Antiqui Et Moderni at Reims (Willibald Sauerländer)

"Antiqui et Moderni" at ReimsAuthor(s): Willibald SauerländerSource: Gesta, Vol. 42, No. 1 (2003), pp. 19-37Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the International Center of MedievalArtStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25067073 .

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Antiqui et Moderni at Reims

Dedicated to Ernst Schubert on the

occasion of his seventy-fifth birthday.

WILLIBALD SAUERL?NDER Zentralinstitut f?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich

Abstract

The radical transformation in style seen in the sculptures

of Reims Cathedral, produced from 1220 to 1270, is here ex

amined in the light of the contemporary clash between the

'Antiqui" and the "Moderni." A possible impetus for the style

of the Antiqui, as seen in the Christ on the wall buttress of the

axial chapel of the chevet, the saints on the Last Judgment and

Calixtus portals on the north transept, and the famous statues

of the Visitation on the west fa?ade, may be discovered in sur

viving metalwork from Upper Lotharingia, notably ars sacra

produced in Trier. The process of dismantling the style of the Antiqui is followed in the sculptures on the upper reaches of the

north transept, probably carved by the same sculptors respon sible for the portal statues. Reims, positioned between impe rial Lotharingia and the French "Domaine Royal," is shown

to shift artistic allegiance to the style emanating from Paris as

the Moderni triumph in the smiling angels of the west fa?ade.

The industry of the ancients is before our hands. They make the deeds which even in their times were past, present to ours, and we are silent. And thus their memory lives in us, and we forget our own [achievement]. A nota ble wonder! The dead live, and the living are buried in their stead! But perhaps even our times afford something not unworthy of the buskin of a Sophocles. Yet the merits of the moderns lie neglected while the cast-off fringes of

antiquity are paraded.

Antiquorum industria nobis pre manibus est; gesta suis eciam pret?rita temporibus nostris reddunt presencia, et nos obmutescimus, unde in nobis eorum vivit memoria, et

nos nostri sumus immemores. Miraculum illustre! Mortui

vivunt, vivi pro eis sepeliuntur! Habent et nostra t?mpora

forsitan aliquid Sophoclio non indignum coturno. lacent tarnen egregia modernorum nobilium, et attolluntur fimbrie vetustatis abiecte.

This colorful complaint about the reputation of the an

cients, inflated at the expense of the moderns, is found in Walter Map's De nugis curialium, which dates from the last decades of the twelfth century.1 Map's lament belongs to the

longstanding medieval dispute between the "Antiqui" and the

"Moderni," which, attested since the Carolingian era, reached its peak during the so-called "Twelfth-Century Renaissance"

and came to an end with the definitive triumph of the moderns in the century of Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas?a century that Toffanin has called "il sec?lo senza Roma."2 It is

astonishing that this dispute has been introduced so little into studies of the survival of antiquity in medieval art, for the radical transformation of the language of the figurative arts in the thirteenth century is best understood in this context. If the

years around 1200 saw the final triumph of the Antiqui in the last of the "renascences" in medieval art,3 the decades imme

diately following saw the definitive victory of the Moderni. This triumph was an event European in scale. We can

follow it in English manuscripts such as the "Estoire de Seint Aedward le Rei,"4 in Saxon sculpture from Freiburg to Naum

burg, and?most dramatically?in Italian painting from Cima bue to Giotto. But there is no monument which allows us to observe the clash between the Antiqui and the Moderni so

closely as the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Reims, the sanc

tuary that served as the coronation church for the kings of France. Among the great cathedrals of northern France, this lavish monument displays the greatest richness and variety in its monumental sculpture, produced over a period spanning five decades, from 1220 to 1270. The very earliest sculptures, the angels on the wall buttresses of the radiating chapels of the

chevet, are telling if somewhat awkward examples of the rena scence around 1200 (Fig. I).5 The latest sculptures, the famous

smiling angels from the west portals, are sparkling examples of Parisian modernity from the later part of the reign of St. Louis

(Fig. 2).6 The contrast between these works could hardly be more striking. Traditional stylistic analysis can describe but cannot illuminate it in historical terms. I will try here to eluci date the radical change in orientation in the light of the con

temporary clash between the Antiqui and the Moderni. To begin, I must turn briefly to ecclesiastical geography.

The territory of the old ecclesiastical province of Reims corre

sponded more or less to the western half of the ancient Roman

province of B?lgica. With its ten suffragan sees, the province covered a great part of the Comt? de Champagne and the Ver mandois and reached far into French Flanders with the two sees of Th?rouanne and Tournai. Its northern neighbor was the province of Cologne, which belonged to the Empire and covered the territory of Lower Lotharingia. To the east it bor dered on the imperial province of Trier, which corresponded to the territory of Upper Lotharingia and reached, with the see of Verdun, almost to Reims' city gates. Its southern neighbor

GESTA XLII/1 ? The International Center of Medieval Art 2003 19



FIGURE 1. Reims, Cathedral, choir, angel (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunst

geschichte, Munich).

was the province of Sens, largely under the domination of the

Capetian king. Sens' most prestigious suffragan see was Paris, the rapidly rising capital of the kingdom. Thus, owing to its

geographical, political, and art historical situation, the province of Reims was fatefully positioned. It lay adjacent to territories

belonging to the Empire, where some of the greatest centers

of the artistic renascence of 1200 were located: nearby Ver

dun was the home of Nicholas, the most famous representa tive of the Year 1200 style, possibly its creator. But it was

also neighbor to Paris, the fountainhead of Gothic modernity. The clash between the Antiqui and the Moderni, which we

watch play out in the sculpture of the cathedral of Reims, must be seen in connection with the location of the province between imperial Lotharingia and the "Domaine Royal." The final triumph of the Moderni over the Antiqui was also the

triumph of Paris over the older artistic centers in the valley of the Meuse.7

FIGURE 2. Reims, Cathedral, west portal, angel (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r

Kunstgeschichte, Munich).

It was long ago suggested that the Antiqui among the

sculptors at Reims might have been inspired by the renascence

flowering in Lotharingia at the end of the twelfth century and above all by Lotharingian metalwork.8 But this tempting sug

gestion has never been tested in the light of precise compar isons, and investigation into the complex problem of mutual relations has all too often been confined to the study of the works of Nicholas of Verdun, especially works (rightly or wrongly attributed to him) in Cologne.9 The sources for Reims "classi cism" are generally sought in the ars sacra of the region "entre Rhin et Meuse."10 Contradicting the prevailing opinion, I will

try to demonstrate that the most striking parallels to the sculp tural works of the Antiqui at Reims are found not in Cologne, Siegburg, or Li?ge, but in Upper Lotharingia, in the old eccle siastical province of Trier. Since Carolingian times there had been links between the art of this province and Reims.11 The first great Gothic buildings in the province of Trier, the cathe dral of Toul, the cathedral of Metz, and the Liebfrauenkirche in

Trier, were inspired by the architecture of Reims Cathedral.12 The most significant among the very earliest statues at

Reims is the figure of Christ on one of the eastern wall but tresses of the chevet (Fig. 3). It belongs to a series of sculp tures which Panofsky long ago called "eine fr?hklassizistische

20



m.

