Medieval Academy of America

Images of Cult and Devotion: Function and Reception of Christian Images in Medieval and
Post-Medieval Europe by Søren Kaspersen; Ulla Haastrur
Review by: Jean Wirth and Joan A. Holladay
Speculum, Vol. 80, No. 3 (Jul., 2005), pp. 908-909
Published by: Medieval Academy of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20463435 .
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908 Reviews
S0REN KASPERSEN, ed., with ULLA HAASTRUP, illustration ed., Images of Cult and Devo
tion: Function and Reception of Christian Images inMedieval and Post-medieval Eu
rope. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, University of Copenhagen, 2004. Pp.
viii, 312 plus 22 color plates; black-and-white figures.$28.

This book is the resultof a colloquium devoted to the study of cult and devotional images
in northernEurope, and it seeks to better integrate them into contemporarymethodology
and an international context. Some of the articles treat religious art in Scandinavia and
Finland in the period under consideration, principally the end of theMiddle Ages. The
others address diverse objects, includingRussian icons and the frescoes at Pordenone. The
result is a juxtaposition of studies that are often interestingin theirown rightbut that do
not really converge toward the stated goal.
A few examples: F 0. Buttner's excellent study of images in themises-en-page of books
of hours highlights little-knownprocedures, such as thecuttingof a window inmanuscript
leaves in order to permit an image to accompany the reading of several pages or the re
duction of the primary subject of an illumination to a microscopic scale or even itsdisap
pearance in favor of an empty scene inwhich it should have been situated. But one would
have difficultyfindingcomparable procedures in theScandinavian works treatedelsewhere
in the book. The reflectionsof Kees van der Ploeg on thedifferingevolutions of the liturgy
north and south of theAlps and the resulting explanation of the success of thewinged
altarpiece in the north and its infrequency in the south are perfectlyconvincing, but they
have no echo in the studies of Scandinavian churches. Even if the latter sometimes become
catalogue-like, they allow the discovery of phenomena thatwould gain by being situated
in a largercontext. One thinks,forexample, of theantitheses thatunderlie thecomposition
of devotional images inDanish churches (Kaspersen), of the infrequencyof half figures in
these same churches (Haastrup), or of the cult of the crucifix and statues of saints that
survived in Lutheran Norway until the nineteenth century (Martin Blindheim). In these
threecases, comparisons would be illuminatingand could lead from facts to explanations.
These limitations illustrate vividly the fact that the interdisciplinarityof colloquia, in
effectthe juxtaposition of heterogeneous case studies, is deceptive. The problems posed by
the organizers can find solutions only in the pluridisciplinarity of individual scholars, a
rare virtue. In certain cases, attributable perhaps to impoverished libraries, both biblio
graphic and more general scholarly insufficiencycan be noted. For themedieval iconog
raphy of the Passion, one can no longer stop at Emile Male and ignore, for example, the
book of JamesMarrow, itselfalready several decades old. It isnot acceptable to study the
Lutheran iconography of the Swedish prayer book of 1552 without comparing the en
gravingswith theirGerman sources. In several cases the study ofwritten sourceswould be
more fruitfulifone were attentive to the exact words of the text and theirmeaning. That
a sculptured retable could be designated a tabulawould have deservedmention in thearticle
by Ingalill Pegelow, and one would prefer to have the original text cited systematically.In
introducing a large overview of textsdescribing visionary experiences before images, Peter
Dinzelbacher calls for increased interdisciplinarityand analysis of texts on the part of art
historians. He calls upon what I justdesignated as pluridisciplinarity,and we must consider
him justified.When he remarks that therewere few critics of these visionary experiences
and mentions the "Silesian jurist"Witelo as an exception, however, one registerssurprise
that he draws no connection between the author of theDe natura daemonum, which he
summarizes after the secondary literature,and thegreatestWestern scholar of optics before
Kepler. It is inmedieval scientificliteratureand in itsadaptations like theRoman de la rose
that one finds a critique of religious attitudes. Following Witelo, Jean deMeun imputed
paranormal phenomena to the illusions of the senses and the imagination,while considering
optics as themain path to demystification.

