Sculpture and Painting
In 1001, when Bishop Bernward was in Rome visiting the
young Otto III, he resided in Otto’s palace on the Aventine
Hill in the neighborhood of Santa Sabina (FIG. 11-10), an
Early Christian church renowned for its carved wooden
doors. Those doors, decorated with episodes from both the
Old and New Testaments, may have inspired the remark-
able bronze doors the bishop had cast for his new church in
Germany.HILDESHEIM DOORSThe colossal doors (FIG. 16-24)
for Saint Michael’s, dated by inscription to 1015, are more
than 16 feet tall. Each was cast in a single piece with the fig-
ural sculpture, a technological marvel. Carolingian sculpture,
like most sculpture since Late Antiquity, consisted primarily
of small-scale art executed in ivory and precious metals, of-
ten for book covers (FIG. 16-16). The Hildesheim doors are
huge in comparison, but the 16 individual panels stem from
this tradition.
Bernward placed the bronze doors at the entrance to
Saint Michael’s from the cloister, where the monks would see
them each time they walked into the church. The panels of
the left door illustrate highlights from the biblical book of
Genesis, beginning with the creation of Eve (at the top) and
ending with the murder of Adam and Eve’s son Abel by his
brother Cain (at the bottom). The right door recounts the life
of Christ (reading from the bottom up), starting with the
Annunciation and terminating with the appearance to Mary
Magdalene of Christ after the Resurrection (see “The Life of
Jesus in Art,” Chapter 11, pages 296–297). Together, the doors
tell the story of Original Sin and ultimate redemption, show-
ing the expulsion from the Garden of Eden and the path back
to Paradise through the Christian Church. As in Early Chris-
tian times, the Old Testament was interpreted as prefiguring
the New Testament (see “Jewish Subjects in Christian Art,”
Chapter 11, page 293). The panel depicting the Fall of Adam
and Eve, for example, is juxtaposed with the Crucifixion on
the other door. Eve nursing the infant Cain is opposite Mary
with the Christ Child in her lap.
The composition of many of the scenes on the doors
derives from Carolingian manuscript illumination, and the
style of the figures has an expressive strength that brings to
mind the illustrations in the Utrecht Psalter (FIG. 16-15). For
example, in the fourth panel from the top on the left door,
God, portrayed as a man, accuses Adam and Eve after their
fall from grace. He jabs his finger at them with the force of
his whole body. The force is concentrated in the gesture,
which becomes the psychic focus of the whole composition.
The frightened pair crouch, not only to hide their shame but
also to escape the lightning bolt of divine wrath. Each passes
the blame—Adam pointing backward to Eve and Eve point-
ing downward to the deceitful serpent. The starkly flat set-
ting throws into relief the gestures and attitudes of rage, ac-
cusation, guilt, and fear. The sculptor presented the story
with simplicity, although with great emotional impact, as
well as a flair for anecdotal detail. Adam and Eve both strug-
gle to point with one arm while attempting to shield their
bodies from sight with the other. With an instinct for ex-
pressive pose and gesture, the artist brilliantly communi-
cated their newfound embarrassment at their nakedness and
their unconvincing denials of wrongdoing.424 Chapter 16 EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE1 ft.16-24Doors with relief panels (Genesis, left door; life of Christ, right door),
commissioned by Bishop Bernward for Saint Michael’s, Hildesheim, Germany,- Bronze, 16 6 high. Dom-Museum, Hildesheim.
Bernward’s doors vividly tell the story of Original Sin and ultimate redemption,
and draw parallels between the Old and New Testaments, as in the expulsion
from Paradise and the infancy and suffering of Christ.
16-24AOtto I
presenting
Magdeburg
Cathedral to
Christ, 962–968.