Cover
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface: Withdrawal and Presence
Elina Gertsman
Part I: Abstraction / Aporia / Unknowability
1. Colour as Subject
Vincent Debiais
2. Abstraction’s Gothic Grounds1
Aden Kumler
3. Abstraction in the Kennicott Bible
Adam S. Cohen and Linda Safran
4. Back-to-Front: Abstraction and Figuration in Bosch’s Visions of the Hereafter
Robert Mills
Part II: Abstraction / Figuration / Signification
5. The Painted Logos: Abstraction as Exegesis in the Ashburnham Pentateuch
Danny Smith
6. The Sign within the Form, the Form without the Sign: Monograms and Pseudo-Monograms as Abstractions in Mozarabic Antiphonaries
Benjamin C. Tilghman
7. Ornament and Abstraction: A New Approach to Understanding Ornamented Writing in the Making of Illuminated Manuscripts around 1000
Gia Toussaint
8. The Double-Sided Image: Abstraction and Figuration in Early Medieval Painting1
Nancy Thebaut
Part III: Abstraction / Epistemology / Perception
9. Birds of Defiance: Jewelled Resistance to Modern Abstractions
Danielle B. Joyner
10. Early Romanesque Abstraction and the ‘Unconditionally Two-dimensional Surface’
Megan C. McNamee
11. Functional Abstraction in Medieval Anatomical Diagrams
Taylor McCall
12. Imaging Perfection(s) in Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts
Julie A. Harris
13. Response: Astral Abstraction
Herbert L. Kessler
14. Coda: Carolingian Art As Conceptual Art?
Charlotte Denoël
Index
Illustrations
Figure 0-1. Matzah, the Hispano-Moresque Haggadah, 1275-1324. London, British Library, Or. 2737, fol. 22r. Photo: The British Library.
Figure 0-2. ‘Matzah’, the Hispano-Moresque Haggadah, 1275-1324. London, British Library, Or. 2737, fol. 21v. Photo: The British Library.
Figure 1-1. Silos Beatus, 1091-1109. London, British Library, Add. 11695, fol. 125v. Photo: The British Library.
Figure 1-2. Urgell Beatus, c. 975. Seu d’Urgell, Museo Diocesano, ms. 501, fol. 123v. Previously reproduced in Francisco Prado-Vilar, “Silentium: El silentio cósmico como imagen en la Edad Media y la Modernidad,” Revista de poética medieval 27 (2013): 21-
Figure 1-3. Cologne Gospels, c. 1030. New York, Morgan Library, ms. 651, fols. 8v-9r.
Figure 1-4. St. Vitus Sacramentary, c. 1050. Freiburg, Universitätsbibliothek, cod. 360a, fol. 20r.
Figure 1-5. Biblical narratives on the vault, c. 1100. Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe, abbey church, nave. Photo: Vincent Debiais.
Figure 1-6. Gospels of St Andrew of Cologne, end of the 10th century. Darmstadt, Hessisches Landesmuseum, Inv. Nr. KG 54: 213a, b, fol. 126v. Previously reproduced in Herbert Kessler, Seeing Medieval Art (Broadview Press, 2005), cover.
Figure 2-1. Guillaume de Digulleville, Pèlerinage de l’âme, c. 1404-1405. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 829, fol. 219v, detail. Photo courtesy of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Figure 2-2. Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum historiale, 1346. Lyon, BM, MS fr. 182 (110), fol. 233r. Photo: IRHT, courtesy of the IRHT and the Bibliothèque municipale de Lyon.
Figure 2-3. Guillaume de Digulleville, Pèlerinage de l’âme, c. 1404-1405. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 829, fol. 39r. Photo courtesy of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Figure 2-4. Guillaume de Digulleville, Pèlerinage de l’âme, c. 1404-1405. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 829, fol. 10v. Photo courtesy of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Figure 2-5. Guillaume de Digulleville, Pèlerinage de l’âme, c. 1404-1405. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 829, fol. 39r. Photo courtesy of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Figure 2-6. Grandes Chroniques de France, after 1380. London, British Library, Royal MS 20.C.VII, fol. 107v, detail. Photo courtesy of the British Library Board.
