Early Flemish Visions

Visions and Meditations in Early Flemish Painting Author(s): Craig Harbison Source: Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the
History of Art, Vol. 15, No. 2 (1985), pp. 87118 Published by: Stichting voor Nederlandse Kunsthistorische Publicaties Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3780659 . Accessed: 25/01/2011 19:29
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87
Visions and meditationsin earlyFlemish painting* CraigHarbison
In fifteenth-century Flanderswe find a religiousart in which individualpiety is the prime motivatingforce; not scholasticdisputation, transcendent ecstasyor liturgical ritual, but a calculated,personalreligious experience,the vision or meditationis found at the centerof things. Paintings portrayfamous visionariesfrom the past as well as contemporariesin the guise of these sainted predecessors.Above all, fifteenth-century men and womenareshownso ferventlyengagedin theirown prayersthat the subjectof theirdevotions,whetherit be the Virginor an event from Christ'slife, stands before them or indeed surroundsthem. Interestin personalpiety and devotioncertainlypredates this time. Throughout the preceding centuries new formsof personalaffective devotionweredeveloped and disseminated.In the fourteenthand fifteenthcenturies some have spoken of "waves" of popularpiety What was at least sweeping over the Low Countries.1 there was the witnessed spreadof private partly being devotionalpracticesfromclergyto laity. In some waysa difficult, monastically-orientedbody of information, and at times speculation,was being assimilatedby the populace at large.2This assimilationwas not taking Variousreliplace either accidentallyor haphazardly.
* I am gratefulto the followingfor theircommentson earlierdraftsof this study: Jane Goldsmith, Sherrill Harbison, Robert A. Koch, James Mundy, MarkRoskill,GloriaRussell and MargaretSullivan. art i See JamesMarrow,Passioniconography in northern European of thelatemiddle Kortrijk1979,esp. pp. 20agesandearlyRenaissance, 26; and,in general,Dom JeanLeclerq,Dom FrancoisVanderbroucke and Louis Bouyer, The spiritualityof the middleages (A History of
Christian Spirituality 2), London 1968; Heiko A. Obermann, "Four-
gious movements at the time, of which the chief was known as the Modern Devotion, were specifically dedicated to moving beyond the monastic perimeters which had at least partly restricted earlier revitalization efforts.3 Lay brother and sisterhoods and the use of the vernacular tongue both contributed to the wide effect which the resurgence of personal and practical piety had at the time. One of the most telling indications of the nature of fifteenth-century piety was the production of various devotional handbooks. These often vernacular works represented the personal and creative choice of the authors and/or patrons; mystic miscellanies in Germany; books of diverse readings and lessons (rapiaria) in the Windesheim Congregation, the monastic branch of the Modern Devotion; and, of course, the Book of Hours, the most widely produced lay handbook of the period, no two of which were ever totally alike.4 Such works represent the primary devotional reading of the literate among the population, fervent and idiosyncratic meditations meant more for personal than for communal use. We can observe here the creation of a prayer-book mentality, certainly among the nobility and upper classes who commissioned works of art.
2 (1976), pp. II-24 (this last is somewhatinStudiesin Iconography accurateboth in ideas and understanding). 2 See, for instance,F.P. Pickering,"A Germanmystic miscellany of the late fifteenthcenturyin the John RylandsLibrary,"Bulletinof 22 (1938), pp. 455-92, esp. pp. theJohnRylandsLibrary,Manchester
455-65.
teenth centuryreligiousthought: a prematureprofile,"Speculum 53

(1978), pp. 80-93; and Steven Ozment, The age of reform, 1250-1550,
studies also include: Sixten New Haven I98o.Relevantart-historical Ringbom, "Devotionalimages and imaginativedevotions, notes on the placeof artin late medievalpiety," GazettedesBeaux-Arts,ser. 6,
73 (1969), pp. 159-70; Lloyd Benjamin, The empathetic relation of
3 A basicworkon the ModernDevotion is R.R. Post, The Modern Devotion:confrontation withReformation andhumanism, Leiden 1968. An earlier,less careful work is Albert Hyma, The Christian Renais2nd. ed., Hamden1965.See Moderna," sance;a history of the "Devotio also E.F. Jacob, "The Brethrenof the CommonLife," Bulletinof the
John Rylands LibrarT, Manchester 24 (1940), pp. 37-58; and Mathias
in de eerstetyidvan de Moderne Goossens,De meditatie Devotie,Haarlem & Antwerp [I952]. 4 See Marrow, op. cit. (note I), esp. p. 22; Pickering, op. cit. (note
northern Unito imageinfifteenthcentury obserzer art, (dissertation), versity of North Carolina,Chapel Hill 1973; and idem, "Disguised symbolismexposedand the historyof earlyNetherlandishpainting,"
2), and, for the Bookof Hours,John Harthan,Booksof Hoursandtheir

owners, London I977.
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CRAIG HARBISON
Ultimately, then, one might see the primary devotional thrust of the fifteenth century as somewhat unsophisticated and unlearned, meant to appeal to a fairly broad spectrum of the population. The books produced were not remarkably original or erudite; they were rather handy and often quite personal compendia. The great questions they dealt with did not hinge on abstruse argument and calculation, but basically concerned the mass effectiveness, the stimulation of a natural, one might even be tempted to say, somewhat passive and simple piety in the mass of society. In the end, this rising lay piety was anything but passive-unsophisticated perhaps, but not passive. A good indication of this is found in the promotion of the idea of learned ignorance, docta ignorantia. Codified by Nicolas of Cusa for his own somewhat special purposes, the notion of a lay person's humble and direct piety surpassing that of a learned confessor or teacher achieved widespread popularity at the time.5 Stories about such confrontations inevitably ended with the confessor admitting that the lay person's pious contemplations showed forth a far more godly life than the liturgically based practices prescribed by the clergy. Contemporary literature espousing the notion of docta ignorantia did not carefully or systematically distinguish between contemplations, meditations and visions. There were often rather vague references to "inward" and "outward" devotions, all of which are apparently not clerically prescribed works. The important point was that natural piety and imagination were far more efficacious than learned diatribes. This is important for the consideration of art, partly because visions in fifteenth-century painting often seem simply to be visualizations. For the lay populace, they were certainly
5 See F.P. Pickering, "Notes on late medieval German tales in Bulletinof theJohnRylandsLibrary, Manpraiseof doctaignorantia," chester igno24 (1940), pp. 121-37. For Cusa, see his own Of learned rance (trans. G. Heron), London 1954; also the critical studies of EugeneF. Rice,Jr., "Nicholasof Cusa'sideaof wisdom," Traditio13 (1957), pp. 345-68; and M.L. Fuehrer, "Wisdomand eloquencein Nicholas of Cusa's Idiota de sapientiaand De mente,"VivariumI6
(1978), pp. 142-55.
deemed more relevantthan the kind of complex, scholasticpresentation of churchdogmawhichmanyarthistorianshave todayreadinto the imagery. In stressing the crucial importanceof visions and for Flemishreligiouslife andart, we arenot meditations with the kind of ecstaticexperiencefrequently dealing exhibitedby Italianand Spanishsaintsand art (such as St Teresaof Avila);no trumpetsin heaven,no delicious agonies, but a more methodical meditative process which, too, could producea kind of visionaryexperience. If the kinds of visions we find in Flemish art are less high-pitchedthan some others,they do still represent a kindof personalmysticismwhichtranscendstraditionalliturgicalpiety. Studiesof the possibleliturgicalmeaningof fifteenthcenturyFlemish paintingsmost often present tracings of medievalprecedents.A present-dayscholarlyinterpretationof the Deposition triptychattributedto Robert Campin(fig. I) has attemptedto see it as "intimately relatedto the ceremoniescelebratedin the chapel for The Easterliturgyin parwhichit wascommissioned."' ticularis here called upon to explain the donor's presence and purpose:to adorethe buriedand then resurrected host. Such traditionalceremonieswill no doubt view of Christian alwaysinformat leastthe theologian's art.But arewe justifiedin assumingthatthe anonymous in such a donorof this triptychwouldhave participated liturgical mentality, that he would constantly have thought and lived in the light of traditionalCatholic ritual?Detailed statisticalevidence from the time has shown that this is unlikely.Attendanceat mass, dependence on the clergyfor performance of the sacraments, was at a pitiful low point.7Indeed, whateverpiety fifteenth-century Flemingscan be saidto havehad, it was
2 (1976), pp. 107-13; "The Good Triptych',"Studiesin Iconography FridayliturgyandHansMemling'sAntwerpTriptych,"Journalof the Institutes37 (I974), pp. 353-56; and "The and Courtauld Warburg symbolin Flemishpainting," originof the vestedangelas a eucharistic
Art Bulletin 54 (I972), pp. 263-78. See also Ursula Nilgen, "The
6 BarbaraLane, "'Depositio et elevatio': the symbolism of the

