The Beatitudes Casket in Madrid's Museo Arqueolgico: Its Iconography in Context

Author(s): Julie A. Harris

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Zeitschrift fr Kunstgeschichte, 53. Bd., H. 1 (1990), pp. 134-139
Published by: Deutscher Kunstverlag GmbH Munchen Berlin
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 MISZELLE
Julie A. Harris
The BeatitudesCasketin Madrid'sMuseo Arqueologico:
Its Iconographyin Context
Given the reverance that people in medieval
Europe felt for the saints, it is only reasonable
that the containers designed to contain their relics
be fashioned of the richest materials obtainable.
Spain was not unlike the rest of Europe in this
custom, indeed, even in the Asturian period one
finds reliquaries made of rich materials. In the
tenth century, for instance, Fruela II and his wife
Nunilo presented a casket of agate, enamel, and
gold to the Cathedral of Oviedo, and Alfonso III
donated a silver and gilt reliquary casket to the
Cathedral of AstorgaI.
In the eleventh century, Fernando and Sancha of
Leon's donations to the church of San Isidoro
established an important tradition of the minor
arts in pre-Romanesque Spain. An indication of
the variety of art sponsored by the couple is given
in the Donation of 1063, a list of objects willed by
these monarchs to the Church of SanJuan Bautista
in Leon in honor of San Isidoro whose remains
were translated there that year2.Mentioned in the
list are six ivory boxes - certainly reliquaries3.One
of these ivory boxes is the Arca of SS Juan y
Pelayo, which is still on display in the Colegiata
For the Cajade las Agatas,see Victor Elbern,?Laplaca
francade la Caja de las Agatas,?Symposiumsobre cul-
tura asturianade la Alta Edad Media,, Ovierdo 1961,
I25-42; and Pedro de Palol and Max Hirmer,Early Me-
dieval Art in Spain,London I967, plate 41.For the As-
torga Casket, see Manuel G6mez-Moreno, Catdlogo
monumental de la Provincia de Le6n, 2nd ed., Le6n
1979, 148. Both of these caskets survive.
2
Pilar Blanco Lozano, Coleccidn diplomatica de Fer-
nando I (I037-1065), Le6n I987, Document 66, pp. 169-
I73.
3 >et capsameburneamoperatamcum auro et alias duas
eburneasargento laboratas,in una ex eis sedent intus
tresaliecapsellein eodem operefacte,et dictacosculper-
tiles eburneos;<<Blanco Lozano, Document 66, p. 170.
4 In I583, Ambrosio de Morales, Viage de Ambrosio de
Moralespor orden del Rey d. Phelipe II, MadridI765,
folio 47, describedthe contents of the church and re-
cordedthe following inscriptionon the Arca of SSJuan
y Pelayo: ?Arcula sanctorum micat haec sub honore
I34
of San Isidoro4. Another is the Beatitudes Casket,
now in the Museo Arqueologico in Madrid fig. i
- 3, which is connected to the Donation because
it belonged to San Isidoro and because the carving
style of its ivory plaques resembles other Leonese
ivories.
Judging by what remains of early medieval reli-
quaries, it seems that the creation of specific
imagery was secondary to the appropriation of
magificent materials for reliquary structure5.The
Beatitudes Casket is an exception to this rule. Un-
fortunately, scholars occupied with the Casket
have directed their efforts primarily toward un-
covering the origin of the Leonese ivory style as
exemplified by it and the other ivories linked to
the 1063 Donation6. No one has attempted to iden-
tify the inspiration for this casket's unusual icono-
graphy which must certainly have been the Mo-
zarabic liturgy still standard in Spain at this time.
This iconography is rendered by seven ivory
plaques depicting the Beatitudes, a subject which
derives from Christ's promise of coming blessings
delivered in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew,
Chapter 5 verses 3 - io:7
duorum baptistaesancti Johannis sive Pelagii ceu rex
FernandusReginaqueSantiaFieriiussit eramillenasep-
tena seu nonagena<< (?1059 A. D.). For the ivories of
this reliquary,see Adolph Goldschmidt,Die Elfenbein-
skulpturen, IV, Berlin 1926, catalogue 8I a-g.
5One of the rareworks dedicatedto the history of the
reliquaryis Joseph Braun,Die Reliquiaredes Christli-
chen Kultes und ihre Entwicklung, Freiburg I940. A
recent, localised study is provided by Claire Wheeler
Solt, ?RomanesqueFrenchReliquaries,?Studiesin Me-
dieval and Renaissance History, 9 (I987), 167-222.
