativity, 386; 509
see
169-71, 172; 183, 185, 186 painting, era
175,
and Animals, see Hierakonpolis Peparethus, Greek island, coin from, Winged God, 203; 233 Pepin III, king of the Franks, 355
Persia, Persians,
Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel, 526;
172,
Perseus, 154
also Giotto
Paestum,
151,
People, Boats,
133-34; Audience
Italy,
Madonna,
374, 386, 389, 399; Pisa Cathedral Baptistery pulpit, 386, 408; 508; de-
POLYDORUS OF RHODES,
bull capital,
Tomb
Prato Cathedral,
Cathedral, 375; 489
Cave
Ottonian
Oxfordshire, England, Dorchester Abbey, of a Knight, 382; 501
510;
POLYCLITUS,
Ottoman Turks, 299 art, 324-29; compared to: Gothic, 370; Romanesque, 331, 339, 342, 349
389;
PISANO, NICOLA,
di
(Tarn), France, cave art, see
peripteral,
389, 395, 399; Pisa Cathedral pulpit, 386; detail, The Nativity,
386,
POCCETTI, BERNARDINO, drawing of Arnolfo
pendentives, 272 laine
374
Pliny the Elder, 201, 233, 243, 244, 250 Plotinus, 241; Portrait Head, 241, 267; 298
Thetis, see Aurora Painter
Peloponnesian War, 187, 190
Penne
see
PISANO, GIOVANNI, 386-87,
Plato, 42,
pediment, 164
and
pulpit,
Plague, 402
Paul Revere, see Copley Peaches and Glass Jar, see Herculaneum Pearl Weigher, see Vermeer Peleus
Cathedra]
Traini;
PISANO, ANDREA, Florence Cathedral Campa-
tail.
pathos, 185, 278 Paul, Saint,
see
Pisano, G.
386-87; 511,512; Siena Cathedra] fagade, 395
Pericles, 172, 174, 187,
Ostrogoths, 255, 267, 291 Otto I, Holy Roman emperor, 324, 325, 331 Otto II, Holy Roman emperor, 325 Otto III, Holy Roman emperor, 326; see also Gospel Book of Otto III
Pare de
Psalms
the
from, 277, 278; 353
PARMAGIANINO, The Madonna p.
and Campanile (Leaning Tower), 340-42, 402; 428, 429, 430 and p. 12; Baptistery pulpit, see Pisano, N.; Camposanto, The Triumph of
nile,
Paris Psalter, 282; David
Neck,
Pisa, Italy, 331, 342; Cathedral, Baptistery,
Death,
St.-Denis, 355-57, 359, 373, 376, 390, 391; 451, 452; sculpture, 376
Parthenon, see Athens Parting of Lot and Abrahum.Hta. Maria Maggio-
October, see
Padua,
The Virgin of Paris,
pilgrimage churches, 333, 355 pinakotheka, 175; 192
Pietds, see Bonn, Giovanni da
Milano Pig-Snouted Ethiopians, see Vezelay pilgrimage choir, 333, 356
Praeneste (Palestrina), Italy, Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, 219-20; 257, 258, 259 Prague, Czechoslovakia, 407 Prato, Italy, Cathedra],
PRAXITELES,
Madonna,
see Pisano, G.
139, 192-93, 194, 195,216,238;
Cnidian Aphrodite, 192-93; 220; Hermes, 193; 221; Standing Youth (attr), 62; 20 Prayer Book of Philip the Fair, see Master
Honore prehistoric art,
43
Presentation in the Temple, see Broederlam Priestess of Bacchus, Early Christian, 265-66, 268; 331
Primaporta,
Italy, Villa
of Livia,
View of a Gar-
den, 246-48, 249-50; 307; see also Augustus
of Primaporta
ethnographic art Prince Rahotep and His Wife Nofret. see Giza primitive
prints,
art,
see
St
Georg<
Si
Gilles-de-Gard,
77. 379, 385. 387, 390, 393, 398,
J
58
Proto-Corinthian perfume vase, 154, 205; 759
Provence, France, 345-46 Psalter of St. Louis, 391, 393; Nahash the Ammonite Threatening the Jews at Jabesh from,
391-93, 396; 520 Pseudo-Dionysius, 357 PSIAX, Herakles Strangling the Nemean Lion, 155, 156-58, 160; J 62 PUCELLE, JEAN, Hours oj Jeanne d'Evreux, 405, 408; Annunciation from, 405; 538 purse cover, see Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial pyramids, 102, 103-4, 290
295 and
Nofretete, Egyptian, 114; 101
p.
3
Rahotep, Prince, and His Wife Nofret, see Giza
RA1MONDI, MARCANTONIO, The Judgment of Paris (after Raphael), 47; 5 Tree, see
His
oj
400
Republic
205,
St
Roman
S.
and frieze, 242-43, 253, 264; 301 Arch of Titus, 235-37, 238; reliefs: Spoils Jrom the temple m Jerusalem, 235-37; 290; Triumph o} Vitus, 237; 291 Basilica of Constantine, 224, 273, 339; 270,
205. 212
Forums, 205, 220, 240, 243; 260 Old St. Peters, 257; plan, 257, 319; 317; reconstruction drawing, 333; 316 Pantheon, 223-24. 258, 272, 273, 373, 397; 265, 266, 267, 268, 269 Agnes Outside the Walls, 260
Ur
St.
