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Z kręgu wyobrażeń motywu wstydu w sztuce. Wybrane zagadnienia w sztuce średniowiecznej europejskiej i polskiej

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Mazurczak U.
Studia Theologica Varsaviensia
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2016
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vol. 54
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issue 1
133-158
EN
Shame is a feeling, it is definable in the areas of psychology, history of culture, and customs in the analyses of the history of religion and ethics. Shame defines the relationship between the object of shame and the subject of this feeling and, ultimately, the subject may not feel ashamed because of an act or a fact, which is not, for him or a certain moral and religious community, understood as a reason for shame. A slightly different, but also related to the concept of ‘shame ‘, is the notion of ‘bashfulness’ understood as a human capability to feel shame to the same extent as the pursuit of other virtues: love, being sensible, faith, chastity, hope, but also humility, modesty and silence. ‘Bashfulness ‘ is an integral part of the condition of a decent, fair and noble life, which in the Roman social education was defined by one common virtue – ‘virtus ‘, known in Greece as ‘arete’. The Christian understanding of virtues and vices, described by Prudentius and later on studied in detail in various texts and works of art by E. Saxl, and A. Katzenellenbogen, specified in detail both virtues and vices at the same time following ancient models. The author undertakes the analysis of the phenomenon of ‘shame’ in the visualisation of Christian, especially medieval, art starting from the accounts of important biblical citations on the ‘shame’ theme. Then she attempts to point out stage images illustrating the religious or moral problem of shame commonly referred to nudity, which, however, is not a proper understanding of shame and bashfulness. The study focuses on selected issues: personification of shame and on the events (described in the Old Testament) which imply shame. The selected images are illustrations of Genesis cycle where the First Parents’ feeling of embarrassment was depicted. The author indicates the sources of ancient compositions of the Aphrodite statue- -Venus Pudica, which developed the topos of ‘shame’ and ‘bashfulness’ imagery. This type of nudity constitutes a distinctive programme of gestures, movement, counterpose and the composition of the head. They are a clear visualisation of the female ideal – of virtues, including the virtue of an ideal love that was associated with bashfulness. The validity of this theme in Italian medieval art, especially in Nicola and Giovanni Pisanos’ works, was pointed out. The personifications of virtues: Venus Pudica or Hercules shown on reliefs in pulpits in Pisa, confirm the validity of the theme of ‘bashfulness’ in medieval art. In the cathedral sculpture, on the outer facades, the sets of virtues and vices used to be depicted, and they were supposed to be addressed to the wide audience of urban publikum. The author of the study pointed out the reliefs of cathedral facades in Paris, Amiens, Magdeburg in which the virtues, including the virtue of shame, had been presented. The columns in the Church of the Norbertine monastery in Strzelno are of great significance for European art. The author also suggested a new iconographic interpretation for the naked figure of Venus pucica. The second field of research is the issue of narrative scenes, the visualisations of nudity based on the Bible, that constitute a positive sense of understanding naked figures in Christian art: Bathsheba in bath, the dancing King David, the suffering Job and the naked, drunken Noah. The author focuses on the analysis of the complex and non-uniformly presented Adam and Eve’s narrative of the feeling of shame. The moments when they experience the feeling of shame and their nudity for the first time are diversified. The author of the Book of Genesis does not mention first parents’ other feelings in paradise, the only statement is the lack of being ashamed of their body at the moment of creation and then the experience of shame after the original sin. The author included more extensive research on the visualisation of the Genesis narrative in her book Human Corporeality in the medieval Italian painting, Vol.I, Lublin 2012. The experience of the first parents’ embarrassment when recognising their nudity was, at the same time, the experience of a permanent virtue of bashfulness. In the Italian series of Genesis imaging the parents experience grace due to the shame they suffered. Additional scenes, which were introduced into cyclical narratives of Genesis and which confirm the meaning of Divine Mercy in the cycle ending the creation of man, are pointed out in the study
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List apostolski Duodecimum saeculum Ojca Świętego św. Jana Pawła II z okazji tysiąc dwusetnej rocznicy Soboru Nicejskiego II. Miejsce ikony w wierze i rozumieniu św. Jana Pawła II

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Mazurczak U.