Figure 2-7. Guillaume de Digulleville, Pèlerinage de l’âme, c. 1390-1401. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 12465, fol. 147v, detail. Photo courtesy of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Figure 3-1. Front (right) and rear (left) bindings with abstract ornament in relief, the Kennicott Bible, 1476. Oxford, Bodleian Lib., MS. Kenn. 1. Photo © The Bodleian Libraries, The University of Oxford.
Figure 3-2. Front (right) and rear (left) pastedowns, the Kennicott Bible, 1476. Oxford, Bodleian Lib., MS. Kenn. 1. Photo © The Bodleian Libraries, The University of Oxford.
Figure 3-3. Joseph Ibn Hayyim, abstract ornament, the Kennicott Bible, 1476. Oxford, Bodleian Lib., MS. Kenn. 1, fols. 119v (strapwork panel at end of Deuteronomy) and 120r (carpet page with interlace frame for bleed-through of first page with Temple impl
Figure 3-4. Joseph Ibn Hayyim, abstract ornament, the Kennicott Bible, 1476. Oxford, Bodleian Lib., MS. Kenn. 1, fols. 121v (bleed-through of carpet page with Temple implements) and 122r (carpet page with dragons in spandrels). Photo © The Bodleian Librar
Figure 3-5. Joseph Ibn Hayyim, abstract ornament, the Kennicott Bible, 1476. Oxford, Bodleian Lib., MS. Kenn. 1, fols. 122v (interlaced six-pointed star in interlace roundel) and 123r (carpet page with gold on blue strapwork forming eight-pointed stars).
Figure 3-6. Joseph Ibn Hayyim, abstract ornament, the Kennicott Bible, 1476. Oxford, Bodleian Lib., MS. Kenn. 1, fols. 317v–318r, carpet pages with micrographic interlace composed of verses from Psalms. Photo © The Bodleian Libraries, The University of Ox
Figure 3-7. Joseph Ibn Hayyim, abstract ornament, the Kennicott Bible, 1476. Oxford, Bodleian Lib., MS. Kenn. 1, fols. 352r (left; strapwork panel at end of Chronicles) and, on the reverse (right), fol. 352v (carpet page preceding Psalms on fol. 353r). Ph
Figure 4-1. Hieronymus Bosch, Visions of the Hereafter, c. 1505-1515, featuring from left to right The Fall of the Damned, The River to Hell (or Purgatory), The Garden of Eden, and The Ascent of the Blessed. Oil on oak panel, each panel approx. 89 × 40 cm
Figure 4-2. Hieronymus Bosch, images on reverse of Visions of the Hereafter panels, c. 1505-1515. Source: Bosch Research and Conservation Project, http://boschproject.org.
Figure 4-3. Jan Provoost, exterior wings from Triptych with the Virgin and Child, John the Evangelist, and Mary Magdalene, c. 1520-1525. Oil on panel, 44.3 × 30.5 cm. The Hague, Mauritshuis.
Figure 4-4. Workshop of Hieronymus Bosch, exterior wings of Job Triptych, c. 1510-1520. Oil on oak panel, left wing 98.1 × 30.5 cm, right wing 97.8 × 30. 2 cm. Bruges, Stad Brugge, Groeningemuseum (on loan from Church of Saint James the Greater, Hoeke, Da
Figure 4-5. Hieronymus Bosch, detail of reverse of The Ascent of the Blessed panel from Visions of the Hereafter. Source: Bosch Research and Conservation Project, http://boschproject.org.
Figure 4-6. Hieronymus Bosch, detail of The Ascent of the Blessed panel from Visions of the Hereafter. Source: Bosch Research and Conservation Project, http://boschproject.org.
Figure 5-1. Creation, Ashburnham Pentateuch, 6th century, with 9th-century repainting. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS nouv. acq. lat. 2334, fol. 1v. Photo courtesy of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Figure 5-2. God the Son, Ashburnham Pentateuch. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS nouv. acq. lat. 2334, fol. 1v, detail. Photo courtesy of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Figure 5-3. Barnett Newman, Onement 1, 1948. Oil on canvas and oil on masking tape on canvas. 27 1/4 x 16 1/4” (69.2 x 41.2 cm). 390.1992. Museum of Modern Art, New York, Gift of Annalee Newman. © 2018 Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation / Artists Right
Figure 5-4. God the Son, Ashburnham Pentateuch. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS nouv. acq. lat. 2334, fol. 65v, detail. Photo courtesy of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Figure 5-5. Evangelistenblatt (Evangelists), Aachen Gospels, 9th century. Aachen, Cathedral Treasury, Aachen Gospels, fol. 14v. © Domkapitel Aachen, photo: Ann Münchow.