Seilern Triptych," Art Bulletin 57 (1975), pp. 2I-30. This and other
motifs of eucharistic Epiphanyandthe eucharist:on the interpretation in medievalEpiphanyscenes,"Art Bulletin49 (1967), pp. 3 1-16. It might be pointedout that all these studies ignorethe changingsocial role and impactof the eucharist,somethingwhichis stressedby John Bossy, "The massas a socialinstitution,1200-1700," Past andPresent
Ioo (1983), pp. 29-61. liturgicallybased interpretations by Lane have now been collectedin Thealtar and the altarpiece, du in earlyNetherlandish sacramental themes religieuxen Flandrea la filn 7 JacquesToussaert, Le sentiment painting,New York I984. Several studies by M.B. McNamee have moyenage, Paris 1963, passim,esp. pp. i60-95; for conditions in also stressedthe importance of Catholicliturgyfor Flemish painting: Tournai,the locationof the presumedpainterof the Deposition trip"An additionaleucharisticallusion in van der XWeyden's 'Columba tych, see esp. pp. 297 and 325.
Visionsand meditationsin earlyFlemish painting
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withthe Entombment. I Attributedto RobertCampin, Triptych London, CourtauldInstituteGalleries,Seilern Collection
not parochially based. Fifteenth-centuryFlemings did evidence, not, as faras we cantell fromthe documentary look to the liturgicalforms of the church in order to express their religious feelings. Some have even concluded from this that the populationat large was not As an asidewe might point out here that veryreligious.8
was probablymeant to insist on the power, largelyignored by the laity, of priestlyritual.9The centralityof the sacraments in religiouslife was here insisted upon, even beforethey hadall becomecanonical, vanderWeyof the clergy'sbelief den's paintingbeing a declaration in their primepositionin the face of lay disinterest. van der Weyden's Seven sacraments altarpiece (fig. 2), The donor of Campin'sDeposition triptych has had commissionedby the bishop of Tournai,Jean Chevrot, himself paintedas very involved,very interestedin his
trayed observingor administeringthe sacramentsin Roger's work. Their combinedpresencetherewouldcertainlyreinforcethe clerically dominatednatureof this work. The poor state of affairsat Tournai Cathedralin the late fourteenthcenturyis referredto repeatedlyby Toussaert,op. cit. (note 7). In an unpublishedpaper Susan Koslow has viewed the Antwerp altarpieceas a clerically dominated work relatedto Bishop Chevrot'slife and his involvementwith the church militant.I am gratefulto ProfessorKoslowfor sharingthis paperwith me; the interestedreadershould also consult her dissertation,The Chevrotaltarpiece:its sources,meaningand significance, New York
University 1972.
8 Ibid. To some extent this is also the view ofJohan Huizinga, The waning of themiddle ages(trans.F. Hopman),New York I954. Toussaert'sratherextremeconclusionis questionedby John Bossy, "The Counter-Reformation and the people of CatholicEurope,"Past and Present 47 (1970),esp. pp. 52-53. A differingpointof view fromTousvan de saert's is also presented by Stephanus Axters, Geschiedenis in de Nederlanden, vroomheid 4 vols., Antwerp1950-60. see Erwin Panofsky,"Two altarpiece 9 For the Seven sacraments and the dateof Rogerproblems:the donorof the HagueLamentation Art Bulletin33 (1951), pp. the altarpieceof the Seven sacraments," 33-40. Panofskybelieves that three importantprelatesmay be por-
9o
CRAIG HARBISON
Rogervan der Weydenand assistants, Sevensacraments altarpiece. Antwerp, KoninklijkMuseum voor Schone Kunsten
own meditations.Certainlythese focus on the sacrifice of Christ, but not necessarilyas the basis for church ritual.The donor is praying;a banderolewinds up out of his mouthtowardthe ladderperchedagainstthe empty cross. Is it accidentalthat some of the most popular devotionalguides of the time speak of the world as a of whichwe shallmountup to ladder,by contemplation God?1o Meditation on the life of Christ, Ludolph of was like a ladder on Saxony told his contemporaries, whichone movedfromseeingthose thingswhichChrist wroughtin the fleshto beholdinghim in the spirit." In orderto understand the imageryof this paintingwe need not refer to abstrusetheologicalspeculation;we only need readone of the simple, accessibleprayersfoundat
10 See St Bonaventura,The mind'sroadto God (trans. G. Boas), New York I953, esp. p. io. 11 See Sister Mary ImmaculateBodenstedt, The Vita Christiof the Carthusian, Ludolphus Washington(D.C.) I944, esp. p. II6. I2 The translation Bodenstedtis taken by Sister Mary Immaculate from Prayingthe life of Christ, first Englishtranslation of the prayers the i8i chapters the Carconcluding of the Vita Christi of Ludolphus thusian,Salzburg I973, p. I60. This is perhapsalso the place to emphasizethat I would not considerthe Campinpaintingas illustrating
the end of a chapterof Ludolph'spopularVita Christi: Lord Jesus Christ, at compline thou wert anointed andembalmedwithfragrant and bound spices,wrapped in a shroudand other linens, borne to the grave (John I9:39-42), and buried by thy mother and sorrowing friends(Luke23 :55). Grantme the graceto anointthee with fragrantspices by fervent devotion and useful speech; to wrapthee in a shroudand linens by purityof affectionand conscience;to grieve over thee with tears of repentance and compassion;to carrythee in the arms of lovingandhumbledeeds; to burythee in my heartby undistractedrecollectionand meditation.Then may I meritto come with thee to the gloryof the resurrection. Amen.12
Ludolph'stext. Rather,the text simplypresentsus with an analogous model for approaching and religiousmeditation.This contemplation is also the case with the othertexts mentionedbelow,Bridgetand the in particular(see note 22). Albert Chatelet, Pseudo-Bonaventura i proposde Jean van Eyck "Fenetreet fontainedans l'Annonciation, et du Maitrede Flemalle,"ttudes d'artmedieval a LouisGrooffertes of motifsin vanEyck decki,ParisI981, pp. 317-24, sees combinations and Campinas being directlyderivedfrom Ludolph'stext.
Visions and meditations in early Flemish painting
9I
Fervent devotion, undistracted meditation, it is in these, not attendance at Easter mass, that the lay populace in general, and this donor in particular, put their trust. To some extent the mythic quality of such a donor's piety must, even here, be recognized. The view the images leave with us is no doubt in part a contrived one. The donors want us, wanted their contemporaries, to believe in their devoutness. This prayer-book mentality is to some extent a retreat from, or a mask for, personal, social, religious and political conflicts of the time. Beneath the surface of this personal piety one could no doubt find telling signs of the changing status of women or the power of the nobility or peasants.13 My purpose here, however, is not to investigate issues of social background or personal temperament. Rather it is to show how artists found the means to visualize, subtly and fully, the chief religious ideal of the time, lay visions and meditations. While this study is intentionally limited in one way, it is also right to acknowledge that it could be expanded in several directions. There were a large number of important saints whose visions were remembered and recorded during the fifteenth century. It is not yet a time when contemporaries provide a constant model for such behavior. The Reformation, a hundred years later, may have had an important effect on this situation, yet throughout the fifteenth century saints' visions are common objects of artists' and patrons' attentions. Among those prominently portrayed are St Francis (Jan van Eyck), Augustus and the Sibyl (van Eyck and Roger van der Weyden, figs. 6 and 9), St Catherine (Master of St Catherine, fig. 33), St John on Patmos (Hans Memling), and St Gregory (Hieronymus Bosch and others). Lesser figures as well crop up repeatedly: Ildefonso, Hubert, Bernard, Benedict and Augustine.14 In the context of a study of lay visions and meditations it is not the mere portrayal of the visions of these saints or legendary figures which is alone so noteworthy. A more striking feature of fifteenthcentury art and an indication of concomitant attitudes is the manner in which contemporaries apparently identiof a social role which meditationmight 13 For an interpretation W. Atkinson,"'Preciousbalsamin haveservedforwomensee Clarissa a fragileglass:' the ideology of virginity in the later middle ages,"
Journal of Family History 8 (1983), pp. I31-43.
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and the Tiburtine 3 LimbourgBrothers,Augustus Sibyl. Chantilly, Musee Conde, TresRichesHeuresof Jean de Berry,fol. 22
fled with, and showed themselves in the guise of, some of these holy figures. One of the first great patrons involved in this development, just as he is one of the first great patrons involved in the development of fifteenth-century northern art in general, was Jean de Berry. The duke's model for a dramatic and visionary experience was the Emperor Augustus. According to several medieval sources, the Golden legendand Mirror of humansalvation chief among them, Augustus was about to be deified. Wishing to know if there were any as great as he, the emperor consulted the Tiburtine Sibyl and was shown a vision of a maid and child, the child said by the Sibyl to become a greater
14 Examples include paintings of St Ildefonso by a follower of painting,vol. 6, pt. Early Netherlandish Memling(M.J. Friedlander,
I, Leiden & Brussels 1971, pl. 130, nr.
105)
and of St Bernard by Joos
van Cleve (ibid., vol. 9, pt. i, Leiden & Brussels1972, pl. 62, nr. 48).
92
CRAIG HARBISON
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NicolasRolinprayingto the 5 Jan van Eyck, Chancellor Virgin.Paris,Louvre
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and his wifeprayingto the 4 BoucicautMaster,MarshalBoucicaut Boucicaut Hours,ms. 2, Virgin.Paris,Musee Jacquemart-Andre, fol. 26v
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rulerthanthe Romanemperor.Augustuswas duly conthe event. vertedanda churchfoundedto commemorate Numerous works, especially the most prominentmanuscriptscommissionedby the dukeof Berry,illustrate the emperor'svision (fig. 3). For the latter-dayAugustus, Jean de Berry, identificationwith his predecessor extended beyond the commissioningof worksof art to mattersof dress: Jean either mimickedthe kind of costume Augustus was shown wearingin some of his manuscripts,or the emperorwas shown in clothing which Jean commonlywore.'5 Otherprominentpatronsat the time displayeda similardesireto identifythemselveswiththis visionfromthe