6 For the most recent discussion of the ivories in the
FernandineDonation and their stylistic derivation,see
Daniele Perrier,?Die SpanischeKleinkunstdes 11.Jahr-
hunderts,< Aachener Kunstblitter, 52 (1984), 69-73 AND
79-83; and Angela Franco Mata, ?,Artemedieval cris-
tianoleones en el Museo Arqueol6gicoNacional,<Tier-
ras de Leon, 7I (1988), 27-60.
7 Beati pauperesspiritu, quoniam ipsorum est
regnum caelorum.
 Blessedarethe poor in spirit:for theirsis the kingdom
of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn:for they shall be com-
forted.
Blessedarethe meek:for they shallinheritthe earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after
righteousness:for they shall be filled.
Blessedarethe merciful:for they shallobtainmercy.
Blessedarethe pure in heart:for they shallsee God.
Blessedare the peacemakers:for they shall be called
the childrenof God.
Blessedarethey which arepersecutedfor righteous-
ness' sake:for theirsis the kingdomof heaven.
The seven plaques are distributed on only three
of the rectangularCasket's four sides, two on each
short end and three on one of the long sides. The
second long side is covered with a number of
Islamic ornamental ivory fragments, an arrange-
ment which Goldschmidt dated to the eighteenth
century8.
The Beatitude plaques measure between 14.8and
15.2cm in height and between 5.7 and 6 cm in
width9. The entire casket is I5.2 cm high, I8 cm
long, and II.9 cm wide. Each plaque pairs an angel
and a haloed male figure under an arch topped by
an architectural landscape comprised of towers,
domes, and pedimented facades. The figures en-
gage one another, making gestures that indicate
speech. Each of the arches above the figures carry
an inscription giving the first few words of the
Gospel text for the particular Beatitude repre-
sented.
Starting on one short side and continuing round
the Casket are the following subjects: Beati
Pauperes Spiritu, Beati Mites, Beati Pacifici, Beati
Misericordes, Beati Mundo Corde, Beati qui Lug-
Beati mites, quoniam ipsi possidebunt terram.
Beati qui lugent, quoniam ipsi consolabuntur.
Beati qui esuriunt et sitiunt iustitiam,quoniam
ipsi saturabuntur.
Beati misericordes,quoniam ipsi misericordiam
consequentur.
Beati mundo corde, quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt.
Beati pacifici, quoniam filii Dei vocabuntur.
Beati qui persecutionempatiunturpropter iustitiam,
quoniam ipsorum est regnum caelorum.
8 Goldschmidt, IV, catalogue 94 a-c. For the Islamic
pieces in the context of Islamicivory carving,see Ernst
Kiihnel, Die Islamischen ElfenbeinskulpturenVIII-
XIII Jahrhundert, Berlin 1971, catalogue 41.
ent, and Beati qui Persecutionem Patiuntur. This
sequence deviates from that in Matthew 5.2 - IO
and lacks the fourth Beatitude - Beati qui esuriunt
et sitiunt. This disruption of the Gospel order and
the missing Beatitude make it highly unlikely that
the present arrangement is the original one, al-
though the proportion and design of the plaques
are common to Spanish reliquary caskets of the
periodIo. Whether the change occurred when the
Islamic pieces were added, or at some other time,
cannot be ascertained. Furthermore, the propor-
tions and dimensions of the present wooden
foundation do not allow for a coherent distribu-
tion of eight plaques on four sides without sup-
plementary ivory or metalwork to fill in the empty
areas. It is likely that such supplementary pieces,
which were standard in Spanish caskets of the
period, were lost during the Napoleonic invasion
of Spain.
The abstract nature of >blessedness< as a subject
probably accounts for the very few examples of
its figural representation. While Ottonian illus-
trated manuscripts include the Sermon on the
Mount, only two illustrated depictions of the Bea-
titudes predate the Casket. These solutions are so
different from that found on the Casket that they
cannot have served as models for the Leonese art-
ist. In the Canon Tables of the Sacramentary of
St. Maximin of Trier and the Dedication Pages of
the Codex Aureus in the Escorial, bust-length ha-
loed male figures appear in roundels inscribed
with the Beatitudes". Only in gender do they re-
semble the representations on the Casket.
All other representations of the Beatitudes, the
9The measurements
are takenfrom Goldschmidt,IV,
94a-c.