Roczniki Humanistyczne
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2020
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vol. 68
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issue 4
57-71
EN
The letter of the Holy Father John Paul II written in Rome in 1987, in the tenth year of His pontificate, on December 4th, on the day of memorial of Saint John Damascene, the doctor of the Church, on the Twelfth Centenary of finishing the controversy over the icon, is of great importance for the Pope’s program of ecumenism. The Holy Father indicated various directions of the dialogue, however, the one of the utmost importance concerned the agreement with the Orthodox Church, which was confirmed in the letters and in His other documents quoted in this paper. The image used to be essential for religious practice, for illustrating the word of prayer and of the song, in order to preserve the tradition of the Church. The strict prohibition introduced by the iconoclasm depreciated not only the artistic tradition of paintings but also the basic dogmas of Christ’s Incarnation and the one which introduced Virgin Mary as the Theotokos (the God-bearer). The ban constituted a threat not only for the icons but also for the Christian faith. In His Letter, the Pope underlined the important role of the Second Council of Nicaea which reintroduced icons and maintained and deepened the meaning of the cult in the faith of believers. Furthermore, the Holy Father indicated the connection with the Second Vatican Council in understanding the function and form of images in contemporary Church. Contemporary trends are overwhelmed by the impotence of the spiritual expression of sacral art, which is a great concern for the Pope. The Letter is, therefore, a dramatic warning of the threats for religious art in contemporary time, expressed by the Holy Father with these words: ‘The rediscovery of the Christian icon will also help in raising the awareness of the urgency of reacting against the depersonalizing and at times degrading effects of the many images that condition our lives in advertisements and the media.’ (DS, 11).
PL
List Ojca Świętego Jana Pawła II napisany w Rzymie, w roku 1987, w dziesiątym roku pontyfikaty, 4 grudnia, w dniu liturgicznego wspomnienia św. Jana Damasceńskiego, doktora Kościoła w 1200 rocznicę zakończenia sporu o ikony, ma istotne znaczenie w programie ekumenizmu Papieża. Wskazywał wiele kierunków dialogu z różnymi religiami, jednak największą troską było porozumienie z Kościołem prawosławnym, co potwierdzają listy oraz inne dokumenty Ojca Świętego przytaczane w niniejszej pracy. Istotne było zachowanie tradycji Kościoła, w którym nieodłącznym ogniwem dla praktyk religijnych słowa, modlitwy i pieśni był obraz. Surowy zakaz wprowadzony przez ikonoklazm podważał nie tylko artystyczne tradycje obrazów, lecz także sięgał do podstaw dogmatów Wcielenia Chrystusa i Matki Dziewicy Maryi Panny jako Theotokos. Zakaz był zagrożeniem dla ikon, ale też dla istoty wiary chrześcijańskiej. Papież podkreślił w swoim Liście rolę Soboru Nicejskiego II, który przywrócił ikony oraz zapewnił ich pogłębione znaczenie dla kultu wiernych w ugruntowaniu wiary. Ojciec Święty wskazał również związek z Soborem Watykańskim II odnoszącym się do rozumienia funkcji i formy obrazów w Kościele współczesnym. Współczesność owładnęła niemoc duchowego wyrazu sztuki sakralnej co stanowi troskę Papieża. List jest dramatycznym ostrzeżeniem wobec zagrożeń dla sztuki religijnej w czasach współczesnych, które Ojciec Święty wyraził słowami „Ponowne odkrywanie wartości chrześcijańskiej sztuki może być również pomocą w uświadomieniu sobie konieczności przeciwstawienia się depersonalizującym skutkom oddziaływania tak wielu obrazów”.
