Madonna Tabernacles in Scandinavia c. 1150–c. 1350

Abstract

Wooden Madonna tabernacles from c.1150–c.1350 are today scarce, and it is therefore difficult to get a complete understanding of their original appearance and variations. Nevertheless there are still preserved at least fifteen Madonna tabernacles, or substantial fragments of them, in Scandinavia, which can give us a picture of the variety of appearance and form these large tabernacles had in this period. The surviving Scandinavian Madonna tabernacles have, like the southern European ones, quite a lot of variation in types and appearance, both in their closed and open positions. The largest group consisted of niches with relief-figures on the interior when open, but the scenes could also be painted, or painting and sculpture combined on the same surface. A neglected aspect of these tabernacles is their appearance in the closed position. Often the wings of the tabernacles have their original painting preserved on the exterior, even if the reverse has been overpainted or the wings have been restructured. Many of these original surfaces had non-figural decoration, such as foliage, monochrome surfaces in red or green, or a combination of simple patterns of red and green.

Keywords:

• tabernacle
• Madonna sculpture
• Scandinavia, medieval
• wooden sculpture

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Professor Nigel Morgan, Dr Jan Brendalsmo, Professor emeritus Erla B. Hohler, Dr Ragnhild M. Bø, and Dr Margrete Syrstad Andås for their valuable comments and suggestions. I am also grateful to conservator Mille Stein for making me aware of the colour on the tabernacles’ exterior, and for showing me the results of her examination results and reconstructions of the tabernacles from Hedalen and Reinli.

madonna tabernacles c. 1150–c. 1350 located in the churches except when a museum location is indicated

Notes

1. Baldachinaltar in German, Retable à baldaquin in French.

2. R. Norberg, ‘Retabel’, in Kulturhistorisk Leksikon for Nordisk Middelalder, XIV, ed. A. Karker (Copenhagen 1969), cols 80–89; P. Tångeberg, ‘Träskulpturens tekniker’, in Signums svenska konsthistoria 4. Den gotiska konsten, ed. J-E. Augustsson (Lund 1996), 281; E. Kofod-Hansen, ‘Middelalderlige altertavlers typology. Form og function, specielt i Haderslev Stift’, in Middelalderlige altertavler i Haderslev Stift, ed. S. F. Plather and J. Bruun (Hellebæk 2003), 21–25; T. Kunz, Skulptur um 1200: das Kölner Atelier der Viklau-Madonna auf Gotland und der ästetische Wandel in der 2. Hälfte des 12. Jahrhunderts (Petersberg 2007), 257–80.

3. Norberg ‘Retabel’ (as n. 2), 82; M. Frinta, ‘The Closing Tabernacle — A Fanciful Innovation of Medieval Design’, The Art Quarterly, 30 (1967), 106; C. Lapaire, ‘Les retables à baldaquin gothiques’, Zeitschrift für Schweizerische Archäologie und Kunstgeschichte, 26 (1969), 175; R. Koechlin, Les ivoires gothiques français, 3 vols reprint edition (Paris 1968) and P. Williamson, ‘An English Ivory Tabernacle Wing of the Thirteenth Century’, The Burlington Magazine, 132 (1990), 863–66, for those in ivory.

4. Madonna figures with only their back panel, or back panel and canopy, preserved are not included.

5. There are at least eleven Madonna tabernacles with one, two or four wings preserved. In this article I have included five from Spain and four from Italy. By the end of the 14th century the appearance of these Madonna tabernacles changes, and there are preserved numerous examples of late medieval Madonna tabernacles.

6. Norberg ‘Retable’ (as n. 2); Tångeberg, ‘Träskulpturens tekniker’ (as n. 2), 281.

7. See table at the end of this article for information about the tabernacles discussed in this article: date, location, size, number of preserved wings, material and exterior decoration.

8. There are remnants of broken-up tabernacles in churches, museums and private collections in Italy and Spain. For the Italian material, see K. Krüger, Der frühe Bildkult des Franziskus in Italien (Berlin 1992), 219–30.

9. Krüger, Der frühe Bildkult (as n. 8), pls 145–52, 156–67.

10. Frinta, ‘The Closing Tabernacle’ (as n. 3), 105.

11. Fons del Museu Frederic Marés, Barcelona: Catàleg d’escultura i pintura medieval (Barcelona 1991), 393–94. See table at the end of this article for information about the tabernacles discussed in this article: date, location, size, number of preserved wings, material.

