Anna Eörsi:
Haec scala significat
ascensum virtutum. Remarks on the iconography of Christ Mounting the
Cross on a
Ladder
I.
Opinion is divided on the
origin of the iconography of Christ Mounting the Cross on a Ladder.
According to Millet, the
literary source of the theme is the Meditationes
Vitae Christi.1
Sandberg-Vavala suggests
the
influence of apocryphal texts without naming a specific source.2
Derbes points out that in
formal respects the theme evolved into an independent subject from the
Middle-Byzantine detailed narratives on the Way to Calvary.3 In her opinion, the literary source of this
subject matter is Pseudo-Bede's De
Meditationes Passione Christi:.
. . . the clamoring crowd
leads Christ to the place of Calvary, and then, with all of them
watching
there, He is stripped of His garments.. . .O what great sorrow it was
to you,
most holy mother, when you beheld that sight. Then, when the cross had
been
prepared, they cry: "Ascend, Jesus, ascend." O how freely He ascends,
with what great love for us He bore everything, with what patience,
what
gentleness!. . . Thus, entirely nude, He is raised and extended on the
cross.
But his most loving mother, full of anguish, placed her veil, which had
been on
her head, around Him, and covered His shame.. . .Then cruelly He is
raised,
extended, and with His entire sacred body He is spread and stretched
apart.4
Boskovits notes that the Meditationes Vitae Christi, which is
generally considered to be the literary source for this iconography,
postdates
the earliest representations of the theme.5 In his opinion,
both
literature and art were influenced by the liturgical drama. There is,
however,
no such drama preserved in which some reference would suggest that the
actor
personating Christ climbed up to the cross on a ladder. Boskovits
himself
mentions that such a performance had to entail enormous technical
difficulties
in staging and could easily result in ridicule, for which reason they
soon
turned to a more rational solution: they fastened the actor who played
Christ's
role to a cross lying on the floor. (Boskovits thinks it was this
change that
caused in the visual arts, from the second half of the fourteenth
century, the
gradual displacement of the scene of the Mounting by representations of
Christ
being crucified on the ground.) Since only pictures but no textual
references
are extant, Boskovits infers from these depictions the existence of an
early,
otherwise undocumented form of the drama, basing his argument on the
very
paintings whose iconography he intends
to explain.
In the last part of his
study Boskovits poses the question: how are we to account for the
persistance
of the theme, given the fact that a more rational solution for the
preparation
of the crucifixion was also known? In his answer he draws attention to
the
symbolic meaning of the ladder and that of the subject matter itself.6
I would like to argue that
this development came about the other way round. I doubt - for reasons
mentioned already by Boskovits - that such a scene, in which an actor
personating Christ climbs up a ladder set against the cross, is likely
to have
been enacted on the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century stage.7
The
liturgical drama or the Passion narrative did not serve, in my opinion,
as a
primary source for the representation of this event in the visual arts.
The
symbolic meaning is inherent in the theme itself and defines this
iconographic
type from the moment of its first appearance. The liturgical drama or
literary
adaptations of the Passion only influenced, perhaps, certain details of
the
depictions later on.
II.
The motif of the ladder
appears in Passion scenes for the first time in the depictions of the
Deposition from the Cross, in the eleventh century.8 From
the
twelfth century on, there are occasional examples of the use of ladders
in the
Nailing to the Cross.9 The ladder is found relatively early
in
pictures of the Preparation for the Crucifixion; Derbes rightly
considers such
pictures as the immediate precedents of the Mounting of the Cross. For
instance, in a late twelfth-century miniature
in the Hortus Deliciarium the
ladder is carried by a tormentor as an instrument of the Crucifixion.10 In a miniature on a similar subject, probably
made in Verona, the ladder has a central significance
(Fig.1).11 This fifteen-step
ladder leans against the cross in the central axis of the picture,
nearly
merging with the vertical beam of the cross that touches the top of the
pictorial field, and its upper end reaches into the sphere of the
angels that
hover over the horizontal arms of the cross. This ladder relates to the
redemptive effect of the Crucifixion; it has nothing to do with the
actual
course of the historical event. This is obvious from the position it
occupies
in the composition, from the number of its rungs,12 and from
the
symbolic meaning of the ladder itself.
The ladder is an ancient
cosmic, eschatological, and anagogical symbol of mankind: it links the
sky and
the earth, and serves for the soul as an instrument of ascension to God.13
From the earliest times, Christians regarded the ladder of Jacob's
dream
(Genesis 28, 12) as the way that leads to Redemption (John 1, 52). A
characteristic motif in the literature of asceticism is the ladder of
Virtues
(referring to the vision of Jacob), on which the way to perfection
leads.14
Saint Benedict (c.
480-547)
considers Jacob's ladder the prototype of the twelve degrees of
humility, which
the monks must mount in order to attain the love of God:
. . . if we wish to reach
the very highest point of humility and to arrive speedily at that
heavenly
exaltation to which ascent is made through the humility of this present
life,
we must by our ascending actions erect the ladder Jacob saw in his
dream.. .
.And the ladder thus set up is our life in the world, which the Lord
raises up
to heaven if our heart is humbled.. . . Having climbed all these steps
of
humility, therefore, the monk will presently come to (the) perfect love
of God.15
Jacob's ladder is the
starting point of John Climacus's (c. 525-600) Ladder of
Paradise. This manual, written for the monks of Mount
Sinai, discusses in thirty chapters the virtues that lead to Redemption
and the
vices that must be conquered.16 From the end of the eleventh
century
on, the illustrations of the tract include a thirty-step ladder, each
step of
which stands for a particular Virtue or Vice. The monks are hindered by
devils
in their upward progress, but those who nonetheless manage to reach the
top are
received in Heaven by God himself.
