on biblical legends in medieval art

8/8/2019 On Biblical Legends in Medieval Art

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JOSEPH GUTMANN

On BiblicalLegends in MedievalArt

Christian,Islamic and Jewish medieval manuscripts fre-quently have illustrations of extra-biblical legends. Thesedepictions, as many recent studies have demonstrated, areoften rooted in ancient Jewish sources.1 The supposition ofsome scholars thatthese legends were also illustrated n indi-vidual Jewish books such as the Septuagintand the works ofthe historianJosephus is an argumentumex silentio, as nosuch ancient illuminatedJewish manuscripts have come tolight.2The earliest illuminated Hebrew manuscripts with extra-biblicallegends are fromthirteenth-centuryEurope.However,it must be stressed that both Christianand Islamicliteraryra-ditions, which creativelyutilized Jewish biblical narratives ortheirown theological purposes, exerted a direct influenceonmanyChristianand Islamic artisticrenderings.3Let us examinethree legendarybiblicalepisodes to betterunderstandthis complex literarydevelopment and the impactthese legends had on Jewish, Christianand Islamic artisticdepictions.1. In a fourteenth-centuryCatalonian Christian Psalterminiature Paris,BibliothequeNationale,MS lat.8846, fol. 166)we see an unusual scene of an angel embracingAdam'sbody,a still largely unformedlump of clay, while a gesturing Godstands nearby. Similarly, a fourteenth-century Catalonian

Passover Haggadah(London,BritishLibrary,MS Or.2884, fol.lv) has the modeled body of Adamstanding inthe center sur-rounded by eight winged angels. Some of these angels areprostratinghemselves beforeAdam,whileothersappearto betouching him,all in an act of adoration[Fig.1]. Although thasbeen claimedthatthese images representthe angelic creationof man, there is little evidence to support this conclusion.4Angels inChristianitynd Judaism are ministersor servants ofGod;they are generallynot depicted as partners n the divineact of creation.5Mostlikely, hese two miniaturesare based onsuch sources as the first-centuryA.D.VitaAdae et Evae 14 -a work well-knownin the MiddleAges - which reads: "AndMichaelwent out and calledallthe angels, saying, 'Worshipheimage of the LordGod, as the LordGod has instructed.'"6In Islamicartwe find the earliest image of this legend inthe Kulliyat-iTarikhof Hafiz-iAbru (Istanbul,TopkapiPalaceMuseum,Bagdat282, fol. 16), possibly made in Herataround1415.7A beautifullyattired and crowned Adamstands beforeangels prostrating hemselves before him.Onthe side standsSatan [Fig.2]. This scene follows the description given intheQur'an,Sura 2:32: "Andwhen we said to the angels: Prostrateyourselves before Adam,they fell prostrate,all save Iblis."82. Overa periodof some 250 years we findseveral depic-tions of two ravens present at the fratricide Cainand Abel] in

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JOSEPHGUTMANN

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ON BIBLICALEGENDSN MEDIEVALRT

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2) ((Angelsprostratingthemselves before Adam, (Istanbul, TopkapiPalace Museum, MS Bagdat 282, fol. 16),Kulliyitof Hafiz-iAbriu,Herat,ca. 1415

he saw the bird that had killed its fellow puttingits mouth tothe ground;and itdug [a hole] and buriedthe other dead one,and covered it with earth. Cain did the same to Abel, so that[his father]mightnot find him."11Interestinglyenough a Georgian work probably writtenbefore 607 also speaks of CainhavingkilledAbelwitha stonewhich two devils in the form of ravens had shown him.123. Twofifteenth-centurysouth German Passover Hagga-dah illustrationsreveal a crowned Pharaoh who is drowningin the waters of the Red Sea, but who raises his foldedhands in prayer.The accompanying inscriptions read: "By

God's grace, Pharaoh was delivered, because he said: 'Godis just.'"13InChristianart,the legend of Pharaoh'srescue does notappearto be illustrated,althoughit has been claimedthat thisis the case. The evidence presented for these depictions insuch early churches as Santa Sabina14 and Santa MariaMaggiore15or in the miniatures of the Paris Psalter and theOctateuchs is not convincing.16In a late sixteenth-centuryOttoman miniature(Dresden,Sachsische Landesbibliothek,MS E 445, fol. 29v) we see thewinged angel Gabriel at the Exodus tryingto stuff Pharaoh's

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JOSEPHGUTMANN

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3) Two ravens (on the right)show Cain how to kill Abel (onthe left), Churchof Hablingbo, Sweden, 12thcentury (AfterIconographisk Post (1983), p. 23, fig. 1)

4) (Two ravens (on top) show Cain how to killAbel,,,Churchof Birkerod,Denmark,mid-14thcentury(AfterIconographisk Post, p. 1, fig. 1)

