LASSEHODNE

Reading and Viewing Words in Fra Angelico's Typological Paintings

Abstract

In medieval art, there are numerous examples of pictorial programmes composed according to a system of typolojlical opposition between scenes from the Old and the New Testaments, in which scenes from the New are seen as the typological fulfillment of prophecies from the Old. Normally, scenes from both Testaments are juxtaposed, so that the fulfillment under Christ can be seen to­gether with the scene that prefigures it. In the works of the Florentine painter Fra Angelico, this system is softened. His series of 36 small panels from the Armadio degli argenti, now in the Mu­seo di San Marco (Florence), is apparently a quite conventional representation of "highlights' from the Gospel story. However, the inscriptions that accompany each panel revea\ a typological scheme at heart of the pictorial programme. This paper studies the compositional and expressive devices applied in Fra Angelico's subtle rendering of weU-established theological concepts. Fur­ther, the paper argues that the same devices appear in a group of paintings of the Annunciation which can be attributed to Fra Angelico or his school

This article concentrates on two groups of works from the hand of Fra An­gelico or his followers. The first are the panels of the so-called Armadio degli argenti, dated c. 1450 and now kept in the museum of San Marco in Florence. The 35 panels make up an almost complete cycle of pictures with scenes from the Life of Christ, in addition to two allegorical images. A conspicuous aspect of the cycle is the legends with which each scene is equipped. The inscriptions consist of paired verses from the Old and the New Testaments in typological relation, i.e. one of prophecy and fulfillment. For example, along the upper frame of the Annunciation (FIG. 1) we read the prophetic words ECCE VIRGO CONCIPIET ET PARIET FILIUM ET VOCABIT EIUS EMANUEL ("Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel") from Isaiah 7:14, which are fulfilled in ECCE CONCIPIES IN UTERO ET PARIES FILIUM ET VOCABIS NOMEN EIUS IHESUM ("And, behold, thou shalt con­ceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus") from Luke 1:31, written on a scroll beneath the same scene. In this way Fra Angeli­co's series of paintings resembles typological manuscript genres, like the Pictor in carmine, Rota in medio rotae and Biblia pauperum. Several authors have pointed out the dependence of Fra Angelico's Armadio on Biblical typology,

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CQNQPIES INVTER.O r B\R.If.S AlIVM r \fOCABLS HOMEN

FIG. 1 - Fra Angelico, The Annunciation from the Armadio degli argenti. Museo di San Marco, Florence.

and some have suggested that the programme may be based on a manuscript in the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice. I

Before Gilbert 2005 there seems to be no awa­reness in the vast literature on the art of Pra Angelico of any relation between the Armadio degli argenti and the Marciana manuscript. In

works on typological manuscripts, however. the connection has been suggested long ago, d. Ga­beIantz 1907,273.280; Cornell 1925, 118·119.

READING AND VIEWING WORDS IN FRA ANGEliCO·S •.. 245

The other group of works attributed to Fra Angelico and his school are three altar-pieces of the Annunciation, one in the Museo Diocesano at Cortona (FIG. 5), a second in the Monastery of S. Giovanni at Montecarlo in Valdarno (FIG. 6), and a third in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. From a stylistic point of view these paintings are very similar. and the combination of the Annuncia­tion with an event from the Old New Testament is striking. Whereas the main attention in all three paintings is focused on the angel and the Virgin in the fore­ground, all of them also contain a secondary scene in the background, namely the Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise.

A constitutive feature of both series of paintings is thus the juxtaposition be­tween the two Testaments, but whereas the Armadio degli Argenti panels are easy to understand in light of established typological genres, the Annunciation panels are not quite as simply defined, since they do not belong to any picture cycle. Besides, the Expulsion is an unconventional choice as a precursor for the Annunciation, the FaU being a more natural alternative. In the following, I shall discuss the character of typological composition in both groups.

The second feature I want to discuss are the inscriptions found in both groups of paintings. 2 In the Annadio panels we find ribbons or scrolls with inscriptions, whereas in the three Annunciations words are inscribed as being uttered directly from the mouths of Gabriel and the VIrgin Mary. I want to show that the words are inscribed on the picture surface in a way that may be characterized as a "staging" of the word. The inscriptions are not mere comments to the scene they inscribe, but have become an integral part of it. By emphasizing that the letters are not only read but also seen, the word becomes an integrated part of the sub­ject matter which is conveyed.

Fra Angelico's Annadio degli Argenti

Angelico's 36 panels originally decorated the above-mentioned Armaciio once located in the nearby church of Santissima Annunziata, where it served as a depository for the church's most precious ex voti. 3 Although the entire series of paintings is usually attributed to Fra Angelico, he himself most likely painted only a small number, perhaps as few as nine. The rest, executed after the death of the master in 1455, may be the work of less famous Florentine masters like Alesso Baldovinetti and Zanobi Strozzi.

The series of panels displays scenes from the Life of Christ. If we exclude the initial and the final scenes, the cycle, starting with the Annunciation, includes

2 Fra Angelico's conscious occupation with lette· ring is testified by the fact that his po)yptych in the Galleria Nazionale deU'Umbria is the fint painting ever with an inscription in minuscules 3 that are influenced by the humanistica script.

