Order #483877 Topic: [Revision] Arts Patronage in the Renaissance Era

Chapter 3

Is Art a Barometer of Wealth? Medieval Art Exports

to the Far North of Europe Jan von Bonsdorff

This essay is divided into three parts: the introductory theoretical discussion will elaborate on the process of creating a work of art. Then one short case study of medieval wooden altarpieces and some aspects of their economic his- tory will be presented. Finally, I would like to emphasise the role of the work of art as a primary historical source also in terms of economic history. The term 'barometer' in my title should of course be understood metaphorically. As will be shown, the reference is to the indexical function of the instrument: a visual sign of some occurrence outside the sign itself.

In his Political Economy of Art, John Ruskin describes the 'perfect econo- mist' as a person in whom one finds 'a studied expression of the balanced divi- sion [...] between the two great objects of utility and splendour'.1 Ruskin offers the example of the queenly housewife: 'in her right hand, food and flax, for life and clothing; in her left hand, the purple and the needlework, for honour and for beauty.' And through this allegory of economy Ruskin lets us know that all perfect housewifery or national economy is known by these two divisions of utility and splendour: 'wherever either is wanting, the economy is imperfect'.

We have to see these ideas in the framework of Ruskin's apprehension of art as the key to the nation's moral capacity. According to Ruskin, the fate of every society is due to its inherent capacity to discern the relations between society itself, nature and divinity. Thus, as art for Ruskin is a measurement of the moral backbone of any society, his interest in the economics of art is not strictly historical, but highly normative. Ruskin wanted to teach everybody to use art so as to bring the greatest benefit to society.2

I will set these normative implications aside; instead, I would like to empha- sise the intrinsic processual meaning in the two terms of'utility and splendour'. Ruskin's model implies circumstances where most causal factors in the art- forming process are known. When we know which initial processes led to the acquisition of a certain artefact or work of art, we can grasp it in all, or most, of

North, Michael, and Ormrod, David. Art Markets in Europe, 1400-1800. Florence: Routledge, 1999. Accessed October 11, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central. Created from monash on 2019-10-11 08:46:27.

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30 IS ART A BAROMETER OF WEALTH?

its aesthetic and practical functions — if we think of function as a kind of ap- plied utility.

Moving from Ruskin to our time, we can state the following according to contemporary art-historical reasoning: the intended functions in a work of art presuppose the work of art itself. Michael Baxandall has summarised these initial circumstances in the very useful term 'charge', which encapsulates the general circumstances leading to a work of art, circumstances of whatever kind, whether practical necessities, the demands of elite groups or the public,1 eco- nomic circumstances, the search for beauty, or the visual interest the artist takes in an artistic problem to be solved (see Fig. 3.1). The 'charge' is the impetus for the whole art-forming process.4 Baxandall's proposal that the art historian's role is to account for this process may i n i t i a l l y seem self-evident. However, his re-phrasing of the process to suggest the work of art as the solution of an artis- tic problem that only can be understood by means of interpretation, is an im- portant change of perspective from a methodological point of view.5 In this paper, I will try to emphasise the possible effects of this change of perspective on the historical interpretation in terms of historical 'background' and 'fore- ground'.

What do we do when no secondary sources account for the 'charge' factors? That is, to use Ruskin's terminology, when only the 'splendour' is left, and we know little about 'utility'? What if the 'charge' factors are unclear or only indi- rectly deducible? This is the case with most older anonymous art, and it also applies to a surprisingly large group of medieval wooden altarpieces in distant and isolated locations in Northern Europe. One concrete example illustrates what we might call a one-sided case. The artefacts still exist, but we know only a little about the i n i t i a l occurrences that prefigure their existence.

The export of art to fringe regions of Europe is extremely interesting. One can assume that the trading situation is not as complicated as in the case of the large art-producing centres in Central and Southern Europe.6 For the larger audience, unfamiliar with the medieval ecclesiastical art treasures of Scandina- via, it must be stressed that we occasionally find the most exquisite works of art also in the farthest reaches of the Baltic Sea and along the Norwegian At- lantic coastline. Perhaps the most astounding feature is that these large works are not always housed in the most obvious trading centres, but in small-to- medium-sized parish churches in what are nowadays isolated places. 'Nowadays', because the factor binding these locations together is of course the sea.