In Western European
medieval
art and literature, too, the ladder is a well-known symbol of - among
other
things - the arduous ascent. On the heavenly ladder of the Hortus
Deliciarium representatives of various social classes strive
to ascend (Fig. 2).17 Devils impede and angels aid their
advancement. In the end it is Caritas alone who receives the Crown of
Life from
the Dextera Dei that appears at the top of the ladder. The general
scheme of
the portrayal follows the illustrations of the Climacus manuscripts;
the
immediate source is Honorius Augustodunensis.18 The
inscription in
the upper left corner sums up the subject matter of the picture: "Haec
scala significat ascensum virtutum et religiosorum societatis
exercitum, quo
aeternae vitae coronam adipiscuntur. . ." Another inscription states
that
the steps symbolize those seven virtues the observation of which lead
one to
Heaven.19 Here the picture departs from Honorius's text, in
which
the ladder leading to Paradise has fifteen rungs - like the one in the
North-Italian miniature (Fig. 1). The fifteen rungs, too, symbolize the
virtues
that are necessary for the attainment of eternal bliss.20
The manuscripts of the
twelfth- and thirteenth-century Speculum
Virginum introduce their readers from the convent into the secrets
of
divine wisdom. In the illustration to the ninth chapter of this
didactic
manual, the virgins, while surmounting numerous obstacles, ascend to
Christ on
the ladder of Virtues.21 The title page of the Regula
Benedicti, a twelfth-century Swabian miniature, portrays Saint
Benedict between two ladders that combine the elements of Jacob's
ladder, the Scala Humilitatis, and the Scala
Virtutum.22 In a vision
of Hildegard von Bingen, the Columna
Humanitatis Dei is like a ladder to Heaven; Angel-Virtues build the
City of
God upon it, and the crucified Christ appears as well, on the side, in
the
company of Virtues.23 Numerous saints' legends and
portrayals
include the motif of the ladder leading to Heaven.24 The
ladder is
an attribute of the personification of Philosophy too, in which case
the rungs
sometimes symbolize the virtues needed for the acquirement of knowledge.25
This tradition of the
ladder
leading to Redemption came into contact with that of the ladder of the
Passion
scenes. In part, the emergence of the iconography of Christ Mounting
the Cross
on a Ladder is due to their combination.
In traditions that go back
to Early Christian times the ladder is symbolic of Christ's cross, the
Passion,
and of the Savior himself.26 In his homilies on Jacob's
dream, Jacob
of Sarug (d. 521) argues that the angels had no need of a ladder, that
"the ladder signifies the way of the Son. The cross is erected as a
wonderful ladder, on which men are lead up to Heaven.. . . The cross is
a wide
road, it is like a ladder between beings in Heaven and on Earth.. .
.Indeed
[Jacob] saw the Crucified in the ladder."27
Jacob's vision of the
ladder
reaching to Heaven is a prefiguration of the Crucifixion.28
Christ's
cross has the shape of a ladder on the title page of
Josephus Flavius's Antiquitates Judaicae in
Stuttgart (from Zwiefalten, ca. 1180).29
The pictorial commentary to Matthew 18, 1-4 in the Bible
moralisée portrays Christ holding in each hand an instrument
of admission to the Heavenly Kingdom: a ladder in his right and a cross
in his
left hand (Fig. 3).30 Occasionally in the Speculum
Humanae Salvationis and also in the Biblia pauperum,
the dream of Jacob is represented as a type of the
Nailing to the Cross.31
According to Saint
Bonaventure (1221-1274), Christ became a ladder for mankind by his
incarnation,
thus repairing the first ladder that was broken by Adam.32 A
passage
in the De Strenuo milite (1312-14), a
tract written by the lector Kolda of Prague, sounds very much like a
description of the ladder in the above-mentioned North-Italian
miniature, which
leans against the cross and leads up from the Earth to the angels (Fig.
1):
The ladder is then aptly
juxtaposed to the cross, for admission to Heaven is opened through it
to us.. .
.The ladder set against the cross thus signified that the cross
prepared for us
the ascent to Heaven.. . .[Jacob] saw, he said, the ladder standing on
the
Earth and its top reaching to Heaven. The cross of the Savior, which
stood
fixed in the earth, elevated us to Heaven by its top.33
The ladder in Passion
scenes
is not a mere technical device of the Crucifixion or of the Deposition.
It can
also symbolize a virtue or virtues, the practice of which leads one to
Heaven.
This symbolism is obvious from a miniature representing the so-called Arma Christi in Kunigunde's passional
(Fig.4). This picture of about 1320 illustrates Kolda's previously
mentioned
tract. The individual motifs are identified by inscriptions, with the
words
written between the twelve rungs of the ladder running as follows: "hec
scala habens duodecim gradus humilitatis." This would prove, then, that
the primary function of this ladder is not that it should evoke a
station of
the cross; but rather, that its steps symbolize the twelve degrees of
humility,
in accordance with the tradition of Saint Benedict's Regula.
The ladder thus has a
special place among the Arma, in
spite (or perhaps specifically because) of the fact that it is
simultaneously
associated with more than one station of the Cross.34
III.
Like the ladder, the theme
of Christ Mounting the Cross on a Ladder has a special status in the
Passion
narrative. Its emergence and development were defined just as much by
theological contemplation as by an ambition to enrich the story of
Christ's
tribulations with new anecdotal details.
As has already been
pointed
out above, the connection between God and the ladder had an ancient and
well-established tradition in Christian iconography. It was God who
appeared -
mostly in the image of the preexistent Christ, with a cruciform halo -
at the
top of various ladders to Heaven. Instead of saints, monks, nuns, etc.,
now it
is he - an incarnate man, mortal in the literal sense - who undertakes
the
arduous ascent. His ladder is the prefiguration of the Scala
sancta.35
We have seen that in one
depiction, which can be considered an immediate precedent of the theme
(Fig.
1), the ladder has a primarily symbolic meaning. Coppo di Marcovaldo's
picture,
dated to 1255-60 and believed to be the earliest example of this
iconographic
type, probably relates to the contemporary exegesis of Jacob's ladder
(Figs. 5,
6). Saint Bonaventure, in his Itinerarium
mentis in Deum, writes at La Verna in 1259:
Since on Jacob's ladder
ascension is prior to descent (Genesis 28,12), let us place our first
step in
the very bottom, while we hold up the whole sensible world to ourselves
like a
mirror, from where we get to God the highest Creator. . . so that we
become the
Christians who with Christ pass from this world over to the Father
(John 13,1).36
These words - in view of
the
time and place of their conception, as well as their mood and content -
can be
considered with at least as much justification to be the verbal
equivalent of
the new iconography as the words of Pseudo-Bede, quoted by Derbes.37
Coppo's ladder, on the first rung of which the ascending Christ places
his
foot, points directly up to "God the highest Creator," at the top of
the croce dipinta (Fig. 6).
As Derbes has convincingly
stated, this new iconographic type derives, in formal respects, from
the scenes
of the Carrying of the Cross and the Preparation for the Crucifixion.
Besides
these, we can also consider among the potential, direct or indirect,
prefigurations of the theme - in addition to the previously discussed
representations of the ladder of Virtues - such pictures as the
pictorial
commentary of the illustration to Psalm 76, 2 in the Bible
moralisée in Paris: a naked youth, the personification of
Humility, is about to ascend a ladder, while Pride beside him, dressed
in
ornate garments, falls headlong to the ground (Fig. 7).38
Humility
("custos virtutum", "radix virtutum")
was, especially in
Franciscan circles, one of the most important Christian virtues; they
regarded
it as the prerequisite for the attainment of the cardinal and
theological
virtues. Its attribute was, among other things, the ladder, the
instrument of
ascension, because in the sense of the polarity characteristic of
Christian
thinking humilitas implies sublimitas.39
In short, I believe that
in
the evolution of the theme Christ Mounts the Cross on a Ladder it was
not so
much the historical as the symbolic aspects of the event that were
emphasized. In this, among other
respects, it resembles the theme of the Disrobing, which also emerged
around
this time. This subject is also a stage in the Preparation for the
Crucifixion;
it also originally emphasised the voluntary nature of the Passion; and,
similarly, it was the redemptive, not the historical aspect that
dominated its
first Italian formulation.40 Subsequently, both themes were
enriched
with anecdotal elements, and transformed into a historical event.41
The Mounting, however, preserved its symbolic character throughout,
much more
so, than did the Disrobing.