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Znaczenie zbiorów kościelnych i sztuki sakralnej w utrwalaniu dziedzictwa religijnego. Paralelizm pomiędzy trwałością tradycji antycznej w średniowieczu, a odradzaniem się średniowiecza w industrialnej kulturze XVIII i XIX wieku

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Mazurczak U.
Archiwa, Biblioteki i Muzea Kościelne
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2006
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vol. 85
9-25
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Rola Kościoła w utrwalaniu i odradzaniu dziedzictwa kultury : działalność prymasa Jana Łaskiego na tle wybranych przykładów historii europejskiego średniowiecza

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Mazurczak U.
Archiwa, Biblioteki i Muzea Kościelne
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2006
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vol. 86
43-54
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Inspiracje tekstów starotestamentalnych i apokryfów żydowskich w średniowiecznych wyobrażeniach scenicznych Księgi Rodzaju

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Mazurczak U.
Roczniki Kulturoznawcze
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2013
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vol. 4
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issue 3
051-072
EN
The iconography of the Book of Genesis has been elaborated on in extensive studies in which connections with the biblical text and commentaries, mainly patristic, have been demonstrated. In the state of research gathered on this subject by U. Mazurczak in ‘Das Sechstagewerk in der Ikonographie des Mittelalters. Forschungsstand und Forschungsperspektiven’ (Acta Mediaevalia 8:1995) the author pointed out crucial research problems which were worth further studying in the iconography of ‘Genesis’. Moreover, in a book published in 2012 Human corporeality in medieval Italian painting (Vol. 1. Lublin 2012) the issues of the created body and its significance in the realm of medieval anthropology were presented. In the present study selected texts of Jewish apocrypha and philosophical com¬mentators, which inspired Christian representations of illustrations for the Book of Genesis: the creation of man and his sojourn in the paradise as well as his departure after the original sin, have been pointed out. Jewish tradition in the images of angels in the illustrations of Cotton’s Bible, repeated on mosaics in the narthex of St. Mark’s Church in Venice has been also indicated. Those figures bear resemblance to the texts by Philo of Alexandria who explained the significance of angels appearing next to God in the subsequent days in his commentary On the creation of the world. The number of angels from the first to the seventh refers to each day being created. Elements of Jewish tradition can be also traced in the famous Bible of Czerwińsk (1148-1155), destroyed during World War II, where God the Creator was depicted together with three angels. God the Father anoints the first angel with the same gesture as he touches Adam’s forehead, which is shown in the following medallion. In this way Philo interpreted the creation of mind as stamping it with the wisdom of God the Creator who imprinted his stigma in man’s mind. The apocrypha called the Book of Jubilees was of significant importance—the list of angels’ (residents’ of heaven) powers was enumerated there. They rule over cosmic powers and over man on the earth. In the Book the dialogical form between God and the angels is developed and the gesture of touch is also explained here as it was presented in a codex once stored in Polish collection. The touch is a sign of the deep connection between man and Yahweh who reveals himself in a special way on the day of Sabbath—The Day of God’s Glory. With the sign of touching Adam’s forehead God gave his blessing to man on the seventh day, namely the day of consecration. In a codex stored in the National Library in Vienna and called the Vienna Genesis the scene of the parents going beyond the gates of paradise after the original sin was developed, in turn. A classic motif of an angel standing next to the gates of paradise was enriched with the second female figure, a personification which is deprived of signs of sanctity but is standing close to Adam and Eve. The miniaturist enriched the image of the paradise gates with a motif of blazing but not burning out rims of circles. The female personification, exposed by means of the smartness of clothes and proportionally exceeding all the figures of the scene including the angel, was identified with the personification of Wisdom. The author points out the personification of Divine Law here. In Liber Graduum, a compilation of Gnostic and Hebrew texts, its author concentrated on a description of the sin and the grace of God received by the parents. Before having committed the sin they experienced only God’s love in the paradise, however, after the sin they experienced Divine Mercy, together with Divine Law. The figure in Vienna Genesis standing beyond the gate next to the parents is the figure of the Law given by the merciful God to them.