past. MarshalBoucicautand his wife areshownin their of Book of Hours kneelingbeforea mysticalapparition the Virginand Child which looms over their heads(fig. 4). This compositionis relatedto that of the Aracoeli, the emperorand Sibyl havinghere been supplantedby Otherexamplesareperthe two contemporary figures.'6 hapsless obvious,but one wondersif a connectionwith is not implicit.In JanvanEyck's the Augustanprototype paintingof ChancellorNicolas Rolin (fig. 5), the Madonnaholds the ChristChild forwardin a way perhaps to the text of this legendandfoundin several responding otherprominent examplesof the visionitself (Rogervan der Weyden'sso-calledBladelinaltarpiece amongthem,
New York i974, esp. pp. 139 ff. and 156; and Millard Meiss, Late 15 See Philippe Verdier,"A medallionof the 'Ara coeli' and the andthepatronage enamelsof the fifteenthcentury,"Journalof the Wal- fourteenth Netherlandish of theduke,London I967, pp. 233century tersArt Gallery24 (1961),esp. pp. 9-24; MillardMeiss, French 35. paintandtheircontemporaries, I6 See MillardMeiss, French paintingin the timeof Jean de Berry, ingin thetimeofJean de Berry,the Limbourgs the Boucicaut Master,London I968, pp. 21 and 146, note 71.
93
6 Begun by Jan van Eyck, Triptych of Nicholasvan Maelbeke. FormerlyWarwickCastle,Warwick
fig. 9).17 On the outside of van Eyck's Maelbeke triptych
while (fig. 6) Augustusand the Sibyl gaze heavenward, on the inside the cleric who commissionedthe workrevision. In RobertCampin'spainting peatsthe emperor's in glory(Aix-en-Provence, of the Virgin Musee Granet) the Virginand Child are seated on an altar-likethrone again reminiscentof Augustanportrayalssuch as Roger's.And in the earlysixteenthcenturya seriesof portraits by Jan Mostaert show the legend in the background(fig. 7). The patronsapparentlystill kept alive the hope that they would be granted the vision that Augustusexperienced. Being human as well as a powerful earthly ruler,
17 Meiss, Latefourteenth century,cit. (note 15), p. 234, suggested thatthe Virgin'sactionin holdingthe child forward, exhibitinghim to of this legend was relatedto the beholders,in earlierrepresentations to Augustus:"This child is greaterlordthan thou, Sibyl'sdeclaration worshiphim" ("Hic puer maiorte est et ideo ipsum adora").
Augustus was a naturaltarget for sentiments of selfidentification.The desire to have a vision by osmosis extendedto other quite saintlyfiguresas well. St Gregoryhavinghis visionduringmassin orderto converta doubtingassistantis almostinvariably accompanied by contemporary figureswho, too, wantto witnessthis miraculousevent.18 of all arethose Perhapsmost arresting scenes wheresomeonetakesthe Virgin'splace and has, forinstance,her visionof the resurrected Christ,or even vision of the receivesthe angelicgreeting,a first-person Good examplesof these occurrencesare Annunciation. found in manuscriptsowned by the women thus porof Yorkwith the resurrected trayed:Duchess Margaret
includepaintingsin the style of Campin(Friedlander, I8 Examples nr. 73) and op. cit. (note I4), vol. 2, Leiden & Brussels1967, pl. oo00, David (ibid., vol. 6, pt. 2, Leiden&Brussels1971,pl. 207, nr. 204) and the workby Boschalreadymentioned(ibid., vol. 5, Leiden & Brussels 1969,pl. 47, nr. 68).
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CRAIG HARBISON
8 Masterof the Girardde Roussillon, Christappearing to Margaret Resurrected of deJesus York,in Nicolas Finet, Le dialogue Christet de la duchesse. London, British Museum,Add. Ms. 7970, fol. 4
withthe Emperor 7 Jan Mostaert,Portraitof Abelvan de Coulster vision.Brussels,Musees Royauxdes Beaux-Arts Augustus's
Christ,a scene often elaborated upon by variousvision- sonal religious experience suggests an important way of ariesand mystics(fig. 8);19 and Duchess Maryof Guel- understanding a painting like Roger van der Weyden's ders receivingthe heavenlysalutationin the vernacular Bladelin altarpiece (fig. 9). This work, as well as many
("O milde Marie").20 Throughout the century other
women were portrayedin the guise of sibyls, those women whose visionaryknowledgehad, for instance, firststimulatedmen like Augustus.21 There wasthus in the fifteenthcenturya strongdesire to emulate visionariesand relive visions from the past. This notion of identifyingwith, and ultimatelytaking from,anothermorefamousindividual's inspiration per"'Et primavidet:' the iconography 19 See JamesD. Breckenridge, of the appearance of Christto his mother,"Art Bulletin39 (1957),pp. 9-32, esp. pp. 31-32; also Otto Pacht, The Masterof Mary of Burgundy,London 1948. 20 See Erwin Panofsky,Early Netherlandish painting,Cambridge
others, contains significant features derived from one of the great visionary or meditative treatises of the late middle ages, the Revelations of St Bridget of Sweden. Thus the Virgin is robed in white, her blue mantle dropped to the ground around her; and a prominent column, mentioned in a speech by the Virgin to Bridget, indicates her foreknowledge of her son's Passion. Roger's painting represents in part a re-enactment of
1953, p. Iox; and Harthan,op. cit. (note 4), pp. 80-81. 21 Examplesinclude a paintingattributedto Roger van der Weyden of Isabellaof Portugalas the PersianSibyl (Malibu,J. Paul Getty as theSambetha Museum),andanotherby HansMemlingof a Woman Sibyl (Bruges,MemlingMuseum).
Visionsand meditationsin early Flemish painting
95
9 Rogervan der Weyden, Bladelinaltarpiece. Berlin, StaatlicheMuseen, Gemaldegalerie
Bridget'svision,a re-enactment takingplacein the mind of the donor,who kneelsat the rightof the centerpanel were just one staringoff blankly.Bridget'sRevelations for model the fifteenth great literary century. Equally werethe Meditations of the Pseudo-Bonavenimportant turaand the Vita Christiof Ludolphof Saxony.22 In all casesthe readerof the text was encouraged to relivethe life and Passionof Christ.The viewerof a paintingderived from such a text was in turn encouragedto relive the events as envisionedby that particular holy person. The experiencewas heightenedby the fervorof the author and artist. The historical, biblical narrativewas made a fitting object of devotion and of visionaryart. Fifteenth-century patronsandartistsidentifiedwith figures like St Bridget because it made their devotional images more powerfuland more personal-more personalsincetheyimaginedan eventfromthe pastthrough the very specialeyes, with the vision, of a St Bridget.
22 Isa Ragusaand RosalieB. Green, (eds.), Meditations on the Life Princeton of Christ,an illustrated manuscript of thefourteenth century, 1961; CharlesAbbott Conway,Jr., The Vita Christiof Ludolphof devotioncentered on the Incarnation: a deSaxony and late medieval scriptive analysis,Salzburg1976; and the referencescited in notes i and 12 above. For the impact of Bridget'svisions on art see, for in-
Practiceat the time emphasizedthe need for a direct, of Christ'slife on earth.Devivid, visualre-enactment votional treatisesrepeatedlyencouragedthe devout to focus theirattentionso that they might truly be present at certainmomentsof Christ'slife. Throughmethodical the Passionof Christwasto unfolddramatimeditations in the mind's eye. Some paintingsand miniatures cally a in the foreground, show an inviting,open prayer-book scene from Christ'slife in the background (figs. 10 and
I ).23
In this way, we can be certainthat narrativeimages were meantto functionin a devotionalcontext.Painted imagesof Christ'slife were meantto form or reflectthe own pious meditations.As the texts told the spectator's to recreate the scene, to participate readerimaginatively in the Passionof Christ,so the paintings empathetically provideda similarlygrippingview. And they indicate this intentionquite often by the inclusionin a narrative
stance, Panofsky,op. cit. (note 20), pp. 46, 94 and 125-26. See also note 12 abovefor the qualification on the use of these literaryworksas "texts"for the paintings. 23 In additionto the worksillustratedhere, anotherrelevantexis in the Museo ample,with foreground landscape actingas prie-dieu, Madrid(attributed to QuentinMetsys). Lazaro-Galdiano,
96
CRAIG HARBISON
II Jan Provost,Lamentation. Williamstown,ClarkArt Institute io Masterof Maryof Burgundy,Nailing to the Cross.Vienna, Bookof Hoursof Mary of Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek, ms. I857, fol. 43v Burgundy,
donor. The presenceof the context of a contemporary is not justa daringanachronism donorat the Crucifixion (fig. 12). Nor is it only a sign that some proprietary connection exists between donor and painting. Of course,it may to some extent be both of these things. It is howeverespeciallyindicativeof the devotionalfunction of the workof art. The donor is havinga vision of the Crucifixion,is visualizingit in the course of his or her pious meditations. This is not only consistentwith contemporary pracof the Pseudo-Bonaven24 This idea goes backto the Meditations turaandthe VitaChristi of Ludolphthe Carthusian (see the references cited in note 22 above). It was also stronglyespousedby followersof the Moder Devotion, and in this context it has been repeatedly analyzed by modern commentators;see K. Smits, "De Moderne Devoten en de kunst," HistorischTijdschrift 14 (x935), pp. 331-41; Goossens,op. cit. (note 3), esp. p. 176; Benjamin,"Disguised symbolism,"cit. (note i), esp. pp. I7-I8; and Marrow,op. cit. (note i), p.
20.
tice, it is specificallyand rigorouslyprescribed:think on, envision, participateimaginativelyin the life and were told.24Painters Passionof Christ,contemporaries visionsjustas they portheircontemporaries' portrayed trayedthose from the past. Paintingsin which donors are presentat the Nativity (Bladelinaltarpiece; fig. 9); the Adoration(Roger's Columba altarpiece;fig. I3) or the Crucifixion (Roger'sViennatriptych;fig. 12) arenot events.They aresomeone'sperthereforejusthistorical For whatmight appearto sonalvisionof those events.25
25 The donorsin these three Rogerpaintingsare quite differentin scale and seemingimportancewithin the work.This might partlybe morepublic functionservedby the Coexplainedby the presumably whichis muchlarger(138 x 293 cm.) thaneitherthe lumba altarpiece, Bladelin(9I x I69 cm.) or the Viennatriptychs(Ioi x 140cm.). The fact remainsthat even in a morepublicallyostentatiousworklike the the privatedevotionallife of the donor is quite Columba altarpiece, specificallyincluded.
............
97
I2 Rogervan der Weyden, Triptych withthe Crucifixion. Museum Vienna,Kunsthistorisches
Alte Pinakothek Munich, BayerischeStaatsgemaldesammlungen, altarpiece. 13 Rogervan der Weyden, Columba

