Further Symbolism in the Portinari Altarpiece

Author(s): M. B. McNamee S.J.

Source: The Art Bulletin, Vol. 45, No. 2 (Jun., 1963), pp. 142-143
Published by: College Art Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3048079
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 142 THE ART BULLETIN

that recalled the focus, the

piece but also altar
in a great many otheron
Flemishthe heart
paintings.
to the lar. Panofsky
Boccaccio, has noted the obviouswarns
however, symbolism of the
us ag
literal and pagan an sheaf
interpretation:
of wheat in the foreground of the central panel
as pointing ahead to the Sacrifice of the Mass which
"We Florentines, and perhaps many other
would perpetuate in time the Sacrifice of Himself which
well, keep, generally in the private quarters w
the Incarnate Word began here at the Nativity, and
whole family meets around the common fire,
which He had already actually begun at the moment
iron tools to hold the fire logs, called Lari. On
of the Incarnation. But there is another striking sym-
of the Kalends of January the family is summ
bol of the same meaning in this picture and in many
the father who, after a large beam of wood
other similar Flemish paintings of the Annunciation,
placed on the fire and lighted at one end, s
the Nativity, and the Adoration of the Magi. No one,
selfon the other end while the members of t
to my knowledge, has pointed out the significance of
stand around him. Taking up wine, the fath
the vestments frequently worn by the angels in these
a draught and then pours the rest of the c
paintings. In the Portinari Altarpiece, the angels which
burning end of the log.
surround the nudeThereupon the oth
Christ Child wear the vestments
about drink in turn, maintaining perfect solem
of the assistant ministers at the first Solemn High
then each goes about his business. As a boy I o
Mass of a young priest. At such a mass, the archpriest,
this performed in our home by my father
who functions as a sort of master of ceremonies, wears
certainly a true Catholic. Nor do I doubt that
the cope; the Deacon and Subdeacon, as in ordinary
mony is still performed by many people, rath
Solemn High Masses, wear the Dalmatic, under which
it is an old custom of their ancestors than th
the Deacon wears the stole passed across his breast
error of idolatry or superstition."
and suspended on his right side. All the assistant min-
isters wear the xrI,
(Geneal. Deor. linen alb underneath
65)the vestments just
COLLEGE OF CERAMICS, mentioned. Now it is precisely these vestments that we
ALFRED UNIVERSITY see the angels wearing in the Portinari Altarpiece.
They all are wearing linen albs. The angel at the top
left and the most conspicuous one kneeling in the
FURTHER SYMBOLISM IN THE lower right-hand corner are wearing the cope cus-
tomarily worn by the archpriest at a first Solemn High
PORTINARI ALTARPIECE
Mass or frequently by any or all of the subministers in
M. B. MCNAMEE, S.J. the Middle Ages; while the two angels immediately
to the right of the kneeling angel in the cope are obvi-
ously wearing the Dalmatic, a garment with short
Considerable scholarly work has recently been pub-
lished concerning the rich religious symbolism in the
sleeves and slits up the side. The kneeling angel at the
Portinari Altarpiece (Fig. I). Erwin Panofsky's dis-
lower left closest to the frame is wearing only the alb
cussion of the picture has highlighted the symbolism
and the stole, and the one behind him only the alb.
that pervades almost every detail of the composition,'
The two kneeling angels in the rear and all those in the
and his insights have recently been supplementedair,
by except the one in the cope, are wearing the long
Robert M. Walker, who pointed out the presencealb-like
of linen garment (the predecessor of the modern
the demon lurking in the shadows of the Romanesque
surplice) which is worn by the acolytes or minor min-
building as a symbol of the Prince of Evil which isters
the at a Solemn High Mass.' This fact alone should
Incarnate Word has come to vanquish.2 In spite be ofsufficient suggestion that Van der Goes intended his
Panofsky's exhaustive treatment of the symbolism ofpicture
the to suggest the Sacrifice of the Mass which
picture, there is one very important symbol which would
he continue the Sacrifice of the Cross and the Sac-
has overlooked, at least in his published works. It is
rificial offering that the Christ Child in the picture
my purpose here to call attention to it because itseems
is a to be making of Himself at this very moment.
symbol that functions not only in the Portinari Altar-
These vestments of the ministers of the Solemn High

