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1

THE ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE OF THE RIGA DOME CATHEDRAL IN THE 13TH CENTURY: CONTACTS AND INFLUENCES (Rigas Doma arhitektura un buvplastika 13. gadsimta. Kontakti un ietekmes)

100%
Grosmane E.
Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei
|
2000
|
vol. 1
7-22
EN
The cornerstone for the Riga Dome Cathedral was laid on July 25, 1211, and the construction project was completed in the second half of the 13th century. This topic has been discussed endlessly over the last century and more, but the subject has not yet been exhausted, and researchers continue to focus on it. The initial stimulus for construction of the Dome came from the ambitions of the German Bishop Albert in terms of Baltic expansion. The building of a grand cathedral was part of the process. The cathedral was originally intended as a pillar basilica modeled after the Dome Cathedral of Brunswick that was put up by Henry the Lion and served as a paradigm for the building of Northern German cathedrals at that time - especially the Dome at Ratzeburg, which is the oldest surviving sample of brick-based architecture in the region. Like that structure, the Riga Dome was at first built of stone blocks, but in the 1220s the builders turned to the new material of the brick not changing, however, the plan of the building. At the same time construction of a cloister was also begun. It is assumed that when Albert died in 1229 the project was not complete. The construction plans of that particular period are best reflected in the structural clarity of the geometric elements that are found in the eastern part of the church, testifying to a gradual shift in style from the Romanesque to the Gothic. We have little information about construction work during the reign of the next bishop, Nicolaus. It is presumed that the work did not stop, but continued along on the basis of inertia. A new intensity in the process appeared when the first archbishop, Albert Suerbeer, arrived in Riga. He came from the ranks of Pope Innocent IV, and it may be that his contacts with the upper reaches of the Catholic Church served as an impetus for moving away from the already old-fashioned style of pillar basilicas in favor of a hall-type building. Once the work became more active again, influences from the Rhineland and Westphalia appeared in parts of the building, thus causing the myth of a master craftsman from Cologne traveling to Riga to provide the necessary brilliance to the grandiose construction. Later research into Medieval architecture and art in the Rhine region have brought greater precision to descriptions of master artists in that period, defining the 'master of Samson' and the 'master Ezzo Erenfried', for example. Against this background, the idea of a 'Cologne master' in Riga seems far too abstract and unspecific. A detailed analysis of the Riga Dome sculpture shows that elements from the 13th century can be perceived as a homogeneous phenomenon - the ensemble of the Dome is imbued with a cross of various elements and influences.
2

RIGA DOME CATHEDRAL OVER CENTURIES AND PARADIGM SHIFTS IN ITS RECONSTRUCTION (Rigas Doms gadsimtu gaita un paradigmas mainas rekonstrukcija)

100%
Grosmane E.
Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei
|
2008
|
vol. 7
9-30
EN
The retrospective element typical of the 19th century art is directly related not just to the tendencies of artistic development but to historical heritage of culture as well. The largest and most prominent Baltic medieval monument - Riga Dome complex - was influenced by this aspect. This article aims to follow the processes from the reconstruction that started in the 1880s till 12 May 1909 when the Dome Construction Department of the Riga History and Antiquities Research Society announced the completion of the Dome Cathedral and Monastery reconstruction. The question how the magnificent ensemble, an integral part of the city panorama, was constructed and changed over time remains topical. To what an extent the Protestant pragmatism and recurrent retrospective tendency had fostered the preservation of the Dome's medieval overall image and how did various epochs bring in their own stylistic transformations are the aspects under scrutiny. First one has to return to ancient times: on 25 July 1211, St. James' Day, there was a festive ceremony during which the Bishop Albert (c. 1165-1229) laid the foundation stone of an ambitious project. In the 13th century the Cathedral and the adjoining Monastery were completed, becoming the largest medieval complex in the Baltic region. Of course, some additions were brought by the following centuries, but the imposing architectonic structure, noted as an outstanding example of transition from the Romanesque to the early Gothic style, has survived till our days. The first building material of Riga Dome Cathedral was limestone blocks, but it was completed using red brick and should be included in the area of Central European Brick Gothic.
3

