Antiqui Et Moderni at Reims (Willibald Sauerländer)

"Antiqui et Moderni" at Reims
Author(s): Willibald Sauerlnder

Source: Gesta, Vol. 42, No. 1 (2003), pp. 19-37
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the International Center of Medieval
Art
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25067073 .

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Antiqui etModerni
at Reims
WILLIBALD SAUERL?NDER
Dedicated
The
in style seen in the sculptures

transformation
is here ex
Cathedral,
from 1220 to 1270,
produced
in the light of the contemporary
clash between
the
radical
on the west fa?ade,

in sur
may be discovered
of the Visitation
viving metalwork
from Upper Lotharingia,
notably ars sacra
produced inTrier.The process of dismantling the styleof the
on the upper reaches of the

in the sculptures
isfollowed
Antiqui
north transept, probably
carved by the same sculptors
respon
statues. Reims, positioned
sible for the portal
between
impe
rial Lotharingia
and the French
"Domaine
is shown
Royal,"
industry of the ancients is before our hands. They

make the deeds which even in their times were past,
present to ours, and we are silent. And thus theirmemory
lives in us, and we forget our own [achievement]. A nota
The
live, and the living are buried in

their stead! But perhaps even our times afford something
not unworthy of the buskin of a Sophocles. Yet themerits
ble wonder! The dead
of themoderns lie neglected while the cast-off fringes of

antiquity are paraded.
Antiquorum industria nobis pre manibus est; gesta suis

eciam pret?rita temporibus nostris reddunt presencia, et
nos
nostri
vivunt,
unde
sumus
vivi pro
in nobis
immemores.
eis
eorum
Miraculum
sepeliuntur!
Habent
et
vivit memoria,
illustre!
et nostra
Mortui
t?mpora
forsitan aliquid Sophoclio non indignum coturno. lacent

tarnenegregia modernorum nobilium, et attollunturfimbrie
vetustatis
abiecte.
This colorful complaint about the reputation of the an

cients, inflated at the expense of themoderns, is found in
Walter Map's De nugis curialium, which dates from the last
decades of the twelfthcentury.1Map's
lament belongs to the
longstanding medieval dispute between the "Antiqui" and the
"Moderni," which, attested since the Carolingian era, reached
its peak during the so-called "Twelfth-Century Renaissance"
GESTA
XLII/1
The
International Center
of Medieval
Art 2003
leRei,"4 in Saxon sculpture fromFreiburg toNaum

and?most
burg,
dramatically?in Italian painting fromCima
bue toGiotto. But there is no monument which allows us to
observe the clash between the Antiqui and theModerni so
closely as the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Reims, the sanc
tuary that served as the coronation church for the kings of
Aedward
to shift artistic allegiance

to the style emanating from Paris as
theModerni
triumph in the smiling angels of the west fa?ade.
obmutescimus,
on the
studies of the survival of antiquity inmedieval art, for the

radical transformation of the language of the figurative arts in
the thirteenthcentury is best understood in this context. If the
years around 1200 saw the final triumph of theAntiqui in the
last of the "renascences" inmedieval art,3 the decades imme
diately following saw the definitive victory of theModerni.
This triumph was an event European in scale. We can
follow it inEnglish manuscripts such as the "Estoire de Seint
A possible
impetus for the style
'Antiqui" and the "Moderni."
as seen in the Christ on the wall buttress of the
of the Antiqui,
axial chapel of the chevet, the saints on the Last Judgment and
on the north transept, and thefamous
statues
Calixtus
portals
nos
Schubert
and came to an end with thedefinitive triumph of themoderns

in the century of Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas?a
century thatToffanin has called "il sec?lo senza Roma."2 It is
astonishing that this dispute has been introduced so little into
Abstract
of Reims
amined
to Ernst
occasion of his seventy-fifth

birthday.
Zentralinstitutf?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich
France. Among the great cathedrals of northern France, this

lavish monument displays the greatest richness and variety in
itsmonumental sculpture, produced over a period spanning
five decades, from 1220 to 1270. The very earliest sculptures,

the angels on thewall buttresses of the radiating chapels of the
chevet, are telling if somewhat awkward examples of the rena
scence around 1200 (Fig. I).5 The latest sculptures, the famous
smiling angels from thewest portals, are sparkling examples of
Parisian modernity from the later part of the reign of St. Louis
(Fig. 2).6 The contrast between these works could hardly be
more striking. Traditional stylistic analysis can describe but
cannot illuminate it in historical terms. I will tryhere to eluci
date the radical change in orientation in the light of the con
temporary clash between theAntiqui and theModerni.
To begin, Imust turnbriefly to ecclesiastical geography.
The territoryof the old ecclesiastical province of Reims corre
sponded more or less to thewestern half of the ancient Roman
province of B?lgica. With its ten suffragan sees, the province
covered a great part of theComt? de Champagne and theVer
mandois and reached far into French Flanders with the two
sees of Th?rouanne and Tournai. Its northern neighbor was
the province of Cologne, which belonged to the Empire and
covered the territoryof Lower Lotharingia. To the east itbor
dered on the imperial province of Trier, which corresponded
to the territoryof Upper Lotharingia and reached, with the see
of Verdun, almost toReims'
city gates. Its southern neighbor
19

FIGURE
2. Reims, Cathedral,
Kunstgeschichte,
FIGURE
choir, angel
(photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunst
geschichte, Munich).
was the province of Sens, largely under the domination of the

Capetian king. Sens' most prestigious suffragan see was Paris,
the rapidly rising capital of the kingdom. Thus, owing to its
geographical, political, and arthistorical situation, the province
of Reims was fatefully positioned. It lay adjacent to territories
belonging to the Empire, where some of the greatest centers
of the artistic renascence of 1200 were located: nearby Ver
dun was the home of Nicholas, themost famous representa
tive of the Year 1200 style, possibly its creator. But itwas
also neighbor to Paris, the fountainhead of Gothic modernity.
The clash between the Antiqui and theModerni, which we
watch play out in the sculpture of the cathedral of Reims,
must be seen in connection with the location of the province
between imperial Lotharingia and the "Domaine Royal." The
final triumph of theModerni over the Antiqui was also the
triumph of Paris over the older artistic centers in the valley of
the Meuse.7
west portal,
angel
(photo: Zentralinstitut f?r
Munich).
It was long ago suggested that the Antiqui among the

sculptors at Reims might have been inspired by the renascence
flowering inLotharingia at the end of the twelfth century and
above all by Lotharingian metalwork.8 But this tempting sug
gestion has never been tested in the light of precise compar
isons, and investigation into the complex problem of mutual
relations has all too often been confined to the studyof theworks
of Nicholas of Verdun, especially works (rightly or wrongly
attributed to him) inCologne.9 The sources forReims "classi
cism" are generally sought in thears sacra of the region "entre
Rhin etMeuse."10 Contradicting the prevailing opinion, I will

try to demonstrate that themost strikingparallels to the sculp
turalworks of theAntiqui at Reims are found not inCologne,
Siegburg, or Li?ge, but inUpper Lotharingia, in the old eccle
siastical province of Trier. Since Carolingian times there had

been links between the art of this province and Reims.11 The
firstgreat Gothic buildings in the province of Trier, the cathe
dral of Toul, the cathedral ofMetz, and theLiebfrauenkirche in
Trier, were inspired by the architecture of Reims Cathedral.12
The most significant among the very earliest statues at
Reims is the figure of Christ on one of the eastern wall but

tresses of the chevet (Fig. 3). It belongs to a series of sculp
tureswhich Panofsky long ago called "eine fr?hklassizistische
20

m.
%
FIGURE
choir, Christ (photo: Zentralinstitut?r
Kunst
FIGURE
theMajor
north transept, Judgment Portal, Sts. James
and John (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).
4. Paris, Mus?e du Louvre, Shrine of St. Potentinus, Christ