Figure 5-6. Ascension, Tiberius Psalter, c. 1075-1150. London, British Library, Cotton MS Tiberius C VI, fol. 15r. Photo: British Library, London, UK©British Library Board. All Rights Reserved/Bridgeman Images.
Figure 5-7. God in a white cloud with red rays, Ashburnham Pentateuch. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS nouv. acq. lat. 2334, fol. 76r, detail. Photo courtesy of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Figure 6-1. Vespertinum Monogram, Silos Apocalypse, 11th century, Santo Domingo de Silos, Spain. London, British Library, Add MS 11695, fol. 4r. Creative Commons CC0 1.0.
Figure 6-2. Vespertinum Monogram, León Antiphonary, early 10th century, León, Spain. Fol. 232r, MS. 8, Archivo de la Catedral de León. Creative Commons 4.0, CC-BY.
Figure 6-3. Alpha and Maiestas Domini, St. Gregory’s Moralia in Job, early 10th century, León, Spain. Fols. 1v-2r, MS 80, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid. Creative Commons, CC-BY-NC-SA.
Figure 6-4. Colophon and Omega, St. Gregory’s Moralia in Job, early 10th century, León, Spain. Fols. 500v-501r, MS 80, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid. Creative Commons, CC-BY-NC-SA.
Figure 6-5. Vespertinum Monograms. a.) With St. Andrew, León Antiphonary, early 10th century, León, Spain. Archivo de la Catedral de León, MS. 8, fol. 39v. CC-BY; b) León Antiphonary, early 10th century, León, Spain. Archivo de la Catedral de León, MS. 8,
Figure 6-6. Vespertinum Monogram, Antiphonal of the Roman Liturgy 11th century, Santo Domingo de Silos, Spain. London, British Library, Add MS 30850, fol. 206v. © British Library Board.
Figure 6-7. Jasper Johns, Alphabet, 1959. paper on hardboard; 30.5 × 26.7 cm; ref. no. 2015.121. Art Institute of Chicago. © 2020 Jasper Johns / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY.
Figure 6-8. Decorated Letters and Vespertinum Monogram, Antiphonal of the Roman Liturgy, 11th century, Santo Domingo de Silos, Spain. London, British Library, Add MS 30850, fol. 6r. Creative Commons CC0 1.0.
Figure 7-1. St. John (left) and In principio, the first words of the gospel of John (right), Reichenauer Perikopenbuch, beginning of the 11th century. Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek, Cod. Guelf. 84.5 Aug. 2°, fol. 4v and 5r. Photo: courtesy Herzog
Figure 7-2. Donation scene with crowning of St. Wenceslas, Wenceslas’s vita, before 1006. Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek, Cod. Guelf. 11.2 Aug. 4°, fol. 18v. Photo: courtesy Herzog August Bibliothek.
Figure 7-3 a/b. Ob honorem Sancti Martini, written as an ornamental letter maze; original (left) and overlay with word patterns highlighted (right), Codex Albeldense, dated 976. Madrid, Biblioteca Real Monasterio San Lorenzo et de El Escorial, MS D. I. 2.
Figure 7-4 a/b. Maurelli Abbatis Librum, written as an ornamental letter maze; original (left) and overlay with word patterns highlighted (right), Codex Albeldense, dated 976. Madrid, Biblioteca Real Monasterio San Lorenzo et de El Escorial, MS D. I. 2.,
Figure 7-5. Vigila illuminates the codex, Codex Albeldense, dated 976. Madrid, Biblioteca Real Monasterio San Lorenzo et de El Escorial, MS D. I. 2., fol. 22v. Photo: courtesy Patrimonio Nacional.
Figure 7-6. Codex and lector, Codex Albeldense, dated 976. Madrid, Biblioteca Real Monasterio San Lorenzo et de El Escorial, MS D. I. 2., fol. 20v. Photo: courtesy Patrimonio Nacional.
