On Art

...On Art FROM ROMANESQUE TO GOTHIC BY JAMES R MELLOW T ? he customary view of the period encompassing the late 12th and early 13th centuries is that it was an age of transition Western culture slouching past the millemum, had survived the barbaric invasions and assimilated their effects The Crusades—that generally disastrous series of religious and social campaigns combining mystical fervor with outright political opportunism —had introduced a new leavemng into the parochial cultural centers of the West In art, the period represented the slow, not always discernible replacement of the Romanesque style by the Gothic, the changeover from the compact, sturdy Romanesque church, with its formidable masonry work, to the vaulting structuralism of the Gothic cathedral, seemingly intent on denying its material being Where the former style might be said to represent local conditions presided over by feudal and feuding lords—like the French dukes who out of pride of place, as one historian put it, maintained "good towns and good quarries"—the latter seemed to embody a greater internationalism, an incipient urbanlsm that was soon to play a prominent role m European life In both cases, to be sure, the Church—wherever it could wield the power—sustained its own brand of internationalism, a matter of politics and doctrine Yet paradoxically, while the Gothic style represented an advancement, it also represented a new localization Europe's esthetic center of gravity shifted to the North This flowering of the North is the principal subject of the stunning exhibition "The Year 1200," now on view at the Metropolitan Museum Another in the museum's series of centennial celebrations, it has been beautifully installed, without too much crowding and without too much chic by Stuart Silver, who staged the equally fine Italian Frescoes exhibition two seasons ago The Metropolitan's director, Thomas P Hovmg, conceived the idea for the show several years ago, while researching what is now one of its principal exhibits, the Bury St Edmund's cross, a beautifully detailed ivory crucifix dating from the 12th century To give this healthy slice of medieval life—covering roughly the years 1180-1220 —a smart new appearance, he enlisted the aid of a battery of experts, including Drs Florens Deuchler, Chairman of the Cloisters and Konrad Hoffman, a young German medievalist The result, as Hoving intended, is "a distinguished scholarly (and popular explanation) exhibition ' I am not equally persuaded, however, that he has made a convincing case for the art of the period being "neither Romanesque nor Gothic, nor indeed transitional," but a style in its own right That claim seems more applicable to the spiffy reupholstenng job he has given the period than to the period itself In any event, "The Year 1200' is a handsome affair, and although several of the 300 or more rare and beautiful objects that make up the exhibition come from Spain and Italy, the majority of the pieces maintain the scholarly thesis that the significant art of the time originated m the North Nearly all the more striking examples of stained glass illuminated manuscripts, religious vessels and cathedral sculptures are drawn from northwestern Europe—from the Ile-de-France and Champagne regions of France, from England and from then-productive areas ot Germany such as Westphalia and Saxony Like every medieval phase, the late 12th and early 13th centuries was an age in which distinctions between the fine and the applied arts had no meaning Fine art was applied art mosaic and fresco work, stained glass, the sculptured facades of churches and cathedrals, the broad array of costly religious artifacts that called into play the services of goldsmiths and embroiderers, enamehsts and calhgraph-ers The cathedral itself was the great unifying work It was not—judging from the exhibits at the Metropolitan—an age ot suspicion, where the cloven foot peeped out from eveiy garment, warning the spectatoi that things are never what they seem Certainly, among the glowing fragments of stained glass, the lovingly painted details of the manuscripts, there are innumerable pictures of devils and demonic animals, but these are all frankly presented—out in the open, not lurking behind attractive disguises The hefty, three-foot-tall "Devils Bible" (so-called because the monk who was said to have completed it in one night had summoned the Prmce of Darkness) suggests that the devil might even be called upon to advance a good cause According to the tiansitionalist view, it was an era informed by a new humanism, a period that had moved beyond the dark superstitions of earlier times One of the most sensitive historians of the period, the late Henri Focillon, has given in The Ait of the West a remarkable description of the changed spiritual attitudes that are reflected in the art covered in the Metropolitan's exhibition But it is well to remember that Focillon's finely wrought descriptions are general and do not apply to specific works of art Moreover, the spiritual states they register—however appreciatively—m the end mark a decline in religious feeling, from exalted faith to common devotion "Romanesque faith, Focillon observes "shot through with visions and prodigies, accepted and cherished the mysterious, it moved among superhuman things, it trembled in anticipation of rewards and punishments, the miracle was its law, and the unknowable its nourishment From these epic heights, round which resounded the thunders of Sinai, the piety of the thirteenth century brings us back to the paths of the Gospel, in God-made-man, it cherished humanity, it loved and respected God's creatures as He loved them, it accepted the benefit which He brought to men of good will—peace on earth—and extended it to include even death, which was no more than a sleep m the Lord Finally, the devotion ot the decline more demanding and perhaps more sensitive in its emotions, replaced this serenity with its own unease, passionately devoted itself to the terrible scenes of Calvary, fixed them, contemplated them, made them alive again, suffered them anew, with a dramatic pageantry and mystic power of recreation which conferred holiness on the accessory and indifferent object Iconography, style and technique were all equally expressive of these profound differences " | r the superb selection ot objects in "The Year 1200" gives no evidence of a final decline, it does illustrate in abundance the qualities and attitudes ascribed by Focillon to Romanesque faith and Gothic piety—though scarcely with clean-cut and isolated examples The striking wooden figure of the Virgin from the Metropolitan's collection, dating from 1215-20, though ostensibly representing the later and more humane phases of religion in which the Virgin acted as the mediating figure between the wrathful God of the Old Testament and the merciful Christ of the New, seems staid and hieratic, more Romanesque than Gothic in style In one of the enamel plaques for the Klostei neuberg altarpiece by Nicholas of Verdun, in a scene depicting Christ rescuing Adam and Eve from Hell—almost, it seems, forcibly removing them—one catches the redemptory fervor of the Gothic style And the little ivory Virgin of Ourscamp, so daintily carved, is a perfect illustration of the "early Gothic mood of tenderness" the catalogue attributes to it Ordinarily, however, it is difficult to pinpoint particular examples that display either the Gothic or the Romanesque styles in so definitive a manner A welcome and charming note of eroticism is present in one or two of the secular pieces A small carved-ivory casket shows a delicate scene of two lovers in their bed, and a bronze-gilt mirror case depicts a similar scene with a harpist in attendance In both instances, every suggestion of their amorous dalliance escapes an "X" rating?the couples he swaddled in bedclothes up to their chins Some scholars believe the loving couples represent Tristan and Isolde, others prefer Dido and Aeneas (There is also the possibility that they represent some erotic and allegorical passage from the Song of Solomon ) Among these iconographical mystery stories—and 'the art of "The Year 1200" is full of them?perhaps the most intriguing is that of a small carved-ivory fragment believed to be early-13th-century English It is no more than a few inches high, and depicts Judas at the Last Supper, almost groveling for a piece of the sacred bread The upper portion of the small group is missing—thus a right arm and hand extend down to deposit the morsel in Judas' mouth, and a left hand reaches across as if to restram the gift of bread The catalogue notes that "the motif of Christ grasping his right arm with his left is unusual So unusual, in fact, that one suspects it is not the case at all As a religious gesture—to say nothing of the physical awkwardness involved—it scarcely seems likely that Christ would offer with one hand what he intends to withhold with the other It is much more piobable that there are two figures involved—one offering the bread, the other trying to prevent him from doing so Given the iconographical mysteries, then, and the problems of determining precise dates, influences and origins, the Metropolitan's attempt to define a positive and autonomous style for "The Year 1200" seems very brave, indeed For myself, this is an instance where that much-abused term, "transitional," is really the most applicable one...