The Simple Perception of Matter and the Representation of Narrative - Essay Example

History of Art, Journal Report Caviness on ‘The Simple Perception of Matter and the Representation of Narrative’ The simple perception of matter is amode of seeing considered as the lowest corporeal mode in contrast to higher modes, which enable truths to be reached. This visual perception in narrative form, and the attitude surrounding it, has been associated by art historians with proto-Gothic and Gothic architecture. However, the writer of the article suggests that such associations between the visual arts and coined terms are arbitrary and the ‘simple perception of matter’ is only one of several modes of seeing. Gothic architecture was manifest in the built environment. The author asserts that this should also have corresponded to a change in other media as well to distinguish this from Romanesque styles. However, he shows that as far as representational art is concerned, there is ambiguity and either case can be argued. He begins by pointing out similarities between photos of some Romanesque and Gothic representations. For example, the Last Judgement tympanum of Sainte-Foi of Conques (ca 1135) of the former, and the Last Judgement of the south transept of Chartres Cathedral (ca 1210), the Notre Dame of Paris (ca 1225), or the Bourges Cathedral (ca 1240) of the latter. All have “similar compositions, highly ordered and hierarchical, with contrasting groupings of serene figures entering heaven and dishevelled, contorted creates in Hell”. There are elements that can give clues to dating but fundamental vision is the same. However, he believes these images “belong to a distinct mode of medieval expression that transcended period styles and that corresponded to the third or spiritual mode of seeing applied by Richard of Saint-Victor to visions”. Moreover, this mode reflecting neo-platonic thought transcends the stylistic categories defined in the modern study of art history. On the other hand, Gothic architecture did bring about a fundamental change in the narrative form of expression wherein events, or sequence of events, were depicted “in terms of the specific locus, time, participants, actions, and human experience”. To illustrate this, he contrasts the Chronica Majora of the Matthew Paris (1244) with the Bayeux tapestry (1066) showing the Battle of Hastings. Both depict scenes of warfare, and share some characteristics such as schematic rendering of colour and enable either a temporal or a topographical understanding. However, there are also differences, the most obvious of which is that whereas the tapestry is a continuous strip and uses embroidery, the Matthew Paris drawings only depict selected events as illustrations to a manuscript. According to the author, whereas “the horses in the tapestry appear frozen and decorative”, the drawings are more ‘impressionistic’ because they convey action more effectively. Another difference of scale is that the former is a monumental work whereas the latter was designed for private use. The author next introduces an alternative concept in art history that of verisimilitude arguing that the new style actually displays realism as also found in for example, northern painting. This raises questions of uniqueness and the origin and basis of the style. That it was not unique is demonstrated by giving the example of Abbot Suger’s Saint-Denis glass and the Morgan Bible Picture Book depicting Old Testament battles. Concerning the origins of the new realism, Caviness mentions three areas: “observation of the natural world … dependence on a vivid, perhaps eyewitness account … [and] the copying of older works of art”; and examines each of these. Of these, the first is not considered to apply to the Middle Ages because “drawing from nature was probably not the norm at any time in the Middle Ages, even with Matthew Paris …”, and the second does not explain how form is given to images as in Matthew’s verbal and visual depiction of the death of Gilbert Mareschall. As for the existence of an earlier modulus, Caviness illustrates this with a depiction of the death of Engelram de Coucy, which is based on a drawing of the fall of Pride by Villard de Honnecourt. Caviness claims that despite some elements of originality, the allusion “may have been deliberately made in order to add an allegorical dimension to that event”. Following this, Caviness discusses attitudes toward direct narrative depiction. The Romanesque glass of Saint-Denis are said to have a symbolic ‘style of being’ because of the static figures and no reference to time or place. The narrative mode is evident in an intact panel showing the martyrdom of St. Vincent. In this ‘style of becoming’, movement is stressed and there is a contrast in colours although some physical details are derive from “older twelfth-century moduli”. Caviness points out that in referring to the narrative windows, Abbot Suger only mentioned the Jesse Tree window and considers the omissions as significant; based on distinguishing between the simple corporeal and spiritual modes of seeing. “Clearly theology did not allow high value to be placed on observation from nature for its own sake”. The second mode relates to the presence of ‘mystical significance’ but Richard of St. Victor also defines a third mode based on “discovering the ‘truth of hidden things … by means of forms and figures and the similitude of things’” such as depictions of the visions of St. John and Ezekiel’s vision. Yet another fourth mode eliminates “even the similitudes of things and involves only the ‘pure and naked seeing of divine reality’”. Despite the insignificance of depictions of outward appearances, various forms of life were rendered naturalistically in the ‘twelfth-century renaissance’. Furthermore, Caviness illustrates the exegetical function of Methuselah Master’s “skilful blending of sources … [wherein] the literal or historical sense of scripture is emphasized through verisimilitude in rendering” as in the depictions of Sheba’s attendants. However, greater weight is given to allegory than narrative. Another ‘level of meaning’ is the tropological or moral meaning as expressed in the Psychomachia of Prudentius. In short, Methuselah Master’s works blended naturalism and humanism “in a way that is almost antique in spirit”; stories were clear and convincing with detailed characterisation. Caviness finds an association with the banning of Aristotle’s works on natural sciences at the University of Paris in the early thirteenth century. On the other hand, Caviness associates the naturalism of Matthew Paris with the renewed interest in Aristotle a century later, and his use of the Franciscan thinker Robert Grosseteste’s lectures on optics for a new understanding of visual perception. Grosseteste saw light as “the divine energizing force of the universe, [which] could be studied through optics in order to arrive at both a metaphysical and a physical understanding of the universe”. However, later “a new and more powerful naturalism in the rendering of landscape and light was used as a vivid, persuasive device”. It is this “appropriation of the first mode of seeing to visionary experience” that paved the way for later trends in art. Thus, Caviness points out the expression of this vivid narrative mode in Franciscan circles in Italy. This leads Caviness to recognising “two distinct periods in the representational arts of the ‘Gothic era’, during which there was a strong orientation toward verisimilitude in the depiction of event”. The first occurred a generation after the arrival of Gothic architecture “and is closely associated with a cultural movement usually referred to as the twelfth-century renaissance”. This involved “a preference for straightforwardness and rapidity in order to create a narrative mode, at the expense of naturalistic detail” and it is from this, that a ‘pictorial enrichment’ emerged “culminating in the narrative paintings of trecento Italy. Furthermore, one of the main insights provided by Caviness is how Aristotelianism played a part as well. He showed how early theologians did not give significance to the first mode of seeing. Nevertheless, the symbolic modes continued in the form of historical exegesis as in Methuselah Master’s work and then through the emphasis on observation. Caviness concludes that, generally, the greater the rendering of human experience, spiritual truths became less evident. The exception however is of Giotto who was able to balance the simple and higher modes of seeing. Bibliography Caviness, Madeline H. 1991. ‘The Simple Perception of Matter’ and the Representation of Narrative. Gesta, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 48-64. International Center of Medieval Art. Read More