10catalogue
Forexample,theArcaof SS.Juany Pelayo,now in the
Treasuryof SanIsidoroin Le6n,Goldschmidt IV,cat-
8i
alogue a-g. Another
example is theArcaof SanMillan
de la Cogolla,GoldschmidtIV, catalogue84-93; and
?TheArcaof SanMillande la Cogolla
my dissertation,
and its Ivories,<University of Pittsburgh,I989.
" FortheSacramentary of St.Maximinof Trier,datedto
the latetenthcentury,see AdolphGoldschmidt, Ger-
man Illumination, II, Florence 1928, plate I5. For the
DedicationPagesof the CodexAureusin the Escorial,
dated to 1043-1045, see Albert Boeckler, Das goldene
EvangelienbuchHeinrichsIII, Berlin I933, 8-9.
I35
i. Beatitudes Casket, Madrid, Museo Arqueol6gico
majority of which come from Germany, are later,
and all but one use female figures supporting in-
scribed scrolls2. Only a Moissac capital, dated to
I2 The Beatitudesappearon the following objects:c. io8o's
Cluny Hemicycle Capital.A now destroyed figure de-
picting the Eighth Tone of the Gregorianmode is in-
scribed?Octavussanctosomnes docet esse beatos.?For
illustration,KennethJohn Conant, Cluny, les egliseset
la maisondu chefd'ordre,CambridgeMA. I968,fig. 142.
c. IIooMoissac Capital.Two figures,male, on each side
of the capital.Each standswith raisedhand and depicts
a single Beatitude, inscribed on the capital's surface.
They are undifferentiatedbut for the poor clothing of
Beati Pauperes. For illustration, Meyer Schapiro and
David Finn, The Romanesque Sculpture of Moissac,
New York I985, fig. 82.
c. II45 The AlexanderReliquary,Brussels.Virginswith
scrolls inscribed with the Beatitudes.For illustration,
Adolf Katzenellenbogen,Allegoriesof the Virtuesand
Vicesin Medieval Art, London i939, 48.
c. II65 Candelabraof FrederickBarbarossa.An open-
work panel from the Candelabradepicts the Fourth
Beatitude. For illustration,Hanns Swarzenski,Monu-
136
2. Beatitudes Casket, Madrid, Museo Arqueologico
noo, uses male figures; in this case a single male
with raised hand identifies each Beatitude. Because
of this dissimilarity to other depictions of the Bea-
ments of RomanesqueArt: the art of churchtreasures
in North-west Europe,Chicago I954,plate i88.
c. Twelfth Century. The MagdeburgAmbo or Pulpit.
Femalefigureswith inscribedscrolls. See MartinGose-
bruch, ?Die MagdeburgerSeligpreisungen,<Zeitschrift
fur Kunstgeschichte, 38 (I975), 97-I26.
c. 1170The TremessenChalice.Femalefigures carrying
scrolls inscribedwith the Beatitudesat the foot of the
Chalice.See GertrudSchiller,Ikonographieder Christ-
lichen Kunst, II, Giitersloh, i968, i28.
c. 1186The Hildesheim Aisle Sculptures,Eight women
with scrolls. See Hartwig Beseler and Hans Roggenk-
amp, Die Michaelskirchein Hildesheim,Berlin I954,il-
lus. 32-34.
c. late Twelfth century. Central dome of San Marco,
Venice. A cycle in mosaic joining the Beatitudeswith
the Virtues. Female figures with scrolls and attributes.
Otto Demus, The Mosaics of San Marco, I, Chicago
I984, I86-I89, plates 59-62 and 273-304.
 3. BeatitudesCasket,Madrid,Museo Arqueologico
titudes, the Casket must represent a distinct, and
possibly unique, iconographic tradition.
The Beatitudes Casket, unlike any other repre-
sentation of the subject, depicts two figures: a
nimbed man and an angel. The nimbed figures,
who may be saints, appear both bearded and un-
bearded, and subtle distinctions in costume and
hair differentiate these figures. The angels are
somewhat more homogeneous, although differ-
ences do occur. For instance, the Beati Mundo
Corde angel holds a rolled scroll and the Beati
Pauperes Spiritu angel grasps his cloak in his right
hand while pointing with his left. The figure
closely resembles an angel on an ivory bookcover
in the Louvre that is linked on stylistic grounds
to the Fernandine workshopI3. The costumes,
poses, carving technique, and figure style are too
close to be coincidence. Although the Beatitudes
artist is somewhat less refined, there is no question
that he either copied these figures directly from
the bookcover, from a common third source, or
was a member of the same atelier. Regardless of
the source used, the artist chose appropriatetypes
in order to fulfil the demands of his new icono-
graphy.