See Covi 1954. 47. In another article(Covi 1963. 4) this position is assigned to the same artist's Coronation of the Virgin in the Louvre. casallni 1963. 104-124.

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important episodes from the Life of Christ, from the Flight to Egypt, the Mas­sacre of the Innocents and Christ among the Doctors, to the Passion, the Resur­rection and the Last Judgment. All the scenes are familiar, and the iconography essentially adheres to schemes that must be considered as conventional in the early and mid-fifteenth century.

Not so common, however, at least not in panel paintings, are the inscribed scrolls running along the upper and lower borders of each scene. In the Annun­ciation, as we have seen, the prophecy from Isaiah is contrasted with Luke 1:31. Exactly the same system is adopted in the next scene, that of the Birth of Christ, or the Adoration of the Child, as we might also call it. In the upper row we read, PARVULUS ENIM NATUS EST NOBIS, FILIUS DATUS EST NOBIS ET FAC­TUS EST PRINCIPATUS SUPER UMERUM EIUS ("For. unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder"), yet again from the prophet Isaiah (9:6). Below we read, IMPLETI SUNT DIES UT PARERET ET PEPERIT FILIUM SUUM PRIMOGENITUM, from Luke 2:6-7.

We see that the same system of analogies between verses from the Old and the New Testament are adopted for both of these panels. If we had continued our analysis, we would have seen that the same goes for the entire series. '!Ypo­logical schemes like this have been adopted as interpretative strategies in bibli­cal exegesis since the time of the Church Fathers. Friedrich Ohly defines the exegetic strategy of typology in the following way: "It consists in observing at the same time two events, institutions, persons or objects of which one stems from the Old Testament and the other from the New, combined in such a way that their reciprocal mirror image makes evident a conceptual relation between them."' In the Old Testament story of Abraham's sacrifice of his own son we see a foreshadowing of the Crucifixion of Christ recounted in the New. Likewise the Passage of the Red Sea foreshadows Christ's Baptism in the river Jordan. 5

Umbra et Figura

In his 1938 article "Umbra et Figura", Erich Auerbach (1892-1957) intro­duced the term figura to denote a concept which is almost synonymous with that of typology. 6 As a rhetorical figure figura is not only an "image" but a :'pre­figuration" - an image that precedes something that is fully realized only at a later moment. Important to Auerbach was the fact that typology, as the method was adopted by both theologians and authors of secular literature in the Mid­dle Ages, implied a positive view of the historical development. The anticipatory event (figura) is imperfect, and its relation to the fulfiIhnent can be described as that between shadow and light. 7 No doubt Auerbach has chosen the term care-

4 Obly 1994, 178. 5 Obly 1994, 178-179. 6 The article "Figura" in Archivium Romanicu.rn:

Nuova rivisla di (ilo/ogia romanza (cf. 'Biblio­graphy', Auerbach 1938).

READING AND VIEWING WORDS IN FRA ANGELICO·S ... 247

fully. for the concepts umbra et figura are employed frequently by patristic and medieval theologians. In De Civitate Dei Augustine used these notions to define the priesthood of Aaron, which was said to be umbra et figura aeterni sacerdotii. 8

Much later Thomas Aquinas, with an explicit reference to Augustine, used the same words to distinguish between that which was seen figuratively through prophecy and that which was seen in truth. 9

The reference to Aquinas may be particularly relevant since, as we shall se below, he is believed to be the source of the cycle's final panel, that of the Lex amoris (FIG. 2). Furthermore, the pertinence of the topic of umbra et Figura to the Armadio degli argenti may be reflected in the work itself. If we look carefully at the inscribed scrolls, we discover that instead of facing the spectator frontally, they are tipped slightly toward the center of the scene. The upper scroll is turned downward, whereas the lower one is turned slightly upward. Since the scenes are lit from above, the upper scroll, which is turned downward, is left in the shadow, whereas the lower one appears illuminated. If we take the Annunciation as an example, we see that the words from Isaiah, ECCE VIRGO CONCIPIET etc., written on the ribbon which runs close to the upper edge, stand towards a fairly dark background as compared to that of the lower part (FIG. 1). Indeed, the scroll with ECCE CONCIPIES IN UTERO from Luke is much brighter.

It should come as no surprise that Fra Angelico inserted text in the scene not as captions but as an integral part of it. Just think of Bellini's Madonna di Alzano (1485) with the autograph of the painter accidentally written on a piece of pa­per affixed to a parapet which faces the spectator. According to Dario Covi, the Renaissance artist consciously used effects like foreshortening and distortion, highlighting and shading, to make inscriptions look like tangible things. 10 The artists of the quattrocento were the first to explore these effects.

A closer look on the scrolls of the other panels shows that the entire cycle is composed according to the same scheme. Moreover; it is not a coincidence which inscriptiOns are illuminated and which are not. It is always the Old Testa­ment prophecy on the upper row which is left in the dark, whereas the corre­sponding New Testament verse is illuminated. The carrying out of this scheme is so systematic that it must be part of a thought-out program. In my view there is little doubt that the idea was to emphasize the umbra et Figura theme.