%

FIGURE 3. Reims, Cathedral, choir, Christ (photo: Zentralinstitut?r Kunst


FIGURE 4. Paris, Mus?e du Louvre, Shrine of St. Potentinus, Christ (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).

FIGURE 6. Reims, Cathedral, north transept, Judgment Portal, Sts. James

the Major and John (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).

FIGURE 5. Paris, Mus?e du Louvre, Shrine of St. Potentinus, St. Andrew

(photo: Zentralinstitut fur Kunstgeschichte, Munich).

21



Gruppe," and it probably dates before 1221.131 compare this statue to another figure of Christ?this one small, embossed, and gilded?from the shrine of St. Potentinus, patron of the Premonstratensian abbey at Steinfeld in the old diocese of Trier (Fig. 4). This shrine, focus of veneration at Steinfeld to the end of the eighteenth century, is now in the Louvre.14 The statue of Christ is not one of the masterpieces of sculpture at

Reims, and the shrine of St. Potentinus, badly conserved, comes from the backwaters of Lotharingian metalwork production. But few words are needed to demonstrate the striking similar

ity between the two figures, which resides in the odd combi nation of pseudo-classical drapery with totally unclassical

proportions. Both figures are bulky and of dull expression. Nothing could be further from the classical canon of propor tion than their short legs, broad shoulders, and oversize heads. The "Fr?hklassizismus" of these statues is limited to the work

ing of the drapery folds and a timid indication of contrap posto. But the surprising affinity between the small figure in metal from Upper Lotharingia and the monumental statue in stone at Reims is undeniable. For the moment I leave open

what we should make of the similarity and pass on to a sec ond comparison.

The twelve apostles stand beneath the arcades on the sides of the shrine of St. Potentinus. It is a program found on

many reliquary shrines, where the local saint is celebrated as a successor to the apostles.15 Most of the figures are so badly damaged that their style can longer be recovered, but there is one exception: St. Andrew (Fig. 5). Though his head and the cross he holds in his right hand have suffered, the contours and the volume of his body, like the folds of the falling drap ery, are well preserved. Again we find an unexpectedly close

affinity to the statues of the "fr?hklassizistische Gruppe" at Reims. As an example I single out St. James the Major from the jambs of the Last Judgment portal on the north transept (Fig. 6). This statue may be somewhat later than the Christ on the chevet, but it belongs to the same stylistic group, charac terized by physical bulk and passivity in expression.16 Both statues?St. Andrew from the shrine and St. James from the

portal?display what I would call a "would-be classicism": too

many Roman folds, too many curls combine with a disturbing absence of classical proportion. Again a heavy body with broad shoulders and an oversize head rises on very short legs. The

figures are powerful but not elegant. They have the same

strengths and the same deficiencies. What should we make of these correspondences? There

is no precise date for the shrine of St. Potentinus, so we can not know if this piece of metalwork pre- or postdates the stat ues at Reims. Nor do we know where the shrine was made, if there is at least some reason to think that it was produced at

Trier. Trier has not fared well with historians of ars sacra

around 1200. While the metalwork of Cologne, Aachen, and Maastricht?that is, of Lower Lotharingia?can still be stud ied in a number of magnificent reliquary shrines, from Trier there survive only true cross reliquaries, bookcovers, and seals.

Not a single piece of metalwork remains from the suffragan sees of Trier at Metz, Toul, or Verdun. Thus art historians have tended to consider the chance survivals of metalwork from Trier as mere offshoots of the great works in Cologne, and Nicholas of Verdun, a native of Upper Lotharingia, has been adopted art historically by the Rhenish city.17 Study of the possible relations between the Antiqui who carved the

sculptures at Reims and the metalworkers responsible for ars sacra around 1200 has to date been confined to the Reims

Aachen-Cologne axis. And yet, not only is Reims geograph ically closer to Trier than to Cologne, but also the affinities between the Reims sculptures and the metalwork of Trier are more specific and explicit than those between the sculptures and figures on the shrines at Aachen, Siegburg, or Cologne.

There is, moreover, some reliable evidence that the great renascence around the year 1200 began earlier in Trier than in Cologne and that the rise of the style in Upper Lotharingia

was independent from the creation of the famous vasa sacra

in Cologne Cathedral and in the abbey church of St. Michael at Siegburg. The seal of Archbishop John I of Trier (1190 1212), which was in use as early as 1191, displays all the characteristics of the Year 1200 style (Fig. 7).18 While the seal is a decade later then the enamels on the ambo at Kloster

neuburg, created by Nicholas of Verdun, it is earlier than the figures of the prophets and apostles on the Three Kings Shrine, which mark the emergence of the style in Cologne.19 The Year 1200 style had its proper roots in Upper Lotharin

gia, and it may well be that it was imported from there to

Cologne, where it displaced the earlier "Mosan" style as seen on the front of the Three Kings Shrine. Be that as it may, the

image of Archbishop John I shows a close affinity with the

sculptures of the Antiqui at Reims. I compare the figure of an

enthroned pope in the archivolts of the Calixtus portal on the north transept (Fig. 8). The similarity is even more pronounced than that between Christ and the apostles on the shrine of St. Potentinus and Christ and St. James the Major at Reims. The

figure in wax shares a striking refinement and elegance with the figure in stone.

At a somewhat later date, perhaps around 1220, another

bishop of Trier?in this case Eucharius, who had occupied the see in the third century and was venerated as a saint?appeared on a piece of metalwork from Trier (Fig. 9). The saint may be

compared to the beautiful figure of an enthroned archbishop found among the blessed on the tympanum of the Last Judg ment portal on the north transept (Fig. 10). In the light of these

comparisons, it is possible to ask whether the transfer of stylis tic models from Upper Lotharingia to Champagne, from Trier to Reims?with Verdun, Nicholas' city, halfway between? could have served as the catalyst that generated the style of the

Antiqui at Reims. Before rushing to a conclusion, we do well to extend our series of comparisons.

The above-mentioned image of St. Eucharius appears on one of two bookcovers in the John Rylands Library in

Manchester, which are decorated with no fewer than thirty-six

22



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FIGURE 7. First seal of John I, Archbishop of Trier (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r

Kunstgeschichte, Munich).

V ' '.5,?. 'S? o.:i-:|ti

Mast

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FIGURE 8. Reims, Cathedral, north transept, Calixtus Portal, voussoirs, pope

(photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).

FIGURE 10. Reims, Cathedral, north transept, Judgment Portal, tympanum,

archbishop (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).

^mmmmmm?mm^m-'WStmmmiiumm???mi

m^%,

?ffet ? 'lJ?i?jf

*tt,^?vnm*tmt*^

FIGURE 9. Manchester, John Rylands Library, book cover from Trier, detail:

St. Eucharius (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).