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98
CRAIG HARBISON
14 Hugo van der Goes, Sir EdwardBonkiladoring the Trinity.Edinburgh,National Galleryof Scotland
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15 Hans Memling, Martinvan Nieuwenhove prayingto the Virgin.Bruges,Hospitalof St John
Visionsand meditationsin earlyFlemish painting narrativewith a donor somehow be a straightforward itself tackedon turnsout to be not so muchthe narrative versionor vision of it.26 as someone'sparticular Stress has alreadybeen placed on the importanceof individuallay piety in the fifteenthcentury.In this context it is worth pointingout that from a survey of well over a thousandfifteenth-century paintings(the Friedlandercorpus),the numberof lay donorsin or attached is morethantwo and a-halftimes to religiousnarratives that of clericalfigures.Thus the idea of meditatingon attracChrist'slife was a form of devotionparticularly tive to the publicat large.27 have demonPaintingsmay stratedhow wealthya patronwas; we should also considerthat, just as much if not more,they showedsomething aboutthe donors'public religiousposture. It must be emphasizedthat in early Flemish paintings there is often little clear demarcationbetween what is earthly,pureand simple, and whatis visionary.Visions are rarelyset off againststylized cloud formations,and angelsalmostnevertrumpetlong and loud to alertus to an oncoming supernaturaloccurrence. For all that, Hugo van der Goes's Bonkildiptych(fig. 14) is no more visionarythan Hans Memling's Nieuwenhove diptych (fig. 15). Nor, in termsof a single panel,does the Roger School paintingof the queen of France'svision of the a moreimagVirginof the Apocalypse (fig. i6) represent inative devotionalexperiencethan van Eyck's van der Paele panel (fig. 17). The point is that none of the humansinvolvedin theseparticular works,EdwardBonkil, Martinvan Nieuwenhove,Jean of France and George van der Paele, could in any sense have pretendedto be greatvisionaries.We are not witnessinga rareecstatic experiencepreparedfor by a lifetime of monasticwithdrawaland sensory deprivation.There was simply a generaltrend of the times away from the notion of a spiritualelite, towardthe desirethat many membersof
26 Some acknowledgment needs to be madeof the fact that, in the alone could past, scholarshave claimedthat symbolicAndachtsbilder serve as devotional images. See, for instance, Erwin Panofsky, "'ImagoPietatis,'Ein BeitragzurTypengeschichtedes 'Schmerzensmanns'und der'MariaMediatrix'," MaxJ. Friedlander Festschriftfur
99
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I6 School of Rogervan der Weyden,Jean de Franceprayingto the Virgin.Chantilly,Musee Conde
in visociety, by their "learnedignorance,"participate The of devotional sionaryexperiences. popularization concepts,and the notion that these paintingsrepresent the ordinarymental images which accompanymeditation, go a long way towardexplainingthe frequentlack of convenientlycloud-fringedvisions. It may be incon-
numberof narrative scenes 27 In additionto the disproportionate with lay donors,the numberof survivingpaintingsof the Virginwith of the lay patronsis threetimes greaterthanthat with representatives clergy. Withoutknowinga greatdeal more about the natureof these lay commissionsor the overallnumbersof clergyand laityat the time, it is difficultto draw conclusionsfrom such statistics.The fact that zum 60. Geburtstag, Leipzig 1927, pp. 261-308; also Ingrid Haug, zur Deutschen Christi,"Reallexikon "Erscheinungen Kunstgeschichte, clericallydominatedworksare morelikelyto have been destroyedby iconoclastsshould also be considered.We are still vol. 5, Stuttgart 1967, col. I354. This view has been correctedby sixteenth-century left with a remarkably SixtenRingbom,notablyin his Iconto narrative, Abo 1965,pp. 53-57. large number of privatepatronsin Flanders in reliwho wished to have themselvesshown piously participating gious imagery.
I00
CRAIG HARBISON
17 Jan van Eyck, CanonGeorge van derPaeleprayingto the Virgin.Bruges, Groeningemuseum
venient to us, but the absenceof such stylized markers indicatesan importantreligiousgoal of the times. There is another rathergeneral stumbling block to our understanding of Flemish visionaryart. This is the ideathatpaintingslikethe VanderPaeleMadonna areto be interpretedas anticipationsof the future; in other words that they supposedlyrepresentthe pious hopes thatthe donorhasforhis eternallife, thathe mayinhabit the heavenlythroneroomof the Virgin.It is difficultand to excludethis possibilityabsolutely,espeunnecessary ciallyin a case like this, wherethe paintingmight eventually have served as a funerarymonumentfor Canon van der Paele.28 Yet other waysof viewingsuch a painting maybe equally,if not more,relevant.The beliefthat a particular individualcanimmediately inculcatea meditative process which involves visions now, not just at
28 See Rudolf Terner, "Bemerkungen zur Madonnades Kanonikus van der Paele," Zeitschrift fur Kunstgeschichte 42 (p979), pp. 8391. However, as A. Viaene, "Het grafpaneelvan Kanunnikvan der Paelevoltooidin 1436doorJan vanEyck,"Biekorf66(1965),pp. 25764, pointedout, it is most likelythatvander Paelekeptthe panelin his
somefuturedate,cantransform imagesof wishfulthinking into present-dayreality. In the caseof a paintinglikethe VanderPaeleMadonna sufficientattentionhas not been given to the numerous inconsistencieswithin the image. Canon van der Paele, like ChancellorRolin (fig. 5) has apparentlyjust been readingfromhis open prayer-book. Taking a moment to reflecton whathe has read,the canon,againlike the chancellor, looksup, conveniently removingthe eyewhich he needs for his earthlyvision. What he glasses sees before him is not, of course, merely earthly, nor does he see it, strictlyspeaking, exceptin his mind'seye. We know that van Eyck fussed with the canon's eyes distant quite a bit in order to capturethe particularly qualitytheyhave.The gaze,then, is crucialin conveying a visionaryqualityto this, as well as to numerousother
residenceduring his lifetime to stimulatehis earthlydevotions. For this worksee alsoA.J. de Bisthoven,MuseeCommunal desBeauxArts, de la peintureI), 3rd. ed., Bruges(Les PrimitifsFlamands,I. corpus Brussels 1983,p. 204.
IOI
nors' glassystaresclearlyindicatesome psychic as well as physicaldisjunctionbetweenthe differentfiguresin the painting; we are not witnessinga single consistent level of existence.Quite simply, the disconnectedgazes tell us firstand foremostthat we are viewinga contemresultsof his or her poraryfigureand the (surrounding) or her vision. that his What we most meditations, is, often see in these cases is not a physicalfact, not a hope for the future, but the product of devotionalimagination. Gazes which somehowmiss each other, which show especiallythat the human participantis not directlyor physically experiencing the depicted scene, combine with prayerbooksand beads to indicatethe devotional and only partiallyearthlynatureof the event. That the donorof Roger'sColumba altarpiece (fig. 13) fingershis rosaryas he stares off quietly at nothing is significant. thathe kneelsbehinda tumbledown (It is alsoimportant wall, isolated in a separatespace. But more about that later.)Booksand beadssuchas thesecertifythe methodical nature of the contemporarypatron'smeditations. The majorityof donorsare shown kneelingwith hands uplifted together in a generallyprayerfuland devout attitude.The additionof beadsand booksgives the special impetus of fervent earthlypracticeto what might otherwiseseem cast off rathercasually.Also, the Virgin or Child,or both,areoftenshownfingeringprayer-book or beads;no doubt they aremeantin such casesto act as models for the viewer'sdevotionalexercises,to urge us on to carryout ourown meditations in frontof the image
adore the Virgin, using the same forms, prayersand beads,thatthey hadpreviously employedon earth?Perhaps it seems somewhatmundaneto claim that these men and womenaresimplysayingtheirprayers. But are these individualsbent solely on predictingtheir own salvationand heavenlyreception?Would they not perhaps see moreclearly,less througha glass, if they actually were admitted to the heavenlythrone room? Are they not essentiallyhopingthat they are as devout right now as the paintershows them to be ? A glance at images of undeniableheavenlystates is helpfulin this case. In the firstplace,it must be saidthat totally otherworldlyvisions are quite rare in fifteenthcenturyFlemish art. Some are connectedwith the Last Judgment,others with the Coronationof the Virgin.30 The most famous such image is that containedon the interiorof the Ghent altarpiece.None of these paintfigures, ings, however,includes obvious contemporary and everyonein them pays full attention;there are no workby Colijn sidelongor glassystares.A fragmentary de Cotershows the extremelyrarepresenceof contemporaryfiguresin what is certainlya vision of the hereafter: Philip the Handsome kneels with Christ while Joannathe Mad is posed with the Virgin (fig. i8).31In this case,all arefullyand,especially,visuallyinvolvedin the scene. In a wholely otherworldlyscene contemporariesjoin directly in the heavenlyadoration.When a figureis accepted,is undeniablya partof anotherrealm, we do not find the kind of psychic disjunctionwhich is presentin almostall earlyFlemish devotionalworks. FlanReligious panel paintingsin fifteenth-century ders are by and largemeantto be viewed as the mental (figs. 22, 24 and 29). Admittedly, it is difficult to dismiss absolutely the visions of contemporaries;this is true whether the idea that paintingsof a donor kneeling before an en- paintingis a narrative or a moretraditionally-conceived thronedMadonnaare visions of the hereafter.In such hieraticimagesuch as the VirginEnthroned,or a devoworksdo we not to some extent finda vivid anticipation tionalimagelikethe Man of Sorrows.This factemerges of a heavenlystatewhereblessedindividuals perpetually all the more clearlywhen we glanceat manuscriptilluearly Flemish paintings (see figs. 9,
12, I3).29
The do-
29 For van der Paele's gaze, see Jules Desneux, "Underdrawings seems contrivedby comparison. and pentimenti in the pictures of Jan van Eyck," Art Bulletin 40 30 Relevant examples include the Last Judgments by van Eyck (1958), p. 15. See also Benjamin, Empathetic relation, cit. (note i), pp. (New York,Metropolitan Museum)and Roger(Beaune,H6tel Dieu), see also and the Coronation 2I7 and 226-3I. For the gaze in Roger's Bladelinaltarpiece by the Master of I499 (London, Buckingham GiinterBandmann, "Hohleund SauleaufDarstellungenMariensmit Palace). dem Kinde," Festschrift fiir Gert von der Osten,Cologne 1970, pp. 31 This work has been studied from a traditionaliconographic 130-48. A sensitive readingof the Rolin Madonnais given by James point of view by Helene Adhemar,"Une hypotheseverifieegraceau du Louvre:le Christet la Vierge de Misericorde aux donaSnyder, "Jan van Eyck and the Madonna of Chancellor Nicolas Laboratoire du Mause du Louvre Rolin," OudHolland82 (1967), pp. I63-71; ChristineHasenmueller teursde Colynde Coter,"Bulletindu Laboratoire McCorkel,"The role of the suspendedcrownin Jan van Eyck's Ma- (supplement to Revue des Arts) 2 (i957), pp. 48-56. donnaand the Chancellor Rolin,"Art Bulletin58 (1976), pp. 5I6-20,
102
CRAIG HARBISON
I8 Colijnde Coter, ChristwithPhilipthe Handsome and The VirginwithJoannathe Mad (fragments). Paris,Louvre
mination. Almost all manuscripts contain the kind of image which is most analogous to the panel paintings that have been discussed above. The patron kneels praying, sometimes in the margin or initial, book or beads at hand, while the object, or result, of the prayers is shown in the main miniature. The connection with active devotional life is cemented by the presence on the same page of the text which started the whole thing going. In a scene illustrating the same text that is inscribed on the hem of the Virgin's robe in the Rolin Madonna, Catherine of Cleves kneels before a vision of the Virgin standing before the sun and on the moon, holding the writing Christ Child (fig. 19).32 Perhaps even more telling, Mary
32 John Plummer, The Hours of Catherineof Cleves,New York I966. The text on the Virgin'shem in the RolinMadonnais given an elaborate interpretation by Anne Hagopianvan Buren, "The canon-
of Burgundy, in the most famous image from her Book of Hours, reads a prayer which seems in turn to be illustrated in a background scene. There Mary is granted a vision of the Virgin (fig. 20).33 In such book illustrations the connection between image and practical devotional life is intimate and unavoidable. What happens when someone says his or her devotions, reads from a prayer-book, pursues the systematic meditations recommended by contemporary authors? They have a kind of vision, or, to put it another way, they are meant to visualize the object of their devotions, the subject of their paintings. Images record these experiences, or perhaps more importantly they engender,
ical office in Renaissancepainting,pt. 2: more about the Rolin Madonna,"Art Bulletin60 (I978), pp. 617-33. 33 See, for instance,Harthan,op. cit. (note 4), p. 112.
I03
19 Masterof Catherineof Cleves, Catherine of Cleves prayingto the Virgin.New York,Guennol Collection, Hoursof Catherine of Cleves,fol. iv
o2 Masterof Maryof Burgundy,Mary of Burgundy praying. Bookof Hoursof Mary Vienna,Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek, ms. 1857,fol. I4v of Burgundy,
or even prescribe them, just as Books of Hours do. There is a type of small devotional triptych which has on its wings not figural scenes but the texts of particularly popular, sometimes indulgenced prayers; surviving ex34 The inscriptionon the Lazaro-Galdiano triptych(fig. 21) is as follows: (left wing:) 0 o[m]nipotensd[omi]ne/ Jhesu crysti creator/ et Redemptornost[ri]/ p[ropter] Amaritudinem / Sanctissime et / Amarissime / Passionistue / qua[m] pro nobis / miseris peccatorib[us] / sustinuistimaxime;(rightwing:) in oracrucisqua[n]do/ Sanctissima a[n]i[m]a/ tua egressaest / De benedictissimo/ corporetuo miserere/ Anime mee / In egressusuo / et perduc/ cam i[n] vitam/ eternamAmen.
As pointed out by Ringbom, op. cit. (note 26), pp. 26 and 125, this
amples show the Descentfrom the Cross and the Virgin and Child flanked on each side by long inscriptions (figs. 2I and 22).34Other works have prayers at least begun on banderoles floating near the donor's praying hand.35 In
on the London triptychis as follows: (left wing:) Aue / Sanctissima/ Mariamr / Dei Regina/ Celi porta/ Paradisi/ Domina / Miidi pura/ Singularis/ tu es Virgo/ Tu sine peco / Concepta/ concepisti/ Jfim sine / oni macula;(right wing:) Tu / Peperisti,/ Creatorem / et salvatore/ Mundi / In quo non / Dubito / libera me / Ab omni / malo Et / Ora pro / Peccato/ Meo / Amen. For these workssee also Sixten Ringbom, "Maria in sole and the and Courtauld Institutes Journalof the Warburg Virginof the Rosary,"
25 (1962), pp. 326-30.
prayeris basedon the third in the set of seven prayersof St Gregory whichwereoftenfoundin contemporary Booksof Hours.The prayers are reprintedin V. Leroquais,Les Livresd'Heuresmanuscrits de la Bibliotheque Nationale,vol. 2, Paris 1927, p. 346, from Bibl. Nat. ms.
lat. 1363, fol. 122.
As transcribed school, by MartinDavies, EarlyNetherlandish (London NationalGalleryCatalogues), London 1968,p. 47, the inscription
35 A good example is in the Busch-ReisingerMuseum, Harvard museums University.It is discussedin Colin Eisler,New England (Les I: Corpus de la peinture PrimitifsFlamands 4), Brussels I96I, p. i8. The prayer here is taken from vespers of the Commune Festorum BeataeMariae Virginis.
Io4
CRAIG HARBISON
z2
withprayerwings.Madrid,Museo Studio of QuentinMassys afterRoger van der Weyden, Deposition Lazaro-Galdiano
22 Studio of GerardDavid ( ?) afterHugo van der Goes, Virgin and Childwithprayerwings. London,
NationalGallery
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interior.Florence,Uffizi 23 Hugo van der Goes, Portinarialtarpiece,
such casesthe relationbetweenimageand privatepiety is againinevitable.Surelywe arenot wrongin assuming that this was a typicalsituation:even if other paintings werenot literallyprovidedwith prayers,they were still meantto be devotionalaids or adjuncts. primarily The presenceof texts on the wingsof devotionaltriptychs introducesthe more generalissue of the way the differentparts of a triptych or diptych reinforce the work'svisionarynature.In casessuch as Roger'sBladelin altarpiece (fig. 9), for instance,we findthatthe theme of the interiorof the triptychis indeed visions.All three panelsshow visions,fromAugustusandthe Magion the wingsto the donorin the centralpanel.Similararrangements are found into the early sixteenth century.36 In relethe case of Roger'swork,this focus is particularly vant since scholarshave never been able to agree what text the workwasbasedon. Indeed,in this singleliterary caseit does not seem to be a questionof a unifiedtext for the stories represented,but of a unified theme for this kindof painting-visions.
36 A triptychin Antwerpattributedto Aertgenvan Leyden apparently showsHenryIIi of Nassauas Augustus;see J. Bruyn,"Twee St Antoniuspanelenen anderewerkenvanAertgenvanLeyden,"Nederlands KunsthistorischJaarboek I I (960), pp. 99-I00. Bruyn's view is
Frequently,the centralpanelof a triptychwill portray the visionof the donors,who arein turn confinedto the wings, a well-knowncase of this being Hugo van der
Goes's Portinari altarpiece (fig. 23). Donors are physi-
fromtheirvisionsin devotionaldiptychs callyseparated too, such as those by Roger(fig. 24) and Hans Memling (fig. I5). In morerecenttimes the donorpanelhas often fromthat of the Virgin:when the paintbeen separated ings left the originalfamily context the connection of that particular individualwith the vision was no longer In Roger'sdiptychsthe distincespeciallymeaningful.37 tion betweendonor'sand deity'srealmsis morestriking than in Memling'swork.The meditativeexperiencein Roger'spaintingscertainlyseems more exalted, that in Memling's images more down-to-earthand affective. Memling no doubt representssomethingof a popularizationof conceptsfound in Roger. In terms of the devotionaluse of separatepanels, it can also be observedthat those experiencingthe vision areoften on the outsideof the triptych,while the vision
37 Some worksshowa Virginpanelby the master'shandwhichwas kept in the shop waitingfor a donorto buy it. When that presumably happened, an assistant was given the job of executing the praying donor's portrait.An example is found in a work by the St Ursula masternow in Antwerp(Friedlander, op. cit. (note 14), vol. 6, pt. I,
Leiden & Brussels 1971, pl. I40, nr. I6).
's Leiden,Assen 1979, disputedby J.D. Bangs, Cornelis Engebrechtsz. 131-32. Anotherrelevantvisionarytriptych, now in Bruges, is attributedto the Masterof St Sang (Friedlander, op. cit. (note 14), vol. 9,
pt. 2, Leiden & Brussels 1973, pl. 197, nr. 195).
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CRAIG HARBISON
25 Hans Memling, Altarpiece of the two Sts John. Bruges,Hospitalof St John
itself is displayedacrossthe interior.Severaltriptychs

