n Vegetal Imagery

in Renaissance Gothic

The profuse vegetal imagery of Renaissance Gothic has drawn :r good deal of attention during
the last severill clecades. Gothic architecture has long been associated with the natural world.
In his paean to Strasbourg Cathedral, Goethe compared the building to a < giant tree with
a thousand branches, twigs and leaves "t. Chateaubriand saw the typical Gothic cathedral
in similar terms : " Those vaultings carved with foliage, those ribbings that support the walls
and terminate suddenly like broken trees...all fcrrm and repeat woodland labyrir-rths in gothic
cl-rurches... , 2. These observations, rooted in Romanticism, are in'ragir-rative readings of pure
architectural configurations. Neither Goethe nclr ChAteaubriand, however, refer to the radical
representation of botanical fclrms that we find ir-r the very late Gothic I. In the years around
1500, vines creep across the surface of vaults as in the western chapels of the Church of Our
Lady at Ingolstadta. They replace the architectural baldachins in the altarpieces of Tilman
Riemenschneider. At Blaubeuren the choir stalls are crowned by crossed branches that provide
a natural trellis to the assernbly. Architectural rnembers suddenly morph into living forms,
an etTective artistic conceit ancl an instrument for conveying the mystical nature of religious
experience 5. These botanical fcrrms, these vines, branches, flowers and ti're like, could commu-
nicate the miracle of animation, of r.'ivification and its divine origins.
We find this imagery in every region of Europe. It is most conrrr-ron in the Gerrnan lands,
but we encounter significant instances in France ; for example, along the interior of the north
transept of Evreux Cathedral, designed by Jean Cossart, The crocketed pinnacles and arches
are packed so tightly that they form a veritable forest against the mural surface. And in Spain

Jcrhann Wolfgang von Cocthe, Von deutscher lJattkunst [1773], in Von deutscher At rrrd Kunsr, ecl. Edn:r Purclie, Oxfcrrd,
)974, p. 1?-5; Brt-rRuS,rttrs 1989, p. 108.
FranEois-Rcn6 tlc Ch:rtcauhrialtl, Le (idnie du Clhrisrianrsnre, Paris, 1877, Parr III, Book l, chap. B, p.48; Belr*ttS,tlrts
1989, p. 108.
Krrl Oettinger, Valtl Zu cincr Theorie der sildcleutschen Sakralkunst 14i0-1520 ", in l'esrschrfr/iir
n LarLbe, Garten uncl
Hans: Serilnrar-r, Mulich,
1962, p. 20l-22E. Ten lelrs elrlier, Ernst-Hein: Lemper corrpletctl his tlrcsis on the subject
(unavailable to ne) : Das Astuerk Scinc /orrnaL, -seirr \X/c.sor lnd seine Entruictrtirng, Diss Liepzig, 1950.
Erh:rn Matt Kavaler, " Ntrturc antl the Chapel Vaults at Ingolsraclt: StrrLctrLr:r]ist :rncl Other Perspectives ", The Art
BrLIIetin, ST (2005), p. 2lO-248. See also Joachinr Biichner, " Ast- Laub- und Massu,crkgcwOlbe der enJentlen Spiitgotik :

Zum Verhiiltnis vor Architcktur, ilckorativcr Malcrei uLrd B:rupl:rstik ", in Fcstschnfr Kcrl C)ettinger, ec1. Hans Sedlmayr
and Wilhehl Messerer, Erlangen, 1967, p. 265-3Ol BrichLrer also mentions initarive painting both of organic frrrms but
also of rrchitecturll elements such as traccrl'll:rttcrns. The tuo in their corlpirr:rble materialiq, are for him char:rctcristic
of the Late Cothic i;rterior. The chapel, the small chamber, \yith its irtimirte, privare, antl intlividual charactcr rvas the
most raclically .levelrpecl space of the Lirte Cothic. Biichner hr,:l earlier writtcn :rn arricle rn the painted decorarion of
vaults with vegetal and other motifs: " Uber die Jecoriltive Ausma[Lng spitgotischcr Kirchcnriiunc in Altbal'ern ", in
Morceion Stadien au Kmsr rrnd Gcschlchte fih O, H l-r)rster, Cologre, 1960, p 184-191, Ancl see BR-.ruN-RlLcust\s.qcHpn
1966.
Bn,r.uN-Rrrr:HrNn.t;rrrn 1966, p. 50, lg. 25.
298 I Ethan Matt Kavaler