Figure 8-1. Monochrome painting and visible contours of verso image (evangelist portrait), Gospel book with lections, mid- to late 11th century, Echternach. London, British Library, MS Egerton 608, fol. 87r. By permission of The British Library.
Figure 8-2. Striped painting, Gospel book with lections, mid- to late 11th century, Echternach. London, British Library, MS Egerton 608, fol. 59r. By permission of The British Library.
Figure 8-3. Author portrait of the Evangelist Luke, Gospel book with lections, mid- to late 11th century, Echternach. London, British Library, MS Egerton 608, fol. 87v. By permission of The British Library.
Figure 8-4 Monochrome painting and visible contours of verso image (Maiestas domini), Codex Aureus of Echternach, c. 1040, Echternach. Nürnberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Hs. 156 142, fol. 2r. Image courtesy of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum.
Figure 8-5. Monochrome painting and visible contours of verso image (Maiestas domini), Gospel book with lections, mid- to late 11th century, Echternach. London, British Library, MS Egerton 608, fol. 1r. By permission of The British Library.
Figure 8-6. ‘Curtain’ page with lions, Codex Aureus of Echternach, c. 1040, Echternach. Nürnberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Hs. 156 142, fols. 75v-76r. Image courtesy of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum.
Figure 8-7. ‘Curtain’ page and visible contours of verso image (Maiestas domini), Gospels with canon tables, chapter lists, and lections, mid- to late 11th century, Echternach. London, British Library, MS Harley 2821, fol. 1r. By permission of The British
Figure 8-8. Maiestas domini, Gospel book with lections, mid- to late 11th century, Echternach. London, British Library, MS Egerton 608, fol. 1v. By permission of The British Library.
Figure 9-1. Eagle/Osprey with Fish Brooch, second half of the 6th century. Gold, silver, garnet, glass, 1.9 x 3.8 x 0.9 cm. New York City, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 17.192.176. Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Figure 9-2. Raptor Brooch, c. 500-600. Gold, garnet, glass, pearl, 2.1 x 3.3 x 0.8 cm. New York City, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 17.191.165. Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Figure 10-1. Charles the Bald enthroned, Codex aureus of Charles the Bald (or ‘of Saint Emmeram’), 879. Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 14000, fol. 5v. Photo courtesy of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.
Figure 10-2. Henry II enthroned, Sacramentary of Henry II, c. 1002-1007. Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 4456, fol. 11v. Photo courtesy of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.
Figure 10-3. A three-dimensional geometrical proof ‘dissolved’ into two-dimensional surfaces, Calcidius’s Commentary on the Timaeus of Plato with the ‘Brussels gloss’, late 10th century, Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België, ms. 9625-26, fol. 13r, detail. P
Figure 10-4. A picture of a cube added beside a verbal description of a cube, Boethius’s On Arithmetic, 10th century. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 6401, fol. 133v, detail. Photo courtesy of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Figure 11-1. Arteries (L) and Bones (R), c. 1200, England. Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College MS 190/223, fols. 2v-3r. Courtesy of the Master and Fellows of Gonville and Caius College.
Figure 11-2. Male Reproductive System (L) and Stomach and Internal Organs (R), c. 1200, England. Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College MS 190/223, fols. 4v-5r. Courtesy of the Master and Fellows of Gonville and Caius College.
Figure 11-3. Female Reproductive System (L) and Brain and Ocular System (R), c. 1200, England. Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College MS 190/223, fols. 5v-6r. Courtesy of the Master and Fellows of Gonville and Caius College.
Figure 11-4. Initial with Womb, Bartholomaeus Anglicus, De Proprietatibus rerum (in Mantuan), 1300-1309, Mantua, Italy. London, British Library, Additional MS 8785, fol. 55v. By permission of the British Library Board.
Figure 11-5. Female Corpse with Seven-Celled Uterus, Guido da Vigevano, Liber notabilium Philippi septimi [sexti], Francorum regis, 1345, Paris (?). Chantilly, Bibliothèque du Château, MS 0334 (0569), fol. 281v. Wellcome Collection, CC BY 4.0.
