Ars longa – vita brevis

Ars longa – vita brevis
Axel Bolvig
This sentence by Horace focusses on the historical explanation of art.
If an image or a sculpture is defined as a piece of art it must be
estimated in relation to images and sculptures that are not pieces of art. It
is of course impossible to draw a clear dividing line between works of art
and other works. lt can with some success be done on teclmical
conditions: the use of colours, the handling of the material, composition,
perspective etc., but there will always be a Iot of works that do not comply
with the technical requirements and still are classified as art.
It is here that Horace’s sentence emerges. Art has something to do
with qualities that are not temporary. If the product is the Venus ofMilo or
a Giacometti statue, if it is „Mona Lisa“ by Leonardo or „Le dejetmer sur
!’herbe“ by Manet, they entered into the world of art. One of the reasons
for this entry must be our conception of some itmnanent asthetic values,
eiemal or constant qualities in some works that are not present in other
works.
Keith Moxey explains the problern this way: “ The writing of art
history is often regarded as if it were a selfevident enterprise in which
historians share common assumptions and conunon goals. What matters, it
is thought, are not the theoretical assumptions and methodological
procedures that animate the work so much as the empirical „evidence“ the
study brings to bear on the interpretation in question. The Iack of
articulated assumptions implies that such theroretical considerations are
unnecessary because all practitioners share the same point of view. As a
consequence, it is possible for the discipline to operate on the basis of a
hidden agenda, one that is difficult to eilallenge because it is not supposed
to exist“ .1
In his Principles of Art Collingwood is pointing into the same
direction: “ In order to take the first step towards a sound asthetic, it is
1 Keith Moxey, „Hieronymus Bosch and the ‚World Cpside Down‘: The Case of The
Garden of Earthly Delights“, ViSital Culture, Images and Interpretations (eds.
Norman Bryson, Michael Holly and Keith Moxey), 1994, p. 104.
9
necessary to disentangle the notion of craft from that of art proper . .. . Craft
always involves a distinction between means and end, each clearly
conceived as something distinct from the other but related to it. „2
The widespread notion – whose most eloquent advocate is Ernst
Gernbrich – that representation has something to do with imitation of
nature is underlining this specific etemal character of art. „By insisting that
mimesis is a constituent element of artistic representation, the resemblance
theory posits an ahistorical constant – namely, nature – against which all
works are to be measured. „3
Seen from a historical point of view the etemity of art has strange
consequences.
The etemal qualities of works of art or the common asswnptions of
art historians are per definition ahistorical phenomena. They are not bow1d
to a specific time, period or area – consequently it is of no importance
when and where they were created. In the one and same museum works of
art from different periods and areas are exhibited, selected on the basis of
asthetic criteria- in principle anyhow.
On the contrary, non-artistic productions are temporary, they are
bound to the when, where and who. They are historical phenomena. These
products are exhibited in other museums, selected on the basis of their
values as historical evidence – in principle anyhow.
The same can be said of works of art when looking at them as mere
products: who painted what, when and where – without considering the
etemal qualities, without looking at them as pieces of art.
Anyhow, the longevity of art is in many cases historically, socially and
economically determined. We cannot always see the etemity of a visual
production. Conceming the impressionists, for example, it took several
decades for art Iovers and art historians to estimate their production.
Landscape painting, for a long time, was underestimated at the academies
where it had a lower rank than mythology and history painting.4
So, even if art is an ahistorical phenomenon, its inunanent qualities –
its etemal values – are historically determined.
All visual material is of course potential source for historians. The
use of visual relics is not dependent on artistic quality. But up to our own
time, the occucpation of, for instance, medieval architecture and imagery
has been based on artistic pre-conditions.
2 R. G. Collingwood, The Principles of Art, ( 1938) 1958, p. 15.
3 Keith Moxey, The Practice of Theory. Poststructuralism. Cultural Politics and Art
History, 1994, p. 30f
4 Axe1 Bo1vig, Det kulliverede /andskab, 1988, p. 15.
10
That is why in this article my occupation with artistic influence and
migration is a question of historiography, of theory of history, social
structure, and mentalities of historians more than a question of empirical
search for similarities and relationship between artifacts from the past.
