MEDIEVAL IMAGES OF SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX - GL81.jpg


Category	Glass
Origin: artist/workshop	probably Basel workshop
Date	15C/2
Reference No	North Cloister Walk 9
Size	23x18.5
Provenance	Wettingen Cistercian Abbey
Present Location	Wettingen, North Cloister Walk
Bibliography	Hoegger 2002, 14, 22, 26 &232; Anderes & Hoegger 1989, 260-1 Posset 2003,286
	Hoegger 1998, 297; Paffrath 1990, 104; Bushart 1957, 91; Aurenhammer 1959-67, 339
Illustration From	Anderes & Hoegger 1989, 117
Other illustrations	Hoegger 2002, col pl 59; Hoegger 1998, ill 2; Huempfner 1927, 1:24; Eberbach 2003, 41 Posset 2003,287
	Paffrath 1990, ill 55; Bushart 1957, ill 6; Becksmann 1995, ill 8; Raguin & Zakin 2001, 1:93
Country	Switzerland

Description:
Amplexus scene against a flat background of stylistic branches and leaves. Christ's arms, detached from the Cross which is slightly raised from the ground and on which the nails remain, are stretched out towards a kneeling Bernard whose arms are raised to receive the embrace. The Cross is surmounted by the inscription INRI. Unusually, Bernard is accompanied by a group of monks one of whom has his hood above his head. The figure of Bernard is proportionately larger than that of Christ. Yet smaller in scale is the kneeling figure on the right, Abbot Rudolf Wuelflinger of Wettingen (1433-45) carrying a crozier with his coat of arms, consisting of a wolf as a pun on his name, at his feet. Although Wuelflinger was granted pontificalia in 1439 by the Council Fathers in Basel, his arms here are not surmounted by the mitre which suggests that the glass panel pre-dates this; in other words it must be dated between his election ain 1433 and 1439. The inscription has him saying 'd(omi)ne.miserere.mei' ('Lord, have mercy on me'). The arms of Clairvaux are at Bernard's feet. The glass is grisaille with the cross-nimbus of Christ, the nimbus of Bernard, the Cross, and the abbot's arms in yellow and the rest a brownish grey. Both the background and the composition are very similar to the earlist Amplexus representation (see MA59), and the composition was again repeated in a woodcut some years later (1460) (see EN14). There are two other Amplexus windows from before 1530 in the Wettingen cloister (see GL82 & 83), as well as two more later ones, as well as two more early sixteenth century windows depicting Bernard (GL84 & 85).

Description:

Amplexus scene against a flat background of stylistic branches and leaves. Christ's arms, detached from the Cross which is slightly raised from the ground and on which the nails remain, are stretched out towards a kneeling Bernard whose arms are raised to receive the embrace. The Cross is surmounted by the inscription INRI. Unusually, Bernard is accompanied by a group of monks one of whom has his hood above his head. The figure of Bernard is proportionately larger than that of Christ. Yet smaller in scale is the kneeling figure on the right, Abbot Rudolf Wuelflinger of Wettingen (1433-45) carrying a crozier with his coat of arms, consisting of a wolf as a pun on his name, at his feet. Although Wuelflinger was granted pontificalia in 1439 by the Council Fathers in Basel, his arms here are not surmounted by the mitre which suggests that the glass panel pre-dates this; in other words it must be dated between his election ain 1433 and 1439. The inscription has him saying 'd(omi)ne.miserere.mei' ('Lord, have mercy on me'). The arms of Clairvaux are at Bernard's feet. The glass is grisaille with the cross-nimbus of Christ, the nimbus of Bernard, the Cross, and the abbot's arms in yellow and the rest a brownish grey. Both the background and the composition are very similar to the earlist Amplexus representation (see MA59), and the composition was again repeated in a woodcut some years later (1460) (see EN14). There are two other Amplexus windows from before 1530 in the Wettingen cloister (see GL82 & 83), as well as two more later ones, as well as two more early sixteenth century windows depicting Bernard (GL84 & 85).