Typological Studies in Medieval Literature and Art

One can hardly overstate the position that this way of reasoning had in the Middle Ages and Early Modern period. Its sphere of influence was not only the­ology, its ·proper domain", but extended to literature and visual arts. Medieval

7 Aueroach 1984. 38. 9 Thomas Aquinas 1902. c. 3. 1. 4. 8 De Civit.te Dei 17. 6. quoted through Auerbach 10 Covi 1963. 13.

1984.38.

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FIG. 2 - Pra Angelico, ike: \IIAYBeiatioh, Mtl3ce DiQcesaRB, €Ol'toftal

L'~x amllrrj /nm (ltf ;4rlff{jc(,(j~&/'- tl'r. &111~ #IIHv p(,' S 011 cultural life was infused with typological or; in the words of Eric Auerbach, fig- Hr.r (0

1 ural, thinking: "It is precisely the figural interpretation of reality which, though ;:/o;rt''1{f'. in constant conflict with purely spiritualist and Neoplatonic tendencies, was the dominant view in the European Middle Ages."" A number of influential twen­tieth-century theorists, especially philologists and historians of literature, have shown how important an acknowledgment of this tradition is for the under-

II Auerbach 1984, 71-72.

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standing of cultural expressions of that period. Auerbach's studies of Dante's Di­vina commedia, where he demonstrates that "basically ... [it] is the figural forms which predominate and determine the whole structure of the poem" are exem­plary in this regard .• 2

Auerbach drew a distinction between two apparently related rhetorical con­cepts, namely those of allegory and figura. Even though fourth-century authors tended to regard them as synonymous, they actually have different origins: "We may say roughly that the figural method in Europe goes back to Christian in­fluences, while the allegorical method derives from ancient pagan sources, and also that one is applied primarily to Christian, the other to ancient material." 13

In the figural mode, the focus is on the temporal unfolding of historical events. The philologist who has made the most important contributions to the study

of typology in the border area between text and image is probably Friedrich Ohly (1914-1996). In 1972 he published an article on the pictorial programme in the cathedral of Siena, "Die Kathedrale als Zeitenraum. Zum Dom von Si­ena"." Here, he performs an analysis which especially concentrates on the fa~ade sculpture and the floor mosaics, seeing these as parts of a whole where, among other things, prophets and sibyls complement each other in pointing for­wards, towards the era of Grace. A typological aspect concerning the connection between prophecy and fulfillment is furthermore observed in the figures' rela­tion to the church space, which is in conformity with the idea of the Church as a "symbolic body".

Although a number of scholars, especially in the fields of philology and his­tory of literature, occupy themselves with typological questions, one can hardly say that they constitute a particular school of research, and multidisciplinary awareness is also limited. Ohly, calling for a more extensive collaboration be­tween art history, history of literature and theology; nevertheless denounces art historians for limiting themselves to the study of iconographical aspects in typo­logical works. Art history "has not as yet in any systematic way considered the possibility of visualizing the typological relations which present themselves to the language of forms". 15

Despite the lack of theoretical reflection, there is no doubt that iconographers at least have had an implicit awareness of the meaning of typology. The impor­tance of seeing images, and constellations of images, in light of the opposistion between the two Testaments are clearly revealed in Emile MMe's L' art religieux du XlII' siecle en France, only that MMe prefers to speak of "allegorical" instead of "typological" interpretation.·6

12 Auerbach 1984, 64. 13 Auerbach 1984, 63. 14 The article was subsequently translated into

nalian and published as a book in 1979 with the title La. cattedrale come spatio dei tempi: il

Duomo di Siena (Accademia senese degli intro­nati. Monografie d'ane senese VIII),

15 Obly 1994, 181. 16 Male 2000, especially Book IV, ch. i (131-139).

For the English edition, cf. the bibliography.

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Among contemporary art historians, Wolfgang Kemp has contributed signi­ficantly to the research on typology. In his book Christliche Kunst from 1994, the typological method is adopted in the analysis of Early Christian monuments such as the reliefs of the wooden doors of Santa Sabina in Rome. Like Obly, Kemp analyses ecclesiastical art as part of a whole; in· which a motifs position in relation to the cycle renders meaning to the individual image. Moreover, Kemp distinguishes between different rhetorical modes, the opposition betwe­en erzlihlende and thematische style being essential. In the basilica building the nave walls are mainly decorated with scenes representing stories from Genesis and the Gospels, whereas, by contrast, the sanctuary is dominated by scenes of a thematic or hieratic nature.

As regards Fra Angelico's Armadio, however, comparisons with monumental art are less interesting than with minor arts. Although we find examples of in­scriptions and tituli accompanying frescoes, 17 the system of scrolls with citations from both Testaments accompanying each panel of the Armadio makes the com­parison with typological manuscripts more relevant. As examples of studies of typological manuscripts, one might mention classics like Henrik Cornell's study of the Biblia Pauperum from 1925. Of more recent date is Floridus ROhrig's arti­cle, "Rota in medio rotae", which examines the development of this genre from the English pictor in carmine of the early thirteenth century.