Migration art is the name used for art connected with the Migration
Period in the first millennium. So, it is named after the migration of tribes
and not of art. But for me, it is more interesting to speak about the
migration of art, the movement of artistic means of expression; or, more
correctly, to talk about historical explanations of artistic migration.
My subject is medieval art in Denmark. So it seems. But, first and
foremost, the subject is history of mentality, Danish mentality during the
last and this century, a period when historians and art historians started
working more scientifically with paintings and sculptures of previous
times. Their work has raised some questions, the answer to which is
dependent on our own theoretical standpoint.
Are the medieval artifacts in Denmark works of art? Are they to be
considered as unique artificial products or as remote descendants of
EUTopean works of art? Can we talk of a creative mind, if- as is the case
in the Middle Ages – artistic production is based on models? ls the nonnal
use of models to be explained as migration of style and contents? Is oUT
dating of artistic production too dependent on the idea of migration? The
answer to these and other questions relies on our contemporary theories of
explanation rather than in the Middle Ages.
As mentioned before, my subject is Danish mentality during the last
two centuries. This mentality was fonned by historical developments and
incidents; a mentality that can be found in many small countries; a
mentality nourished by the great EUTopean colonial empires.
At the beginning of last century, Denmark was a big country with a
widespread area. The supremacy of the Danish monarchy stretched from
Cap North to Hamburg, from Greenland to the Baltic. The Danish navy
was one of the biggest in Europe. We fonned alliances with the great
powers- unfortunately with Napoleon who happened to be the loser. We
had colanies in India and the West Indies.
But our alliance with Napoleonic France had disastraus
consequences. England took OUT navy. We met with a national bankruptcy.
We lost Norway to Sweden. Later in the middle of the 19th century we
fought wars with Gennany and lost South Schleswig.
Denmark was reduced to a small poor country. Denmark was
marginalized. Demnark was forced to rely on the bigger neighbours. And
the Danish feit so. We put on a feeling of inferiority. And that feeling
fonned OUT understanding of the past and its art products.
11
We accepted the demonstration of superiority that dominated England
and France- and we did not forget our defeats against Gennany. From our
neighbour to the south we could not accept migration of good artistic
influences – not even in the Middle Ages.
The dominant position of the great powers was so big that a srnall country
like Denmark automatically accepted and overtook their view of the world,
their philosophy of life, their understanding of art and culture, their
egocentric definition of what is good taste and what is bad taste, what is
art and non-art.
The white man’s burden and moral commitment was to bring the
white man’s superior culture out to an ignorant Third World. The superior
European – that is the French and British – culture ought to be spread frorn
Paris and London as far as to Mandalay. On ouT own continent this
superior culture should be received with gratitude and as a necessity by the
smalleT countries in the periphery.
Denmark like other small countries accepted this impeTialistic way of
thinking. Danish historians and art historians looked at ouT medieval art
through Kipling’s glasses.
This theory of centre-peTiphery became the vigoTous hothouse for the
estimate of artifacts of our past. Migration became a guide foT
explanation, evaluation and dating. And migration was always a one-way
path from the European centres to a northem periphery. They were donors,
we were receivers They produced the supreme art, we made inferior
copies or tried to live up to theiT ideals. Cultural reciprocity did not occur
to the rninds of ouT grandparents.
This picture of the world naturally fonned the Danish view of
medieval art. It was and to a certain extent still is valuated in that
perspective: Danish medieval art is not as good as art from the EuTopean
centres. If we find samples of exquisite art it is often assumed to be
imported or made by an artist from outside. Danish medieval art is a result
of migration not of people but of artistic taste – from Northem France an<i
England more than from Gennany. Danish medieval art is produced with
delay compared to its models. It was not even valuated as art.
This understanding is not valid today. Contemporary historical conditions
have changed. Denmark is still a small country but none of the fonner
colonial powers are as influential as before. In Europe, as in the whole
world, it is difficult to find a political, economical and cultural centre and
even more difficult to find a centre for all these activities. Consequently, a
periphery has vanished. This is the case in Europe as weil as in the
12
individual countries. Today, there is no centre but a widespread activity
throughout the world and throughout the individual countries.