In the case of wooden altarpieces, we must of course account for the primary function, i.e. the f u l f i l m e n t of the liturgical and devotional needs of the church. These are of course general, primary charge factors: the desire to praise God, the need for a visual focal point in the church, and a suitable background for the celebration of the mass. But behind these higher goals and among the sec- ondary charges there is always the sordid everyday reality of the financial ca-

North, Michael, and Ormrod, David. Art Markets in Europe, 1400-1800. Florence: Routledge, 1999. Accessed October 11, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central. Created from monash on 2019-10-11 08:46:27.

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JAN VON BONSDORFF 31

SOLUTION The finished work of art or artefact

BRIEF Specific circumstances influencing the process of creation

CHARGE! General circumstances: artistical problem;

practical, mental, aesthetical, or social necessity

Fig. 3.1 The art-forming process according to Michael Baxandall. Author's interpretation. (Graphic: Jan von Bonsdorff)

North, Michael, and Ormrod, David. Art Markets in Europe, 1400-1800. Florence: Routledge, 1999. Accessed October 11, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central. Created from monash on 2019-10-11 08:46:27.

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32 IS ART A BAROMETER OF WEALTH?

pacity of the buyer, the mechanisms for ordering the work and choosing the artisan, and the transfer of the work of art to its destination.

The process of artistic creation seems to be fairly straightforward, a func- tional vacuum is filled with a physical object, which in this process (if I inter- pret Baxandall correctly) accumulates a new meaning through the specific cir- cumstances of its creation. Thus, the artefact should carry some traces of this decision-making, the changes of plans and partial solutions as the work pro- gresses in one form or another.

During the process of making the work of art, the accumulation of meaning, which is also historical meaning, is a linear matter. What, and how much, does the work of art actually reveal about the initialising general circumstances? What happens when we, as interpreters and historians, try to backtrack along the processual axis? It should be possible to reach the supposed historical background, the general circumstances, prerequisites or whatever we call the roots of the above diagram. If such retracing is possible, then the physical ob- ject of art could be said to produce meaning.

Now, my question and problem in this paper adhere very much to the buyer's financial capacity, which I will simply call wealth. In other words, wealth relates to the ability of the parishioners of the churches in question to pay for their altarpieces. Wealth is seen as one of the primary charge factors in the process of the creation of a work of art in Baxandall's sense of the word.

The Trondenes altarpieces

My case study concerns the surprisingly large parish church of Trondenes (in Vesterâlen in the far north of Norway). Here we find three large, richly carved and embellished wooden reredoses from the fifteenth century. How did these works of art find their way to this remote corner of Europe?

The late medieval period in Norway has often been depicted as an age of economic and political depression. The Hanseatic treaties between Liibeck and Norway had contained reciprocity clauses since the thirteenth century, at least on paper. The exchange of fish and grain was to be distributed evenly accord- ing to these clauses. In reality, the whole profit went to the merchants of the Hanseatic League in spite of all the guarantees of equal opportunities.7 Another great blow for the Norwegian community, greater than in most countries in Europe, was the Black Death. Half or even two-thirds of the population fell victim to the plague. The disappearance of the peasants led to an agrarian breakdown. Almost the entire nobility and a large number of clerics were wiped out.8 These tragic occurrences have produced a very negative attitude in Norwegian historical writing, a sort of pointed annoyance with the dismal Late Middle Ages, in contrast to the Golden Age of the previous centuries with their steady flow of vigorously expansive Vikings and Saga kings. A common

North, Michael, and Ormrod, David. Art Markets in Europe, 1400-1800. Florence: Routledge, 1999. Accessed October 11, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central. Created from monash on 2019-10-11 08:46:27.

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JAN VON BONSDORFF 33

Fig. 3.2 Trondenes Church, Vesterálen, Norway. View of the chancel to the east. Left: Altarpiece from Lubeck, c. 1490; middle: high altar from Luneburg, c. ¡460-70;

right: altarpiece from Lubeck, with the central group with St Anne from the Rhinelands, around ¡500. (Photo; Jan von Bonsdorff.)

Fig. 3.3 Trondenes Church, Vesterálen, Norway. Altarpiece from Luneburg, c. 1460-70. Apocalyptic Madonna surrounded by the Holy Family. (Photo: Jan von Bonsdorff.}

North, Michael, and Ormrod, David. Art Markets in Europe, 1400-1800. Florence: Routledge, 1999. Accessed October 11, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central. Created from monash on 2019-10-11 08:46:27.