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Ikonografia wcielenia w sztuce wczesnoromańskiej i romańskiej na wybranych przykładach scen Bożego narodzenia

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Mazurczak U.
Vox Patrum
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2000
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vol. 38
401-411
EN
In the art the Theme of Incarnation was illustrated in a rich scene repertiore creating its prototypes at the early Romanesque and Romanesque period. It was also the time of dynamically forming motifs in the art that defined the Gothic art and to a high degree modern one. In the fine arts such a model of Incarnation was made by Nativity scene.
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Czas i przestrzeń w badaniach sztuki oraz twórczości literackiej ks. profesora Janusza St. Pasierba

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Mazurczak U.
Artifex Novus
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2019
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issue 3
2-19
EN
Time and space in the research into art and literary works of Rev. Prof. Janusz Pasierb Time and space constantly present in the awareness and experiencing of Reverend Professor Janusz Pasierb pervade all of his academic achievements, his poetry and literary works. It is, therefore, so difficult to separate his thoughts concerning time, expressed in the metaphors of his poetic language, from the methods of description and temporal interpretation of the visual art works. The study The man and his world in the religious art of Renaissance is a synthesis of his research of this period. It contains a range of methodological opinions of the main researchers of Renaissance. The author considers the traditional historical and comparative methods as well as iconology as the most current ones, and at the same time, he introduces the latest methods such as linguistics, anthropology and hermeneutics into his research. It is confirmed in the early research on the city of Pelplin, on the Cistercian abbey and on the church in Pelplin, on the Gniezno doors, on the motif of the Coronation of Virgin Mary and, first and foremost, on the monograph of the painter Herman Han. The idea of time pervades his studies of the history of art, becoming the connecting point of deeper analyses. The study The open time reflects the heuristic technique of exploration of the relationships between time and space meant as categories presented in artistic ways, worked out by means of visualization. He distinguishes between different ways of understanding time: biological, psychological, social, historical, and of the calendar. As the author admits, he himself constitutes the connecting bond between various kinds of time in the artistic message; he searches for himself in art. The creator of the work of art presents it to the recipient – the viewer or the reader. This type of reflection helps to discover parallel experiences, it helps the creator to enter into the „dialogue” with the recipient, similar to the dialogue from the philosophy of Levinas. Reflections on time raise the Author's questions about the last things in man’s life – they reveal his anxiety, uncertainty and even the fear of the unknown ending of the human life. The cycles of nature come as a salvation as the time in closed cycles reflects dying and the rebirth of life, especially of the human life. The holy time of Easter is a great joy for the Author and a perfect chance for his spiritual metamorphosis. The rhythm of repeated changes is perceived by the Author as a circle, the circles – kyklos. The Author warns against the spinning circle of time. Its centre, the point submerging deeper and deeper in the space abyss, detaches the man from its circumference – the “nowhere”. Man seems to be deprived of the bond with the Beginning, with Somebody. It reveals the philosophy of Anicio Manlio Torcuato Severino Boecio as well of other authors whose works were collected in the studies of George Poulet: Etudes sur le temps humain (1949), Les Metamorphoses du cercle (1961), well-known to the Author. In the book The open time, which constitutes a synthesis about time, the Author adapts the Biblical line of the beginning and of the ending. He also reminds of the figures in the circle of