Denmark is part of a world society and a European society.
Compared to the size of OUT country, economy and population we have
great influence at the UN, NATO, and EU. At the UN OUT vote at the
generat assembly is equal to the vote of the great powers. Our footnote
policy in NATO in the 1 980s enonnously irritated our allies. During the
last years we have contributed witl1 military forces in forrner Yugoslavia at
a !arge scale. It is weil known that the small cmmtries in the EU
proportionally have greater influence than the big ones. Think of the
Danish „No“ to the Maastricht treaty. lt influenced tl1e whole community
and caused a chaotic condition.
So, after World War II we gradually left our marginalized position as
a small country in order to be a valid member of a global society. Our
feeling of inferiority has been replaced with a sense of equality. After OUT
„No“ to the Maastricht treaty our foreign minister pronounced „If you can’t
join them, beat them“ referring to a victory of ours at the European
championship in football.
In this perspective tl1e Danish „Yes“ to EU-membership in 1 972
appears as cmcial. Cmcial to the question of artistic migration, too. In
Danish Iiterature on medieval art, our old image makers gradually change
from craftsmen to artists who created excellent art and fonned partnership
with European colleagues. Their works are not any Ionger classified as
delayed imitations of high art from cultural centres.
The cultUTal circumstances of our own time deviate radically fonn those of
last century. Since Marcel Duchamp’s display of a urinal tl1e conception of
immanent asthetic value has collapsed. Today, art in the Hegelian
construction is dead.5 Now we question the definition of asthetic value
itself. The goal of the postmodern tendencies is to articulate political
messages of social importance. The eternal value of Christo’s wrapping the
Reichstag or of modern installations is not a matter at stake. We ask for
their impact on society.
In the light of a changed attitude to art and artistic behavior we have
changed our attitude towards medieval imagery. In Denrnark, we now
easily accept our wall-paintings. We have escaped the historieist ideology
of art. When in last century museum conservators began to throw light
upon the medieval wall-paintings from behind tl1e whitewash they did not
like tl1e images. The pictures on the walls were not art to people of 19u‘
century. Today, the medieval murals are considered as a national treasure
s Georges Didi-Huberman, Del’allf /’Image, 1990, p. 54ff.
13
containing lots of works of art. 6 We do what we can to preserve them, that
is to give them an etemal ex.istence.
During the last two centuries – the age of migration theory – it often has
been assumed that cultural and artistic influences arose from pure
necessity, from people’s need for art. The art conswners were the active
part. They wanted to receive works of art or to imitate art from the cultural
centres. On the contrary, art producers, art dealers or others who had the
disposal of works of art were passive. They complied with the demand but
they did not use artifacts as a part of an expansive policy. Migration was
normally considered as an unavoidability caused by the thirst for supreme
art in an arid periphery.
In The Story of Art E. H. Gombrich has a chapter entitled „The New
Leaming Spreads“: “ The great achievements and inventions of the Italian
masters of the Renaissance made a deep impression on the peoples north
of the Alps. Everyone who was interested in the revival of leaming had
become accustomed to looking towards ltaly . . . „7 According to Erwin
Panofsky, Albrecht Dürer endeavoured to produce classical figures in
classical movement „with the intention to educate himself and his Gennan
fellow artists to a ‚classical‘ attitude. „8 In „Histoire de l’art“ Elie Faure bas
a chapter entitled „L’expansion de l’idee franfi:aise“ in which he writes:
„On venait donc de Ia campagne, et de plus loin. On venait voir, on venait
prendre leyons, on venait demander aux maitres d’reuvre de passer Ia mer
ou Ia montagne aux frais des villes ricbes qui voulaient toutes avoir Ia plus
belle eglise ou Je plus haut rempart.“9 I could continue witl1 quotations of
the kind.
This is of course a natural way of explanation in an era of l’art pour
l’art. As long as the ideas of art are fonned under influence of the concept
of the “ asthetic“, explanations of artistic migration must follow that line.