the tomb of the Infante Alonso in the Charterhouse of Miraflores is franed by delicate
branches and leaves that contain putti and animals. At the apex of this enclosure, vines
suddenly metamorphose into birds.
Vegetal carvings had many referents. I want to spend n'rost of my time discussing the
religious applications of this sort of imagery, but it is important to note that these forms occur
on both secular and sacred structures. I will not talk about their association witl-r primitive
architecture and its supposed origins in the f.'rest6. I dtr, htrwever, want to distinguish a
number of uses or readings. First of all, plants and flowers frequently retained the symbolic
significance they inherited in the earlier Middle Ages, inspired by scriptural passages, herbals,
and other sources. Tl-ris narrowly coded meaning soon gave way to far less specific implications.
The remarkable imitation of natural growth might convey the manifestation of divine will -
converting inanimate matter into living forms, Or it might signal a wayward spirit, an ominous
departure from God's ordained plan. Nature was officially in charge of procreation, of the
continuation of all species of life, and her inevitable association with sexuaiity and its diverting
pleasures could threaten disorder.
Perhaps more significantly, however, this dense vegetal ornament frequently obscured
the structure of the ftirms it inhabited, conveying the sense of an impenetrable and unknow-
able environment. In the context of an altarpiece or church portal, the effect might be
allegorized by the viewer as the difficulty of identifuing sacred content among worldly dis-
tractions. Above all, the beholder was required to parse these veiled forms. Claude Levi-
Strauss has claimed that the true invention of the Renaissance was not the modern artwork
but rather the modern viewerT. Art of all media is ir-rcreasingly predicated on the role of the
beholder with his or her distinctive perspective outside the work. Intentional ambiguity
becomes ever more pervasive as the viewer is required to sort out various visual ciues much
as in solving a kind of riddle.
The symbolic coding of plants is the oldest usage of botar-rical imagery, yet it is still found
on a number of monuments from this period - for example, the choir stalls from the Castle
of Tratzberg in the Tirol, now in the Ferdinandeum in Innsbrncks (fig. 1), Three specific
plants are represented in its crest. The bay at the far right displays bunches of grapes hanging
form vines. Grapes, the most common symbolic fruit, allude to the Eucharist here as elsewhere.
In the center roses bloom on their stems, turned forward and back for easl, identification, a
likely reference to the Virgin herself (tl-re Virgin of David's rose), or to her love and pity for
humanity (making ruddy the petals). The final bay displays hops,:r common feature on
altarpieces and a plant long considered to possess divine powers of healinge.
More general, and perhaps more powerful, is the use of botanical imagery to suggest a
mystical manifestation of the divine. Architectural members are transformed into seemingly
natural growth, conveying a sense of inanimate building materials suddenly vivified. Artists
employ this tactic with some frequency in the South German lands ; the Schultheiss Portal

Paul Crosslcy, " The Re turn to the Forest : NatrLral Architccturc anr{ the German Past in thc Age of Dtirer ", in
Krl-sricrl-scher Arstarnch; Arri.stlc Erchanqe, Akren Jcs XX\/l/l Inrcmationalen Kongrcs-ses fiir Kln-srgeschichre, Bcrlin, 1993,
vol. 2, p. 7l-E0 ; Hubcrtus Ciintlrer, " Das Astrverk und clic Thcoric dcr Renaissance von der Enstchung cler Architektur ",
in Thiche des arts cf crlati.n artistique tlans I'Ettrope dl Nord du \vt' au dibut tlu xrrttt" -slicic Actes du collotlue intcrnatronal
organisl ies 14 et 16 d!.cetnbre 2000 r) l'Unirersite Chorles-tle-(]uulle - Lille J, ec1. bv Michdle-(larolinc Hcck, Fr6cl6riquc
Lenrerle ancl Yvcs Pauucls, Liltc, 2002, p. l)-3/; Hanns Hubactr, " Uberlegungen zum Meisrer .lcs Lorcher Hochaltar-
retabels ", N'assauisc/re Annalen, 101 (199i), p. 29-51 ; Hubaclr, "Johann vcrr Dalberg tLn.l tlas naturalistische Astu'erk
in der Zeitgcnossischen Skulptur ir Wurms, Heiclelberg unrl Laclenburg ", in Der Wormser tsischof Jrlunn wn Dulberg
(1482'1503) rnd scirrc Zcir, ecl. Cierold Bijnnen:rntl Burkarcl Kcilnann, M:rinz, 2005, 1. 207-232.
7 Claude Levi-StrarLss, Enfreticns Ltt,ec Cluude l-cll-Srrauss, ec1. Oeorges Ch:rrbonnier, Paris, 1961, p. 69-72.
8 Willrclrn Mrazek, " I)as Kunsthanclverk ", in Peter rtn Bal.lass cr uI , Gatik in Osrerreich, Vienrr, 1961, p. 121, fig. 84.
9 Lottelise Bchling, [)ie Pflunzanualt tlcr mirtelakerlichenKathedralcn, Cologne, 1964, ;. 130-133, p. 152-154.
 On Vegetal Imagery in Renaissance Gothic I 299

