DOI article:
Adamski, Jakub: Between form and meaning: research on Gothic architecture as a bearer of ideological content in Polish historiography of the last five decades
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.54670#0008
7
new direction was set by, above all, four scholars: Richard
Krautheimer (1897-1994), Günter Bandmann (1917-1975),
Hans Sedlmayr (1896-1984) and Erwin Panofsky (1892-
1968), who most suggestively showed that the ideologi-
cal content of medieval edifices is encoded in a complex
system of architectural forms interpreted by scholars on
the level of the type and ground plan of a given structure,
its style, repertoire of motifs and decorations. Paul Cross-
ley has presented so far the best critical discussion of the
principles and methodology of the pioneering works, in
which these four scholars very clearly broke away from
the archaeological current in earlier art history Crossley
convincingly delineated two separate research attitudes evi-
dent among the four authors, whom he described as “ico-
nologists” and “iconographers” of medieval architecture.* * * * 10
In this context, “iconology”, derived from Dvorak’s
concept of Kunstgeschichte als Geistesgeschichte, signifies
the investigation of architecture as an expression of the
“spirit of the period”, which is in an indissoluble relation-
ship with other fields of human thought and creativity, es-
pecially philosophy, theology, poetry and music. The ico-
nologists looked at a work of architecture from a certain
distance, with a birds eye view, so to speak, seeking its
immanent roots in the history of ideas and demonstrating
the parallelisms between the given work and other areas
of culture. Here, Crossley included Hans Sedlmayrs spir-
itualistic conception of a Gothic cathedral as a Heaven-
ly Jerusalem, presented in 195011 - which was wholly de-
tached from any analyses of concrete edifices in terms of
the history of architecture and therefore soon, and rightly,
discredited12 - as well as the certainly more suggestive, er-
udite studies by Erwin Panofsky. In 1946 Panofsky pre-
sented a vast theory on the influence of the neo-Platonic
philosophy of Pseudo-Dionysius on certain forms of the
new choir in the church of Saint-Denis as built by Abbot
Suger - a work that begins the history of Gothic archi-
tecture.13 In 1951 he attempted to find a direct correlation
between the development of 12th- and i3th-century French
architecture and the scholastic manner of conducting
a philosophical argumentation.14
The theory regarding the influence of neo-Platonic
philosophy on the birth of Gothic architecture, later de-
veloped by Otto von Simson in his classic study of 1956,15
for many years constituted a sui generis axiom in medieval
Warsaw, 1986, pp. 55-65; idem, ‘Medieval Architecture and Mean-
ing: The Limits of Iconography’, The Burlington Magazine, 130,
1988, no. 1019, pp. 116-121; T. Rodzińska-Chorąży, Zespoły rezy-
dencjonalne, pp. 250-255 (as in note 2).
10 P. Crossley, ‘In Search’, pp. 57-64 (as in note 9).
11 H. Sedlmayr, Die Entstehung der Kathedrale, Zürich, 1950.
12 Cf. P. Crossley, ‘Medieval Architecture’, p. 119 (as in note 9).
13 E. Panofsky, Abbot Suger on the Abbey Church of St.-Denis and its
Art Treasures, Princeton, 1946.
14 Idem, Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism, New York, 1951.
15 O. von Simson, The Gothic Cathedral. Origins of Gothic Architec-
ture and the Medieval Concept of Order, New York, 1964.
studies worldwide. Polish scholars were also familiar with
it, since excerpts from Sugers writings,16 as well as Panof-
sky s texts17 and von Simsons book,18 had been translated
into Polish. Yet, although the method of iconologica! re-
search found in Poland such outstanding followers as Jan
Białostocki19 and Lech Kalinowski,20 no Polish scholars
conducted independent studies on medieval architecture
in this manner. This, however, is not surprising; Polish art
historians usually did not publish analyses of fundamen-
tal issues relating to the main currents and monuments
of medieval architecture outside Poland, and structures
found in the territories of the historical and modern-day
Poland did not yield enough material (especially histori-
cal sources) to conduct iconologica! analyses in the man-
ner of Panofsky s conception.
