SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS

THE PICTURE OF THE CRUCIFIXION IN THE FLOREFFEBIBLE (LONDON, BL, ADD. MS. 17738, f. i87r): TYPOLOGY

AS AN EXPRESSION OF THE HISTORY OF SALVATION

Werner Telesko

T H E stylistic and iconographic avant garde ofthe second half of the twelfth century isrepresented by the art of the Rhineland andMaasland regions. The imitation of classicalantiquity by Nicholas of Verdun originatedthere,^ as did the application of the typologicalmethod that was so significant in the secondhalf of the century.^ This makes it all the moreastonishing that exhaustive studies dealing withthe problems of typology in this period havetended to be the exception^ and that works likethe Floreffe Bible (London, BL, Add. MSS.•̂ 77371 17738), which are important in terms ofthe history of artistic development, still awaitdetailed iconographic analysis.^ Wescher sawthe Floreffe Bible as the father of a group ofmanuscripts.^ S. Gevaert discerned the closeconnection between this manuscript and theAverbode Gospel (Liege, Bibliotheque derUniversite MS. 363 C) and perceived astylistic relationship between these manuscriptsand enamel art.* However, Gevaert altered the'ranking' of the manuscripts insofar as she feltthe Floreffe Bible to be an 'imitation mala-droite" of the Averbode Gospel, blaming thison the more schematized gestures and lessconvincing corporeality of the figures.

Modern research has mainly concerned itselfwith the problem of dating the Floreffe Bible,and two fundamentally contradictory hypoth-eses have emerged on this point. Gretel

Chapman observed that the annals of theAbbey of Floreffe up to 1139 were copiedpractically word for word in the first volume ofthe Bible (ff. 2r-23v), and therefore saw noreason to date the Bible later than 1139."̂ Inorder to support this reasoning, she postulateda stylistic kinship with the Bible of BonneEsperance (Brussels, Bibliotheque royale MS.II 2524, created 1132—5) and the Bible of StMarie du Pare (London, BL, Add. MS. 14788,dated 1148).^ On the other hand, HerbertKoUner pointed out that the Annales Leo-dtenses-Fossenses were used only once, namelyshortly after 1153.̂ '̂ He therefore concludedthat the parts of the text shown by analysis tohave been completed last could not have beenwritten before 1153. Since the artistic dec-oration also embraces these parts, Koilnerconcluded that the Floreffe Bible cannot bedated before 1153.̂ ^

Stiennon sought the monastic environmentfor the creation of the Floreffe Bible and theAverbode Gospel in the PremonstratensianOrder. ̂ ^ Apparently the young aspiring Pre-monstratensian communities needed newmanuscripts for liturgical use and shouldtherefore be regarded as possible creators ofthis work. KoUner supposed the origins of thecomplex iconography of the Floreffe Biblewithin the sphere of influence of the Bene-dictine Rupert von Deutz in Liege and in the

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Ftg. I. Add. MS. 17738, f. i87r (detail)

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Rhineland region.^^ However, he expressedconcern that it is not at all certain that themanuscript was written in Floreffe Abbey. ̂ '* Inhis iconographic analysis of the miniature forthe Book of Job, KoIIner felt he discernedideals of the Premonstratensian Order ex-pressed in the coexistence of vita activa andvita contemplativa.^^ Kollner sees the fun-damental idea behind the four New Testamentpictures (the Nativity, Death, Resurrection andAscension of Christ) in the connection of thesefour central elements of salvation with theApocalyptic animals that symbolize the Evan-gelists (man, bull, lion, eagle). ̂ ^ The animalsymbols occupy a compositionally importantposition in the Bible's miniatures/' However,iconographic analysis is made more complex bythe fact that three of the pictures can also beinterpreted with the help of the Physiologus,^^by viewing the Nativity, Resurrection andAscension in the light of the properties of theunicorn, lion and eagle that it mentions. Onlythe miniature of the Crucifixion of Christ, withwhich we are particularly concerned here,cannot be interpreted by reference to thePhysiologus. However, the exceptional icono-graphic feature of the Floreffe Bible lies not inlinking together events from the Old and NewTestaments but in letting Christ appear presentin each animal symbol. Kollner supports thispoint of view with a quotation from Rupert vonDeutz: 'Nam in evangelio Christus prius homoest per naturam, deinde vitulus per passionem,deinde leo per resurrectionem, deinde aquilaper ascensionem'.^^ I shall now examine ingreater detail the iconography of the picture ofthe Crucifixion, which is in many respects themost complex of the five full-page pictures inthe Bible.