A HALF-FORGOTTEN PHENOMENON IN THE CULTURAL HISTORY OF LATVIA: THE KURZEME PROVINCE MUSEUM IN JELGAVA (Piemirsts fenomens Latvijas kulturas vesture: Kurzemes provinces muzejs)

100%
Grosmane E.
Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei
|
2007
|
vol. 6
95-107
EN
Museums as purposeful constructions with exhibition halls, collections, restorers' workshops, libraries and office premises have been built since the early 19th century. Three museum buildings were constructed in Latvia in the late 19th - early 20th century. One of them was the Kurzeme Province Museum designed by the architect and first Baltic art historian Wilhelm Neumann and opened in Jelgava (Mitau) in 1898. Neither values collected there nor the museum building itself and the town where it was placed had a lucky fortune. All was lost due to social degradation and violence. The collection was disintegrated during the repatriation of Baltic Germans in 1939 but the building was bombed down at the end of World War II in July and August 1944. The article intends to prompt the history of the museum and to reconstruct its building process, planning and furnishings to re-establish it as a part of the cultural history of Latvia. In the first half of the 19th century the former capital of the Duchy of Courland, previously residence of dukes and landed gentry, saw a rising civil society after its annexation to the Russian Empire. On 23 November 1815 the Kurzeme Literature and Art Society was founded. The Society quickly obtained public support in Jelgava. In 1818 a museum was opened at the Society, initiated by historian Johann Friedrich Recke. The museum was meant to collect everything worth of interest in art, nature and science, and to preserve values giving insight into the civil, political, spiritual and physical life of the country. As interest was growing not just on pre-classical and classical cultural centres, national specificity of each culture increased in importance. So the most diverse evidences and natural history samples from various cultures, including exotic countries, successfully coexisted in the Kurzeme Province Museum. The typical 19th century approach of historicist retrospection, a tendency to collect everything available and interesting, allowed the most different items to coexist. Selection was mostly accidental, not purposeful. Such an attitude is not incompatible with deliberate analysis and systematisation of objects.
4

SANDSTONE PIETA FROM THE RIGA ST. JAMES' CHURCH. ORIGINS, ICONOGRAPHY AND STYLE (Smilsakmens Pieta no Rigas Sv. Jekaba baznicas. Izcelsme, ikonografija un stils)

100%
Grosmane E.
Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei
|
2003
|
vol. 3
19-27
EN
It is a surprising and unbelievable fact that the sandstone Pieta of so high artistic value that might feature in the permanent exposition of any museum of the world so far has gone unnoticed by both Latvian and foreign art historians. The sadly beautiful Virgin holding her son in her lap demonstrates God's final farewell to the earthly life. It is a common subject of medieval art that is distinguished by the unique quality of artistic execution. It stands out in comparison with the mean scope of medieval sculpture in the Eastern Baltic region and Latvia in particular; it is also the only stone example in the sculpture collection of the Latvian History Museum. Looking for origins of the figural group one has to stop at the Mater Dolorosa Church in Riga. A prospect drawn by Johann Christoph Brotze in 1791 depicts the choir apse of the church still oriented towards the Castle Square. There was a big open niche at the very centre of the apse where the brightly coloured Virgin, surrounded by a heavy falling cloth, was standing on a high pedestal with Christ in her lap. Outlines of the sculptural group clearly point to the Pieta from the Latvian History Museum. Following J. C. Brotze's suggestion one has to continue the search in the Riga St. James' Church. The heightened religious feelings favoured building of a chapel in this church in 1404. The sandstone Pieta is dated by the same period. The artwork itself is not mentioned in written sources, so to detect the place of its origin which is the aim of this paper, one has to take up stylistic analysis. A detailed analysis proves that the Riga St. James' Church was decorated with a very subtle and emotionally charged work of art. Some concluding remarks: the origins of the sandstone Pieta are to be found not in the Mater Dolorosa Church but in the medieval St. James' Church. This work is an imported one because there are no similar pieces in the Eastern Baltic region, the group is quite small and a cavity at its back side might ease transportation. The work belongs to the Schoner Stil horizontal versions of Pieta that flourished in Central Europe around 1400 when several centres of origin coexisted in different areas.
5

