From the age of the painted icon (approximately 400-1300 CE) to the present day, art has been used as a medium in which to express the relationship between mankind and God. From around the fourth century, icons were produced as an aid to worship – to concentrate the mind on the Divine. As Paul Johnson emphasises in Art- A New History, (2003) ‘the icon, a comparatively cheap and small representation of the everyday form of Orthodox devotion constituted the commonest form of art throughout a vast region embracing nearly twenty modern countries.’ Johnson continues:
It is important to grasp … that (the icon) is a physical part of the act of worship, like the altar furniture, vestments, banners and sacred vessels. Painting is thus itself a spiritual act. The painter realised the divine within himself and re-created, in a real sense, the image of Christ or the events depicted: the Incarnation, the Nativity, the visit of the Three Kings.[i]
The icon continued to have a major role in worship, particularly in the Orthodox Church up to the beginning of the Renaissance, when that form of art began to give way, for example, to paintings with much more diverse scenes and more particularly large altarpieces displaying events such as those mentioned above. However, icons are still produced today and the modern painter, for example Aiden Hart, at a lecture given in 2008 referred to ‘praying an icon into existence’.[ii] In addition during the pre-Renaissance period, following the Dark Ages, art endeavouring to express the spiritual was exhibited in architecture in the building of the great cathedrals, in sculpture, in needlework and in the production of beautifully illuminated manuscripts and printed editions of the Bible.[iii] All of these forms of visual cultural production were aimed at aiding devotion and assisting in the contemplation of the divine.
In previous reflections I developed the argument that works of art could be regarded as sacraments, using as an example a work by Friedrich. This week I shall be looking at one of the most famous works by the German artist Albrecht Dürer. Religious experience was defined by Ninian Smart as: An experience [which] involves some kind of ‘perception’ of the invisible world, or involves a perception that some visible person or thing is a manifestation of the invisible world.[iv]
William James endeavoured to be more specific in relating religious experience to salvation when he refers to a two part process of experience. First there is a lack or uneasiness that there is something missing in an individual’s life and secondly that there is a solution whereby the individual has some connection with a power beyond or outside him or herself. James summarises this in terms of a man who identifies his real being as follows:
He becomes conscious that this higher part is coterminous and continuous with a MORE of the same quality which is operative in the universe outside of him, and which he can keep in working touch with, and in a fashion get on board of and save himself when all his lower being has gone to pieces in the wreck.[v]
So, let us now examine:
The Adoration of the Magi – A Devotional Work by Dürer
Albrecht Dürer The Adoration of the Magi (1504) (100 x 114 cm.)
The story that this painting depicts occurs only in Matthew, Chapter 2, verses 7 – ll. The legend has been considerably elaborated over the centuries – with the Magi being established as three in number (the Bible does not give a number) and even given names – Balthazar, Melchior and Gaspar (or Caspar). Even later legends gave the three Magi descriptions of their physical appearance with Balthazar being black with a newly grown beard, bringing the gift of myrrh, Melchior being very old, grey and bearded and bringing the gift of gold and Caspar being young, beardless and very swarthy and bringing the gift of frankincense. For a full description of the legend, the reader is encouraged to read a good Biblical commentary, but suffice to indicate here the significance of the gift is that gold is for a king, frankincense is for a priest and myrrh is for one who is to die.[vi]
This later description can be read into the picture by Dürer, although Gaspar has been given a beard and is not very swarthy, and Balthazar has no beard. Some versions of the legend have it that the three came from Persia (Iran) whilst others suggest that they came from further afield with one of the Kings representing India. Closest to the Biblical version is that they were wise men who came from Persia and were invited to interpret dreams, this latter version being consistent with the need to interpret Joseph’s dreams.[vii]
Looking at the picture itself, possibly the central panel of a polytrypt, it shows the human characters all exquisitely drawn with Melchior and Gaspar wearing very expensive decorated clothing emphasising the importance of their status, with Balthazar dressed more simply. Mary with Jesus is sitting just outside the stable with a cow and a donkey clearly visible. There is a controversial opinion that Joseph was once included in this picture and subsequently removed. Beyond the significance of the aforementioned gifts, there is much additional symbolism in this picture. Butterflies have been included to represent the soul or spirit. Two crosses have been included as part of the crumbling structures above one of which Dürer has included two doves of peace. The crumbling building itself could be said to suggest the beginning of the end of the Old Covenant. So far, the description has been confined to the foreground of this painting – on the right-hand side in the middle distance we have various people on horseback waiting around – presumably these are the servants or guards who would have accompanied Melchior and Gaspar on their journey with Balthazar’s turbaned assistant just on foot carrying a bag which could have contained their provisions. Further into the background there is a steep hill rising from presumably the Dead Sea although the latter is about 25 km from Bethlehem. However, most importantly there is a city on this hill stretching upwards right to the pinnacle of the hill which I would suggest is the Kingdom of Heaven – that eternal state which is available to all who are willing to accept the gift of the grace of God. Finally, we come to God which is represented traditionally in the form of the rising cumulus cloud – the Shekinah – that symbol for God which reaches back to the giving of the Law to Moses described in the Book of Exodus.
So in this picture we have an elaborated Biblical illustration with the story of the Magi with added symbolism extended to the point of the suggestion of transcendence with the inclusion of the Heavenly City and the cloud representing God all set in the far distance away from the immediate focus on the birth and significance of Jesus and the future role he is to perform.
As a focus for devotion this picture offers in the immediate foreground a Biblical story with much detail upon which the eye can rest as well as having the tremendous depth through to the Heavenly City all of which gives great opportunity for meditation on both the physical as well as spiritual world.
i] Johnson, P. Art – A New History London Wiedenfeld and Nicolson 2003 p. 113.
[ii] Hart, A. Lecture given in 2008 at the School of Art, Aberystwyth University.
[iii] In addition to Johnson, P. Art – A New History, pp. 153-182, see also De Borchgrave, H. A Journey into Christian Art Oxford Lion Publishing 2001 which includes a succinct summary of Christian Visual Art prior to the Renaissance (pp. 9-40).
[iv] Rankin, M. Introduction to Religious and Spiritual Experience London Continuum 2008 p.12, quoting Smart, N. The Religious Experience of Mankind New York Scribner’s Sons 1984 p. 20.
[v] James, W. The Varieties of Religious Experience London Fontana Library of Theology and Philosophy 1971 (The Gifford Lectures delivered at Edinburgh 1901-2).
[vi] An example of a good commentary would be The Gospel of Matthew Vol. 1, by William Barclay published in Edinburgh by the Saint Andrew Press in 1991 – with the legend of the three magi being on pp. 31 to 33.
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