Compositionally, the miniature is dividedinto two parts: above, the Crucifixion; below,the slaughtering of a sacrificial calf as recordedin the Old Testament. In the inscribed bannersheld above the arms of the Cross by Paul andDavid (left: Heb. g: i2; right: Heb. 7:17),̂ **

Christ the sacrifice is related to the sacrificialvictim of the Old Testament. In the lower part,banners are held to the sides of the victim(David to the left and Luke to the right).^^ Thebanner held by David (Ps. 68:32) refers to therole of the sacrificial animal in the OldTestament.^^ Luke's banner, apparently with-out any contextual connection to the miniature,quotes the passage in the fifteenth chapter ofLuke's Gospel in which the father orders hisservants to bring and kill a fatted calf on hisson's return ('Dixit pater ad servos suos.Adducitc vitulum saginatum et occidite'; Lk.i5:22f). According to Rupert von Deutz,Christ is the vitulus, typologically the victim ofthe Old Testament that with its blood estab-lishes the new covenant. The taking up of theterm vitulus from Lk. i5:22f is significantwithin the context of the miniature's content.Christ's function as the vitulus is also describedin the text on the linking arch: 'Pro nevofraudis vitulus datur hostia laudis. Quod xpcvitulus sit docet hic titulus.' The sacrificialvictim is not oniy the Old Testament pre-figuration of Christ. It is also the symbol ofLuke the Evangelist, who is sometimes (inEnglish miniatures) shown slaughtering hisown symbol.^^ In addition to the reference toChrist as the vitulus (Heb. 9:12-19) that werecognize from the Holy Scriptures, the quo-tation from Luke (15:22^) and the associatedparable of the prodigal son are essential to ourunderstanding of the miniature. Ambrose seesthe behaviour of the son leaving his father'shouse as representing a path away from God."'Adam, the progenitor of mankind, who wasdriven out of paradise for his disobedience,seems to represent all mankind as the lost son.Only when Christ becomes 'food' tor the lostson who has been accepted back into thecommunity, as the victim slaughtered for thefeast {hostia), do forgiveness and a return toGod become possible; from the point of viewof the history of salvation, this is the de-liverance. '̂̂

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The text of the Crucifixion miniature, 'Pronevo fraudis vitulus datur hostia laudis', canthus be understood to be a precise shortformulation of the aspect of the history ofsalvation that is being presented pictorially:that mankind, lost since Adam's disobedience,is reconciled with God through Christ's self-sacrifice {vitulus). The Old Testament typi-fication of Christ, the sacrificial calf, at thesame time the symbol of Luke the Evangelistwhose Gospel relates the parable of the prodigalson, is also the restoring meal for the lost son;it is the sacramental Christ that leads humanityback to Christ. According to Rupert vonDeutz's interpretation of the Eucharist, lifereturns to man's soul when he takes the divinemeal. The momentous beginnings of mankindare redeemed in the Eucharist. ̂ ^ The ideapresented in the Floreffe Bible reflects theinfluence of Rupert von Deutz. The Eucharistand the Crucifixion are inseparably linked. TheEucharist is with great consistency interpretedsoteriologically. The complex correlations thatare presented in this miniature cannot becomprehended directly by visual description.

as Nicholas of Verdun was later to attempt. ̂ ^They can only be understood with the help ofthe accompanying texts and terms, in this casein particular the term vitulus. As a tertiumcomparationis, this term creates the essentialfoundation for the make-up of the miniature'scontent. This is consistent with the techniqueused in early scholastic theology of taking upand developing relationships between the Oldand New Testaments on the basis of one term.Even the coincidental presence of kindredproperties can thus form the basis for atypology. This was unmistakeable when Hono-rius Augustodunensis related the Red Sea, therubrum, which had to be crossed by the Jewsduring their flight from Egypt, to the redstream of blood that gushed from Christ's sideduring his Crucifixion.^^ The strict deductiveprocess within the message is characteristic ofboth the literature and pictorial art of theperiod. The preceding interpretation of theFloreffe Bible should therefore be seen as anattempt to comprehend the genesis of thework's content as a joining together of icono-graphic tradition with theological topicality.

1 H. Fillitz, 'Zu Nikolaus von Verdun, Die Frageseiner antiken Anregungen', in Rhein und Maas- Kunst und Kultur 800-1400, vol. i (Cologne,1973), pp. 279-82.

2 N. Morgan, 'The Iconography of 12th CenturyEnamels', ibid., pp. 263-78.

3 See P. Bloch, 'Ecclesia und Domus Sapientiae -Zur Ikonographie des Pfingstretabels im Cluny-museum', in Judentum im Mittelalter, Miscel-lanea Medievalia, 4 (Berlin, 1966), pp. 37off.

4 See, for example, the Alton Towers Triptychin the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

5 P. Wescher, 'Eine Miniaturhandschrift des 12.Jahrhunderts aus der Maasgegend \Jahrbuch derBerliner Museen, xlix (1928), pp. 90-4.

6 S. Gevaert, 'Le modele de la Bible de Floreffe',Revue beige d'arche'ologie et d'histoire de Part, v(193s), PP- 17-24, esp. p. 23; idem, 'L'Originede la bible d'Averbode', ibid., pp. 213-19, esp.pp. 2i6f; K. H. Usener, 'Kreuzigungsdar-stellungen in der mosanen Miniaturmalerei undGoldschmiedekunst', ibid., iv (1934), pp. 201-9,

esp. p. 206, saw the connection between theCrucifixion in the Floreffe Bible and a crucifix inthe Schniitgen-museum (Cologne).