WHAT WAS THE GENESIS OF ART HISTORY IN LATVIA (Kur meklejami makslas vestures pirmsakumi Latvija)

100%
Grosmane E.
Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei
|
2001
|
vol. 2
7-15
EN
What was the genesis pf art history in Latvia? The answer to this question is largely dictated by the criteria which we select in trying to determine the origins of Latvian art history and in deciding how far back we need to look in our search. An effort to provide a provisional look at the way in which European art history entered in Latvia is based on the overall scheme according to which the historiography of art history developed. The initial sparks of interest in the study of art can be traced in the syllabus of the Riga Dome School, the Royal Lyceum and the Academia Petrina in Jelgava. These educational institutions were influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment. An early interest in the local history of art and architecture as a specific field of study was displayed by the Kurzeme Literary and Artistic Association, which was established in 1816 in Jelgava. The association saw as its primary goal the collection and study of materials about history, culture and the natural sciences, and soon enough it began to issue a periodical publication. Julius Doring was a most prolific author providing articles about the arts. Similar processes, following the example of Kurzeme, soon sprang up in Riga. The Association of Researchers of History and Antiquity in the Baltic Provinces of Russia was established in 1834, and it, too, published an annual yearbook. Wilhelm Bockslaff (1858-1945), Carl Lowis of Menar (1855-1930) and Wilhelm Neumann (1849-1919) began to publish in the yearbook in the 1880s, and it marked a distinctive shift in the development of the study of art in the Baltic region. The need for a professional approach to this work became increasingly acute, and in due course the need was satisfied by Neumann, who in 1887 released the important book 'Grundriss einer Geschichte der bildenden Kunste und des Kunstgewerbes in Liv-, Est- und Kurland vom Ende des XII bis zum Ausgang des XVIII Jahrhunderts'. This can be seen as the first book on Baltic art history. Neumann had close links with Leipzig University, which had a serious center for art history in the 1880s, headed by Anton Springer, and where Neumann himself received a doctorate in philology and art in 1892.
6

RIGA ST. JAMES' CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES (Rigas Sv. Jekaba baznica viduslaikos)

100%
Grosmane E.
Materiali Latvijas makslas vesturei
|
2004
|
vol. 4
9-32
EN
St. James' Church with its ancient red brick volume and high, pointed steeple has become an integral part of the Old Riga panorama. The history of the building is equally impressive and can be traced back to the first decades after the foundation of Riga. St. James' Church is known as the smallest brick basilica in Old Riga. The building's layout features cube-shaped choir with a sacristy at the Northern side, a nave with two aisles and a chapel by the southern wall. The church nave is shorter than aisles because it serves as a support for the tower at the Western side, growing out from the main volume of the building. The construction history of the church has a massive historiography. There is a deep-rooted opinion in the specialised literature that the church has been in is place since the first decades of the 13th century, although the definite year of its foundation is unknown. St. James' Church is mentioned for the first time on 5 April 1226. There is very little documentary evidence about the 13th - 15th century. Mostly it is mentioned as a topographical landmark, confirming its existence but giving little information on its construction history. Studying the building's history, one should take into account also modifications carried out in different periods, especially deliberate Gothic-style additions in the mid-19th century and late-19th century reconstruction. Then part of the medieval portal was recovered in the Northern facade, Romanesque-style paired windows were marked and interior was restored. Returning to the Middle Ages, firstly one should deal with the basic building material brick. It is presumed that brick has been widely used in Riga architecture since the 1220s, taking the Bishop's Cathedral as a paradigm. There is indeed a coincidence in brick size and brickwork technique between the Dome and St. James' Church: this could mean that a certain brick kiln has provided the material. Moreover, these are not the only similarities: one should note also the arcading frieze of aisles, cross-shaped supporting pillars and arcade between aisles.
7