of Bern Minster is a particularly artful example (fig. 2). Designed by the sculptor and architect
Erhard Kr,ing in 1491, it places the doorway within a rraditional ogival arch. The pinnacles
on each side, however, break off into a series of slender crocketed finials, twisting and curling
like the tips of branches and enveloping the eight :rngels who hold inscriptions and coats of
arms'0. It is as if the architecture of the church has come alive to admit the faithful, a sign
of divine omnipotence and zrlso of Kting's artislq'.
The Schultheiss Portal must be read, however, in ctrnnection with the tympanum over
the western portal of the Cathedral. This large field is occupied by an extensive carved relief
of the Last Judgrnent, Erhard Kung's major work, which the artist had completed either
shortly before or after constructing the side portal rr. On the left side, the saved are being
conducted to their eternal reward (fig.3). At the center of this section, an angel escorts a
pope through heaven's gate, which is unmistakably related to the Schultheiss Portal nearby.
The entrance to Heaven is wild and unruly with a dense growth of warped and twisted
pinnacles and finials. The Schultheiss portal is somewhat more orderly but similarly defies
the expectations of architectural form ; tl-re coils of the finials clearly betray the path of the
compass yet read nonetheless as vegetal. By hnking the Schultheiss Portal and the Last
Judgment, Kr,ing established an unavoidable relation between the door to the church and the
door to heaven. Kr-ing depicted both gates miraculously transformed intc'r vegetal matter as a
sign of divine sanctification. They thereby make visible the rype metamorphosis presumably
witnessed by those admitted to the l-reavenly Jerusalem.
One of the more unusual applicatior-rs of this device is found on Henrick Douverman's
Altarpiece of the Seuen Sorrorus of tlrc Virgrn, carved from 1518 to 1522 in Kalkar on the
Lower Rhine't (fig.5). The ostensible subject of the retable is a collection of seven scenes
in which the Virgin had either a foretaste or direct encounter with Christ's Passion. Dou-
verman's frame, however, is the rnost novel and noteworthy aspect of the Kalkar altarpiece.
The entire encompassing structure represents the tree of Jesse, a common theme of the time.
The prophet Jesse sits in what would ordinarily be the predella. Highly unusual is the dense
growth clf vine and reed, the " rod " emitted from Jesse's body, which hopelessly entraps him
and his companions, filiing the entire cavity with its impenetrable irregular net.
The rveb of branches and vines travels up both sides of the altarpiece, carrying other
kings and prophets in its train (fig.4). These Old Testament figures are enmeshed in the
growth, their bodres contorted to fit both r,'ine and frame. At the top they are forcibly flushed
out of the tall ogival arch above the figure of Christ crucified. There is a tension between
natural and architectural fcrrms - the wood is carved into proper arches with Gothic moldings,
yet these are pierced at places by branches and tendrils that bore through the containing
arch, ending in leaves on its outer edge.
The dramatic Auslug, the florid culmination to the altarpiece, immediately catches the
eye. Atop the crest are a series of tall pinnacles linked by open arches that act as baldachins
for figural groups of Augustine u'ith the Tiburtine Sibyl and St. John the Evangelist with the
Angel. The arches of this skeletal superstructure extrude curling finials that mediate between
architectural men'rbers designed r,vith a conpass and life-like branches.
Douverman's Kalkar altarpiece effaces the distinction between the natural and the
man-made. The two are here mystically united, It is as if the wood, so carefully crafted by