In addition, it must be emphasised, following Paul
Crossley, that this method carried an inherent risk of
overinterpretation,21 caused by ‘elusiveness of meaning”
(to use Ernst Gombrichs term).22 Any method does; but
in this case the danger was particularly grave. To offer
vast conceptions, based on parallels with other branches
of science and helping to set out “universal” explanations
of phenomena found in the history of art of earlier peri-
ods, and at the same time to marginalise the importance
of architectural and constructional analyses and to unrea-
sonably narrow down the context of source inquiries - all
in all, this is a classic example of how to construct a “giant
on clay feet”. The studies by Sedlmayr, von Simson and,
especially, Panofsky are undoubtedly outstanding works
of 20th-century humanities, ones that still inspire and mo-
tivate lively discussions, but their theories had been re-
futed even before the 20th century drew to a close. None of
this encouraged scholars to undertake wide-ranging ico-
nologica! research on medieval architecture as such. The
1999 book by Roland Recht was perhaps the only new at-
tempt of this kind;23 yet Paul Crossley is right in criticising
16 Myśliciele, kronikarze i artyści o sztuce od starożytności do 1500,
ed. by J. Białostocki, Warsaw, 1988, pp. 279-295.
17 E. Panofsky, Studia z historii sztuki, transi, and ed. by J. Białosto-
cki, Warsaw, 1971.
18 О. von Simson, Katedra gotycka. Jej narodziny i znaczenie, transi,
by A. Palińska, Warsaw, 1989.
19 For bibliography of Jan Białostocki up to 1981 see: Ars auro prior.
Studia loanni Białostocki sexagenario dicata, ed. by J. A. Chrości-
cki et al., Warsaw, 1981, pp. 757-768.
20 For bibliography of Lech Kalinowski see: Symbolae historiae,
pp. 13-20 (as in note 9); Magistro et amico amici discipulique. Le-
chowi Kalinowskiemu w osiemdziesięciolecie urodzin, ed. by J. Ga-
domski et al., Cracow, 2002, pp. 13-20 .
21 P. Crossley, ‘In Search’, pp. 61-63 (as in note 9); idem, ‘Medieval
architecture’, pp. 119-121 (as in note 9).
22 See E. Gombrich, ‘The Aims and Limits of Iconology,’ in idem,
Symbolic Images. Studies in the Art of the Renaissance, vol. 2, Lon-
don, 1978, pp. 1-22.
23 R. Recht, Le croire et le voire: Lart des cathédrales (XIF-XV
siècle), Paris, 1999.
new direction was set by, above all, four scholars: Richard
Krautheimer (1897-1994), Günter Bandmann (1917-1975),
Hans Sedlmayr (1896-1984) and Erwin Panofsky (1892-
1968), who most suggestively showed that the ideologi-
cal content of medieval edifices is encoded in a complex
system of architectural forms interpreted by scholars on
the level of the type and ground plan of a given structure,
its style, repertoire of motifs and decorations. Paul Cross-
ley has presented so far the best critical discussion of the
principles and methodology of the pioneering works, in
which these four scholars very clearly broke away from
the archaeological current in earlier art history Crossley
convincingly delineated two separate research attitudes evi-
dent among the four authors, whom he described as “ico-
nologists” and “iconographers” of medieval architecture.* * * * 10
In this context, “iconology”, derived from Dvorak’s
concept of Kunstgeschichte als Geistesgeschichte, signifies
the investigation of architecture as an expression of the
“spirit of the period”, which is in an indissoluble relation-
ship with other fields of human thought and creativity, es-
pecially philosophy, theology, poetry and music. The ico-
nologists looked at a work of architecture from a certain
distance, with a birds eye view, so to speak, seeking its
immanent roots in the history of ideas and demonstrating
the parallelisms between the given work and other areas
of culture. Here, Crossley included Hans Sedlmayrs spir-
itualistic conception of a Gothic cathedral as a Heaven-
ly Jerusalem, presented in 195011 - which was wholly de-
tached from any analyses of concrete edifices in terms of
the history of architecture and therefore soon, and rightly,
discredited12 - as well as the certainly more suggestive, er-
udite studies by Erwin Panofsky. In 1946 Panofsky pre-
sented a vast theory on the influence of the neo-Platonic
philosophy of Pseudo-Dionysius on certain forms of the
new choir in the church of Saint-Denis as built by Abbot
Suger - a work that begins the history of Gothic archi-
tecture.13 In 1951 he attempted to find a direct correlation
between the development of 12th- and i3th-century French
architecture and the scholastic manner of conducting
a philosophical argumentation.14
The theory regarding the influence of neo-Platonic
philosophy on the birth of Gothic architecture, later de-
veloped by Otto von Simson in his classic study of 1956,15
for many years constituted a sui generis axiom in medieval
Warsaw, 1986, pp. 55-65; idem, ‘Medieval Architecture and Mean-
ing: The Limits of Iconography’, The Burlington Magazine, 130,
1988, no. 1019, pp. 116-121; T. Rodzińska-Chorąży, Zespoły rezy-
dencjonalne, pp. 250-255 (as in note 2).
