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DOI Artikel:Dobrzeniecki, Tadeusz: Some iconographical notes on the Maiestas Domini
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18859#0080
tympaimm at Strzelno, one of the most valuable monuments of the Romanesąue sculpture
in Poland (fig. 4).
This tympanum, preserved in situ, belongs to the Northern portal of the Premonstratensian
Nunnery28. Christ surrounded with the mandorla is seated on the rainbow; with His left hand
He is holding the open book, resting on His knee, while with the right one He is blessing, ha-
ving under His feet the serpent and the cockatrice. Two angels are holding the mandorla. In
the lower part of the tympanum four half-figures are represented: St Peter with the two keys,
St Paul with the closed book and two lesser anthropo-and-zoomorphic symbols of the Evan-
gelists Mark (with the head of the lion) and Lukę (with the head of the ox). Above the Jesus'
head a big bird is standing in profile on the upper edge of the mandorla.
A Burgundian motif is the presence at the mandorla of two Archangels — St Michael and
St Gabriel, most popular in the Middle Ages20. The Book of Daniel calls Michael the representant
and defender of the people of Israel. The Jewish apocryphal literaturę and Rabbinistic writings
admit Him the name of the Angel of the Divine Throne, in the Apocalypse of St John it is he,
who is fighting with the devil30. Gabriel is the soldier of God, in the Book of Daniel he propheti-
zed the ere of Messiah; the apocryphal Book of Henoch calls him the intercessor31. Christ was —
sińce the earliest epoch — represented in the assistance of Michael and Gabriel, whieh resulted
from the identification of the three men, who appeared to Abraham. The Jewish exegesis saw
in tjiem the three f irst Archangels: Michael, Gabriel and Raphael; Michael was usually represen-
ted as stcpping in the centrę, Gabriel on the right and Raphael on the left side32. The Early
Christian interpretation recognized this visit of the three men as the Messianic prophecy and,
thereforc, the first of them was identified as Christ and two others — as Michael and Gabriel33.
Concerning this view St Augustine writes in the De Civitate Dei, lib 16, cap. 18: Item Deus
apparuit Abrahae ad ąuercum Mamre in tribus uiribus, ąuos dubitandum non est angelos fuisse,
quamvis ąuidam existiment unum in eis fuisse Dominum Christum, adserentes eum etiam ante
indumentum carnis fuisse visibilem."^i
The motif of Christ's trampling upon the animals (Christus — Victor) on the tympanum at
Strzelno has its old iconographical tradition, originated from the Late Antiąue images of the
cult of Emperor, which shows the ruler trampling upon the overthrown enemy or demoniac
forces. The iconography of Christ triumphant was especially popular in the environments of
Rome and Ravenna35 also in the apse decoration.
28. Sztuka polska przedromańska i romańska do schyłku XIII icieku, Warszawa, 1972, fig. 540.
29. They appear with their names inscribed in the image of the Maiestas Domini on the tapestry in the Treasury of the Cathe-
dral in Halberstadt (ca 1170): H.L. Nickels, Deutsche romanische Bildleppiche aus dcm Domschdtzen zu Halberstadt und
Quedlinburg, Leipzig, 1970; Steenbock, op. cit., n° 119, fig. 163; the book-cover of a Psalter of ca 1220—30; Bamberg,
Staatliche Bibliothek Bihl. (48A II 47); At the mandorla the Archangel Michael fighting the dragon, Gabriel with the
applc and a scepter.
30. Book of Daniel X, 12; 12, 1; Apocalypse XII, 7.
31. Book of Daniel VIII, 16; IX, 21.
32. W. Lueken, Michael. Einc Darstellung und Yergleichung der judischen und der morgcnlandisch-christlichcn Tradition vom
Erzengel Michael, Gottingen, 1898, p. 33.
33. A. Kriicke, "Zwei Bcitrage zur Ikonographie des friihen Mittelaltcrs", Marburger Jahrbuch fur Kunstwissenschaft, X,
1937: II. Uber einige angebliche Darstelhingen Gott-Vaters im friihen Mittelalter (p. 10—11); K. Wessel in Keallexikon
zur byzanlinischen Kunst s. v. Abraham, Bd. I Stuttgart, 1966, col. 18—19: Die Philoxcnie, dh. der Empfang der drei
Engeln durch Abraham und ihre Bewirtung (Gen XVIII, 1—8).
34. W. Neuss, Die Katalonischc Bibelilluslralion urn die Wende des 1. Jahrlausends und die altspanische Buchmalcrei, Bonn
und Leipzig, 1922, fig. 9: Bibie from St Pere de Koda, I. fol. 12v (Paris, Bibl. Nat. Cod. Lat 6), the miniaturę of the begin-
ning of the XIth century after earlier scheme, the artist represented here the Christophany to Abraham; Christ is
here in the assistance of the two angels.
