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AP®︎/College Art History
Course: AP®︎/College Art History > Unit 5
Lesson 1: Medieval art in Europe- Introduction to the middle ages
- Christianity, an introduction for the study of art history
- Architecture and liturgy
- The life of Christ in medieval and Renaissance art
- A New Pictorial Language: The Image in Early Medieval Art
- Catacomb of Priscilla, Rome
- Basilica of Santa Sabina, Rome
- Santa Sabina
- Jacob wrestling the angel, Vienna Genesis
- Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well, Vienna Genesis
- A beginner's guide to Byzantine Art
- San Vitale, Ravenna
- Justinian Mosaic, San Vitale
- Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
- Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
- Theotokos mosaic, apse, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
- Hagia Sophia as a mosque
- Fibulae
- Deësis mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
- Virgin (Theotokos) and Child between Saints Theodore and George
- The Lindisfarne Gospels
- The Lindisfarne Gospels
- The Bayeux Tapestry
- The Bayeux Tapestry - Seven Ages of Britain - BBC One
- Church and Reliquary of Sainte‐Foy, France
- Chartres Cathedral
- Bible moralisée (moralized bibles)
- Saint Louis Bible (moralized bible)
- The Golden Haggadah
- Röttgen Pietà
- Röttgen Pietà
- Giotto, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel (part 1)
- Giotto, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel (part 2)
- Giotto, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel (part 3)
- Giotto, Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel (part 4)
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Jacob wrestling the angel, Vienna Genesis
The Story of Jacob, Vienna Genesis, folio 12v, early 6th century, tempera, gold and silver on purple vellum, cod. theol. gr. 31 (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna). Speakers: Dr. Nancy Ross and Dr. Steven Zucker
. Created by Nancy Ross, Steven Zucker, and Beth Harris.Want to join the conversation?
- It was mentioned within the video that the "...parchment was dyed purple...". Given that we know purple was known as an aristocratic color of the wealthy mainly due to it's extreme scarcity and its derivation from snail shells...would it be reasonable to assume that this belonged to an ex-roman priest or noble of some kind? Certainly this must have belonged to someone particularly wealthy, but I am thinking that they could have been directly descendant from the Roman clergy class as well...maybe I am reading too much in to this?(14 votes)
- Why would Jacob wrestle with an Angel?(9 votes)
- Your question made me curious about this as well! I visited several religious sites, and they generally interpret that God/the angel wrested with Jacob to "teach him a lesson." Apparently, Jacob wasn't a very nice person. When the angel wrestled with him, the angel quickly demonstrated that he was stronger than Jacob. This apparently taught Jacob humility and made him a better person. But then, despite being overpowered, Jacob bravely continued to struggle, showing that he was brave and would fight for God if God wished him to.
I'm certain I got that right, although I'm not Christian so corrections are welcome :)(18 votes)
- How did they write in silver, was the silver glued to the page?(8 votes)
- I'm guessing it was applied in the same way as gold leaf - glue in the shape of letters, then silver over the glue and the excess silver scraped away. But I'm not 100% sure.(1 vote)
- Could medieval images like this one, which bend the linear narrative LITERALLY by twisting the bridge and having inconsistent heights of columns on the bridge inspired M.C. Escher with his twisting of space in his prints?(7 votes)
- I searched alot and found plenty of resources but no where could I find the size (dimensions) of the Vienna Genesis. Does anyone know what the page sizes are?(4 votes)
- In this work, we see Jacob appearing more than once. In a work mentioned earlier, the Last Judgment of Hu-Nefer, Hu-Nefer appears multiple times as well. I was wondering, is there a certain name for when the same character appears multiple times in one work?(1 vote)
- From the author:Often this is referred to as a continuous narrative.(3 votes)
- Why was this thing in non-English?(0 votes)
- Because it is made in Byzantium! They spoke Greek!(10 votes)
- How does this work of art relate to Christian ideas?(1 vote)
- This does not relate to Christian ideas. The story is from the ancient religion of Israel, predating Christianity by centuries.(2 votes)
- What was the function specifically of the Vienna genesis(1 vote)
- In terms of the text, it was a book of the Bible. In terms of the pictures, it was to provide something to look at for people who couldn't themselves read but were in situations where the text was being read TO them.(1 vote)
- In the last part of the narrative scene, is there flattening of figures with the heads?(1 vote)
Video transcript
- [Steven] We're looking at
one of the most important early manuscripts that has survived from the early Christian or Byzantine era. This is from the early 6th century and it's called the Vienna Genesis. It's a manuscript of the
first book of the Bible. - [Nancy] And what we
see are illustrations at the bottom of each page. So the text is always on
