Duclow, D. F. “Nicholas of Cusa.” In Dictionary of Literary
Biography: Medieval Philosophers, vol. 115, ed. J. Hackett.
Detroit: Bruccoli Clark, 1992.
Flasch, K. Nikolaus von Kues: Geschichte einer Entwicklung.
Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann, 1998.
Haubst, R. Streifzuege in die cusanische Theologie. Münster:
Aschendorff, 1991.
—— et al., eds. Mitteilungen und Forschungsbeiträge der
Cusanus-Gesellschaft. Mainz: Mattias-Grünewald, 1961 ff.
[Cusanus journal, bibliographies in vols. 1, 3, 6, 10, 15].
Hopkins, Jasper, trans. Nicholas of Cusa on Learned Ignorance.
Minneapolis: Banning, 1985.
Hopkins, J. A Concise Introduction to the Philosophy of Nicholas
of Cusa, 3d ed. Minneapolis: Banning, 1986.
Idiota de mente = The Layman, about Mind, trans. Clyde Lee
Miller. New York: Abaris, 1979.
Jacobi, K. ed. Nikolaus von Kues: Einfühurung in sein philoso-
phisches Denken. Freiburg: Alber, 1979.
The Layman on Wisdom and the Mind, trans. M.L. Fuhrer. Ot-
tawa: Dovehouse, 1989.
Li non aliud. English & Latin. Nicholas of Cusa on God as not-
other, trans. Jasper Hopkins. 2d ed. Minneapolis: Banning,
1983.
Nicola de Cusa Opera Omnia, Heidelberg Academy Edition.
Lepzig/Hamburg: Miner, 1932 ff.
Nicholas of Cusa’s Metaphysic of Contraction, trans. Jasper
Hopkins. Minneapolis: Banning, 1983.
Nicholas of Cusa: Selected Spiritual Writings, trans. H. Lawrence
Bond. New York: Paulist, 1997.
Opera. 3 vols., ed. Jacques LeFevre d’Etaples. Paris: J. Blade,
1514; rpt. Frankfurt: Minerva, 1962.
Clyde Lee Miller
NICHOLAS OF VERDUN
(ca. 1150–ca. 1210)
A goldsmith and enamelist active in the late twelfth
and early thirteenth centuries, Nicholas is known for
the stylistic originality of his work. Two dated works
inscribed with his name exist: the ambo, or pulpit, dated
1181 (and remodeled into an altarpiece in 1330), from
the Augustinian Abbey of Klosterneuburg near Vienna,
and the shrine of the Virgin in Tournai Cathedral, dated
to 1205. The shrine of the Three Kings in Cologne
Cathedral, usually dated to the 1190s, is also partially
attributed to Nicholas. This large reliquary was built to
house the relics of the Three Magi, which Archbishop
Rainald von Dassel had received from Emperor Freder-
ick Barbarossa in 1164. After Nicholas’s creation of the
shrine, the Magi, as examples of both the fi rst Christian
pilgrims and the fi rst Christian kings, became closely
associated with theories of German kingship and also
with the city of Cologne, their crowns appearing on its
coat of arms by the end of the thirteenth century.
In technical details and certain stylistic features,
Nicholas’s work is related to the general tradition of
metalwork in the Rhine and Meuse valleys, a region
known in the twelfth century for its sophistication.
His work is particularly closely related to the Heribert
Shrine, considered the major achievement in metalwork
from this area in the second half of the century. As
with other Mosan artists, Nicholas was accomplished
in creating both champlevé (decorative enamel fi lling)
plaques, such as those found on the Klosterneuburg
ambo, and three-dimensional fi gures, which are found
on the Three Kings’ Shrine and that of the Virgin. In
addition to refl ecting Mosan traditions, Nicholas’s work,
both two- and three-dimensional, shows a new interest
in the natural proportioning of the human body, the fall
of cloth garments over it, and a type of soft drapery
fold called Muldenfaltenstil (trough fold style), which
is smoothly curved and unlike the angular, inorganic
drapery found in Romanesque art. This drapery style,
perhaps fi rst appearing in Nicholas’s work, becomes ex-
tremely popular in the years around 1200 in a variety of
other works, including cathedral sculpture, such as that
at Bamberg Cathedral, stained glass, and manuscripts.
The sources for these components of Nicholas’s art are
a matter of controversy with contemporary Byzantine
art, Ottonian art, early Christian art, and even Roman
minor arts cited as possible works Nicholas may have
studied to acquire classicizing elements.
In spite of great stylistic innovation, there is evidence
that Nicholas had the help of theologians in designing
the complex iconographies of his shrines. A plaque of
the Mouth of Hell from the Klosterneuburg ambo fea-
tures a sketch of the Three Marys at the Tomb on the
back. This is believed to represent a trial composition
whose subject was later modifi ed by the theological
advisers to better accommodate the typological meaning
of the whole ambo. The complex relationships between
the Three Magi and contemporary kings implied by the
images of the Three Kings’ Shrine are also thought to
refl ect the ideas of theologians, in this case persons as-
sociated with Cologne Cathedral.Further Reading
Dahm, Frederick. Studien zur Ikonographie des Klosterneuburger
Emailwerkes des Nicholaus von Verdun. Vienna: VWGO,
1989.
Ornamenta Ecclesiae: Kunst und Künstler der Romanik in Köln,
ed. Anton Legner. 3 vols. Cologne: Schnütgen Museum, 1985,
vol. 2, pp. 216–224, 447–455.
Swarzenski, Hans. “The Style of Nicholas of Verdun: Saint
Armand and Reims,” in Gatherings in Honor of Dorothy R.
Miner, ed. U. E. McCracken et al. Baltimore: Walters Art
Gallery, 1974, pp. 111–114.
Susan L. WardNICOLAUS GERHAERT VON LEYDEN
(d. 1473)
A sculptor whose few surviving documented works are
dispersed from Trier and Strasbourg to Vienna, Nicolaus
Gerhaert von Leyden remains relatively unknown today
even though his style infl uenced late Gothic sculptureNICOLAUS GERHAERT VON LEYDEN