time, visualized as pulsating circles, which are often mentioned in his literary studies about time and in the temporal analyses in painting. The understanding of apokatastasis, the constant returns, which, according to patristic (early Christian) writers give the chance of being closer to God – the Eternal Love, is also well-known. In his diary (The diary – 1991) he as if sang the song of the Easter joy in the words of the prayer “Good Lord, bless everyone’s lives and change everyone’s death into resurrection”. The open time consists of many significant chapters: The closed time, The open time, God’s time, The man’s time, The time of coming, The time of the Church, The time of salvation, The time of life, The time of dying. The Author experienced the closeness of the open time in the beauty of the word and in the works of visual art. He presented his deep reflection about the eschatological dimension of the human time. Time and space in the painting – the time and space of the painting The Author separated the visualized time and the time when the painting was created. Both are rooted in the point of history which was important for the artist, in the time of creating the work of art as well as in the internal structure of the painting which is expressed through the theme and the presented figures. The researcher who was deeply influenced by history, browsed it deeply in order to find every “now”, adding it to the timeline of the artist’s life, or to the history he was a part of. The timeline, history, constitutes a basis of the knowledge about the artist’s workshop and it is the basis for the historical-comparative method. The priest knew hermeneutics with the hermeneutic circle of Hans Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur. In his exploration of the temporal structure of his works of art he indicates to the reader the circular structure of the composition, which is typical for the scenes of the greatest masters of the Baroque, e.g. The Coronation of Mary, the Adoration of the Shepherds. The structure of time is particularly important in the portraits of Herman Han in the painting of 17th century. The analysis of the paintings of the master of Gdańsk Herman Han, especially of his painting The Coronation of the Virgin Mary in the main altar in Pelplin is an introduction for discovering the circular structures of time and space. It shows the author's concepts as close to the traditional Antique concepts of time: as the two opposites: Chronos – the inevitable time which consumes everything on its way and Kairos, the fugacious moment which can, however, be stopped by wisdom, beauty, the ability of predicting. The sensitivity to time, the Kairos, was expressed by the priest who was impressed by a Greek vase painted by Makron (Paris, Louvre) “long-haired boy with a hoop and with a dog, quickly running round an attic goblet, looking back where they are calling you, come back, you didn't listen, today it is too late, twenty-five centuries passed. The painter Makron whom you passed by so quickly, managed to write kalos – Beautiful”. The basic method used for the analysis of time and space in the painting is the hermeneutic method of Paul Ricœur and Hans Georg Gadamer.
PL
Czas i przestrzeń w badaniach nad sztuką i twórczością literacką księdza profesora Janusza Pasierba Czas i przestrzeń stale obecne w świadomości i sposobie przeżywania ks. prof. Janusza Pasierba przenikają całą jego twórczość naukową, poetycką i literacką. Dlatego też trudno rozdzielić jego przemyślenia dotyczące czasu, wyrażone w metaforach języka poetyckiego od metod opisu czy interpretacji temporalnej dzieł sztuki wizualnej. Studium Człowiek i jego świat w sztuce religijnej renesansu stanowi syntezę postaw badawczych tego okresu. Zawiera ono szereg stanowisk metodologicznych głównych badaczy renesansu. Autor uznaje tradycyjne metody historyczno-porównawcze czy ikonologię. W swoich badaniach wykorzystuje również nowsze podejścia metodologiczne: lingwistykę, antropologię i hermeneutykę. Potwierdzają to wczesne studia dotyczące miasta Pelplina, opactwa Cystersów oraz katedry w Pelplinie, Drzwi Gnieźnieńskich, motywu koronacji Maryi Dziewicy, a przede wszystkim monografia poświęcona malarzowi Hermanowi Hanowi. Idea czasu przenika głęboko studia ks. Pasierba z dziedziny historii sztuki, stając się