The solution chosen by the artist to represent
the concepts communicated by Matthew 5.3 - o1
are particularto the monument. The Casket's ico-
nography differs from the allegorical cycles of
later centuries - such as that on the central dome
of San Marco, Venice - in which the Beatitudes
are paired with the Virtues'4. Unlike later paired
or expanded cycles, the Beatitudes represented on
3 The bookcover depictsthe TraditoLegis,Goldschmidt,
IV, catalog 107. See also Perrier,?Die SpanischeKlein-
kunst,, /as note 6), 69-73.
'4 Otto Demus, The Mosaics of San Marco, I, Chicago
i984, 186-189. Plates 59-62 and 273-304.
I37
the Casket stand alone, and thus are not promoted
by the allegorized theology which would include
them in symbolic schemes in the twelfth centuryI5.
What did promote the use of the Beatitudes on
the Casket was the wide use of the subject in the
Mozarabic liturgy, still standard in Spain at this
time. The Mozarabic rite was unusual in its exten-
sive use of the Beatitudes, and apart from the
Ambrosian rite abolished much earlier, it was the
only western rite to incorporate all of the Bea-
titudesI6. The Beatitudes appear in a number of
Mozarabic liturgical manuscripts which attest to
their function as Antiphons, Alleluiatici, Responds,
and Praelegenda in the services of the riteI7.An
outstanding example is the Antiphonary of Leon,
where portions of the Eight Beatitudes occur re-
peatedly in services honoring the saintsi8.On most
of these occasions, only one or two Beatitudes are
intoned; however, in two places more appearIs.
The Antiphonary indicates that in the rite's Office
5 This subject is thoroughly discussed in Katzenellen-
bogen,Allegoriesof the Virtuesand Vices,see especially
63, note 2.
The simple, unexpandeduse of the Beatitudes could
derive from a variety of sources. According to Regino
of Priim'sTonariusof the late ninth century,the Eight
Beatitudeswere among the verses that could be sung
to the EighthTone of the GregorianMode. The survival
of this idea in a poem connected with Odo of Cluny
accounts for the inscription >Octavussanctos omnes
docet esse beatos? on the side of the Cluny hemicycle
capitaldevotedto the EighthTone,JoanEvans,Cluniac
Art of the Romanesque Period, Cambridge 1950, 199.
Although Fernando establishedclose links to Cluny,
his Donation precededthe officialchangeto the Roman
rite in Spainby twenty years, and Mozarabicliturgical
music was distinct from that of the Cluniacs. Thus it
is unlikely that such ideas prompted the depiction of
the Beatitudeson the Casket. For the best account of
the connection between Cluny and Le6n, see Charles
JulianBishko, ?LiturgicalIntercessionat Cluny for the
King-Emperors of Le6n,<<Studia Monastica, 3 (931), 53-
76.
i6 Michel
Huglo, ?Le Chant des Beatitudesdans la Litur-
gie Hispanique,? Hispania Sacra, 33-34 (198081), I36-I37.
I7 For the specifics on this liturgical use, Don Michael
Randel,An Index to the Chant of the MozarabicRite,
Princeton I973.According to his detailed survey, the
Beatitudes occur in the following manuscriptsof the
Mozarabicrite:
Le6n Arch. Cap. 8, The Antiphonaryof Le6n, c. 975.
University of Zaragoza (Library of Faculty of Law,
Libro de SanVoto) plus 8 folios of an antiphonaryfrom
SanJuan de la Pefia, tenth century.
138
for Engratia and her Companions, which appears
on folio I79, the following five Beatitudes are
chanted: Beati qui persecutionem patiuntur; Beati
qui lugent; Beati misericordes; Beati qui esuriunt;
and Beati mundo corde. In the morning service
De Sanctis Generalibus, an office for those saints
for whom specific offices had not been composed,
Beati qui persecutionem patiuntur, Beati pauperes
spiritu, Beati pacifici, and Beati misericordes are
chanted. This Office, found on folios 246v - 25or
of the Antiphonary was frequently in use though-
out the liturgical cycle, thus becoming very fami-
liar.
The Antiphonary of Le6n is an important source
for the Casket's subject matter; it dates from the
final quarter of the tenth century, and was most
certainly in Le6n and connected with the court
in the eleventh century20. Despite this fact, one
London, BM Add. Ms. 30845Office and Mass Book,
Silos, tenth century.
