DOI article:
Miodońska, Barbara: Rex regum i rex Poloniae w dekoracji malarskiej Graduału Jana Olbrachta i Pontyfikału Erazma Ciołka: z zagadnień ikonografii władzy królewskiej w sztuce polskiej wieku XVI
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26594#0227
SUMMARY
Kccl&sia HM^żaTM and the Eccle.s:'a ^r:'ampAa7M are one. The set of three historiated
initials of the .Saac^as is directly linked with the text. This link has been made clear
by introducing the words of the prayer into the miniature as inscriptions on the scrolls
and as texts in the books from which the angels and the choir of the &-Aola cantoram
are singing. Both the angel choir (-Saac^as II) and the cathedral choir (.Saactas III)
use the same words and musical notation as those on the pages of the actual Gradual.
In this way, the function of the liturgical book is shown at the same time.
In the miniatures in .Saactas I and II the illuminators made use of graphic pat-
terns; a copper engraving by M. Schongauer B. 71 and the wood-cut on the title-page
of H. Schedel's Lr&er croaicaram (Nuremberg, printed by A. Koberger, 1493). The
representation of the choir of acolytes accompanying NaKciMS III was the starting
point for the same motif in the miniatures depicting the King's Enthronement and
the Bishop's Consecration in Ciolek's Pontifical.
The iconographic programme of the .Sanctas texts in Albert's Gradual has now
no counterpart in Polish illumination, but related representations may be found in
numerous Czech MSS from the so-called Jagiellonian period.
e. The Introit.
"Yntto po^estas nisi a Deo"
(Part I, folio 29^) ills. 13—15 and 51—67
The programme of the illumination of the pages with the text of the fatroit for the first
Sunday in Advent, te devaur" (Psalm 24 (25), 1—3, 4) is in the nature of a com-
mentary which supplements and interprets this text in a manner directly linked with
the person of the royal patron of the MS. In the initial, the Pope and the King are
represented on Earth (terra) kneeling and adoring God, the Ruler of the World,
Who is holding in His hand a pomegranate (wraAt??!, pMatcam.) instead of the royal
orb. The figure motifs in the decorated margins show a child riding a wooden horse
(model: Israhel van Meckenem, B. 188) among resting deer (M. Schongauer, B. 94)
and pairs of wrestling striplings (M. Schongauer, B. 91) and fighting lizards.
The miniature is an individual metamorphosis and enrichment of the motifs and
ideological conceptions of the iconographic representations traditionally connected
with the text te levav:". These are God as the Ruler of the World (often adored
by the donor of the MS), David's Prayer and the Prayer of Gregory the Great. These
subjects, closely associated with the content of the liturgy for the Arst Sunday in Ad-
vent, originated in the distant past in connection with the method of literal illustra-
tion of the text of the Psalter and, at Arst appearing separately, became joined to-
gether in one picture, an isolated incident found not only in Polish book illustration.
Placing side by side two Agures so heavily charged with meaning by the age-old
tradition of Christian culture as Gregory the Great and David, the legendary creators
of the liturgy and church music, and at the same time the ideal representatives of
5acer<7ottMrn- and regvmm, the patterns of Popes and Christian kings, enriched the
range of the ideological content of the picture. At the same time the juxtaposition
of the Earth, on which the Pope and King are kneeling, with the pomegranate, the
symbol of resurrection and the life eternal, fulAlling the function of the royal orb
in the hands of God, and also the formula for the composition of the miniature —
three hierarchized Agures forming a triangle -— endow the ideological content of the
miniature with a dual structure. One of these stratiAcations contains the liturgical
signiAcance, while the other refers to the structure of power; the origination of all
Kccl&sia HM^żaTM and the Eccle.s:'a ^r:'ampAa7M are one. The set of three historiated
initials of the .Saac^as is directly linked with the text. This link has been made clear
by introducing the words of the prayer into the miniature as inscriptions on the scrolls
and as texts in the books from which the angels and the choir of the &-Aola cantoram
are singing. Both the angel choir (-Saac^as II) and the cathedral choir (.Saactas III)
use the same words and musical notation as those on the pages of the actual Gradual.
In this way, the function of the liturgical book is shown at the same time.
In the miniatures in .Saactas I and II the illuminators made use of graphic pat-
terns; a copper engraving by M. Schongauer B. 71 and the wood-cut on the title-page
of H. Schedel's Lr&er croaicaram (Nuremberg, printed by A. Koberger, 1493). The
representation of the choir of acolytes accompanying NaKciMS III was the starting
point for the same motif in the miniatures depicting the King's Enthronement and
the Bishop's Consecration in Ciolek's Pontifical.
The iconographic programme of the .Sanctas texts in Albert's Gradual has now
no counterpart in Polish illumination, but related representations may be found in
numerous Czech MSS from the so-called Jagiellonian period.
e. The Introit.
"Yntto po^estas nisi a Deo"
(Part I, folio 29^) ills. 13—15 and 51—67
The programme of the illumination of the pages with the text of the fatroit for the first
Sunday in Advent, te devaur" (Psalm 24 (25), 1—3, 4) is in the nature of a com-
mentary which supplements and interprets this text in a manner directly linked with
the person of the royal patron of the MS. In the initial, the Pope and the King are
represented on Earth (terra) kneeling and adoring God, the Ruler of the World,
Who is holding in His hand a pomegranate (wraAt??!, pMatcam.) instead of the royal
orb. The figure motifs in the decorated margins show a child riding a wooden horse
(model: Israhel van Meckenem, B. 188) among resting deer (M. Schongauer, B. 94)
and pairs of wrestling striplings (M. Schongauer, B. 91) and fighting lizards.
The miniature is an individual metamorphosis and enrichment of the motifs and
ideological conceptions of the iconographic representations traditionally connected
with the text te levav:". These are God as the Ruler of the World (often adored
by the donor of the MS), David's Prayer and the Prayer of Gregory the Great. These
subjects, closely associated with the content of the liturgy for the Arst Sunday in Ad-
vent, originated in the distant past in connection with the method of literal illustra-
tion of the text of the Psalter and, at Arst appearing separately, became joined to-
gether in one picture, an isolated incident found not only in Polish book illustration.
Placing side by side two Agures so heavily charged with meaning by the age-old
tradition of Christian culture as Gregory the Great and David, the legendary creators
of the liturgy and church music, and at the same time the ideal representatives of
5acer<7ottMrn- and regvmm, the patterns of Popes and Christian kings, enriched the
range of the ideological content of the picture. At the same time the juxtaposition
of the Earth, on which the Pope and King are kneeling, with the pomegranate, the
symbol of resurrection and the life eternal, fulAlling the function of the royal orb
in the hands of God, and also the formula for the composition of the miniature —
three hierarchized Agures forming a triangle -— endow the ideological content of the
miniature with a dual structure. One of these stratiAcations contains the liturgical
signiAcance, while the other refers to the structure of power; the origination of all