ogniskową umożliwiającą głębszą analizę. Studium Czas otwarty stanowi heurezę pozwalającą na eksplorację powiązań czasu i przestrzeni jako kategorii przedstawionych, artystycznie wypracowanych środkami wizualizacji. Ks. prof. Pasierb wprowadza rozróżnienie sposobów pojmowania czasu: biologicznego, psychologicznego, społecznego, historycznego i kalendarzowego. Jak sam przyznaje, jako autor łączy różne rozumienia czasu w przekazie artystycznym; poszukuje i odnajduje siebie w sztuce. Twórca dzieła sztuki prezentuje je odbiorcy – widzowi, czytelnikowi. Tak ukierunkowana refleksja pomaga odkryć doświadczenia paralelne, pomaga twórcy wejść w „dialog” z odbiorcą, podobny do dialogu znanego z filozofii Levinasa. Refleksja na temat czasu przywodzi Autorowi na myśl pytania ostateczne, którym towarzyszy niepokój, niepewność, a nawet strach przed niewiadomym końcem ludzkiego istnienia. Zbawienna okazuje się cykliczność czasu natury. Czas przyrody, zamknięty w powtarzających się cyklach, obrazuje również przemijanie i odradzanie się życia człowieka. Czas świąteczny Wielkiejnocy to dla ks. Pasierba okres radości i szansa metamorfozy duchowej. Ten rytm powtarzających się przemian postrzegany jest przez Autora jako koło, kręgi – kyklos. Przestrzega on jednak przed wirującym kręgiem czasu. Jego środek, punk zanurzający się głębiej i głębiej w otchłani kosmicznej, odrywa człowieka od krawędzi – „nigdzie”. Człowiek zostaje pozbawiony więzi z Początkiem, z Kimś. Widoczne jest tu nawiązanie do filozofii Anicjusza Manliusza Sewerynusa Boecjusza, jak też do innych autorów, których prace, zebrane przez Georgesa Pouleta w tomach: Études sur le temps humain (1949), Les Métamorphoses du cercle (1961), były dobrze znane Pasierbowi. W Czasie otwartym, pracy będącej syntezą o czasie, ks. prof. Pasierb przyjmuje biblijną linię początku i końca czasu. Przywołuje on również figury pulsujących kręgów czasu, które przewijają się w jego rozmyślaniach literackich o czasie i w analizach temporalnych w malarstwie. Znamienne jest także przyswojenie przez Autora i nawiązywanie do koncepcji wiecznych powrotów – apokatastasis. Zgodnie z przekazami wczesnochrześcijańskich myślicieli i pisarzy, apokatastasis daje szansę zbliżenia się do Boga – Wiecznej Miłości. W swoich wspomnieniach (The diary – 1991) słowa modlitwy ”dobry Panie, każdemu daj kwitnienie, i każdej śmierci zmartwychwstanie” śpiewa jako radosną pieśń wielkanocną. Czas otwarty podzielony jest na wiele znaczących rozdziałów: Czas zamknięty, Czas otwarty, Czas Boga, Czas człowieka, Czas przyjścia, Czas Kościoła, Czas zbawienia, Czas życia, Czas śmierci. Autor doświadczył bliskości czasu otwartego jako obcowania z pięknem słowa i obrazu oraz w dziełach sztuki wizualnej. Podzielił się głęboką refleksją na temat eschatologicznego wymiaru ludzkiego czasu. Czas i przestrzeń w obrazie – czas i przestrzeń obrazu             Autor rozróżnia czas zwizualizowany i czas powstania obrazu. Oba zakorzenione są w ważnym dla artysty punkcie historii, w czasie tworzenia danego dzieła, ale także w wewnętrznej strukturze obrazu, która określona została poprzez temat i przedstawione postacie. Badacz historii sztuki, na którego historia wywarła głęboki wpływ, przeszukuje ją dogłębnie, by odnaleźć jak najwięcej „teraz” - momentów lub zdarzeń, które nanieść należy na linię czasu artysty lub historii w której żył. Oś czasu, czas historyczny stanowią też podstawę wiedzy na temat warsztatu artysty oraz punkt wyjścia dla historyczno-porównawczej metodologii badań. Ksiądz Pasierb obeznany był z hermeneutyką z kręgów naukowych Hansa Gadamera i Paula Ricœura. W eksploracji struktury czasowej swoich dzieł wskazuje czytelnikowi kolistą strukturę kompozycji, charakterystyczną dla scen największych mistrzów baroku, takich jak: Koronacja Maryi, Pokłon pasterzy. Struktura czasu jest szczególnie ważna w portretach siedemnastowiecznego malarza Hermana Hana.                