by Memling, the St John altarpiece in Bruges (fig. 25)
24 Roger van der Weyden,Madonnaand Childadoredby Philippede and Antwerp, Croy.San Marino,HuntingtonCollection(Madonna) KoninklijkMuseum voor Schone Kunsten (Philippede Croy)
a studyin 38 Shirley Neilsen Blum, Early Netherlandish triptychs: patronage, Berkeley1969,esp. ch. o1, pp. 93-94, 97-114. 39 See, for instance,Paul Philippot,"Les grisailleset les degresde realitede l'imagedans la peintureflamande des xve et xvie siecles," Bulletindes MuseesRoyauxdes Beaux-Artsde Belgique15 (1966), pp.
225-42.
have been critiand the GdanskLastJudgment triptych, cized for showingon their exteriorsthe donors merely In fact, Memling here shows "prayingto a crack."38 moreclearlythe relationbetweenexteriorandinteriorof the triptychwhich was only impliedby Jan van Eyckor RogervanderWeyden.In theirworksthe donorson the outsideare most often providedwith an immediateobin the ject for their prayers.Yet the interiorpanorama Ghent altarpieceor Beaune LastJudgmentwas surely that is the the targetof these mortals'piousmeditations; vision in their mind's eye. Memling has brought us closerto seeingthe different"levelsof reality"whichthe he exteriorand interiorof a triptychmay represent;39 has implied more stronglythan earlierartiststhat it is the donors'prayerswhich bridgethe gap or crackleading to the visionaryheartof the triptych. Flemishpaintingfound One type of fifteenth-century most often on the exteriorsof triptychs is surely not visionary,although it may clearly be connected with devotional practices: grisaille imitations of sculpture.
107
that finallymakesit, in fifteenth-century Flanders,such a fully utilizedand successfulequationfor lay visions. Spacein earlyFlemishart shouldnot generallybe characterizedby such adjectives as objective,rational,threedimensional and continuous.There areimportantways in whichthese northern artistsseem consciouslyunwillto hemmed be in ing by the abstractcalculationwhich lies behindthe use of these words.This refusalseemsto show a significant awareness of the subjectivequalityof of the that it can be and is unavoidably bent vision, ways to ulterior motives and, in many cases, to meditative purposes.The building-block theory of the inevitable, almostirrevocable conquestof spacetends to substitute an abstractnotionof progressfor the self-consciousness of the artistand his public.That is a substitutionwhich artistsin Flanderswouldprobably not fifteenth-century have accepted. Visual accuracyand aesthetic purpose arecombinedwith, even temperedby, the greatconsiderationgiven to religiousand emotionaleffectiveness. Northernpaintingssuch as van Eyck'sRolinMadonna (fig. 5) or Roger's St John altarpiece (fig. 26) show
space being experiencedin stages, bit by bit, from one vantagepointto another.Whenwe lookoverthe parapet in the middlegroundof the RolinMadonna, we seem to see with the eyes of the man with the red turbanand his Sculptureis often consideredthe chief devotionalme- friend: if we reallymaintaineda single, constantviewdiumof the precedingcenturies,supplantedonly in the point from well inside the foreground building, we fifteenth by the great floweringof panel painting. In would not be able to see all the nearbylandscapeporFlemish paintings, pieces of sculpture remain quite trayed in the painting. Shifting, fragmentary, puzzlefirmlyplantedas the recipientsof prayersand thanks- like pieces of spacepopulatenorthernfifteenth-century are cut into digestibleslices, giving.This is certainlythe way they functionin works paintings.Vast panoramas likethe Ghentaltarpiece andRoger'sBeauneLastJudg- even in the late fifteenthcentury,as in Hans Memling's ment.Sculpturemay be the objectof, or an adjunctto, a Passion of Christ in Munich. meditative It is verydifficultto claimthatspaceexistsin northern exercise;but it is clearlynot the resultof this process.It does not so readilymediatebetweenan earth- art independentlyof who occupiesit, and just how it is anda spiritualinsight.It remainsa partof the occupied,and who views it and just how it is viewed. In ly practice materialworld; movementinto a visionaryrealmmust this quite generalsense, spacein earlyFlemish painting leavethe cold stoneor lifelesswoodbehind.In this sense seems an appropriate vessel to containsubjectivedevosculptureon the outsideof a triptychchangingto paint- tional imagery.The surface realism is not allowed to fromearth- petrifyreligiousinspiration. There are also manyother ing on the insideclearlysuggestsa transition to vision. This idea in turn raises the smaller visual clues which be takenas the painters' can ly supernatural intricatequestionof just how it is that a panelpainting, attemptsto reinforcethe pious personasof the patrons. whichis still a material object,can in fact be an immate- The questionis: how canan artistcreatea feelingfor the rial or transcendent vision at all. This is a crucialissue, sacred or visionarywhich is to some extent set apart for it is a panel painting'sability to undercut its own from the mundaneconcernsof everydayliving and yet to obliteratea clearseen/unseendistinction drawthe ordinarylay spectatorinto that specialrealm, materiality,
I08
CRAIG HARBISON
26 Rogervan der Weyden, St _7ohn altarpiece. Berlin, StaatlicheMuseen, Gemaldegalerie
giving him or her a toehold, somethingat least partly to the earthlylife which they might evencomparable transcend? tually A consideration of framesor framingdevices should both the fascination illustrate and the equivocation help inherentin this topic. Frames,especiallythose crafted by the artisthimself,are clearlyan importantfeatureof Flemish art. Whether or not there are relevant fourteenth-centuryprototypes in Italy,40it is in Jan van Eyck's work that the precious enclosing frame for a panel painting first really flowersin the north. Manuscriptshad alwaysprovidedimportantimageswith decborders.VanEyck orative,sometimesevenarchitectural extended that traditionto a new medium, adding the almost legal data of signature,date and motto to formalize the transfer.Other artists added traceryin the corners(fig. 27); somepaintingswereeven embeddedin reliquarycases (fig. 28). In many such examples the
"Eine ItalienischeWurzel in 40 See Monika Cammerer-George, derRahmen-idee Jan vanEycks,"Kunstgeschichtliche StudienfurKurt Bauchzum70. Geburtstag vonseinenSchulern, Munich 1967, pp. 6976.
messagewas similar:the paintingwas a precious,isolated object, like a relic; it was encasedor enclosed by traceried,marbleizedframeswhich were meantat least The space depicted in partly to certify its holiness.41 such a paintingwas not, therefore,allowedto spill over that frame, drainingaway the sacred life so carefully guarded.Otherkindsof framingdevices,not just literal three-dimensionalframes, also gave this impression. Archesand niches surrounded or set off the holy figure or event envisioned or experienced(figs. 29 and 26). Starkgraywalls, rich cloths of honor,many with canopies overhead,soughtto defineand delimita sacredarea (fig. 30).42In all these ways space was experiencedin terms.Somethingsacredhad to be cut out, fragmentary distinguishedfrom all the rest. Stylized gold grounds the century(fig. I, 30). cropup consistentlythroughout These, too, suggest the need to limit, to focus on religious archetypeand essence.
41 See, for instance,Colin Eisler, reviewof Sixten Ringbom,Icon Art Bulletin51 (1969), p. I87. to narrative, see especially 42 For Rogervan der Weyden'sspatialmanipulation ShirleyNeilsenBlum, "Symbolicinventionin the artof Rogervander Weyden,"Konsthistorisk Tidskrift 46 (1977), pp. 103-22.
og09
27 Roger van der Weyden, Descent from the Cross.Madrid,Prado
28 Hans Memling, Shrineof St Ursula.Bruges,Hospitalof St John
29 Rogervan der Weyden,Madonnain a niche("Madonna Durand").Madrid, Prado
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CRAIG HARBISON
30 Rogervan der Weyden, Crucifixion JohnsonCollection (diptych).Philadelphia,
Severalrelevantfeaturesin the Flemish treatmentof space and the relationof objectsin it are found in interior scenes. Perspectivecan actuallybe used to flatten into spacecan be acuteenoughto space:the progression two-dimensional emphasize pattern over and above three-dimensional diminution.43 Diminutioncan be apwithin even a plied selectively, relativelycomfortable into to progression space.Or, put it anotherway,hierarchical scale can reassertthe primacyof devotionalpurpose and expression.Some of the most subtle as well as Flemishpaintingsincorpoprominent fifteenth-century ratehierarchical size differences: vanEyck'sBerlinMadonna(fig. 31), Hugo's Portinarialtarpiece (fig. 23) and Berlin Nativity. Rational order, scientific systems of proportionare ignoredin orderto stress whatJoseph's
betweenflattenedperspectiveschemesand 43 For the relationship devotionalimagery,especiallyin the workof PetrusChristus,see Joel Upton, "Devotionalimageryand style in the WashingtonNativity by
discardedpattensin the Portinarisymbolizeas well: in these paintingswe witnessa sacred,visionaryworld. the worldoutsidethe carefullyconIn the landscape, trolled perimetersof a chapel or private chamber, it would seem that an experienceof space would almost inevitably be looser, less easy somehow to denote as sanctifiedor visionary.Yet northernartistsdevelopeda number of intriguing devices by which to indicate if necessarythe sanctityor visionarynatureof their painted exterior environments.A large crevice or gap can sometimesbe seen runningacrossthe frontof the pictorial space, makingit difficultif not impossiblefor us to step across into the painting (fig. 30). Some scholars have gone further,suggestingthat such a crevicerepresents the sin whichcan isolateour mortalworldof exisPetrusChristus,"Studiesin theHistoryof Art, Washington(National Galleryof Art) 7 (I975), pp. 48-79.
III
i~t ~
~ ?*^:-****,* . .*, .... ...........