Numerous representations
of
our theme are par excellence Andachtsbilder. They are closely related
to
another theme as well, to a specific type of Deposition from the Cross
in
thirteenth-century Italian art. These Deposition scenes, whether in the
form of
a sculptural group or monumental fresco, were meant to represent the
entirety
of the Passion. They are characterized by the symmetry of the
composition and
the stylization of gestures, which change the non-recurring historical
event
into a ritual-symbolical act: the body of the deceased Christ is
presented to
the beholder (Fig. 8).42 The Deposition became a cult-image
of the
highest importance ensuing from the debates about the living or dead
nature of
the crucified Christ, because it unequivocally attested to his dead
state and
to the representability of his human nature. The portrayals of Christ,
as deposed
from the cross (with the help of a ladder) and as mounting the cross on
a
ladder, emphasize the opposite poles of the 'two-natures paradox': the
first
his human, the second his divine nature. It cannot be coincidental, I
believe,
that the first extant representation of Christ Mounting the Cross is
found in
the very same croce dipinta the
central image of which is one of the early Italian examples of the
expressly
suffering Crucified Christ (Fig. 6).
Thus the theme of Christ
Mounting the Cross on a Ladder demonstrates the voluntary nature of the
sacrifice on the cross, the virtues of Christ, and the paradox of the
two
natures, that is, abstract theological concepts - within the boundaries
of a
more or less historical context. Like Christ, the other participants of
the
Calvary scene behave in an uncustomary way in these depictions. The
reason for
this is that the God-Man is portrayed entirely as human (as is usual in
this
period), but in his demeanor he is fully divine (which is rather
untypical at
the time)43 - this ambivalence, as we shall see presently,
affects
the behavior of the other participants as well.
The calm and peaceful mood
of Pacino di Bonaguida's miniature, of around 1300, is fundamentally
different
from the atmosphere of contemporary depictions of the Passion (Fig. 9).44
Its restraint cannot be explained on stylistic grounds, since other
pictures in
the same series, especially the Mocking
of Christ, portray the torturers as expressly cruel, and in the Crucifixion Mary and Saint John bewail Christ
desperately. In this picture, however, Mary and a holy woman pray for
the
success of the enterprise, the voluntary death on the cross. One of the
young
men rather caresses than beats Christ's back. Another, to the right,
hands up
the hammer to the Savior himself. The seven steps of the ladder are
probably
symbolic either of Virtues or of the seven degrees of one Virtue.45
An interesting case is
that
of the early fourteenth-century panel attributed to the Maestro di
Monteoliveto
(Fig. 10).46 The ladder on which Christ ascends to his cross
does
not appear in the Carrying of the Cross immediately preceding this
scene,
therefore the painter must have thought of it primarily not as an
instrument of
the Passion but as a ladder of Virtues leading to Redemption. The man
to the
far right hands up a nail with such reverence to his associate lying on
the
horizontal beam of the cross, and the latter receives it with such
veneration
as if they both knew what precious relic they hold in their hands. It
is
uncertain whether it is a soldier or one of the lamenting women that
Mary tries
to keep away from her Son with the wide gesture of her right hand
(though the
ambiguity might only be due to the small size of the panel). The Virgin
can be
seen participating actively in the Mounting also, for instance, in the
pictures
of Guido da Siena (Fig. 11) and an Umbrian-Tuscan painter.47
In
these representations the scene, originally and essentially symbolic,
is
enriched with anecdotal-historical elements, probably also under the
influence
of the Passion Plays.
It is not fully clear what
Mary's intention is in these pictures. In the last two examples she
clearly
pushes a torturer away with her right hand. With her left, also
covering her
son's loins, she encircles and/or restrains the ascending Christ.48
Is it the mother, who wants to protect her son from harm, or is it the
God-Bearer, who would not let the soldiers prevent the Savior from
carrying out
his task? A similar problem arises in the case of the executioners:
what should
their function be if Christ himself desires his dreadful death? In some
depictions they behave in a brutal and hostile way, either out of habit
or in
order to gratify their sadism, or they might be represented this way
under the
influence of Passion illustrations and the liturgical drama. In other pictures, as we have seen, they are
positively gentle. Occasionally they even get into conflict with one
another;
so it seems to me, at least, in the case of an elderly Jew, who tries
to stand
in the way of the soldiers' brutality in the fourteenth-century fresco
of Sant'
Andrea in Polesine in Ferrara (Fig. 12).49
It has been pointed out by
Boskovits too, that the sensed violence is also absent in the painting
attributed to the Maestro della Madonna Lazzaroni in Esztergom: instead
of
being aggressively pushed or dragged, Christ is rather supported and
helped on
the ladder that is propped against the cross (Fig. 13). Boskovits
notes,
furthermore, that there is an emphasis on the ladder in the
composition, and
that Mary and Saint John are present as witnesses only; they are not
involved
in the event itself.50 It is
probably not accidental that the ladder has twelve steps in this
picture. The
twelve steps, like those of the ladder in Kunigunde's passional, may
correspond
to the equivalent number of the degrees of humility (Fig. 4). The
tradition of
the Scala Virtutum is strongly
present in this picture, too: in order to carry out his Father's will,
Christ
ascends to the cross on the ladder whose steps symbolize the different
degrees
of humility and/or the Virtues. Saint John points to the Savior with
his right
hand as if explaining the meaning of the event to the beholder.
The barefooted, extremely
ragged figure in this picture, both of whose hands touch the ladder
with profound
reverence, has nothing to do, I believe, with the historical events of
the
Passion either. There are no known analogies to this figure in
Crucifixion
scenes. Even Stephaton, the most tattered character of the Calvary, is
usually
portrayed in a far more elegant fashion than he. The
figure here may be the personification of
voluntary poverty, which - beside Humility - is one of the most
important
Franciscan virtues. As Christ mounting the ladder is the embodiment of
Humilitas, so perhaps could this man be that of Paupertas.51 There are examples in fourteenth-century
Franciscan virtue-cycles of Voluntary Poverty being personified not by
a female
figure, as is usual, but by a male in rags (e.g. in a fresco by the
workshop of
Taddeo Gaddi, Baroncelli Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence).52
IV.
