Mary's death relief (Strasbourg)
The Marientodrelief adorns the arched tympanum above the lintel of the south transverse portal of the Strasbourg cathedral . It shows the deceased Mother of God in the circle of the apostles , whose soul is received by Jesus Christ in the form of a little girlish figure. The name of the creator of the high relief , which was probably made after 1225, is unknown.
Background: The legend about the death of Mary
In the Bible we find no information on the home course of Maria , first in developed later legends was the question of Mary's death to an increasingly important topic. The first treatise on Mary's death, De transitu beatae Mariae virginis , was written in the 5th century and the author is unknown. The Transitus -Legende According to Mary appeared an angel with a palm branch , telling her that she was going to die within the next three days. It was her wish to die with the apostles. These were carried over clouds to Mary's place of death. The apostles accompanied Mary's path to death by psalmodying and singing hymns all night . At the hour of death, Christ appeared accompanied by a few angels, who took the soul of the deceased in his arms and took it to heaven.
The story, which was widely received in the High and Late Middle Ages, became part of the Church's faith and had a strong influence on people's attitudes towards death: a new awareness of the finiteness of life and the community aspect of dying gained importance in the Middle Ages . The death of Mary was considered exemplary and became the epitome of Christian, that is, dying well. Those who orientated themselves to the sinless life of Mary did not have to fear a painful death. In the course of the Middle Ages, the death of the Virgin was more and more often the subject of pictorial representations, primarily to remind people of the exemplary behavior.
The relief
Placement on the south transept portal
The Marientodrelief is on the south facade of the Strasbourg cathedral. The sculpture program on this facade combines Mary and Judgment themes. The mariological cycle is located in the carved lintels and tympana above the double portal.
It begins with the death of Mary in the left tympanum, continues in the lintels below with the burial on the left and the physical ascension on the right and ends in the right tympanum with the coronation of Mary .
King Solomon is enthroned between the doors as a symbol of the righteous ruler, above him is Christ as Savior in the form of a half-length figure and to the side the famous couple Ecclesia and the synagogue . While the subject of judgment continues in the interior of the transept (judgment pillar), the cycle of Mary at the north portal was continued by another master.
Work description
The semi-arch relief is 2.08 m wide, 1.35 m high and has a depth of 30 cm. In the foreground of the depiction the body of Mary can be seen on a bed, in front of which a woman kneels and holds her hand. The twelve apostles stand around the bed in the background. Maria is wrapped in thin cloths, under which details such as her interlocking hands and toes can be seen. She lies slightly twisted on the bed, her facial expressions are calm, she keeps her eyes closed. Your head is covered by a cloth from under which some curly strands of hair peek out. The woman in front of the death bed has bent her left leg and pushed the right under it; she also wears a headscarf. She lifts her clasped hands up to Maria and looks at her with concern and awe. Two of the apostles, who can be identified as Peter and Paul, stand on the narrow sides of the bed and bend over the deceased Mother of God. While Peter is supporting Mary's pillow and has his arms around her shoulders, Paul is holding her leg and a fold of her robe tenderly. They look at the corpse with concern and sadness . Both wear no shoes and, just like the other men, are wrapped in cloth-rich robes that fold slightly and still make body shapes visible.
The crowd of apostles is lined up in a fan shape and adapted to the curvature of the tympanum. With the exception of John, the only beardless apostle, everyone else is the same with their curly hair and beards. They are all characterized by a serious and expressive facial expression. They only differ a little in facial expressions and posture, otherwise they look like a uniform group. In the middle of the crowd of men stands Christ, who can be recognized by his halo . He is turned to the deceased Mother of God and looks at her with bowed head. His right hand is raised and with his left he is holding the figure of a little girl with her hands folded in prayer. Despite a furrowed brow, the expression on his face shows gentleness and calm. The scene is enclosed by the rounding of the tympanum: From left and right, vine leaf tendrils with grapes grow out of the ground, winding around the arch and meeting at the apex.