i. Erwin Panofsky, Early Netherlandish Painting, Cam- wear the cope. This is probably the background for the wing-
bridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1953, I, PP. 331-336. less angels clad in copes in the side panels of the Ghent altar-
2. Robert M. Walker, "The Demon of the Portinari Altar- piece. They may not be intended as angels at all but only as a
piece," ART BULLETIN, XLII, 196o, pp. 218-219. group of Cantors. What is relevant in all this to the point
3. The cope has a very long history as a hooded cloak worn suggested in this paper is the fact that the cope was always
by Ecclesiastics. There is reference to it as early as the eighth
a vestment worn by a minor minister at the Solemn High Mass
century, although, as a strictly liturgical vestment, it dates and other solemn functions. The Chasuble was then and con-
back only to the twelfth century. At this time it was consideredtinues to be now the vestment of the celebrant. See The Catholic
Encyclopedia, Herbert Thurston, "Cope," IV, pp. 351-352,
to be the special vestment of cantors. But especially in the Low-
lands, in France, and Germany, the cope (frequently very and Edmund Bishop, "The origin of the Cope as a Church
elaborate) was worn by any or all of the assistant ministers
Vestment," Dublin Review, cxx, 1897, pp. 17-37.
at solemn functions. In monasteries the whole community of4. I am at present working on a longer article tracing the
monks was sometimes vested in copes at a Solemn High Mass.history of the liturgically vested angel in mediaeval religious
This custom spread to include all the canons in solemn functions
art.

at the Cathedral. But cantors rather universally continued to

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 rp~Sr
AiA?-i

lwu

AOL

i. Hugo Van der Goes, Adoration of the Shepherds (Portinari Altarpiece, central panel)
Florence, Uffizi (photo: Alinari-Anderson)

I'

-k7I

2. Hans Memling, Madonna and Child w

National Gallery of Art, Mellon Collec
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 NOTES 143

Mass nunciation
make evenby Jan Van Eyck in the National Gallery,
more ex
of the sheaf of wheat. Washington, in which the Angel Gabriel is wearing an
Another detail of the angel's vestments that con-elaborate cope; the Friedsam Annunciation by Hubert
nects them with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the Van Eyck, in the Metropolitan Museum, where he
inscription Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus that appears on thewears an alb and cope; the Annunciation by Roger van
edge of the cope worn by the kneeling angel in theder Weyden in the Louvre, where he is wearing an alb,
right foreground. These are the first words in the
stole, and cope; and the Annunciation of the Merode
prayer that immediately follows the Preface, the firstAltarpiece in the Cloisters, in which he is wearing an
prayer of the Canon, the most sacred part of the Massalb and a stole over the left shoulder in the manner of
in which the actual consecration and oblation take the deacon at a Solemn High Mass.
The symbolic vestments also occur in Flemish paint-
place. This is the Sanctus prayer in its entirety: Sanctus,
Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleniings
suntof the Madonna Enthroned. A good example is
the Madonna by Hans Memling in the National Gal-
caeli et terra gloria tua. Hosanna in excelsis. Benedictus
qui venit in nomine Domini. Hosanna in excelsis. lery in Washington (Fig. 2). It shows the Madonna
What seems to make this symbolic meaning of the
with the nude Infant Jesus on her lap Who is reaching
vestments more certain and more complete is theout fact
for an apple held out to Him by an angel kneeling
on His right. This angel is wearing the Deacon's
that neither in this altarpiece nor in any of the dozens
of other Flemish altarpieces that I have been able to while the angel on the other side of the throne
Dalmatic
examine in museums here and abroad, do any of the
is wearing only the alb. Here again is an allusion to
angels ever wear the chasuble, the vestment worn both by
the sacrifice of the cross by which Christ would
the celebrant at Mass. And for the symbolismredeem to be the human race from the consequences of
accurate, they, of course, should not wear it. Here at sin symbolized in the apple, and the perpetua-
Adam's
the Nativity, where Christ begins visibly his sacrificial
tion of that sacrifice in the Mass symbolized here by
life, He Himself is both the victim being offered the and
Christ Child in the chasuble of His flesh flanked
the priest making the offering. The chasuble that by the
heministering angels in dalmatic and alb. There is
wears is His human flesh which He assumed at the In- also a hint of the Mass as a sacrifice of adoration and
carnation precisely that He might offer Himself as the praise in the viol held by the angel wearing the dalmatic
victim for sin. And that is one of the reasons why the and the harp being played by his companion.
Divine Infant is always represented in these paintings The constant repetition in these Flemish paintings of
entirely nude-to emphasize the fact that it was Hisangels wearing the vestments of the assistants at a
assumed human flesh that was the sign of His functionSolemn High Mass, and the equally constant and con-
sistent omission of the celebrant's chasuble is an indica-
as a priest assuming the guilt of mankind and making
tion that the artists meant these vestments to be an-
the sacrificial offering of Himself for man's redemption.
He Himself is the celebrant here. other symbolic reference to the Sacrifice of the Mass
already foreseen and offered by the Second Person of
Other painters used other symbols to make apparent
this connection between the Divine Infant and the Sac- the Trinity at the moment of His incarnation and birth.