To better understand the
iconographic type under consideration, we may turn our attention to a
subject
that is similar in content. The curious theme of Christ Crucified by
the
Virtues also deals with the manifestation of Christ's virtues and the
voluntary
nature of his sacrifice.53 This strange iconography emerged
also in
the middle of the thirteenth century, but in the North, to illustrate
the
sermons of Saint Bernard. In this case Christ's limbs are nailed to the
cross
by three female figures who symbolize Virtues - his left hand by
Patientia, his
right by Oboedientia, and his feet by Humilitas. A fourth Virtue,
Caritas,
opens the side-wound of the dead Christ (Fig. 14). In the accompanying
sermon,
Saint Bernard - following an ancient tradition - talks of a cross
adorned with
precious stones and of the virtues that Christ demonstrated on the
cross.54
The representations of this theme, characteristic of monastic art, can
be
traced up to the early sixteenth century. In terms of form, the
iconography
derives from the so-called erecto cruce
Nailing to the Cross, but in the present example the Virtues take over
the role
of the executioners.
In my opinion, the themes
of
Christ Crucified by the Virtues and Christ Mounting the Cross on a
Ladder are
two formulations of the same idea, one is typically Northern, and the
other
typically Italian.55 While the Northern artists remove the
Crucifixion from its historical context and represent Christ's virtues
with
female figures, the Italians create the illusion of historicity as
well. The
latter also, like their northern colleagues, portray the causes that
led to the
Crucifixion, but in their pictures Christ actively practices the
virtues of
humility, obedience, patience, etc., and fulfils the commandment of
love, and
the ladder, while functioning also as an instrument of the Passion,
symbolizes
the Virtues as well. In neither case is an actual historical event
portrayed.
In the fourteenth century, then, the Crucifixion by the Virtues absorbs
realistic-anecdotal elements too, from the Nailing to the Cross, and
also,
perhaps, precisely from the Mounting. For example, in the Fronleichnamsaltar
of the Cistercian church in Doberan two of the
seven Virtues stand on a ladder and nail Christ's hands to the cross,
while a
third, kneeling on the horizontal beam of the cross, places the crown
of thorns
on his head (Fig. 15).56
Another point which the
two
themes have in common is that they both induce the believer to
imitation, in so
much as they present him with the paragon of moral perfection. The
analogies
between the two Andachtsbilder also reinforce our hypothesis that the
Mounting
of the Cross on a Ladder evolved not under the influence of literary
texts or
the liturgical drama, but resulted primarily from theological
speculations.
V.
Nevertheless, the
characteristic gentleness and the reverent touching of Christ, of the
nails, or
of the ladder in a number of scenes of the Mounting derive, visually,
not from
the Crucifixion by the Virtues, but from the iconography of the
Deposition,
that is, from the theme in which the ladder as an instrument of the
Passion
first appeared.
We have seen that, as
compared to the Mounting, the Deposition from the Cross emphasizes the
opposite
pole of the 'two-natures paradox', i.e. the humanity of Christ. The
Mounting
resembles this scene in its structure, since ascension implies lowering
and
descent implies elevation.57 Since the removal of Christ
from the
cross was interpreted as the removal of sin from mankind, the ladder of
the
Deposition became associated with the ladder of Virtues as well.58
Thus, thematic, formal, and, of course, chronological reasons account
for the
fact that the Mounting is not infrequently a compositional pendant to
the
Deposition.59
In the light of this
context, it is the ladder of the Deposition that leads back, this time
permanently, to Heaven. Numerous pictures portraying the dead Christ
include
the ladder as a prominent motif; as if indicating that the soul of the
Savior
is to rise to God on this ladder. For instance, in a Neapolitan picture
of a
follower of Rogier van der Weyden it appears as if an angel would help
carry
the dead Savior up the ladder (Fig. 16). Similarly, the role of the
ladder as
an instrument of the elevation of the soul is manifest in Jan Provost's
painting in the St. Louis Art Museum (Fig. 17).60 When the
ladder of
the Lamentation is connected compositionally with a praying donor's
banderole,
as on the Seilern triptych by the Master of Flémalle, then the ladder
is principally
a symbol of contemplation or meditation, which also leads up to God.61
As such, it is a direct derivative of the attribute of Philosophy, and
an
immediate antecedent to the ladder of Melencolia I.
Published: Arte Cristiana, 85/1997. 151-166.
Notes:
1. G.
Millet, Recherches sur l'iconographie de l'Evangile
aux XVe et XVIe siecles, 2nd ed., Paris, 1960, 380.
2. E.
Sandberg-Vavala, La croce dipinta
italiana e l'iconografia della passione, Verona, 1929, 278.
3.
Derbes,
174-198. Examples: an icon representing the Life of Christ, late
11th-early 12th
c. (Mount Sinai, Monastery of St. Catherine); Monreale Cathedral, after
1182;
Mount Athos, Iviron Cod. 5, fol. 214v, c. 1200; North-Italian
miniaturist,
Rome, Bibl. Apost. Vat. MS lat. 39, fol. 64v. (Fig. 1), see also n. 11.
4.
Derbes,
185-186, and 195.
5.
Boskovits,
1965, 69-94; Boskovits, 1994, 189-231.
6.
Boskovits,
1965, 87-92; Boskovits, 1994,
226-231.
7.
Pickering is
also on the opinion that the jacente
cruce type of Crucifixion "wurde für die Passionsbühne bevorzugt,
denn
sie ist leichter agierbar. Auch hatte man von keinem Handwerker oder
Baumeister
blasphemische Einwände wegen eines technisch unmöglichen Unterfangens
zu
befürchten." See F. P. Pickering, Literatur
und darstellende Kunst im Mittelalter, Berlin, 1966, 158.
8.
E.g. Paris,
Bibl. Nat. MS gr. 74, fol. 59v; Byzantine ivories in Munich,
Staatsbibliothek
and London, Victoria and Albert Museum. An early Italian example is
Guglielmo's
croce dipinta, 1138 (in Sarzana
Cathedral).
9.
E.g. the upper
plate of a portable altar from Lower-Saxony or Westphalia, mid-12th c.
(Paris,
Louvre); Maiestas Domini and scenes from the Gospels on the top of the
reliquary casket of Saint Andrew, Lower-Saxony(?) (Siegburg, Parish
Church).
10. A.
Straub.-G.
Keller, Herrade de Landsberg, Hortus
Deliciarium, Strasbourg, 1901, pl. XXXVIII, 1. In Italian art the
ladder as
an instrument of the Crucifixion first appears, to the best of my
knowledge, in
the Carrying of the Cross of Enrico Tedice's croce dipinta,
from the first quarter of the 13th c. (Pisa, S.