Analiza malarstwa mistrza gdańskiego, Hermana Hana, zwłaszcza obrazu Koronacja Najświętszej Maryi Panny znajdującego się w ołtarzu głównym katedry w Pelplinie, jest wstępem do odkrywania kolistych struktur czasu i przestrzeni. Pokazuje koncepcje Autora jako bliskie tradycyjnym, antycznym koncepcjom czasu, odbieranego jako dwa przeciwieństwa: Chronos - nieubłagany czas, który pochłania wszystko na swojej drodze oraz Kairos - ulotny moment, który może być zatrzymany przez mądrość, piękno czy zdolność przewidywania. Pozostając pod wrażeniem greckiej wazy namalowanej przez Makrona (Paryż, Luwr), piękną apostrofą wyraził profesor Pasierb swoje wyczulenie na ulotność czasu, Kairos: „długowłosy chłopcze z obręczą i pieskiem biegnący szybko po attyckiej czarze, spoglądający wstecz, skąd wołają wracaj, nie słuchałeś, dziś już za późno, odbiegłeś o dwadzieścia pięć wieków. Malarz Makron, którego mijałeś w rozpędzie, zdążył napisać Kalos - Piękny ”.            Podstawową metodą analizy czasu i przestrzeni w malarstwie jest podejście hermeneutyczne z kręgów Paula Ricœura i Hansa Georga Gadamera.
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Panorama Konstantynopola w Liber chronicarum Hartmanna Schedla (1493). Miasto idealne – memoria chrześcijaństwa

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Mazurczak U.
Vox Patrum
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2018
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vol. 70
499-525
EN
The historical research of the illustrated Nuremberg Chronicle [Schedelsche Weltchronik (English: Schedel’s World Chronicle)] of Hartmann Schedel com­prises the complex historical knowledge about numerous woodcuts which pre­sent views of various cities important in the world’s history, e.g. Jerusalem, Constantinople, or the European ones such as: Rome, some Italian, German or Polish cities e.g. Wrocław and Cracow; some Hungarian and some Czech Republic cities. Researchers have made a serious study to recognize certain constructions in the woodcuts; they indicated the conservative and contractual architecture, the existing places and the unrealistic (non-existent) places. The results show that there is a common detail in all the views – the defensive wall round each of the described cities. However, in reality, it may not have existed in some cities during the lifetime of the authors of the woodcuts. As for some further details: behind the walls we can see feudal castles on the hills shown as strongholds. Within the defensive walls there are numerous buildings with many towers typical for the Middle Ages and true-to-life in certain ways of building the cities. Schematically drawn buildings surrounded by the ring of defensive walls indicate that the author used certain patterns based on the previously created panoramic views. This article is an attempt of making analogical comparisons of the cities in medieval painting. The Author of the article presents Roman mosaics and the miniature painting e.g. the ones created in the scriptorium in Reichenau. Since the beginning of 14th century Italian painters such as: Duccio di Buoninsegna, Giotto di Bondone, Simone Martini and Ambrogio Lorenzetti painted parts of the cities or the entire monumental panoramas in various compositions and with various meanings. One defining rule in this painting concerned the definitions of the cities given by Saint Isidore of Seville, based on the rules which he knew from the antique tradition. These are: urbs – the cities full of architecture and buildings but uninhabited or civita – the city, the living space of the human life, build-up space, engaged according to the law, kind of work and social hierarchy. The tra­dition of both ways of describing the city is rooted in Italy. This article indicates the particular meaning of Italian painting in distributing the image of the city – as the votive offering. The research conducted by Chiara Frugoni and others indica­ted the meaning of the city images in the painting of various forms of panegyrics created in high praise of cities, known as laude (Lat.). We can find the examples of them rooted in the Roman tradition of mosaics, e.g. in San Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna. They present both palatium and civitas. The medieval Italian painting, especially the panel painting, presents the city structure models which are uninha­bited and deprived of any signs of everyday life. The models of cities – urbs, are presented as votive offerings devoted to their patron saints, especially to Virgin Mary. The city shaped as oval or sinusoidal rings surrounded by the defensive walls resembled a container filled with buildings. Only few of them reflected the existing cities and could mainly be identified thanks to