Poor Man's Bible

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The term Poor Man's Bible has come into use in modern times to describe works of art within churches and cathedrals which either individually or collectively have been created to illustrate the teachings of the Bible for a largely illiterate population. These artworks may take the form of carvings, paintings, mosaics or stained-glass windows. In some churches a single artwork, such as a

stained-glass window, has the role of Poor Man's Bible, while in others, the entire church is decorated with a complex biblical narrative that unites in a single scheme.[1]

The window has a simple round-arched top. The stained glass is supported by a lead armature of squares and circles which divide it into many separate pictures. The upper pictures show the story of the Three Wise Men. The lower part has an assortment of biblical scenes including "The Sower". The background colour is deep blue.
The Poor Man's Bible window at Canterbury Cathedral, 13th century, reconstructed with fragments of perhaps two other windows

Sources

The Biblia pauperum

The term Poor Man's Bible is not to be confused with the so-called Biblia pauperum, which are biblical picture books, either in illuminated manuscript or printed "block-book" form. The illuminated Biblia Pauperum, despite the name given in the 1930s by German scholars, were much too expensive to have been owned by the poor, although the printed versions were much cheaper and many were probably shown to the poor for instruction.

But despite the fact that the books, at least in their earlier manuscript versions, were created for the rich, while the carvings and windows of a great church provided free entertainment and instruction to all who entered the doors, there were strong points of similarity in both subject matter and iconography.

Round sections of two stained-glass windows both show a scene of a person kneeling at an altar while onlookers talk. The number of onlookers, small details and colour schemes are different.
Details of two windows from Canterbury Cathedral illustrating different stories but repeating the two left-hand figures, the columns, table, candlestick and book. Left – Medieval; right – Victorian

Reproduction of motifs

In a world before the printed book, fidelity to the original in transcribing of books by hand was the only thing that maintained the Bible and other works of literature for posterity.[2] Along with the written words of the document were often transcribed commentaries and illustrations. While talented illuminators added their own style and embellishments, the form of many pictures remained the same, and different scenes or motifs were repeated many times and in different media.

There is, for example a particular

Biblia Pauperum
being frequent sources.

Transfer of ideas

There exists a folio of drawings by

calligrapher and placed into a leather portfolio
. They give us a clear indication of the way in which decorative motifs and figurative subjects could be transferred from one region to another and from one artform to another.

Although the names of many

artists are unknown, the movements of some are traceable, including:

A pen and ink drawing from a medieval manuscript shows the monk kneel and bending forward beneath a line of text
Self portrait of the Benedictine monk, Matthew Paris

Theology

Revelations

The sculptured section from above a Gothic door. The pointed archway has four molded bands carved with small angels. The triangular section framed by the arch has the figure of Christ surrounded by the Four Heavenly Beasts, the eagle of St John, the winged ox of St Luke, the winged man of St Matthew and the winged lion of St Mark.
Revelation – Christ in Majesty from Angers Cathedral

One of the major purposes of an artistic scheme, or Poor Man's Bible, within a church was to show the viewer the "Way to Salvation". In order for this to be achieved, there are two major revelations by God to humankind that the viewer should be exposed to, by the means of the artistic scheme.

The message of sorrow, guilt and fear

For the Poor Man's Bible to fulfil its aim, the viewer needs to know and to accept the Christian premise that he/she is a sinful being and as such will be brought to trial on the Day of Judgement. This Day of Judgement is described by the last book of the Bible, known as the Revelation of St John or the Book of Revelation in which John describes many scenes, including the dreadful Apocalypse and a vision of the Lord seated on a throne borne up by four Heavenly Beasts: a winged lion, a winged man, a winged bull and an eagle, as also described in the Book of Ezekiel.

This Revelation is often depicted, with or without the Judgement and the rewards of Heaven and terrors of Hell, above the lintel of the main entrance door. In countries where stone-carving prevails as an art, it is externally placed. In countries where murals are more common, the Last Judgement occupies the internal wall above the main door.

Church of St Francis at Assisi

The message of faith, hope and love

The second Revelation that the Poor Man's Bible seeks to share with the viewer is the revelation of God's plan for humanity's Salvation through sending his son, Jesus, to be born as a human baby, to live among people and to die a cruel death to absolve the sins committed by humanity. Jesus, as depicted on the walls, domes and windows of churches, is the Revelation of God's love, his grace, his mercy and his glory. This, broadly speaking, is the theme of every Poor Man's Bible.