Martino).
11.
Cf. with the
fresco of Géraki, Zoodochos Pigi (Millet, as in n. 1, fig. 409.). This
miniature was dated to the second half of the 13th c. by Beissel (S.
Beissel, Vatikanische Miniaturen, Freiburg i.
Br., 1893, XIX A.), in the early 13th c. by Wilk (B. Wilk, Die
Darstellung der Kreuztragung Christi und verwandter Szenen bis zum
1330, Tübingen, 1969, 254., cat. no. 158.), and to the second
quarter of
the 13th c. by Eleen (L. Eleen, "A Thirteenth-century Workshop of
Miniature Painters in the Veneto," Arte
Veneta, 39, 1985, 9-21.). The subscription of fig. 141. in
Boskovits, 1994
has: "North-Italian miniaturist, around 1200." Boskovits himself
refers to the symbolic meaning of the Jews and the ladder in this
miniature.
(Boskovits, 1965, 77, and Boskovits, 1994, 205.)
12.
See n. 20.
13.
Bertaud-Rayez,
cols. 62-86; J. Chevalier -A. Gheerbrant, "Echelle," Dictionnaire
des Symboles, Paris, 1982,
383-7.
14. A.
Katzenellenbogen, Allegories of the
Virtues and Vices in Mediaeval Art, Chapter 3, New York-London,
1939; Bertaud-Rayez,
cols. 79-80;Lexikon der christlichen
Ikonographie (hereafter: LCI), W. Brückner, "Himmelsleiter," and
M. Evans, "Tugendleiter," Freiburg i. Br., 1968; Kretzenbacher,
16-42.
15. St. Benedict’s Rule for Monasteries,
Chapter 7. (translated by L. J. Doyle, Collegeville, Minn., 1947). See
also
e.g. S. Bernardi Abbatis Claraevallensis: Tractatus de gradibus
humilitatis (J.
P. Migne, Patrologiae cursus completus,
series Latina (hereafter: PL), Paris, 1878-90, 182, 941-58.): ". .
.
ita his duodecim gradibus ascensis, veritas apprehendatur.
Illud quoque quod in scala illa, quae in typo
humilitatis Jacob monstrata est, Dominus desuper innixus apparuit (Gen.
28,
12-13), quid nobis aliud innuit, nisi quod in culmine humilitatis
constituitur
cognitio veritatis?" (col. 943).
16. J.
R. Martin, The Illustration of the Heavenly Ladder of
John Climacus, Princeton, 1954. The number thirty symbolizes the
thirty
years of Christ's "hidden life." (Martin, 8.). Climacus's work was
translated into Italian by Gentilis de Foligno (d. 1348). In the
chapter
"Scala Dei" of Simone da Cascina's Colloquio Spirituale (1391) each
step of the ladder to Heaven corresponds to a particular Virtue (Mistici del Duecento a del Trecento, a
cura di A. Levasti, Milan, 1935, 957-62).
17.
Straub-Keller
(as in n. 10), pl. LVI; Martin (as in n. 16), 19, fig. 297.
18.
"Scala
coeli major" (PL 172, 1229); "Scala coeli minor" (PL 172, 1239),
the same again in "Speculum Ecclesiae" (PL 172, 869).
19.
"Septem
sunt scalae, quibus ascenditur ad regnum caelorum.
Prima castitas. Secunda mundi
contemptus. Tertia
humilitas. Quarta obedientia.
Quinta patientia. Sexta fides.
Septima caritas de puro corde."
20. In
the
"Scala coeli minor" Honorius himself associates the fifteen steps of
the ladder with the fifteen steps that lead up to the entrance of
Solomon's
temple. These were the steps on which Mary ascended at the time of her
presentation. See also e.g. Gerhoch von Reichersperg (Kretzenbacher,
30);
Sicardo Cremonese (Boskovits, 1994, 229).
21. M.
Strube, Die Illustrationen des Speculum virginum,
Düsseldorf, 1937, 32-36, fig. 2.
22.
Stuttgart,
Cod. hist. 415, fol. 87v; K. Löffler, Swäbische
Buchmalerei, Augsburg, 1928, 56-57.
23. Hildegard von Bingen, Wisse die Wege:
"Scivias," com. M. Böckeler, Salzburg, 1954, 270, pl. 29. Further
examples can be found in a German miniature from the end of the 12th c.
(Erlangen, Univ. Bibl. MS 8, fol. 130v), where one part of the forked
end of a
ladder is pushed down into Hell by a devil, and the other is pulled up
into Heaven
by God (Katzenellenbogen,as in n. 14, 73,
note 2), or in the Last Judgment fresco of Chaldon, England, ca. 1200,
where
the souls of the elect climb up to Christ on a ladder (T. Eriksson,
"L'Echelle de la perfection. Une nouvelle interpretation de la peinture
murale de Chaldon," Cahiers de
Civilisation médiévale, 1964, 439-49). In an early 15th-c. English
miniature a five-step ladder of Virtues leads up to the Mount of
Perfection.
Five monks pray on the ground; in Heaven Christ holds the saved souls
in his
bosom, in the manner of Abraham. The Virtues are the following:
Humility,
Poverty, Obedience, Chastity, and Charity (K. J. Höltgen, "Arbor, Scala
und Fons Vitae. Vorformen devotionaler Embleme in einer
mittelenglischen
Handschrift, Brit. Mus. Add. MS 37049," in: Chaucer und
seine Zeit: Symposion für W. T. Schirmer, Tübingen,
1968, 315, fig. 4, fol. 37v).
24.
Cf. the Death
of Saint Dominic (e.g. Zurich, Landesmuseum LM 26117, fol. 261v;
Oxford, Keble
College, fol. 130; Francesco Traini, Pisa, Museo Civico, 1344); the
Vision of
Saint Romuald (e.g. triptych by Nardo di Cione, Florence, Accademia,
1365, with
Camaldulian monks on the ladder); the Vision of Saint Bridget (e.g.
formerly in
Turin, Bibl. Naz. MS I. III. 23, on the ladder a Dominican monk in
conversation
with Christ). See also the stories of Saint Emmeram von Regensburg and
Saint
Bathildis. Paulinus betrothes Saint Agnes - or, more precisely, her
picture -
standing on top of a five-rung ladder (Pacino da Bonaguida, London,
Brit. Lib.
Add. MS 181196)
25.
E.g. Vienna,
Nationalbibliothek 242, fol. 3r, 12th c. (P. Courcelle, La
Consolation de Philosophie dans la tradition littéraire, Paris,
1967, fig. 26.1); Kretzenbacher, 31;
Boskovits, 1994, 229.
26. E.
S.
