Codex Aureus of Echternach
The Codex Aureus of Echternach (Codex aureus Epternacensis) is an illuminated Gospel Book, created in the approximate period 1030–1050,[1] with a re-used front cover from around the 980s.[2] It is now in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg.[3]
The manuscript contains the
The manuscript has 136 folios which measure 446 mm by 310 mm. It is one of the most lavishly illuminated Ottonian manuscripts. It contains over 60 decorative pages including 16 full page miniatures, 9 full page initials, 5 evangelist portraits, 10 decorated pages of canon tables, and 16 half-page initials. In addition there are 503 smaller initials, and pages painted to resemble textiles. The entire text is written in gold ink.[5]
Text and miniatures
Each gospel is preceded by the following: two pages summarizing the gospel, two pages imitating textiles, four pages of narrative scenes laid out in three registers per page, a full-page evangelist portrait, two pages of decorative text, before a full-page initial, which begins the actual text. As one art historian put it, the planner of the book "was in no hurry to bring his reader to the text".
The pages before Matthew take the story from the
Most of the miniatures are attributed to two artists, known as the "workshop master" and another presumed to be a pupil. A third, cruder, painter contributed some of the narrative scenes, and perhaps other elements which are harder to attribute. For example, the last three pages of the final narrative scenes preceding John are attributed to the master (so from the
A run of four pages preceding Matthew
These come after the two textile pages and the four pages of narrative images.
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Evangelist portrait (Matthew), folio 20 verso
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Angel holding "tablet", folio 21 recto, with text "Ye men, believe the word of the man Matthew, so that He of Whom he speaks, the Man Jesus, may reward ye".[12]
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"Incipit" page *"Here begins the Gospel of Matthew", folio 21 verso
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Initial page "Liber", the first word of the Vulgate text
Cover
The front cover of the manuscript is an Ottonian
Surrounding the ivory plaque are panels, now rather battered, with figures in
As in other treasure bindings, the gems do not merely create an impression of richness. They offer a foretaste of the bejeweled nature of the
The reliefs show the
It is sometimes thought that the cover was made for the Trier manuscript in Paris known as the Sainte-Chapelle Gospels, illustrated by the
History
It is thought that this is the manuscript shown to Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor when he visited Echternach with his mother Gisela of Swabia (d. 1043), which so impressed him that he commissioned similar works from the abbey, notably the Golden Gospels of Henry III, which he presented in 1046 to Speyer Cathedral, the burial-place of his dynasty.[23]
The manuscript was at the
It remained in the collection of the
Notes
- ^ Metz, 55 and preceding pages, followed by Lasko, 98 prefer "between 1053 and 1056" (Lasko), but do not seem to have convinced later scholars.
- ^ Lasko, 98 "the cover must date between Otto III's royal coronation of 983 and Theophanu's death in 991", followed by the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, who add "perhaps 985–987".
- ^ Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Hs. 156142.
- Letter of Eusebius, all often found prefacing medieval Gospel books. Metz, 64–65
- ^ Walther, 128; Metz has full details
- College Art Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Autumn, 1958), p. 86, JSTOR
- ^ Dodwell, 144; all are illustrated and described in Metz, see list of plates
- ^ Metz, 68
- ^ Metz, plates and the notes on them; all pages are illustrated.
- ^ Walther, 130
- ^ Dodwell, 144
- ^ Metz, 70
- ^ Metz, 60 sees it as contemporary with the rest of the cover, Lasko, 98 as from 1053–56 (like the text in his view); Beckwith, 133–136 attributes it and other pieces to a workshop active "possibly at Tier in the last twenty years of the tenth century".
- ^ a b c Metz, 60
- ^ Ferber, 14
- ^ Metz, 26-30
- ^ Lasko, 98; Beckwith, 133; Metz, 59, who astonishingly omits to mention the Evangelists
- ^ Ferber, 14; Beckwith, 133-136
- BnFMS lat. 8851: Dodwell, 144; Beckwith, 133
- ^ Head, 76
- ^ Westermann-Angerhausen, 217-218
- ^ Wolf, 147-151
- ^ Beckwith, 122-123
- ^ Literally 'woods', in reference to the Ardennes.
- ^ Metz, 11
- ^ Metz, 11-12
References
- Beckwith, John, Early Christian and Byzantine Art, Penguin History of Art (now Yale), 2nd edn. 1979, ISBN 0140560335
- Dodwell, C.R.; The Pictorial arts of the West, 800–1200, 1993, Yale UP, ISBN 0300064934
- Ferber, Stanley, "Aspects of the Development of Ottonian Respousse Gold Work", Gesta, Vol. 1/2, (1964), pp. 14–19, JSTOR
- Head, Thomas. "Art and Artifice in Ottonian Trier." Gesta, Vol. 36, No. 1. (1997), pp 65–82.
- ISBN 978-0300060485(cover)
- Metz, Peter (trans. Ilse Schrier and Peter Gorge), The Golden Gospels of Echternach, 1957, Frederick A. Praeger, LOC 57-5327
- Walther, Ingo F. and Norbert Wolf. Codices Illustres: The world's most famous illuminated manuscripts, 400 to 1600. Köln, TASCHEN, 2005.
- Westermann-Angerhausen, Hiltrud: Spuren der Theophanu in der Ottonischen Schatzkunst?, in: Euw, Anton von en Schreiner, Peter, Kaiserin Theophanu. Begegnung des Ostens und Westens um die Wende des ersten Jahrtausends. Gedenkschrift des Kölner Schnütgen-Museums zum 1000. Todesjahr der Kaiserin, 1990, Köln. Vol. 2, p. 175–191.
- Wolf, Gunther: Zur Datierung des Buchedeckels des Codex Aureus Epternacensis, Hémecht (Revue d'histoire luxembourgeoise), 1990, 2, 42
Further reading
- Oettinger, Karl, "Der Elfenbeinschnitzer des Echternacher Codex Aureus und die Skulptur Unter Heinrich III. (1039-56)", Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen, Vol. 2., (1960), pp. 34–54, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, JSTOR
External links
- Digitised facsimile on the Germanisches Nationalmuseum website