The Art of the Book in the Holy Roman Empire 800-1500

Exhibition at the Pierpont Morgan Library (through January 23)

The Holy Roman Empire, despite many ups and downs, was a key force in European art, culture and politics between 800 and 1806. This exhibition basically covers seven centuries of book illumination in the empire from 800 to 1500. The exhibition focuses on the Holy Roman Empire as it existed around 1500, minus the Netherlands –  in other words,  Germany and German cultural areas. This way the exhibition achieves cultural and national unity.  For to cover all the territories under the domination of the empire at its greatest extent – by adding the northern Netherlands, eastern France, and North /Central Italy  – would make the exhibition a general history of Christian European culture. It is impressive that the exhibits are drawn mainly from the holdings of the Pierpont Morgan library itself, as supplemented by loans from other American institutions.

The exhibition also serves as a good course in the political development of the empire. At first,  the Holy Roman emperors themselves played a dominant role in patronage, commissioning works from monasteries and major ecclesiastical centers. This was gradually supplemented and succeeded by the growing patronage of the nobility and the princes. In the 14^th century the first real permanent capital of the empire was established in Prague, in the face of growing rivalry with Vienna and the Hapsburgs of Austria. Finally,  at the end of medieval times,  came the flourishing of the great imperial cities – Nuremberg, Augsburg, Strassburg –  as producers of art. Naturally there was much overlap: Emperor Maximilian I, who died in 1519, was one of the greatest patrons of all and the ecclesiastical center of Mainz – which never quite became a free imperial city – played a major role around 1450. Indeed, on display in this exhibition is a Gutenberg Bible (the Morgan Library has three!) printed in the same city of Mainz -using a technology that in the course of time would end the illuminated manuscript tradition.

The art on display consists primarily of illuminated manuscripts as well as  book covers and liturgical vessels in precious metal. Now one must understand that in the first centuries covered by this exhibition (800 to 1200) the so-called “fine arts” of architecture, painting and sculpture were not perceived as superior to “applied arts” like book illumination or goldsmiths work. Just as much care was given to the precious book covers, liturgical vessels, reliquaries  – as well as to the manuscripts –  as was given to the churches that contained them. In other words,  what we see in this exhibition are the main products of the art of these early medieval periods.

We see also a transformation of the role of the artist, his art and his patron. In the first centuries lavish illustrated manuscripts are encased in gold covers. These are primarily commissions by the imperial family themselves and the artists are primarily monks at the major monasteries. Later, monasteries and noble families joined the imperial families as major patrons of art. From the 13th century onward lay professional artists played an increasing role in illustrating manuscripts. By the 15th century professional artists had become the dominant force in free cities like Nuremberg and an export trade came into existence.  A growing interaction developed between book illumination and the new art of printing. Finally, we see the artists of the Renaissance – like Albrecht Dürer –  bringing their individual creativity to bear in exploring entirely new approaches to traditional themes.

Do not these masterworks demonstrate to us the importance the written word once had? Today a word appears on Outlook and – if it even survives the spell checker – shortly thereafter may vanish forever. Yet in illuminated manuscripts the word is carefully preserved for all time. This is particularly true of the early medieval period. But even towards the end of the centuries covered by this exhibition, we see the extreme care with which books, both printed and handwritten, are prepared. We see also the cultural importance of Latin – the language of most of the manuscripts in this exhibition. Throughout seven centuries it served as a unifying factor – and of course was always the Church’s liturgical language. After 1200, books written in the vernacular (German) start to appear – and in the 15th century we find one Czech example. Yet Latin retained its primacy throughout.

It may be obvious, but I still need to point out that in all the seven centuries covered by this exhibition, the Catholic Church was the overwhelmingly dominant artistic force of the “Holy” Roman Empire.  In the later centuries secular works do increasingly appear but were often Christian allegorical or philosophical treatises. From the end of the Carolingian age to the Renaissance,  artists interacted with the same elements of Christian belief: the Old and New Testaments, the lives of the Saints, edifying parables and allegories. The Morgan exhibition does point out the Christian meaning of many of the images and symbols of the objects on display and the role of certain items in church ritual (e.g., processional gospel books, large format books of chant).