Origin and restoration history
The building history of the Strasbourg cathedral stretched from the late 12th to the late 15th century. Due to the long construction time, the most diverse styles can be found on the cathedral, which is why it is also referred to as a “mirror of the change in form and mindset over four centuries”. The construction of the south transept was completed by 1200 at the latest. The image program was not added at the same time as the architecture , but afterwards. It was probably designed by the first Gothic builder who came to Strasbourg after 1225. Like the emergence and spread of Gothic sculpture in general, it stands in the context of the emerging cult of Mary . While in the Western Middle Ages before the 12th century, central representations of the enthroned Mother of God were common, in the 13th century the scenic and narrative representations, for which the Strasbourg death of the Virgin is an example, gained in importance.
The double-door portal was once decorated with an abundance of sculptures , but most of them were destroyed in the course of the French Revolution . Only through the efforts of the Strasbourg natural scientist and university professor Jean Hermanns , who hid the sculptures of the Ekklesia and synagogue in the botanical garden and the reliefs on the south facade behind panels with the words “Liberté, Égalité and Fraternité”, at least these images could be saved from destruction . The destroyed representations, e.g. B. of the grave and the assumption into heaven, were replaced in the 19th century by slightly modified replicas .
The original state of the portal is shown in an engraving by Isaak Brunn (1617), which also shows twelve apostles standing on columns next to the doors, of which only a few remains have been preserved. In the years 1811 to 1828 the portal was repaired and the apostles replaced with simple column shafts. Furthermore, extensive restorations of parts of the south facade were carried out in 1905/1907 and 1932/1933 and minor restoration work in 1946/1947. The next repairs to the south transept facade are planned for 2013/2014.
Overall, however, the two arches of the tympana have been preserved very well to this day, as they were each made from just one block. Two incense barrels under Mary's deathbed are the only small details that no longer exist today. Otherwise there are only a few signs of wear, u. a. to be recognized by hems, noses, fingers and leaves. The restoration study of the remains of paint in the sculptures on the south transept is incomplete. Nevertheless, there are smaller treatises, e.g. B. by the painter Gaston Save from 1877, who wrote of a pink coloration of skin areas, but dispensed with further descriptions.
Art-historical classification
Style and composition
The composition of the death of the Virgin is arranged symmetrically , with the deceased Mary on the death bed in the middle and an angel with a censer on each side. It is clearly structured by a horizontal and a vertical axis: the Mother of God lies horizontally on the bed, behind her stands Christ vertically. The apostles are arranged like a fan around Christ on the right and left. Although numerous people and a lot of movement shape the picture, the clear arrangement makes it easy to see. The strict lines are crossed solely by the two men, who bend over the bed in a diagonally aligned position to the left and right, thereby breaking the straight lines.
The woman kneeling in front of Mary's bed is a free creation of the Master. Her identification is much discussed to this day, but it is generally assumed that it is Mary Magdalene , as she is often seen as the apostle among the apostles due to her close relationship with Christ and her great devotion to Mary the extraordinary sympathy would explain. She is also considered to be a role model, since she has overcome human sinfulness by showing repentance and has therefore been canonized. If you consider that the medieval function of the south portal consisted of the public court held there, the accused could draw hope from the portrayal of Mary Magdalene . This figure also has certain formal tasks: on the one hand, it is supposed to direct the view of what is happening, on the other hand, it forms a front image level, whereby Mary step back into a second layer and the apostles and Christ even into a third layer.
In this way the artist succeeds in creating a multi-layered space. With the death of the Virgin in Strasbourg Cathedral, an important step in the development of relief sculpture takes place, which aims to create more and more depth in order to ultimately completely emancipate itself from the architecture (as is the case in the late Gothic ). The newly emerging striving of the Gothic sculptors for a stylistic unity is also realized in the death of the Virgin. B. through the folds in the robes, which are carried on from person to person and thus form a uniform flow of movement that pervades the entire picture. The Strasbourg Marientod thus shows an advanced style of relief, whereby the composition is still tied to the architecture. For example, the horizontal line of the door lintel is reflected in Mary's bed and the heads of the apostles add to the curve. It is often criticized at this point that the heads are unnaturally pressed down by the sinking frame of the sheet travel.