Greenhill, "The Child in the Tree. A Study of the Cosmological Tree in
the
Christian Tradition," Traditio
X, 1954, 322ff; Bertaud-Rayez, cols. 71-72, 79-84; R. Haussherr,
"Christus-Johannes - Gruppen in der Bible Moralisée," Zeitschrift
für Kunstgeschichte, XXVII,
1964, 142ff.
27. L.
Beimaert,
"Le symbolisme ascensionnel dans la liturgie et la mystique
chrétienne," Eranos Jahrbuch,
XIX, 1950, 49ff, and ibid. 53, Adam a
Sancto Victore: "Haec est scala peccatorum - per quam Christus rex
coelorum ad se traxit omnia;" Greenhill (as in n. 26), 344, see here
also
the pertinent writings of Saint Hyppolite, Caesarius of Arles, Alanus
de
Insulis, and others. For similar hymns calling the cross a ladder see:
C.
Blume-H. M. Bannister, Thesauri
Hymnologici prosarum, Vol. II. 1., Leipzig, 1915, no. 121 (13), p.
193.;
no. 128 (3), p. 200.; no.129 (5), p. 201.; no. 130 (6), p. 201.
28.
LCI, Vol. II.,
col. 375, (e.g. a monstrance from Lower-Saxony, ca. 1170, in the church
of
Trzemeszno, Poland); Isidorus Hispaliensis: "Somnus iste Jacob, mors,
sive
passio Christi est" (PL 83, 258); Walahfrid Strabo: "Dormitio Jacob
in itinere, mors Christi in cruce" (PL 113, 154); Beda Venerabilis (PL
91,
253); Remigius (PL 131, 105-6); etc.
29.
Stuttgart,
Württenbergische Landesbibliothek Hist., fol. 418 3r.
30.
London, Brit.
Mus. Harley MS 1527, fol. 34v (A. de Laborde, La Bible
Moralisée illustrée conservée a Oxford, Paris et Londres,
Vols. I-IV, Paris, 1911-1921, Vol. III, pl. 505). The inscription
reads:
"Hoc s(ignificat) q(od) scala per quam ascenditur in celum humilitas
est
ubi ascenditur per crucem penitentialem(?) non per baculum pastoralem
per
ministrium non per dominium per contemptum mundialium non per
dignitatem."
31.
See W.
Molsdorf, Christliche Symbolik der
mittelalterlichen Kunst, Leipzig, 1926, 61, no. 398. for the
Speculum;
Sch.: Bilderhandschrift der Biblia
Pauperum mit 48 Bildtafeln auf 24 Pergamenblattern (XV. Jahrh.);
and Zeitschrift für christliche Kunst, 28,
1925, 270 for the Biblia Pauperum.
32. Itinerarium mentis in Deum, IV. 2.
(". . . assumpta forma humana, fieret sibi scala reparans priorem
scalam,
que fracta fuerat in Adam.") See also ibid. I. 3, VII. 1, I. 9 (see n.
36). In Sermo IV in Ascensione
Bonaventure says that Christ. . . "enim est scala contingens, immo
penetrans caelos per sublime Divinitatis, et contingens terram per
limum
nostrae carnis. In hac scala disponuntur
omnes perfectiones et glorificationes et dona gratiae et gloriae. . ." (Opera omnia, IX, 1901, col. 320). Saint
Bonaventure's Tree of Life can also be interpreted as a ladder to
Heaven (Greenhill,
as in n. 26, 353). In the mystical literature of the Italian Trecento,
the use
of the ladder as a metaphor for the cross is a commonplace (e.g. Mistici, as in n. 16, 264: Beata Angela
da Foligno, 918: Agnolo Torino, etc.).
33.
"Apte
enim scala cruci coniungitur, per quam nobis ad celum aditus
reseratur.. .
.Scala igitur cruci apposita signabat, quia crux nobis ascensum in
celum
evidencius preparabat. Vidit, inquit,
scalam stantem super terram et cacumen eius tangens celos.
Crux enim Salvatoris, que in terra fixa
stetit, ad celi nos fastigium suo cacumine sublevavit." (A. Scherzer,
"Der Prager Lektor Fr. Kolda und seine mystischen Traktate," Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum, XVIII,
1948, 370-71).
34.
"Aus dem
moralisch-didaktischen Bereich kommt die Interpretation der Leiter, wie
sie im
Kunigundenpassionale abgebildet wird, als Skala der zwölf Stufen der
Demut" (R. Suckale, "Arma Christi. Überlegungen zur Zeichenhaftigkeit
mittelalterlichen Andachtsbilder," Städel
Jahrbuch, VI, 1977, 183ff). Another reason why the ladder is a
special
intrument of the Passion is because none of its pieces are preserved
anywhere
as relics (R. Berliner, "Arma Christi," Münchener
Jahrbuch, VI, 1955, pp. 43ff; Wilk, as in n.11, 180).
35.
For the
relation of the Scala Sancta, Jacob's
ladder, Scala Virtutum,and Scala Paradisi
see W. Schulten, Die Heilige Stiege auf dem Kreuzberg zu
Bonn,
Düsseldorf, 1964, 136-140.
36. I.
9.
"Quoniam ergo prius est ascendere quam descendere in scala Iacob,
primum
gradum ascensionis collocemus in imo, ponendo totum mundum istum
sensibilem
nobis tamquam speculum, per quod transeamus ad Deum,. . .simus etiam
Christiani
cum Christo transeuntes ‘ex hoc mundo ad patrem’ (John 13, 1) . . ."
(Cf.
n. 32.) The general of the Franciscan
Order - like Saint Francis and many other Franciscan theologians -
often
emphasized the voluntary nature of the Passion.
37. I
deliberately
used the term "verbal equivalent" instead of "literary
source." The first pictures of Christ Mounting the Cross on a Ladder
perhaps inspired, but did not illustrate contemporary texts on similar
subjects.
38.
Paris, Bibl.
Nat. MS lat. 11560, fol. 20 (Laborde, as in n. 30, Vol. II, pl. 244).
"Psalmus iste ostendit medicinam humilitatis contra timorem superbie. Intentio ergo prophete est hortari ut nullus
superbus habeat fiduciam in se et quod nemo humilis debet desperare de
deo
quia(?) si flagellatur recipit certam consolationem premii sui."
39. M.
Meiss,
"The Madonna of Humility," Art
Bulletin, XVIII, 1936, 462ff; F. Zoepfe, "Demut," Reallexikon
zur deutschen Kunstgeschichte
(hereafter: RDK), Stuttgart, 1937, Vol. III. 1251-7 and fig. 3. See n.
15, 30, 32, 33, 36, 59, 61, 62 of the present study, as well as the
accompanying text. For further examples see Bertaud-Rayez, col. 69
(Rupert von
Deutz) and col. 79 (Saint Augustine, Saint Bernard, and Saint
Bonaventure).