Ramose, Tomb of, see Thebes Rampm Head, The, Greek, 161, 172; 169 Rape ofEurona, see Titian RAPHAEL, Galatea, p. 20; The Judgment of Paris, Raimondi's engraving after, 47-49; 5 Ravenna, Italy, 267, 317. 337; S. Apollinare in
Sta.
Sta.
Costanza, 258-60, 267-68. 272, 373-74;
322, 323, 324
Francesca Romana, Madonna, 279-80;
357 Sta.
Maria Maggiore, The Parting of Lot and
Abraham, 261-62; 326 St.
BaptJster) ol
see
Luke, see Gospel Booh Luke-
Otto
"I
Church
St.-Maclou, Ste.
see
of,
-Madeleine. Church
see Vc/<
St.
Michael's, Cathedral
St.
Pantaleon, Church
see Michelangelo
Hildesheim see Cologne Walls, Basilica Outside the Paul's
St.
see
St. Peter's
Old
Rome
Basilica, see
Abbey Church of. see Moissac SS. Pietro e Marcellino, Catacomb of. see Rome St.-Riquier (Centula), France, Abbey Church. 319, 326, 333, 340; 393, 394 St.-Savin-sur-Gartempe. France. Church of, 335, 351, 371; 4/5; nave vault, detail. The Budding oj the Tower oj Babel, 335 351; 446 St. Sebald, Church of sn Nuremberg St.-Semin, Church of. see Toulouse Theodore. Chartres Cathedral, see Chartres Church of, see Troves
St.-Urbain,
Church
S. Vitale.
of,
see
Ravenna 154, 233
235, 246, 397; 289 "Temple of Fortuna Virilis," 217-18, 223; 253, 254 Temple of Venus Genetrix, 220 Villa Medici, sarcophagus detail. River Gods, 49; 6
Salonica, Greece Si George,
Reformation, 382
ROUBIL1AC. LOUIS-FRANCOIS,
Reichenau Monastery, 327 Reims, France, Cathedral, 364-65; 468; comparative nave elevation, 469; sculpture, 36465, 379-81, 384; Annunciation and Visitation groups, 352, 379-80, 381, 382, 385, 386. 390, 393; 497; Melchizedek and Abraham. 380-81, 391, 393, 396; 498 Reims School, 322-23, 349 Reims style, 347 relief, tvpes of, 60-61 REMBRANDT, 53; The Star of the Kings. 53; 8 also Early 342; see Renaissance, 53,
Rouen, France, St.-Maclou, 366-67; 473 Roval Academv. London, 69
RUBENS, PETER PAUL,
Sat k of the City oj
347-48, 352, 379;
Saint:
441 of,
see
in
River Gods, from Roman sarcophagus. 49; 6 Road to Calvaru. see Martini
count of Sicily, 304 216-23; compared
art,
Carolingian.
321; Early Christian, 256, 260, 266; Early Medieval, 313; Gothic, 380;
Greek, 178; [slami(
295, 298; Romanesque, 333. 337, 339, 342,
Graeco-Roman
art
S.,
by Ashurbanipal, see
if
list
SS.. St., Sta.,
of
churches and
and
Ste. are alpha-
spelled Saint, entries for sainted
persons are
listed
elsewhere by
first
name
Francis of Assisi, Saint) St Amies Outside the Walls, see Rome S. Ambrogio. Church of, see Milan (e.g.,
m
Classe Church of see Ravenna St -Barthelemv. Church of Liege, see Reiner of S
Apollinare
Huv of see Moscow (hurch of see Rome Sta. Croce, Church of see Florence St. -Denis. Abbe) Church of, see Pans St.-Eticnne Church of see Caen Sta. Francesca Rom. ma. Church of see Rome
St. Basil. to:
following
the
betized as
Copley
Rhmeland, 339, 340, 370 rhvtons: Achaemenian, 135; 133; Mycenaean. 145-47; 149 rib vaults. 336-37, 339, 356. 357; 42/ Ritual Dance, see Addaura
343, 345; see also
Hamanu
Cathedral
Sta Costanza,
of.
England, Cathedral, 290. 369. 370,
371. 475. 476, 477
dome
mosaic, 260-
61; 325
Samaria.
Iraq,
Mosque
of al-Mutawakkil (Great
Mosque), 297; 364, 365 Samos, Greek island: Ionic temples, 175; Temple of Hera. Hera" from. 161-62, 164; /70 sand painting, see Navajo Indians Santiago de Compostela, Spain. 333, 342 Sappho. 155 Saqqara, Egypt Funerarv District ol king Zoser (Imhotep), 102-3; papyrus half-columns. North P.ilac e, 103. 113. 168, 177; 79; plan. 102; 78; Step Pyramid, 101, 102. 103. 104. 168; 76. 77, 78 Portrait Panel Oj llcsi/Ru 101. 107 123: 74 Seated
N<
Tomb
of
nhe. 107; 87
Horemheb. Workmen Carrying
a
Beam, 117, 144. 163; Z03 of Ti: Cattle Fording a Rner. 98. 108,
Tomb
artworks.