The underlying theme of humankind's sinfulness may be illustrated in a number of ways. Although terrifying scenes of

Seven Deadly Sins
and the parable of the Wise and the Foolish Bridesmaids. All this sought to confirm humankind's need to turn to Jesus to receive God's saving grace.

The Revelation of God's grace through Jesus might be shown in several ways. The focus might be on his birth, on his sacrificial death, on his subsequent resurrection from the dead, or upon his coming in glory.

In other churches there is a focus upon an incident or incidents which particularly involve the saint to whom the church is dedicated. For example, a church dedicated to

the stigmata
. (This crucifix before which St Francis prayed in the 12th century still exists.)

The Apostolic Succession

Part of the role of the decorated church was to confirm the role of the Church. Christ's Church was the body of Christian believers. But in the narrower sense it was an organization, and, particularly when under threat of heresy, humanism, division and reform, it needed to maintain and reinforce its role in offering the right way to Salvation.

This crudely carved statue shows St James as a bearded knight in armour with a red cloak and upraised sword. He rides a white galloping horse which is trampling the bodies of two armoured men.
The Apostles – Painted wooden statue of St James who is said to have come to the aid of the Spanish against the Moorish invaders, now in a museum, Carrión de los Condes.

The decorative schemes in churches have often reflected the Church's role. One point of emphasis is to show that the Church was founded by the apostles and its history goes back to that time without a break. One way a church might reflect this was to have the relics of an apostle or an early martyr. There was a great trade in body parts of different religious notables. At least three churches claim to have the body of Mary Magdalene.

With the relics came beautiful

Santiago de Compostella in Spain and Canterbury Cathedral in Kent.[3]
Churches, particularly
Thomas of Canterbury is an example. This archbishop was murdered by King Henry II
's henchmen while praying at a side altar in the cathedral. The King himself made a penitent pilgrimage to the cathedral. Even though much of the stained glass has been lost over the years, there still remains two windows which show some of the many healings and miracles associated with St Thomas, both before and after his death.

In churches that are monastic, there is often an emphasis on the saints that belonged to that particular order. It is not uncommon to see religious paintings of the

Blessed Virgin
enthroned with the Christ Child and surrounded by numerous saints, including some of the 1st century, and some belonging to the particular Order who commissioned the work.

Another way for the church to confirm its role was through the administration of the rites. Some churches have decorative schemes which support this role of the church, illustrating the various rites and

sacraments. The Church of St John at Tideswell in Derbyshire has a particularly fine set of 20th-century bench-ends by Advent and William Hunstone, showing the rites of Baptism, Confirmation and Ordination
.

Schemes

The Life of Jesus

The Crucifix by Cimabue in San Domenico's Church, Arezzo, Italy

The Crucifix

The Crucifix is in general the most significant single narrative object in the decorative scheme of any church. During the medieval period the crucifix, called the Rood in England, from the Old Saxon roda, was a large crucifix placed conspicuously, often suspended in the Quire or standing on a screen separating either the Quire or the sanctuary from the rest of the church. The suspended crucifix could either be painted or carved of wood. In England where rood screens have often survived without the rood itself, it was general for the crucifix to have accompanying figures of Mary the Mother of Christ and either John the Evangelist or John the Baptist carrying a banner bearing the inscription "Behold, the Lamb of God". In Italy, roods were created by some of the most famous painters and sculptors, such as Giotto, Brunelleschi and Donatello. In many Protestant churches the crucifix has been replaced by a simple cross without a figure, symbolically representing both the redeeming sacrifice and the resurrection to new life offered by Jesus.

The Gospel

The most common theme for the Poor Man's Bible is the

Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus. This may be related in a continuous sequence of pictures, either in paint, mosaic, wood sculpture or stained glass, and located either around the walls of a church or, particularly in French Cathedrals, in niches in a screen that surrounds the Sanctuary, so that they might be seen by people walking around the ambulatory
.

Giotto di Bondone, Scrovegni Chapel, Padua
. c.1305

Frequently only one aspect of Jesus' life is illustrated, most commonly his Death and Resurrection. But the theme may differ from church to church. A church located near a hospital might have windows that focus upon the miraculous healings. Another church might have aspects of Jesus' life that stress works of charity and service to others. These sort of themes are particularly prevalent in 19th- and 20th-century churches.

Stations of the Cross

An important form of visual narration is the so-called

Roman Catholic churches and are used for devotional purposes as the prompts for a series of meditations and prayers
. The Stations of the Cross usually take the form of oil paintings, molded and painted plaster or carved wood set into frames and suspended on the aisle walls so that the sequence may be easily followed.