23



FIGURE 12. Jteimj, Cathedral, Judgment Portal, St. Peter (photo: Zentral

institutf?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).

figures of apostles and saints, cast and gilded. As Montague Rhodes James showed long ago, the iconographie program points to an origin in one of the great abbeys of Trier, possibly the abbey of St. Matthias.20 But it was Hanns Swarzenski who first suggested, as early as 1942, that some of these statuettes

might have inspired the sculptures of the Antiqui at Reims.21 It seems that his brief suggestion has been overlooked in all

subsequent bibliography on the sculpture at Reims. Swarzen ski was right: the tiny statuettes of Sts. Peter and Paul on the front cover (Fig. 11) could almost be models for the monu mental statue of St. Peter on the Last Judgment portal at Reims (Fig. 12), which was celebrated by V?ge in his study of the "Bahnbrecher des Naturstudiums um 1200."22 They have

BB i * ^B/!!?nF II.J |BBr?ig? EBB pL3J!.

FIGURE 11. Manchester, John Rylands Library, book cover from Trier, detail:

Sts. Peter and Paul (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).

the same stance, the same tense and energetic attitude. Figures like these must have been part of the stock of images used

again and again in the workshops of Trier. The same St. Peter

appears twice on the famous cross-reliquary at the former Benedictine abbey of Mettlach?a piece of metalwork gen erally assigned to Trier.23 We see him as a tiny figure in niello at the head of a series of apostles flanking the relic of the true cross (Fig. 13) and a second time as an embossed figure on one

wing of the staurotheca, there as one of the patron saints of the abbey of Mettlach (Fig. 14). The similarity between this second figure and the statue at Reims is particularly striking, even if the rendering in metal is somewhat softer than its

counterpart in stone. But we are still not at the end of our se ries of comparisons. St. Peter appears a fourth time on a piece of metalwork from Trier, this time as an engraved figure on a second, slightly later staurotheca at St. Matthias (Fig. 15).24 Here the drapery is more exuberant and the hip curiously hy pertrophie. The same or a similar model evidently informed a wooden statue of St. Peter discovered by Robert Didier in a closet in a room off the eastern wing of the cloister of Noy on Cathedral (Fig. 16).25 The origin and function of the statue are

unknown, but there is a good chance that it comes from the cathedral or a local church within the diocese, which was a

neighbor and suffragan see of Reims.26 In light of these comparisons, the affinities between

metalwork of the renascence in Upper Lotharingia and sculp tures carved by the Antiqui at Reims seem more and more

compelling. But before drawing conclusions from these visual

suggestions, I would like to enlarge the panorama once more. So far the examples I have chosen from Reims all belong to the

24



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FIGURE 13. Mettlach, Abbey, Staurotheca, wing, inner side, detail: St. Peter


FIGURE 16. Noyon, Cathedral, cloister annex, St. Peter (photo: Zentral


FIGURE 14. Mettlach, Abbey, Staurotheca, wing, inner side, detail: St. Peter


FIGURE 15. Trier, St. Matthias, Staurotheca, back, detail: St. Peter (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).

25



FIGURE 17. Reims, Cathedral, Judgement Portal, Beau Dieu (photo: Zentral


"fr?hklassizistische Gruppe." But what about those master

pieces of the Antiqui at Reims, including the Visitation from the central portal on the western fa?ade, that have seemed to come much closer to the classical beauty of Greek or Roman models?

It was the insuperable handicap of early art historians who wrote on the impact of classical antiquity on medieval art?on art of the "Dark Ages"?that they had been faithful readers of Winckelmann. They shared his enthusiastic vision of Greek art as the ideal embodiment of classical beauty. As much as

they may have been fascinated by the spirituality and expres siveness of medieval art, they remained nevertheless convinced that medieval artists could reach the highest perfection only by turning to the model of Greek statuary.27

FIGURE 18. Mettlach, Abbey, Staurotheca, back, detail: Christ (photo: Zen

tralinstitutf?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).

Rarely was this humanist prejudice more portentous than in the study of the masterpieces of the Antiqui among the

sculptors at Reims. How was Greek beauty possible in the

age of St. Louis? In his monograph on the cathedral of Reims, which he called the "Parthenon de la France," Hans Reinhardt wrote: "L'apparition de statues tout impr?gn?es de beaut? clas

sique a toujours pos? de s?rieux probl?mes aux historiens de l'art. . . . D'o? venait cette ?tonnante connaissance de l'art

antique?"28 He compared the head of the "Beau Dieu" on the Last Judgment portal of the north transept (Fig. 17) with the head of Zeus by Phidias and concluded: "Il est evident que l'artiste a d? conna?tre toute une s?rie d'oeuvres de la

meilleure ?poque de l'art hell?nique."29 We could almost be

reading from a book on Canova or Thorwaldsen. The ruler of

pagan Olympus serving as the immediate model for the face of the Christian savior in the century of St. Louis and St. Fran cis?this is an astonishing and in our eyes absurd hypothesis. Yet the undeniably Greek beauty of the "Beau Dieu" points to a problem at once aesthetic and religious. To create an image of the true face of Christ presented a thirteenth-century sculp tor with a solemn and serious task, which implied faithful imitation of the "vera icon."30 We must remember that the loot

ing of Constantinople in 1204 during the fourth crusade made available to the West not only pieces of the true cross but also

images of the true face of Christ.31 This "translatio" of Greek

images of the Savior's face is evident in an engraved figure of Christ on the back of the cross-reliquary of Mettlach (Fig. 18) as in the statue at Reims. Thus the work of the renascence had a religious dimension. The immediate model for the sculptor at Reims was a Byzantinizing work of western art, possibly a piece of metalwork from Upper Lotharingia.

26



Greek beauty in the Dark Ages?that is the paradox of the most famous statues at Reims: Mary and Elizabeth at the cathedral's main entrance (Fig. 19). "On les croirait plus vo lontiers ex?cut?es au pied de l'Acropole, au temps de Phidias et de P?ricl?s, que dans la Champagne du XlIIe si?cle," wrote Louis Br?hier in his monograph on the cathedral.32 "Les stat ues de l'atelier antiquisant de Reims n'ont pas l'esprit romain, elles ont l'?me grecque," one reads in Reinhardts study.33

Mary's face has been compared to the face of the Venus of Cnidos and the drapery on both statues to that of the virgins on the Parthenon frieze.34 It was the great Emile M?le who, in 1914, at a tragic moment in French history, proposed an

alluring historical explanation for "Atticism" at the time of St. Louis. He did so in the form of a beautiful dream:

Toutefois, on ne peut s'emp?cher de songer qu'au XlIIe

si?cle, deux chevaliers d'origine champenoise Geoffroi de Villehardouin et Guillaume de Champlitte, venaient de con

qu?rir le P?lopon?se; qu'un autre baron fran?ais dont les fiefs n'?taient pas ?loign?s de la Champagne, Othon de la

Roche, devenu duc d'Ath?nes, avait fait des Propyl?es son

palais, et du Parthenon sa cath?drale. Ainsi l'art grec appa ra?t ? Reims au moment o? la Gr?ce devient une province de la Champagne. Serait-il vrai que le ma?tre de Reims ait

respir? l'air de l'Acropole et foul? la menthe de l'Attique?