FIGURE
Zentralinstitut f?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).
FIGURE
5. Paris, Mus?e
du Louvre, Shrine of St. Potentinus,
Zentralinstitut
Munich).
fur
Kunstgeschichte,
(photo:
(photo:
St. Andrew
21

Gruppe," and it probably dates before 1221.131 compare this

statue to another figure of Christ?this one small, embossed,
and gilded?from
the shrine of St. Potentinus, patron of the
Premonstratensian abbey at Steinfeld in the old diocese of
Trier (Fig. 4). This shrine, focus of veneration at Steinfeld to
the end of the eighteenth century, is now in theLouvre.14 The
statue of Christ is not one of themasterpieces of sculpture at
Reims, and the shrineof St. Potentinus, badly conserved, comes
from the backwaters of Lotharingian metalwork production.
But few words are needed to demonstrate the striking similar
ity between the two figures, which resides in the odd combi
nation of pseudo-classical
drapery with totally unclassical
proportions. Both figures are bulky and of dull expression.
Nothing could be further from the classical canon of propor
tion than their short legs, broad shoulders, and oversize heads.
The "Fr?hklassizismus" of these statues is limited to thework
ing of the drapery folds and a timid indication of contrap
posto. But the surprising affinitybetween the small figure in
metal fromUpper Lotharingia and themonumental statue in
stone at Reims is undeniable. For themoment I leave open
what we should make of the similarity and pass on to a sec
ond
comparison.
The twelve apostles stand beneath the arcades on the

sides of the shrine of St. Potentinus. It is a program found on
many reliquary shrines, where the local saint is celebrated as
a successor to the apostles.15 Most of the figures are so badly
damaged that their style can longer be recovered, but there is
one exception: St. Andrew (Fig. 5). Though his head and the
cross he holds in his right hand have suffered, the contours
and the volume of his body, like the folds of the falling drap
ery, are well preserved. Again we find an unexpectedly close
affinity to the statues of the "fr?hklassizistische Gruppe" at
Reims. As an example I single out St. James theMajor from
the jambs of the Last Judgment portal on the north transept
(Fig. 6). This statuemay be somewhat later than theChrist on
the chevet, but itbelongs to the same stylistic group, charac
terized by physical bulk and passivity in expression.16 Both

statues?St. Andrew from the shrine and St. James from the
portal?display what I would call a "would-be classicism": too
many Roman folds, toomany curls combine with a disturbing
absence of classical proportion. Again a heavy body with broad
shoulders and an oversize head rises on very short legs. The
figures are powerful but not elegant. They have the same
strengths and the same deficiencies.
What should we make of these correspondences? There
is no precise date for the shrine of St. Potentinus, so we can
not know if thispiece of metalwork pre- or postdates the stat

ues at Reims. Nor do we know where the shrinewas made, if
there is at least some reason to think that itwas produced at
Trier. Trier has not fared well with historians of ars sacra
around 1200. While themetalwork of Cologne, Aachen, and
still be stud
Maastricht?that
is, of Lower Lotharingia?can
ied in a number of magnificent reliquary shrines, from Trier
there survive only truecross reliquaries, bookcovers, and seals.
Not a single piece of metalwork remains from the suffragan

sees of Trier at Metz, Toul, or Verdun. Thus art historians
have tended to consider the chance survivals of metalwork
from Trier as mere offshoots of the great works in Cologne,
and Nicholas of Verdun, a native of Upper Lotharingia, has
been adopted art historically by the Rhenish city.17 Study of

the possible relations between the Antiqui who carved the
sculptures at Reims and themetalworkers responsible for ars
sacra around 1200 has to date been confined to the Reims
axis. And yet, not only is Reims geograph

Aachen-Cologne
ically closer to Trier than to Cologne, but also the affinities
between theReims sculptures and themetalwork of Trier are
more specific and explicit than those between the sculptures
and figures on the shrines at Aachen, Siegburg, or Cologne.
There is,moreover, some reliable evidence that the great
renascence around the year 1200 began earlier in Trier than
inCologne and that the rise of the style inUpper Lotharingia

was independent from the creation of the famous vasa sacra
in Cologne Cathedral and in the abbey church of St. Michael
at Siegburg. The seal of Archbishop John I of Trier (1190
1212), which was in use as early as 1191, displays all the
characteristics of the Year 1200 style (Fig. 7).18 While the

seal is a decade later then the enamels on the ambo atKloster
neuburg, created by Nicholas of Verdun, it is earlier than
the figures of the prophets and apostles on the Three Kings
Shrine, which mark the emergence of the style in Cologne.19

The Year 1200 style had its proper roots inUpper Lotharin
gia, and itmay well be that itwas imported from there to
Cologne, where itdisplaced the earlier "Mosan" style as seen
on the frontof theThree Kings Shrine. Be that as itmay, the

image of Archbishop John I shows a close affinitywith the
sculptures of theAntiqui at Reims. I compare the figure of an
enthroned pope in the archivolts of theCalixtus portal on the
north transept (Fig. 8). The similarity is even more pronounced

than thatbetween Christ and the apostles on the shrine of St.
Potentinus and Christ and St. James theMajor at Reims. The
figure inwax shares a striking refinement and elegance with
the figure in stone.
At a somewhat later date, perhaps around 1220, another
bishop of Trier?in this case Eucharius, who had occupied the
see in the thirdcentury and was venerated as a saint?appeared
on a piece of metalwork fromTrier (Fig. 9). The saintmay be
compared to the beautiful figure of an enthroned archbishop

found among the blessed on the tympanum of theLast Judg
ment portal on thenorth transept (Fig. 10). In the light of these
comparisons, it is possible to ask whether the transferof stylis
ticmodels fromUpper Lotharingia to Champagne, from Trier
to Reims?with Verdun, Nicholas'
city, halfway between?
could have served as the catalyst thatgenerated the style of the
Antiqui at Reims. Before rushing to a conclusion, we do well
to extend
our
series
of
comparisons.
The above-mentioned
image of St. Eucharius appears
on one of two bookcovers in the John Rylands Library in
Manchester, which are decorated with no fewer than thirty-six
22

V' '.5,?.
'S?
o.:i-:|ti
Mast
?*
FIGURE
7. First seal of John I, Archbishop
Kunstgeschichte,
/,!'
of Trier (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r
Munich).
8. Reims, Cathedral, north transept, Calixtus Portal,

(photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).
FIGURE
voussoirs, pope
^mmmmmm?mm^m-'WStmmmiiumm???mi
m^%,
? 'lJ?i?jf
?ffet
*tt,^?vnm*tmt*^
FIGURE
9. Manchester,
John Rylands Library, book cover from Trier, detail:
St. Eucharius
FIGURE
archbishop
10. Reims, Cathedral, north transept, Judgment Portal,

tympanum,
23

BB i *
^B/!!?nF II.J
|BBr?ig?EBBpL3J!.
11. Manchester, John Rylands Library, book cover from Trier, detail:
Sts. Peter and Paul (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).
FIGURE
the same stance, the same tense and energetic attitude. Figures
like these must have been part of the stock of images used
again and again in theworkshops of Trier. The same St. Peter
appears twice on the famous cross-reliquary at the former
Benedictine
FIGURE
12. Jteimj, Cathedral,
institutf?r Kunstgeschichte,
Judgment Portal,
St. Peter
(photo: Zentral
Munich).
figures of apostles and saints, cast and gilded. As Montague

Rhodes James showed long ago, the iconographie program
points to an origin in one of the great abbeys of Trier, possibly
the abbey of St.Matthias.20 But itwas Hanns Swarzenski who
first suggested, as early as 1942, that some of these statuettes
might have inspired the sculptures of theAntiqui at Reims.21