LO Slaorczrr 1990, p. l8-41.

tl Sl,rlrc:zrr 199C, p 42-E8, especiallv 1.. 79-8E. Marl ruthors cl.ite thc completion of the sculpture of thc uest portal to
aroLrncl 1495, though SJaclec:ek consiJers it execrLtctl a decade earlier.
Barbarr Romnr6, Henrick Drnwennun Lr,td tlie nietlerrheini.sche tsilJschnir:[rinst an t]er Vtentle lur Neuleir, Bieleielcl, 1997,
p. 29-61, p. i9-81, is.5, 13-26.
300 / Ethan Matr Kavaler

sculptors and joiners, had returned to its original essence. It suggests the absolute power of
God, tlre potentiul absoluta, to inspire life force in seemingly inanimate naterial, to make felled
trees live again. God is present, after all, in His creations and can shape them according to
His will. " For He is the Substance of all things, and is in Himself unchangeable and immo-
veable, , we read in the Theologia Deutsch, that mystical Low German treatise from the
fourteenth century that enjoyed considerable popularity in this periodrr.
Douverman's altarpiece exemplifies the more general theme of transformation, of the
transmutation of materials that is a common theme at this tirne. The instability of all forms
and their constant susceptibility to transformation is frequently indicated. In the Arndorfer
Altarpiece in the pilgrimage church at Maria Saal in K:irnten, the upper compartment contain-
ing the Coronation of the Virgin undergoes a noticeable metamorphosis la (fig. 6). The tracery
that should form the canopy over the figures within the partition has broken through its
confines and dramatically surges above in a system of branch-like extensions, intermingling
with the vegetal carving of the crest. This florid passage retains the properties of tracery but
obeys the dynamics of botanical generation. And in Annaberg in Saxony, Hirns \Titten's
unique baptismal font seems to grow frorn its stone foundation and to assume some imprecise
organic form'5 (flg. 7), It is vegetal or crystalline ? The angels that surround its shaft signal
that this miraculous transformation has been brought irbout through otherworldly force.
Representations of nature, however, are more polyvalent than writers have noted. Even
within the restricted terms of iconographical analysis, it is not clear that the botanical forms
rnust be interpreted as a sign of God's beneficence. Nature as an arena for the competition
between good and evil was just as much a topos of the late Middle Ages as the heavenly garden.
To understand tl-re potentially dark side of our subject, we must remember that the
Middle Ages had entrusted nature with the continuation of all species of man and animal
with sexual reproduction and sexual behavior. The repercussions of this association taxed
nearly all cosmologists. In Bernardus Silvestris's Magacosmus, Nature must take pains to rid
herself of inappropriate desiretu. In Alan of Lille's Plaint of Iluture, Nature enlists Venus and
Cupid to assist in the process of procreation, Venus, however, commits adultery and proves
herseif unworthy, wl-rile Natura, following her sinful counsel, must turn to Theology in order
to redeern her project. Aian's Plaint of llature became exceedingly well-known through the
Roman de Ia Rose1l .

The immensely popular Roman de Ia Rose cast further aspersions on Nature's sanctity.
The degree to which Nature supported Cupid ancl opposed Lady Reason was a matter of
considerable dispute that reached its zenith with the Querelle of around 1400 between sup-
porters and detractors of Jean de Meung, the second author of the book. It was fairly clear
that de Meung coupled Natura's interest in procreation with sexual pleasure. The apparent
rejection of a sufliciently Christian context troubled many readers. The Rose continued tcr
attract admirers and critics ir-rto the sixteenth century ; both Jean Molinet and Clement Marot
issued moralized revisions of the work, a clear indication of its disturbing ethical ambiguity18.