The Life of the Virgin

Another form of biblical, and occasionally extra-canonical, narrative that is often illustrated is the Life of the Virgin, in earlier periods concentrating on her early life using additional apocryphal scenes drawn from books such as the "Infancy Gospel of James", written about the middle of the 2nd century CE. Cycles of Mary usually take the story up to the Birth of Christ, often including the visit of the Magi and the Flight to Egypt, and later usually cover later scenes from the life of Mary, especially her presence at the Crucifixion, Pentecost and her death, known as the Death of the Virgin, for which depictions of the Assumption of Mary began to be substituted from the late Middle Ages.

One of ten gilt bronze panels in low relief. It shows scenes in the story of Joseph visited in Egypt by his brothers, come to beg for grain in the famine. Rear left, Joseph sits on a throne while his brothers plead. Centrally is a large circular granary surrounded by arches. To the right, a group of people load a heavy sack onto a camel. To the left, a gold cup is discovered hidden in the sack of the youngest brother, a small child. The eldest brother tears his clothes in despair.
Old Testament – Joseph in Egypt from the "Gates of Paradise", Lorenzo Ghiberti

The Old Testament

The aspect of the Old Testament that appears most frequently in a continuous narrative form is the

Baptistery of Florence by Lorenzo Ghiberti
, the so-called "Gates of Paradise". Many more schemes survive in similar small-scale carvings on portals or doors.

, 1484

Lives of the Saints

Many churches and cathedrals are dedicated to a particular biblical or early Christian saint and bear the name of that saint. Other churches have been founded by or have been associated with some person who was later

canonized
. These associations are often celebrated in the decoration of the church, to encourage worshippers to emulate the piety, good works, or steadfast faith of the saint. Sometimes saints are shown together in a sort of pictorial gallery, but the depiction of narratives is also common. This may take the form of a single incident, such as
St Christopher carrying the Christ Child across the river, or the saint's life may be shown in a narrative sequence, similar to the way in which the life of Jesus is depicted, such as the Life of St Augustine by Benozzo Gozzoli in the Church of Sant' Agostino, San Gimignano
.

The stories of a saint's life may be based on highly reliable sources. On the other hand, some may contain fanciful elements and others may be entirely fictitious. Some of the stories are well known and the saints that they depict are easily recognized. These include St

Santa Fina of San Gimignano, whose death and funeral were depicted in two frescoes by Domenico Ghirlandaio
.

Prophets, apostles and patriarchs

The depiction of

and others, are a frequent subject. The upright, standing figures particularly lent themselves to architectural decoration and they often appear in a columnar form around doorways or in tiers on the façades of cathedrals.

Sometimes the selection is esoteric, the choice depending on the local tradition of the church or whim of the individual who commissioned the particular work of art. Sometimes the characters depicted are easily identified because they carry particular

St Denis
of Paris carries his own head, with which he is claimed to have walked all around the town.

List of common subjects

The Reference Bible

This stained glass window is divided into five long sections, above which the stone tracery looks like a lacey medallion. The colours are not like Medieval glass; there is a lot of bright red, pale blue, apple green, mauve and pink.
Cross references – The East Window of St Mary's Chilham, UK. The five scenes of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus are paired with Old Testament scenes which prefigure these events. nineteenth century

In many of the decorative schemes that illustrate the life of Jesus, the narrative is set into the context of related stories drawn from the Old Testament and sometimes from the Acts of the Apostles. Certain characters of the Old Testament, through particular incidents in their lives, are seen to prefigure Jesus in different ways. Often their actions or temperament is set in contrast to that of Jesus. For example, according to the Bible, Adam, created in purity and innocence by God, fell to temptation and led humankind into sin. Jesus, on the other hand, lived a blameless life and died for the redemption of the sin of Adam and all his descendants.

The way in which the cross-referencing is achieved is usually by a simple

Biblia Pauperum which were often arranged in this manner, and were sometimes used as a source of design. In nineteenth- and early twentieth-century windows, the sections holding the major narrative are often larger and the Old Testament panels might be quite small. A similar arrangement is sometimes used in Early Renaissance
panel painting.

The nineteenth-century east window by William Wailes at Chilham, Kent, demonstrates a typical pairing of scenes such as had occurred from the medieval period.