Viduslaiku miniatūra ‘Krustā sistais ar Mariju un Jāni’ no ‘Missale Rigense’

100%
Grosmane E.
Makslas Vesture un Teorija
|
2017
|
vol. 20
6-15
EN
The unique ancient Livonian cultural and religious testimony ‘Missale Rigense’ is held by the Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books of the Academic Library of the University of Latvia. In line with the common medieval practice, ‘Missale Rigense’ has an oak cover binding with brown leather finish and two clasps (damaged). The manuscript consists of 192 spread pages (36 x 27 x 10 cm) and two parts: a calendar and missale with one canonical illustration ‘Crucifixion with Mary and St. John’. The central foreground image is of Christ crucified on a large cross with three massive iron nails. The heavy head falling sideways and closed eyes with swollen eyelids indicate that Christ is already dead; so the expression of suffering is somewhat subdued, but the link with Crucifixus dolorosus common in European Gothic art has not been lost completely. The Saviour’s touched up wounds continue to bleed; the grey-toned body suspended by thin arms also conforms to the message. However, dramatic exaggerations are not accentuated. The Saviour’s sad foreground image is contemplated from the back by Mary and the Apostle John standing a little way off. Both have soft and handsome features, but the well-considered costume gatherings reveal typical late Gothic repeated V-shaped rhythms, the so-called cornet and hairpin-style folding elements. The three-figure composition set against green grassland, low horizon line and blue sky do not strive for emotional overstatement. The artist’s rejection of Gothic expression is deliberate and most likely anticipates the new Renaissance epoch. Considering all research aspects related to the ‘Missale Rigense’ miniature, dating it to the 1460s–1490s looks most plausible. As the number of digitalised manuscripts grows, there will possibly be a chance to specify the origin of this sheet in subsequent years.
8

FROM BALTIC ARCHITECT WILHELM BOCKSLAFF'S MANUSCRIPT 'CONTRIBUTION TO THE CONSERVATION OF MONUMENTS' ABOUT RIGA AND DORPAT (TARTU) CHURCHES (No Baltijas arhitekta Vilhelma Bokslafa darba 'Ieguldijums piemineklu kopsana' par Rigas un Terbatas baznicam

100%
Grosmane E.
Makslas Vesture un Teorija
|
2004
|
vol. 3
47-57
EN
The material translated, introduced and commented by art historian Elita Grosmane is written by architect Wilhelm Bockslaff, commenting on the construction history and restoration of major Riga churches in the late 19th - early 20th century.
9

SOME ADDITIONS TO THE HISTORY OF THE LESTENE CHURCH ORGAN (Dazi papildinajumi Lestenes baznicas ergelu prospekta vesturei)

100%
Grosmane E.
Makslas Vesture un Teorija
|
2004
|
vol. 2
60-63
EN
The article deals with the fortunes of Lestene Church organ that along with the wood-carved Baroque altarpiece is among the best works by Nicholas Soeffrens the Junior. The Fircks family who were Lestene landlords intended to sell the organ to the Riga Town Council but the deal was not carried out. Several historical events related to these decisions are examined in the article.
10