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34 IS ART A BAROMETER OF WEALTH?

Fig. 3.4 Trônâmes Church, Vesteralen, Norway. Northern altarpiece from Lubeck, c. 1490. Corpus. (Photo: Jan von Bonsdorff.)

North, Michael, and Ormrod, David. Art Markets in Europe, 1400-1800. Florence: Routledge, 1999. Accessed October 11, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central. Created from monash on 2019-10-11 08:46:27.

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Fig. 3.5 Trondenes Church, Vesteralen, Norway. Corpus of the southern altarpiece from Lübeck, with the central group including St Anne (Anna Selhdritt). Side figures: Bridgettine nuns (St. Bridget and St Catherine of Vadstena?). Around 1500. Photo Jan von Bonsdorff

North, Michael, and Ormrod, David. Art Markets in Europe, 1400-1800. Florence: Routledge, 1999. Accessed October 11, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central. Created from monash on 2019-10-11 08:46:27.

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36 IS ART A BAROMETER OF WEALTH?

Fig. 3.6 Trondenes Church, Vesteràlen, Norway. Southern altarpiece. Painting on the inner side of the left wing: the ten thousand martyrs, on the windows in the background, left: the coat of arms ofLiibeck; right: coat of arms of the Bergenfahrer Guild in Lubeck.

(Photo: Jan von Bonsdorff.)

North, Michael, and Ormrod, David. Art Markets in Europe, 1400-1800. Florence: Routledge, 1999. Accessed October 11, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central. Created from monash on 2019-10-11 08:46:27.

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JAN VON BONSDORFF 37

negative conclusion is that the supposed economic recession also led to a cul- tural vacuum. Here objective reality stands against historical belief. Norway cannot compete with Sweden, Denmark, Northern Germany or Finland in terms of having a large quantity of preserved medieval wooden sculptures. Still, a fair amount of late medieval woodwork has survived, not so much from the Nor- wegian Reformation but from the puritanical eighteenth and the white-washing of the nineteenth centuries. Eivind Engelstad registers about 130 surviving al- tarpieces and larger sculptures from the time between 1400 and the Reforma- tion.9 In comparison, the corresponding works in the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein can be estimated at over a thousand, but the overall quality is perhaps better in Norway.10

The parish church of Trondenes harbours three of these large altarpieces, a remarkable triad of three different provenances (see Fig. 3.2). The high altar most likely comes from Liineburg, a lesser centre of art production south of Lübeck, but much in the same vein, with two rows, one with half-figures, one with standing figures squeezed into numerous very narrow niches, and with schematised draperies (see Fig. 3.3)." I will not delve into the details, but only point out that the expression 'the same vein' of course means stylistic and ty- pological features on different levels: expressions, draperies, and poses that show a reasonable 'likeness', so as to form some causal connection with other sculptures, through persons or geographically close areas at a given time. In this case, some of the small workshops in Liineburg at the end of the era of the richest art production in Northern Germany, just before the year 1500, is the common denominator.

It is possible to ascertain from the altarpieces on the northern and southern side altars in the chancel that they are intended at least for the Norwegian mar- ket. The northern one belongs to the group ascribed to the so-called Imperialis- sima Master (Fig. 3.4). The 'Resé Altar' in the St Annen-Museum in Lübeck corresponds nearly perfectly to this work.12 The latter altarpiece was donated by Hans Resé, a merchant, more precisely a so-called Bergenfahrer, that is a mer- chant with special connections to the Hanseatic 'Kontor' in Bergen, Norway. Thus, it is possible that Hans Resé, or at least some of his colleagues, brought the altarpiece from Lübeck via Bergen to Trondenes.

The middle group including the figure of St Anne on the southern altarpiece (Fig. 3.5) has been ascribed to the Rhinish master Arnt of Kalkar.13 This attri- bution may be disputed, but the Rhinish origin remains clear. The surrounding shrine is, however, a different story. Above the scene on the left-hand wing we find two windows with coats-of-arms. One is very important: the crest of the Bergenfahrer (Fig. 3.6). This shows that at least the shrine, and most likely the two figures beside St Anne, were made in Lübeck. Thus, the St Anne shows a rather complicated origin. The middle group stems from the Rhineland, the rest from Lübeck, and the whole altarpiece was commissioned through the Bergen- fahrer Merchants' Guild and brought to Northern Norway. The two Bridgettine

North, Michael, and Ormrod, David. Art Markets in Europe, 1400-1800. Florence: Routledge, 1999. Accessed October 11, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central. Created from monash on 2019-10-11 08:46:27.