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ON BIBLICALEGENDSN MEDIEVALRTHim n whom the children of Israelbelieves and Iam of thosewho surrender."18An early Jewish source, the Mekhiltade Rabbi Ishmaelmentions Pharaoh's rescue, but there is no reference to hisrepentence at the Exodus.19Late Jewish sources such as theeighth-ninth-centuryPirke de Rabbi Eliezer do recount thatPharaohrepentedand praisedGod, who then deliveredhim.20In Muslim heology God's grace is extended to the infideland despot Pharaohwho embodies blasphemous pretensionsto divinity.Muslim commentators on the Qur'anrecount thatthe angel Gabrielwas anxious to shut Pharaoh's mouthbefore' \ < 8 tGod's compassion could overtake him. Another traditionhas~\ \ \ J ethe angel Gabrielactually glut Pharaoh's mouthwith mud fromthe sea floor to prevent himfromcompleting his confession,0 \ ~\ 9ofg as in our miniature.21While a lost, ancient Jewish account may have served as

^/\~ ~~~/ &~ /SG \ a foundation for the story in the Qur'anand cannot be ruledout at this stage of research, it should be realizedthat Islamicf _0"f>~~~ ^literary sources had an impacton some medieval Jewish leg-

ends.The three legendary episodes discussed greatly enrichour knowledge of the important role that biblical legendsplayed in medieval artisticdepictions.

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JOSEPH GUTMANN1 Cf. the bibliography cited in M. Friedman, "The AngelicCreationof Man,"Cahiersarcheologiques 39 (1991), 92-93, n. 63.2 On the question of ancient Jewish manuscripts, cf. J.Gutmann,review of K.Weitzmannand H. L.Kessler,The Frescoes ofthe DuraSynagogue and ChristianArt n Speculum67 (1992), 502-04and J. Gutmann, The Dura-Europos Synagogue: A Re-evaluation(1932-1992) (Atlanta, 992), XXVIII-XXXIIf.3 Cf. J. Gutmannand V.Moreen,"TheCombat between Mosesand Og in MuslimMiniatures," ulletinof the Asia Institute1 (1987),111-121 for Muslim iterarynfluence on Islamic art.Itshould also benoted that illustrated egends found in biblical Christianmanuscriptsare often notdue to direct Jewish inspiration, s is so frequentlymain-tained in scholarlywritings,but are based on Christian exts. This is

certainlyhe case insuch Christian cenes as Joseph who prophesiesfrom a cup when diningwith his brothers. Cf. B. DrakeBoehm, "TheProgramof the Leningrad Joseph Pyxis,"Gesta 26 (1987), 11-16.Similarly,he bald,naked Jonah emergingfrom he fish is solidlyroot-ed in Christian raditions.Cf. J. B. Friedman,"Bald Jonah and theExegesis of I Kings2:23,"Traditio 4 (1988), 130-44.4 Friedman, "Angelic,"79-82.5 Cf.K.Parry,Depictingthe Word:Byzantine conophile Thoughtof the Eighthand NinthCenturies(Leiden,1996),84.6 J. H.Charlesworth,The Old TestamentPseudepigrapha,Vol.2(New York, 1985), 262; L. Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews(Philadelphia,1947), V,84-86, nn. 35-37 and M. E. Stone, A Historyofthe Literature f Adam and Eve (Atlanta,1992), 6-41.7 Cf.G. Inal,"Miniaturesn HistoricalManuscriptsromthe Timeof Sharukh n the TopkapiPalace Museum," n L.Golombekand M.Subtelny,eds., TimuridArtand Culture: ran and CentralAsia in theFifteenthCentury Leiden,1992), 108-09.8 Cf. sources cited in M. Grunbaum, Neue Beitrage zurSemitischenSagenkunde (Leiden,1893), 60; P.Awn,Satan's Tragedy(Leiden,1983),33, 37 and H. E.Gaylord,"HowSatanael Lost His '-El"'Journalof Jewish Studies 33 (1982), 304-06.9 A. G. Kallstrom,"Kainoch Abel med fylgjor,IconographiskPost (1983), 22-25; S. F. Plathe, "Kain og Abel i Birkerod,IconographiskPost (1984), 1-10. C. M.Esman,"Kommentar: ainochkoparna," Iconographisk Post (1980-82), 35-36; V. Hernfjall,"G6tenemastaren- en vadstenamalare med skansk anknytning,"IconographiskPost (1982-84),8-24.10 Gutmann-Moreen,"Combat,"119 and J. Gutmann,"Cain'sBurialof Abel:AJewish LegendaryMotifnChristian nd IslamicArt,"inJ. Gutmann,Sacred Images:Studies in JewishArt romAntiquityothe MiddleAges (Northampton, 989),X,95-98 and Addendumet cor-rigendaX,2-3. Cf. also L.Bruggerand Y.Criste,"La voix du sang' etI'ensevelissmentd'Abel,"Arte cristiana761 (1994), 75-86.11 Tosefta,Genesis 4:8, M. L.Klein,"Targumic oseftot romtheCairo Genizah," in D. Muhoz Leon, ed. Salvacion en la palabra.Targum-Derash-BerithMadrid, 986), 411, 415.12 W. Ludtke, "Georgische Adam-Bucher,"Zeitschrift fur diealttestamentliche Wissenschaft 38 (1919), 156; H. M. von Erffa,Ikonologie der Genesis (Munich1989), I, 262, 372. Cf. also M. E.Stone, ArmenianApocrypha Relatingto the Patriarchsand Prophets(Jerusalem, 1982), 35 and idem., ArmenianApocrypha Relating to