Many other shortcomings, e.g. B. a wrong depth ratio, unnatural proportions or the strangely sloping posture of Maria, can go unnoticed if you consider that the high relief is laid out from below. So if you look at the work from a soffit in front of the portal, it gains in dynamism and expression, and Mary's corpse also appears calmer.
Influences and comparisons
In the course of researching the south transept, a wide variety of art historians have speculated as to who the famous builder of the sculptures might be and what influences he was under. A specific name of a builder or a workshop could not be proven to this day. There is only agreement on the assumption that both the death of the Virgin and the Coronation of Mary were carried out by the same workshop as the Ekklesia and synagogue, which is why one speaks of the “Ekklesiameister”.
In the controversial discussion about the stylistic origin of these sculptures, mainly French-Burgundian works are mentioned. Reference is often made to the stylistic relationships to Chartres Cathedral , which can be established particularly between the Chartres glass windows and the Strasbourg sculptures. Karl Franck-Oberaspach even suspects the origin of the "Ekklesiameister" in Chartres. Connections to Reims , Seins or Besançon are also up for discussion. The fact that more Byzantine and Maasland influences as well as ancient features (e.g. recognizable by the style of folds) were noted, but sometimes also referred to the complete independence of the sculptures or thought about two different builders, makes the difficulty of the stylistic classification of the Works clearly, which has not yet been finally clarified.
If one compares the Strasbourg death of the Virgin with other mariological cycles that have been found on cathedral portals since the 1170s (e.g. in Senlis around 1170 or in Mantes around 1180), it becomes clear that the special features of the relief on the Strasbourg cathedral mainly show in three aspects: on the one hand in the placement of the death of the Virgin on the facade, on the other hand in the moment that is shown and in the characteristic expressiveness of the representation.
The death of the Virgin in the form of a large sculpture in the tympanum can be found for the first time at Strasbourg Cathedral. The placement gives the scene the same importance as the Coronation of Mary. All comparable representations are smaller, of a rectangular format and usually take a subordinate place in the door lintel, as it is e.g. B. is the case at the Maria Triumph Portal in Chartres. This was created in 1204/1205 and shows in the tympanum Christ and the crowned Mary in large format, while the death and the Assumption of Mary are depicted on the two-part lintel under a Gothic arcade . In contrast to the depictions in Strasbourg or Senlis, the Chartreser Marientod also has less of a depth effect and is even more tied to the architecture.
Another innovation is the moment of the careful approach to the Mother of God through Paul and Peter, depicted in the Strasbourg relief. Ingeborg-Spalters' depiction of the death of the Virgin, for example, has many parallels. However, in this depiction, Mary is already being lifted up by the two apostles and carried to her grave. The extraordinary expressiveness, e.g. B. in the facial expressions of the apostles, and the liveliness that pervades the entire picture, are considered unique for the Strasbourg death of the Virgin. Similar vivid and passionate representations can only be found in the destroyed Church of St. Madeleine in Besançon or at the Church of Notre-Dame in Beaune . The former is even suspected that the sculptures were created by the same builder.
meaning
For a long time the Marian cycle was only associated with increasing Marian devotion. The idea of a substantive context of the entire image program came up later than you the sculptures and the stained glass windows with the Song of Solomon brought -Exegese in the 12th and 13th centuries combined. At this time there was an increasing number of mariologically interpreted hymns. King Solomon is centrally positioned as the Song of Songs is often associated with him. (One suspects him to be one of the protagonists or even the author of the love songs from the Old Testament ). The wedding (the Last Judgment) of the bridegroom Christ with Mary, his bride, is sung about. Mary represents the personified community of faith. With the wedding, God and humanity are united and Mary is thus assigned a mediating role.
The idea of reconciliation expressed in the Song of Songs is expressed through the two figures Ecclesia and Synagoga, because Mary is a personification of the entire Church, ie the Jewish and Christian faith are brought together here and viewed as equal. The expressive and sometimes very emotional design of the sculptures also speaks for this interpretation of the image program. In the Marientodrelief, in particular, it becomes clear that the sensitive expression, the tender words of the Song of Solomon were transferred to the type of depiction, which z. B. in the emotional sympathy of the apostles, the tender approach of Peter and Paul, the solemn appearance of Christ and the gentle facial expression of Mary.