Revere, Paul, 68, 69; portrait
II,
de'Medici,
Sacrifice of Iphigenia, The, Byzantine, 282; 361 Sat rifice of Isaac, see Ghiberti
reproductions, 49
Roger
Mane
Nineveh 347. 352, 379; baptismal
font. St.-Barthelemy, Liege,
Roman
56;
Queen of France. Landing in Marseilles, p. 22 RUBLEV, ANDREI, 280-81; Old Testament Trinity, 281; 359 Russia, 255, 274, 280-81 Russian Orthodox Church, 255
Renaissance
REN1ER OF HUY,
Portrait of
see Vispre
see
St.-Pierre.
Salisbury
red-figured style, 158, 160, 162
of.
Rome
268; 315 stucco decoration from the vault of a house,
408
i\
of,
260, 278, 339; 327; S. Vitale, 267-70,
dants. 268-70, 278, 280; 338, 339
I
Maria Antica. Church of. see Verona S. Maria de Fiore, Cathedral, see Florence Sta. Mana Maggiore. Basilic a ol see Rome St. Mark, miniatures see Gospel Honk from Corbie; Gospel Book of Archbishop Ebbo o) Reims St. Mark's Basilica, sec Venice St. Matthew, miniature see Gospel Book of
Salamis, Greece. Battle
realism, 50; Gothic. 381,
III
Sta.
St.
Paul Outside the Walls, 224, 257, 258, 333,
342; 318
dants and Empress Theodora and Her Atten-
\bbot
"I
Rouen
ol
SS. Pietro e Marccllino. catacomb ceiling, 256,
terior,
lor
Suns monastery churches seeHosios
of
Classe, 258, 261. 268, 337, 338; 319, 320; in-
272, 273, 317-18, 337; 334, 335, 336, 337; mosaics. Emperor Justinian and His Atten-
I
s
St.
Colosseum, 221, 241, 280, 290, 333; 262, 263, 264 Column of Trajan, 237-38, 261-62; 292
king of Egypt, 1 13; court and pylori of, see Luxor; Mortuary Temple of, see Thebes Ramesses III, king of F.gypt, 110, 113
portal sculpture
ol
$4"
Charlemagne Mat then, sculpture,
27), 272
II,
Church
Lou k. is
Ara Pacis, 233-35, 238; 285; allegorical and ornamental panels. 235, 397; 288; Imperial Procession, 234-35. 266, 380; 286 Arch of Constantine, 241-43; 300; medallions
Hill,
see Salonika
of
John the Ei angelist see Gospel Booh
Wedrii a
135, 151, 196, 201, 205-7, 212,
16,
liovanni
(
217
214, 255, 291, 317, 326. 331; see also Empire; Roman Republic
Capitoline
s
hurch
(
344, 345
Am estors, A,
monaster) plan
Switzerland
Gall
395, 396
St.
Rome, Romans,
Propylaea, see Athens
Ramesses
Patrician u ith Rusts
Roman
Proto- Attic vases, 153-54;
Ram and
Romanesque art, 331-53; compared to Gothic 355,356,357,359, $68 169 $70, 371, 376-
231-32; 283
pronaos, 167
Queen
si
Roman
49
Procession, Parthenon, see Athens
qibla.
Roman Catholic Church. 255, 277. 291, 314, 355 Roman Empire, 255, 257, 290, 291, 313, 314
90; Ti Watching a Hippopotamus Hunt. 98, 107-8, 163, 209; 89 165;
Etruscan, see Cerveteri; Roman, deRiver Gods. 49. 6. Early Christian, 264 Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, Earls Christian 264, 386; 329; detail. Christ Enthroned, 278;
sarcophagi tail.
330 Saruon. king ol \kk.uf 123. 121 Sargon II, king of \ss\ru i_!K, Citadel
of
s,
Dur Sharrukin Sassanian art. 135-36; compared to Islamic 295. 296. 301. 303; woven silk. 136. 296, 317; 136 Saviour in Chora, (lunch s.ivnis Saxony, 315, 321
Scandinavia Scenes
o\ a
114
$24,
of,
see Istanbul
$31
Dionysiat Mystery Cult
Villa of die
Mysteries, see Pompeii
INDl
X
Scan*,
oj Country Life, see Martini, followei Schliemann, Heinrich, 139
scientific perspective.
oi
SCOPAS. 191-92. 194. 382; Battle of the Greeks and Amazons (attrib.), 192; 217 Scotland. 314 Scraper, see Lysippus Scream, see Munch scriptoria. 314
Romanesque
re-
342
plastered skull, 87, 231; 55
king of Egypt, Portrait
of,
108; 91
SEURAT, GEORGES, 56
artists,
43-44
pus
the
Rustam
Summer Landscape, Romanesque,
Temple of
Carmina
see
Tomb
of
Hunting and Fishing,
209; 241; wall painting from, 155; 242; Tomb of the Lionesses, Musicians and Two Dancers,
243
155, 209;
Tell
Amiens
Cathedral,
Target with Four Faces, see Johns
coes, see Lorenzetti, A.