FIGURE 20. Mettlach, Abbey, Staurotheca, wing, outer side, detail: Virgin

of the Annunciation (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).

?! a il

FIGURE 19. Reims, Cathedral, west portal, Visitation (photo: Zentralinsti

tutf?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).

Pf

m

MPI

??Si

;?S?

FIGURE 21. Mettlach, Abbey, Staurotheca, wing, outer side, detail: enthroned

Virgin and child (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).

27



FIGURE 22. Reims, Cathedral, west portal, Visitation, head of Mary


Id?e pleine de s?duction, mais flottante comme un songe, et

qu'on ose ? peine exprimer. Au moins peut-on dire qu'? Reims le g?nie fran?ais r?v?la la parent? qui l'unit au

g?nie grec.35

Written in response to the brutal bombardment of the cathedral of Reims in September 1914 by the army of the Ger man emperor, Male's beautiful dream sounds like a romance

praising the "Gesta Dei per Francos," deeds which paved the

way for the entry of Greek beauty into the France of St. Louis. This romance has its own historical pathos, for it emanates from Male's sense of the sacred aura of Reims as a French "lieu de m?moire." Startlingly his dream was rehearsed in a recent book on Reims published by Zodiaque in the series "Le ciel et la pierre." Bruno Decrock writes:

C'est au moment m?me o? les crois?s champenois s'instal lent en Gr?ce ? la suite de l'?pop?e de la quatri?me croisade

(1202-1204) et o? la famille de Villehardouin tient la prin cipaut? d'Acha?e (au Nord du P?lopon?se), et ceci jusqu'en 1278, que l'art grec effectue sa perc?e la plus pure dans l'art

champenois; il n'est que d'observer le visage de la Vierge pour se laisser tenter par un tel rapprochement.36

Nobody would deny that the two statues of the Visita tion recall the beauty of Greek statues. But the dream that such a reminiscence was due to the direct, physical encounter with Greek classical art fails to recognize the deeply medi

eval, sacred, mysterious character of the figures of the two

FIGURE 23. Mettlach, Abbey, Staurotheca, wing, outer side, detail: head of enthroned Virgin (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).

holy women. The anonymous medieval sculptor is made into a sort of "Antico" avant la lettre. "Renaissance" and "rena

scence," to call upon Panofsky's terms, are confused.

In reality it must have been through a long intermediary '

tradition that the greatest of the Antiqui at Reims received this echo of Greek forms, distant and transformed. A further com

parison makes this clear. If we set the Visitation at Reims

against two images of the Virgin from the outer wings of the

cross-reliquary at Mettlach?one representing the Annunzi

ata, the other showing the Virgin enthroned?the affinity be tween the monumental statues chiseled in stone and the small

figures engraved in gilded copper is such that there remains no doubt: the Greek flavor of the Visitation was owed not to direct inspiration from classical works, be they originals from Greece or Roman copies in Gaul, but rather to the impact of works of the Upper Lotharingian renascence around 1200

(Figs. 19, 20, 21). The tender, melodious design of the folds, the delicate subtlety of the gestures, the thin arms and hands

seemingly small in relation to the rotund pregnant bodies? all these refinements and expressive imbalances recall not the

powerful stance of Greek or Roman statuary but the pious so

lemnity of figures of the Virgin on the staurotheca at Mett

lach, which hide and announce the relic of the cross. For a modern secular beholder the face of the Virgin may recall the face of the Venus of Cnidos. But a glance at the face of the enthroned Virgin on the reliquary reveals a more striking kin

ship (Figs. 22,23). Greek beauty?distant and transformed? adorns the Virgins of Mettlach and Reims, yet it is not the

beauty of a pagan goddess but, in the words of the Picard poet,

28



FIGURE 24. Chicago, Art Institute, enamel, bishop (photo: Zentralinstitut

f?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).

M

.::?Ll mfc

m

???

wmi

*0M??

?jj??&^^

m

:m >* . f 'f?*5f?. .*" t ̂?

^'??^Sf?

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FIGURE 25. /teim.y, Cathedral, north transept, Calixtus Portal, tympanum, St. Remigius (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).

29



FIGURE 26. Seal with Sts. Matthias and Eucharius, Trier, St. Matthias


Le Rendus de Molliens, of the "virge pure de tout visse," "sor toutes et bone et b?le."37

Turning again to the more Morellian aspect of this paper, I could extend the chain of comparisons between metalwork and seals of Upper Lotharingia and the sculptures of the "fr?h klassizistische Gruppe" at Reims. I could compare the beauti ful enamel now in Chicago showing a bishop offering a church, which seems to come from Trier, to the figure of St. Remigius working the miracle of the wine in the tympanum of the Calixtus portal (Figs. 24, 25).381 could juxtapose a seal of the

abbey of St. Matthias showing the figures of Sts. Matthias and Eucharius, which first appears in connection with a char ter of 1219, with the statue of St. John on the Last Judgment portal at Reims (Figs. 26, 6).39 Yet, as striking as the parallels are between the ars sacra of Trier and the sculptures by the

Antiqui at Reims, any suggestion of direct contact between centers in the two neighboring ecclesiastical provinces cannot

be more than hypothetical. No metalwork survives from Metz or Verdun, or from Noyon, or, most significantly, from Reims itself.40 When, during the French Revolution, on November

13, 1792, two members of the "Conseil g?n?ral et permanent de la commission de la ville de Reims" prepared an inventory of the cathedral treasury, they listed under the rubric "argent dor?":

Le chef de saint Nicaise Le chef de sainte Eutrope et ses attributs Une ch?sse de sainte Eutrope Une ch?sse dite de saint Calixte Une ch?sse de saint Rigobert Une ch?sse de saint Sixte et saint Sinice

Une ch?sse de sainte Marie Une ch?sse de saint Nicaise.41

No trace remains of the two reliquary busts and six shrines. It

may be that we would not have to resort to far-flung compar isons with metalwork from Upper Lotharingia if these pieces survived.

Of all the numerous shrines that must have existed in the cathedrals and abbey churches of the province of Reims be fore the French Revolution only two survive: the shrines of St. Mary and of St. Eleutherius in the cathedral of Tournai.

Although the latter seems to have been made about two de cades after the Antiqui were active at Reims, the figure of the titular saint on the front of the shrine (Fig. 27) and the head of St. Remigius are strikingly similar (Fig. 28).42 The exuberant curls and ornaments, the somewhat sweet faces with small

squinting eyes evoke in both cases an impression of a some

what perfumed pontifical solemnity. This is clerical art, one

might say, at its best and its worst. But what is most interest

ing in the present context is the affinity seen between metal work and sculpture in the ecclesiastical province of Reims. It is possible that the shrine of St. Eleutherius, fundamentally different from all surviving Mosan and Rhenish shrines, is an

offshoot of the lost shrines of Reims. But that, of course, is no more than a tempting argumentum ex silentio.