12. Krüger, Der frühe Bildkult (as n. 8), 226, pl. 155. The tabernacle from Pale has been stolen twice: first time in 1964, and then again in 1974. The Madonna tabernacle was found, but only with five of the sixteen scenes. In 2014 the sixth panel (Nativity scene) was found in Brazil and returned to the Museo Diocesano, Milano. Corriere dell’Umbria, 23 July 2014.

13. K. K. Meinander, Medeltida altarskåp och träsniderier i Finlands Kyrkor (Helsingfors 1908); C. A. Nordman, ‘Två Mariaskåp och en Mikalesbild’, Finska Fornminnesföreningens Tidskrift, 62 (1964), 71–88; H. Fett, ‘Overgangsformer i unggotikkens kunst i Norge’, Foreningen til norske Fortidsmindesmerkers Bevaring Årbok, 67 (1911), 1–21; A. Andersson, English Influence in Norwegian and Swedish Figuresculpture in Wood 1220–1270 (Stockholm 1949); M. Blindheim, ‘En romansk alterskapsdør’, Det ikonografiske blikk: festskrift til Ulla Haastrup, (Copenhagen 1993), 19–25; M. Blindheim, Painted Wooden Sculpture in Norway c. 1100–1250 (Oslo 1998); M. Blindheim, Gothic. Painted wooden sculpture in Norway 1220–1350 (Oslo 2004).

14. Frinta, ‘The Closing Tabernacle’ (as n. 3), 103–17; Lapaire, ‘Les retables’ (as n. 3), 169–90; C. Lapaire, ‘Les retable à tabernacle polygonal de l’ époque gothique’, Zeitschrift für Schweizerische Archäologie und Kunstgeschichte, 29 (1972), 40–64; Krüger, Der frühe Bildkult (as n. 8).

15. Krüger, Der frühe Bildkult (as n. 8).

16. Fons del Museu Frederic Marés, Barcelona, Catàleg d’escultura i pintura medieval; L’Autel Roman Catalan (2008).

17. Save for a short article about the frontal and wings from Vallbona in regard to its function, placing and artistic attribution in F. C. Monllau, ‘Noves consideracions entorn al joc de retaule i frontal de Vallbona de les Monges’, Butlletí del Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, 10 (2009), 57–85.

18. Frinta, ‘The Closing Tabernacle’ (as n. 3), 103–17.

19. Lapaire, ‘Les retables’ (as n. 3), 169–90.

20. B. C. Lange, ‘Madonnaskap med kirkemodell som baldakinkroning’, Foreningen til norske Fortidsmindesmerkers Bevaring Årbok, 148 (published posthumously by J. Svanberg 1994), 23–36.

21. Altar frontal from Dale (Dale II), see U. Plather, N. Morgan, E. Hohler and A. Wichstrøm, Painted altar frontals of Norway 1250–1350, vols I–III (London 2004), I, 94–96, and III, 7–10 for plates.

22. In the context of iconographic interpretations of the tabernacles it has been fruitful to study the important work that has been done on the Norwegian frontals in the thorough work by Hohler, Wichstrøm, Morgan and Plahter, in Plather et al., Painted altar frontals (as n. 21). For other interpretations of the Madonna frontals, see M. Stang, Paintings, patronage and popular piety. Norwegian altar frontals and society c. 1250–1350 (Oslo 2009).

23. M. Stein and E. Andersen, Krusifikset og madonnaskapet i Hedalen stavkirke. Undersøkelse 2006–2008, Rapport 25, Norsk institutt for kulturminneforskning (Oslo 2008); E. Andersen, ‘Altertavlen i Hedalen, et madonnaskap’, Collegium medievale, 23 (2010), 92–112.

24. N. Sjögren, ‘Mariaskåpet från Fröskog. Den inramande arkitekturen’, Fornvännen, 100 (2005), 200–08.

25. Meinander, Medeltida altarskåp (as n. 13), 11, 15; Lange, ‘Madonnaskap’ (as in n. 20).

26. The wing from Fåberg has a painting of St Peter on the outside, and the wing from Urnes has remnants of a figure painting.

27. Stein and Andersen, Krusifikset og madonnaskapet (as n. 24); M. Stein, ‘Madonnaskapene i Hedalen og Reinli stavkirker. Forslag til rekonstruksjon av skapenes opprinnelige utseende’, Collegium medievale, 23 (2010), 58–91.

28. J. Kroesen, Seitenaltäre in mittelalterlichen Kirchen (Regensburg 2010).

29. J. Kroesen, ‘The longue durée of “Romanesque” altar decorations: frontals, canopies, and altar sculptures’, in Paint and Piety, ed. K. Kollandsrud and L. W. Noëlle (London 2014), 15–33.

