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Bronze doors, Saint Michael's, Hildesheim, commissioned by Bishop Bernward, 1015

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    We're looking at the Bishop Bernward doors
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    that date from about 1015.
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    We know that Bishop Bernard went
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    on a pilgrimage to Rome,
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    and then returned back to Hildesheim
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    and wanted to recreate some
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    of the monumental art that he saw.
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    And specifically when he was in Rome,
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    he saw the monumental wooden doors at Santa Sabina
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    that have scenes from the Old and New Testament
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    carved into them.
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    And he felt like he needed his own doors.
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    We read these starting in the upper left hand corner,
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    in which you have the creation
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    of Eve from the side of Adam.
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    And then, below that,
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    is the presentation of Eve to Adam.
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    Then the Temptation.
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    Below that is then the accusation of Adam and Eve.
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    And then below that the Expulsion.
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    The panel below that, interrupted by the door handles,
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    and we see Adam working the land on the left –
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    Eve nursing on the right.
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    And a fun fact about Eve's nursing is that this is one of
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    maybe only twenty images of Eve nursing.
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    Below that we have Cain and Abel and their sacrifices
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    or presentation to the Lord.
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    Below that the final panel
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    is the murder of Abel by Cain.
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    And then instead of going back to the top on the right
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    it starts at the bottom, where we have the Enunciation
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    with Mary and the Angel.
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    Then the Nativity – that's the birth of Jesus.
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    And then the scene is interrupted by the
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    door handle here, is the adoration of the Magi.
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    We have the three Magi on the right
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    approaching Mary and Jesus on the left.
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    Above that we have the Presentation in the Temple.
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    Above that we've got Christ being presented
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    to either Herod or Pilate before his crucifixion.
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    Above that we've got the crucifixion of Christ.
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    About that we have the Marys at the tomb,
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    which was the standard scene showing
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    the resurrection in the early Middle Ages.
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    And then at the very top we have
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    what's called the "Noli me tangere" [Touch me not]
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    Mary Magdalene sees Jesus in the garden
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    and he says, "Don't touch me."
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    And so we have our scenes from early Genesis,
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    and then scenes from the Gospels.
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    Now one of the really interesting things
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    that happens here, is that we have
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    all the scenes lined up next to each other.
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    There are some visual and also some thematic patterns
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    that happen left to right.
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    And the one that I think is a really good example –
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    in the third panel from the top,
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    we've got the Temptation.
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    Adam and Eve are about to eat the fruit.
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    And then on the right, the Crucifixion.
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    And if we look at the tree that holds the fruit
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    in the Adam and Eve scene-
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    it's very much a cruciform shaped tree –
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    just as we have Christ on the cross
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    in the center of the other image.
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    And then we have Adam and Eve on either side –
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    just as we have the tormentors on either side.
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    And then on he far edges of the Adam-and-Eve scene,
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    we've got trees and then we have Mary and John
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    in the crucifixion scene.
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    So there's a similarity of composition.
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    And what I think that does is bring out
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    the thematic connection of
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    "In Adam all men die. In Christ, all men are made alive."
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    Which is a really important idea for Christianity –
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    and especially for Christianity in the Middle Ages.
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    Absolutely. This is a very long, old tradition
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    in Christianity –
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    to compare Christ as the new Adam-
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    and then Mary as the new Eve.
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    And you have traditions that the cross was made
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    from the wood of the tree in the garden.
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    So this is an Ottonian work of art.
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    And Ottonians were kind of hangers-on
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    to the Carolingian Renaissance.
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    They saw themselves as being inheritors
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    of the Carolingian Empire.
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    In my mind, they're not so much looking back
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    so diligently to the classical models.
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    But there is definitely the flavor
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    of some of that Carolingian Renaissance here.
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    These are cast in solid bronze.
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    And it's very much thought that
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    the lost wax method was used here –
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    that Bishop Bernward had his artists recreate
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    or rediscover the lost-wax method,
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    so that these doors could be cast in two single pieces,
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    as opposed to being hammered from the inside
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    with the 'reposé'
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    And that is very much in keeping with that Carolingian
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    and the inherited idea of looking back
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    to classical and ancient models
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    and reclaiming them and reviving them.
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    Right. So we have the ancient method
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    used here in the Ottonian Period.
Title:
Bronze doors, Saint Michael's, Hildesheim, commissioned by Bishop Bernward, 1015
Description:

Bronze doors, 1015, commissioned by Bishop Bernward for Saint Michael's, Hildesheim (Germany).

A conversation with Dr. Nancy Ross and Jennifer Freeman.

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Video Language:
English
Duration:
04:23

English subtitles

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