Asmar,
Patriarch,
relief
inscribed
by,
Abu Temple,
statues, 122, 125,
234 woven, Sassanian, 136, 296, 317; 736 Silver Wedding, House of, see Pompeii sinupie, 404 Siphnian Treasury, see Delphi
Athens;
Corfu; Delphi; Ephesus; Olympia; Paestum; Samos; Roman, see Baalbek; Rome; Tivoli; Sumerian, see Uruk
Sistine Chapel, see Michelangelo
324
SLUTER, CLAUS, 384-85, Champmol,
treuse de
388,
408;
Char-
Dijon: portal sculpture,
tesserae,
507 Snake Goddess (Priestess?), see Knossos Solitary Combat oj Prince Humuy and Princess Humayun, see Junyad Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, see Wright space, 62-64
260
textiles, 136,
Tomb of Tutankhamen: 250;
104;
painted
wall painting fragment,
coffin cover, 117, 145.
chest,
Tutankhamen
A Pond
TSCHUMI, BERNARD,
Garden,
tus, see
art, I
lie
79-80; 39 Temple in Jerusalem, Arch of Ti-
S. Vitale,
see
king of Ur, Ziggurat
Rome
Staq. Scythian, 132, 313; 128
Stained glass, French Gothic, 363, 390-91 Standing Youth, see Praxiteles Standing Youth {Kouros), Greek, 159-60, 180
166 Star oj
•
218
of,
see
Saqqara
of a
tin
Kings, see
INDEX
Rembrandt
Tomb Tomb
of
Ur
Roman
Knight,
Dorchester Cathedral, see
Hunting and Fishing,
emperor,
portrayal
of,
see
Naksh-i-Rustam
Minoan-Mycenaean,
147,
165;
150, 151 Vase Painter and Assistants, Crowned by Athena and Victories, A, Attic hydria, 155; 160 vases. Greek, 151-58; 155
TITIAN, 56-57; The Rape of Europa, 57; 11 Titus, Roman emperor, 201; Arch of, see Rome Tivoli, Italy, "Temple of the Sibyl," 218, 223, 229; 255, 256 Ti Watching a Hippopotamus Hunt, see Saqqara Tlingit Indians, war helmet, 94; 67
Tomb
see
Iraq, 1 19; Female Head, 80, 120"White Temple," 119-20, 125; 106; interior of its cella, 119; 108; plan, 107 Utrecht Psalter, 322-23, 347, 349-51, 353; 400
Vaphio Cups,
Oxfordshire
Standing Youth (Kritios Boy), see Kntios
436
Tomb
of,
Uruk (Warka),
Ravenna
Three Deities, see Mycenae Three Goddesses, Parthenon, see Athens Thucydides, 172 Ti,
inlay
1 12 and p. 4; Ziggurat of King Urnammu. 120; 109 II, Pope, 331 urban planning, see town planning
Vandals, 255, 291
aboriginal
124-25;
Urban
Third Style, Roman, 244
Spoils from
Iraq, 119, 122,
stand, 122, 123, 132;
Spartans, 151
Sphinx, Great, see Giza Man Spearing Kangaroos, A, Australian
la Vil-
panel from the soundbox of a lyre, 123, 132, 164, 313, 344; 113; Ram and Tree, offering
Valerian,
Spirit
de
22; 110;
theocratic socialism, 119 Theodora, Byzantine empress, 270; and Her At-
tholos, 178,
Folie P6, Pare
42, 372 Tutankhamen, Tomb of, see Thebes Tutankhamen Hunting, see Thebes Twin Leopards, see Catal Hiiyiik tympanum, 344; 435
Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, 267 thermae, 223
426
Rome
32
Spalato (Split). Yugoslavia, Palace of Diocletian, peristyle, 229; 280
Spear Bearer, see Polyclitus Speyer. Germany, Imperial Cathedral, 339, 340;
see
205
Troy, 201,
Urnammu, in a
60; 17
tendants,
Pisa, see Traini
Trojan War, 147
Ur(El Muqeiar),
Hunting, 98, 117, 129; 105
Spain, 291
triumphal arch, 258 Triumph of Death, Camposanto, Triumph of Titus, Arch of Titus,
Ulu Mosque, see Erzurum 304, 351
theaters, Greek, 179 Thebes, Egypt, 108, 110; Mortuary Temple of Ramesses II, 114, 215; 98 Tomb of Ramose, 114; 99
384, 385; 506; The Moses Well, 384-85, 408;
364
triglyphs, 164, 167, 168
Tuscany,
Asmar; Thebes; Etruscan, 210; 246; see also Veii; Greek, 167-78; 182; see also Aegina;
silk,
49
tradition,
Turks, 172, 255, 270, 279, 299-302, 304, 305 Italy, 205; Romanesque works, 340-
1 1
Tell
Silenus, coin from Naxos, 203;
see
TRAIN1, FRANCESCO, Camposanto, Pisa, The Triumph of Death, 402-4; 535; sinopia drawing for, 404; 536 Trajan, Roman emperor, 237, 238, 242; Arch of, Column of, and Forum of, see Rome; portrait of, 90, 238; 295 Treasury of Atreus, see Mycenae Tres Riches Heures du Due de Berry, see Lim-
lette, Paris, p.