The Armadio degli argenti in Light af the Tradition of Typological Manuscripts

Already in Late Antiquity monuments occur in which typological ideas are adopted and professed. But only in the Late Middle Ages we see the emergence of genres with the sole purpose of demonstrating the typological principle. Manuscript genres like the Biblia pauperum, were according to some scholars, wrongly I believe;rmtten with the sole purpose of divulging the biblical message to the uneducated and illiterate - hence the name.'s Rather, inspired by the writ­ings of the Church Fathers and theological genres like the Glossa ordinaria, these manuscripts combined words and images in such a way that episodes from the two testaments were juxtaposed to form typological relations. The most ancient versions of this type of manuscript came to light, it seems, in England around the year 1200. Floridus Rohrig has described the English Pictor in carmine as a precursor of the later versions known from the European continent, such as the

17 Such titul; are documented from the cathedral of Pet .. borough (England). cf. ROhrig 1965, IS.

18 According to Weckwenh (1957, 2l5) the Biblia pauperum was made as propagaoda against bel' etics who identified themselves with the poverty of Christ, which explains the word pauperum (i.e. 'the poor'). ROhrig (1965, 32) agrees that

it was made as propaganda, but retains at the same time tlw: BibliJJ paupuum was not the gen­re's original name. By contrast, Schmidt (1959, 88-101) held that the idea of text genres like the Biblia pauperum and the Speculum humanae sal­vationis was to present complicated exegetical thought in a moralizing, homiletic context.

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.. , ~

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&ta in medio rotae and the Biblia pauperum. I. In the Rota manuscripts, which all stem from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the total number of scenes are reduced, but otherwise it is quite similar to the Pictor. In tum, from the mid­fourteenth century we have the Speculum humanae salvationis, which suppos­edly was composed by the Dominican Ludolf von Sachsen. It is less theological and more mystical than the Rota in media rotae and the Biblia pauperum, but it is still so similar that it has been suggested that it is derived from them. 2

•

Angelico's panels for the Armadio degli argenti include no Old Testament scenes, but the inscribed scrolls with Old Testament prophecies and New Tes­tament fulfilments are themselves sufficient to demonstrate the underlying ty­pological structure. In addition, there are two important indications: the initial and final panel of the cycle. To take the last first: It depicts a candelabra inter­laced by scrolls (FIG. 2). The twelve on the right are phrases from the Nicaean Creed, whereas on the left are verses from the Old Testament which are said to prefigure it. The central vertical axis repOrts events from the Life of Christ, whereas the central part of the seven lower scrolls shows words related to the seven sacraments.

Most interesting is, perhaps, the standing female figure in the lower left cor­ner, who has the words Lex amoris - "the Law of Love" - inscribed on her shield. The meaning of the phrase was recovered by Stefano Orlandi in his monograph on Beato Angelico from 1964. 21 It has to do with the difference between the words amor and timor, which, as Augustine observed, is almost nothing, and yet an ocean. Thomas Aquinas, in turn, connects them to Ezekiel's vision of the rota and says that "the Law of Love" is the Law of Christ, and hence the Law of the New Testament, as opposed the Law of the Old Testament given to Moses'on Mount Sinai. In fact, the Law given to Israel in the desert represents the oppo­site; it is the Law of Fear, or, in the Latin, timor.

In Angelico's panel there is no lex timaris. but, as Creighton Gilbert has point­ed out, such a figure can be found in a manuscript in the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice." This is a typological Rota manuscript, with the traditional juxtaposi­tion of scenes from the two Testaments. There is no candelabra, instead we see two women, neither of them similar to Angelico's, but recognisable by means of written labels. The one on the lower row is our Lex amoris whereas, on top, we do find the Lex timoris.

Branches spring out of the head of both these ladies. The lower are full of leaves, and she symbolises the life-giving Gospel, whereas the dry branches of the other signify Law without Grace. It is, among other things, this particular parallel between the Marciana manuscript and Fra Angelico's work that allows

19 ROhrig 1965. 29. 20 ROhrig 1965. 55. 21 Orlandi 1964. 120. 22 Gijbert 2005. 13·14 The connection between

the programme of Angelico's Amutdio and the Marciana manusc:ript has earlier been analysed by von der Gabelantz 1907. 273·280 and Cornell 1925.118-119.

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us to conclude that the typological scheme of the Armadio degli argenti may be based on a specific type or family of manuscripts.

Pra Angelico's Rota

The panel which concludes the cycle, is therefore not the final scene in the narrative series, it rather sums up the cycle as a whole. The same can be said of the initial panel, which represents a double wheel, the Rota in media rotae (FIG. 3). This, too, constitutes a striking parallel with the corresponding illustra­tion in the Marciana manuscript, only that Fra Angelico's Rota has portraits of patriarchs, prophets, and evangelists, whereas the manuscript represents these biblical personalities by their written names only.

Fra Angelico's RDta is composed of two concentric circles. The outer ring stands for the Old Testament. Along its rim we read the words IN PRINCIPIO CREAVIT DEUS CAELUM etc - the initial words of Genesis. On the rim of the inner ring we read: IN PRINCIPIO ERAT VERBUM, the opening of the Gospel according to John. Logically, between the spokes of the outer wheel Old Tes­tament personalities - kings and prophets - are represented, whereas evange­lists and apostles are depicted between the spokes of the inner wheel.{fhe "wheel within the wheel" is a reference to the description of the Lord's throne in Ezekiel 1, where the prophet in a vision sees the Dving Creatures surrounded by some strange wheels. "The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: he says, "and the four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel" (Ezekiel 1: 16). In a fa~de relief of the Cathedral of Arniens in France, the prophet is identified. precisely by means of two entangled wheels on the ground next to him.

