Southern New Hampshire University

From Symbolism to RealismHow a Comparison and Contrast of Hildegard Receives Her Visions and Cranach’s Martin Luther

Show the Evolution of Germanic Religious Portraiture from the Medieval Era to the Renaissance

Josiah Schmidt

FAS 201: Introduction to Humanities I (Classical Era to Renaissance)

Prof. Joshua Alley

27 March 2016

Hildegard Receives Her Visions (1152) from the Rupertsberger Scivias

Source: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Martin Luther (1528) by Lucas Cranach

Source: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

1. Hildegard Receives Her Visions:

Description: A page from a Romanesque illuminated manuscript in the

Rupertsberger Scivias. The work features a seated Saint Hildegard receiving a divine

vision as she transmits it to a scribe seated to the right of her.

Author: An unknown monk, working under the direction of St. Hildegard herself.

Year: 1152 AD

Period: Romanesque (1000-1200 AD)

Style: Germanic Medieval Illuminated Manuscript

Location: Currently the Abbey of St. Hildegard in Rüdesheim/Eibingen, Germany,

although originally created 200 miles south of there in Rupertsberg, Germany.

2. Martin Luther:

Description: A simple Renaissance painted portrait of the Protestant reformer of the

titular name.

Author: Lucas Cranach

Year: 1528 AD

Period: Renaissance (1200-1600 AD)

Style: Germanic Renaissance Painted Portrait

Location: Currently the Museum zu Allerheiligen Schaffhausen in Schaffhausen,

Germany, although originally created 400 miles northeast of there in Dresden, Germany.

I chose to compare and contrast the Medieval painting, Hildegard Receives Her Visions

(1152), and Lucas Cranach’s Renaissance painting, Martin Luther (1528), firstly because they

serve a comparable purpose (venerating an important religious authority figure), secondly

because they are from the same geographic region (Germany), and thirdly because contrasting

the two works shows the progression of style in that region from the Romanesque to the

Reformation periods. My hope is that readers will ultimately better understand how German

artists changed the way they approached the representation and veneration of important

religious figures from the 1100s to the 1500s. In the Catholic and late Medieval period,

Germanic painters venerated religious figures by drawing them outsized in comparison to their

surroundings, cloaked and surrounded in dramatic religious symbols, and with a serene facial

configuration that mirrored Medieval notions of the saintly human face, whereas in the

increasingly Protestant and Reformation-oriented period of the Renaissance, Germanic painters

venerated religious figures by drawing them as realistically and humanly as possible, and by

eschewing ornate symbolism in favor of Christ-like modesty, plainness, and lowliness.

Hildegard Receives Her Visions contains rather simple (almost childlike) rectangular framing,

whereas the focal points of the image, St. Hildegard and her scribe, are made up of intricate,

flowing curves. The image is both warm and cool, being comprised of shades of blue set against

shades of orange. This implies both the dynamic energy of divine inspiration and the calm

steadiness of a saint as she dutifully transmits her revelations. The framing is very symmetrical

and balanced, with the left side of the building she is seated within almost an exact copy of the

right side. The subjects of the painting, the saint and her scribe, however, are decidedly off-

center and unbalanced. Hildegard sits just to the left of the center, with the reddish-orange

flames of divine inspiration trailing down to her mind slightly from the left of the middle. Her

scribe is seated all the way to the right, with no focal point on the left side of the picture to

balance him out. Adhering to the typical Medieval style, the human beings in this painting are

expressionless and seemingly calm. Their faces have the generic Medieval look, as though the

faces could be cut and pasted onto any other figure in any other Medieval painting and no one

would be the wiser. As the J. Paul Getty Museum explained in their exhibit on “Faces of Power

and Piety: Medieval Portraiture”: “The goal of medieval portraiture was to present a subject not

at a particular moment in time, but as the person wished to be remembered through the

ages”—in this case, solemn, gentle, and holy. (Getty Center [2008]) This image contains strongly

religious and especially mystic symbolism. The reddish flame-like element that comes down and

touches the saint's head is a symbol for the fiery inspiration of the Holy Spirit. (Campbell 9) The

simple building in which the subjects sit shows two small black crosses that mark this as a

Christian scene. The painting is a markedly Roman Catholic one, judging by the garb of the two

subjects of the painting (Hildegard and her monk assistant): Hildegard is dressed as a

Benedictine abbess would have been, with a scapular over her long flowing cowl (gown) and

tunic, as well as a wimple (head covering) and veil over her hair. (Oliver) The male monk wears

a similar cuculla (robe) and dons the distinctly Catholic tonsure (shaven scalp with hair left

around the sides). (Oliver) Hildegard Receives Her Visions is also typical of illuminated

manuscripts from 800-1000 AD in the “damp-fold drapery style” of the characters’ robes,

“resembling the clinging folds of wet cloth.” (British Library) Like other illuminated manuscripts

of the Medieval period, this one features “a highly decorative ornamental form in which

gymnastic human…figures inhabit vibrant…shapes.” (British Library) Especially in Germanic

Central Europe, illuminated manuscripts in the Romanesque style were known for their highly

“geometric forms arranged in bright intricate patterns,” as can be seen in Hildegard Receives

Her Visions. (Getty Center [2009])

Lucas Cranach's 1528 painting, Martin Luther, is simple but complex. The simplicity lies in

the concept, which is just a man, staring silently. The amount of detail and fidelity to real life is

a staggering leap forward from the Romanesque period however. Every errant follicle of

Luther's curly hair is captured. One can almost even make out individual specks of stubble on