When according to Kant works of art have the ability to promote a
„desinterested“ appreciation in the viewer, when the beautiful is not merely
the agreeable but the necessary, artistic influence is just a helping band to
a population short of supreme art.
But today’s realities show another picture of making influences
between nations, countries and regions. A common way of diplomacy is to
give cultural relationship a first priority. The very first noticeable American
step during the Nixon administration towards a thaw in the USA-China
6 Axel Bolvig, Kirkekunstens storhedstid. Om kirker og kunsl i Danmark i romansk
Iid, 1992, p. 164ff.
7 E. H. Gombrich, 1he Story of Art, 1960 (Tenth Edition), p. 249.
8 Erwin Panofsky, Meaning in the Visual Arts, ( 1955) 1993, p. 278.
9 Elie Faure, Histoire de /’art. L ‚art medil!val, (1912) 1985, p. 282.
14
relations was an exchange of ping-pong-players. Opera singers and
orchestras are the diplomats of political rapprochement. A concert or an art
exhibition is a good means of preparing a state visit. After the collapse of
the Soviel empire and the independence of the East European countries,
the first we did in Denmark was to establish an Institute of Culture in
Estonia. In today’s politics culture often sets the first foot on the path to
political and economic influence. Art and culture have been knocked off
the asthetic pedestal to be used in the dirty political and economic life.
So, instead of conceiving artistic migration in the Middle Ages as a
gratification of a need for art of an underpriviliged population, without
doubt it will be a fruitful occupation to regard art as an active power in
itself, and a power to be used with purpose by those who had the power to
dispose of it.
The history of mentalities among historians during the last two centuries
and the radically changed attitude towards art are two main factors behind
the discussion of artistic migration.
But another item remains to be mentioned: the development of access
to visual infonnation. A hundred years ago, the access to images was by
travelling. Art could only be experienced in museums and churches, mainly
cathedrals. The museums and cathedrals were situated in the most
important cultural centres of Europe. The experiences of the visitors were
only fixed on their retina which is not a fixation as permanent as in print.
Many of the art historians of last century developed an enourmous visual
mnemonics, but still it was an unstable storage of visual infonnation.
From that personal image-store, art historians found many samples of
migration of form and contents from the art works experienced years ago
to the domestic artifacts of an actual investigation. The control of the result
lay in another trip to museums and cathedrals far away from the subject of
investigation. The result was often arbitrary and naturally dependent on the
museums and cathedrals actually visited by the investigator.
Later the situation was improved by a growing number of printed
illustrated editions. The available visual material grew and is still growing.
Anyhow, for a long period it still was a matter of access to the relevant
printed material and of what actually had been printed and not. A subject
which was made the object of massive printed reproduction tended to be a
main centripetal force of artistic imitation. l11eories of migration grew
dependent of what was printed and accessible.
Today, the accessibility of visual source material is growing very fast.
The establislunent of huge image databases is an undertaking of several
institutions. The Computer revolution has embraced the visual side of the
past. In the future, art and art history will be tumed upside down. Y ou can
1 5
write about medieval art in one volume, but you cannot print but a very
small selection of works of art. In the future, principally, you can gather
images of all the medieval artifacts on huge hard discs and browse through
thousands of pictures. But nobody will have the energy and the time to
read about these many pictures.
The accessibility to gigantic quantities of images will change the
question of centre-periphery and of artistic migration. I do not doubt that
the medieval cyberspace in the future shall demoostrate that the question
of migration was a temporary occupation in art history. The „democratic“
access to visual source material shall result in „democratic“ results of
research. In cyberspace there is no centre and consequently no periphery.
In a database the world of art is without boundaries. The question of good
and bad art shall be a matter of the individual user. Here, too, the small
countries can compete with the big ones.
To me it is natural to end this article by a demonstration of at first some
Danish samples of the traditional explanation of artistic migration and
influence, secondly some of the few signs of a new attitude towards
medieval art, a new way of explanation, a new mentality among historians.
One of the most distinguished Danish art historians, Fraucis Beckett,
wrote in the 1920s a volmninous book on Romanesque and Gothic art in
Denmark.10 Its influence can still be seen in contemporary art history.