12.–13. gadsimta bronzas bļodas ar gravējumiem

100%
Grosmane E.
Makslas Vesture un Teorija
|
2019
|
vol. 23
15-25
PL
The rich material of bronze items produced by local masters on the territory of medieval Latvia testifies to a high level of metalworking skills. The diversity of artefacts increased during this period, as imported objects were often used as samples for local imitations. Bronze bowls are part of the applied arts that flourished in the course of these two centuries; they are common in various European regions and have caught the interest of art historians not so much due to their form but because of the iconography of their engravings. All bowls are made of tin bronze. Their forms are quite similar. They consist of a slightly thickened round base from which thinly forged sidewalls rise up to 5–6 cm, and an upper edge about 1 cm wide. The diameter of bowls is about 20 to 30 cm. These vessels could be either decorated or plain but their classification is based on the content of the interior engravings. Bowls are largely held in the collections of the Riga History and Navigation Museum and the Latvian National History Museum; in addition, two fragments of bronze bowls from Latvia are in the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte Berlin. Riga is the place where the most impressive and luxurious bowls have been discovered – precious items imported from Europe, featuring high-quality execution of the vessel and its décor. These artefacts could have ended up in Riga in the late 12th or early 13th century when the most active contacts formed with the potential centres of their origin – Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. The total number of bronze bowls found in Latvia so far is eight to nine (some fragments are hard to define): five of them are engraved, four appear to lack engraving, although such a conclusion has emerged due to their fragmentary condition. The bowls are similar with regard to their form but they do not make up a homogenous group. Two bowls found in Riga stand out for their narrative message: the so-called superbia with surrounding vices and the procession of knights; both are thought to be imported. These items belong to high-quality pieces in the context of Latvia but also reflect characteristics typical of mass production.
11

EMBLEMATICS AND THE PHENOMENON OF EMBLEMS IN 17TH AND 18TH CENTURY ART IN LATVIA (Emblematika un emblemu fenomems Latvijas 17. un 18. gadsimta maksla)

100%
Grosmane E.
Makslas Vesture un Teorija
|
2004
|
vol. 3
5-16
EN
The terms 'emblem' and 'emblematics' are mentioned several times in Latvian art history literature. However, it cannot be said that they are in common usage and self-evident even in experts' circles because there still are no comprehensive texts describing emblematics as a subdivision of iconography. Art historians' interest in emblems has emerged quite recently in Latvia, gradually discovering more and more ways of their use and now would seem to be an appropriate moment for the first general conclusions. The aim of this article is to try to embrace the main directions of the use of emblems, to outline the course of their development and distribution among different social classes and to give an insight into the localisation process of the phenomenon by selecting the most important and remarkable examples. No specialised collections of emblems have been published by any of the Latvian publishing houses, only books with emblematic illustrations. Their number also is small in comparison with other, mostly European publishing centres. There was no active process of creating emblems in Latvia because two of the most important components were lacking - an independent institution of education or erudite group of interested people and a suitable publishing house. Nevertheless, the limited intellectual potential did not mean that Latvia was left untouched by the fashion for emblems. The protestant theologian and superintendent of the Duchy of Luneburg Johann Arndt's book 'Vier geistreiche Bucher vom wahren Christentum .. ', published in Riga in 1678-1679 and supplemented with copper engravings, as a particularly remarkable item in the provincial milieu. 50 years after the author's death, illustrations appeared in Riga that became a paradigm for frequent reproductions by German, Swiss and North American (Pennsylvania) publishers right up to 1930. The next stage in the development of emblems in Latvia is related to 18th century book printing and society - not only German but, important to note, also Latvian.
12

KARLIS ZALE. MEMORIES (Karlis Zale. Atminas)

100%
Grosmane E.
Makslas Vesture un Teorija
|
2008
|
vol. 10
60-63
EN
The article introduced by Elita Grosmane presents the memories of Latvian artist and pedagogue Rudolfs Priede (1890-1949) about the prominent Latvian sculptor Karlis Zale (1888-1942), author of the Freedom Monument and Brethren Cemetery - most outstanding examples of monumental sculpture in the inter-war Latvia. The publication of Priede's memories, dedicated to Zale's 120th anniversary, touch upon several aspects of the artist's personality, his education, early years, interests and influences.
13

SURVEY DRAWINGS OF IKSKILE CHURCH IN THE STATE ARCHIVES IN STOCKHOLM (Ikskiles baznicas uzmerijumi Valsts arhiva Stokholma)

100%
Grosmane E.
Makslas Vesture un Teorija
|
2006
|
vol. 6-7
98-101
EN
The article presents survey drawings of Ikskile Church made in 1927 and now held by State Archives in Stockholm. In 1977 they were granted to the Archives by Professor Helge Kjellin who supervised archaeological excavations in Ikskile.
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