Among the first to interpret the wheel as an allegory over the relation between the two Testaments was Pope Gregory the Great (c. 540-604). This explains the presence of St Gregory in Angelico's rota panel. Seated in the foreground to the right, Gregory is identified by his papal tiara as well as an inscription. It can be argued that the saint is included in the composition to demonstrate exactly this point, since the corresponding figure on the left-hand side is Ezekiel, depicted on the banks of the river Cobar at the moment of his overwhelming vision of the mystic wheel. After St Gregory, this interpretation of Ezekiel's vision was re­peated by several authorities, like, for instance, Hrabanus Maurus (c. 780-856), who in his Allegoriae in sQCram scripturam explicitly says that: "Rota est vetus et novum testamentum". 23 However; since the first Rota in media rotae manuscript only appeared much later, it is also likely that its inspiration must have come from a High or Late Medieval author. It is probable that it was composed by someone who was close to St. Bonaventura. This one can gather from a manu-

23 Allegoriae in sacram scripturam (sub littera R), ,. Migne 1995, 76, 834. t:: _

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READING AND VIEWING WORDS IN FAA ANGEUCO'S, .. 253

FIG. 3 - SaoHs frgm flA .~gelj~adio degli IHgemi nom to to botton •. The Ail1lWlciatieB,

t:': / 'f~~ 1'befPIeseU\>idWIIU the ~., and 'fh. Flight te Egypt>' , .../ ~ ~J

rrt( A7( ({' cP , ttl' HlP q (,-,;'m (/t.e , rM tf d'(1 ~.f/. ' Q7,"4t/', jil'td'-ro 0-/ /1'1" /'70r'rCi/

7/0/,('1'10' , script from Erlangen from about 1400, which Rohrig says carries an inscription which refers to a prologo by Bonaventura. 2.

24 "Ezechiel vidi rotam in medio rote, id est no­wm testamentum in veteri. Hec Bonaventura in prologo," Fo!. 123 v .. see ROhrig 1965, 36-37, The reference to Bonaventura is not surprising, since the same topic is discussed in the saint's ltinerar;um mentis in Deum: 'Who is the natu­ral image of the invisible God. our humanity

now wonderfully exalted, now ineffably united, by seeing at once in one Being the first and the ]ast, the highest and the lowest, the circumfe­rence and the centre, the alpha and the omega, the caused and the cause, the creator and the creature, the book written within and without ... ". Bonaventura 1953, 42.

254 LASSEHODNB

The interpretation of the double wheel and the text scrolls in Fra Angelico's Rota as allegories over the relation between the two Testaments is not controver­sial. The essential iconography and the Armapio's dependence on the Marciana manuscript, recently summarised by Creighton Gilbert,25 was analysed long ago by Berthier and Cornell. However, there is more to Ezekiel's vision than the en­tangled wheels. In the chapter following their appearance, Ezekiel describes a hand that was reached out to him, and 10, a written scroll was therein; And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without." (Ezekiel 2:9-10). This scroll "written within and without" can be seen in the upper part of An­gelico's rota panel. Two scrolls are here disposed symmetrically, one to the left and the other to the right. On the left we read, for instance, APPARAVIT ROTA SUPER TERRAM ... , which quotes the verses from the first chapter of Ezekiel mentioned above. On the right we see the corresponding text from Saint Gre­gory's Homiliae super E1.echielem.

That the scroll is written on both sides, means that a part of the text, that written on the back, remains hidden, but when the hidden part is discovered and the whole meaning finally is understood, we realise that it was always there. It is a gradually revealed truth like that of which Paul speaks in the First letter to the Corinthians: "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully ... ". (1. Corin­thians 13:12) The "written within and without" -metaphor is very similar to that of the Umbra et figura that we discussed above. They both presume that some­thing that in the past was hidden or obscure will be revealed in the future.

The analogy between these two metaphors (the hidden text in Ezekiel's vision and the umbra cast over the typological inscriptions) is a pun invented by Fra Angelico. On the top of the wheel sits Moses (FIG. 4). In the Marciana manu­script he is slightly displaced to the right, but Angelico places him intentionally at the very apex, from where he looks straight at the spectator. He is holding the two tablets of the Law, one in each hand. The symmetrical arrangement, with one tablet on each side and the position of Moses above all the other Old Testament figures, makes us think that the tablets represent the two sides of the scrolls. In the figure of Moses we find condensed the meaning, not only of this panel, but of the whole cycle as such. However; on the tablets there are no in­scriptions: the ten commandments are lacking. Strangely, if we turn to the rest of the Old Testament figures, we see the same thing. Most of the prophets hold scrolls in their hands, but there is nothing on them. The scrolls are attributes that tell us that they are authors of holy books, but for some reason they are not speaking - in contrast to the evangelists and apostles of the inner wheel. The evangelists are represented with their books, while the apostles carry scrolls. On all of these, books and scrolls alike, written letters are visible.