One of the great qualities of his work is an elaborated theoretical
apparatus. He was an outspoken defender of a centre-periphery
explanation. His credo was: „Art is subordinated to tbe Jaw of wave
motion. It was in 111h century in France and Gennany that the mighty
ecclesiastical inclination of construction of buildings came into existence
which reached Demnark towards the end of the century and spread in the
following“. In Denmark the movement first reached the cathedrals from
where all artistic activity gradually spread to the borders of the dioceses. It
was evident that craftsmen received education at the building sites of the
cathedrals, and they taught other craftsmen. „In that way it tumed out Iike
a stone thrown into the water. The rings grow weaker tl1e farther the radius
is.“II
For Fraucis Beckett and his contemporaries tl1is centre-periphery
model caused some difficulty. I shall demoostrate this by one example.
The parochial church of Gjellerup at tl1e outskirts of the diocese of Ribe in
Jutland is built with ashlars of granite. lt has a tympanmn witl1 a very
simple decoration: a cross in the middle framed by an inscription which
1° Francis Beckett, Danmarks Kunst Vol l & li, 1924 & 1926.
11 Francis Beckett, Danmarks Kunst Yo1 I, 1924, p. 38 & 89.
16
reads (in translation from Latin) „In the year 1 140 after the birth of the
Lord this house was founded here in honour of God“; one of the very rare
datings in Danish art history. The cathedral of Ribe is mainly built with
ashlars of tuff. lt has a huge tympanum with a beautiful relief. It is framed
by an inscription which reads (in translation) „St. Mary, Joseph, Christ the
Crucified, Nichodemus, St. John – The king dies, she weeps, the beloved
moums, the guilty prays.“ 12
The only resemblance between the two tympana is the existence of an
inscription framing a halfcircular field. But as all influences must go to the
diocese from the mother church, the dating of its great tympanum was
consequently set to some time before 1 140 – in spite of all other evidences
pointing at a later dating. Fraucis Beckett’s argument reads: „It would be
remarkable if in the periphery of the diocese they had built with granite
before this material was used at the mainchurch. The opposite, namely that
they at Gjellerup had adopted granite from the cathedral, is a foregone
probability.“13 This probability rests on a robust statement already put
forward in 1859 by another scholar, Jacob Helms: „lt is a fact, which it is
easy to explain and which in other countries has been demonstrated, that
the peculiarity of the building material, constmction and decoration of a
cathedral in a strange way has passed into the smaller churches in the same
town and its surroundings. „14 The centre-periphery or the imperialistic
way of explanation was not a theory but a fact.
In 1979 an article was written about the same two churches and their
tympana. Its title is significant: „Is the mother of the same age as the
daughters.’o1s Its answer is yes. As the author still inclines to the centreperiphery
explanation, the statement simply reads that there is no
connection between the two churches. The argument rests on teclmical
explanations such as the difference in building material. The situation is
completely the same conceming our Romanesque wall-paintings.
One of the most distinguished scholars, the late director of the Danish
National Museum, Poul N0rlund, published in the 1 940s a book about the
Romanesque murals. He claimed that the Danish wall-paintings were
inferior to the paintings of Northern France and the other „centres“, and
that they were retarded both in their stilistic way of expression and in the
time of their creation. It took a generation or two for the high art to be
12 Axel Bolvig, Kirkekunstens storhedstid. Om kirker og kunst i Danmark i romansk
tid, 1992, p. 65ff.
13 Francis Beckett, Danmarks Kunst Vol I, 1924, p. 78.
14 Jacob Helms, „Tufstenskirkeme i Omegnen af Ribe“, Ny kirkehistoriske Sam/inger
18, 1859, p. I. 11 Elna M01ler, „Er moderen j􀘭vngammel med d0trene“, Strejflys over Danmarks
bygningskultur (ed. Robert Engvang), 1979, p. 83-98.
1 7
transfonned to our northern periphery. To show an example: He dated the
wall-paintings in the local church of Rästed16 to about 1 175-1200 and
pointed at influence from English art from the middle of the century. His
argurnent was based on teclmical explanations: They were painted al
secco, and economic explanations: After the erection of the church the
financial conditions forced the donors to put off the artistic decoration a
generation or two.17
Thirty years later, in 1972, the year of the Danish „Yes“ to the EU,
Ulla Haastrup published an article on the Romanesque paintings at Rästed.