lj. Theologia Germanica, [ri]ns. Susanna lii/inkuorth, l-on.lon, 1911, 2; Stcvcl C):mcnt, Mlsticisnr arrd Dissenr: Rel6'rous
Itleo[og1 urtd Social Prorcst rL rhc Sixtccnt/r Ccntrn, Nerv Haven ancl London, 1973, p. l4-60.
14. ScuLxorur. 1978, p. 252; Fralz Schr(icr, Propstcl- undVallfahrrskirclvMuriu Saal (Petla-Kunstfuhrer, 103), Passau, 1997,
p. 7Z'24. The alrarpiccc is usu:rl\' datc.{ 15 15- 1520.
l5 Hcinrich Magirius, St Annen 1u Annabery (Crosser Kunstfilhrer Schnell ancl Stelner, J75), Regensburg, 1991, p. 40-41.
16. NEnvt.tx2003,p.58-64;Wurrl 2000,p.82;C)eorgeD.Economou,TheCoddessNarrrainMelieralLiteruture,Cambriclge,
Mass., I972, p. 60-il.
17. NE\vN1AN 2003, p.66-71 rWHtrt 2000, p.84-91.
18. WHrrE 2000, p. l1O-1ll ; NE\\iN.IAN 2003, p. 99-108, 134-5 ; Jillian M. L. Hill, The Mcdleuai Debdte on Jean dc Mcrnrg's
Romun de la Ilose : Morallrr Ver.sls Arr (Studies in Mccliaeval Lite-r:rturc, 4), Lerviston, 1991, p.4-8, p.90-131 ; Heathcl
M Ardcn, Thc Romcncc ofrhc Rosc, Boston, 1987, p.8i-8E.
 On Veeetal Imaqery in Renaissance Gothic I lOt

One work of art that clearly registers these tensions is a Netherlandish drawing now in
Istanbul (fig, B). Executed most likely in the eastern region of the Netherlands or the Lower
Rhineland around 1500, it shows a leafi' vine emerging from a vase a[ the center and winding
re.
its way in the manner of an arabesque around the surface of the paper The dense ornamental
pattern suggests some impenetrable fcrrest. This vegetal array, however, is populated. From
the calyx-like growths on the vines emerge tiny men - plant people - who hold large phalluses
in their arms. Even greater phalluses sprout from the cups in the center of tt-re design. The
drawing clearly represents both the savagery and sexuality of nature, its wild procreative fr)rce
and its relation to sensual pleasure.
Around this time Hieronymus Bosch painted the creation scene to hrs Garden of Earthly
Delights. The world that God fashioned is shown already deviating from His plan in Bosch's
creation wing, which is clearly about procreation and sex. Strange imaginary plants populate
the landscape, weird multi-headed creatures emerge from primordial pools, and the Fountain
of Life appears as a wild admixture of animal and vegetal parts. It stands as a strange work
20.
of micro-architecture, as a tabernacle in a landscape of unnatural generation In the famous
central panel, the world of creation evolves into a false paradise, ever farther from God's
initial command.
Equally ominous is the north portal to the Marienkirche at Zwickau. The gable over
the door is filled not only with branches but also with demons of various types : feral denizens
of the natural realm and surreal disembodied heads - several with fools'capsrt. They bebng
to the marginalia of ecclesiastical imagery. Sequestered to corners of the edifice, they act as
a reminder of forces antagonistic to the spiritual charge of the church.
We must remember that botanical forms occurred on secular structures as well. A thick
growth of Astwerk, for instance supports a winclow by the clock or-r Prague's Old Town Hall.
Although vines, branches, flowers, and other plants initially occasioned a good deal of thought
on the part of inventor and beholder, they soon subsided to an almost obligatory addendurn
to mclnuments sacred and secular. Wood carvers and masons learned the skills of creating
vegetal forms as one of their normal duties ; a distinct breed of artisans arose known as
foliagiers, tasked specifictilly with the cutting of leaves, vines, and ball flowers, which are
frequently rnentionecl in contracts rr. The ubiquity of these forms does not argue against their
having spiritual significance, onlv that their meanings were no longer as explicitly coded as
in earlier years.
Nature comprised a broacl semantic fleld. Its representation could convey a great vrrriety
of notions and values, which often registered on a sub - or preconscious levei. Perhaps most
frequently, natural forms serve to conceal or obfuscate a conventional message, either sacred
or secular. In Altdorfer's famous painting of St. Ge,:rrgeBattlingtheDragon, the saint is almost
losr in rhe thick growth of trees and foliage that completely fill the frame. Only zrfter some
searching do we identifi,the holy knight and his demonic preyrr.