The works these artists created over so many centuries of course show great stylistic differences and even artistic development; the Christian intellectual foundation, however,  remained the same. One also cannot speak of “progress”  – is a Dürer print superior to an Ottonian illumination? This is the nature of Western traditional art, which modernists – either in art or liturgy –  cannot understand:  the tradition remains the same even if each age makes its own contribution in creative dialogue with the permanent elements of the culture. 

The visitor can experience this unity first hand today if, proceeding beyond the timeframe of this exhibition, he visits the cities and monasteries where the books presented at the Morgan Library were created. Such as the immense baroque monastery of Weingarten in south-west Germany. Or St. Gallen – now infamous – which was built later and is more restrained, but has an incomparable library. Only Reichenau preserves somewhat the appearance of the abbey buildings as they existed when the magnificent manuscripts in this exhibition were created in Ottonian times. The city of Regensburg perhaps most perfectly illustrates this continuity – with sacred edifices dating from the 8th to the 18th centuries. The Holy Roman Empire – or at least parts of it – remained true to its Christian Mission even to the end of the 18th century.

It is this diversity in unity which distinguishes the art of the West – at least before 1800. The Holy Roman Empire was preeminently representative of such a culture, lacking as it did strong central political institutions throughout most of its existence. But this “Holy” Empire always had one clear focus of unity: Christianity. This exhibition brilliantly showcases just one example of this empire’s cultural achievements.

The Lindau Gospels with precious covers from the second half of the 9th century (front, above) and the second half of the 8th century (below).

(Above) Cover of Mondsee Gospels, Regensburg, 11th Century)

(Above) Gospels written on purple parchment wth gold ink, in imitation of late Roman work (Trier, 9th century).

(Above and below) Chalice and paten from St. Trudpert monastery, near Freiburg, Germany. (around 1230-1250)

(Above) This manuscript may have belonged to St. Hedwig of Silesia. (Early 13th Century)

(Above) Patronage by the nobility. (around 1247)

(Above) Celebration of the Mass – along with humorous animal scenes.

(Above) This illumination shows the influence of the revelations of St. Birgitta ( the Virgin Mary adoring the Christ Child Who is bathed in radiant light) (Prague, around 1405)

A new age dawns: (Above) a print from the Passion by Albrecht Dürer  (Below) An illumination in the style of contemporary Nuremberg art .

…on art from the Catholic world in New York City.

New York is fortunate in having two museums focused almost entirely on art of Catholic cultures and eras. The Cloisters, of course, is dedicated to the art of medieval Euroope. The Hispanic Society of America concerns itself with the arts of Spain and of the Spanish-speaking world. Both were founded by non-Catholics: Archer Huntington (The Hispanic Society) and John D. Rockefeller (The Cloisters). But both men acknowledged the essential link between the Catholic faith and the arts of these cultures. Indeed, Archer Huntington went so far as to finance the construction of a Catholic church as part of his Audubon Terrace project. For how could one understand Spanish art without an understanding of the Catholic faith?

Of course such “European,” “Catholic” art is not uncontroversial in the United States today. The predominantly religious art on display at the museum of the Hispanic Society or the Cloisters thus becomes somewhat of an embarrassment to progressive administrators. For example, I noted that the curators of the Cloisters currently feel the need of providing the Bury St. Edmunds Cross, one of the late Thomas Hoving’s “blockbuster” acquisitions in the 1960’s, with the following tendentious description:

But among the Latin inscriptions are several insidious invectives against Jews, a sobering testament to the pernicious presence of anti-Jewish sentiment in medieval Europe. While the words on this particular cross would have been known only to a community of English churchmen, such hateful attitudes permeated society and led to waves of unconscionable persecution of Jews, from London to York. In Bury Saint Edmunds, the Suffolk town with which this cross has often been associated, scores of Jewish residents were killed, and the survivors expelled in 1189, about the time this cross was carved. A century later, in 1290, Edward I expelled all Jews from England. 1)

(The “anti-Jewish” nature of these inscriptions is in fact disputed.)