25 Gilbert 2005.

I P057-VoI.XXN .. priMIU,ozupdr 254 lQ1OSI2011 12.31..S4 I

READING AND VIEWING WORDS IN FRA ANGEUCO'S ... 255

FIG. 4 - Fra Angelico, /:.SJE WJJW~ from the Annadio degli argenti. Mu-seo di San Marco, Florenc~. (cI <' f Q, 'I ),

Only the New Testament figures are speaking; the Old Testament figures re­main mute. Why, one might ask? In light of the above argument, a likely inter­pretation may be that the prophets are mute because their message is of a kind that cannot be conveyed in any straightforward way. Their blank pages symbol­ize our inability to understand. By contrast, the writing on the books and scrolls of the representatives of New Testament is truth revealed to us through Christ. Now, finally, we can see and understand.

Speech and Writing in Fra Angelico's Cortona altar-piece

We shall now turn from the Armadio degli argenti to another series of works from Fra Angelico or his workshop: three altar-pieces representing the Annun­ciation. These are, first, a panel in the Museo Diocesano at Cortona, painted around 1435 (FIG. 5). The Virgin Mary and the archangel Gabriel dominate the composition. Both of them are located in an open portico which occupies the larger part of the foreground. In the background to the left is another scene: the figures represented here are so small that they are hard to identify at first glance, but then we discover that they are Adam and Eve being expelled from Paradise by an angel holding a sword.

The second example is a quite similar Annunciation from San Giovanni Valdarno near Florence, painted around 1440 (FIG. 6). The VIrgin's room in which the mysterious event takes place is a portico whose front is framing the

256 LASSEHODNE

FIG. 5 - Pra Angelico, t.ex: mneEs B=em the lAJiiadio degli argeRtjlMtlSCO eli San "lares, FleRfteet T/7e .Ar/t1wn Oql', '0'1/ l'ftot' P !?r"t'<'t'/~ htJr (t7r!tlr1Q .

panel, thus giving it the appearance of a diptych. The figure of the angel fills the left part of this "diptych", whereas the Virgin sits in the right part. On the far left the portico opens towards a rear garden, and again we discover the same three figures in the background: Adam and Eve driven away from the paradisiacal garden by a sword-swinging cherub.

The third example, which is in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, is an altar­piece from the 1430s held to be from Pra Angelico's circle rather than by the master himself. In this case, Adam and Eve have a slightly more prominent posi­tion. They are not quite as small as in the other examples, and they have been moved from the distant mountain top to a garden just behind the Virgin's house in the picture's middle ground. The angel with the sword is still present, expel­ling the first parents from their earthly Paradise.

The combination of an Expulsion scene from Genesis with the Annunciation seems to have been particularly popular in Tuscany in the period between c. 1430 and c. 1450. Yet another example is a small Annunciation on a predella by

READING AND VIEWING WORDS IN FRA ANGEUCO'S ... 257

FIG. 6 - Fra Angelico, .~e Ruote &em the Annaciie desJ:i 81lcuti. UW.11I8 til San Matw, F'oren08' Th ( A";/4~1 C,q-hO'1 H'17'1fC CQr.(O /'1 {/;,!c!qr'AO , .

the hand of Giovanni eli Paolo, executed some time between 1440 and 1450, now in the National Gallery of Washington. The bountiful architectural setting in this work seems to express a somewhat more lavish taste than the humble style of Fra Angelico, but, with the exception of the inclusion of a secondary scene with Joseph warming his hands at a fire, iconographically this small panel belongs to the same group of paintings. The foreground is dominated by the Vrrgin Mary and Gabriel, whereas on the left we see an almost naked cherub driving Adam and Eve away.

An ovelView of paintings from European art which juxtapose the Annuncia­tion with the Expulsion can be found in Ernst Guldan's book on Eva und Maria from 1966. 2• Guldan lists six works; one fourteenth-century Italian miniature and the four Thscan quattrocento panels mentioned above. The only non-Italian

26 Guldan 1966, especially pp. 55-56 and 67-68.

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work in the group is the oldest one, an illumination in the English Albani Psalter from the early twelfth century, now in the Kirchenschatz von St. Godehard at Hildesheim. The contrast between the events from the two Testaments was cer­tainly not invented by Fra Angelico, nor was it conceived as a visual pun. Rather, this specific type of Annunciation belongs to a tradition that expresses a certain theological point of view on the relation between the two events. Even if it is not part of the typological canon as defined by the typological manuscript genres mentioned above, it is, in my view, reasonable to see the type as an expression of a figural relation. As such, it affirms the influence that Biblical typology still had on visual art in Early Renaissance Florence.