19 l)avid Lanclau arLl Pc.ter Plrshall, Thc Print 1170-155A, Netr Haven:rnd Lotrclon, 1994, p 91-94, frg.84
Renai-ssance
ZO Ol :lrd the firrrns of microarchitccturc, sec P:ru1 Venclelbroeck,
Bosch's f6unt:rin and its rclation to notioLrs of procrcatioLr
" JheronimrLs Bosch' Zogenir:rncle TrLin tler Lustcn, Pirrt I ", Jurboek tan hcr Korrln/rlr;it Nllselrn ttrr Schonc Kunsrcn
Ant{rcrpcn, t989, p. 33-66, p 77'IlZ.
21. Rcrnhart Hoot: anrl Albrccht l)ohnr:rLrn, Sach.sen, Deutschc Krnstc.lenkriiller: Eit Bildhuntlbtch, Murich, 1989, p 455-456,
fis. )+j.314.
22. Jan-Karel Steppc, Her Koordoksaal in de Neclerlanclcn, Brussels, 1952, p. 109 ; Steven Co,ldard, " The Rctable as tn rrtistic
crossroacl: guiJd sanctionc.l coll:rborrtitlr beru,een the painters, carvcrs, and joiners of Altu,erp ", fapcr deli\erecl at the
Mid-\Wesrern Art Historical Conference in 1989 ; Lynn F Jacol-.s, Earh Ncrherlandish (,-arred Airarpiccc.s, /380-1550:
Mcdicral Tastes and Nlass ,VlarLerlng, Cambridge, 199E, p. 1 15-117.
23. Larq'Sih'er, " Forest prinrevrl: Albrecht Alttil,rfer an.l the Cerman wildenress lanclscirpe ",.Sirniolri.s ll (l9El), p. 5-43,
csl'eciallr p' 23'27 '
3O2 I Ethan Matt Kavaler

This device is empkryed several times by the Lower Rhenish print maker Israhel van
Meckenem with both religious and non-religious subjects, all from around 1500. The engrav-
ing of the Tree of Jesse largely conceals the figures of the prophet and the Old Testament
kings that spring from his loins in a dense twisting vine full of leaves za. The figures are
consigned to small, round pockets of space that give little indication of narrative direction.
The viewer is asked to reconstruct the program.
A shghdy different dynamic operates in a secular work of van Meckenem's, an engraving
of a pair of lovers secreted in an even thicker weave of vines tt. These are equipped with seed
pods that further suggest the fertile environment that the lovers inhabit. Their tryst is partly
hidden from curious eyes in the folds of nature. When faced rvith devotionai works of this
type, the viewer might think of Nature zrs disguising God's message, which required studious
investigation, One peered through a glass darkly.
A work that may well have provoked such inquiry is the large carved altarpiece of
around 1520 in the parish church at Besigheim in Swabia'u (fig.9). The ostensible subject
is St. Cyriacus's conversion of St. Arthemia, daughter of the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
The most surprising aspect of the Besigheim altarpiece, however, is clearly the thick foliage
that hides the greater part of the upper half of the corpus and opens, as if by chance, tcr
reveal the sacred narrative. Thin poles dividing the lateral saints from the central scene rise
and bloom into a miraculous arbor in which their circuiar path can still be detected. Small
round apertures appear in this leafi, canopy, disclosing the busts of four addidonal saints, who
are almost lost in the shadows of their niches.
The Besigheim altarpiece is related to a more famous work, the Fron Abarpiece of 1501
by Nikolaus Hagenower, formerly in the Cathedral of Strasburg. This monumental altarpiece
that no longer survives likewise contained statues and busts of saints shrouded by a dense
growth of vines ; its central scene portrayed the Virgin adored by thankful peasants and
crowned by angels. Once rnore, the vegetal forms were more than a frame ; they cast a leafit
blanket over the corpus, abating in places to display the actors in this tableaurT,
Htrgenower plays a another version of this game in the corpus of the celebrated Isenheim
Altarpiece - better known for its painted wings by Mathias Grr,inewald. The upper half of
the central shrine above the seated figure of Saint Anthony is entirely filled with a carpet of
leaves. Nonetheless, small symbols of the evangeiists and an idiosyncratic tracery motif can
be made out in this field. It is another puzzle, challenging the beholder to discern sacred signs
amidst Nature's distrlrctions io.
As Hans Kiirner has suggested, the vogue for vegetal imagery can be seen as part of a
larger shift toward representation in architect.,te ". Buildings increasingly include recognizable
objects drarvn fron experience, whiie rnasons come to irnitate wotld, n-ietal and other materials.
There had always been restricted representation in Gothic architecture - the leafy czrpitals
at Rcims CrthcJral, for instance.
But in the years after 1470 we encounter a radical assertion of mundane materialiry.
The vaults of the aisle of St. Riquier in Picardy, for instance, appear to be supported by rope