32 Dirk Bouts, ChristwithSt John the Baptistand a donor.Munich,
31 Jan van Eyck, Virginin the church. Berlin, StaatlicheMuseen, Gemaldegalerie
Wittelsbacher on loan to the Bayerische Ausgleichfonds, Alte Pinakothek Staatsgemaildesammlungen,
Such a crackor even a tencefromthe eternalor divine.44 river can at times separatethe donors from the holy figuresin an image(figs. 12 and 32).45 At othertimes, the sacredelementscan be lifted up onto a plateau,"highlandsin the Lowlands,"as it has been nicely put.46 Here again the clear intention seems to be to separatethe vision and yet not totally to disconnectit. The spectator'saccessto the holy groundmay be neitherclearnor easy,but one has surelynot beencut utterlyadrift,without a prayer.Roger'sViennadonorsare fully absorbed in their plea to enter mentally the sacred space of Christ'ssuffering.
of Finally, in termsof the creationand manipulation consideration of light. Conspace,thereis the important scientioussurveysof Italianaltarpieces andfrescoesconsistently demonstratethat it is only the revolutionary exception where the actualexternallight source is not employedby the artistin his paintedimage. Elaborate but unwrittenrules were apparently followedin Italian churches and chapels to ensure both consistencyand continuity between actual and painted illumination.47 We certainlycannotexclude the possibilitythat some, even many, northernpaintingswere hung so that ordinary sunlight, strikingthem, would in some way agree
44 Charlesde Tolnay, "Remarquessur la Sainte Anne de Leo46 MillardMeiss, "'Highlands'in the Lowlands:Jan vanEyck,the desArts6 (1956),pp. i6-66; Blum,op. cit. (note 38), Master of Flemalle and the Franco-Italiantradition," Gazette des nard,"La Revue pp. 118-19. Beaux-Arts,ser. 6, 57 (1961), pp. 237-314. 45 The Bouts painting (fig. 32) has been studied by Frans Bau47 Cecil Gould, "On the directionof light in Italian Renaissance douin, "'L'Ecce Agnus Dei' de Dieric Bouts," Les Arts Plastiques frescoesand altarpieces,"Gazettedes Beaux-Arts,ser. 6, 97 (1981), 1948,nr. 3/4, pp. 141-45. Baudouinprovidesa sensitive analysisof pp. 21-25. the workin the contextof the devotionalpurposesof fifteenth-century Flemishpainting.
112
CRAIG HARBISON
This with the direction of the painted illumination.48 of whatthe image wouldstill seemmorea reinforcement itself contained,ratherthan a preciselinking of imaginary and earthly reality. For confirmationof this we must look at the images themselves. Whether, for instance, one accepts a complex symbolic readingof the light effects in van Eyck's Madonnapaintings(figs. 17 and 31) or not,49one must admit that the illumination in these paintingsis more internal and reflectedthan can be extended externaland directed.This observation in northern the paintingis century. Light throughout than space-delimiting.It comes more space-enhancing throughwindows,bouncingoff countlessrich and texturedsurfaces.It playsoverobjectsand throughspaces. The strongdirectional light sourceclearlyshiningfrom one point outside and almost invariablyin front of the image is simply not often found. Nor are the objective externalguideor the set relationbetweenthe imageand the worldprominentfeaturesin northernworks. Fifteenth-centuryFlemish painting draws us into a crystalline,softly illuminatedworld. Such enticing reflectedlight effectsbringto mind shiny surfaces,which in northernpaintingareat theirmost refinedin the case of convex mirrors.Mirrorswhich compressand throw backto us the incrediblerichnessof the visibleworlddot In a way, Flemish art.5? the historyof fifteenth-century employedin Flemishpaintmanyof the convexmirrors ings complete the space, sealing it off from ordinary human commerce.They do not show us the world at and magicalunderstanding largebut rathera calculated of it. Northern space, and the light reflectionswhich permeateit, bring us closer to the devotionalpurposes which in manycasesthe artistwantedhis workto have. Space exists and yet is constantlymanipulated.Light
altarpieceswhose orig48 Of the eight survivingfifteenth-century inal location,and hence originallight conditions,are knownwith certainty,only one, the Ghent altarpiece,shows a clearrelationbetween the light in the paintingand the actualexternalsourceof illumination. werestudiedby Blum,op. cit. (note38). Most of (The eight altarpieces comes fromthe rightas it does in the the light in the Ghent altarpiece actualchapelin St Bavo's.At the sametime light shiningfromthe left scene on the has been introducedinto the back of the Annunciation exteriorof the greatretable.VanBuren,op. cit. (note 32), p. 633, gives of an early Flemish panel which atone of the few interpretations tempts to link it directly to the space in which it was supposedly displayed. Among other things, such an interpretationignores the miniaturismof these works, a factor stressed by Julius Held in his
attractsand yet retainsits distanceand its mystery. FlemishpaintWe cannotdenythatfifteenth-century is in to be and manywaysveryrealistic.But ing appears areoften moldedto, and at the sametime, environments sanctifiedfor, meditativepurposes.There seems to be an unavoidablyexpressiveapproachto space in these paintings. This attitude indicates something different from what we normallyexpect to find in a straightforwardrealisticart. Space is segmented,isolatedin various ways,wayswhichchangefromone artistto another. limit or Some artistsmayflattenit, some maydrastically enclose it. Chiefly through the use of rich and varied light effects,almostall northernartistsindicateits scintillatingand mysteriousqualities.This is a concept of space,then, that wouldhaveformeda sensitivecomplement to religiousimages focusing on privatedevotion and meditation. The idea that lay visionaryexperiencewas basic to the of muchreligiousartin the fifteenthcentury production in Flandersis difficultto substantiateabsolutely.The problemsone has supportingthis notion are relatedto the inherentlyequivocalqualitiesof visionaryart, especiallyas foundat thattime. How does one makemeditative practicesavailableto a lay populace?How can we us in the visibleworldand yet admireall that surrounds see it transformedand indicative of spiritual things? How can a materialimage, imitatingthe visible world, us to an "unseen"realm?How still manageto transport betweenwhat does a paintingboth clarifythe difference and show us some often is real and what supernatural, connectionbetweenthe two ?A painting still mysterious can be a recordof a specificexerciseor visionary experience; thus it can seem to recreate,for instance,a vision
review of Erwin Panofsky, Early Netherlandish painting, Art Bulletin
37 (I955), P. 207.
of Eyckianlight symbolismsee Panofsky, readings 49 For elaborate

