DOI Heft:
II. Ostatnie prace Jana Białostockiego
DOI Artikel:Z książek
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19643#0277
BOOKS OF WISDOM AND BOOKS OF VANITY*
(Z: The Message oflmages. Studies in Bisiory for Art, Vienna 1988)
To the memory of Jan G. van Gelder
B1
y the title of this essay I mean to stress the fact that double meaning is in many ways
rooted in symbolical thinking in generał. I intend to discuss the ambiguity of books and of
reading as represented in art, especially in Netherlandish and Dutch art, and especially by
Rembrandt1.
Not everyone, of course, believes, like Malarme, that "tout au monde existe pour aboutir a
un livre", but one must admit that the book has always been a very important symbol for
scholars and thinkers2. First of all, of course, it was a religious symbol. Books have been
important, highly venerated symbols in many religions, but it was in Christian religion that
the book reached its most prominent position. In ludaism, too, the Bibie was of basie
importance, of course, but the limitations put on representing things in art prevented it from
playing a role comparable to the one it has had in Christian art. For a long time in medieval
art Christ and His saints were shown with books of divine wisdom, the symbols of God's
message to men. Reading a book as well as writing one were considered religious activities
involved in conveying God's message to man.
The usual way to represent the Evangelists and Church Fathers was to show them as
scholars writing or reading: their scholarship was a divine calling, and books were symbols of
this. In łate medieval cycles, such as Tommaso da Modena's series of Dominican saints in the
Church of San Niccoló (1352) in Treviso, or Master Theodorik's series of saints and secular
dignitaries of the Empire in the Holy Cross Chapel (before 1365) in Karlstejn Castle, books
are obviously symbols of divine wisdom.
The sacredness of the written texts included in these paintings is brought out especially in
the ones where the texts are shown as being attacked by the devil. Jan G. van Gelder, in one of
his fine articles on problems in iconography, studied the motif of the devil stealing an inkpot
to preveng a sacred text from being written3. The devil was also able to interfere with one's
reading: in Hugo van der Goes' painting of St. Genevieve, in Yienna, the devil tries to put out
18 Rocznik Muzeum Nar. XXXV
273
(Z: The Message oflmages. Studies in Bisiory for Art, Vienna 1988)
To the memory of Jan G. van Gelder
B1
y the title of this essay I mean to stress the fact that double meaning is in many ways
rooted in symbolical thinking in generał. I intend to discuss the ambiguity of books and of
reading as represented in art, especially in Netherlandish and Dutch art, and especially by
Rembrandt1.
Not everyone, of course, believes, like Malarme, that "tout au monde existe pour aboutir a
un livre", but one must admit that the book has always been a very important symbol for
scholars and thinkers2. First of all, of course, it was a religious symbol. Books have been
important, highly venerated symbols in many religions, but it was in Christian religion that
the book reached its most prominent position. In ludaism, too, the Bibie was of basie
importance, of course, but the limitations put on representing things in art prevented it from
playing a role comparable to the one it has had in Christian art. For a long time in medieval
art Christ and His saints were shown with books of divine wisdom, the symbols of God's
message to men. Reading a book as well as writing one were considered religious activities
involved in conveying God's message to man.
The usual way to represent the Evangelists and Church Fathers was to show them as
scholars writing or reading: their scholarship was a divine calling, and books were symbols of
this. In łate medieval cycles, such as Tommaso da Modena's series of Dominican saints in the
Church of San Niccoló (1352) in Treviso, or Master Theodorik's series of saints and secular
dignitaries of the Empire in the Holy Cross Chapel (before 1365) in Karlstejn Castle, books
are obviously symbols of divine wisdom.
The sacredness of the written texts included in these paintings is brought out especially in
the ones where the texts are shown as being attacked by the devil. Jan G. van Gelder, in one of
his fine articles on problems in iconography, studied the motif of the devil stealing an inkpot
to preveng a sacred text from being written3. The devil was also able to interfere with one's
reading: in Hugo van der Goes' painting of St. Genevieve, in Yienna, the devil tries to put out
18 Rocznik Muzeum Nar. XXXV
273