el'Amarna, Egypt, tempera, 393-94
see
427 Tower of Babel, 119, 120, 131, 297, 340 town planning: Etruscan, 214; Greek, 178;
trumeau, 343
Iraq,
127; 111
Cividale
tle, 342, 343, 345, 346; 432 Tournai, Belgium, Cathedral, 340;
Troyes, France, St.-Urbain, 366; 471, 472
51-52
temples: Egyptian, see Deir el-Bahari; Luxor;
Sigvald,
Toulouse, France, St.-Sernin, 333-34, 336, 356, 357; 410, 411, 412, 413; sculpture, 342; Apos-
bourg Brothers
Tarquinia, Italy:
taste,
Beni Hasan; Mausolus, see Halicarnassus; Ramose, see Thebes; Ti, see Saqqara; Tutankhamen, see Thebes; see also sarcophagi tonalism, 56 "Toreador Fresco, The," Minoan, 143-44, 147143
triforium, 334,
373, 374
Tell
Italy,
of the Zodiac, Amiens Cathedral,
299
tablinum, 226
the," see Tivoli
47; of specific persons: Hesy-ra, see Saqqara; Horemheb, see Saqqara; Khnum-hotep, see
also Brasilia
Taj Mahal, see Agra
400, 402. 407; Cathedral, 394; facade, see Pisano, G.; Maestd Altar, see Duccio; Palazzo Pubblico, Sala della Pace, 532; fres-
Slavs,
see
Burana
304, 324, 385; see also Addaura Siddons, Sarah, portrait of, see Gainsborough
Signs
the
Susa, Iran, 124; painted beaker 131-32; 126 Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial, purse cover, 313, 314, 315, 316; 385
Sicily,
Siena,
Album of
Islamic, see
Conqueror
TALENTI, FRANCESCO, Florence
She-Wolf Etruscan, 212-13, 348; 248 Shipwreck, drawing after a Geometric vase, 15253, 156; 157 "Sibyl,
Summer Landscape,
to Early Chris-
see
of,
Triumphing over the Emperors PhilipArab and Valerian, see Naksh-i-
1
Rome, 220, 230
Sumerian art, tian, 260
Syria, 158, 177, 256, 291, 295, 297,
king of Persia, 135, 252; Palace Ctesiphon I,
Shapur
Suger, Abbot, 355, 356-57, 359, 360, 363, 365, 373, 376, 377, 390
Symbol of St. Mark, see Echternach Gospels symbols, 50 Symmachi, 266
Severe Style, Greek, 180, 181-83, 203 Shah Jahan, Mogul emperor, 301
Shapur
Michelangelo 331
Sumer, 119, 127 1 19-27; compared
Second Golden Age, Byzantine, 273-79, 280, 281, 282, 325, 379 Second Style, Roman, 244, 246, 250 Seljuk Turks, 299-302, 305 Sepik River, New Guinea, 87, 88; Male Figure Surmounted by a Bird, 87, 88, 94, 231; 56;
shaman
Sibyl, see
of the Reliefs, see Cerveteri
tombs: Egyptian, 97-98, 101, 107-8; Etruscan,
207-10; Gothic, 387-88; Mycenaean, 145-
Strasbourg. France, Cathedral, portal sculpture. Death of the Virgin, 352, 379, 380, 381, 382 399, 407; 496
Sulla, dictator of
Seated Scribe, see Saqqara
III,
En-
style(s), defined, 50; evolution of,
Scythians, 131, 132; Stag, 132, 313; 128
Sesostris
Tomb
Study for the Libyan
sculpture: categories, 60-62; vival.
stoas, 178
Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain (Wiltshire), gland, 84, 86; 51, 52, 53
58-59
Vatican, Sistine Chapel, see Michelangelo
Vatican Vergil, Early Christian, 262, 263; miniature from, 262; 327 vault, see groined vault Veii, Italy,
Temple
of Apollo,
210-12; roof
statue,
247 201-3; 232
Apollo, 212, 213; Veiled Dancer,
vellum, 262 see Tarquinia
of the Lionesses, see Tarquinia
Venice, St.
Italy, 274, 331, 376; Ca' d'Oro, 376; 492; Mark's, 274, 376; 350, 351; choir screen,
Apostles, see
Masegne; mosaic, Scenes from
Venus, cult
of.
139; Temple
Venus Genetrix, Temple Venus
oj
of.
JAN, 66; The
191
519;
Wheel
Fortum
oj
sec
Rome
Visitation, Dijon, see Broederl.mi
Letter,
p.
23;
Woman
Reims Cathedral
Visitation,
Visitation, Si -Pierre
Statue of Can Grande delta Scala, 388; 514; Sta. Maria Antica, church of, 388 Vespasian, Roman, 238; 293 Vettii, House of the, see Pompeii
Vogelherd Cave, Germany
France, Ste. -Madeleine, portal sculp-
The Mission of
the Apostles,
344-45,
351, 377; 437; Pig-Snouted Ethiopians, 345;
438 Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, Akkadian. 124, 127, 128, 233; //5 Vienna, Austria. 314; Imperial Treasury, Gospel
Book, see Gospel Book of Charlemagne Vienna Genesis, Earl) christian, 263; Jacob Wrestling the Angel from, 263; 328 Vieu of a Garden, see Pnmaporta Vikings, 314, 324. 331 Villa of the Mysteries, see Pompeii
VILLARDDFHONNFCOURT:
Front Vieu ofa
Francois Roubiliat
Reims
see
//nisi
Winckelmam
VVarka, see
79;
36
Woman Woman
him
Holding a Balance see
II
I
k
te
19
Vermeei
se<
»
U ith a Veil
see
Pomp
11
Beam, see Saqqara Utamira Sassanian, 136. 296, 317; 136
Wounded Bison woven
silk I
I
a
see
RANK LLOYD
Gug
Solomon R
genheim Museum 260
writing, 71
Uruk
WATTEAU, JEAN-AM (MM
Giiles and Four Other Characters from the Comedia deU'Arte, p. 24 Wedding Portrait, sec Eyck Wedricus Gospel, see Gospel Book of Abbot
Wedru
I
i
49 Workmen Carrying
Caliph, 295, 296
wall mosaics. Early Christian,
nik
yvoodcuts,
29
215
al-,
l
<
mi the Conqueror. 32
WHICH Walid
-
fiempli
hit)
Portrait oj Louis-
(attx), 69;
VITRUVIUS. 224 voussoirs,
w
Willi
bus, 203; 233
see Moissai
VISPRE, FRANCIS XAVIER,
ture:
518
see Baalbek
Holding a Balance (The Pearl Weigher; The Cold Weigher), 66-67; 25 Verona, Italy: Castelvecchio, 388, Equestrian
Vezelay,
191;
of.