She dated the murals 30-50 years earlier. Her argument was based on
technical and artistic explanations: The murals are painted al fresco, and
many of them are of such fine quality that there is no reason in a retarded
dating.18
Again we find no explicit theory behind this new attitude, but it is
obvious that the new positive valuation of the Romanesque art and the
suggestions of a dating contemporary with European art have their source
in a new Danish mentality of non-inferiority.
In two books on Danish medieval art and architecture I have tried to
contruct a theory that rests on my contemporary cultural situation in
Denmark.19 During the last three decades we find that most of the artistic
innovations, experiments and initiatives pop up all over the country and not
in our capital. We have no cultural and economic centre. Artistic
inspiration and intluence are a mixed patchwork.
Late in the 19th century the impressionists in Paris fonned an inspiring
centre for outwarded going influences. Who can claim such a centralized
position today, or for that matter in the Romanesque period?
The Danish – the European – society of the Romanesque period
consisted mainly of large-scale production. The owners of the large lay
estates and the monastical estates were the dynamos of the society. They
erected the local churches, they sponsored their decoration with
aristocratic wall-paintings and equipment. These big Iaudowners had a
cultural horizon common with Iaudowners all over Europe. They shared
common artistic views. Consequently is is impossible and useless to Iook
16 http://www.kalkmalerier.dk/englishlsearch.htm, search: Rasted in kirkenavn.
17 Poul N0rlund & Egmont Lind, Danmarks romanske Kalkmalerier, 1944, passim.
18 Ulla Haastrup, „Die romanischen Wandmalereien in Rästed, Ikonographie,
Bildprogramm und Theater“, Hafnia. Copenhagen Papers in the History oj Art, 1972,
p. 69-138.
19 A:xel Bolvig, Kirkekunstens storhedstidd. Om kirker og kunst i Danmark i romansk
tid, 1992; idem, Bondens billeder. Om kirker og kunst i dansk senmiddelalder, 1994.
18
for the paths of eultural migration of the 12th and 13th eentury – as it is
today.
The Danish eultural elite who stood behind the art and arehiteeture
that have survived saw no national 1imitations to their eultural horizon – as
it is today. They had joined their European partners, they had voted „Yes“
to the European Catholie eommunity, and they even beat their neighbours
at the eoast of the Baltie.
Artistie migration was not neeessarily a one-way phenomenon.
During the late Midd1e Ages Denmark experieneed a massive influenee
from Lübeek and other Hansearie towns. In periods, they dominated
Danish polities and eeonomy. The Danish import of Hanseatie wooden
seulptures and altarpieees was eonsiderable. It was impossible for
historians of last and th.is eentury to deny that. But their attitude towards
the impaet of Hansearie art produetion differ from tl1eir evaluation of
Freneh and English influenee.
When Franeis Beekett and his fellow art historians found traees of
Freneh Goiliie influenee, they used a positive and praising voeabulary. At
their time in the first half of this eentury, Freneh art was tl1e great model.
As for Hanseatie influenee, he and his eolleagues used a voeabulary that
was quite different. They talked of a „vigorous offensive“, „an invasion“,
„a fight for life“. „The fight is fought on the walls of eaeh single ehureh. „20
Our nearest great neighbour Germany was a threat to whieh we lost South
Sehleswig. Today it is a great partner. In eontemporary art history we do
not fight the Hanseatie Gennans on the walls of the ehurehes. We
aeknowledge late medieval artifaets as important produets of eulture.
My last item shall be tl1e ehanged situation eaused by the establishment of
huge image databases. At the Department of History, University of
Copenhagen, we have established a database with all our wall-paintings.
Till now, we have more than 5000 images in tlte base. The eonstruetion of
ilie base offers an unlimited aeeess to the images. Even if still ineomplete,
it offers a tool for many quantitative investigations. Like otl1er databases it
is eonstrueted as a huge hyperdoeument. One ean search in all direetions
but eannot find a eentre. Ceotre-periphery tl1eories are homeless in
eyberspaee.
