The Image of the Black in Western Art, Volume II, Part 1 — Some Images
As I vaguely promised when I first laid my (entirely washed and un-grubby) hands on The Image of the Black in Western Art, Volume II: From the Early Christian Era to the “Age of Discovery”, Part 1: From the Demonic Threat to the Incarnation of Sainthood (eds. David Bindman, Henry Louis Gates, Karen C. C. Dalton), photoblogging! In all whiny-ness, photographing high-gloss art books is similar to photographing museum art through glass, with the extra thrill of “How far can I flatten this page without breaking many euros of book spine?”
Before I got to That Section, the one the cover gives away, there were scores of other works. Several by Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti (go and read about him. And for an aside follow-up, read about Islam meeting Northern Indigenous Australians long before Europeans arrived), sculptures, works on paper, murals, altarpieces, in any and every form of art in the mediæval age, there were black people. I skimped on photographing most of that, otherwise I’d have ended up snapping every work, and there’s 185 in this volume.
That Section. Volume II, Part 1 is substantially dedicated to Our St. Maurice. I say, “Our” in the same way I would as an Australian say, “Our Kylie” or “Our Mark Webber.” It’s slightly tongue-in-cheek, and slightly proud. The “Our” here denoting Germany because Germany should be fucking proud of its adoration for St. Maurice—this part of Germany even, Sachsen-Anhalt, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. For whatever reasons I’m still learning, the town of Magdeburg were and are the home of both St. Maurice and Mechthild; there’s a strong presence in nearby Halle and many small towns, and through Austria, Denmark, France, as far north-east as Riga.
One thing I noticed particularly with St. Maurice, is the relative lack of former Eastern European works, works which I saw some of in Poland, Czech Republic, and Hungary earlier this year. This I think because the original volumes were published in the ’80s and early ’90s, (republished in the last few years) so being Cold War era, and possibly not having easy access to many works which are now in museums like Muzeum Narodowe we Wrocławiu.
Oh! And I have Volume II, Part 2 also.
Enough! Mediæval Art!
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 1: Master E. S., Adoration of the Magi, 1460s. Copper engraving
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 2: Armorial panel of Jacob of Reinach and his first wife, Eva von Schonau. 1521. Basel, Historisches Museum
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 3: Decorated initial. Florus, Expositio in epistolas Pauli, vol II, fol. 67v. From Corbie Abbey. 1164. Bibliothèque nationale
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 4: Executioner’s head. Fragment of the archivolts of the north door of the west façade of Riems Cathedral. 1247-1255. Riems, Palais du Tau
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 5: Yaḥyā al Wasītī. Ship crossing the Persian Gulf. Al-Harīrī, Maḳāmāt (The Assemblies), fol. 119v. 1236-1237. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 6: Chessbook of Alfonso X the Wise, fol. 22r. 1283. Escorial, Real Monasterio, Biblioteca
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 7: Nicolas of Verdun. Soloman and the Queen of Sheba. Enamelled plaque of an ambo. 1181. Klosterneuberg, Museum des Chorherrenstiftes Klosterneuberg
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 8: Statue of St. Maurice. Ca. 1240-1250. Magdeburg, Cathedral of St. Maurice and St. Catherine, choir
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 9: Statue of St. Maurice. Ca. 1240-1250. Magdeburg, Cathedral of St. Maurice and St. Catherine, choir (detail)
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 10: St. Maurice and a Benedictine pope. Painted panel from an altarpiece. Bohemia (?), ca. 1420-1430. Quittelsdorf, evangelical church
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 11: Statue of St. Maurice. Before 1411. Halle, Church of St. Maurice
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 12: St. Maurice. Mural painting (detail). Ca. 1464. Roskilde, Domkirche
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 13: Virgin and St. Maurice beneath the heraldic bearings of the city and the Black Heads. 1522. Reliefs on the door jambs of the House of the Black Heads in Riga
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 14: Statue of St. Maurice from the altarpiece of the old high altar. Ca. 1425. Jüterbog, Church of St. Nicholas
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 15: St. Maurice. Mural painting (detail). Second half XV century. Kloster Zinna, former abbatial guesthouse, second floor, north wall
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 16: Peter Vischer. Funerary monument of Archbishop Ernest of Saxony. 1495. Statue of St. Maurice on the base of the tomb. Magdeburg, Cathedral of St. Maurice and St. Catherine
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 17: Altarpiece of the High Altar. St. Maurice. Statue from a niche in the central panel. Late XV-early XVI century. Halle, Church of St. Maurice
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 18: St. Maurice. Left wing of an altarpiece dated 1529. Halle, Marktkirche
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 19: Reliquary statue of St. Maurice. Heiltumsbuch, fol. 227v. 1525-1527. Aschaffenburg, Hofbibliothek
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 20: Reliquary statue of St. Maurice. Heiltumsbuch, fol. 227v. 1525-1527. Aschaffenburg, Hofbibliothek (detail)
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 21: Matthias Grünewald. St. Erasmus and St. Maurice. From Halle, collegiate church. Ca. 1520-1524. Munich, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pianothek
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 22: Reliquary bust of St. Maurice. Heiltumsbuch, fol. 228v. 1525-1527. Aschaffenburg, Hofbibliothek
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 23: Reliquary bust of St. Maurice. Heiltumsbuch, fol. 228v. 1525-1527. Aschaffenburg, Hofbibliothek (detail)
The Image of the Black in Western Art, Vol. II, Part 1 — 24: Matthias Grünewald. St. Erasmus and St. Maurice. From Halle, collegiate church. Ca. 1520-1524. Munich, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pianothek