WiUendorf, Paleolithic, 79, 82, 139; 37
VERMEER,
Lion
Virgin of Paris, Notre-Dame< athedral see Paris Visigoths, 255, 291
Genesis, 277-78; 354
Xerxes
king
of
Persia.
132;
Palace
ol
see
Persepolis
Youth and
Demon
oj
Death
I
tru-
244
us
Western Europe, 290, 291 Western Roman Empire, 255, 267, 331 Westminster Abbey, see London westwork (Westwerk). 318. 319 Wheel of Fortune, see Villard de Hoimecourt yvhite ground technique, 188-90
Zeus Vital ol see Pergamum; rempli Olympia ziggurats, 119-20. 290, 297, 340 Zoroaster, 132 Zoser, king
ol
Egypt, 101; Funeral] District and
Step Pyramid
of,
see
Saqqara
l\DI
X
OF CREDITS
LIST
The author and publisher wish to thank the libraries, museums, and private collectors for per-
Ancient Orient
mitting the reproduction in black-and-white and
N.J.:
prints, and drawings in Photographs have been sup-
H. hranktort,
188,
I'he
Art
and Architecture of
the
107; Alison Frantz, Princeton,
196, 199, 346; A. Furtwangler Gabinetto Fotografico Nazionale,
191,
in color of paintings,
(after):
their collections.
Rome: 298, 357; German Archaeological Institute, Rome: 6, 285, 273, 282, 293; Edward V.
whose courtesy
plied by the following,
is
grate-
acknowledged. Photographic sources
fully
Monuments
the Key
page number;
all
for
section are indicated by
others are figure numbers.
New
York: 352; Grinnell (after): 182; Gur-
(after):
341; Haeseler Art Publishers, La-
Gorn, litt
178;
fayette, Calif.: 52;
Richard Harrier,
New
York:
Frederick Hartt, A History of Painting Sculpture Architecture, 3rd edition, 1989: 452; Andre Held, Switzerland: 356; Max Hirmer Ver217;
ACL
(copyright), Brussels: 427, 441; Alinari, Florence: 242, 244, 251, 286, 290, 291, 296, 300, 423, 490, 491, 492, 515, 546; Altarocca, Terni,
245; American
Italy: ry:
Museum
of Natural Histo-
Museum, Teheran,
70; Archaeological
Iran:
Planegg, West Germany: Page
133; Artothek,
22; Barsotti, Florence: 511, 512; Mitchell Beazley. Atlas of World Architecture, 1984: 279, 412;
143. 147, 149, 160, 165, 168, 174, 177, 189, 194, 204, 205, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 215, 218, 219, 233, 234, 235, 236, 239, 240, 287, 299, 325, 329, 330, 343; Walter Horn (courtesy Schmolz &
ture, 850-1200: 419; from N. Pevsner Outline of European Architecture: 485, 487; Photographic Giraudon, Paris: Pages 18-19, 473, 494, 543; Photo MAS, Barcelona, Spain: 368, 370; Photo Meyer, Vienna: 377; C. Picard, Cam-
bndge, England: 200; Josephine Powell,
R.M.N., Paris: Page 7, Page 24, Page 26, Page 27,4,38,87, 115, 117, 118, 159, 164, 165, 169, 170, 229, 530; Rheinisches Bildarchiv, Cologne,
West Germany: 403, 505; Jean Roubier,
mann, from France: 471;
mo,
burg/Lahn, West Germany: 195, 402, 434, 468, 472, 498, 499, 503; Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin. West Germany: Page 3, 100,
e Antichita Italiche, University of
Erwin Bohm: 109;
101. 125;
telalterliche .
.
.Toscana,
Udine, Cividale,
Italy:
Bundesamt
437, 439;
PI.
W Braunfels, Mit-
Ill:
429; Brisighelli-
390; Bulloz, Paris: 436,
fur Denkmalspflege, Aus-
449; Caisse Nationale des Monuments Hiset des Sites, Paris: 50, 126, 414, 433, 474, 506, 539; Cameraphoto, Piero Codato, Venice: 526; Ludovico Canali, Rome: Page 6, Page 8, tria:
tonques
Page
12,
Page 20, 21, 136, 183, 184, 202, 207,
238, 247, 248, 253, 255, 270, 275. 283, 289, 294. 296, 301, 302, 303, 304, 306, 307, 308, 309, 310, 311, 322, 326. 334. 337, 338, 424, 430, 431, 484, 508, 509, 510, 523, 531, 532, 533, 534, 535; Can-
Page 14, 281, 516, 537, 545; Canali/ Codato: 351, 354; Canali/Rapuzzi: 162; Clarendon Press, Oxford, from K. A. C. Creswell, Early Muslim Architecture: 362. 364, 365; Cleveland ali/Bertoni:
Museum SWB, Etude vich.
of Art:
28;
Colorphoto Hans Hinz,
Alschwil-Basel, Switzerland: Page
N de
Davies.