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 Reviews 909
Medieval religious art in northernEurope has been relativelywell preserved thanks to
Lutheranism,which was both anti-iconoclastic and littleinclined to destroymedieval works
in order to replace them, as happened in theCounter-Reformation. Itwould be good if
northernartwere known betterand better tied to thehistoryof theart of the restofEurope.
This publication is a contribution, but turningour gaze to other artisticmilieus hardly
replaces the study of the circulation of artists and works, particularly prints, that spread
iconographic
themes.'
JEAN
WIRTH,Universite
deGeneve

This reviewwas translatedby JoanA. Holladay.

C. M. KAUFFMANN,Biblical Imagery inMedieval England, 700-1550. London and Turn

hout: Brepols, 2003. Pp. xvi, 365 plus 16 color plates; 203 black-and-white figures, 1
table, and 1map. C105.

C. M. Kauffmann is best known for his publications on Romanesque illuminatedmanu

scripts,
especially
hisRomanesque
Manuscripts,
1066-1190 (London,
1975),theinaugural
volume of the Survey ofManuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles. Kauffmann's new
book takes on the daunting task of discussing nearly nine centuries of art production in a
variety
ofmedia-primarilyilluminated
manuscripts
but also panelpaintings,
stained
glass, wall paintings, sculptures in various materials, and woodcuts. Its broad scope, nu
merous illustrations,
and combination
of chronological,
thematic,
and case-study
ap
proaches make a valuable contribution to the study and teaching ofmedieval art.
Biblical Imagery is laid out along roughly chronological lines-its nine chapters begin
with early-medieval art and end with art after theReformation-but within each chapter
Kauffmann wisely focuses on particular themesor specific typesofmanuscripts ratherthan
givea chronological
history
of,forexample,thirteenth-century
Psalters.
The bookbegins
with a brief introduction (pp. ix-xii) followed by a chronology, a map, and sixteen color
plates of varying quality. The introductionaddresses the importance of biblical imagery in
medieval art and life, as well as the relationships between text and image and between
image,
patron,andaudience.
Theseconcerns
resurface
throughout
thebook,whichbegins
with a chapter on the earliest Christian art that is identifiablyEnglish-manuscripts and
sculpturesmade in the eighth and ninth centuries (chapter 1). Chapter 2, "The Old Tes
tamentinAnglo-Saxon
Art,"givescase studiesof illustrated
Anglo-Saxon
biblicaltexts.
Chapters 3 and 4 turn toKauffmann's forte,Romanesque manuscripts ("The TwelfthCen
tury:Golden Age ofMonasticism-Bibles: Narrative and Symbolism" and "Psalters").
Biblical imagery produced in new types of painted and sculpted cycles in the thirteenth
century is the subject of chapters 5 and 6 ("The Thirteenth Century: Private and Public
Devotion" and "The Political Use of theBible"). Chapter 7 continuesKauffmann's overall
focus on illuminatedmanuscripts, moving into the latermedieval period ("The Fourteenth
Century: Narratives in theMargin; Vernacular Texts and Popular Themes"). Chapter 8
("The Late Medieval Parish Church") broadens the selection ofmedia considerably, for it
is here thatKauffmann addresses not only manuscripts, sculpture, and murals but also
stained glass and altarpieces executed inwood and paint or in alabaster. Chapter 9 ("The
Reformation and Beyond") beginswith a discussion headed "Iconoclasm" and focuses on
the role of thewoodcut illustrations included in sixteenth-centuryEnglish printed Bibles.
The lengthyend matter of the book (pp. 285-365) includes a list of abbreviations, the
endnotes, two appendices in support of chapter 3, a bibliography, a glossary, the list of
illustrationsand a separate listof photographic acknowledgments, and three indices.

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