20 Jes Wienberg, Den gotiske labyrinl. Midde!alderen og kirkerne i Danmark, 1993,
p40; Axel Bolvig, Bondens billeder. Om kirker og kunst i dansk senmidde!alder, 1994,
p. 78ff.
1 9
In order to demonopolize the Danish wall-paintings, we have put the
database on the Intemet.21 The address is: http://www.kalkmalerier.dk/ At
this adress one also finds an edition in English.
21 For further information of the database see in this volume Jesper J. Borrild,
„Medieval Danish Wall-paintings – an Internet Database“.
20
MEDIUM AEVUM
QUOTIDIANUM
39
KREMS 1998
HERAUSGEGEBEN
VON GERHARD JARITZ
GEDRUCKT MIT UNTERSTÜTZUNG DER KULTURABTEILUNG
DES AMTES DER NIEDERÖSTERREICHISCHEN LANDESREGIERUNG
Titelgraphik: Stephan J. Tramer
Herausgeber: Mediwn Aevwn Quotidianum. Gesellschaft zur Erforschung der
materiellen Kultur des Mittelalters, Körnermarkt 13, A-3500 Krems, Österreich.
Für den Inhalt verantwortlich zeichnen die Autoren, olme deren ausdrückliche
Zustimmung jeglicher Nachdmck, auch in Auszügen, nicht gestattet ist. – Dmck:
KOPITU Ges. m. b. H., Wiedner Hauptstraße 8-10, A-l 050 Wien.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Vorwort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Axel Bolvig, Danish Wall-paintings -an Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Axel Bolvig, Ars /onga- vita brevis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Jesper Jerre Borrild, Medieval Danish Wall-paintingsan
Internet Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Annedorte Vad, Devils here, there and everywhere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Steen Schj0dt Christensen, Mysterious Images –
Grimacing, Grotesques, Obscene, Popular:
Anti- or Conunentary Images? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Martin Bo N0rregärd, The Concept ofLabour
in the Danish Medieval Wall-paintings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Axel Bolvig, Images ofLate Medieval ‚Daily Life‘:
A History of Mentalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Annamäria Kovacs, Costumes as Symbols.
The Pictorial Representations of the Legend of
King Ladislas of Hungary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Anca Golgtitan, Family, Patronage, and Artistic Production:
The Apafis and Mäläncrav (Almakerek, Malmkrog),
Sibiu District, in Transylvania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
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Vorwort
Medium Aevum Quotidianum legt mit Heft 39 einen Band vor, welcher
sich schwerpunktartig mit der Analyse von Bildquellen, vor allem
Wandmalerei, auseinandersetzt Die Autoren der Beiträge stammen aus
zwei Institutionen, in denen Bilddokumentation und Analyse konzentriert
betrieben werden: dem Department of History an der Universität
Kopenhagen und dem Department of Medieval Studies an der Central
European University, Budapest. Das erstgenannte Institut ist besonders
durch seine Digitalisierung des Gesamtbestandes dänischer Wandmalerei
bekannt geworden, der über das Internet allgemein zugänglich geworden
ist und als Basis für umfassende qualitative und quantitative
Bilduntersuchungen herangezogen werden kann. Das Department of
Medieval Studies der CEU konzentriert sich in Zusammenarbeit mit dem
Institut für Realienkunde des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit der
Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften auf die Sammlung,
Katalogisierung, Dokumentation und Analyse zentraleuropäischen
Bildmaterials. Die VerfLigbarkeit des aufgearbeiteten Bestandes via
Internet ist in Vorbereitung.
Medium Aevum Quotidianum ist nun auch mittels Internet
erreichbar (http://www.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/maq/). Im Augenblick bieten
wir das Inhaltsverzeichnis aller seit unserer Gründung im Jahre 1982
erschienenen Bände. Aktuelle Informationen, Links zu anderen, uns
wichtig erscheinenden Websites sowie Berichte werden in Zukunft das
Service-Angebot erweitern.
Gerhard Jaritz, Herausgeber
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