  • Joseph the Dreamer
    is put down a well by his own brothers and abandoned.
  • Jesus is made to carry his cross on the way to the execution place of Golgotha. Below: Isaac, led by his father Abraham, carries the firewood, not knowing that his father plans to sacrifice him.
  • Jesus is crucified. Below: The Israelites at the Passover slay a sacrificial lamb and paint its blood on the door lintel as a sign to the angel of the Lord.
  • Jesus is resurrected from the dead. Below: Jonah is spat out by a great fish which had swallowed him three days earlier.
  • Jesus ascends to Heaven. Below: Elijah is carried up to Heaven by angels.

In some of the most sophisticated schemes, there is not only a reference to events of the

Resurrection of Christ
.

Cycles

The round world

The Creation of the Sun, Moon and Vegetation, Michelangelo, from the Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
.

A common theme in the art of many churches is to show the greatness of God through his creation and the order that he has placed upon it. God is often depicted in the act of creation as described in Genesis[4]– making the firmament (or Earth), placing the Sun, stars and Moon in the sky or creating mankind. There are many symbolic representations of the Earth, sometimes showing the four rivers that are described in Genesis as running out of Eden. In Baroque art, the globe is often represented, with varying degrees of accuracy. Just as

four humors
affecting the human nature. The number four appeared to be part of the way in which God organized his world. It related to the fact that creatures have four limbs and buildings stand firm on four supports. Consequently, groups of four people or objects are common in Christian art, demonstrating that the Church is directly linked to the order of material and earthly things that God has put in place.

Part of a large window. It is divided into four circular panels with a quatrefoil (or four-lobed section) between them and an arched segment beneath. To the lower right, a knight, Sagittarius, is being welcomed home. At the centre a man empties a water pot, symbolising Aquarius and a two-faced figure symbolises New Year. To the upper right, are the two fish of Pisces. The other sections show each month's activities: grapevine pruning, bell-ringing and sitting by the fire.
God's Order of the Universe in the Window of the Months, Chartres Cathedral. December, January and February

The round year

Linked to the theme of God's creation is God's Order. The God of Genesis, who put the sun to brighten the day and the moon for the night also caused the stars to shift overhead in a particular pattern which coincided with the changing seasons and could be seen as God's guidance as to when sowing and harvesting was to take place. The ancient identities of the Zodiacal signs continued in use and were often depicted in small carvings, particularly around arched doorways, and also in stained glass where, because the pattern is cyclic, they were particularly suited to small panels in rose windows.

The Zodiac was intrinsically linked with the so-called Labours of the Months, the various tasks and activities that were performed at certain months of the year, the tending and harvesting, the hunting and feasting, and the sitting by the fire in the long cold month of February. As most people lived in rural communities, the tasks that decked the arches and windows of the churches were all too familiar.

Master of Flemalle
, 1425.

God's gifts

God, who according to Genesis, made the Heaven and the Earth, also created man in his own likeness[6] and gave to humankind also the gift of creativity. It is a lesser theme that consistently runs through religious art. There are, in particular, and understandably, many depictions of stonemasons, woodcarvers, painters and glaziers at work. There are also countless depictions of monks, musicians and scribes. As well as these are shown spinners and weavers, merchants, cooks, carters, butchers, apothecaries, furriers, bullock drivers, fishermen and shepherds.

In general, these depictions of human living are not among those elements of decoration that could be termed

folding seats of the quire
.

On the other hand, where artworks have been sponsored by major

St George, commissioned by the armorers and now in the Bargello, is one of the best known statues of the Early Renaissance
. These saints include among their number a blacksmith, a professional soldier, a doctor, a tax collector and four shoemakers.

Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris
.

Gryphons, gargoyles, beasts and cherubs

Cathedrals are decorated with a wide variety of creatures and characters, many of which have no obvious link to Christianity. Often the creature was seen to represent some particular vice or virtue or was believed to have a certain characteristic which could serve as a warning or as an example to the Christian believer. "Sins of the Flesh" were often represented by human figures poking out their tongues, stroking their beards, displaying their genitals or gorging on food.

Other motifs represent the Nature of Christ, or the nature of the Church. One such is that of the pelican. It was believed that a pelican was prepared to peck its own breast in order to feed its hungry young. Thus, the pelican became a symbol for the love of

Christ for the Church.[7]

Creatures such as hares, geese, monkeys, foxes, lions, camels,

storks abound in the decorative carvings of capitals, wall arcading, ceiling bosses and the wooden fittings of cathedrals. Some, like the Gargoyles of Notre Dame, are well known to many. Others, like the Blemyah and Green Man of Ripon Cathedral in England, lurk underneath the folding seats or misericords of the Quire.[8][9]

Typologies