40.
Formerly in
Davenham, Malvern, Slg. Dyson Perrins MS 51, fol. 3v, School of
Bologna-Padova,
ca. 1260 (RDK, as in n. 39, Vol. V, cols. 761ff, K.-A. Wirth,
"Entkleidung
Christi," fig. 5).
41.
See n. 55.
42. H.
Belting, Das Bild und sein Publikum im Mittelalter,
Berlin, 1981, 224ff.
43.
"Such
literalism in symbolizing eagerness for Crucifixion is rare - it almost
annuls
the root of sufferance in the word 'Passion'," writes Steinberg in
connection with Guido da Siena's picture in Utrecht (Fig. 10) (L.
Steinberg, The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art
and in Modern Oblivion, New York, 1983, 189).
44.
New York,
Pierpont Morgan Lib. M. 643, fol. 12v.
R. Offner - M. Boskovits, A
Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting, Section
III., Vol.
I, Florence, 1987, 172; Boskovits, 1994,
226, fig. 146.
45.
See n. 19. and
Figs. 2. and 13; furthermore: In the tract De
septem septensis, erroneously attributed to John of Salisbury, the
soul
arrives to God on the ladder of the seven Virtues (PL 199, 954a-955a);
Alanus
de Insulis: Summa de arte praedicatoria
(PL 310, 111ac); Herveus likened the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit to
a ladder
(PL 181, 141); Saint Bonaventure's Diaetae
Salutis, Tit. IV., cap. II: "Est autem obedientia scala paradisi,
cujus septem sunt gradus...Septimus gradus est obedire perseveranter,
sine
discontinuatione; exemplum de Christo, de quo dicit Apostolus (Phil. 2,
9)
factus est obediens usque ad mortem. Isti
septem gradus erant spiritualiter in scala Jacob, de qua habetur in
Genesi (28,
12): quae significat obedientiam."
46.
Boskovits,
1965, fig. 19 (London, Courtauld Institute); Boskovits, 1994, fig. 152
(New
York, Priv. Coll.).
47.
Guido da
Siena, Utrecht, Rijksmuseum, Het Catarijnenconvent (Boskovits, 1994,
fig. 149);
13th c. Umbrian-Toscan painter, Wellesley, Mass., Jewett Arts Center
(Boskovits, 1994, fig. 150).
48.
The pushing
away of the tormentor is the counterpoint of the episode in the
Carrying of the
Cross in which a soldier prevents the Virgin from approaching her son.
The
covering of the loins derives from the scene of the Disrobing.
49. La pittura in Italia. Il Duecento e il
Trecento, a cura di E. Castelnuovo, Milan, 1986, fig. 300.
50.
Boskovits,
1965, 91; Boskovits, 1994, 230.
51.
"questa
beata povertá e fondamento sopra'l quale s'edifica la beatitudine di
tutte le
virtú, ed e nutrice dell'umilitá. . ." (Giovanni Colombini: Lettere. Mistici, as in n. 16, 750). For the
relation of voluntary poverty and the Scala
Virtutum see M.-L. Thérel, "Caritas et Pauperitas dans
l'iconographie
médievale inspirée de la psychomachie," in: Etudes sur
l'Histoire de la Pauvreté. Moyen
Age - XVIe
siecle, sous la direction de M. Mollat, Paris, 1974, 314.
52. V.
G. Tuttle,
"Bosch's Image of Poverty," Art
Bulletin, LXIII, 1981, 91ff. I see
an alternative solution for the interpretation of this figure: it
personfies,
perhaps, Giovanni Buttadeo, the sinner longing for Salvation. Buttadeo
(meaning
"the one who beats God") is the equivalent of the Wandering Jew in
Italian folklore. This man pushed Christ as he was tottering under the
weight
of the cross; as a punishment the Savior condemned him to be a fugitive
until
Judgment Day. This ragged, wandering figure was said to have been seen
in
Tuscany in the early fourteenth century. He is the one who appears
molesting
Christ in Trecento Crucifixion scenes. As an indication of his future
fate, he
is at times portrayed incredibly tattered (as in a detail on the
diptych by the
Maestro del Coro di S. Agostino in Munich, Alte Pinakothek). For
further
examples see L. M. C. Randall, "Games and the Passion in Pucelle's
Hours
of Jeanne d'Evreux," Speculum,
XXXXVI, 1972, 256ff.
53.
Katzenellenbogen (as in n. 14), 38; G. Schiller, Ikonographie
der christlichen Kunst, Vol. II, Gütesloh, 1968, 151;
LCI, Vol. IV, col. 373; H. Kraft, Die
Bildallegorie der Kreuzigung Christi durch die Tugenden, Frankfurt,
1976.
54.
"Interim
patientiam magis exhibet, humilitatem commendat, obedientiam implet,
perficit
charitatem. His nempe virtutum gemmis quatuor cornua crucis ornantur:
et est
supereminentior charitas, a dextris obedientia, patientia a sinistris,
radix
virtutum humilitas in profundo. His ditavit tropaeum crucis consummatio
Dominicae passionis, cum ad Judaeorum blasphemias humilis, ad vulnera
patiens,
intus linguis, clavis exterius pungeretur. Nam et charitas in eo
perfecta est,
quod pro amicis animam posuit; et obedientia consummata, cum inclinatio
capite
tradidit spiritum, factus obediens usque ad mortem." (S. Bernardi
Abbatis
Caraevallensis: In die Sancto Pasche,
PL 183, 275). For the precedents and
context of the text, see Kraft (as in n. 53), 12-20. Is it perhaps not
possible
that the evolution of the so-called Dreinagelkruzifixus
is connected - at least in some regions - to the fact that the nails of
the
Crucifixion relate to the Virtues? See e.g. the words of Cesarius von
Heisterbach: "Tres clavi quibus corpus monachi cruci debet esse
affixum,
tres sunt virtutes, per quas testes Hieronimo martyro efficuntur,
scilicet
oboedientia, patientia, humilitas." (quoted by Kraft, 22).
55. A
similar
difference can be observed in the case of depictions of the Disrobing
in the
13th century: the French gave preference to typological
representations, while
the Italians - after the first abstract example (Cf. n. 40) - favored
narrative
ones (RDK, Wirth, col. 773). An illustration made between 1170-85 for
the Dialogus inter magister et discipulum de
cruce Christi (Munich, Bayer. Staatsbibliothek Clm. 14159, fol. 6r,
repr.
in Schiller, as in n. 53, Vol. II, fig. 449) can be considered as the
common
root of the Crucifixion by the Virtues and the Mounting of the Cross.