Luther's five-o'clock shadow, as well as the hairs that make up even his eyelashes and

eyebrows, and the myriad folds and creases in his coat. “Attention to surface detail” and

“naturalism” specifically were the hallmarks of Northern Renaissance painting style, as opposed

to the Italian Renaissance painting style that emphasized symmetry, balance, “good sense of

mass,” and “linear perspective”. (Hudelson) The symbolism in this painting is religious in nature,

although this new Protestant religiosity of the Reformation era is a change from the Catholic

religiosity of the Medieval era. In similar manner to the way the Protestants pared down

Christianity from the highly ornate and ritualized Catholic tradition into a religion that reveled

in its plainness and modesty, so Protestant religious artwork like Cranach's Luther makes the

point of portraying their religious heroes as ordinary human beings (not even particularly

handsome): flabby jowls, uncombed hair and all. No halo graces Luther's head, no symbols of

heavenly blessing or coronation descend upon him, nor is there any regality to his attire. The

sacredness of Luther in this painting is due to his peaceful, wise, authoritative facial expression,

and his strong, forward-facing, open posture. The religiosity of this painting can also be seen in

the plainness of Luther's dress—a feature that many Protestants felt mirrored Christ's calls for

modesty and the eschewing of worldly riches. There is no framing or background art in

Cranach's Martin Luther. A simple rough, constant, blue texture serves to differentiate Luther

from the space around him.

The simple, constant, rough background of both pieces draws attention to the individuals

for whom the paintings are named. In both paintings, flowing, curved lines inject dynamism and

energy into an otherwise static setting. The facial expressions of the religious figures in both

paintings, however, are very serene and steady, which indicates wisdom and authority. Both

paintings serve to venerate an important spiritual leader, both of whom are identified as a

religious authority by their choice of garb (Hildegard by her Benedictine abbess clothing, and

Luther by his simple Protestant clerical robe).

Hildegard Receives Her Visions is very Medieval in the stoic expressions of the faces, the lack

of three dimensional shading or perspective, the use of religious symbolism, the lack of

emphasis on correct scale (Hildegard appears larger than her scribe, and both individuals

appear to be giants within the building in which they are seated, or else the building appears to

be strangely tiny and cramped), and the use of illuminated manuscript painting techniques.

Cranach's Martin Luther is quite characteristic of Northern Renaissance/Reformation era

painting in the painstaking realism with which Luther is portrayed, the use of shading to make

Luther appear three dimensional, the lack of heavy handed metaphorical symbols, and the

humble and unembellished humanity with which an important authority figure is portrayed.

Most striking about these two paintings is the way in which the Germanic artistic culture

began to metamorphose when exposed to the burgeoning new perspectives, ideas, and values

of the Protestant Reformation. From the late Medieval period to the Renaissance period,

German religious artists changed the way they venerated and glorified their subjects. Rather

than using brilliant colors to portray the dynamism of their subjects as the Medieval artists did,

the Renaissance artists captured the dynamism of their subjects in the minutely realistic detail

and naturally flowing lines of their subjects. (King) Rather than glorifying their subjects with

dramatic metaphorical symbolism as the Catholic artists of the Medieval age did (crowns and

purple for royalty, doves for peace, flames for divine inspiration, etc.), the Protestant artists of

the Renaissance glorified their subjects by emphasizing the modesty and humanity of their

leaders (in both the plainness of their clothing and the imperfections of their physical body).

(King) The great artistic revolution of the Germanic Reformation Era is in its fearless embrace of

realism and humanity, and the putting aside of the need for overly dramatic symbolism and

jarring colors to instill awe in its viewers or the need for painting idealized and stylized human

forms to flatter the subjects of the portraiture.

Works Cited

British Library, The. "An Introduction to Illuminated Manuscripts." Catalogue of Illuminated

Manuscripts. The British Library, 2015. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.

<https://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/TourIntro3.asp>.

Campbell, Nathaniel M. "Imago Expandit Splendorem Suum: Hildegard of Bingen’s Visio-

Theological Designs in the Rupertsberg Scivias Manuscript." Eikon / Imago 2nd ser. 2.4

(2013): 1-68. Eikon Imago. Union College, 2013. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.

<http://capire.es/eikonimago/index.php/eikonimago/article/view/88/pdf>.

Getty Center, The. "Faces of Power and Piety: Medieval Portraiture." Getty.edu. The J. Paul

Getty Museum, 12 Aug. 2008. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.

<http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/power_piety/>.

Getty Center, The. "German and Central European Manuscript Illumination." Getty.edu. The J.

Paul Getty Museum, 24 Feb. 2009. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.

<http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/german_manuscripts/>.

Hudelson, Mark. "Italian vs. Northern Renaissance." Art Study Guide. Palomar College, 2015.

Web. 27 Mar. 2016.

<http://www2.palomar.edu/users/mhudelson/StudyGuides/ItalvsNorthRen_WA.html>.

King, Donald. "Lucas Cranach, the Elder, German Painter." Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2016. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.

<http://www.britannica.com/biography/Lucas-Cranach-the-Elder>.

LucasCranach.org. "Portrait of Martin Luther 1528." Cranach Digital Archive. Cranach Digital

Archive, 2016. Web. 28 Feb. 2016. <http://lucascranach.org/CH_MAS_A1950>.

Oliver, Richard, OSB. "The Monastic Habit of the Benedictines." OSB.org. Order of Saint

Benedict, 4 Mar. 2015. Web. 27 Mar. 2016. <http://www.osb.org/gen/habit.html>.