the inscriptions. The most characteristic examples were: the fresco of Taddeo di Bartolo in Palazzo Publico in Siena, which presented the Dominican Order friar Ambrogio Sansedoni holding the model of his city – Siena, with its most recognizable building - the Cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. The same painter, referred to as the master painter of the views of the cities as the votive offerings, painted the Saint Antilla with the model of Montepulciano in the painting from 1401 for the Cathedral devoted to the Assumption of Mary in Montepulciano. In the painting made by T. di Bartolo, the bishop of the city of Gimignano, Saint Gimignano, presents the city in the shape of a round lens surrounded by defence walls with numerous church towers and the feudal headquarters characteristic for the city. His dummer of the city is pyramidally-structured, the hills are mounted on the steep slopes reflecting the analogy to the topography of the city. We can also find the texts of songs, laude (Lat.) and panegyrics created in honour of the cities and their rulers, e.g. the texts in honour of Milan, Bonvesin for La Riva, known in Europe at that time. The city – Arcadia (utopia) in the modern style. Hartman Schedel, as a bibliophile and a scholar, knew the texts of medieval writers and Italian art but, as an ambitious humanist, he could not disregard the latest, contemporary trends of Renaissance which were coming from Nuremberg and from Italian ci­ties. The views of Arcadia – the utopian city, were rapidly developing, as they were of great importance for the rich recipient in the beginning of the modern era overwhelmed by the early capitalism. It was then when the two opposites were combined – the shepherd and the knight, the Greek Arcadia with the medie­val city. The reception of Virgil’s Arcadia in the medieval literature and art was being developed again in the elite circles at the end of 15th century. The cultural meaning of the historical loci, the Greek places of the ancient history and the memory of Christianity constituted the essence of historicism in the Renaissance at the courts of the Comnenos and of the Palaiologos dynasty, which inspired the Renaissance of the Latin culture circle. The pastoral idleness concept came from Venice where Virgil’s books were published in print in 1470, the books of Ovid: Fasti and Metamorphoses were published in 1497 and Sannazaro’s Arcadia was published in 1502, previously distributed in his handwriting since 1480. Literature topics presented the historical works as memoria, both ancient and Christian, composed into the images. The city maps drawn by Hartmann Schedel, the doctor and humanist from Nurnberg, refer to the medieval images of urbs, the woodcuts with the cities, known to the author from the Italian painting of the greatest masters of the Trecenta period. As a humanist he knew the literature of the Renaissance of Florence and Venice with the Arcadian themes of both the Greek and the Roman tradition. The view of Constantinople in the context of the contemporary political situation, is presented in a series of monuments of architecture, with columns and defensive walls, which reminded of the history of the city from its greatest time of Constantine the Great, Justinian I and the Comnenus dynasty. Schedel’s work of art is the sum of the knowledge written down or painted. It is also the result of the experiments of new technology. It is possible that Schedel was inspired by the hymns, laude, written by Psellos in honour of Constantinople in his elaborate ecphrases as the panegyrics for the rulers of the Greek dynasty – the Macedonians. Already in that time, the Greek ideal of beauty was reborn, both in literature and in fine arts. The illustrated History of the World presented in Schedel’s woodcuts is given to the recipients who are educated and to those who are anonymous, in the spirit of the new anthropology. It results from the nature of the woodcut reproduc­tion, that is from the way of copying the same images. The artist must have strived to gain the recipients for his works as the woodcuts were created both in Latin and in German. The collected views were supposed to transfer historical, biblical and mythological knowledge in the new way of communication.
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