7 Gevaert, 'Le modele', p. 24.8 A summary of her doctoral thesis (Chicago,

1964) was published as 'The Bible of Floreffe:Redating of a Romanesque Manuscript', Gesta,X, no. ii (1971), pp. 49-62, esp. pp. 5of., 60; theannals of the abbey are published in MonumentaGermaniae Historica: Scriptores, vol. xvi (1859),pp. 618-31.

9 Chapman, 'The Bible of Floreffe', pp. 55-8.10 H. Kollner, 'Zur Datierung der Bibel von

Floreffe - Bibelhandschriften als Geschichts-blicher ?', in Rhein und Maas, pp. 361-76, esp. p.368.

11 Ibid.; see W. Petke, 'Provenienz und Datierungdes Evangeliars von Averbode', Scriptorium,xxxiii (1979), pp. 206-18, who dates the Aver-bode manuscript on palaeographical groundsshortly before 1149.

12 M. J. Stiennon, 'La miniature dans le diocese de

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Liege au Xle et Xl le siecle', in P. Francastel(ed.), UArt Mosan (Paris, 1953), p. 99.

13 KoIIner, 'Zur Datierung', p. 372.14 Ibid., p. 361.15 Ibid., p. 372.16 Ibid.17 For reproductions of the Resurrection (f 179V)

and Ascension (f. 199), see W. Cahn, Die Bibel inder Romanik {Munich, 1982), figs. 170, 171; fora reproduction of the Nativity (f i68r), seeGevaert, 'Le modele', fig. 2; and for a repro-duction of the Crucifixion, see G. Schiller,Ikonographie der christlichen Kunst, vol. ii(Gutersloh, 1968), fig. 418.

18 Cahn, Die Bibel., p. 210; U. Treu (ed.), Physio-logus - Naturkunde in friihchristUcher Deutung,aus dem Griechischen ubersetzt (Hanau, 1981),pp. 5-8, 15-18, 42-5.

19 ' In ApocalypsinIII,4 ' inJ. P. Mignc,PatrologiaLatina, vol. clxix, col. 914; Koilner, p. 372.

20 D. H. Turner, Romanesque Illuminated Manu-scripts in the British Museum (London, 1971), p.14.

21 Ibid.22 J. Auer, Kleine Katholische Dogmatik, vol. iv,

part ii (Regensburg, 1988), pp. 182-206; J.Ratzinger, EinfUhrung in das Christentum(Munich, 1985), pp. 232f.

23 Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS. 4, f.191V; Cambrai, Bibliotheque municipale, MS.344, f 2v; for an illustration, see C. R. Dodwell,The Canterbury School of Illumination 1066-1200(Cambridge, 1954), pi. 58a-b.

24 'Expositio evangelii secundum Lucam', Corpusscriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum, vol. xxxii,pp. 386f.; see E. Dekkers (ed.), Clavis patrumlatinorum, Sacris erudiri, vol. iii (Bruges & TheHague, 1951), no. cxxxxiii; see also PetrusChrysologus, 'Sermo v', PL Iii, cols. 197-200.

25 E. Vetter, Der verlorene Sohn (Dlisseldorf, 1955),pp. ixf.; concerning the identification of Christwith the vitulus, see Gregory the Great, ' I nprimum regum expositiones lib. v', PL lxxix,col. 463 AB, and Rhabanus Maurus, 'Allegoriaein sacram scripturam', PL cxii, col. 1082 BC.

26 'Commentarium in Matthaeum lib. x', PLclxviii, cols. 1545-56; cited after W. Kahles,Geschichte als Liturgie - Die Geschichtstheologiedes Rupert von Deutz, Aevum Christianum, vol.iii (Miinster/W., i960), pp. 71-3.

27 M. Pippal, ' Beobachtungen zur "zweiten"Ostermorgenplatte am Klosterneuburger Ambodes Nicolaus von Verdun', Wiener Jahrbuch fiirKunstgeschichte, xxxv (1982), pp. 107-19, esp. p.114; 'Von der gewuBten zur geschauten Simili-tudo — ein Beitrag zur Entwicklung der typo-logischen Darstellungen bis i i 8 i ' , Kunst-historiker., iv (1987), pt. iii/iv, pp. 53-61, esp. p.56.

28 'Speculum Ecclesiae', PL clxxii, col. 928; citedafter J. Sauer, Symbolik des Kirchengebdudes undseiner Ausstattung in der Auffassung des Mittel-alters (Miinster/W., 1964), p. 59.

THE WORKS OF PAOLO ANGELO

Dennis E. Rhodes

N O T H I N G seems to be recorded about the lifeof Paolo Angelo, except for the meagre scrapsof information which his own books reveal. Hewas a humble priest of Venice, apparently amember of the Dominican Order, and he had afanatical hatred of Luther and his doctrines,which he more than once described as beinglike the croaking of frogs. He is represented inthe British Library by three small printedbooks, which have never been examined

thoroughly hitherto, and which have in com-mon the one feature that none of them bearsany imprint or date of printing. For two ofthem the General Catalogue suggests theimprint [Rome.^]; but it is my intention in thisarticle to give a full description of each book, inchronological order as I believe they wereprinted; and to demonstrate, I hope con-vincingly, that they were all printed in Venice.

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