Early Medieval Bible Illumination and the Ashburnham Pentateuch

20 Pages·2003·0.54 MB·English

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Early Medieval
Bible Illumination and
the Ashburnham
Pentateuch
R
DOROTHY VERKERK
UniversityofNorthCarolinaatChapelHill
iii
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publishedbythepresssyndicateoftheuniversityofcambridge
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Firstpublished2004
PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge
TypefaceAdobeGaramond11.5/18pt. SystemLATEX2ε [TB]
AcatalogrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Verkerk,DorothyHoogland.
EarlymedievalBibleilluminationandtheAshburnhamPentateuch/
DorothyVerkerk.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn0-521-82917-8
1.AshburnhamPentateuch. 2.Bible.O.T.Pentateuch–Illustrations.
3.Illuminationofbooksandmanuscripts,Italian. 4.Illuminationofbooks
andmanuscripts,Medieval–Italy. I.Title
nd3358.p5v47 2003
745.6(cid:3)7–dc21 2003046267
isbn0521829178hardback
iv
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Contents
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ListofIllustrations pageviii
Acknowledgments x
1 APaintedPrimer 01
2 Script,Text,Illuminations,Provenance 44
3 PrincipalNarratives 60
4 TheRightOrderofLife 103
5 TheItalianOriginConsidered 125
6 AnItalianManuscript 147
7 ARomanClergy 184
Endnotes 201
Bibliography 249
Index 259
vii
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List of Illustrations
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1 Jacob’sBlessingandDeath. page10
2 OppressionoftheIsraelites. 11
3 IncreasedOppression. 12
4 BuildingtheTreasureCities,GoldenHaggadah,
PaduaBible. 13
5 OppressionoftheIsraelites,PaduaBible. 15
6 TheDeluge. 21
7 CrossingtheRedSea. 22
8 IsaacandRebecca. 23
9 Laban’sPursuit. 24
10 MosesConferringHisSpirit. 25
11 CainandAbel. 27
12 RebeccaandHerTwins. 28
13 JacobandEsau. 29
14 Joseph. 30
15 TheCreation. 53
16 Frankishscript. 56
17 Frankishscript,Homilies. 57
18 AdamandEve,Moutier-GrandvalBible. 65
19 DepartingfromtheArk. 74
20 LotandHisDaughters. 75
21 MountSinaiandtheTabernacle. 83
22 St.Augustine’sGospels. 107
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ListofIllustrations
23 SeparationofSheepandGoats,sarcophaguslid. 121
24 TheDeluge,SanSeverBeatus. 155
25 MosesonSinai. 163
26 TheTenthPlague. 166
27 SeparationofLightfromDark,SanPaolofuorilemura. 167
28 GodAccusesAdam,SanPaolofuorilemura. 168
29 GodSpeakingtoNoah,SanPaolofuorilemura. 169
30 ChapterListstoNumbers. 172
31 ChapterListstoNumbers. 173
32 TitlePage. 174
33 Canontable,CodexBeneventanus. 175
34 Canontable,CodexBeneventanus. 176
35 Canontable. 177
36 Canontable. 179
ix
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1
A Painted Primer
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Scriptureislikeariver,bothbroadanddeep,shallowenough
hereforthelambtogowading,butdeepenoughthereforthe
elephanttoswim.
–GregorytheGreat1
TheAshburnhamPentateuch(Paris,Bibl.nat.lat.nouv.
acq. 2334) has provoked difficult questions about the
nature of late antique biblical illustration, it has chal-
lenged long-held art historical methodologies, it has stymied the
workofpaleographers,andithasdefiedscholarlyattemptstoplace
it in a cultural context. Although it was the subject of a descrip-
tivemonographatanearlydate,2 thesubsequentfailurestoagree
on its place of origin and the assumption that it was a provin-
cial and peculiar product have tended to push the Ashburnham
Pentateuch into the margins of early medieval book illumination
studies. Yet no scholar who examines the manuscript denies the
exceptional qualities of its illuminations, even though relatively
little is published about its iconography. This study, then, by al-
lowing the illustrations to “speak,” endeavors to place this enig-
maticmanuscriptintheforegroundwhereitbelongs,ratherthan
1
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EarlyMedievalBibleIlluminationandtheAshburnhamPentateuch
relegatingittotheshadowsbecauseofdoubtsconcerningitsorigin
andiconography.
IntheAshburnhamPentateuch,theretellingofastoryisoften
throughpicturesthatrequiretheviewertotakedirectivesfromthe
pictorial cues provided in the illustrations.3 Although it may be
a fanciful analogy, the illuminations, filled with a variety of char-
acters who often gesticulate wildly against fantastic architectural
backdrops, remind me of theater in which the audience is cued
to the developing story line by the innuendos of mood and plot
createdonthestage.Itbehoovestheaudience,then,topaycareful
attentiontoallaspectsoftheplay:setting,costumes,gestures,and
stageprops.
Thenumberofillustrations,thecomplexityofdetail,theso-
phistication of the iconography, and the clarity provided by the
titulisuggestthattheidiosyncrasiesofthemanuscriptillustrations
are intentional, giving the creators of the manuscript far greater
artisticandintellectuallicensethanhadpreviouslybeengrantedto
them.Finally,thecumulativeweightofevidencesuggeststhatthe
codex was intended for an audience whose responsibility was to
teach; specifically, the clergy whose mission it was to instruct the
clergysodesperatelyneededtofilltheecclesiasticalranks.Where
theseclergymemberswereissomethingthisbookaimstoestablish.