It seems that his brief suggestion has been overlooked in all
subsequent bibliography on the sculpture at Reims. Swarzen
ski was right: the tiny statuettes of Sts. Peter and Paul on the
front cover (Fig. 11) could almost be models for themonu
mental statue of St. Peter on the Last Judgment portal at
Reims (Fig. 12), which was celebrated by V?ge in his study
of the "Bahnbrecher des Naturstudiums um 1200."22They have
abbey of Mettlach?a
piece of metalwork gen
erally assigned toTrier.23We see him as a tinyfigure in niello
at the head of a series of apostles flanking the relic of the true
cross (Fig. 13) and a second time as an embossed figure on one
wing of the staurotheca, there as one of the patron saints of
the abbey of Mettlach (Fig. 14). The similarity between this
second figure and the statue at Reims is particularly striking,
even if the rendering in metal is somewhat softer than its
counterpart in stone. But we are still not at the end of our se
ries of comparisons. St. Peter appears a fourth time on a piece
of metalwork from Trier, this time as an engraved figure on
a second, slightly later staurotheca at St. Matthias (Fig. 15).24
Here the drapery ismore exuberant and the hip curiously hy
pertrophie. The same or a similar model evidently informed

a wooden statue of St. Peter discovered by Robert Didier in
a closet in a room off the eastern wing of the cloister of Noy on
Cathedral (Fig. 16).25The origin and function of the statue are
unknown, but there is a good chance that it comes from the
cathedral or a local church within the diocese, which was a
neighbor and suffragan see of Reims.26
In light of these comparisons, the affinities between
metalwork of the renascence inUpper Lotharingia and sculp
tures carved by the Antiqui at Reims seem more and more
compelling. But before drawing conclusions from these visual

suggestions, I would like to enlarge the panorama once more.
So far the examples I have chosen fromReims all belong to the
24

*
tt#***###|f#4t*M<####*
M*44"**rtf*l??#?4?*?,
FIGURE
13. Mettlach, Abbey, Staurotheca,

(photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunstgeschichte,
wing, inner side, detail: St. Peter

Munich).
FIGURE
14. Mettlach, Abbey, Staurotheca,

FIGURE
16. Noyon,
Cathedral,
cloister
Munich).
annex,
St. Peter
(photo: Zentral
wing, inner side, detail: St. Peter

Munich).
FIGURE
15. Trier, St. Matthias,
Staurotheca,
Zentralinstitut f?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).
back, detail:
St. Peter (photo:
25

FIGURE
18. Mettlach,
Abbey, Staurotheca,
tralinstitutf?r Kunstgeschichte,
back, detail: Christ (photo: Zen
Munich).
Rarely was this humanist prejudice more portentous than

in the study of themasterpieces of the Antiqui among the
sculptors at Reims. How was Greek beauty possible in the
age of St. Louis? In his monograph on the cathedral of Reims,
which he called the "Parthenon de la France," Hans Reinhardt

wrote: "L'apparition de statues tout impr?gn?es de beaut? clas
sique a toujours pos? de s?rieux probl?mes aux historiens de
l'art.
FIGURE
Judgement Portal, Beau Dieu
(photo: Zentral
Munich).
"fr?hklassizistische Gruppe." But what about those master

pieces of theAntiqui atReims, including theVisitation from the
central portal on thewestern fa?ade, thathave seemed to come
much closer to the classical beauty of Greek or Roman models?
Itwas the insuperable handicap of early arthistorians who
wrote on the impact of classical antiquity on medieval art?on
art of the "Dark Ages"?that
they had been faithful readers
ofWinckelmann. They shared his enthusiastic vision of Greek
art as the ideal embodiment of classical beauty. As much as
theymay have been fascinated by the spirituality and expres
siveness of medieval art, they remained nevertheless convinced

thatmedieval artists could reach thehighest perfection only by
turning to themodel of Greek statuary.27
. . . D'o?
venait
cette
?tonnante
connaissance
de
l'art
antique?"28 He compared the head of the "Beau Dieu" on the

Last Judgment portal of the north transept (Fig. 17) with the
head of Zeus by Phidias and concluded: "Il est evident que
l'artiste a d? conna?tre toute une s?rie d'oeuvres de la
meilleure ?poque de l'art hell?nique."29 We could almost be
reading from a book on Canova or Thorwaldsen. The ruler of
pagan Olympus serving as the immediate model for the face
of theChristian savior in the century of St. Louis and St. Fran
cis?this is an astonishing and in our eyes absurd hypothesis.
Yet the undeniably Greek beauty of the "Beau Dieu" points to
a problem at once aesthetic and religious. To create an image
of the true face of Christ presented a thirteenth-centurysculp
tor with a solemn and serious task, which implied faithful

imitation of the "vera icon."30We must remember that the loot
ing of Constantinople in 1204 during the fourth crusade made
available to theWest not only pieces of the true cross but also
images of the true face of Christ.31 This "translatio" of Greek
images of the Savior's face is evident in an engraved figure of
Christ on the back of the cross-reliquary ofMettlach (Fig. 18)
as in the statue at Reims. Thus thework of the renascence had
a religious dimension. The immediate model for the sculptor
at Reims was a Byzantinizing work of western art, possibly
a piece of metalwork fromUpper Lotharingia.
26

Greek beauty in theDark Ages?that

is the paradox of
themost famous statues at Reims: Mary and Elizabeth at the
cathedral's main entrance (Fig. 19). "On les croirait plus vo
lontiers ex?cut?es au pied de l'Acropole, au temps de Phidias
et de P?ricl?s, que dans la Champagne du XlIIe si?cle," wrote
Louis Br?hier in his monograph on the cathedral.32 "Les stat
ues de l'atelier antiquisant de Reims n'ont pas l'esprit romain,
elles ont l'?me grecque," one reads in Reinhardts study.33
Mary's face has been compared to the face of the Venus of
Cnidos and the drapery on both statues to that of the virgins
on the Parthenon frieze.34 Itwas the great Emile M?le who,
in 1914, at a tragic moment in French history, proposed an
?! a il
alluring historical explanation for "Atticism" at the time of St.

Louis. He did so in the form of a beautiful dream:
Toutefois, on ne peut s'emp?cher de songer qu'au XlIIe

si?cle, deux chevaliers d'origine champenoise Geoffroi de
Villehardouin etGuillaume de Champlitte, venaient de con
qu?rir le P?lopon?se; qu'un autre baron fran?ais dont les
fiefs n'?taient pas ?loign?s de la Champagne, Othon de la
Roche, devenu duc d'Ath?nes, avait fait des Propyl?es son
palais, et du Parthenon sa cath?drale. Ainsi l'art grec appa
ra?t ? Reims au moment o? la Gr?ce devient une province
de la Champagne. Serait-il vrai que lema?tre de Reims ait
respir? l'air de l'Acropole et foul? la menthe de l'Attique?
FIGURE
tutf?r Kunstgeschichte,
west portal, Visitation
(photo: Zentralinsti
Munich).
Pf
;?S?
??Si
m
MPI
20. Mettlach, Abbey, Staurotheca, wing, outer side, detail: Virgin

of the Annunciation
FIGURE
21. Mettlach, Abbey, Staurotheca, wing, outer side, detail: enthroned

Virgin and child (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).
FIGURE
27

west portal, Visitation,

FIGURE
head
of Mary
Id?e pleine de s?duction, mais flottante comme un songe, et

qu'on ose ? peine exprimer. Au moins peut-on dire qu'?
Reims le g?nie fran?ais r?v?la la parent? qui l'unit au
g?nie grec.35
Written in response to the brutal bombardment of the
cathedral of Reims in September 1914 by the army of theGer
man emperor, Male's beautiful dream sounds like a romance
praising the "Gesta Dei per Francos," deeds which paved the
way for the entry of Greek beauty into theFrance of St. Louis.
This romance has its own historical pathos, for it emanates
sense of the sacred aura of Reims as a French
fromMale's
"lieu de m?moire." Startlingly his dream was rehearsed in a
recent book on Reims published by Zodiaque in the series "Le
ciel et la pierre." Bruno Decrock writes:
C'est au moment m?me o? les crois?s champenois s'instal

lent en Gr?ce ? la suite de l'?pop?e de la quatri?me croisade
(1202-1204) et o? la famille de Villehardouin tient la prin
cipaut? d'Acha?e (au Nord du P?lopon?se), et ceci jusqu'en
1278, que l'art grec effectue sa perc?e la plus pure dans l'art
champenois; il n'est que d'observer le visage de la Vierge
pour se laisser tenter par un tel rapprochement.36
Nobody would deny that the two statues of the Visita

tion recall the beauty of Greek statues. But the dream that
such a reminiscence was due to the direct, physical encounter
with Greek classical art fails to recognize the deeply medi
eval, sacred, mysterious character of the figures of the two
23. Mettlach, Abbey, Staurotheca, wing, outer side, detail: head of

enthroned Virgin (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich).
FIGURE
holy women. The anonymous medieval

a
sort of
scence,"
"Antico"
to call
upon
avant
la
lettre.
Panofsky's
sculptor ismade
"Renaissance"
terms,
are
and
into
"rena
confused.
In reality itmust have been through a long intermediary

tradition that the greatest of theAntiqui at Reims received this
echo of Greek forms, distant and transformed.A furthercom
parison makes this clear. If we set the Visitation at Reims
against two images of theVirgin from the outer wings of the
cross-reliquary atMettlach?one
representing the Annunzi
ata, the other showing theVirgin enthroned?the affinitybe
tween themonumental statues chiseled in stone and the small
figures engraved in gilded copper is such that there remains
no doubt: theGreek flavor of theVisitation was owed not to
direct inspiration from classical works, be they originals from

Greece or Roman copies inGaul, but rather to the impact of
works of the Upper Lotharingian renascence around 1200
(Figs. 19, 20, 21). The tender,melodious design of the folds,
the delicate subtlety of the gestures, the thin arms and hands
seemingly small in relation to the rotund pregnant bodies?

all these refinements and expressive imbalances recall not the
powerful stance of Greek or Roman statuary but the pious so
lemnity of figures of theVirgin on the staurotheca atMett
lach, which hide and announce the relic of the cross. For a
modern secular beholder the face of theVirgin may recall the

face of theVenus of Cnidos. But a glance at the face of the
enthroned Virgin on the reliquary reveals a more strikingkin
ship (Figs. 22,23). Greek beauty?distant and transformed?

adorns the Virgins of Mettlach and Reims, yet it is not the
beauty of a pagan goddess but, in thewords of thePicard poet,
28

'
mfc
.::?Ll
???
wmi
*0M??
m
.*"t^?
>* .f'f?*5f?.
:m
^'??^Sf?
?1L
?jj??&^^
FIGURE
24. Chicago,
f?r Kunstgeschichte,
Art Institute, enamel,
Munich).
bishop
(photo: Zentralinstitut
FIGURE
25.
St. Remigius
/teim.y,Cathedral, north transept, Calixtus

Portal,
tympanum,
Munich).
29

Une ch?sse de sainteMarie

Une ch?sse de saint Nicaise.41
No trace remains of the two reliquary busts and six shrines. It
may be thatwe would not have to resort to far-flung compar
isons with metalwork fromUpper Lotharingia if these pieces
survived.
FIGURE
26. Seal
with Sts. Matthias
and Eucharius,
Trier, St. Matthias
Munich).
Le Rendus de Molliens, of the "virge pure de tout visse," "sor

toutes et bone et b?le."37
Turning again to themore Morellian aspect of this paper,
I could extend the chain of comparisons between metalwork
and seals of Upper Lotharingia and the sculptures of the "fr?h
klassizistische Gruppe" at Reims. I could compare the beauti
ful enamel now inChicago showing a bishop offering a church,
which seems to come fromTrier, to the figure of St. Remigius
working the miracle of the wine in the tympanum of the

Calixtus portal (Figs. 24, 25).381 could juxtapose a seal of the
abbey of St. Matthias showing the figures of Sts. Matthias
and Eucharius, which first appears in connection with a char
terof 1219, with the statue of St. John on theLast Judgment
portal at Reims (Figs. 26, 6).39 Yet, as striking as the parallels
are between the ars sacra of Trier and the sculptures by the
Antiqui at Reims, any suggestion of direct contact between
centers in the two neighboring ecclesiastical provinces cannot
be more than hypothetical. No metalwork survives fromMetz
or Verdun, or fromNoyon, or,most significantly, fromReims
itself.40When, during the French Revolution, on November
13, 1792, twomembers of the "Conseil g?n?ral et permanent
de la commission de la ville de Reims" prepared an inventory
of the cathedral treasury, they listed under the rubric "argent
dor?":
Le chef de saint Nicaise

Le chef de sainte Eutrope et ses attributs
Une ch?sse de sainte Eutrope
Une ch?sse dite de saint Calixte
Une ch?sse de saint Rigobert
Une ch?sse de saint Sixte et saint Sinice
Of all the numerous shrines thatmust have existed in the

cathedrals and abbey churches of the province of Reims be
fore the French Revolution only two survive: the shrines of
St. Mary and of St. Eleutherius in the cathedral of Tournai.
Although the latter seems to have been made about two de
cades after theAntiqui were active at Reims, the figure of the
titular saint on the front of the shrine (Fig. 27) and the head
of St. Remigius are strikingly similar (Fig. 28).42 The exuberant
curls and ornaments, the somewhat sweet faces with small
squinting eyes evoke in both cases an impression of a some
what perfumed pontifical solemnity. This is clerical art, one
might say, at its best and itsworst. But what ismost interest
ing in the present context is the affinity seen between metal
work and sculpture in the ecclesiastical province of Reims. It
is possible that the shrine of St. Eleutherius, fundamentally
different from all survivingMosan and Rhenish shrines, is an
offshoot of the lost shrines of Reims. But that, of course, is
no more than a tempting argumentum ex silentio.
Still, the comparison between theTournai shrine and the

Calixtus portal at Reims may have a significance beyond sty
listic similarity.The design of the jambs, adorned with statues
of the saints and martyrs whose relics were venerated in the
choir, is different from that of all other known Gothic portals.
The figures stand on a corbel covered with vine leaves and
grapes. Symbolically the ornamentation may refer tomartyr
dom, to the passage of the saints to the heavenly paradise, or
to Christ's words: "I am the vine, ye are the branches" (John

15:4). What is surprising is how similar it is to the decoration
on the shrine of St. Eleutherius. The meaning certainly cor
responds: saints on the shrine as on the portal appear in a sort
of symbolic vineyard. Itbecomes clear that the transferof fig
ures and folds frommetalwork to sculpture was more than a
transferof style from one medium to another. Images of saints

on vasa sacra in gold and silver re-emerge as statues in stone
on buttresses and at the entrances to the cathedral as if on a
gigantic shrine. Here, I would like to suggest, was the spiri
tual, religious, and liturgical impetus behind the translation of

tiny figures intomonumental form.43
I have concentrated to this point on the formation of the
Antiqui at Reims, suggesting that theirwork may be seen as
a monumental reaction to the renascence manifested in the
ars sacra produced between Lotharingia and French Flanders
around 1200. Turning now to the clash between theAntiqui
and theModerni in the development of the sculpture at Reims
between 1220 and 1240,1 can do no better than cite a passage
fromVasari's Life of Giotto: "sbandi affattoquella goffamani
era
greca,
e riuscito
la moderna
30

e buona
arte
della
pittura."44
FIGURE
27. Tournai, Cathedral
Treasure, Shrine of St. Eleutherius
(photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunst
FIGURE
Calixtus
28.
/te?'ww,Cathedral,
Portal,
St. Remigius
This statement describes the vital feature in the triumph of the

Moderni over the Antiqui in thirteenth-centuryart in a way
more vivid than all our stylistic discriminations between the
"Muldenfaltenstil" and "cubisme gothique," or our evolution
ary concepts of "Early Gothic" and "High Gothic," or "Late
Romanesque" and "Transitional."45 The sculptures of the tran
sept of Reims Cathedral display thedramatic shiftfrom a "goffa
maniera"
to a "moderna
e buona
arte"
in a spectacular
way.
The
twelve statues on the jambs of the Calixtus and Last Judg

ment portals reveal the exhaustion and disintegration but also
the beginnings of the transformation of the vocabulary of the
Antiqui. The eighteen statues beside the rose windows and
on the towers of the transept, likely to have been carved by
the same craftsmenwho had worked a short time before on the

transept portals as Antiqui, show the crystallization of the
"modern" idiom. Itmay be that impulses emanating from other
centers accelerated and galvanized the revolutionary process,46
north transept,
(photo: Zentral
Munich).
but probably itwas more a question of general cultural climate

and fashion than the result of specific influences. Rejuvena
tion,modernity, seem to have been in the air during the first
decades of the reign of St. Louis. At Reims the change was

more charged and radical than elsewhere inFrance. One is re
minded of the abrupt change inDonatello's work between the
Porta della Mandorla and the statues of the prophets on the
campanile of the cathedral of Florence.
The disintegration of the vocabulary of theAntiqui can
best be observed in the jamb statues on theLast Judgment por
tal at Reims. While the apostles on theLast Judgment portals
at Chartres and Amiens
stand in rank and file, at Reims each

is different from its neighbor, another experiment in the disso
lution of a style. The most telling example is the statue of St.
Andrew (Fig. 29). The "Roman" drapery folds become hyper
trophic, and theirundulations degenerate intoplayful ornament.
This is the final mannered phase of the style of theAntiqui.
31

' '
^- !te?^* ?.^jS^^bbIUB?BB^^^^^^^BB
^^^BBM?
"w^BBfjflteftK^-"
^Hw^^fl^B^^^BPBHIBB^^^^Bfl
'
l^^iiiMr "! - ''''"^iPilHP^BBII^^^BIrl
FIGURE
29.
St. Andrew
/terms,Cathedral, Judgment Portal,

Zentralinstitut f?r Kunst
(photo:
FIGURE
France,
apostle
30. Paris, Biblioth?que

nationale
de
fr. 19093 (Villard de Honnecourt),
John? (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunst
MS
FIGURE
transept, south
west tower, "Charlemagne"
(photo: Zentralinsti
tutf?r Kunstgeschichte,
Munich).
There are parallels in other media and at other places: in the

metalwork produced "entre Sambre etMeuse," as itcan be stud
ied in the treasuryof Notre-Dame atNamur, for example,47 and
in drawings by Villard de Honnecourt, where the figure of St.
John is particularly telling (Fig. 30).48 This figurewas certainly
not drawn after a statue at Reims and probably not drawn after
a statue at all, but it shows that the degeneration of the vocab

ulary of the Antiqui into meaninglessness must have been
widespread in Champagne and Flanders around 1230. It is
against this background that the statue of St. Peter at Reims
must be evaluated (Fig. 12). V?ge praised it as a pioneering
work of "Naturstudium," and Panofsky called it a pioneering
32

FIGURE

transept, south
east tower, king (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunst
FIGURE
north transept,
Calixtus Portal, maie figure (photo: Zentralinstitut
Munich).
piece of "Klassizismus."49 To a certain extent both were right.

But the sharpening of theRoman?or
classical?vocabulary
which is so characteristic of the statue's attitude, gestures,
and, above all, drapery, represents a break with the older ar
tistic vocabulary and a proto-realignment toward the new. A
few years later the same artist created the statue of the so
FIGURE
Adam

north transept,
Munich).
called Charlemagne on thewest tower of the south transept

(Fig. 31). Only a few "syllables" of the antique vocabulary
remain, and these have been charged with a fierce expressive
ness. Certainly this is not the final triumph of theModerni.
The statue demonstrates, if in a small way, the battle between
theAntiqui and theModerni,
between tradition and the new.
33

i^Hp:?
^?
'
;3
. f&i*^*.** ....
FIGURE
:INmh?$
35. Reims, Cathedral, north transept, Calixtus

The notorious "Muldenfalten"

"chose
morte,"
"goffa
'm?Bm ,l
Portai,
of the Antiqui
y??l'!;--::
v
Writ B^^:<-
'
1 S
$^'' '-Il
St. Eutropia
FIGURE
have become
maniera."
north transept, Eve
(photo: Zentralinstitut
Munich).
gloves in his hands. But his oversize head with exuberant

curls framing an impassive face makes him resemble the
saint carved in the old style.He is a littleridiculous; one thinks
of the "emperor's new clothes." Simultaneously ancient and
The statues on theCalixtus portal are more uniform and

less experimental. Overdecorated and, in an odd way, lacka
daisacal, they demonstrate the exhaustion of the antique vo
cabulary. The artistswho chiseled them reappear on the upper
parts of the transept as the creators of statues of a wholly dif
modern, the statue stands at the crossroads between two styles.

It ismore surprising to find the hand of a sculptor who
worked on the jamb statues of theCalixtus portal in the stat
representative of biblical kingship. The king is fashionably

dressed with an elegant modern girdle, and he even holds
created in relation to the coronation rite conducted in the tran

sept, for the rex christianissimus was understood to partake
in the history of salvation.50 It seems to have been executed
ferent stamp. We encounter curious cases of transition from

theAntiqui to theModerni. There can be little doubt that the
sculptor who created the pompous clerical figure of St. Rem
igius (Fig. 28) created soon afterward the no-less-pompous
statue of a king on the east tower of the south transept (Fig.
32). Needless to say, there are iconographie differences which
must be taken into consideration. The former is a canonized
archbishop at themoment of a fatefulmiracle, the latter is a
ues of Adam
and Eve flanking the rose window above (Figs.

34, 36). They stand at the head of a cycle of eighteen monu
mental statues and more than forty statuettes that decorates
the upper reaches of the north transept.Here is recounted the
story of salvation from the Fall of Man to the triumph of Ec
clesia over Synagoga, theNew Law over theOld, in a program
that includes kings, prophets, and apostles. This program was
34

largely?possibly entirely?by the sculptors who had earlier

worked on the portals below. But the new sculptures were all
in the "modern" style. The rapidity of the switch from the old
to the new vocabulary by a single group of artists is aston
ishing. I will limitmyself to two examples.

The male statue, unidentified, at the side of St. Remigius
on theCalixtus portal is rehearsed above in the figure of Adam
beside the rose window (Figs. 33, 34). The shape, the attitude,
the gestures of the two statues are identical. Even their cos
tume is the same: cotte, surcot, chapel. But all traces of the
antique vocabulary have been eliminated in the second statue.
The "Muldenfalten" have given way on Adam's cotte to force
ful, simplified forms. Again it suffices to cite Vasari's words
on Giotto: "introducendo ilritrarrebene di naturale le persone
vive."51 It is needless to insist that the statue of Adam is in
no way naturalistic. It is no less stylized than the statue on the
portal. But it is styled in a way thatcreates the illusion of live
liness, of a new vitality. The exhausted "Roman" vocabulary
has been replaced by contemporary French forms.
More surprising still is the rehearsal of the statue of St.
Eutropia on the portal in the figure of Eve above (Figs. 35,
36). Certainly, in comparing these two statues, the difference
in iconography must be considered. St. Eutropia bows her
head in sorrow beside her brother St. Nicasius, who has just
sufferedmartyrdom. Grief is written on her face in the lines
at the corners of her mouth. Eve, on the other hand, is a very
about her: small breasts, tender arms, and elegant pose. The
Roman folds which encumber Eutropia?the "fimbriae vetusta
tis abiecte"?have
been cleared away. This statue is all radiat
ing youth. She speaks French, not Latin. The battle between
the Antiqui and Moderni has been fought and theModerni
have
won.
If, by way of conclusion, we look once more at the angel

on the portal of thewest fa?ade (Fig. 2), we come full circle.
The earliest sculpture at Reims was carved after 1210 as part
of the renascence flowering around 1200 between Lotharin
gia and Flanders. In time the style of theAntiqui gave way to
a revitalized style in the upper parts of the transept, and the
sculpture of Reims reached its apex with the introduction of
the Parisian style on thewest fa?ade during the later part of
the reign of St. Louis.52 With therise of theCapetian monar
chy as the dominant power in an ever more centralized France,
the artistic orientation of Reims was reversed. The inspira
tion no longer came fromLotharingia, thewestern provinces
of the Empire, but from Paris, the capital of the kings who
were crowned and anointed in the cathedral of Reims. The
change in formal vocabulary in the statuary of themost lavish
cathedral of the kingdom parallels the shifts in power that
began in 1214 with Philip Augustus' victory over the emperor
at Bouvines. It is fitting to conclude with the famous verses
from the beginning of Chr?tien de Troy es' Clig?s:
Ce nos ont nostre livre apris
Que Gr?ce ot de chevalerie
Le premier los et de clergie.
Puis vint chevalerie a Rome
active figure: she embodies seduction. But these differences

do not explain the breathtaking visual contrast between the
two figures. Eutropia is one of the least imposing figures of
the "fr?hklassizistische Gruppe." Her stout body is wrapped
in cloth with "Roman" folds. Eve shows herself in a long dress
which molds
Et de la clergie la some,
to her sensuous body. There is something girlish
Qui
or est
en France
venue.53
NOTES
*
This
Dame
is a revised version of a lecture given at the symposium "Notre

of Reims, the Coronation Cathedral of France," held October 5
of Art inNew York. I thank the

6, 2001, at theMetropolitan Museum
for allowing me to study
staff of the Rylands Library inManchester
the bookcovers
from Trier at leisure, Professor Holger Klein for pro
at Mettlach
and
viding recent bibliography on the cross-reliquaries
Trier, and Professor Elizabeth Sears for undertaking
glish text, an arduous and thankless task!
1.
to correct my En
202 (1958), 529.
This
is the title of the first volume
of G. Toffanin's
Storia dell 'umane
simo (Bologna,
und 'An
1950). See also W. Hartmann, "'Modernus'
in der
Zur
und
dieser
tiquus':
Verbreitung
Bedeutung
Bezeichnungen
Literatur
vom 9. bis zum
12. Jahrhundert," in An
und Fortschrittsbewu?tsein
tiqui und Moderni:
Traditionsbewu?tsein
im sp?ten Mittelalter, ed. A. Zimmermann, Miscellanea
9
mediaevalia,
und
(Berlin and New York, 1974), 21-39; E. G?ssmann,
"'Antiqui'
'Moderni' im 12. Jarhundert," ibid., 40-57.
3.
I use
the term "renascence"
"Renaissance
and
Walter Map, De nugis curialium - Courtiers' Trifles, 5.1 ; ed. and trans.
M. R. James, rev. C. N. L. Brooke and R. A. B. Mynors
(Oxford,
in "Aus der
[translation adapted]. Cited by A. Buck
1983), 404-5
inMittelalter
der 'Querelle des Anciens et Modernes'
Vorgeschichte
et de la Renaissance
und Renaissance,"
de l'Humanisme
Biblioth?que
2.
wissenschaftlichen
as
and Renascences,"
in his Renaissance
in
first introduced by E. Panofsky
Kenyon Review 6 (1944), 20-36,
in Western Art
and Renascences
enlarged
(Stockholm,
1960), 108, 115. In employing the term Panofsky was
that began with Pe
drawing a distinction between the "Renaissance"
in the art
etc., and the recurrent "renascences"
trarch, Brunelleschi,
toNicola Pisano. This dis
of theMiddle Ages from the Carolingians
tinction implied critical distance from the position of Charles Homer
(The Renaissance
of the Twelfth Century [Cambridge, MA,
1927]) and his followers, who sought to show that the "Renaissance"
Haskins
of the humanists was
anticipated in theMiddle Ages. I have the im

fundamental distinction has not always been
pression that Panofsky's

fully understood.
35

4.
For the illuminations

Morgan, Early
no. 123.
5.
For
portals
de Reims:
et stylistique, 2 vols.
the ecclesiastical
und Kirche,
of Reims,
1999), 1007.
province
8 (Freiburg,
H.
see N.
Schnitzler,
Schreinwerkstatt:
J.
on
I. The Sculptures
10.
For a succinct critique of the "communis opinio" that Nicholas,

fresh
from Klosterneuburg,
created the prophets on the Three Kings Shrine
soon after 1181, see R. Kroos, Der Schrein des Heiligen
Servatius in
la
de
on the sculptures
1985),
20.
at
der Aachener
Goldschmiedeplastik
der Goldschmiedebild
zur Entwicklung
des Dreik?nigen-Schreins,
in Reims,"
81-100.
21.
exh.
abh?ngigen
1977). For
Bauten
des
149 (1991) (Paris, 1995), 447

si?cle," Congr?s arch?ologique
at Trier, see N. Nussbaum, Deutsche
75. For the Liebfrauenkirche
der Gotik (Darmstadt, 1994), 48-53;

man Gothic Church Architecture (New Haven, 2000).
Kirchenbaukunst
E.
14.
For the abbey at Steinfeld, see Kunstdenkm?ler

P. Clemen, Die Kunstdenkm?ler
des Kreises
der Rheinprovinz, ed.

Scheiden
(D?sseldorf,
the shrine from Steinfeld and metalwork
in Trier: "Das
in Mettlach
zeigt dasselbe Ornament wie die Kreuzreliquiare
an die
und Trier. Wenn auch die grobe Ausf?hrung eine Zuweisung
Werkstatt
15.
16.
aus welcher
die Meisterwerke
25.
R. Didier, "? propos de quelques sculptures fran?aises en bois du XlIIe

et historiens d'art de Louvain 12 (1979),
si?cle," Revue des arch?ologues
81-103.1
thank R. Didier for providing a photograph of this sculpture,
which
26.
27.
28.
E.g.,
and St. Godehard
little sense to enter into debates on the chronology of the two

portals on the north transept at Reims. There is no external evidence
one may suggest that the internal evidence
for dating. Cautiously
to a date somewhere
See n. 9.
between
1220 and 1230.
Nationalbibliothek
(Vienna,
and W. F. Volbach,
in Italien
(Potsdam,
Die Malerei
H. Reinhardt, La cath?drale de Reims:

sa sculpture, ses vitraux (Paris, 1963),
Ibid.,
und Plastik
des Mittel
1924), 2.
Son histoire, son architecture,
148.
149.
and G. Wolf (Milan, 2000); The Holy

// volto di Cristo, ed. G. Morello
ed. H. L. Kessler
and G.
and the Paradox
of Representation,
6 (Bologna,
Wolf, Villa Spelman Colloquia,
1998).
Face
inMaastricht,
in Hildesheim.
Itmakes
der Pariser
1982), fig. 10.
See the characteristic statement by Vitzthum: "Wer in der gotischen

Kern entdeckt, ist wohl nicht
nicht den phidiasischen
Gewandfigur
Kunst zu begreifen." G.
der mittelalterlichen
f?hig, das Formgesetz
alters
30.
St. Servatius
ms. fr. 19093
Graf Vitzthum
mit
in Deutz,
to have been unknown before his publication.
There is a striking similarity between the sculpture of St. Peter and the
as reproduced
in the Missal
in H. R.
of Noyon
figure of Ecclesia
des Bau
Hahnloser, Villard d 'Honnecourt. Kritische Gesamtausgabe
1935; rpt. Graz,
Mettlach
the shrines of St. Heribert
seems
h?ttenbuches
von Trier und
sind, so wird doch ein Schulzusammenhang

hervorgegangen
ihr durch die gravierten Engel au?er Frage gestellt."
und Ergebnissse,
See n. 23.
29.
points
17.
ausschlie?t,
von Trier und Mettlach:

Die Kreuzreliquiare
Studien zur
in der rheinischen Schatzkunst
zwischen Bild und Heiltum
Beziehung
des fr?hen 13. Jahrhunderts (Dissertation, M?nster,
1988), with ear
lier bibliography. See also idem, "Die Trierer Kreuztafeln des fr?hen
24.
Stanz
blech
on Medieval
H. Swarzenski,
"Recent Literature, Chiefly Periodical,
Minor Arts," AB 24 (1942), 301-2. Swarzenski
argued persuasively
thesis of Rhenish influence on Reims: "If he had
against Schnitzler's
13. Jahrhunderts," in Schatzkunst Trier: Forschungen

ed. F. J. Ronig (Trier, 1991), 101-15.
1932). The only specific reference to the shrine of St. Potentinus I have
im
found is: O. v. Falke and H. Frauberger, Deutsche
Schmelzarbeiten
note similarities
Mittelalter
(Frankfurt, 1904), 94. Falke-Frauberger
between
1965),
U. Henze,
trans, as Ger
von Reims,"
der vier Meister
Panofsky, "?ber die Reihenfolge
Jahrbuch f?r Kunstwissenschaft
(1927), 55 ff.; rpt. in idem, Deutsch
sprachige Aufs?tze, 2 vols. (Berlin, 1998), I, 100-140.
13.
(Berlin,
23.
in Lo
XHIe
imfr?hen Mit
um 1200," Zeitschrift
W. V?ge, "Die Bahnbrecher des Naturstudiums
193-216;
rpt. in idem, Bild
f?r bildende Kunst, N. F. 25 (1913/14),
hauer des Mittelalters
(Berlin, 1958), 63-97.
(1902),
see C. Brach
the cathedral at Metz,
thringen (Cologne,
mann, "La construction de la cath?drale Saint-Etienne de Metz et de
l'?glise coll?giale Notre-Dame-la-Ronde
pendant le deuxi?me tiers du
M. R. James, A Descriptive
in the
Catalogue
of the Latin Manuscripts
John Rylands Library (Manchester,
1980 with in
1921; rpt.Munich,
troduction and additional notes by F. Taylor), 310-12, pis. 186, 187.
22.
und Plastik
13. Jahrhunderts
the lan
tained his case."
For the cathedral at Toul, see A. Villes, "Les campagnes du construc

tion de la cath?drale de Toul, I. Les campagnes du XHIe si?cle," Bmon
von
130 (1972), 179-89 ; also R. Schiffler, Die Ostteile der Kathedrale
Toul und die davon
confuses
compared themagnificent silvergilt figures from Tr?ves in the Rylands

Library, Manchester, which certainly are not later than Reims but an
ticipate the style of the portal of S. Sixte, he could hardly have main
accompany
23
date from around
also F. Steenbock, Der kirchliche Prachteinband

telalter, von den Anf?ngen bis zum Beginn der Gotik
210-11, no. 110.
if not complete, overview of ars sacra pro

last comprehensive,
Kunst und Kultur,
duced in the region is found in Rhein und Maas:
is G. Swarzenski, "Die karolingische Malerei

Jahrbuch der preussischen
Kunstsammlungen
134 ff.There
See
The
Still valuable
in Br?ssel
und die vier zugeh?rigen Reliquiare
(Munich,
are sound historical and stylistic reasons for con
Maastricht
Die
For these attributions, see Der Meister

cat. (Cologne,
1964).
For
cluding that the prophets on the shrine in Cologne

1200 or slightly later. The attribution to Nicholas
guage of style with individual authorship.
influence of Lothar
the two-volume catalogue

1972-73),
(Cologne,
in 1972.
ing the exhibition held in Cologne and Brussels
12.
19.
1987).
800-1400
11.
this seal, see W. Ewald, Rheinische

Siegel, 6 vols. (Bonn, 1906
in Die Zeit der Staufer: Geschichte
ff.), II, pi. 7/3; R. Kahsnitz,
Kunst - Kultur, exh. cat. (Stuttgart, 1977), I, 65-66, no. 98.
?tude
Beitr?ge
nerei des Rhein-Maas gebiete s in der romanischen Zeit (Dissertation,
der
Goldschmiedekunst
Bonn,
idem, "Die
1934);
sp?tromanische
Aachener Schreine," Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch
9 (1936), 88-107.
9.
18.
1988),
see Lexikon f?r Theologie
first scholar to draw attention to the possible

ingian?more
specifically Rhenish?metalwork
was
le Rei,
(London,
(Paris and Lausanne,
The
Reims
(II)
see P. Kurmann, La fa?ade

of Reims,
et sculpture des portails.
Architecture
the west
For
arch?ologique
8.
1250-1285
see W. W. Clark, "Reading Reims,

Buttresses," Gesta 39 (2000), 135-45.
cath?drale
7.
de Seint Aedward
For the angels,

the Chapel
6.
in the Estoire
Gothic Manuscripts,
31.
H. Belting, "Die Reaktion der Kunst des 13. Jahrhunderts auf den Im
und Ikonen," in //medio oriente e Voccidente
port von Reliquien
nell'arte del XIII sec?lo, vol. 2, ed. H. Belting, Atti del XXIV Con
gresso internazionale
Ornamenta ecclesiae:
(Cologne,
1985),
(Bologna, 1982), 35-53; rpt. in

und Kultur der Romanik, exh. cat., 3 vols.
di storia dell'arte
Kunst
III, 173-83.
36

32.
L.
Br?hier, La
182.
cath?drale
de Reims:
Une
oeuvre fran?aise
difference
(Paris,
mechanistic
1916),
de Reims,
Cath?drale
Reinhardt,
34.
Br?hier, Cath?drale
35.
?. M?le, "La cath?drale de Reims," Revue de Paris (December

1914);
rpt. in his L'art allemand et l'art fran?ais du moyen ?ge (Paris, 1917),
242-43.
47.
185-86.
36.
in Reims:
B. Decrock,
"Style des sculptures m?di?vales,"
drale, ?d. P. Demouy
2000), 281.
(Saint-L?ger-Vauban,
37.
Le Rendus
de Molliens,
38.
39.
40.
La
cath?
48.
For the seal, see Ewald, Rheinische Siegel,

