Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well and Jacob Wrestling the Angel, from the Vienna Genesis. Early Byzantine Europe. Early sixth century C.E. Illuminated manuscript (tempera, gold, and silver on purple vellum).
Illuminated Manuscript
- Bible text through or shown through images
- Symbolism
Vienna Genesis
Form
- Byzantine
- Continuous narrative
- Animal skin pages
- Completely made by hand
o With silver text and died a deep royal purple
- Manuscript of the first book of the bible
- Preserves some of the earliest illustrations of bible stories
Function
- Depict the first book of the bible
- Not sure who would have been reading this book
o Probably a royal individual's
- Illuminated manuscripts not only aimed to depict stories of the bible but be a symbol of the owner's piety
Content
- Caught between realistic and abstract
- Shows the medieval artists and patrons value of symbolism and abstraction
- written in greek
Jacob Wrestling the Angles
- Story
o Jacob leads his family across a river over a bridge. Then, Jacob has to fight with an angel. Upon fighting with the angle Jacobs name becomes Israel.
o The importance of this story is the renaming of Jacob to Israel
- There is an attempt to display a transition within a single image
- Calls back to the Romanesque
o Looks as though it could be a freeze
o Roman colonnade on the bridge
o The form of the bodies under the drapery
- Typical of Byzantine art
o Skewed perspective
o Mixing up of space in an intentional way
Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well
- Story
o Abraham wanted to find a wife for his son (Issac) and sent his servant, Eliezer, to find one for him. On the journey, Eliezer is in need of help and Rebecca comes to the rescue. Rebecca ends up being the perfect girl for Issac.
o This is a story about God intervening to ensure a sound marriage for Abraham’s son
- In this continuous narrative, there are two episodes
o Rebecca is shown twice
§ Once leaving her town to get water and another helping Rebecca
- Classical elements
o Roman colonnades
o Reclining nude next to the river
§ Serves as a personification of the well's water
- Not a realistic showing of space (very Byzantine)
Context
Early Byzantine (330-726 BCE)
- The capital is moved to Constantinople
- Christianity becomes the official religion
- Emphasis on flatness and mystery
- Used the church to back the authority of the emperor
- Iconoclast controversy (726-843)
o Destroyed all art with icon, most of the early byzantine art. Sinful nature of making graven images
Cross Cultural Connections: Narrative