London, BM Add. Ms. 30846Office and Mass Book,
Silos, tenth century.
R.A.H. Aemil. 30, Office and Mass Book, San Millan
de la Cogolla, tenth century.
Madrid, BN. 1o.IIo Officia FeriarumQuadragesimae,
tenth and eleventh century.
Toledo CathedralArchive 35.5Office and Mass Book,
ninth-tenth century.
The Toledo manuscriptis unique in its use of the Bea-
titudesin the MozarabicAdAccedentesfor PalmSunday
Services.See Huglo ?Le chant des Beatitudes<(as note
i6). In addition,the Beatitudesappearin the LiberCom-
micus. Justo Perez de Urbel and Atilano Gonzales y
Ruiz-Zorilla,Liber Commicus,MadridI955.
i8 In the
Antiphonaryof Le6n, the Beatitudes,or portions
of them, appearon the following folios: 39v; 3Iv; 9or;
ioov; I79r; 319r; 219v; 247v; 348r. The Offices are: Ordo
in Psallendiin Diem Aciscli; Officium in Diem Sancti
Romani;Officium in Diem SanctiIuliani;Officium in
Diem SanctiTirsi; Officium in Diem SanctiEngratiae;
Officium in Diem SanctorumSimonis et Iudae aposto-
lorum; and Officium de SanctisGeneralibus.
I9 In the Ordo in Psallendiin Diem Aciscli, Officium in
Diem SanctiIuliani,Officium in Diem SanctiTirsi, and
Officium in Diem SanctorumSimonis et Iudae aposto-
lorum, only Beatiqui persecutionempatiunturappears.
20 In their descriptionof the manuscripts,Brou and Vives
note various markingson folio ir which are like those
used an Fernandinediplomas. Furthermore,anagrams
of the namesAlfonso, Sancha,and Garseaappear,along
with notes referring to Pelagius diaconus and Recesvin-
dus dated io62, and I063. Louis Brou und Jos6 Vives,
Antifonariovisigdticomozdrabede la Catedralde Le6n,
Barcelona I959, xii.
should not conceive of this or any of the surviving
liturgical manuscripts as sources in a limited sense;
instead, it is more to the point to realize that they
are witnesses to a liturgy which was vital and
familiarto all concerned with the Casket's produc-
tion. This would be true whether or not a particu-
lar manuscript was in the Court's possession.
If any one feature of the liturgical use of the
Beatitudes is to be singled out as promoting the
use of the same subject on the Casket, it must be
their consistent use in honoring the saints on spe-
cific days. In addition to their use in the Office
De Sanctis Generalibus, they function in the Off-
ices for the following saints: Cosmas and Damian;
Engratia and her Companians; Iulianus; Tirsus;
Euphimia; Romanus; Acisclus; and Simon and
Jude. This linking of the Beatitudes with the saints,
particular to Spain and familiar to all Spanish
Christians of the period, could certainly have pro-
vided the impetus for selecting the Beatitudes to
decorate an ivory casket. Caskets like these were
generally used as reliquaries, and ivory was con-
sidered so appropriatefor this function that before
ateliers were established in the Christian North,
Moslem caskets from Andalucia were imported
for use as reliquaries.The ivory casket in the Mu-
seo de Navarra in Pamplona, which was made in
Cordoba in I005, was brought to Leire were it
guardedthe relics of SS. Nunilo and AlodiazI.With
the foundation of their minor arts center in Leon,
Fernando and Sanchathemselves provided San Isi-
doro with an ivory and metalwork casket for the
remains of SS. Juan and Pelayo23. In Navarre,
slightly later in the century, a large ivory-plated
shrine was fashioned for the relics of Emilian of
Cogolla23.
Finally, the use of the Beatitudes on a reliquary
helps to explain the two-figure solution chosen
by the Leonese artist; the nimbed figures are the
saints who receive the Beatitudes delivered to
them by divine messenger. A further possibility
is that each messenger may actually represent a
Beatitude. In either case, the marriage of liturgy
and art present on the Beatitudes plaques takes
on a special significance as it was conceived shortly
before the adoption of the Roman rite and the
end of the Mozarabic liturgy.
Islamischen Elfenbeinskulpturen,Berlin
I Kiihnel, Die
197I, catalogue35,plates XXII-XXV.
Z See notes i and 9.
23 See note
9.
For their information and inspiration,I thank Ann Free-
man,PaulMeyvaert,John W. Williams,andDwayne Carp-
enter.
I39