10 P. Crossley, ‘In Search’, pp. 57-64 (as in note 9).
11 H. Sedlmayr, Die Entstehung der Kathedrale, Zürich, 1950.
12 Cf. P. Crossley, ‘Medieval Architecture’, p. 119 (as in note 9).
13 E. Panofsky, Abbot Suger on the Abbey Church of St.-Denis and its
Art Treasures, Princeton, 1946.
14 Idem, Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism, New York, 1951.
15 O. von Simson, The Gothic Cathedral. Origins of Gothic Architec-
ture and the Medieval Concept of Order, New York, 1964.
studies worldwide. Polish scholars were also familiar with
it, since excerpts from Sugers writings,16 as well as Panof-
sky s texts17 and von Simsons book,18 had been translated
into Polish. Yet, although the method of iconologica! re-
search found in Poland such outstanding followers as Jan
Białostocki19 and Lech Kalinowski,20 no Polish scholars
conducted independent studies on medieval architecture
in this manner. This, however, is not surprising; Polish art
historians usually did not publish analyses of fundamen-
tal issues relating to the main currents and monuments
of medieval architecture outside Poland, and structures
found in the territories of the historical and modern-day
Poland did not yield enough material (especially histori-
cal sources) to conduct iconologica! analyses in the man-
ner of Panofsky s conception.
In addition, it must be emphasised, following Paul
Crossley, that this method carried an inherent risk of
overinterpretation,21 caused by ‘elusiveness of meaning”
(to use Ernst Gombrichs term).22 Any method does; but
in this case the danger was particularly grave. To offer
vast conceptions, based on parallels with other branches
of science and helping to set out “universal” explanations
of phenomena found in the history of art of earlier peri-
ods, and at the same time to marginalise the importance
of architectural and constructional analyses and to unrea-
sonably narrow down the context of source inquiries - all
in all, this is a classic example of how to construct a “giant
on clay feet”. The studies by Sedlmayr, von Simson and,
especially, Panofsky are undoubtedly outstanding works
of 20th-century humanities, ones that still inspire and mo-
tivate lively discussions, but their theories had been re-
futed even before the 20th century drew to a close. None of
this encouraged scholars to undertake wide-ranging ico-
nologica! research on medieval architecture as such. The
1999 book by Roland Recht was perhaps the only new at-
tempt of this kind;23 yet Paul Crossley is right in criticising
16 Myśliciele, kronikarze i artyści o sztuce od starożytności do 1500,
ed. by J. Białostocki, Warsaw, 1988, pp. 279-295.
17 E. Panofsky, Studia z historii sztuki, transi, and ed. by J. Białosto-
cki, Warsaw, 1971.
18 О. von Simson, Katedra gotycka. Jej narodziny i znaczenie, transi,
by A. Palińska, Warsaw, 1989.
19 For bibliography of Jan Białostocki up to 1981 see: Ars auro prior.
Studia loanni Białostocki sexagenario dicata, ed. by J. A. Chrości-
cki et al., Warsaw, 1981, pp. 757-768.
20 For bibliography of Lech Kalinowski see: Symbolae historiae,
pp. 13-20 (as in note 9); Magistro et amico amici discipulique. Le-
chowi Kalinowskiemu w osiemdziesięciolecie urodzin, ed. by J. Ga-
domski et al., Cracow, 2002, pp. 13-20 .
21 P. Crossley, ‘In Search’, pp. 61-63 (as in note 9); idem, ‘Medieval
architecture’, pp. 119-121 (as in note 9).
22 See E. Gombrich, ‘The Aims and Limits of Iconology,’ in idem,
Symbolic Images. Studies in the Art of the Renaissance, vol. 2, Lon-
don, 1978, pp. 1-22.
23 R. Recht, Le croire et le voire: Lart des cathédrales (XIF-XV
siècle), Paris, 1999.