op. cit. (note 20), passim, and esp. pp. 147-48; also Millard Meiss, Bulletin 27 (1945), pp. 175-8I. For northern light in general see E.H.
paintings,".4rt "Light as formand symbolin some fifteenth-century Gombrich, "Light, form and texture in fifteenth-centurypainting north and south of the Alps," The heritage of Apelles,London 1976,
pp. 19-35.
50 Examplesinclude the Arnolfiniportraitby van Eyck (London, National Gallery),the Werl altar wing by Robert Campin(Madrid, and Prado),St Eligiusby PetrusChristus(New York,Metropolitan), the Martinvan Nieuwenhovediptychby Hans Memling(Bruges;fig.
I5).
Visionsand meditationsin early Flemish painting
II3
of St Bridget.The imagecan also be the startingpoint, the stimulusto the viewerto move into a moreimaginative, purelydevotionalrealm,focusing,for instance,on some particular feelingwhichChristsupposedlyexperienced. It is difficultto distinguishcloselybetweenthese differentusages becauseit is not alwaysclear which is art. In fact we promotedor reflectedin contemporary are faced here with a crucial ambiguity in fifteenthcenturythinking,for which some historicalperspective is needed. Throughout the middle ages the relation between imagesand privateprayeror devotionwasa problematic one.51The supreme,especiallymonastic,ideal was always imagelessdevotion, meditationbeyond the realm of corporealinducementsand deceits. But from a very earlydate, even the monasticelite occasionallyallowed the visualimageto playa part.St Gregoryhimselfsanctionedthe use of imagesin devotionprovidedthe devout did not kneelbeforeor worshipthe imageitself. Rather, one was to rememberthe meaning of the events depicted, to pass a reverencefor the image along to the prototypefor whichit stood. In addition,it wasfelt to be legitimatethatan imagecouldevokea powerfulemotion in the viewer, as well as teach a holy story. This last point was especiallyvalidfor the unlettered.Thus even within monastic confines images played a part: they could initiallyaccompanymeditation;they were not to be the resultor focus of it. There were occasionalattemptsduringthe medieval of such imagiperiodto cleansereligiouscontemplation was a prominent naryvanities.St Bernardof Clairvaux and vociferousspokesmanof the need for overcoming even mentalimages.Bernardallowedthat the fact that God assumedcarnalform meant that materialimages were not totally wrong-headed. But, for Bernard,God became man and allowed images in order to win over those incapableof otherwise loving or understanding him. It was a last resort,clearlyto be shunned by the true seeker of God. Bernard'simageless ideal, his attempt, in a way, to be blind to the beautiesof the world was clearlyan elusive goal, witnessthe stunningartistic Even in of his own order,the Cistercians. achievements
51 For whatfollowssee especiallyRingbom,op. cit. (note i) andop.
cit. (note 26), and Marrow, op. cit. (note i), pp. 28-31. Seuses,reprinted 52 This incidentis recountedin the earliestLeben
monastic circles, a milder interpretation of Bernard's prescriptions reigned: the image-dependent stage was often seen as a natural preparation for imageless devotion. The great mystic Heinrich Suso had, for instance, an image on parchment which he admittedly used to start his meditations.52 Therefore even before the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the spiritual elite did not maintain a hard-andfast distinction between corporeal and spiritual images. The formative power of images was certainly recognized, if not openly promoted. The psychological concept of the image as an inspiration for empathetic meditation became increasingly widespread in the fourteenth century. Indeed the Andachtsbild occupied a central place in mysticism at that time. By the beginning of the fifteenth century the spread of a more broad-based religion left the Bernardine ideal isolated and impractical. The fine distinctions between different uses for images paled in the light of the overwhelming needs of the vast majority of the populace. At this point the most that could be expected, in a sense, was to warn of outright abuse. That was the position that a cleric like the Parisian chancellor Jean Gerson took.53Hardly a champion of images, Gerson nonetheless gave a modified blessing to what was clearly a quite prevalent practice. He disapproved of exorbitantly indulgenced images and especially of any form of idolatry. He deplored the fact that some people preferred to worship at certain images because they were more beautiful (and more effective?) than others. Surely Gerson had only a very limited sympathy with images: we must always learn, he said, "to transcend with our minds from these visible things to the invisible, from the corporeal to the spiritual." Excessive imagination before images would be vain and impious; yet paintings did, for Gerson, serve a legitimate devotional purpose. He gave not a ringing defense of the power of painting, but a plea to use it with discretion. If Gerson recommended care in the use of images, popular practice often seems to have lost track of the finer points in the discussion. Images had sometimes preposterous indulgences attached to them: worshippers supposedly could have been relieved of i ,ooo
1907 (reprint Frankfurt 196I), p. 103. See the discussion in Ringbom,
in HeinrichSeuse, Deutsche (ed. Karl Bihlmeyer),Stuttgart Schriften
op. cit. (note I), p. 163. 53 Jean Gerson'sattitudeto artis most carefullyanalyzedby Ringbom, op. cit. (note i), pp. I64-65.
114
CRAIG HARBISON
firesfor sayinga prayerto an image yearsin purgatorial of the Virgin before the sun.54Books of Hours commonly recommendedthe saying of prayersto images, not specifyingwhetherthe "image"wasto be a painting or a mentalpicture.At leasta nominalpartof even clerical meditations,images can be seen to have played an increasingrole in the process of making a somewhat difficultbody of monasticdevotionalpracticeaccessible to the lay personin the fifteenthcentury.Officially,art was recognizedas an incentive, an aid to meditation; very quickly, in the popularconsciousnessat least, it becameidenticalwith the contemplativeprocessitself. Contemplatingsomethingcame to mean its visualization. Great visionariesand mystics were themselvesquite dependenton images.And not only did peoplelikeBridget, Catherineof Siena and an ignorantEnglish youth named Orm, start from contemporarypaintings,they ended up havingtheir visions in the way they had seen This mightseemproofenoughthatvisions themin art.55 or meditationscould quite easilybe takento be synonymous with images. St Bridget's visions of the life of Christ were modeled on paintings she had seen. It is certainthatmanyfifteenth-century laymenandwomen, whether knowingly or not, used images in much the sameway,tryingto envisionstoriesor ideasin waysthey had seen them portrayed. There were also importantstories about the miraculous, "visionary" powerof images.Legends commonat the time concernedimageswhichcameto life. St Catherine of Alexandriaworshippedbefore an image of the Virginand Child and was thereaftervisited by the holy pairjustas she had previouslyviewedthem in the painting (fig. 33). Fifteenth-centurytexts promisedthe devout certain specific visions (that is, visualizationsof Over certainscenes) if the properprayerswere said.56 and over again the formativepower of images was acknowledged;vivid images were repeatedlyseen as the resultof properdevotionalattitudes.
54 See Ringbom,op. cit. (note 34). 55 For St Bridgetsee Panofsky,op. cit. (note 20), p. 46; for Catheand Siena after the rine of Siena, MillardMeiss, Paintingin Florence blackdeath,New York I964, pp. o05ff;and for Orm, Hugh Farmer, "The vision of Orm," AnalectaBollandiana 75 (1957), pp. 72-82. 56 One often repeatedprayerpromisingvisionsis quotedby Leroquais, op. cit. (note 34), p. 95: "Cette oroison doit on dire chascun samedien lonneurde nostreDame. Ung hommereligieuxet chanoine
from the life of 33 Masterof the Legend of St Catherine,Scenes St Catherine. Geneva, privatecollection
Clearly,by the fifteenthcenturypaintingsweretaken as essential instrumentsfor stimulating popular religious devotion.The reciprocalrelationbetweenimage and meditationwas recognizedand exploited. It is in fact very easy to ignorethe crucialqualification always placedon this practice.A physicalimage was not to be an objectof devotionin and of itself. That would, quite simply, be idolatry.Even for the lay person,this was a
regulierestoit qui eut nom Aroul, lequel estoit moult bien ame de Dieu et de sa benoitemere,carnuitet iourles serroit,tantque une nuit la doulceviergeMarielui apparut en advisionet lui monstraune moult belle oroisonqui est de grantdevocionet lui dist: Aroul recoy ceste Et a tantde gens que tu pourras. oroisonet la monstreet fayapprendre tous ceulx qui la diront devotementen lonneurde moy chascunsacar ils me verrontcinq foys medi, moult grantioye leur en adviendra, devantleur mort, en leur mort en leur ayde et confort."
II5
34 Masterof the Legend of St Ursula, Veneration of the relicsof the eleventhousand virginmartyrs. Bruges, Groeningemuseum
fate to be guarded against. The artist had to be aware of the danger of pious souls worshipping his images rather than the sacred beings or stories for which they stood. The problem was, if one can say it this way, both to affirm and deny the image at the same time, to affirm its power but at least to some extent to deny its mere physicality. While the image was clearly being elevated, its power had also to be kept in check. One could not depend simply on a material object for a spiritual truth. It
is no accident that Gerson's promotion of art contained as much warning as praise. A telling example of this paradoxical situation is found in the case of the Modern Devotion. This movement is almost always taken to have been instrumental in promoting not only popular piety but many developments in devotional art as well. Even the humble Dutch style of the late fifteenth century has been traced to the humble Brethren of the Common Life.57 While it is quite clear that the movement known as the Modern Devotion did much to stimulate popular piety and devotional practices, it is not at all clear that this involved the direct production of great numbers of art works. In fact, painting was for the most part outside the range of thought of the leaders of the devotio moderna. And if they had paid attention to it, they probably would have judged it a work of pride, which is, we know, how they regarded the elaborate new tower of Utrecht Cathedral.58 Once again one is faced with the "imageless ideal." The monasteries of the Windesheim congregation produced manuscripts which were for the most part unillustrated. Several fifteenth-century writers of the movement, Jan Mombaer and Henry Herp, regarded images as one of the main hindrances to a contemplative life. It is in this way not possible to see the Modern Devotion as the explicit promotor of a great new outburst of popular devotional art.59The attitude of the movement to art was at times hostile, and certainly always somewhat equivocal. Yet devotional art did flower at the same time that popular piety was being revitalized by, among others, the Modern Devotion. It would be wrong to conclude that the devotio modernawas uniformly or extremely actively opposed to art. The truth is probably nearer to the situation found with Jean Gerson. Not wishing to try to combat a widespread practice, the religious leaders would have sought to make people wary of its dangers and limitations. Imagery was not utterly prohibited; but its uses were restricted. Its power was acknowledged in part by being circumscribed.
of art by the Modern Devotion has been esp. ch. 4; andBenjamin, 57The encouragement op. cit. (note i). See also Smits, op. cit. (note stressedby L.M.J. Delaisse, A century illumina- 24). of Dutchmanuscript tion,Berkeley1968, pp. 8-12; SandraHindman, "Fifteenth-century 58 See Huizinga,op. cit. (note 8), p. 260. Dutch Bible illustrations and the Historiascholastica," Journalof the 59 This has been stressedby Ringbom,op. cit. (note 34), p. 327; and especiallyby JamesMarrow,"Dutch illumination and the DevoWarburgand Courtauld Institutes 37 (I974), pp. 131-44; idem, Text and imagein fifteenth-century illustratedDutch Bibles,Leiden I977, tio Moderna,"Medium Aevum42 (1973), pp. 25I-58.
II6
CRAIG HARBISON
ters (fig. 35).61 On the other hand, within Flemish paint-
ings therearemorethanthreetimes that manypiecesof sculpture portrayedand worshippedin churches and houses alike (see fig. 2). Especiallyat the beginningof the centurysculpturemaysimplyhavebeen moreprevalent in such locations than painting. But as this inbecamean ageof greataltarpaintingsit seems creasingly noteworthythat this fact was not recordedin the paintings themselves.No fifteenth-century panel known to me has within it a fully articulated triptychsuch as the painters were constantly producing. Only a handful show smaller devotional paintings. Practical guidebooks,like Booksof Hours, do occasionallyshow a patron worshipping a paintedimage,even a complexnarrativescene, at an altar.I do not think it is an accident that these "how-to" illustrations are confined to
books.62
35 Attributedto GerardDavid, Annunciation. Detroit, Instituteof Arts
Is there some way that features of contemporary paintingcan be said to reflectthis situation?How are early Flemish paintingsexploited as a most evocative hemmedin by meansof expressionand simultaneously being subject to externaldemands and prescriptions? Many fifteenth-centurypanels do seem both to assert their materialrichnessand to suggest the need to transcend this very earthlybeauty.One way to get at painters' feelings about the materialityof their worksis to notice the way paintings are portrayedin paintings. Here a ratherstrikingfact emerges. In the Friedlander corpus of over I,ooo fifteenth-centuryFlemish paintings, only aboutfive showa paintingdisplayedin a public space (fig. 34)60 and only four paintings (all small
devotionalworks)are found portrayedin privatequar60 These are works by or attributedto Roger van der Weyden op. cit. (note 14),vol. 2, Leiden& Brussels1967,pl. io6, (Friedlander, nr. 83); the Masterof St Barbara (ibid., vol. 4, Leiden&Brussels1969, pl. 6i, nr. 64); Colijnde Coter(ibid., vol. 4, Leiden & Brussels 1969, pl. 98, nr. io6); the Ursula Master(ibid., vol. 6, pt. i, Leiden & Brussels 1971,pl. 137, nr. 113);and the Masterof the BaroncelliPortraits (ibid., vol. 6, pt. I, Leiden & Brussels 1971, pl. 149, nr. 138).
In the fifteenth century it seems that such things might indicatewhat could be called a desire to underemphasizethe sheer physicalpresenceof the painting. Sculptureswere undeniablymaterialobjects; they are thus repeatedly painted as such. Paintings were not to the viewerin the sameway,withforcefullypresented in other images. Could this indicate some lack of ease on the painters'part with the materialqualitiesof the panels? We can recallhere those paintingswheredonorsare or devoin a narrative present,prayingor worshipping tional scene (figs. 5 and 13, for instance).They are not imagesbut havingvisions.No fear,then, of worshipping the chargesof idolatrythatmightariseif the painterhad Unpaintedthem kneelingbeforetheirown altarpieces. we cannottakethis, or the lackof paintings fortunately within paintings,as being proof that fifteenth-century artistssoughtto protecttheir paintingsfrom chargesof idolatry,to underminein some ways the very earthly qualitiesof the workswhich they otherwiseseemed to promote. But it is noteworthy that fifteenth-century
61 These are worksby or attributedto the Masterof 1499(Friedlander,op. cit. (note 14),vol. 4, Leiden&Brussels1969,pl. 44, nr. 37); Masterof the St CatherineLegend (ibid., vol. 4, Leiden & Brussels
1969, pl. 50, nr. 47); Gerard David (ibid., vol. 6, pt. 2, Leiden & Brussels I971, pl. 189, nr. 175); and the Master of St Augustine (ibid., vol. 6, pt. 2, Leiden & Brussels 1971, pl. 241, Supp. nr. 244).
62 See the miniatureattributed to Gerard Horenbout (Vatican Library,Vat. lat. 3769, fol. 66v) discussedand reproducedby Ringbom, op. cit. (note 26), p. 56, fig. 14.
II7
Ror
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Mirors
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36 Rogervan der Weydenworkshop,Miraflores Berlin, StaatlicheMuseen, Gemaldegalerie altarpiece.
Flemish painterspassed over a rathersplendid opportunityto show forththe materialfactof theirgreataltarpiece tradition.While a paintingcannot of course embody the imagelessideal, it can, in this way, indicatea wariness of imageworshipanda concommitant stresson devotionalimagination. It also seems possible that the very medium of oil painting had a somewhat visionary, dematerialized In this sense it would have qualityfor contemporaries. been seen as similarto stainedglass. It certainlywas not merechancethatpanelpainterstookup the challengeof the glass artistsand developedthe ever-expandingpotentialof light and color. It is perhapsnot too much to suggest that some paintings, like Roger's Mary altarpiece(fig. 36) andMemling'sUrsulashrine (fig. 28), were meant to be viewed as stained glass windows captured on panels, their translucenceembodied in the magical mediumof oil glazes.63 This kind of speculationultimatelyleads to the suppositionthatmanyfifteenth-century paintings,whether includingspecialclues or not, were meantto be seen as
resemblesa series of 63 The notion that Roger's Mary altarpiece stainedglass windowswas firstsuggestedto me by CharlotteSchnur.
visions themselves. Paintings are thus not limited to recordingsomeone else's vision, that person standing by, in or nearthe imageitself, certifyingits correctness. The oil mediumcould be takento be magical,capableof and yet dematerializing materializing objectsbeforethe spectator'seyes, renderingthe world as glowing as a stained glass window. A painting then quite literally standsas a vision, the spectator'svision, not a material objectlimitedand recordedas such. At least partof the motivationfor not recordingpaintingsin paintingsperhapslies here:these thingsarefinallynot just paintings. In many fifteenth-century Flemish paintings,then, the viewer the moment of a miracle.The witnesses pious confrontationwith the image, while referring to the materialworld, does not stop there. The image is not just a physical object, an object of worship. It is the embodimentof the processof meditationitself (see, for
instance, figs. 27 and 3I).
The imagestimulates and recordsdevotionalactivity. But the supremedevotionalideal remainsimmaterial, imageless.The process of meditationfor most people
must somehow weave its way between the extremes. This is the kindof thing Nicolasof Cusaholdsout to his monasticcolleagues.Cusa begins his short treatisecalled the Vision of Godwitha paintingof the Holy Face. It of his book, as is this image which forms the Leitmotiv well as the initial and repeatedobject of the monks' gazes.64Confrontationwith the image produces procontactwith the seen foundand prolongedmeditations, leadsto the unseen.The image,again,is a recordand a guide, a wayto see the worldin a new light. Like the oil glazetechnique,the methodis somethingof a mystery. Like the alchemicalprocesswith whichoil paintingwas sometimescompared,such devotionalpracticesare not The painting, explanation. totallysusceptibleto rational as well as our ability to explain it, remainssomewhat equivocal.Does that mean we have failed?Or that the art itself has succeededin suggestingthe intriguingambiguity of these lay visionaryexperiences? It wouldbe nice to end this discussionon such a lofty note. Certainlyartistsoften strove to suggest this, and
donors either requestedor respondedfavorablyto it. Yet we must also remember finallythe mythicalquality of these images, their escapism,their often frustrating lackof socialconsciousness. Hugo vander Goes's Portinaripeasantsarea veryrareexcursioninto trulyhumble piety. The piety we witnessin Flemish panelsis broadbased yet one-sided, self-satisfied,at least for the mowill prickthat bubble,as it did ment. The Reformation as smaller conceits well. For the time being we many must allowthe vast majorityof fifteenth-century Flemish patronstheir retreatinto the realmof pious visions Their ratherstraightforward and meditations. piety will probablyin many cases frustratepresent-dayscholars' effortsto readinto Flemish religiousart complextheological meaning, but they will continue to intrigue us with their insistence on tying their devotionalexperience to the visible world.
UNIVERSITY AMHERST OF MASSACHUSETTS
64 NicholausCusanus,Thezisionof God(trans.E. G. Salter),New