Oneoftheconsistentproblemsthatsidelinedthemanuscript
is the piecemeal approach to the script and the illustrations, of-
ten the one exclusive from the other. Paleographic studies do not
mention, or mention only in passing, the eighteen pages of illus-
trationsandthemagnificentlydecoratedchapterlists;ontheother
hand, few art historians have tackled the thorny problem of the
2
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APaintedPrimer
script, preferring to examine a few of the pages or motifs in iso-
lation from the script and codicological concerns. In this book, I
haveattemptedtorectifytheseapproachesbyconsideringawider
rangeofillustratedpages,althoughthesheernumberanddensity
of the illustrations preclude a scene-by-scene analysis. By choos-
inganumberofrepresentativepages,Iofferanewwayofviewing
these complex and lively illustrations. The study of codicological
and script evidence is also given its due, although it is not the
primaryfocusofthebook.Throughoutthisstudyvariouscenters
ofproductioninSpain,SouthernFrance,andItalyareconsidered,
although the weight of the accumulated evidence tends to point
towardItaly.
The research into the Ashburnham Pentateuch has greater
repercussions beyond the search for origin, audience, and the in-
vestigation of pictorial significance. Gregory the Great’s dictum,
thatartistoremindthe“illiterate”[idiotis]ofbiblicalheroesand
stories,4 has been the focus of much attention in recent art his-
torical writing.5 Gregory’s two letters contain, outlined in a few
lines situated in a specific time and place, the essence of Church
teachingthatdefinedtheroleartwastoplayinearlymedievalart.
Muchofthemodernscholarlyworkhasbeenprofitableforourun-
derstandingnotonlyofwhatroleGregory,hisprecursors,andhis
followers envisaged for pictures in the explication of biblical and
saintlynarratives,butalsoofhisestimationofthepowerofimages
to transform their viewers. What has been lacking, however, is a
comprehensivestudythatinvestigateshowacontemporaryseries
of pictures was created that implements Gregory’s theory of an
artthattrulyteaches.TheAshburnhamPentateuchprovidessuch
3
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EarlyMedievalBibleIlluminationandtheAshburnhamPentateuch
anexampleofGregory’sdictum;indeed,itismuchmoresophis-
ticated in its visual exegesis than he ever envisaged for the walls
ofchurches.AlthoughGregorywasaddressingthedestructionof
wallpaintingsbyBishopSerenusofMarseilles,whobelievedthese
public works of art had caused his congregation to fall into idol-
atry, the manuscript presents a series of illustrations that address,
albeitinamoreprivateandsophisticatedformat,theconcernsof
a clergy responsible for clarifying scripture and Church history.
Throughtheunfoldingofhistoryinapictorialformat,theclergy
couldlearncorrectteaching.
R
Scholarship
TwoquestionshavedominatedtheAshburnhamPentateuch
scholarlydialogue:theplaceoforiginandtheinfluenceof
Jewish literature and art in the manuscript’s iconography. The
question of origin is addressed at length in Chapter 6 because it
dovetailswiththeissueofaudienceandpatronage.Thequestionof
Jewishliteratureandartisdealtwithherebecauseitisinterwoven
withtheissueofmethodology.
JosefStrzygowskiwasthefirstscholartoputforththetheory
thattheAshburnhamPentateuchwascopiedfromathird-century
manuscript made by Jewish Christians from Alexandria or, more
generally,theNearEast.6InaninsightfulcritiqueofStrzygowski’s
work, Margaret Olin has highlighted that Strzygowski was con-
temptuousofthemanuscript’silluminations.Hisperceptionthat
4
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APaintedPrimer
the paintings were crude and anticlassical led him to suggest that
they must have been unduly influenced by the art of the Semitic
East.7 Despite the anti-Semitism underlying Strzygowski’s work,
scholars,dominatedbyAustrianandIsraelischools,havetakenup
histhesisandarguedthaticonographicalidiosyncrasies,especially
in the Genesis scenes, seem to derive from Jewish sources, lead-
ing them to view the Ashburnham Pentateuch as a key witness,
along with the synagogue paintings at Dura Europos and in the
Roman catacombs,8 to the existence of late antique Jewish books
withnarrativepicturecycles.Accordingtothisschoolofthought,
the Ashburnham Pentateuch is one piece in a larger theory that
late antique, illustrated Jewish books influenced early Christian
iconography,9 particularly in manuscripts and Roman catacomb
paintings.10Proponentsarguethatthescarcityofdetailinthebibli-
calnarrativecompelledartiststoturntoothersourcesforpictorial
information and that Jewish literature and art filled the vacuum.
Recently, however, important new archeological examinations of
the Jewish catacombs in Rome raise critical questions. Without
exception, the surviving examples of Jewish catacomb paintings
depict ritual objects; narrative scenes that draw from either the
Tenakh or later rabbinical literature are notably absent.11 If the
hypothetical,now-lost,Jewishmanuscriptswithnarrativeillustra-
tions were circulating in Rome in the third and fourth centuries,
theyhadacuriousinfluenceonChristianfuneraryartwhileleaving
notraceonJewishfuneraryartinRome.Isthisaplausiblescenario?
A genre of Jewish art that left no imprint on Jewish funerary art
whilemakinginroadsintoChristianart–bothfuneraryandbook
art–stretches,Ibelieve,arthistoricalandarchaeologicalcredibility.
5