Undoubtedly also inspired by a felt need to provide a more “nuanced” view of the middle ages is the current exhibition: Spain 1000-1200: Art at the Frontiers of Faith. As Max Hollein, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, writes:

(This Exhibition) celebrates the artistic exchange among Christians, Muslims and Jews in the medieval Iberian peninsula….Art at the Frontiers of Faith brings Islamic and Jewish works into the space (of the Fuenteduena chapel) for the first time, with the goal of telling a more nuanced story about Spain’s dynamic, interconnected past. (F)or the past thirty years, these exhibitions (of the Met) have led the way in exploring the intersections of medieval Iberia’s different faith traditions. Al-Andalus: the Art of Islamic Spain presented a diverse array of Iberian artworks….Art at the Frontiers of Faith continues this important work, bringing greater awareness of the global scope of the European Middle Ages to the Cloisters. 2)

The exhibition Art At the Frontiers of the Faith was for me somewhat disappointing. It is rather small, and mostly consists of exhibits already at the Met or at the Cloisters. Despite the praise the exhibition heaps upon the Islamic world, the majority of the items displayed are from the Christian side (which is understandable given Moslem iconoclasm). I am not sure the exhibition sucessfully makes the case for a fluid cultural interaction among three “traditions.” For it seems clear just from the exhibition itself that the art of Christian Spain – which provides the bulk of the works being shown – is influenced even more by French, Italian and even Byzantine art than by local Moslem culture. Of course the period covered by this exhibition was actually an era of intensified conflict between Christians and Moslems, not of peaceful coexistence. It was a time during which Spanish Christian art and culture were attaining their first maturity by drawing on the resources of the Christian world of which the Spanish kingdoms were an integral part. That is not to deny that some fine individual exhibits are on view – just that it will take more to demonstrate the alleged existence of significant mutual artistic enrichment between the Christians and Moslem worlds during this period.

The Hispanic Society of America has an easier time of it with its exhibition Gilded Figures: Wood and Clay Made Flesh. The museum of the Society unfortunately remains closed. Nevertheless, a limited selection of its holdings – painted sculptures from Spain and the Americas – is now on display in the current exhibition. When seen in the context of the Society’s entire collection, the polychromed sculptures from 1500 to 1800 are often overloooked in favor of the paintings by Velasquez, Goya etc. But in this very nicely arranged and illuminated exhibition these gilded works can be examined in isolation and the extraordinary versatility and expressiveness of these artists better appreciated. Many unique images can be seen – like the Four Fates of Man. The descriptions accompanying the exhibits honestly describe the religious foundations of this exuberant art.

Yet as Holland Cotter of The New York Times perceptively writes regarding a similar display of Spanish baroque art works :

(To serve as exhibits in a show – SC), however, they had to be stripped of their social, political and spiritual values. They were made “modern,” museumized. You still need to visit the great churches of Spain or Mexico or the Philippines to see and feel how these images were meant to work as devotional objects. And to fully understand this art, to be true to it, and to all religious art (which is, after all, the bulk of surviving art before the 20th century) you need to keep this need in mind.3)

Art at the Frontiers of Faith closes on February 13. Gilded Figures: Wood and Clay Made Flesh closes on January 9(!).

The Cloisters.

The Hispanic Society of America.

1. The Cloisters Cross, The Met (accessed 1/9/2022). The Wikipedia article on the cross quotes what is apparently an earlier version of this language: “Prominent among the inscriptions are several strong invectives against Jews. Though it is impossible to know precisely who commissioned this piece and with what aims, the cross certainly offers some indication of the anti-Semitism prevalent in England at this time. By the end of the thirteenth century, Jews were expelled from the country.” Cloisters Cross, Wikipedia (acccessed 1/9/2022), citing “Metropolitan: Cloisters Cross with another View” (accessed 11/1/2009; no longer online)
2. “Director’s Note,” “Spain 1000-1200: Art At the Frontiers of Faith,” The Metropolitan Museum Of Art Bulletin at 3, Fall 2021.
3. Cotter, Holland, “With Splendor and Saints, Hispanic Society Shows its Treasures” The New York Times, 10/21/2021

The annual Women’s Retreat conducted by Fr. John Perricone, sponsored by Agnus Dei Knights of Columbus is scheduled for the weekend of March 25-27, 2022 at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, L.I.  We are taking reservations at this time.  The retreat is open to all Women 18 years and older.   Feel free to pass this along to all family, friends and fellow parishioners.  
There are two options:

1. $250 – Single room with private bathroom

2. $125 – No room; drive in daily

All meals are included for either option.