Zeit der Staufer, I, 76-77. no. 114.
IV, pl. 26/5; Kahsnitz,
from drawings
49.
50.
A telling example of metalwork "? l'antique" seems to have been a rel

known only through an engraving published
iquary atMontier-en-Der
in the Voyage
litt?raire des deux religieux b?n?dictins de la con
For this inventory, see C. Cerf, Histoire et description

de Reims, 2 vols. (Reims, 1861), I, 528-29.
42.
For the shrine of St. Eleutherius,
43.
For a similar if not identical argument, see W. Sauerl?nder, "Reliquien,

Alt?re und Portale," inKunst und Liturgie imMittelalter = R?misches
Jahrbuch der Bibliotheca
44.
Vasari,
45.
See W.
Hertziana
Le vite, ed. C. L. Ragghianti,
33 (1999/2000),
I (Milan,
See P. Kurmann,
hauerwerkst?tten
alters: Funktion
30 (1987),
Sauerl?nder,
cath?drale du
51.
Vasari,
52.
Kurmann,
"Observations
sur la topographie et l'iconologie de la

des
inscriptions et belles-lettres.
sacre," Acad?mie
des s?ances de
Vite, 282.
La fa?ade de la cath?drale de Reims, I, 276 ff.Without

agreeing in every detail and without entering into the insoluble problem
of chronology, I concur with Kurmann's
conclusion
that the latest of
the sculpture on the west portals at Reims should be called "Parisian."

[Munich, 1970],
My earlier opinion (Gotische Skulptur in Frankreich
in
168) that the sculptors of the south transept portal at Notre-Dame
121-34.
1942), 282.
influenced by those at Reims should be revised. I was

affected by the "Remocentrisme"
(as named by F. Salet) thatwas cul
tivated especially by German art historians, which may have implied a
dose of anti-Parisian prejudice. If so, the geographical position of the
Paris had been
1-29.
der Amienser Skulptur in den Bild
zu Reims,"
in Skulptur des Mittel
ed. F. M?bius
and E. Schubert (Weimar,
"Nachwirkungen
der Kathedrale
und Gestalt,
1987), 121-83. In my opinion Kurmann underrates the creative energy
active in the process of change at Reims. He overlooks the dramatic
W.
129.
as part of this history.
de Notre-Dame
I, 355, no. Mil.
die Reihenfolge,"
I be
l'ann?e 1992 (1992), 463-79.
to be expanded as it relates to iconogra
phy. The whole
sculptural program on the transept, beginning with
the Fall of Man, continuing through the age of kings and prophets to
the apostles, and culminating in the triumph of the church, represents the
history of salvation; the sacre of the Christian king of France was seen
of Classifica
Sauerl?nder, "Style or Transition? The Fallacies
in the Light of German Architecture,
tion discussed
1190-1260," Ar
chitectural History
46.
see Rhein undMaas,
Panofsky,
in another manuscript.
"?ber
Comptes-rendus
lieve my thesis of 1992 needs
in
(Paris, 1717) and studied by P. C. Claussen
gr?gation de Saint-Maur
von Montier-en-Der:
Ein sp?tantikes Diptychon
und
"Das Reliquiar
seine mittelalterliche Fassung," Pantheon 36 (1978), 308-19.
41.
I will not discuss the rather dispersed recent bibliography on Villard. I

idea (Villard d'Honnecourt,
want, however, to stress thatHahnloser's
156) that certain figures inMS fr. 19093 were drawn after real sculp
tures is difficult to accept. The notion of a northern artist around 1230

statues from life is highly improbable per se. Moreover,
the
or any indication of
drawings are purely linear, with no modeling
or
shadowing. They look as if they had been copied after a model-book
in
Die
aux soeurs
See F. Courtoy, Le tr?sor du prieur? d'Oignies
? Namur et l'oeuvre du fr?re Hugo
(Brussels, 1955).
drawing
der
(as n. 10), II, 221.
und Maas
For example, the figures on several pieces in the treasure of the priory
in Namur:
of Oignies
the covers of the evangeliary, the foot of the
chalice of Gilles de Walcourt,
and the first and second phylactery of
St. Andrew.
? la Vierge." Cited after Anthol

?ge, ?d. A. Mary, 2 vols. (Paris, 1967),
"Zum Stand der Forschung

For the enamel, see D. Koetzsche,
des 12. Jahrhunderts im Rhein-Maas-Gebiet,"
Goldschmiedekunst
Rhein
similarities are
de Notre-Dame
"Invocation
ogie po?tique fran?aise: Moyen

I, 377-85, at 380, 382.
and their more
indicators of influence.
149.
33.
de Reims,
in quality between the sculptures at Reims

counterparts at Amiens. Not all Morellian
province of Reims, located between the poles of Lotharingia and the

"Domaine royal" may have affected even the interpretations of modern
art historians.
53.
Chr?tien
de Troyes, Clig?s,
vv. 30-35.
37


Antiqui Et Moderni at Reims (Willibald Sauerländer)

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Antiqui Et Moderni at Reims (Willibald Sauerländer)

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"Antiqui et Moderni" at Reims

Author(s): Willibald Sauerlnder

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25067073 .

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in style seen in the sculptures

on the west fa?ade,

produced inTrier.The process of dismantling the styleof the

on the upper reaches of the

industry of the ancients is before our hands. They

live, and the living are buried in

of themoderns lie neglected while the cast-off fringes of

Antiquorum industria nobis pre manibus est; gesta suis

forsitan aliquid Sophoclio non indignum coturno. lacent

This colorful complaint about the reputation of the an

leRei,"4 in Saxon sculpture fromFreiburg toNaum

to shift artistic allegiance

studies of the survival of antiquity inmedieval art, for the

and came to an end with thedefinitive triumph of themoderns

occasion of his seventy-fifth

Zentralinstitutf?r Kunstgeschichte, Munich

France. Among the great cathedrals of northern France, this

five decades, from 1220 to 1270. The very earliest sculptures,

city gates. Its southern neighbor

This content downloaded from 161.116.100.129 on Mon, 17 Nov 2014 14:27:31 PM

(photo: Zentralinstitut f?r Kunst

was the province of Sens, largely under the domination of the

(photo: Zentralinstitut f?r

It was long ago suggested that the Antiqui among the

Rhin etMeuse."10 Contradicting the prevailing opinion, I will

siastical province of Trier. Since Carolingian times there had

Reims is the figure of Christ on one of the eastern wall but

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choir, Christ (photo: Zentralinstitut?r

4. Paris, Mus?e du Louvre, Shrine of St. Potentinus, Christ

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Gruppe," and it probably dates before 1221.131 compare this

The twelve apostles stand beneath the arcades on the

terized by physical bulk and passivity in expression.16 Both

not know if thispiece of metalwork pre- or postdates the stat

Not a single piece of metalwork remains from the suffragan

been adopted art historically by the Rhenish city.17 Study of

axis. And yet, not only is Reims geograph

inCologne and that the rise of the style inUpper Lotharingia

characteristics of the Year 1200 style (Fig. 7).18 While the

Shrine, which mark the emergence of the style in Cologne.19

on the frontof theThree Kings Shrine. Be that as itmay, the

north transept (Fig. 8). The similarity is even more pronounced

compared to the beautiful figure of an enthroned archbishop

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7. First seal of John I, Archbishop

of Trier (photo: Zentralinstitut f?r

8. Reims, Cathedral, north transept, Calixtus Portal,

10. Reims, Cathedral, north transept, Judgment Portal,

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12. Jteimj, Cathedral,

figures of apostles and saints, cast and gilded. As Montague

might have inspired the sculptures of theAntiqui at Reims.21

pertrophie. The same or a similar model evidently informed

compelling. But before drawing conclusions from these visual

This content downloaded from 161.116.100.129 on Mon, 17 Nov 2014 14:27:31 PM

13. Mettlach, Abbey, Staurotheca,

wing, inner side, detail: St. Peter

14. Mettlach, Abbey, Staurotheca,