Common to the depictions of the Annunciation that we have discussed - not only those of Pra Angelico, but also those of other Thscan masters like Giovan­ni di Paolo - is the peculiar juxtaposition of Expulsion and Annunciation. It is quite clear that there can be no narrative connection between these two epi­sodes. Due to the enormous time gap separating one event from the other, there can be no talk of a historical or temporal continuity. Why, then, put them to­gether? One suspects that it must have something to do with Mary as alter Eva, but then one would have to ask if not any scene from the paradisiacal life of Eve, like for instance the Fall, would do just as well as an antithesis to the vir­tues of Mary? In effect, it appears that the Fall and Expulsion are taken by many commentators as events with synonymous value. For instance, in his book on Fra Angelico, Giulio Carlo Argan argues that the connection between Expulsion and Annunciation is natural, because Christ was born to redeem mankind from original sin. 27

This interpretation is not very precise; for the Fall is normally associated with the scene where Eve bids Adam to eat of the forbidden fruit. After this they discover their nakedness, and then they are expelled from Paradise. Hence, the Fall and the Expulsion refer to different moments in time. In the paintings that we discuss, it is not the Fall, but the Expulsion which is paralleled with the An­nunciation. There must be some kind of intended opposition between these two events, and it would be natural to search in patristic sources for a typological re­lation. Such a typological reading seems to be hinted at by Louis Marin who, in his analysis of Angelico's Cortona altar-piece, finds an opposition between Law and Grace with the Incarnation marking the beginning of the reign of Grace. 28

By contrast, some scholars, like Ernst Guidan, consider the opposition between Mary and Eve not as typological in a strict sense. Unlike traditional typology, he says, according to which, for instance, the Creation of Eve from the rib of Christ anticipates the Creation of the Church from the side wound of Christ, the con­trast between Mary and Eve in this precise case is rather one of antithesis. 2.

27 Argan 1969. 18·19. Likewise, Machtelt Israi!ls says about Angelico's CoMona altar~piece that,

"'The expulsion from paradise, .... illustrates

I P057.Vol.XXIV-pri~~bozza.pdr 258

the fall of man that made salvation possible." Isral!ls 2003, 774.

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It seems that, in the altar-pieces in question, the Annunciation is prefigured by the Expulsion, not the Fall. Is this relationship between the two episodes from the two Testaments a typological one or, rather, as Guldan suggests, an an­tithetical contrast built up by way of typological elements?30 At this point a com­parison with typological manuscripts may be appropriate. It is difficult to find examples of the Expulsion anticipating the Annunciation in manuscripts. If we turn to the Pictor in Carmine, however, the Annunciation or, rather, the Incarna­tion, is the first scene to be described. 31 A long series of precursors and prefigu­rations are mentioned, not all from Genesis; some are not even biblical, like the well-known likening of the VIrgin Mother of Christ to a piece of glass (the glass remains intact by the penetration of light and is therefore a symbol of Mary's virginal conception). From Genesis it is the Fall, not the Expulsion, which is mentioned as a prefiguration of the Annunciation. Among the first to suggest that Eve's conversation with the Serpent was an anti-type for the Annunciation was Tertullian who, comparing the two women, found that they both, although in different ways, listened to the Word. 32

For this reason it seems improbable that the Annunciation altar-pieces are based on a typological manuscript. It is hard to say, then, what can be their in­spiration. As a source for the Expulsion, Guldan proposes the Franciscan theo­logian Bartholomew of Pisa (t 1401), who, in his De vita et laudibus Beatae Mar­iae Virginis, says that ''by Eve [we] were forced away from our homeland, but by Mary and her Son we are called back to the true Celestial Paradise".'3 This may account for the Paradise scene present in all the works in the series. There is, however, one more element in most of the scenes (although not the Prado ver­sion) still to be discussed. Behind the angel with the sword there is a structure which looks like a part of a wall and a gate. This must be the Gates of Paradise. It is probable that the presence of the Celestial Gate is a reference to the status of the Virgin who, through the Incarnation, reopens the door to Heaven. This is what is stated in an eleventh-century strophe attributed to St Peter Damian. According to him the Virgin, who is said to be preguant with the Word of God, reopens the Gates of Paradise and gives God back to man ....

It appears that the invocation of Mary as the Celestial Gate (Porta Caeli) can be traced back to a seventh-century hymn by Venantius Fortunatus," and be­came popular in the later Middle Ages due to its absorption in the Marian lita­nies of the twelfth century. The designation emphasizes her reopening of the Gates of Paradise, once closed because of the Sin of Adam. It is especially this

28 Marin 1984,52. 29 Guldan 1966, 55·56. 30 Guldan 1966, 55·56. 31 See, for example, Wirth 2006, 1l3. 32 .Tertullian 1868-1872, 200·201. 33 Guldan 1966, 68.

34 "Haec Virgo Verbi gravida I Fit paradisi janua. I Quae Deum mundo reddidit. I C3elium nobis aperuiL" Dreves & Blume 1909, XL 8, 20. A similar example is mentioned by Didl·Huber­mann 1991, l31.

35 Dreves & Blume 1909. L 86. 41.

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second aspect which is important in the interpretation and understanding of Angelico's Annunciations.

From Lex to Logos

The Gate to Heaven is reopened by means of the Word. The Annunciation is the visual representation of the Incarnation of the Word, but exactly how is the word represented? Let us return for a moment to Fra Angelico's Cortona altar­piece. If we look attentively, we see that Mary and the angel converse: golden letters issue from their mouths. The words of the angel, "Spiritus Sanctus su­perveniet in te,! et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi" ("The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." Luke 1:35), are written on two lines, reading from left to right. In between these two lines we read the response of the Virgin: "Ecce ancilla Domini; fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum" ("I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said." Luke 1:38).