top and these illustrations are at the bottom. - [Steven] This is really rare. Books that are 1500 years
old, don't often survive. - [Nancy] Books are often susceptible to fires and floods. And so, this is a really unique object. And it preserves some of
the earliest narrative illustrations of Bible stories. That's really important
for Christian iconography. - [Steven] But this
book is even more rare, then we might think. Not only has it survived,
but if you go back to the 6th century, there
probably weren't that many books. To produce a book was a major undertaking. - [Nancy] All of the pages, which are made from animal skin, were made in a process that's similar to making
leather but not tanned. And then all the pages were cut and ruled, and all of the text was written by hand and not in any way printed, using a press. And so, that was a very
time consuming process. - [Steven] And in this particular
case, the text is written in silver, which has now
tarnished, so it's black. But originally, it must
have been a gleaming surface and really sumptuous. - [Nancy] And it's been dyed purple, which perhaps suggests a royal commission. Writing in silver and gold
and dying parchment purple was seen as a very ostentatious thing. And it's something that Saint Jerome, an early doctor of the church
who translated the Bible into Latin, it's something
he preached against as being very un-Christian
and lacking humility. - [Steven] Now we're
not sure who made this or where it was made. Some scholars have
suggested Constantinople, others have suggested Syria. - [Nancy] So this is
kind of a strange story. What we see is that Jacob wakes up and he leads his family across the river. We see Jacob in brown with a red tunic. And he's leading servants and his wives, his wives are on donkeys. And then his sons are behind
and they are crossing a river. And we see a bridge. After they cross the river,
Jacob becomes separated from his family and he meets a man. And he wrestles with the
man and he wants the man, or is often interpreted to
be an angel, to bless him. And the angel blesses him and then the family goes on their way. One thing that happened
as a result of this story, is that the Old Testament patriarch Jacob, is no longer called Jacob
but he's called Israel. And that's seen as being
an important transformation in Jacob's life. - [Steven] It's a pretty
simple story to convey in terms of the basic narrative. But it's a more complex
story, if one thinks about trying to convey the
transformative aspect. We see a kind of classical relief that has been bent in the middle. I can almost imagine if that
bridge was straightened out and this whole thing was
unfurled, that this would make a perfect frieze, that could
have been carved in stone. And so, that classical tradition
calls itself out to me. - [Nancy] I see the artist
trying to find a way to stretch this very linear
narrative and make it fit the space of the book. Even though there is a sense
that the figures on top are further away and the
figures in the bottom are closer to us, but
there is no differentiation in terms of size. We have some interesting
anecdotal details. We see one servant or a
son looking off the bridge and looking at the water
running down below. As you can imagine people
doing when crossing a bridge. And we see one of the wives turned around. We see the form of her body
underneath her drapery, which recalls more classical forms then the early Byzantine
scene that we're looking at. - [Steven] And we see clear
references to the classical, even in the architecture of the bridge. Notice that the bridge
includes a colonnade and we can imagine classical columns. There are Roman arches
that the water courses through underneath. But I love the playfulness
and the malleability of the bridge, the way in
which the artist has been able to warp it around, so
that we're seeing both its front side and on the opposite
side on the lower right. - [Nancy] In a way it's very
typical of early Christian or early Byzantine or late antique art, we can see that the sense of
perspective is quite skewed. If we look at the columns on
the farther end of the bridge, they're taller and bigger then the columns that are nearer to us,
which is the opposite of linear perspective
or rational perspective. And that mixing up of space,
in a very intentional way, is typical of this time. And so we have these classical elements and these more realistic
elements, and they are at odds or there's a tension with
the more Byzantine elements or medieval elements. - [Steven] Here's a moment
where the physiciality of the figures, the sense
that we really can understand their bodies below the
cloth comes into play. These are two bodies that
are going at each other and although it may have
a spiritual aspect to it. Their physicality really comes into play. - [Nancy] And one of the
details of the story, is that the angel
touches Jacob's hip joint and we see that happening. And it puts Jacob's hip out
of joint and he hobbles away. And that's a part of the
story, and so we can see that pinnacle moment happening. Although it's unclear exactly
who was reading this book. What I can imagine is an
individual from a royal household sitting down to read,
perhaps in the evening and the silver letters would
be reflecting and shimmery, almost mystical candlelight. And as they're reading,
they're using the illustrations to contemplate and to bring this particular story to life.