Figure 11-6. Diagrams of the Muscles, Foetal Positions in the Womb, Male Reproductive System, and Female Reproductive System (L) and ‘Disease Woman’ (R), The Wellcome Apocalypse, c. 1420, Germany (?).London, Wellcome Library, MS 49, fols. 37v-38r. Wellcom
Figure 12-1. Joshua Ibn Gaon, Carpet page with interlaced grid design and Hebrew inscription containing Psalm 19:8-9, 1306?. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Kenn. 2, fol. 14r. Photo © The Bodleian Libraries, The University of Oxford.
Figure 12-2. Joshua Ibn Gaon, Carpet page with interlaced grid design and Hebrew inscription containing Deuteronomy 6:24-25, 1306?. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Kenn. 2., fol. 14v. Photo © The Bodleian Libraries, The University of Oxford.
Figure 12-3. Joshua Ibn Gaon, Carpet page with interlaced grid design, 1306?. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Kenn. 2, fol. 15r. Photo © The Bodleian Libraries, The University of Oxford.
Figure 12-4. Joshua Ibn Gaon, Carpet page with interlaced grid design and verse count in Hebrew, 1306?. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Kenn. 2, fol. 117v. Photo © The Bodleian Libraries, The University of Oxford.
Figure 12-5. Figure 12-5. Joshua Ibn Gaon, Carpet page with interlaced grid design, 1301-1302. Paris, Bibliothéque Nationale, Hébreu 21, fol. 265r. Photo courtesy of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Figure 12-6. Joseph Ibn Hayyim, The ‘Red Heifer’ in margin of bible text, The Kennicott Bible, 1476. Oxford, Bodleian Lib., MS Kenn. 1, fol. 88v. Photo © The Bodleian Libraries, The University of Oxford.
Figure 13-1. Central disk of creation cupola (det.), second quarter of 13th century, Venice, San Marco, mosaic. Photo: Beat Brenk.
Figure 13-2. Creation cupola, second quarter of 13th century, Venice, San Marco, atrium, mosaic. Photo: Branislav Slantchev.
Figure 13-3. Entrance to Treasury, second quarter of 13th century, Venice, San Marco, mosaic. Photo: Herbert Kessler.
Figure 13-4. Expulsion and Work (det.), second quarter of 13th century, Venice, San Marco, mosaic. Photo: Beat Brenk.
Figure 13-5. Pier supporting central dome, (lost) face, first half of 13th century, Venice, San Marco. Photo: Venice, Archivio Fotografico della Procuratoria di San Marco.
Figure 13-6. Pacificus of Verona, Horologium nocturnum, 13th century. Venice, Biblioteca Marciana, MS Lat. VIII 22 [2760], fol. 1r. Photo: Venice, Biblioteca Marciana.
Figure 13-7. Burial scene (det.), Psalter, 14th century. Besançon, Bibliothèque municipal, Ms. 140, fol. 190r.
Figure 14-1. Christ in Majesty, the Godescalc Evangeliary, 781-783, Court of Charles the Great. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, NAL 1203, fol. 3r. Photo courtesy of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Figure 14-2. Figure II from Hrabanus Maurus, In Praise of the Holy Cross, 825-826/840-850, Fulda. Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. Reg. Lat. 124, fol. 9v. Previously reproduced in Charlotte Denoël, Make it New. Conversations avec l’art médié
Figure 14-3. Figure 11 from Hrabanus Maurus, In Praise of the Holy Cross, 847, Mainz. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, latin 2422, fol. 13v. Photo courtesy of the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Figure 14-4. Sol Le Witt, Four Basic Kinds of Straight Lines and All Their Combinations in Fifteen Parts, 1969. Black ink, paper, 20.3 x 20.3 cm. Paris, collection MJS. © Sol Lewitt c/o Pictoright Amsterdam 2020.
Figure 14-5. Frank Stella, Die Fahne Hoch!, 1959. 308.6 cm × 185.4 cm and the medium: enamel paint on canvas. New York, Whitney Museum of American Art. Previously reproduced in Charlotte Denoël, Make it New. Conversations avec l’art médiéval. Carte blanch
Figure 14-6. Franz Erhard Walther, Körper und Raum, 1967. Pencil, watercolor, paper, 29.6 x 21 cm. Fulda, FEW Foundation. Previously reproduced in Charlotte Denoël, Make it New. Conversations avec l’art médiéval. Carte blanche à Jan Dibbets (Paris: BnF, 2
