0.8 Making the cognitive turn in art history: a case study  (Page 14/17)

Having resolved the problem of Mary’s refusal to marry, Wernher now turns to establishing her place in a domestic sphere. Wernher had followed Pseudo-Matthew in describing Joseph as an old man and had focused on his bodily infirmity and age as his motivation for resisting the marriage. After the wedding ceremony, however, Joseph informs the noble families that have gathered, “I must travel around far in my craft” [ia můz ich riten vnd varn / durh mine sache witen, ll. 2124-25], and asks that they allow five of the Temple virgins to accompany Mary home, where they will serve as her companions during his inevitable absences. Subsequently, Joseph is presented as the prosperous head of a household in well-established good order, complete with servants whom he instructs to obey his lady wife when he departs.

Meanwhile, in her separate sphere, Mary lives the life of a noblewoman. When she and the five virgins from the Temple who have come to live with her cast lots to determine who will sew the purple and silk for the Temple, and who the rough flax, her companions envy Mary for winning the purple and the silk, and mock her by calling her “queen.” Hearing this, the angel who feeds Mary daily decides to frighten them by appearing suddenly, “bright as the day” [lieht als der tak; 2304], and tells them that their derision is actually prophecy, for Mary will be empress of all the world. The miniature (Fig.14; fol. 41v) overflows with bodily action conveying emotion, from the angel’s anger, economically expressed by a crossed arm, to the women’s fright and repentance. It renders in visible, physical terms the words of the text just above and below: “The ladies were thoroughly frightened when they looked at the angel and recognized his anger. With fright they promised they would change and repent, and threw themselves to the feet of the Good One” [die frǒen harte erschrikten, / do sie den engil an erblikten / vnd sinen zorn ersahen. / Mit uorhten sie iahen, / sie wolten wandeln vnd buzzen, / vnd butten sih der guten ze fuzzen; ll. 2313-18]. Mary’s stern demeanor correlates with the imperatives in the words on the banderole that rises from her right hand: “Ladies, stand up and stop your envious behavior; the angel has ended the strife” [Frowen stet uf unt lat den nit. Der engel hat gescheiden dem strit]. The way the banderole rises and gently curves around and beyond the angel seems to make that heavenly being her agent. Further, her physical placement is that of an enthroned empress, complete with footstool, a confirmation of her status as “empress over all this world.” Most striking, though, is the decision to make Mary’s speech the subject of both miniatures. In Wernher’s poem, the only direct speech in the entire scene, from the delivery of the silk and flax through the women’s repentance, is that of the angel rebuking the women.

After a lengthy treatment of the Annunciation, Wernher’s second poem ends with the Visitation. The first miniature in the third poem shows what Joseph has been doing during his extended absence by presenting him as a master shipwright in accordance with Wernher’s text. Directly above the miniature we read: “There [in Capernaum] he taught his journeymen about masterly things [meaning the special knowledge that masters of the craft have]” [da er sîn ivngere lerte / uon meisterlichen sachen], and below the miniature: “How they should make / Strong and firm keels,” etc; [wie sie scholten machen / die notuesten chiele; ll. 2952-55]. In the miniature (Fig. 15; fol. 50v), Joseph’s body conveys his mastery and authority: he stands very straight and tall and tilts his head up, towering over the men working on the ship. His size and position almost totally obscure the frame, and his banderole crosses the entire top of the miniature. In a visual pun, the man at the upper right “gets the message,” as the end of the banderole nears his gesturing hand. A reader-viewer might well expect Joseph’s words to be instructions regarding proper shipbuilding techniques, but they actually move the narrative forward: he says he is returning to his home, “I must travel home; it is time. May God always command you” [Ih můz heim des ist cit. / got ir iemer bevolhen sit]. a narrative ploy that creates dread in reader-viewers who anticipate his reaction to a new development: Mary’s pregnancy. This miniature thus functions as a “before” and contrasts sharply with the next image, which shows the “after.”