Adamand Eve (Leiden, 1996), 148;A. Ulrich,"ZumBegrabnisAbels,"BiblischeNotizen,15 (1981), 48-53. The burialof Abel's body is alsofound in a somewhat damaged early 14th-century CatalonianPassover Haggadah miniature (London, British Library,MS Add.27210, fol. 2v). In the lowerright-hand cene Cainholds an axe in hisleft hand and looks up to a reproachingwinged angel. Under Cain'sfeet Abel's body appears to be buried in the ground and only hisbloody head and armseem to be visible. Cf.B. Narkiss,The GoldenHaggadah (London,1997), 23.13 B. Narkiss,"Pharaoh s Dead and Livingat the Gates of Hell,"Journalof Jewish Art 10 (1984), 10.14 Cf. G. Jeremias, Die Holzturder Basilika S. Sabina in Rom(Tubingen,1980), 29.

15 Cf. B. Brenk, Die fruhchristlichen Mosaiken in S. MariaMaggiorezu Rom (Wiesbaden, 1979), 84, 86.16 Cf. A. Cutler,The AristocraticPsalters in Byzantium(Paris,1984), 67. Inthe Psalterand the OctateuchsPharaoh s not being res-cued, but is being dragged to his watery grave by Bythos, the per-sonificationof Depth,who has forciblyseized him with both hands. Itshould be noted that the halo in Byzantineart is ambiguouslyused.There is no doubt that at times the halo denotes holiness, but it mayalso refer to a ruler, uch as the EmperorsJustinianand Basil. I amindebted to Prof. John Anderson for this information (Letter,September 3, 1994). Pharaoh, like a Byzantine emperor, may beendowed with a halo to indicatehis imperial ankand not his sanctity.Cf. also D. Hoogland Verkerk,"Exodus and Easter Vigil in theAshburnhamPentateuch,"The Art Bulletin77 (1995), 96, n. 12. Forotherillustrations, f. Narkiss,"Pharaoh s Dead,"7-8 and 11-12.17 K. Ruhrdanz, "Die Miniaturendes Dresdener 'Falnameh"'Persica 12 (1987), 15 and idem., "The Role of Urban Ateliers inOttomanMiniature ainting ince the End of the SixteenthCentury," .Singer and A. Cohen, eds., Aspects of Ottoman History, ScriptaHierosolymitana35 (1994), 80. I am greatly indebted to Dr.KarinRuhrdanz(Letter,June 4, 1997) for advising me that this miniatureshould now be dated Istanbul ?), late 16thcentury.Cf. also N. Broshand R. Milstein,BiblicalStoriesin IslamicPainting(Jerusalem, 1991),90-91.18 Cf.W. M.Brinner,rans.,TheHistoryof al-TabarT.heChildrenof Israel(Albany,1991), 71.19 Cf. J. Neusner,MekhiltaAccordingto Rabbi Ishmael(Atlanta,1988), 24, n. 9. Tractate Exodus, Beshalllah 14:28 reads:"...Nevertheless havespared you [Pharaoh] or this purpose (Exodus9:16). Cf. also D. Boyarin,Intertextualitynd the Readingof Midrash(Bloomington,1990), 130, n. 3.20 Narkiss, "Pharaoh is Dead," 10. Cf. also M. Gaster, TheChroniclesof Jerahmeel or The HebrewBible Historiale(New York,1971) 48:12 on p. 128 and Prolegomenonby H.Schwarzbaum,p.58;Yalkut himoni,Jonah 3:6 and Ginzberg,Legends, III, 9-30 andVI,10,n.54;Gutmann-Moreen, Combat," 19.21 L. Ormsby,"The Faithof Pharaoh:A Disputed Question inIslamicTheology"(unpublished paper). I am deeply indebtedto Dr.Eric Ormsby for sending me a copy of his study. Cf. A. I. Katsh,Judaism and the Koran(New York,1962),47 and Grunbaum,NeueBeitrage,161-65.

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