Lawrence Nees

The Plan of St. Gall and the Theory of the Program of Carolingian Art

The monumental publication of the Plan of St. Gall by Walter Horn and Ernest Born proposes that the surviving Plan depends upon a lost paradigmatic and authoritative exemplar preserved at the imperial court. Drawing upon recent research prompted by Horns publication, while also indicating some problems with the paradigmatic theory as put forth by Horn not previously noted, the theory is here rejected as it is applied specifically to the Plan of St. Gall. In a broader sense, the historiographic tradition associated with Horns theory is very briefly reviewed, and the common view that in general terms early Carolingian art may be understood as the product of an official court program is questioned.

A Fifth-Century Book Cover and the Origin of the Four Evangelist Symbols Page in the Book of Durrow

after the appearance of Werners article has unearthed a work which provides a better and more convincing prototype for the Book of Durrow Four Evangelist Symbols page than Werners hypothetical reconstructed Coptic source. However, before turning to the analysis of that work, Werners theory will be reviewed on its own terms, since it accords with and lends support to other assertions of the importance of Coptic art for the development of Insular and early medieval art in

On Carolingian Book Painters: The Ottoboni Gospels and its Transfiguration Master

A beautiful miniature illustrating the Transfiguration of Christ, radically different in style from anything else in the Ottoboni Gospels, has been interpreted as a later addition to this Carolingian book. This article proposes that it was contemporary with the rest of the book and planned for inclusion in it but executed by an independent master painter not permanently attached to the writing center where it was produced. The article also proposes that some individual artists of effectively professional character who could be employed on special high-prestige projects played a more important role in early medieval illustration than is usually believed.

Perspectives on Early Islamic Art in Jerusalem

In Perspectives on Early Islamic Art in Jerusalem , Lawrence Nees analyzes early Islamic monuments on the Haram al-Sharif , or the Temple Mount: the Dome of the Chain, and the capitals with figures of eagles in the Dome of the Rock.

Ethnic and Primitive Paradigms in the Study of Early Medieval Art

Thomas Kuhn has much to say about stubborn adherence to an underlying paradigm, a tendency apparently embedded deep in human psychology. In his classic discussion of the issue, Kuhn quotes one study in which people persisted in identifying playing cards as “normal” even when shown cards that were obviously impossible, such as a red six of spades or a black four of hearts.1 Scholars tend to be conservative; expertise is often associated with conviction,2 and paradigms are resistant to change partly because they are literally taken for granted. So one should probably view as a hopeful sign of the growing recognition that a paradigm shift is needed in the study of early medieval art that, in 1992, Per Jonas Nordhagen, referring (to me, ironically) to Kuhn’s theoretical presentation, criticized Ernst Kitzinger for proposing we substitute a new paradigm of “stylistic modes” for the older one of “local schools.” This older paradigm was codified in 1924, in a famous diagram by Charles Rufus Morey that Nordhagen thought still fundamentally valid.3 On its face, the local schools concept seems geographical, contrasting traditions primarily associated with different cities; but Morey revealed he was thinking in terms of ethnic distinctions when he described one of his major trends as “neo-Attic” and another as “Asiatic,” evoking a dichotomy that goes back to Aeschylus.4

Forging Monumental Memories in the Early Twelfth Century

Two important groups of twelfth-century Italian thrones, a Roman group with circular back and lion supports, and a southern group with pedimented back, have posed problems of dating and interpretation in part because they were created to appear older than they were. Long ago Emile Bertaux characterised the throne from Monte Sant’Angelo as “un faux en marbre”. More recently Francesco Gandolfo has shown the mixture of spolia and back-dated inscriptions in the Roman group, and Pina Belli d’Elia has argued that the throne at S. Nicola in Bari is not as old as its inscription claims. Such works were created as documents inscribing memories of the past, but improving upon the historical record, in effect forgeries. They should be considered at least on one level as analogous to the many forged charters and other documents so particularly characteristic of the eleventh and twelfth centuries.