Still, the comparison between the Tournai shrine and the Calixtus portal at Reims may have a significance beyond sty listic similarity. The design of the jambs, adorned with statues of the saints and martyrs whose relics were venerated in the

choir, is different from that of all other known Gothic portals. The figures stand on a corbel covered with vine leaves and

grapes. Symbolically the ornamentation may refer to martyr dom, to the passage of the saints to the heavenly paradise, or to Christ's words: "I am the vine, ye are the branches" (John 15:4). What is surprising is how similar it is to the decoration on the shrine of St. Eleutherius. The meaning certainly cor

responds: saints on the shrine as on the portal appear in a sort of symbolic vineyard. It becomes clear that the transfer of fig ures and folds from metalwork to sculpture was more than a

transfer of style from one medium to another. Images of saints on vasa sacra in gold and silver re-emerge as statues in stone on buttresses and at the entrances to the cathedral as if on a

gigantic shrine. Here, I would like to suggest, was the spiri tual, religious, and liturgical impetus behind the translation of

tiny figures into monumental form.43 I have concentrated to this point on the formation of the

Antiqui at Reims, suggesting that their work may be seen as a monumental reaction to the renascence manifested in the ars sacra produced between Lotharingia and French Flanders around 1200. Turning now to the clash between the Antiqui and the Moderni in the development of the sculpture at Reims between 1220 and 1240,1 can do no better than cite a passage from Vasari's Life of Giotto: "sbandi affatto quella goffa mani era greca, e riuscito la moderna e buona arte della pittura."44

30



FIGURE 27. Tournai, Cathedral Treasure, Shrine of St. Eleutherius (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunst


FIGURE 28. /te?'ww, Cathedral, north transept, Calixtus Portal, St. Remigius (photo: Zentral


This statement describes the vital feature in the triumph of the Moderni over the Antiqui in thirteenth-century art in a way more vivid than all our stylistic discriminations between the "Muldenfaltenstil" and "cubisme gothique," or our evolution

ary concepts of "Early Gothic" and "High Gothic," or "Late

Romanesque" and "Transitional."45 The sculptures of the tran

sept of Reims Cathedral display the dramatic shift from a "goffa maniera" to a "moderna e buona arte" in a spectacular way. The

twelve statues on the jambs of the Calixtus and Last Judg ment portals reveal the exhaustion and disintegration but also the beginnings of the transformation of the vocabulary of the

Antiqui. The eighteen statues beside the rose windows and on the towers of the transept, likely to have been carved by the same craftsmen who had worked a short time before on the

transept portals as Antiqui, show the crystallization of the "modern" idiom. It may be that impulses emanating from other centers accelerated and galvanized the revolutionary process,46

but probably it was more a question of general cultural climate and fashion than the result of specific influences. Rejuvena tion, modernity, seem to have been in the air during the first decades of the reign of St. Louis. At Reims the change was more charged and radical than elsewhere in France. One is re minded of the abrupt change in Donatello's work between the Porta della Mandorla and the statues of the prophets on the

campanile of the cathedral of Florence. The disintegration of the vocabulary of the Antiqui can

best be observed in the jamb statues on the Last Judgment por tal at Reims. While the apostles on the Last Judgment portals at Chartres and Amiens stand in rank and file, at Reims each is different from its neighbor, another experiment in the disso lution of a style. The most telling example is the statue of St.

Andrew (Fig. 29). The "Roman" drapery folds become hyper trophic, and their undulations degenerate into playful ornament. This is the final mannered phase of the style of the Antiqui.

31



^^^BBM? ' ̂- '

!te?^* ?.^jS^^bbIUB?BB^^^^^^^BB

w^BBfjflteftK^-" "- ^Hw^^fl^B^^^BPBHIBB^^^^Bfl

FIGURE 29. /terms, Cathedral, Judgment Portal, St. Andrew (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunst


FIGURE 30. Paris, Biblioth?que nationale de

France, MS fr. 19093 (Villard de Honnecourt),

apostle John? (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunst


l^^iiiMr "! - ' ''''"^iPilHP^BBII^^^BIrl

FIGURE 31. Reims, Cathedral, transept, south west tower, "Charlemagne" (photo: Zentralinsti

tutf?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).

There are parallels in other media and at other places: in the metalwork produced "entre Sambre et Meuse," as it can be stud ied in the treasury of Notre-Dame at Namur, for example,47 and in drawings by Villard de Honnecourt, where the figure of St. John is particularly telling (Fig. 30).48 This figure was certainly not drawn after a statue at Reims and probably not drawn after

a statue at all, but it shows that the degeneration of the vocab

ulary of the Antiqui into meaninglessness must have been

widespread in Champagne and Flanders around 1230. It is

against this background that the statue of St. Peter at Reims must be evaluated (Fig. 12). V?ge praised it as a pioneering work of "Naturstudium," and Panofsky called it a pioneering

32



FIGURE 32. Reims, Cathedral, transept, south east tower, king (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunst


FIGURE 33. Reims, Cathedral, north transept, Calixtus Portal, maie figure (photo: Zentralinstitut


FIGURE 34. Reims, Cathedral, north transept, Adam (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).

piece of "Klassizismus."49 To a certain extent both were right. But the sharpening of the Roman?or classical?vocabulary which is so characteristic of the statue's attitude, gestures, and, above all, drapery, represents a break with the older ar tistic vocabulary and a proto-realignment toward the new. A few years later the same artist created the statue of the so

called Charlemagne on the west tower of the south transept (Fig. 31). Only a few "syllables" of the antique vocabulary remain, and these have been charged with a fierce expressive ness. Certainly this is not the final triumph of the Moderni. The statue demonstrates, if in a small way, the battle between the Antiqui and the Moderni, between tradition and the new.

33



^? '

; 3 . f&i*^*.** .... | j :- INmh? $ 'm?Bm ,l $^'' '-Il

FIGURE 35. Reims, Cathedral, north transept, Calixtus Portai, St. Eutropia


i^Hp:? y??l'!;--:: I ; Writ v B^^:<- 1

' S

FIGURE 36. Reims, Cathedral, north transept, Eve (photo: Zentralinstitut


The notorious "Muldenfalten" of the Antiqui have become "chose morte," "goffa maniera."

