and literature (see “Jewish Subjects in Christian Art,” Chapter 11,
page 293). Nicholas of Verdun’s gold figures stand out vividly from
the blue enamel background. The biblical actors twist and turn,
make emphatic gestures, and wear garments that are almost over-
whelmed by the intricate linear patterns of their folds. In the Abra-
ham and Isaac panel, the angel flies in at the very last moment to
grab the blade of Abraham’s sword before he can kill the bound Isaac
on the altar. The intense emotionalism of the representation and the
linear complexity of the garments foreshadowed the tone and style
of the Strasbourg tympanum depicting the death of the Virgin (FIG.
18-48).
Sculpted versions of the Klosterneuburg figures appear on the
Shrine of the Three Kings (FIG. 18-53) in Cologne Cathedral.
Nicholas of Verdun probably began work on the huge reliquary (six
feet long and almost as tall) in 1190. Philip von Heinsberg, arch-
bishop of Cologne from 1167 to 1191, commissioned the shrine to
contain relics of the three magi. The Holy Roman Emperor Freder-
ick Barbarossa acquired them in the conquest of Milan in 1164 and
donated them to the German cathedral. Possession of the magi’s
relics gave the Cologne archbishops the right to crown German
kings. Nicholas’s reliquary, made of silver and bronze with orna-
mentation in enamel and gemstones, is one of the most luxurious
ever fashioned, especially considering its size. The shape resembles
that of a basilican church. Repoussé figures of the Virgin Mary, the
three magi, Old Testament prophets, and New Testament apostles in
arcuated frames are variations of those on the Klosterneuburg pul-
pit. The deep channels and tight bunches of the drapery folds are
hallmarks of Nicholas’s style.
Nicholas of Verdun’s Klosterneuburg Altar and his Shrine of the
Three Kings,together with Suger’s treatises on the furnishings of
Saint-Denis, are welcome reminders of how magnificently outfitted
medieval church interiors were. The so-called minor arts played a
defining role in creating a special otherworldly atmosphere for
Christian ritual. These Gothic examples continued a tradition that
dates to the Roman emperor Constantine and the first imperial pa-
tronage of Christianity (see Chapter 11).494 Chapter 18 GOTHIC EUROPE18-53Nicholas of Verdun,Shrine of the Three Kings,from Cologne Cathedral, Cologne, Germany, begun ca. 1190.
Silver, bronze, enamel, and gemstones, 5 8 6 3 8 . Cathedral Treasury, Cologne.
Cologne’s archbishop commissioned this huge reliquary in the shape of a church to house relics of the three magi.
The figures are sculpted versions of those on the Klosterneuburg Altar(FIG. 18-52).1 ft.