Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie (15.1974)

on the tympanum at Strzelno and create an ecclesiological motif, having the important examplc
in the Benedictine and Premonstratensian iconography3'.

In the apse and on the tympanum of the Abbey Church in Cluny there was the representation
of the Maiestas Domini in which Christ was shown as rex coeli et redemptor. A preserved litograph
brings the record that in the corners of the tympanum there were two pairs of saints on both
sides shown in fuli figurę, identified as four Evangelists40 or St Peter, Paul, James and John41.
Peter and Paul are the patrons of Cluny aud their juxtaposition with James, ihe patron of
the pilgrims to Santiago in Compostella, was of a special significance for the Cluny Abbey, sińce
the monks not only maintained close relations with Spain and organized pilgrimages but also
obtained rich donations from the Kings of Spain to contribute to the construetion and endow-
ment of the church. The juxtaposition of three Apostles with St John the Evangelist, brother
of James, appears also on the other Benedictine church portals. From the Guidebook written
for the pilgrims we may learn that the images of these four saints were situated at the wali
of the Northern portal of the Cathedral of St James in Compostella, later destroyed12. The same
is true of the central portal of the Abbey of St Gilles which was closely connected with Cluny.

The painting i.i the apse of the Abbey Church in Cluny, consecrated in 1095, destroyed soon
after the French Revolution, might be similar to a slightly later painting preserved in the apse
of St Angelo in Formis, the work of Byzantine painters brought by the Abbot Desiderius or
by their pupils43. Christ surrounded with symbols of the Four Evangelists is seated on the throne
blessing and holding an open book resting on his knee, with the inscription: Ego sum alpha et
omega, primus et novissimus. Above the head of Christ in the top of the vault of the apse, there is
the Dove (species S. Spiritus). In the lower part of the painting the central place is filled with
the figures of Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. On the right side St Benedict is stan-
ding with the monastic rule and on the left the Abbot Desiderius with the model of the church.
We must recall here the painting from the Chapel of Barzć-la-Ville with the Roman scheme of
the scenę of Traditio Legis, which refers to the very special relations of Cluny with Rome;
in 910 the solemn donatio took place of the Abbey to St Peter and Paul14.

In the Brandenburg Cathedral the Evangelistary is preserved of the beginning of the XIIIth
century which previously belonged to the Premonstratensians. The fnll-page miniaturę of
this liturgical manuscript represents Christ who gives the keys to St Peter and the book to St
Paul.45

In the Lectionary of the Ilnd ąuarter of the XIIth century in Halberstadt there is the repre-
sentation of the Maiestas Domini, belonging — like the miniaturę of the Premonstratensian

39. J. Evans, Cluniac Art of the Romanesąue Period, Cambridge, 1950, p. 53—67: Part III, Cluniac Iconography.

40. K. J. Conant, "The Third Church at Cluny", Medicval Studies in Memory of A. Kingsley Porter, II, Cambridge Mass,
1939, p. 327—375.

41. W. Weisbach, Religiose Reform utul mittelalterliche Kunst, Einsiedeln-Ziirich, 1945, p. 230; H. Hollandcr, Das romanische
Tympanon, Diss. Univ. Tiibingen, 1959: Exkurs iiber die Rekonstruktion des Tympanons von Cluny III.

42. G. De Valons, Lc monachisme elunisien des origines au XVe siecle, Vie interieure des monasteres et organisation de l'ordre,
II, L'ordre de Cluny, Paris 1970, p. 214; J. Vielliard, Le guide da peierin de Saint Jacąucs de Compostclle, Macon, 1963,
p. 96—97: De porta Septemtrionali.

43. This opinion was expressed by T. Anlhony, op. cit, p. 90—91, fig. 128; .1. Wettstein, Sont'Angelo in Formis et la peinture
mediiwale en Campagnie, Geneve, 1960, p. 31—32, p. 4 (Christ from the apse); A. Moppert-Schmidt "Die Fresken von
S. Angelo in Formis", Phil. Diss., [/nit). Basel, Zurich 1967 expresses a different opinion: on the basis of the stylistic and
iconographica] analysis; the paintings belong to the autochtonie art of Italy. Alleged Byzantine influences werc rejected
and the connections with the Roman art in the system of decoration and iconography have becn ]>ointed out; the tech-
nics of the murals and iconographical details are Byzantine.

44. O. Demus, Romanisclic Wandmalerei, Miinchcn, 1968, p. 136—137, fig. 84, 85; Evans, Cluniac Art, op. cii., p. 65, fig. 21.

45. J. Gulden, E. Rothe, B. Opfermann, Brandcnburger Evangclistar, Leipzig, 1961, p. 48 fig. to the p. 51 (fol. 95a).

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