35. Ravenna, the baptistery of the Cathedral and the chapel of Archbischop: Deichmann, Fruhchristliche Bauten, op. cit.
fig. 84, 217.
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in Poland (fig. 4).
This tympanum, preserved in situ, belongs to the Northern portal of the Premonstratensian
Nunnery28. Christ surrounded with the mandorla is seated on the rainbow; with His left hand
He is holding the open book, resting on His knee, while with the right one He is blessing, ha-
ving under His feet the serpent and the cockatrice. Two angels are holding the mandorla. In
the lower part of the tympanum four half-figures are represented: St Peter with the two keys,
St Paul with the closed book and two lesser anthropo-and-zoomorphic symbols of the Evan-
gelists Mark (with the head of the lion) and Lukę (with the head of the ox). Above the Jesus'
head a big bird is standing in profile on the upper edge of the mandorla.
A Burgundian motif is the presence at the mandorla of two Archangels — St Michael and
St Gabriel, most popular in the Middle Ages20. The Book of Daniel calls Michael the representant
and defender of the people of Israel. The Jewish apocryphal literaturę and Rabbinistic writings
admit Him the name of the Angel of the Divine Throne, in the Apocalypse of St John it is he,
who is fighting with the devil30. Gabriel is the soldier of God, in the Book of Daniel he propheti-
zed the ere of Messiah; the apocryphal Book of Henoch calls him the intercessor31. Christ was —
sińce the earliest epoch — represented in the assistance of Michael and Gabriel, whieh resulted
from the identification of the three men, who appeared to Abraham. The Jewish exegesis saw
in tjiem the three f irst Archangels: Michael, Gabriel and Raphael; Michael was usually represen-
ted as stcpping in the centrę, Gabriel on the right and Raphael on the left side32. The Early
Christian interpretation recognized this visit of the three men as the Messianic prophecy and,
thereforc, the first of them was identified as Christ and two others — as Michael and Gabriel33.
Concerning this view St Augustine writes in the De Civitate Dei, lib 16, cap. 18: Item Deus
apparuit Abrahae ad ąuercum Mamre in tribus uiribus, ąuos dubitandum non est angelos fuisse,
quamvis ąuidam existiment unum in eis fuisse Dominum Christum, adserentes eum etiam ante
indumentum carnis fuisse visibilem."^i
The motif of Christ's trampling upon the animals (Christus — Victor) on the tympanum at
Strzelno has its old iconographical tradition, originated from the Late Antiąue images of the
cult of Emperor, which shows the ruler trampling upon the overthrown enemy or demoniac
forces. The iconography of Christ triumphant was especially popular in the environments of
Rome and Ravenna35 also in the apse decoration.
28. Sztuka polska przedromańska i romańska do schyłku XIII icieku, Warszawa, 1972, fig. 540.
29. They appear with their names inscribed in the image of the Maiestas Domini on the tapestry in the Treasury of the Cathe-
dral in Halberstadt (ca 1170): H.L. Nickels, Deutsche romanische Bildleppiche aus dcm Domschdtzen zu Halberstadt und
Quedlinburg, Leipzig, 1970; Steenbock, op. cit., n° 119, fig. 163; the book-cover of a Psalter of ca 1220—30; Bamberg,
Staatliche Bibliothek Bihl. (48A II 47); At the mandorla the Archangel Michael fighting the dragon, Gabriel with the
applc and a scepter.
30. Book of Daniel X, 12; 12, 1; Apocalypse XII, 7.
31. Book of Daniel VIII, 16; IX, 21.
32. W. Lueken, Michael. Einc Darstellung und Yergleichung der judischen und der morgcnlandisch-christlichcn Tradition vom
Erzengel Michael, Gottingen, 1898, p. 33.
33. A. Kriicke, "Zwei Bcitrage zur Ikonographie des friihen Mittelaltcrs", Marburger Jahrbuch fur Kunstwissenschaft, X,
1937: II. Uber einige angebliche Darstelhingen Gott-Vaters im friihen Mittelalter (p. 10—11); K. Wessel in Keallexikon
zur byzanlinischen Kunst s. v. Abraham, Bd. I Stuttgart, 1966, col. 18—19: Die Philoxcnie, dh. der Empfang der drei
Engeln durch Abraham und ihre Bewirtung (Gen XVIII, 1—8).
34. W. Neuss, Die Katalonischc Bibelilluslralion urn die Wende des 1. Jahrlausends und die altspanische Buchmalcrei, Bonn
und Leipzig, 1922, fig. 9: Bibie from St Pere de Koda, I. fol. 12v (Paris, Bibl. Nat. Cod. Lat 6), the miniaturę of the begin-
ning of the XIth century after earlier scheme, the artist represented here the Christophany to Abraham; Christ is
here in the assistance of the two angels.
35. Ravenna, the baptistery of the Cathedral and the chapel of Archbischop: Deichmann, Fruhchristliche Bauten, op. cit.
fig. 84, 217.
70