Eintrag weiter verarbeiten
Formen der Anonymität und des Individualismus in der Kunst des Mittelalters und der Renaissance
Gespeichert in:
Personen und Körperschaften: | |
---|---|
Titel: |
Formen der Anonymität und des Individualismus in der Kunst des Mittelalters und der Renaissance |
In: | Gesta, 15, 1976, 1/2, S. 303-312 |
veröffentlicht: |
International Center of Medieval Art
|
Umfang: | 303-312 |
ISSN: |
0016-920X |
Zusammenfassung: | <p>In the field of history the simplistic dichotomy of "modern individualism" and "medieval anonymity" has long since been discarded except as textbook rhetoric. But in art history the formulation lives on. The dogma of the anonymity of medieval art will not stand up under close historical scrutiny. The examples in this paper will indicate some ways in which medieval artists and patrons made their names known. In the first illustration from a north-Italian gospel ca. 600 A. D., the words found in the center of the decorative cross, "ego Valerianus scripsi", clearly identify the scribe. The placement of the signature may be explained by Galatians 6,14 "God forbid that I should boast of anything but in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ". This verse, often quoted in the middle ages, is one of the most explicit of the New Testament calls to personal humility and would seem to condemn any artist's signature. Valerianus however, had used a naively literal interpretation to justify "boasting" of his work by placing it "in the cross". The medieval formula for humility could also be used to circumvent the closed system of pious anonymity. The expression of abject humility could itself become the vehicle for the artist or writer to make his name known. The dialectic of the desire for personal recognition and the need to justify the signature against danger of the sin of pride continued far into the modern era (see, for instance, Descartes' introduction to the Meditations). Depending on the degree of piety the traditional formulae of humility (literary or pictorial) could be ground for anonymity or a legitimation of the signature. The pious monk Fra Bartolomeo placed at the feet of Mary only the plea "Pray for the painter" (Figs. 2 and 5)--an example of high Renaissance anonymity. Mariotto Albertinelli, from the same workshop, signed his painting while carefully emphasizing the humble placement of the name (Figs 3 and 4). Figures 6 through 16 indicate clearly that Valerianus's use of the cross to legitimize the use of his name was by no means unique. From Carolingian tombs to Renaissance family crests, personal identification was justified by humble association with the cross. In Figure 17 we see a break with this tradition The Pauline stricture against boastfulness is simply ignored in the new, self-consciously bourgeois-courtly society freed from centuries of moral-theological pressure The exaggerated individualism and thirst for fame characteristic of the early Renaissance is best understood against the background of the medieval tension--the pious ideal of humility and the real desire for individual recognition--a desire expressed in the many ingenious circumventions of the demand for anonymity. At the threshold of the high Renaissance Savonarola recognized that even the unrealized ideals of humility and selflessness were falling away. His attempt to re-introduce them only makes clearer the intense and ambiguous antinomy of the cross and personhood.</p> |
Format: | E-Article |
Quelle: |
sid-55-col-jstoras3 JSTOR Arts & Sciences III Archive |
Sprache: | Deutsch |