To register: Mail your check made out to AGNUS DEI COUNCIL to:Dan Marengo, 1468 Kennellworth Place, Bronx, NY 10465
Also, with your check, please include your phone number, mailing address and email in case you need to be contacted.
If you cannot pay in full, you can send in a partial payment to register – but you must pay in full no later than MARCH 11.  No exceptions.  

“Please join us tomorrow, January 2nd, at 5:30 P.M. for our inaugural installment of ORGAN AT THE ORATORY.  On the first Sunday of each month, a guest organist will offer a recital prior to Vespers.  The first recitalist will be David Hughes, Organist & Choirmaster at St. Patrick’s Oratory.  He will play a program of festive Christmas music by the great Johann Sebastian Bach; Bach’s mentor Dietrich Buxtehude, who was for many years the organist in Lübeck; and some colorful versets by the notable French classical composer Nicolas de Grigny.  Vespers will be followed immediately at 6:00 P.M. by sung Vespers & Benediction for the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus.  The recital and Vespers are of course free and open to the public.  Please invite your family and friends; this is a wonderful way to introduce them to the Church’s rich liturgical and musical patrimony, which we are so grateful has a home at St. Patrick’s.”

On Friday Evening, December 10, at Holy Innocents Church, Mr David Hughes gave a presentation focusing on the recovery of the chant tradition by the monks of Solesmes Abbey in France in the 19th century. Mr. Hughes is preeminently qualified for this task; currently the music director at St. Patrick’s Church, Waterbury, he has founded and led to great success so many varied musical groups: childrens’ choirs, a men’s schola, professional scholae, parish choirs – the list his accomplishments is endless! Yet the announced topic of the evening was The Crisis in Church and Society and how Tradition Responds. For the speaker presented the story of the rediscovery of a more authentic chant as a case study of how a tradition functions.

In the 19th century Gregorian chant had fallen on hard times. To the extent it was sung at all, it was from editions deriving from a very simplified compilation made under papal patronage around 1600. Dom Guerenger of Solesmes led the restoration, first, of that abbey and, later, of chant itself. Dom Guerenger did not merely want to recreate what had existed prior to the French Rvolution, but to go back to the original sources. The monks examined ancient manuscripts throughout Europe on the trail of this tradition. The monks presented their discoveries to the world in (relatively) easy to use publications. They did not seek to “impose” their new metholds but sought, through their publications and their own singing at Solesmes, to lead by example.

This example helps us to understand better what has taken place in the Traditionalist Movement since 2007, at least in the New York area. Here too the principle that has steadily unfolded is not to recreate what had existed in liturgy and music in 1962 but to restore the Roman liturgy in all its fullness. Examples include the authentic performance of chant and polyphony; the celebration of the Holy Week Triduum according to the “pre-55” rite, the spread of Rorate masses and many other devotions. All this has been achieved, starting at a few parishes, by force of example. And in most cases participation at Traditional Masses is growing by attracting those who wander into a Traditional Mass by chance or curiosity – individual by individual, family by family, For this – as illustrated by Dom Guerenger and the musical movement he launched – is the path of authentic tradition! Music, vestments, ceremonies, art and and architecture of the past are studied, not as ends in themselves, but as elements actively working together in the proper celebration of the liturgy and thus ultimately for evangelization. Tradition is never static – it grows and can decline and be obscured – but recovery of its full meaning and beauty is always possible. And that task remains a challenge to our generation.

Here is a link to a recording of David Hughes’ talk: