0.8 Making the cognitive turn in art history: a case study  (Page 9/17)

The poem also establishes the growing admiration for her actions. Directly below the miniature on folio 24v are the lines: “At whatever kind of women’s work it was, none could best her at it” [swaz so wibes hant chunde, / daz enmahte ir niht engân; ll. 1312-13]. She is faster than all the ladies at fine needlework. Daily, the archangel Gabriel brings her heavenly bread; the miniature on folio 25v visualizes the physical substance that Mary actively receives from the hands of the angel. She also, rather unusually, heals the sick, as illustrated in a miniature on folio 27r (Fig. 8). According to Jacqueline Lafontaine-Dosogne, the sequence of three miniatures illustrating Mary’s life in the Temple in this manuscript is the first in western art to show specific aspects of that life. The claim that she worked miracles of healing is found in Pseudo-Matthew , however. Iconographie de l’Enfance de la Vierge dans l’Empire Byzantin et en Occident . Réédition anastatique avec compléments. ed. 2 vols., Brussels: Académie royale de Belgique, 1992 (1964), 2.130. Mary’s straight and tall form stands at the right edge of the miniature, where the viewer’s eyes rest, even as she visualizes the ultimate goal of those seeking her help. With lively gestures they indicate the parts of their bodies that need healing. Her responding gesture of blessing activates the words on her banderole so that they become performative: “Be blessed by God: he would like to assist you with his power” [Gesegent sit ir von got. / unt muze iu helfen mit sinem gebot]. Here the miniaturist, whose images are generally close visualizations of the text, ignores Wernher’s explicit statement that Mary healed the sick by touching them [ll. 1454-57]. The way that the hand of the man facing Mary crosses her banderole suffices to indicate that her words are a conduit of divine power to human bodies. Appealing to her for that purpose, as we shall see, is central to the meaning of this book for its reader-viewer. Neither the text of this part of Wernher’s second poem nor the miniatures that visualize some of its passages significantly forward the plot. Rather, they develop Mary’s character, enhancing her position as the “redoubtable hero” of the story, Boyd, 221. whom God has singled out for special attention and to whom he has granted special powers.

The next plot development introduces the inevitable conflict between the heroine’s goals and the obstacles she faces. Wernher and the miniaturist shape the story to arouse the reader-viewer’s empathy for Mary. Having grown more beautiful than other women “in her hair and her body” [an dem hare vnd an der lich; l. 1467], Mary attracted the attention of a suitor, a “magnificent warrior” [der herliche degen; l. 1475]and the son of a very wealthy lord. The reader-viewer has just experienced the sequence of images emphasizing Mary’s special relationship to God, but the suitor and his wealthy father can only see her physical attraction. She refused even to listen to him, saying that “she did not want to be touched by a man ever again” [sie sprah, daz sie nien wolte / iemer man geruren; 1482-83]. Wernher constructs the priests of the Temple as venal and therefore susceptible to the bribes of gold and silver offered by the lord; they begin to pressure and threaten Mary. A miniature is inserted into the text just as Mary, “inflamed by God” [Got hete erzundet sie; 1516], gives her firm answer (Fig. 9; fol. 28r): she will never take a husband because she has espoused herself to God. The miniature visualizes the conflict; its composition aligns the young suitor with the seated priests, uniting Mary’s opposition and leaving her in isolation. One of the priests speaks to her on the suitor’s behalf: “Turn your feelings toward this man, we advise you, noble and perfect lady” [Chere an disen man dinen mut. / daz raten wir dir alle frǒwe gůt]. The reader-viewer who has already read the text describing the bribery may well react to this self-interested advice with moral outrage. But the priest’s banderole, rather than enveloping Mary’s body in a controlling arc, stops short and folds back on itself as if repulsed by her reply: “I am espoused to God; therefore I will always remain a virgin” [Wan ih mih got entheizen han. / durh daz so wil ih iemer maget bestan]. Because it is written upside down on the banderole, Mary’s verbal response forces the reader-viewer to turn the book. The sharp turn of the banderole perhaps visualizes the firmness of her answer. But Mary also responds through the action of turning away from both the priest and the suitor, creating a space between her body and theirs that physicalizes her rejection of a man’s touch and communicates her resolve visually. As Messerer observes, Mary’s “bodily avoidance” is shown only in the miniature (461). Her turn embodies her meaning; as a parallel to her lengthy speech, it succinctly conveys her intention.