The message from the angel is easy to read, but Mary's answer is decipher­able only after we realize that it is written upside down, as if it was supposed to be read by one standing on his head. The curious writing is not exceptional to Fra Angelico's altar-piece. Upside-down or reverse writing is quite common in Annunciation scenes. One of the most famous examples is the venerated An­nunciation fresco in the church of Santissima Annunziata; and indeed, Fra An­gelico's Armadio was made to contain the ex voti brought to this Madonna.

The Annunziata Annunciation fresco shares some of the characteristics of Fra Angelico's Cortona altar-piece. In this case, too, the words issuing from the mouth of the VIrgin are contorted, but here they are a mirror image of ordinary left-to-right writing, which is quite uncommon. 36 The most common is the up­side-down style which, in addition to Fra Angelico's Cortona painting, also can be found in Jan van Eyck's Ghent altar-piece.

An explanation for the curious writing in the Ghent altar-piece was once sought by Erwin Panofsky, who thought that the reason for turning the letters was that God should be able to read them from above. 37 Although plausible as an interpretation of the text phrases in the Annunciations of Jan van Eyck and Fra Angelico, this would not fit the mirror-image letters in the Annunziata fres­co. There is, however; a hypothesis that might explain both types of writing. Common to both, whether the letters are turned one way or the other, is that they are in reverse order with respect to nonnal Latin reading direction. In both cases the phrase is read from right to left instead of left to right. This means

36 In his important article. "The Word in Religious Art of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance". Roger Ellis discusses one example of mirror writing from a Florentine work which is slightly

older than Fra Angelicos Annunciation, namely Andrea Orcagna's Hell in the Santa Croce refec­tory. Ellis 1984, 31. See also Jolly 1998,376.

37 Panofsky 1953, 1, 138.

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that whereas the words on the first line come from the left, corresponding to the movement of the angel who enters the stage from this side, the words on the second clearly issue from the mouth of Mary who is seated on the right. Before the era of "speech bubbles" this was probably the most natural way to make the spectator understand who is saying what in an oral conversation.

In any case, whether this explanation is satisfactory or not, it is only part of the answer. We have not yet explained the most important question: How can it be that in the case of the Annunciation it is not sufficient to represent the event visually? Why are the words 50 important that they must be inscribed on the picture's surface? I believe the answer is that in this case the text is not a de­scription of an event; it is, rather, the event itself. Here, the words do not point to a physical object which is to be represented; they are themselves that object. For this is the moment of the Incarnation when Mary conceives by the Word of God. What we see is not just any word. it is the logos. This is more or less also the conclusion that John L. Ward draws in his study of the Annunciations of Jan van Eyck: " ... it is apparent that Gabriel's words effectively symbolize the ap­pearance of the Logos in the world ...... J8

The intrinsic relation between lettering and subject matter in the Annuncia­tion may account for the fact that cases of "representations of text" are to be found already in the early fourteenth century. Otherwise, the representation of letters rather than mere writing was characteristic for the Renaissance or later periods. According to Dario Covi. the artists of the Italian quattrocento were the first to consciously differentiate lettering styles according to the context. For ex­ample. in the The Adoration of the Magi. Domenico Ghirlandaio had the date MCCCCLXXXVTII inscribed in Roman capitals on a Roman arch in the back­ground, whereas the text Gloria in Excelsis Deo on a scroll born by angels was inscribed in Gothic 'minuscules. '9 In the quattrocento letters were made to ad­vance or recede in space through foreshortening and distortion. Highlighting and shading was used to make objects look engraved or incised, and "through the use of cast shadows and overlapping solid bodies. letters were partially ob­scured like other tangible things. Such devices made inscriptions in Quattro­cento painting look like other tangible things ...... This awareness that letters in paintings are seen, not only read. and that they are selected for stylistic or icon­ographic reasons. is unheard of before the fifteenth century.41

Conclusion

We are dealing with two groups of works by Fra Angelico which both should be interpreted typolOgically. One purpose with this article has been to analyse the art of Fra Angelico as an example of the position typology had in the art of

38 Ward 1975, 205, n. 60. 39 Covi 1954, 48.

40 Covi 1963, 13. 41 Covi 1954,48.

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the Early Renaissance Florence. The quattrocento represents a phase of transi­tion from the Medieval to the Early Modem period, but in the art of Fra Angeli­co much remains of the preceding period as regards the pictures' contenf/. The new is represented by the way things are staged, including the inscribed letters. In the Gospel scenes as well as the Rota of the Armadio degli argenti, scrolls and inscriptions are painted in an unconventional way so that they can function as a means to stage the contrast between "Before" and • after" and make the histori­cal progress appear as something reaW'.

Although not of the artist's own invention, the words which issue from the mouths of the angel and Mary in the Annunciation altar-piece in Cortona and elsewhere, similarly testify to a kind of staging of words which enhances the theological message, in this case the Incarnation of the logos. All these examples from the oeuvre of Fra Angelico show that words and phrases in his paintings not function as subtitles or explanations of what we see. Words are not exter­nal to the image, but represented in it. In conveying his message, Fra Angelico manifests his faithfulness to theological doctrine at the same time as he adopts every measure available to him to demonstrate that a text, to be readable, must also be visible.

Lasse Hodne Department of Art and Media Studies NOTWegian University of Science and Technology 7491 Trondheim - NORWAY

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