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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2008
Some of the most explicit statements in early Christian and medieval sources about the functions of visual images in churches are notable for their silence regarding the liturgical significance of wall decoration. There is talk of imagery of the Old and New Testaments instructing the laity so that they should know ‘the high deeds of the servants of God and may be prompted to imitate them’, or at least to remember them. Images might be said to ‘decorate with beauty the house of the Lord’, but it is difficult to find it stated anywhere that the monumental cycles that still arrest our gazes in many of the churches were executed to ‘illustrate’, or to ‘represent’, or to ‘dramatize’ the liturgy that was celebrated in those sacred edifices
1 These examples are drawn from Kessler, H., ‘Pictorial Narrative and Church Mission in Sixth-Century Gaul’, Studies in the History of Art, 16 (1985), 75–91;Google Scholar and Raw, B. C., Anglo-Saxon Crucifixion Iconography and the Art of the Monastic Revival (Cambridge, 1990), pp. 4ff.Google Scholar Cf. also Stefanescu, J. D., L'illustration des liturgies dans l'art de Byzance et de l'Orient (Brussels, 1936), which looks for specific liturgical scenes in the art.Google Scholar
2 Mâle, E., The Gothic Image. Religious Art in France of the Thirteenth Century, trans, from 3rd edn by Nussey, Dora (London, 1961), Preface, passim.Google Scholar
3 Some of the contributors were: Michel, K., Gebet und Bild in fruhchristliche Zeit (Leipzig, 1902);Google Scholar Sybel, L. von, Christliche Antike: Einfuhrung in die altchristliche Kunst, 2 vols. (Marburg, 1906–1909);Google Scholar Wilpert, J., Die Malereien der Katakomben Roms (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1903). The debate reflected denominational conflicts about images that extended back to the Reformation.Google Scholar
4 Wilpert, J., I Sarcofagi cristiani antichi, 3 vols. (Rome, 1929–1936);Google Scholar Gerke, F., Die christlichen Sarkophage der vorkonstantinischen Zeit (Berlin, 1940);Google Scholar Stommel, E., Beitrage zur Ikonographie der konstantimschen Sarkophagplastik (Bonn, 1954).Google Scholar
5 See Ihm, C., Die Programme der christlichen Apsismalerei vom vierten Jahrhundert bis zur Mitte des achten Jahrhunderts (Wiesbaden, 1960);Google Scholar the quotations are taken from Belting-Ihm, C. ‘Theophanic Images of Divine Majesty in Early Medieval Italian Church Decoration’, in Italian Church Decoration of the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance, ed. Tronzo, W. (Bologna, 1989), pp. 43–60.Google Scholar
6 The comments that follow are drawn from the seminal work by Mathews, T. F., The Early Churches of Constantinople. Architecture and Liturgy (University Park, PA, and London, 1971), Introduction;Google Scholar cf. Mainstone, R. J., Hagia Sophia. Architecture, Structure and Liturgy of Justinian's Great Church (London, 1988).Google Scholar
7 Belting, H., The Image and its Public in the Middle Ages. Form and Function of Early Paintings of the Passion, trans. Bartusis, M. and Meyer, R. (New York, 1990);Google Scholar Bild und Kult. Eine Geschichte des Bildes vor dem Zeitalter der Kunst (Munich, 1990).Google Scholar
8 Preface, Mâle, The Gothic Image (see n. 2), p. xv.Google Scholar
9 See the sharply critical review by Craig Harbison of Lane, B., The Altar and the Altarpiece: Sacramental Themes in Early Netherlandish Painting (New York, 1984), in Simiolus, 15 (1985), 221–5;Google Scholar cf. his own ‘Visions and Meditations in Early Flemish Painting’, Simiolus, 15 (1985), 87–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10 Panofsky, E., Gothic Art and Scholasticism (Cleveland, 1957).Google Scholar
11 Brown, P., ‘The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity’, journal of Roman Studies, 61 (1971), 80–101;CrossRefGoogle Scholar Vauchez, A., La Sainteté en Occident aux derniers siècles du Moyen Age (Rome, 1981);Google Scholar for the impact of these ideas and approaches, see for example Gardner, J., ‘The Cappellone di San Nicola at Tolentino: some Functions of a Fourteenth-Century Fresco Cycle’, in Italian Church Decoration, ed. Tronzo, (see n. 5), pp. 101–17.Google Scholar
12 See, for example, the studies in Patronage, Art, and Society in Renaissance Italy, ed. Kent, F. W. and Simons, P. (Oxford, 1987);Google Scholar Christianity and the Renaissance, ed Verdon, T. and Henderson, J. (Syracuse, NY, 1990).Google Scholar
13 Trexler, R., Public Life in Renaissance Florence (New York, 1980).Google Scholar
14 See his Synodal Law in Florence and Fiesole, 1306–1518 (Vatican City, 1971);Google Scholar Church and Community, 1200–1600 (Rome, 1987);Google Scholar The Christian at Prayer (Binghamton, NY, 1987).Google Scholar
15 Notably in The Altarpiece in the Renaissance, ed. Humfrey, P. and Kemp, M. (Cambridge, 1990);Google Scholar Os, H. van, Sienese Altarpieces 1215–1460, 2 vols. (Groningen, 1984–1990); and numerous important articles by Julian Gardner and Christa Garden von Teuffel.Google Scholar
16 Kemp, , The Altarpiece, p. 12.Google Scholar
17 Hope, C., ‘Altarpieces and the Requirements of Patrons’, in Christianity and the Renaissance (see n. 12), 535–69.Google Scholar
18 Os, H. van, ‘Some Thoughts on Writing a History of Sienese Altarpieces’, in The Altarpiece (see n. 15), p. 26.Google Scholar
19 Demus, O., The Mosaics of San Marco in Venice, 4 vols. (Chicago, 1984).Google Scholar
20 Sinding-Larsen, S., Christ in the Council Hall. Studies in the Religious Iconography of the Venetian Republic (Rome, 1971), pp. 156–259;Google Scholar cf. also his Iconography and Ritual. A Study of Analytical Perspectives (Oslo, 1984).Google Scholar
21 For a listing of Niero's publications, see Cattin, III, p. 245; I cite here Bertoli, B. and Niero, A., The Mosaics of St. Mark's. A Biblical Itinerary (Milan, 1987).Google Scholar
22 See esp. I, 85–8.
23 Kessler, H., ‘On the State of Medieval Art History’, The Art Bulletin, 70 (1988), p. 173;CrossRefGoogle Scholar Kessler, pp. 172–4, gives an indispensable listing of studies that take liturgical approaches to church decoration.
24 Galavaris, G., The Icon in the Life of the Church La Trobe University (Leiden, 1981)Google Scholar, 5; also Kessler, ibid., p. 173.
25 Kessler, ibid., pp. 173–4.