York I960.

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Visions and Meditations in Early Flemish Painting Author(s): Craig Harbison Source: Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the

Visions and meditationsin earlyFlemish painting* CraigHarbison

teenth centuryreligiousthought: a prematureprofile,"Speculum 53

2), and, for the Bookof Hours,John Harthan,Booksof Hoursandtheir

6 BarbaraLane, "'Depositio et elevatio': the symbolism of the

Visionsand meditationsin earlyFlemish painting

withthe Entombment. I Attributedto RobertCampin, Triptych London, CourtauldInstituteGalleries,Seilern Collection

Visions and meditations in early Flemish painting

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NicolasRolinprayingto the 5 Jan van Eyck, Chancellor Virgin.Paris,Louvre

Visionsand meditationsin earlyFlemish painting

6 Begun by Jan van Eyck, Triptych of Nicholasvan Maelbeke. FormerlyWarwickCastle,Warwick

fig. 9).17 On the outside of van Eyck's Maelbeke triptych

Visionsand meditationsin early Flemish painting

9 Rogervan der Weyden, Bladelinaltarpiece. Berlin, StaatlicheMuseen, Gemaldegalerie

Visionsand meditationsin earlyFlemish painting

I2 Rogervan der Weyden, Triptych withthe Crucifixion. Museum Vienna,Kunsthistorisches

Alte Pinakothek Munich, BayerischeStaatsgemaldesammlungen, altarpiece. 13 Rogervan der Weyden, Columba

15 Hans Memling, Martinvan Nieuwenhove prayingto the Virgin.Bruges,Hospitalof St John

................ ------.... ... ... --..I

I6 School of Rogervan der Weyden,Jean de Franceprayingto the Virgin.Chantilly,Musee Conde

17 Jan van Eyck, CanonGeorge van derPaeleprayingto the Virgin.Bruges, Groeningemuseum

Visionsand meditationsin earlyFlemish painting

Visions and meditations in early Flemish painting

withprayerwings.Madrid,Museo Studio of QuentinMassys afterRoger van der Weyden, Deposition Lazaro-Galdiano

Visionsand meditationsin earlyFlemish painting

interior.Florence,Uffizi 23 Hugo van der Goes, Portinarialtarpiece,

25 Hans Memling, Altarpiece of the two Sts John. Bruges,Hospitalof St John

itself is displayedacrossthe interior.Severaltriptychs

Visionsand meditationsin earlyFlemish painting

26 Rogervan der Weyden, St _7ohn altarpiece. Berlin, StaatlicheMuseen, Gemaldegalerie

Visions and meditations in early Flemish painting

27 Roger van der Weyden, Descent from the Cross.Madrid,Prado

28 Hans Memling, Shrineof St Ursula.Bruges,Hospitalof St John

29 Rogervan der Weyden,Madonnain a niche("Madonna Durand").Madrid, Prado

30 Rogervan der Weyden, Crucifixion JohnsonCollection (diptych).Philadelphia,

Visionsand meditationsin earlyFlemish painting

~ ?*^:-****,* . .*, .... ...........

31 Jan van Eyck, Virginin the church. Berlin, StaatlicheMuseen, Gemaldegalerie

Wittelsbacher on loan to the Bayerische Ausgleichfonds, Alte Pinakothek Staatsgemaildesammlungen,

of Eyckianlight symbolismsee Panofsky, readings 49 For elaborate

Visionsand meditationsin early Flemish painting

in HeinrichSeuse, Deutsche (ed. Karl Bihlmeyer),Stuttgart Schriften

Visions and meditations in early Flemish painting

ters (fig. 35).61 On the other hand, within Flemish paint-

35 Attributedto GerardDavid, Annunciation. Detroit, Instituteof Arts

Visionsand meditationsin earlyFlemish painting

36 Rogervan der Weydenworkshop,Miraflores Berlin, StaatlicheMuseen, Gemaldegalerie altarpiece.

64 NicholausCusanus,Thezisionof God(trans.E. G. Salter),New

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