Student Theses
Date of Award
Spring 5-4-2022
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Art
Language
English
First Advisor
Professor Warren T. Woodfin
Abstract
This thesis will take a close iconographic and stylistic look at the Christological scenes contained within a small number of richly illuminated manuscripts produced during the Carolingian epoch and asks: “Why is Christ’s story so scarcely portrayed in liturgical books during this time?” These books were central for the performance of the Christian liturgy, and essential to the orthodox tradition of the Church’s dogma. Thus, the question serves as a starting point for a discussion of the prevalent circumstances and cultural inheritances prominent in the Carolingian world that prompted the scarcity of images comprising of highlights from the life of Christ painted the folios of liturgical texts.
The first step on this path begins with the astute 1952 article by Wilhelm Koehler2 which detailed his observations of a miniature framed fragment of a scene of the Annunciation to Zacharias, now in the British Museum, pasted onto folio 134v of Cotton Ms. Claudius B.V. that he determines is what remains of a lost evangelistary manuscript.
Dr. Koehler persuasively posits that the scene was copied from an Italian model illuminated in the latter part of the sixth century, and this supposed illustrated evangelistary, that must have been unknown before the Carolingian period, retracts the premise that “the Carolingian schools of illumination produced no Gospel Books in which passages of the sacred text were illustrated by a continuous series of miniatures.” Further, Dr. Koehler represents that as an early Carolingian miniature, this rectangular fragment was painted at a propitious moment in the history of book illumination that ultimately led to the mature style of the Court School of manuscripts.
The focus of this paper will examine the historical evidence within this well-defined Carolingian era, from c. 751 (when Pippin took over the Merovingian royal house) at a time when the Carolingians began to ascend out of a long period underscored by economic decline, poor literacy among populations, lack of literature (especially Latin literature), and a non-homogeneous societal culture; in general,8to 850, ten years after Charlemagne’s sole heir, Louis the Pious, died and the empire fell apart. This thesis, of course, cannot be a comprehensive survey given the extent of material that has survived, but will be able to elucidate the parameters of Carolingian thought during an era when art and text began to play a critical role in the rise of Christianity north of the Alps. It will touch upon on the evolving issues including the confluence of culturally diverse peoples and their ideologies; and the complex political influences that prevailed at that time and had a profound impact on intellectual dialogue.
Across the continent, there was a long tradition and a high degree of continuity that existed from the time of the early Christian era depicting independently conceived figural art and symbolism on surfaces of portable objects (books, crosses, vessels) that expanded to encompass monumental decoration of biblical accounts painted on the interiors of churches. Why, given the rich potential for the hagiographical account, at a time when there was a keen resurgence in reinterpretation of exegesis, and a creation of specialized scriptoria motivated by the religious objective to distribute newly revised and more accurate ecclesiastical books has it been postulated that there appears to have been an intentional scarcity of emulative narrative miniatures depicting the life of Christ in the manuscript production of the Carolingian court? The following exploration into three extant codices (the Gospels of Saint-Médard de Soissons, the Drogo Sacramentary, and the Utrecht Psalter) produced during the Carolingian era will demonstrate some of the most exquisite, eclectic, charming, expressive, sophisticated, and spirited illuminated scenes in terms of narrative art; and deflect the assumption that liturgical manuscripts produced in Carolingian scriptoria were devoid of Christological cycles.
Recommended Citation
Kasparian, Sevastoula V. Ms., "Carolingian Manuscripts and the Elusive Christological Narrative" (2022). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/qc_etds/22