The four
dimensions of the cross - that is even supplied with ladder-steps - are
identified with Virtues, based on the exegesis of Ephesians 3,18. The
medallion
at the intersection of the beams unifies four personifications of
properties
that characterize man ("Totus homo", "Adam"): Spes, Ratio,
Sapientia, and Liberum arbitrium. Christ at the top of the cross grasps
the
raised arms of Spes. (Under the medallion there is Lex swinging her
sword
menacingly). This scene can hardly be interpreted otherwise than as
representing the crucifixion of man on the cross of the Virtues.
56.
Kraft (as in
n.53), cat. no. 10. The altar, executed around 1330-40 by a master from
Lübeck,
is now situated in the north aisle of the church. Cf. the Virtue that
places
the crown of thorns on Christ with the figures in the corresponding
places in
Guido's picture in Utrecht (Fig. 11) and in the Nailing to the Cross on
an
English pluvial in Ascoli Piceno (Sandberg-Vavala, as in n. 2, fig.
241).
57.
See n. 15, 36,
39; Beimaert (as in n. 27), 58; Bertaud-Rayez, col. 72;
Chevalier-Gheerbrant
(as in n.13), 386; etc.
58.
Berliner (as in
n. 34), 51.
59.
E.g. in the
reliquary of Bessarione (Venice, Accademia), or in the painting by the
Maestro
della Maddalena and the Maestro di San Gaggio (San Diego, Timken Art
Museum).
60. M.
J.
Friedländer, Rogier van der Weyden and
the Master of Flémalle, Leyden, 1967, fig. 94b. Some other random
examples
are: Ambrogio Lorenzetti: Pieta from the Santa
Petronilla poliptych (Siena, Galleria Nazionale); Master of the
Heisterbach
altar: Lamentation (Cologne,
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, cat. no. 73); Master of Okolicsno: Lamentation
of Christ (Budapest,
Hungarian National Gallery); Swabian master: Lamentation
of Christ (Karlsruhe, Staatliche Kunsthalle); Circle of
Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostanen: Lamentation from the Passion
Altar, c. 1515 (Utrecht, Rijksmuseum, Het
Catarijnenconvent); Vir dolorum
(Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Cod. 148, fol. 101).
61. C.
Harbison,
"Visions and Meditations in Early Flemish Painting," Simiolus,
1985/2, 87. A similar example
is the Meester van den Dom's Pieta
(Antwerp, Priv. Coll., repr. in G. J. Hoogewerff, De
Noord-Nederlandsche Schilderkunst, 's-Gravenhage, 1936, fig.
179).
Captions:
1.
North-Italian miniaturist, Christ
Led to the Cross, early 13th c.(?). Rome, Bibl. Apost. Vat. Cod. MS
lat.
39, fol. 64v.
2. Hortus Deliciarium, Ladder of
Virtues, late 12th c. Formerly Strasbourg, Bibl. de la
Ville, fol
215v.
3. Bible moralisée, Gospel of
Matthew 18, 1-4, 13th c.. London,
Brit. Mus. Harley MS 1527, fol. 34v.
4. Kunigunde's Passional, Arma Christi,
1320-21. Prague,
Statni-Univ. Knih. MS XIV. A. 17, fol. l0r.
5.
Coppo di Marcovaldo, Christ
Mounts the Cross on a Ladder (detail of croce dipinta),
1255-60. San Gimignano, Museo Civico.
6.
Coppo di Marcovaldo: Christ on
the Cross and Scenes from the Passion (croce
dipinta),1255-60. San Gimignano, Museo Civico.
7. Bible moralisée, Psalm 76,2,
13th c. Paris, Bibl. Nat. MS Lat. 11560, fol. 20.
8. Deposition from the Cross, North
Italian, 13th c. Udine, S. Maria di Castello.
9.
Pacino di Bonaguida, Christ
Mounts the Cross on a Ladder, ca. 1310. New York, Pierpont Morgan
Lib. M.
643, fol. 12v.
10.
Maestro di Monteoliveto, Carrying
of the Cross and Christ Mounts the
Cross on a Ladder, early 14th c. New York, Priv. Coll.
11.
Guido da Siena, Christ Mounts
the Cross on a Ladder, second half of 13th c. Utrecht, Rijksmuseum,
Het
Catharijnenconvent.
12.
First Master of Sant' Antonio in Polesine, Christ Mounts
the Cross on a Ladder, 14th c. Ferrara, S. Antonio in
Polesine.
13.
Maestro della Madonna Lazzaroni, Christ Mounts the Cross
on a Ladder, ca. 1370. Esztergom
(Hungary), Keresztény Múzeum.
14.
Master from Cologne or the Lower-Rhine, Christ Crucified
by the Virtues, ca 1300. Cologne, Historisches
Archiv der Stadt, W. 255, fol. 117v.
15.
Master from Lübeck, Christ
Crucified by the Virtues (central panel of a triptych), ca.1330-40.
Doberan, Cistercian Church.
16.
After Rogier van der Weyden, Lamentation
of Christ, late 15th c. Naples, Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte.
17.
Jan Provost: Lamentation of
Christ (right wing of a triptych), early 16th c. St. Louis Art
Museum, St.
Louis, Mo.
Frequently Cited Sources:
Bertaud,
E. - Rayez, A., "Echelle spirituelle," Dictionnaire de
Spiritualité Vol. IV,
Paris, 1960, cols. 62-86.
Boskovits,
M., 1965, "Un opera probabile di Giovanni di Bartolomeo
Cristiani e l'iconografia della 'Preparazione alla Crocifissione'," Acta Historiae Artium XI/1-2, 69-94.
__________,
1994, "Un dipinto poco noto e l'iconografia della
Preparazione alla Crocifissione," In: Immagini
da meditare, Milan, 189-231.
Derbes,
A., "Byzantine Art and the Dugento Iconographic Sources of
Passion Scenes," Ph.D. diss., University of Virginia, 1980, 174-198.
Kretzenbacher,
L., "Der Schwierige Weg nach oben. Legende und Bild
von Jakobstraum, Paradiesesleiter und Himmelstiege," In: Bilder
und Legenden, Klagenfurt, 1971,
16-42.
Abstract:
The
iconographic type Christ Mounting the Cross on a Ladder, which
emerged in the middle of thirteenth century in Italy, demonstrates the
voluntary nature of Christ's self-sacrifice on the cross, his virtues,
and the
paradox of his double nature. The
emergence of this new iconography is due to the combination of the
ladder of
Virtues, which refers to Jacob's ladder, with the ladder
set against the cross in scenes of the
Preparation for the Crucifixion Instead of saints, monks, Virtues, or
angels,
it is now the incarnate Christ himself, who takes the arduous ascent up
to
Redemption. A similar and
contemporaneous iconography, typical of regions north of the Alps, is
Christ
Crucified by the Virtues, which is also about the manifestation of
Christ's
virtues and the voluntary nature of his sacrifice.