Matthias at Trier between 1150 and Hildegard’s death in 1179, but it
is possible that Hildegard supervised production of the book at Bin-
gen. The Scivias contains a record of Hildegard’s vision of the divine
order of the cosmos and of humankind’s place in it. The vision came
to her as a fiery light that poured into her brain from the open vault
of Heaven.
On the opening page (FIG. 17-22) of the Trier manuscript,
Hildegard sits within the monastery walls, her feet resting on a foot-
stool, in much the same way the painters of the Coronation and Ebbo
Gospels (FIGS. 16-13and 16-14) represented the evangelists. This Ro-
manesque page is a link in a chain of author portraits with roots in
classical antiquity. The artist showed Hildegard experiencing her di-
vine vision by depicting five long tongues of fire emanating from
above and entering her brain, just as she describes the experience in
the accompanying text. Hildegard immediately sets down what has
been revealed to her on a wax tablet resting on her left knee. Nearby,
the monk Volmar, Hildegard’s confessor, copies into a book all she has
written. Here, in a singularly dramatic context, is a picture of the es-
sential nature of ancient and medieval book manufacture—individual
scribes copying and recopying texts by hand (compare FIG. 16-11).
RAINER OF HUYIn the Holy Roman Empire, as in France,
the names of some Romanesque sculptors are known. One is Rainer
of Huy,a bronzeworker from the Meuse River valley in Belgium, an
area renowned for its metalwork. Art historians have attributed an
1118 bronze baptismal font (FIG. 17-23) to him. Made for Notre-
Dame-des-Fonts in Liège, the bronze basin rests on the foreparts of adozen oxen. The oxen refer to the “molten sea ...on twelve oxen”cast
in bronze for King Solomon’s Temple (1 Kings 7:23–25). The Old
Testament story prefigured Christ’s baptism (medieval scholars
equated the oxen with the 12 apostles), which is the central scene on
the Romanesque font. Rainer’s work, as that of so many earlier
artists in the Holy Roman Empire beginning in Carolingian times,
revived the classical style and the classical spirit. The figures are
softly rounded, with idealized bodies and faces and heavy clinging
drapery. One figure (at the left in FIG. 17-23) is even shown in a
three-quarter view from the rear, a popular motif in classical art, and
some of Rainer’s figures, including Christ himself, are naked. Nudity
is very rare in the art of the Middle Ages. Adam and Eve (FIGS. 11-7
and 16-24) are exceptions, but medieval artists represented the first
man and woman as embarrassed by their nudity, the opposite of the
value the classical world placed on the beauty of the human body.
RELIQUARY OF SAINT ALEXANDERAs noted, Roman-
esque church officials competed with one another in the display of
relics and often expended large sums on elaborate containers to
house them. The reliquary of Saint Alexander (FIG. 17-24), made in
1145 for Abbot Wibald of Stavelot in Belgium to house the hallowedHoly Roman Empire 44917-23Rainer of Huy,baptism of Christ, baptismal font from
Notre-Dame-des-Fonts, Liège, Belgium, 1118. Bronze, 2 1 high.
Saint-Barthélémy, Liège.
In the work of Rainer of Huy, the classical style and the classical spirit
lived on in the Holy Roman Empire. His baptismal font at Liège features
idealized figures and even a nude representation of Christ.17-24Head reliquary of Saint Alexander, from Stavelot Abbey,
Belgium, 1145. Silver repoussé (partly gilt), gilt bronze, gems, pearls,
and enamel, 1 51 – 2 high. Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels.
Saint Alexander’s reliquary is typical in the use of costly materials.
The combination of an idealized classical head with Byzantine-style
enamels underscores the stylistic diversity of Romanesque art.1 ft.
1 in.17-22ARUFILLUS,
Initial R,
Weissenau
Passional,
ca. 1170–1200.