Although there is so far little extensive literature on the relief of the Virgin Mary on Strasbourg Cathedral, it is one of the most important medieval portal sculptures. Reasons for this include a. the modernity with which the south transverse caretaker proceeded (consideration of the viewer's point of view and independent theme design, e.g. in the depiction of Maria Magdalena), the high-quality formal design and attention to detail, which became decisive for many subsequent sculptural works, the uniqueness of the in the semicircle joined composition and the drama as well as the extraordinarily lively expression of the scene.
Eugène Delacroix , who is considered a master of liveliness and passion, himself owned a cast of the relief of the Virgin Mary. He took it as a model for his own art because, in his opinion, it is not just passionate, but also perfectly ordered, thought out and measured.
literature
- Sabine Bengel: The Strasbourg Cathedral. Its east parts and the south transept workshop. Petersberg 2011.
- Sabine Bengel: The death of the Virgin on the south transept portal of the Strasbourg cathedral. In: Hartmut Krohm (ed.): Masterpieces of medieval sculpture. The Berlin plaster cast collection. Berlin 1996.
- Karl Franck-Oberaspach: The Master of the Ecclesia and Synagogue. At the Strasbourg cathedral. Düsseldorf 1903.
- Uwe Geese: Gothic sculpture in France, Italy, Germany and England. In: Rolf Toman (Hrsg.): The art of the Gothic: Architecture, sculpture, painting. With photographs by Achim Bednorz. Cologne 1998.
- Richard Hamann (Ed.): The Strasbourg Muenster and its sculptures, beschr. by Hans Weigert. Berlin 1928.
- Roland right: The Strasbourg cathedral. Stuttgart 1971.
- Willibald Sauerländer: Gothic sculpture in France: 1140–1270. Munich 1970.
- Klaus Schreiner: Maria. Life, legends, symbols. Munich 2003.
- Lothar Schreyer: The Strasbourg Cathedral. Kassel 1941.
- Benoît Van den Bossche: Strasbourg. Minster. Regensburg 2001.
- Paul Williamson: Gothic sculpture: 1140-1300. New Haven [u. a.] 1995.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Bengel, 2011, p. 90.
- ↑ See Schreiner, 2003, pp. 68ff.
- ↑ See Bossche, 2001, p. 113 f. and Bengel, 1996, p. 151ff.
- ↑ See Hamann, 1928, p. 45.
- ↑ See Schreyer, 1941, p. 30.
- ↑ See Recht, 1971, pp. 80 ff.
- ↑ Hamann, 1928, p. 1.
- ↑ See Bengel, 2011, p. 18.
- ↑ See Hamann, 1928, p. 45 and Sauerländer, 1970, p. 29ff.
- ↑ See Hamann, 1928, p. 41.
- ↑ See Bengel, 1996, p. 151.
- ↑ See Bengel, 2011, pp. 90ff.
- ↑ See Bossche, 2001, p. 113 f.
- ↑ See Franck-Oberaspach, 1903, p. 53f. and Schreyer, 1941, p. 29.
- ↑ See Bengel, 1996, pp. 158ff.
- ↑ See Hamann, 1928, p. 46ff.
- ↑ See Bengel, 1996, p. 153.
- ↑ See Hamann, 1928, p. 46ff.
- ↑ See Franck-Oberaspach, 1903, p. 53f. and Hamann, 1928, p. 49.
- ↑ See Bengel, 2011, p. 91 ff.
- ↑ See Bengel, 1996, p. 151.
- ↑ See Bengel, 2011, p. 15ff.
- ↑ See Bengel, 1996, p. 156.
- ↑ See Geese, 1998, p. 209.
- ↑ See Bengel, 1996, p. 156.
- ↑ See Williamson, 1995, p. 55.
- ↑ See Bengel, 2011, pp. 184ff.
- ↑ See ibid., 2011, p. 94 ff. And p. 206 ff.
- ↑ See Hamann, 1928, p. 50.