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38 IS ART A BAROMETER OF WEALTH?

nuns on both sides of St Anne, probably St Bridget and her daughter, St Cath- erine of Vadstena, point to Scandinavian commissioners and a destination to this area.

Nothing has so far indicated that the original destination of the altarpieces was Trondenes. The lavishness and first-rate workmanship indicates a certain degree of wealth on the part of the commissioner, wealth of an order which one quite naturally would not expect in this remote region. Nevertheless, there have existed at least two additional large altarpieces in the church in medieval times, for example the Kvœfjord altar from the Oldsaksamlingen museum in Oslo. Due perhaps to the remoteness of the location, it has been proposed that the altarpieces originally were intended for other churches further south, perhaps in the Bergen or Trondheim regions, and that the works were only later brought to Trondenes in times of recession in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.14

I now turn from the art objects to a relevant part of the historical flux, so as to find the supposed 'functional vacuum' mentioned above. In the fifteenth century, the church of Trondenes seems to have played a very special role in the plans of the diocese of Trondheim. The overly large choir is one of the in- dications that perhaps plans existed for a new diocese in the north of Norway at the end of the Middle Ages, in which case the choir would then have to house the clergymen of the chapter. In the fifteenth century, there are signs that the whole church was renovated and re-furnished, probably by the church preben- dary, Svein Erixon, who was also archdeacon at the Cathedral of Nidaros (Trondheim).15

Were there really enough people at the end of the Middle Ages in Northern Norway to add an extra diocese? If we count the churches that appear in certain lists of 1589 we find an impressive number of smaller wooden churches, espe- cially in the outlying fishing villages, and a series of stone churches like the one in Trondenes in the southern part of the area (Fig. 3.7). The churches of course served those involved in the mostly seasonal fishing for cod and white- fish for the insatiable Hanseatic market. Representational decoration and spe- cialised liturgical needs fit for a new cathedral would thus be a major 'charge' factor for the acquirement of the altarpieces. A certain wealth can even be shown to have existed (Table 3.1).

These statistics were compiled by Andreas Holmsen.16 They show tax sums and the number of taxpayers in the years 1520-21. The numbers may be as- sumed to say something about the situation in the fifteenth century as well. We see in the list that the taxpayers in Finnmark pay nearly twice what the peasants in the agrarian districts pay.'7 Finnmark is the northernmost region, which was not populated by Norwegians until the fourteenth century settlements in the coastal regions (and before that by the indigenous Sami tribes). In Southern Norway taxpayers gave an average of 5.2 marks a year. As the tax consisted of a kind of tithe payment based on the personal fortunes of the payers, they must have been extremely wealthy — even if there were few taxpayers. So we can

North, Michael, and Ormrod, David. Art Markets in Europe, 1400-1800. Florence: Routledge, 1999. Accessed October 11, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central. Created from monash on 2019-10-11 08:46:27.

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JAN VON BONSDORFF 39

Table 3.1 Tax sums and taxpayers in Norway 1520-21

District

Sunnfjord Nordfjord Sunnm0re Romsdal Nordm0re Fosen Tr0ndelag Trondheim Finn mark

Sum (of Marks and payments in

dried fish) 2270 1672 2661 1355 2528 1613 6373 1340 2886

Tax payers

302 250 598 321 445 416

2061 180 320

Mark per tax payer

7,5 6,7 4,4 4,2 5,7 3,9 3,1 7,4 9,0

see that even if the final destination of the altarpieces cannot be proven to be the parish church of Trondenes, the financial capacity to buy them existed. The relative wealth of the region can be considered as still another important 'charge' factor for the existence of the altarpieces, as mentioned before. Per- haps even the 'elite', also a prerequisite for initiating the art-forming process, can be found in the clergy of the diocese of Trondheim who wished to focus on Trondenes as an ecclesiastical centre of the far north. The last charge factor is of course the aforementioned Bergenfahrer merchants, who provided the means of transporting the altarpieces to their destination.