The statues on the Calixtus portal are more uniform and less experimental. Overdecorated and, in an odd way, lacka

daisacal, they demonstrate the exhaustion of the antique vo

cabulary. The artists who chiseled them reappear on the upper parts of the transept as the creators of statues of a wholly dif ferent stamp. We encounter curious cases of transition from the Antiqui to the Moderni. There can be little doubt that the

sculptor who created the pompous clerical figure of St. Rem

igius (Fig. 28) created soon afterward the no-less-pompous statue of a king on the east tower of the south transept (Fig. 32). Needless to say, there are iconographie differences which must be taken into consideration. The former is a canonized

archbishop at the moment of a fateful miracle, the latter is a

representative of biblical kingship. The king is fashionably dressed with an elegant modern girdle, and he even holds

gloves in his hands. But his oversize head with exuberant curls framing an impassive face makes him resemble the saint carved in the old style. He is a little ridiculous; one thinks of the "emperor's new clothes." Simultaneously ancient and

modern, the statue stands at the crossroads between two styles. It is more surprising to find the hand of a sculptor who

worked on the jamb statues of the Calixtus portal in the stat ues of Adam and Eve flanking the rose window above (Figs. 34, 36). They stand at the head of a cycle of eighteen monu mental statues and more than forty statuettes that decorates the upper reaches of the north transept. Here is recounted the

story of salvation from the Fall of Man to the triumph of Ec clesia over Synagoga, the New Law over the Old, in a program that includes kings, prophets, and apostles. This program was created in relation to the coronation rite conducted in the tran

sept, for the rex christianissimus was understood to partake in the history of salvation.50 It seems to have been executed

34



largely?possibly entirely?by the sculptors who had earlier worked on the portals below. But the new sculptures were all in the "modern" style. The rapidity of the switch from the old to the new vocabulary by a single group of artists is aston

ishing. I will limit myself to two examples. The male statue, unidentified, at the side of St. Remigius

on the Calixtus portal is rehearsed above in the figure of Adam beside the rose window (Figs. 33, 34). The shape, the attitude, the gestures of the two statues are identical. Even their cos

tume is the same: cotte, surcot, chapel. But all traces of the

antique vocabulary have been eliminated in the second statue. The "Muldenfalten" have given way on Adam's cotte to force

ful, simplified forms. Again it suffices to cite Vasari's words on Giotto: "introducendo il ritrarre bene di naturale le persone vive."51 It is needless to insist that the statue of Adam is in no way naturalistic. It is no less stylized than the statue on the

portal. But it is styled in a way that creates the illusion of live

liness, of a new vitality. The exhausted "Roman" vocabulary has been replaced by contemporary French forms.

More surprising still is the rehearsal of the statue of St.

Eutropia on the portal in the figure of Eve above (Figs. 35,

36). Certainly, in comparing these two statues, the difference in iconography must be considered. St. Eutropia bows her head in sorrow beside her brother St. Nicasius, who has just suffered martyrdom. Grief is written on her face in the lines at the corners of her mouth. Eve, on the other hand, is a very active figure: she embodies seduction. But these differences do not explain the breathtaking visual contrast between the two figures. Eutropia is one of the least imposing figures of the "fr?hklassizistische Gruppe." Her stout body is wrapped in cloth with "Roman" folds. Eve shows herself in a long dress

which molds to her sensuous body. There is something girlish

about her: small breasts, tender arms, and elegant pose. The Roman folds which encumber Eutropia?the "fimbriae vetusta tis abiecte"?have been cleared away. This statue is all radiat

ing youth. She speaks French, not Latin. The battle between the Antiqui and Moderni has been fought and the Moderni have won.

If, by way of conclusion, we look once more at the angel on the portal of the west fa?ade (Fig. 2), we come full circle. The earliest sculpture at Reims was carved after 1210 as part of the renascence flowering around 1200 between Lotharin

gia and Flanders. In time the style of the Antiqui gave way to a revitalized style in the upper parts of the transept, and the

sculpture of Reims reached its apex with the introduction of the Parisian style on the west fa?ade during the later part of the reign of St. Louis.52 With the rise of the Capetian monar

chy as the dominant power in an ever more centralized France, the artistic orientation of Reims was reversed. The inspira tion no longer came from Lotharingia, the western provinces of the Empire, but from Paris, the capital of the kings who were crowned and anointed in the cathedral of Reims. The

change in formal vocabulary in the statuary of the most lavish cathedral of the kingdom parallels the shifts in power that

began in 1214 with Philip Augustus' victory over the emperor at Bouvines. It is fitting to conclude with the famous verses

from the beginning of Chr?tien de Troy es' Clig?s:

Ce nos ont nostre livre apris Que Gr?ce ot de chevalerie Le premier los et de clergie. Puis vint chevalerie a Rome Et de la clergie la some,

Qui or est en France venue.53

NOTES

* This is a revised version of a lecture given at the symposium "Notre

Dame of Reims, the Coronation Cathedral of France," held October 5

6, 2001, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. I thank the

staff of the Rylands Library in Manchester for allowing me to study the bookcovers from Trier at leisure, Professor Holger Klein for pro

viding recent bibliography on the cross-reliquaries at Mettlach and

Trier, and Professor Elizabeth Sears for undertaking to correct my En

glish text, an arduous and thankless task!

1. Walter Map, De nugis curialium - Courtiers' Trifles, 5.1 ; ed. and trans.

M. R. James, rev. C. N. L. Brooke and R. A. B. Mynors (Oxford,

1983), 404-5 [translation adapted]. Cited by A. Buck in "Aus der

Vorgeschichte der 'Querelle des Anciens et Modernes' in Mittelalter

und Renaissance," Biblioth?que de l'Humanisme et de la Renaissance

202 (1958), 529.

2. This is the title of the first volume of G. Toffanin's Storia dell 'umane

simo (Bologna, 1950). See also W. Hartmann, "'Modernus' und 'An

tiquus': Zur Verbreitung und Bedeutung dieser Bezeichnungen in der

wissenschaftlichen Literatur vom 9. bis zum 12. Jahrhundert," in An

tiqui und Moderni: Traditionsbewu?tsein und Fortschrittsbewu?tsein im sp?ten Mittelalter, ed. A. Zimmermann, Miscellanea mediaevalia, 9

(Berlin and New York, 1974), 21-39; E. G?ssmann, "'Antiqui' und

'Moderni' im 12. Jarhundert," ibid., 40-57.

3. I use the term "renascence" as first introduced by E. Panofsky in

"Renaissance and Renascences," Kenyon Review 6 (1944), 20-36, and enlarged in his Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art

(Stockholm, 1960), 108, 115. In employing the term Panofsky was

drawing a distinction between the "Renaissance" that began with Pe

trarch, Brunelleschi, etc., and the recurrent "renascences" in the art

of the Middle Ages from the Carolingians to Nicola Pisano. This dis

tinction implied critical distance from the position of Charles Homer

Haskins (The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century [Cambridge, MA,

1927]) and his followers, who sought to show that the "Renaissance"

of the humanists was anticipated in the Middle Ages. I have the im

pression that Panofsky's fundamental distinction has not always been

fully understood.

35



4. For the illuminations in the Estoire de Seint Aedward le Rei, see N. J.

Morgan, Early Gothic Manuscripts, 1250-1285 (II) (London, 1988), no. 123.

5. For the angels, see W. W. Clark, "Reading Reims, I. The Sculptures on

the Chapel Buttresses," Gesta 39 (2000), 135-45.