(Jans. Chicago: 97;
2,
31;
[)e Dartien,
F.
Lombarde.pl 29 425; Geza De FranccRome: 440; Deutscher Kunstverlag, Mu-
West (iermany: 37, 198, 277, 391, 406, 426, 502; Pierre Devinoy, Pans: 446; Jean Dieuzaide [bulouse, France 410; Walter Drayer, /inn h 250; Editions Arthaud, Pans, from S. N. Kramer History Begins at Sumei 111. Eeva-Inkerl New York Page 31; Eliol Elisofon K'opynghl lime Inc. Nev\ York) (>(), Sir Banister nich.
letcher
1987 delo
A History of Architecture, 9th edition, 1
187, FotoGrassi, Siena, Italy
525; FotoFototeca Unione, Rome: 185, 257. 258, 259, 260. 264, 276, 278. 288, 398; from
4 i«
Rome
•
i
is
I
119
<>i
CREDITS
W. Janson, New York: 482; S. W. Kenyon, Wellington, England: 40, 41, 42; A. F Kersting, London: 321, 418, 478, 479; from Key Monuments in the History of Art, Abrams, New York: 483;
G
E. Kidder-Smith, New York: 22, 24, 263, 292, 340, 342, 369. 372, 374, 376, 457; Nikos Kontos, Athens: Page 5 (right), 1, 139, 141, 144, 146,
150, 151. 152, 154, 158, 167, 171, 172, 192, 193,
J. Schram (after): Edwin Smith, Saffron Walden, England: 127; Soprintendenza ai Monumenti, Pisa,
62; Scala, Florence: 339, 527;
ale,
Rome: 246; H.
Paris:
261, 413. 415. 417, 454, 495, 497, 500; Royal Museum of Central Africa, Terveuren, Belgium:
227;
Istitutodi Etruscologia
Rome
349, 355; Pubbli Aer Photo, Milan: 262, 350 Mano Quattrone, Florence: Page 21, 522, 529
Urich, Cologne, West Germany): 396; C. Huelsen (after): 271; Hurault, St.-Germain-en-Laye, courtesy Jean M. Porcher: 432; Martin Hurli-
Beseler (after): 404, 405; Bibliotheque NationPans: 394, 518, 519; Bildarchiv Foto Mar-
I
Munich, West Germany: 74, 83, 89, 138,
lag,
68; Penguin Press, Baltimore, Md., from K. J. Conant, Carolmgian and Romanesque Architec-
124,
536; Soprintendenza all'Antichita, Paler-
Italy:
35; Soprintendenza Archeologica, Beni Cultural! Ambientali: 249; Soprintendenza Archeologica alJ'Etruria MeriItaly:
Ministero per
i
dionale: 241, 243; Staatliche
Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, Munich, West Germany: 180; Staatliche Museen, Berlin, East Germany: 226, 363; Dr. Franz Stoedtner, Diisseldorf, West Germany: 176; Studio C.N. B. &C, Bologna, Italy: 103; Studio Koppermann, Munich, West Germany: 161, 163, 179, 214; Studio R. Remy,
201, 203, 206, 221, 231; from R. Krautheimer, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture: 316, 317; F Krischen (after): 216; Herbert
Dijon,
Kuhn, Mainz: 30; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna: 333; Kurt Lange, Obersdorf/Allgau,
456, 466, 476, 481, 486, 489, 513, 514, 517;
West Germany: 72, 73, 94; Jacques Lathion, Oslo, Norway: Page 28; J. P. Lauer (after): 78; from A. W. Lawrence, Greek Architecture: 190; Leiris, Galerie Louise, Paris: 2; Tony Linck, Fort Lee, N.J.: 54; Magasins St.-Bernard, Vezelay, France: 438; Barbara Malterm, Rome: 224; Mansell Collection, London: 122; Alexander Marshack, New York. Copyright: 36, 48, 49; Pe-
Lockhart, Persia): 135;
ter
Mauss/Fsto: Page 32; James Mellaart. Lon-
don from Qatal-Huyiik): 43, 44, 45, 46, 47; The (
Metropolitan 142,
166;
Museum
88,
New
York: 5, 91,
Ministry of Works, London,
Copyright: 51;
Mexico
of Art,
Museo National de
City: 65;
Museum of New
Foundation,
Museum the
Crown
Antropologia,
of Fine Arts, Boston:
American lndian-Heye Nippon Television
York: 66;
Network Corporation; 10; National Buildings Record, London, Copyright: (F II. Crosslev 477;
I'he
DC:
266; Oriental Institute, University of Chi-
National Gallery of Art, Washington,
cago 92. Ill, 120. 121, 130, 1,32; Peabodv Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.:
Page
France: 541;
Wim
Swaan,
New
York:
13, 3, 77, 79, 80, 84, 90, 93, 95, 96, 98, 99,
104, 105, 131, 134, 197, 345, 373, 416, 428, 455,
Thames & Hudson, London (from Costa and J. W. Thomas, Oxford, England: 501; Marvin Trachtenberg, New York: 344, 348; UNESCO, from UNESCO World Art
Series, Australia, PI. XXII: 39; University
um, Philadelphia:
1
Muse-
13; University of Utrecht, Li-
brary: 400; Vatican Archives, Vatican
Museum,
Rome: 297; Jean Vertut: 32; Leonard von Matt, Buochs, Switzerland: 145; Victoria & Albert Museum, London: 331; Warburg Institute, University of London: 442; Clarence Ward, Oberlin, Ohio: 453, 455, 465; Hildesheim Wehmeyer: 407; David Wilkins, Pittsburgh, Pa.: Page 17;
Woodfin
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Associates, Inc.,
New
York: 57,
367, 459, 460, 464; Yale Center for British An, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven, Conn.: 29; Van Photo Reportage, Toulouse, France: 34; Yugoslav State Tourist Office: 280. Illustration
SPAUEM,
copyrights:
1991;
Beeldrecht/VAGA, 1991: 26.