30. Frinta, ‘The Closing Tabernacle’ (as n. 3), 104; like a transitional form between a canopied statue and a tabernacle with wings: seated Madonna under the crenellated baldachin in the hermitage of St Martin in Angoustrine (Roussilion).

31. Fet, Røldal II (Odda) and Østra Vram have probably lost their top tier.

32. E.g. Hove (Universitetsmuseet i Bergen), Dal (Kulturhistorisk museum, Universitetet i Oslo), unknown provenance (Universitetsmuseet i Bergen), Vallsett (Vallset church in Hedmark), Veldre (Historisk museum, Universitetet i Oslo), Appuna (Historiska museet i Stockholm).

33. Lange, ‘Madonnaskap’ (as n. 20); Lapaire, ‘Les retables’ (as n. 3), 49.

34. Stang, ‘Paintings, patronage’ (as n. 22), 67–83; for the examples in ivory: R. Koechlin, Les ivoires gothiques français, 3 vols, reprint edition (Paris 1968), pls XXXVI–XLI, CLXV.

35. There is some misplacing, like the three Magi in Fröskog, Sweden.

36. Silver coated with yellow glaze to create the effect of gold. For more about imitation gold and incised patterns, see Plahter in Plather, Morgan, Hohler and Wichstrøm, Painted altar frontals (as n. 21), II, 40–50.

37. The wing have been cut horizontally both on the top and the bottom, and show today one and two-thirds of a scene. It is therefore impossible to estimate the original dimension.

38. Blindheim, Painted Wooden Sculpture (as n. 13), cat. 28. Except the missing column in the second tier, that originally was glued and later fastened with an iron nail.

39. Published drawings of the half-wing and the roof of the church model by P. Blix, ‘Nogle Undersøgelser i Borgund og Urnæs Kirker med Bemærkninger vedkommende Hoprekstadkirken og en Del Udtalelser’, in De norske Stavkirker, ed. L. Dietrichson (Kristiania 1895), 1–12, 31 pls.

40. It seems that these ‘sunken jewels’ have no traces of glue or nails, like those on the Norwegian frontals. Plather et al., Painted altar frontals (as in n. 21), 81.

41. If the half-wing of Fåberg had also been preserved the full text would have been: ‘AVE MARIA GRACIA PLENA’ and the name of the three magi: ‘CASPAR, BALTHIZAR, MELCHIOR’ above the niches with the three Magi; see P. Binski and M. L. Sauerberg, ‘Matthew Paris in Norway’, in Medieval Painting in Northern Europe: Techniques, Analysis, Art History. Studies in commemoration of the 70th birthday of Unn Plahter, ed. J. Nadolny et al. (London 2006), 235.

42. Universitetsmuseet i Bergen. See N. Morgan, ‘Texts and Images of Marian Devotion in Thirteenth-Century England’, in England in the Thirteenth Century. Proceedings of the 1989 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. W. M. Ormrod, Harlaxton Medieval Studies, I (Stamford 1991), 82, pl. 7.

43. Stein and Andersen, Krusifikset og madonnaskapet (as n. 23); Stein, ‘Madonnaskapene i Hedalen’ (as n. 27).

44. Stein and Andersen, Krusifikset og madonnaskapet (as n. 23); Andersen, ‘Altertavlen i Hedalen’ (as n. 23).

45. According to a report from 1884 the back panel was cut off at the bottom and probably demolished. N. Nicolaysen, ‘Innberetning’, Foreningen til norske Fortidsmindesmerkers Bevaring Årbok 1884 (1885), 104.

46. Stein, ‘Madonnaskapene i Hedalen’ (as n. 27); Stein and Andersen, Krusifikset og madonnaskapet (as n. 23).

47. Many of the tabernacles have not been technically examined, and there are several tabernacles I have not been able to examine for their original paint, due to their museum locations, and the conservation reports do not mention the exterior decoration or traces of decoration.

48. S. Kaspersen, ‘Altertavlerne i deres kirkelig-liturgiske og andagtsmæssige kontekst’, in Middelalderlige altertavler i Haderslev Stift, ed. S. F. Plather and J. Bruun (Hellebæk 2003), 39–41.

49. Kaspersen, ‘Altertavlerne’ (as n. 48), 40. For more on the covering up with cloths, see F. B. Wallem, ‘De islandske kirkers udstyr i middelalderen’, Foreningen til norske Fortidsmindesmerkers Bevaring Årbok, 65 (1909), 25–28.

50. Kaspersen, ‘Altertavlerne’ (as n. 48), 39, on the Ordinal from Laon, where on the feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple (2 February) the altarpiece remained closed but was covered up with a cloth, decorated with the Annunciation scene.