6. For the west portals of Reims, see P. Kurmann, La fa?ade de la

cath?drale de Reims: Architecture et sculpture des portails. ?tude

arch?ologique et stylistique, 2 vols. (Paris and Lausanne, 1987).

7. For the ecclesiastical province of Reims, see Lexikon f?r Theologie und Kirche, 8 (Freiburg, 1999), 1007.

8. The first scholar to draw attention to the possible influence of Lothar

ingian?more specifically Rhenish?metalwork on the sculptures at

Reims was H. Schnitzler, Die Goldschmiedeplastik der Aachener

Schreinwerkstatt: Beitr?ge zur Entwicklung der Goldschmiedebild

nerei des Rhein-Maas gebiete s in der romanischen Zeit (Dissertation,

Bonn, 1934); idem, "Die sp?tromanische Goldschmiedekunst der

Aachener Schreine," Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch 9 (1936), 88-107.

9. For these attributions, see Der Meister des Dreik?nigen-Schreins, exh.

cat. (Cologne, 1964).

10. The last comprehensive, if not complete, overview of ars sacra pro duced in the region is found in Rhein und Maas: Kunst und Kultur, 800-1400 (Cologne, 1972-73), the two-volume catalogue accompany

ing the exhibition held in Cologne and Brussels in 1972.

11. Still valuable is G. Swarzenski, "Die karolingische Malerei und Plastik

in Reims," Jahrbuch der preussischen Kunstsammlungen 23 (1902), 81-100.

12. For the cathedral at Toul, see A. Villes, "Les campagnes du construc

tion de la cath?drale de Toul, I. Les campagnes du XHIe si?cle," Bmon

130 (1972), 179-89 ; also R. Schiffler, Die Ostteile der Kathedrale von

Toul und die davon abh?ngigen Bauten des 13. Jahrhunderts in Lo

thringen (Cologne, 1977). For the cathedral at Metz, see C. Brach

mann, "La construction de la cath?drale Saint-Etienne de Metz et de

l'?glise coll?giale Notre-Dame-la-Ronde pendant le deuxi?me tiers du

XHIe si?cle," Congr?s arch?ologique 149 (1991) (Paris, 1995), 447

75. For the Liebfrauenkirche at Trier, see N. Nussbaum, Deutsche

Kirchenbaukunst der Gotik (Darmstadt, 1994), 48-53; trans, as Ger

man Gothic Church Architecture (New Haven, 2000).

13. E. Panofsky, "?ber die Reihenfolge der vier Meister von Reims," Jahrbuch f?r Kunstwissenschaft (1927), 55 ff.; rpt. in idem, Deutsch

sprachige Aufs?tze, 2 vols. (Berlin, 1998), I, 100-140.

14. For the abbey at Steinfeld, see Kunstdenkm?ler der Rheinprovinz, ed.

P. Clemen, Die Kunstdenkm?ler des Kreises Scheiden (D?sseldorf,

1932). The only specific reference to the shrine of St. Potentinus I have

found is: O. v. Falke and H. Frauberger, Deutsche Schmelzarbeiten im

Mittelalter (Frankfurt, 1904), 94. Falke-Frauberger note similarities

between the shrine from Steinfeld and metalwork in Trier: "Das Stanz

blech zeigt dasselbe Ornament wie die Kreuzreliquiare in Mettlach

und Trier. Wenn auch die grobe Ausf?hrung eine Zuweisung an die

Werkstatt ausschlie?t, aus welcher die Meisterwerke von Trier und

Mettlach hervorgegangen sind, so wird doch ein Schulzusammenhang mit ihr durch die gravierten Engel au?er Frage gestellt."

15. E.g., the shrines of St. Heribert in Deutz, St. Servatius in Maastricht, and St. Godehard in Hildesheim.

16. It makes little sense to enter into debates on the chronology of the two

portals on the north transept at Reims. There is no external evidence

for dating. Cautiously one may suggest that the internal evidence

points to a date somewhere between 1220 and 1230.

17. See n. 9.

18. For this seal, see W. Ewald, Rheinische Siegel, 6 vols. (Bonn, 1906

ff.), II, pi. 7/3; R. Kahsnitz, in Die Zeit der Staufer: Geschichte -

Kunst - Kultur, exh. cat. (Stuttgart, 1977), I, 65-66, no. 98.

19. For a succinct critique of the "communis opinio" that Nicholas, fresh

from Klosterneuburg, created the prophets on the Three Kings Shrine soon after 1181, see R. Kroos, Der Schrein des Heiligen Servatius in

Maastricht und die vier zugeh?rigen Reliquiare in Br?ssel (Munich,

1985), 134 ff. There are sound historical and stylistic reasons for con

cluding that the prophets on the shrine in Cologne date from around

1200 or slightly later. The attribution to Nicholas confuses the lan

guage of style with individual authorship.

20. M. R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Latin Manuscripts in the

John Rylands Library (Manchester, 1921; rpt. Munich, 1980 with in

troduction and additional notes by F. Taylor), 310-12, pis. 186, 187.

See also F. Steenbock, Der kirchliche Prachteinband im fr?hen Mit

telalter, von den Anf?ngen bis zum Beginn der Gotik (Berlin, 1965), 210-11, no. 110.

21. H. Swarzenski, "Recent Literature, Chiefly Periodical, on Medieval

Minor Arts," AB 24 (1942), 301-2. Swarzenski argued persuasively

against Schnitzler's thesis of Rhenish influence on Reims: "If he had

compared the magnificent silvergilt figures from Tr?ves in the Rylands

Library, Manchester, which certainly are not later than Reims but an

ticipate the style of the portal of S. Sixte, he could hardly have main

tained his case."

22. W. V?ge, "Die Bahnbrecher des Naturstudiums um 1200," Zeitschrift

f?r bildende Kunst, N. F. 25 (1913/14), 193-216; rpt. in idem, Bild

hauer des Mittelalters (Berlin, 1958), 63-97.

23. U. Henze, Die Kreuzreliquiare von Trier und Mettlach: Studien zur

Beziehung zwischen Bild und Heiltum in der rheinischen Schatzkunst des fr?hen 13. Jahrhunderts (Dissertation, M?nster, 1988), with ear

lier bibliography. See also idem, "Die Trierer Kreuztafeln des fr?hen

13. Jahrhunderts," in Schatzkunst Trier: Forschungen und Ergebnissse, ed. F. J. Ronig (Trier, 1991), 101-15.

24. See n. 23.

25. R. Didier, "? propos de quelques sculptures fran?aises en bois du XlIIe

si?cle," Revue des arch?ologues et historiens d'art de Louvain 12 (1979), 81-103.1 thank R. Didier for providing a photograph of this sculpture, which seems to have been unknown before his publication.

26. There is a striking similarity between the sculpture of St. Peter and the

figure of Ecclesia in the Missal of Noyon as reproduced in H. R.