Copvright
Page 29, 1991:
14;
ARS N.YV
Copyright Copyright VAGA,
2,
12;
The
text of this
a typeface
hook was
designed
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set
m
9 '/--point Primer.
1949 by the American
artist
and
designer Rudolf Hudzicka (1883-1978) for the Mergenthaler Linotype
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legible face
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designed by Morns Fuller Benton.
reflects his studies of reading
released in 1920 by American
in
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is
comprehension;
it
was
Type Founders Display type
Arrow, condensed 20 percent.
bound
fully available in 1954.
a refinement of Century Schoolbook, an eminently
104
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GSM
(
is
printed and
grams per square meter)
Royal coat. Color illustrations arc printed in four-color offset;
black-and-white illustrations arc printed
in
duotone
offset.
I
isl
Of
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HI
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•
HISTORY OF ART •A revised and expanded Introduction with a new section on key formal elements line, col-
For three decades, Janson's History of Art has been the all other art history surveys have been
—
book against which
eloquent text and
matchless quality of illustration have introduced the vast world of Western art to several generations of students and have inspired millions of
measured.
Its
etchings, engravings, and lithographs
more
lavish,
more comprehensive, and more accessible than ever
before,
This revised and expanded Fourth Edition
many new
features added to
its
is
The intelligence and verve that have always characterized History of Art remain. The narrative of art histor) is told with majesty, balance, and wit enlarging our capacity to
unexcelled text and
—
format: •
•
understand and appreciate the works of art themselves not merely to accumulate data about them. From the earliesl
A completely new design al
that encourages visucomparison of related works of art
250 magnificent first
time
many
now
for the
with the text
— with
color illustrations,
fully integrated
cave paintings
•A
ments
four-color
all
Edition;
many
Key Monu-
new
drive for self-expression
the discussion about al
to the
them heightens
and return
to for
is
a book to pore
vears to come.
16 improved architectural diagrams,
show developments from early Greek temples through High Gothic basilicaform churches • Illustrations of major works in situ •An updated text that throughout reflects the most current scholarship and critical thinking labeled to
577 illustrations, including 250 in I! maps; 2 illustrated time charts
ABOUT THE AUTHORS H. W. Janson versity
and
its
was Professor of Fine Arts graduate center.
The
at
New
York Uni-
Institute of Fine Arts.
For more than twenty-five years he served as Glum of the
Department of Fine Arts
New was
York University.
Washington Square College
at
Two
times a
Guggenheim
of
Fellow, he
honored by twice receiving the highest award of
also
the Gollege Art Association for 'the most distinguished work of art historical scholarship.'' In
1962-65 he was
Editor-
in-Chief of the Art Bulletin, published by the College Art Association,
and served
organization
that
1970-72. Together with his ing helped to shape the
first
wile.
as
President in
Dora Jane, whose think-
edition of History oj Art, Profes-
sor Janson made extraordinary contributions to a popular understanding of art, beginning with The Story oj Painting
and Picture History of Painting in the earl) 1950s. Art hisJanson torian, teacher, and museum curator Anthony I
worked
closely with
Basic History of Art.
History
<>l
him
He
to revise
the highly successful A
has been responsible
Art since his lather's death
Printed
m
Japan
to
the pleasure of person-
Edition of History of Art
over, delight in,
Fourth
\nd the prox-
— color and black-and-white —
discovery.
The Fourth
of Western art
12 labeled diagrams that are
human
imity of all the illustrations
in the History of Art, that features criti-
cal turning points in •
drawings
portfolio.
the refined manuscript painting
and comparisons among styles and cultures are exThe story of art becomes an adventure, as History of Art follows the search for forms and techniques to satisfy the ageless
31 -page,
to
tions,
Art. line
Europe
plained.
full-page plates
327 rich duotones and
in
of the International Gothic Style, the connections, transi-
and scores of pictures that have never before appeared in History of
•
Sections on techniques and processes, such as tempera and fresco oil painting woodcuts
•
art lovers.
with
composition, form, and space
or. Iiuht,
its
in
1982,
lor revising
full color:
0-13-388448-1