24. HolsretN 1986, p. 227, no. 618.

25. HornrEll 1986, p. 227, no. 619.
26. TheobalclNcbelandTheoSchlarter,Bcsighelinr, ErarrgelischeSrcdrkirchc (Kunstf0hrerno. 1533), Regensburg, 1999, p. ?-14;
ScutNttLlR 1978, p. 242. The altarpiece is atrribrLted b1'some to Christoph von Urach and datetl anrund 1520.
27. ScHLNDLI,R 1978, p. 63 ; Rrr:rrr 1987, p.26)..261, {ig. ).15
2E. AndrdeHayun,The lsenheinrAherprece God'sMedlcine andtlrcPttinter's Vlsion,Princcror, 1989,p. l3-16,p.53-56,platc 1;
Rrcur 1987, p.269.771, fig. 301.
29. Hans Kiirner, " Die "gcsti)rtc Fonn" in cler Archircktur clcs sp:itcn Mittelalters ", F-csrschnfr fiir Hartmut Bio'nLnnn, ecl.
Christoph An.lreas, Maraike lliicklirg rrn.l Rol:rnJ L)orn, Weinheinr, 1990, p 65-EO, especial\, 72-73.
 On Veeetal lmagery in Renaissance Gothic I l0l

10.
or cable, twined ar-rd knotted and secured with metal rings - suggesting the roof of a tent
In the Portuguese Convent of Christ at Tom.ar, a large belt and buckle bind one of tl-re
r1.
external buttresses as if dressed fcrr some public ritual This notable detail may signify the
Order of the Carter, presented to King Manuel by Henry VIL Yet whether heraldic or
whimsical, it exemplifies a new taste in architectural ornament.
We might consider these examples as indications of the changing reception of Gothic
design ; the ideal non-representational system of the Gothic is increasingly infiltrated by
mimetic elements that adr-rlterate its abstract geometric form. They suggest the breakdown
of a signifi,ing system that depended for authority on its exteriority. Thus compromised, the
Gothic could no longer claim to represent the world in its totality. Newly concerned with
the particular and the experiential, it offered, rather, a fragmentary image subject to the
specific viewpoint of the beholder. It is interesting to note that these developments roughly
coincide with the awareness in the North of an alternate Italianate or antique system that
challenged the Gothic from another direction.
Certainly Nature was a force to be reckoned with. Vast, unpredictable and uncontrol-
lable, it invaded the preserves of the secular and the sacred, Its representation was especially
promising in religious contexts. It might be regulated and indexed according to traditional
symbolic usage - the flowers in Netherlandish paintings, for example, or the crest of the
Tratzberg stalls. But the apparent transformation of lifeless crafted material into animate form
was a more effective device for communicating the incomparable power of tl-re divine. There
is no better instance of this phenomenon than the so-called Tulip Pulpit in Freiberg Cathe-
dralr2 (fig. 10). This srraregy was remarkably cornmon at this time. On occasion, vegetal
carving could signifi, a hostile realm, a world running contrary to God's command. Yet in
many cases, florid and untrammeled growth might signifu a neutral if mystif ing environment,
one that dernanded that the beholder orient him or herself, physically and spiritually. This
new authority ceded to the viewer - to pierce the veil of nature - is no less an element of
Renaissance Gothic.