So, what have I achieved with this example? I started out with a typical de- scription of a historical background, which does not seem to correspond to the existence of the rich decoration of Trondenes. Because of evidence found in the altarpiece itself, the coats-of-arms, the southern altar-piece is stated to have certain connections to the main late medieval trading centre of Liibeck. Other work-inherent traits, especially stylistic ones, show that parts of the work stem from the Rhineland. On other work-inherent grounds, the other two show con- nections with Lüneburg and Liibeck. These traits are of course only work- inherent for a supposed class of similar objects. Thus, the altarpieces them- selves show tell-tale signs of the 'general circumstances' of their own genesis. But it seems impossible to simply retrace the processual axis backwards, as stated above. The historical 'background' circumstances, fickle as they may be, must constantly be drawn into the discussion. However, this swinging to-and- fro in the discussion from object to a particular instance in the historical flux, seems to produce new meaning, new solutions, to the question of why a work of art exists in one particular place at one particular time.

North, Michael, and Ormrod, David. Art Markets in Europe, 1400-1800. Florence: Routledge, 1999. Accessed October 11, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central. Created from monash on 2019-10-11 08:46:27.

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o 1100-1200 A 1200-1300 O 1300 to the Reformation * Reformation-1589

Fig. 3.7 Churches before 1589 in Northern Norway. (Map by Vidar Trcedal and Jan von Bonsdorff.)

North, Michael, and Ormrod, David. Art Markets in Europe, 1400-1800. Florence: Routledge, 1999. Accessed October 11, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central. Created from monash on 2019-10-11 08:46:27.

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JAN VON BONSDORFF 41

b)

Fig. 3.8a The object of historical interest moving against a static historical background. Fig. 3.8b The object of historical interest in interplay with the object of historical context.

(Graphic: Jan von Bonsdorff.)

a)

North, Michael, and Ormrod, David. Art Markets in Europe, 1400-1800. Florence: Routledge, 1999. Accessed October 11, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central. Created from monash on 2019-10-11 08:46:27.

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42 IS ART A BAROMETER OF WEALTH?

Conclusion

Most art historians treat economic history in terms of background, verifying or falsifying the existence of the main subject, the works of art (such as pictorial art and architecture) themselves. In recent art-historical discourse the role of the historical background has been called into question.18 According to every- day, well-established art-historical practice, the object of interest (the work of art) is still unknown, a dynamic 'black box' that is more or less clearly deline- ated, moving against a well-known, static historical back-drop (Fig. 3.8a). However, it can be argued that the historical background is no less a construct than the art-historical 'foreground' (Fig. 3.8b). If this is true, then the historical background can never be given, and it assumes the same degree of uncertainty as the object of interest itself— at least in the view of the interpreter. This relativistic view has interesting consequences for the causal relations between the work of art and its connections to a historical reality. With this model in mind, it is much easier to ask whether the work of art is a product of certain circumstances, or whether it produces the circumstances themselves.

I might for example offer the following thesis from Michael Hutter: 'Die Konsumtion, Produktion und Innovation von Kunstwerken stabilisiert die Wirtschaftskonjunktur, tragt zum technischen und sozialen Fortschritt bei, erhôht die Arbeitsproduktivitàt und vergro'Bert den Kapitalbestand'.19 The situation Hutter describes indeed implies that works of art produce certain his- torical circumstances — and I would like to take the issue one step further: From an interpretative point of view, certain works of art can stand as historical sources in their own right — of course, never alone, but in an on-going dialec- tical interplay with other sources. Art co-produces history. In other words, works of art, in their splendour and utility, can stand as barometers of wealth.

Notes

1 Ruskm(1907), p. 10. 2 See Gordon and Gully (1993), p. 12. 3 Blockmans(1996). 4 Baxandall(1985). 5 This is the view of Larsson (1997), p. 44. 6 Von Bonsdorff (1993a); Von Bonsdorff (1993b). ' Friedland(1991),pp. 62f. 8 Fnedland(1991), p. 64. 9 Engelstad (1933); Engelstad (1936). 10 Von Bonsdorff (1994). 1 ' Compare with the altarpiece from Lehmke, Luneburger Heide. 12 Katalog St Annen-Museum (1981). That is, the two works show even more resem-

blance than just a 'reasonable likeness' (see above).

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13 De Werd(1974). '" See Nordhagen( 1981). 15 Lysaker(1958), p. 114f. 16 Holmsen(1976). 17 See Holmsen (1976), pp. 22ff, diagram p. 26. 18 Bal and Bryson ( 1991). 19 Hutter(1986), p. 231.

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