rifice of the Mass. Stephen Lochner, for instance, inSAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY

his Nativity (formerly Collection von der Heydt, now

Alte Pinakothek, Munich), represents the nude Infant
THE SOURCE OF RUBENS'
as resting on a linen cloth which is obviously a corporal
of the Mass, so designated by the crosses stitched into MIRACLES OF ST. IGNATIUS
its corners. In the Portinari Altarpiece and many other
MILTON J. LEWINE
Flemish paintings, the Mass is effectively symbolized
by the Mass vestments. The preliminary oil sketch (Fig. I) and the altar-
This symbolism is not confined to the Nativity; itpiece (Fig. 3) of the Miracles of St. Ignatius, both now
occurs very frequently in the Annunciation as well.in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, give us a
Over and over again in these scenes as portrayed bymost interesting example of Rubens' use of an Italian
Flemish artists, the Angel Gabriel wears the cope orsource. Throughout his life Rubens studied Italian
the Dalmatic, or simply the alb and stole, as a symbol works of art, in general for what they could teach
of his function as a minor minister at the great mysteryhim about the actions, poses, and anatomy of the hu-
of the Incarnation which begins the sacrificial action ofman figure.2 But in his mature works he rarely turned
Christ that will culminate on the cross and be perpetu- to the pictures of Italian artists, particularly non-
ated in the Mass. Good examples of this are the An-Venetians, for compositional sources.s Thus the fact

i. M. Rooses, L'CEuvre de P. P. Rubens, Antwerp, I886-

2. For an example of Rubens' use and re-use of a figure de-
i892, II, Nos. 454 and 454 bis, for the altarpiece and the from Michelangelo (although, as Professor J. S. Held
rived
sketch respectively; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemdldegalerie,
has pointed out to me in a letter, Rubens may only have re-
Vienna, 1958, 11, Cat. Nos. 312 and 313; Inventory Nos. 528 the drawing in question) see U. Hoff, "Peter Paul
drawn
and 530. The photographs were supplied through the courtesy
Rubens (1577-7640)-Study for the Picture of Moses and the
of Dr. Erwin M. Auer, Director, Kunsthistorisches Museum,
Brazen Serpent," Old Master Drawings, xil', 1938, pp. I4-18.
Reproduktionsabteilung. 3. For several cases of Rubens' taking over compositions

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