FREQUENTLY CITED WORKS

Br-rnuS,r.rrrs i989 Jurgis Baltru5aitis, Abcnations : dcsses : Vlsion, Pctctry, and Belief in tl'Le MitIdLe Ages,
An Es.sa1, ctn the Legendof Fonns, trans. Richard Phil:rdelphia, 2003.
Miller, 1981 ; Cambriclge, Mass., 1989. Rrcur 1987 Roland Recht, Nlcolas de Le"tde et Lu
Bzurur-RrtcueNBACFtER 1966 Margot Braun-Rei-
- scuLpture d Strasbourg I46A'1525, StrasboLrrg, 1987.
chenbaclrer, Das Asr- und Laubwerk: EntwickLttng,
Scurruen 1978 Herbert Schindler, Der Schnitzokar :
Mcrkma[e und Bedeutung clncr spdrgorlsclrcn Orna-
mentform (Erlanger Beitriige zur Spracl-r- untl Kunst-
Melsrcrrucrkc und Meister in Siiddeutschland, Oster'

u,isscnschaft 24), Nuremberg, 1966.

reich ntd Sr.idrirol, Regensburg, 1978.

HorrsterN 1986 F. W. H. Hollstein, Hollsteln's Sraoeczpx 1990 Franz-Josef Sladeczek, Erhart Kiing
German Engrauings, E-rchlngs and Woodcuts 11a0- Bildhatter und Baumeister am Miinster zu Bem (um
1700, vo1. 24, IsralrcI uan Mechenenr, ed. Tilman 1120-1507), Bern and Stuttgart, 1990.
Falk and Fritz Koreny, Blaricum, 1986. WHrrE 2000 - Hugh White, Nature, Sex, ,rnd Goodness
Neu,lt,tN 2003 - Barbara Newman, God and tlrc God- in a MedieuuL Literarl TraditiLtrr, Oxford, 2000.

JO. Norbert Nussbaum an.l Sabinc Lcpsky, Das gotrschc C)eut)lbe Eine Ccschlchrc seiner f-rnrt unJ Konstruktion, Munich and
Berlin, 1999, p. 2E5-28?.
31 Reynaldo Dos Santo, O EstihMunueliro, Lisbon, J952, tig. oo.
32. Arnclr Kieseu,errcr, Heiner Sieclel :rntl N{ichael Stuhr, Die TulpenkdnTel in Dan 7n Frelberg (Arbeirshefte 2, Landesamtes
fiir L)enkrna$ilegc Sachsen), lv{unich, 1995.
304 / Ethan Matt Kavaler
 On Vegetal Irnagerl in Rcnaissancc Gothic / 30s

Fiq 2 Ben, \4instcr Schrrltbeiss Portrl. Erhrrr KrJng c. 1491, cl. Krrrrler
306 / Eth:rn Nlatt Kavalcr

Fig- j Bcrn. Mirstcr, Lrrst Ju.lgnrcnt, clctriI of Wcsr Tt LtrpantLtl

Erhrrt Kiing. c. 1485!5, cl Kurrler
Fie.4. Krlkar, St. Nico[ai Altarpiccc of Scteu Sorrous o1'Virgitr.
f)crril , Henrick L)outcrnran, I 518-21, cl. Krrrtler
Fig 5 Krlkar, St Nicolai. Altrrpiecc of Seren Sorrorrs of Virgrrr'
Herrrick, f)orrrcrrran, l5lE-22, cl Krrrrler.
On Yegetal Imagerl in Rcnaissance Gothic / 307
308 / Ethan lV{att Karaler

':1

Fie 6. Mrria Siial, Pilgrirrlgc

Churclr,A.rndorltr
Altrrpiccc, .lerril. c. 1 5l 5-20,
c[. Kar rle r.
 On Vegetal Imagcrl in Rcnaissance Gothic / 309

Fig T. ALrnrL.crg, St. Arrne. Blptismll Font HrLrs Vitter. c. l5O8, cl Knrlcr
310 / Ethan Matt Kavaler

Fig. 8. IstanbtLl, Saray Muscum.

Ornamental Design with Foliage. c. 1490,
cl. Alan Chong.
Fig. 9. Besigheim, Prrish church.
Altarpiecc of St. Cyriacus. c. 1 520,
cl. Kavaler.

fll:.1
 On \i'gcral llrirgerv in llcnitis\iurcc (;othic / )ll

,
317 / Ethau N{att Kavaler

Fig. 10. Freibcrg,

Curhecl rrl. Tu lip Pulpit
Ha ns Wirtcn
c. 1508-11. cl. Kavrlcr.
ilil Iililillllllllll ll ll llrl