Hahnloser, Villard d 'Honnecourt. Kritische Gesamtausgabe des Bau

h?ttenbuches ms. fr. 19093 der Pariser Nationalbibliothek (Vienna,

1935; rpt. Graz, 1982), fig. 10.

27. See the characteristic statement by Vitzthum: "Wer in der gotischen

Gewandfigur nicht den phidiasischen Kern entdeckt, ist wohl nicht

f?hig, das Formgesetz der mittelalterlichen Kunst zu begreifen." G.

Graf Vitzthum and W. F. Volbach, Die Malerei und Plastik des Mittel

alters in Italien (Potsdam, 1924), 2.

28. H. Reinhardt, La cath?drale de Reims: Son histoire, son architecture, sa sculpture, ses vitraux (Paris, 1963), 148.

29. Ibid., 149.

30. // volto di Cristo, ed. G. Morello and G. Wolf (Milan, 2000); The Holy Face and the Paradox of Representation, ed. H. L. Kessler and G.

Wolf, Villa Spelman Colloquia, 6 (Bologna, 1998).

31. H. Belting, "Die Reaktion der Kunst des 13. Jahrhunderts auf den Im

port von Reliquien und Ikonen," in // medio oriente e Voccidente

nell'arte del XIII sec?lo, vol. 2, ed. H. Belting, Atti del XXIV Con

gresso internazionale di storia dell'arte (Bologna, 1982), 35-53; rpt. in

Ornamenta ecclesiae: Kunst und Kultur der Romanik, exh. cat., 3 vols.

(Cologne, 1985), III, 173-83.

36



32. L. Br?hier, La cath?drale de Reims: Une oeuvre fran?aise (Paris,

1916), 182.

33. Reinhardt, Cath?drale de Reims, 149.

34. Br?hier, Cath?drale de Reims, 185-86.

35. ?. M?le, "La cath?drale de Reims," Revue de Paris (December 1914);

rpt. in his L'art allemand et l'art fran?ais du moyen ?ge (Paris, 1917), 242-43.

36. B. Decrock, "Style des sculptures m?di?vales," in Reims: La cath?

drale, ?d. P. Demouy (Saint-L?ger-Vauban, 2000), 281.

37. Le Rendus de Molliens, "Invocation ? la Vierge." Cited after Anthol

ogie po?tique fran?aise: Moyen ?ge, ?d. A. Mary, 2 vols. (Paris, 1967),

I, 377-85, at 380, 382.

38. For the enamel, see D. Koetzsche, "Zum Stand der Forschung der

Goldschmiedekunst des 12. Jahrhunderts im Rhein-Maas-Gebiet," in

Rhein und Maas (as n. 10), II, 221.

39. For the seal, see Ewald, Rheinische Siegel, IV, pl. 26/5; Kahsnitz, Die

Zeit der Staufer, I, 76-77. no. 114.

40. A telling example of metalwork "? l'antique" seems to have been a rel

iquary at Montier-en-Der known only through an engraving published in the Voyage litt?raire des deux religieux b?n?dictins de la con

gr?gation de Saint-Maur (Paris, 1717) and studied by P. C. Claussen in

"Das Reliquiar von Montier-en-Der: Ein sp?tantikes Diptychon und

seine mittelalterliche Fassung," Pantheon 36 (1978), 308-19.

41. For this inventory, see C. Cerf, Histoire et description de Notre-Dame

de Reims, 2 vols. (Reims, 1861), I, 528-29.

42. For the shrine of St. Eleutherius, see Rhein und Maas, I, 355, no. Mil.

43. For a similar if not identical argument, see W. Sauerl?nder, "Reliquien, Alt?re und Portale," in Kunst und Liturgie im Mittelalter = R?misches

Jahrbuch der Bibliotheca Hertziana 33 (1999/2000), 121-34.

44. Vasari, Le vite, ed. C. L. Ragghianti, I (Milan, 1942), 282.

45. See W. Sauerl?nder, "Style or Transition? The Fallacies of Classifica

tion discussed in the Light of German Architecture, 1190-1260," Ar

chitectural History 30 (1987), 1-29.

46. See P. Kurmann, "Nachwirkungen der Amienser Skulptur in den Bild

hauerwerkst?tten der Kathedrale zu Reims," in Skulptur des Mittel

alters: Funktion und Gestalt, ed. F. M?bius and E. Schubert (Weimar,

1987), 121-83. In my opinion Kurmann underrates the creative energy active in the process of change at Reims. He overlooks the dramatic

difference in quality between the sculptures at Reims and their more

mechanistic counterparts at Amiens. Not all Morellian similarities are

indicators of influence.

47. For example, the figures on several pieces in the treasure of the priory of Oignies in Namur: the covers of the evangeliary, the foot of the

chalice of Gilles de Walcourt, and the first and second phylactery of

St. Andrew. See F. Courtoy, Le tr?sor du prieur? d'Oignies aux soeurs

de Notre-Dame ? Namur et l'oeuvre du fr?re Hugo (Brussels, 1955).

48. I will not discuss the rather dispersed recent bibliography on Villard. I

want, however, to stress that Hahnloser's idea (Villard d'Honnecourt,

156) that certain figures in MS fr. 19093 were drawn after real sculp tures is difficult to accept. The notion of a northern artist around 1230

drawing statues from life is highly improbable per se. Moreover, the

drawings are purely linear, with no modeling or any indication of

shadowing. They look as if they had been copied after a model-book or

from drawings in another manuscript.

49. Panofsky, "?ber die Reihenfolge," 129.

50. W. Sauerl?nder, "Observations sur la topographie et l'iconologie de la

cath?drale du sacre," Acad?mie des inscriptions et belles-lettres.

Comptes-rendus des s?ances de l'ann?e 1992 (1992), 463-79. I be

lieve my thesis of 1992 needs to be expanded as it relates to iconogra

phy. The whole sculptural program on the transept, beginning with

the Fall of Man, continuing through the age of kings and prophets to

the apostles, and culminating in the triumph of the church, represents the

history of salvation; the sacre of the Christian king of France was seen

as part of this history.

51. Vasari, Vite, 282.

52. Kurmann, La fa?ade de la cath?drale de Reims, I, 276 ff. Without

agreeing in every detail and without entering into the insoluble problem of chronology, I concur with Kurmann's conclusion that the latest of

the sculpture on the west portals at Reims should be called "Parisian."

My earlier opinion (Gotische Skulptur in Frankreich [Munich, 1970],

168) that the sculptors of the south transept portal at Notre-Dame in

Paris had been influenced by those at Reims should be revised. I was

affected by the "Remocentrisme" (as named by F. Salet) that was cul

tivated especially by German art historians, which may have implied a

dose of anti-Parisian prejudice. If so, the geographical position of the

province of Reims, located between the poles of Lotharingia and the

"Domaine royal" may have affected even the interpretations of modern

art historians.

53. Chr?tien de Troyes, Clig?s, vv. 30-35.

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Antiqui Et Moderni at Reims (Willibald Sauerländer)

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