Pictorial myth reception in the middle ages and modern art historiography's discourse of periodization
Final Report Abstract
For a long time and with considerable reverberation, the combination of ancient mythological figures and actions with classical form was regarded in art historiography as the embodiment of the universal ideal of being human in unbroken completeness and unity (at least when the figures are detached from their original cultic contexts). In contrast to this view based on modern humanism, which gained considerable political momentum at the beginning of the 1930s, it was possible to show that the interests and motivations for the visual reception of classical mythology in the Middle Ages were extremely diverse. In most of the cases in which the Greek and Roman myths were processed at the time, it was possible to dispense with an antique form without immediately having to express a radical break with the corresponding 'pagan' culture. Depending on the artistic genre, the function and context as well as the concrete intention, it was possible to work at different levels and in different styles and forms. In the process, original antique artefacts were repeatedly incorporated into medieval ensembles and, occasionally, considerable formal approaches were made to the art of classical antiquity. There is therefore no reason to assume that the epoch of the Middle Ages was fundamentally unsuccessful in dealing with the ancient heritage of interest here.
Publications
- Kontaktaufnahme zur römischen Kultur der Antike? Zur Verwendung älterer Elfenbeine und Gemmen im westlichen Mittelalter, in: Wunder Roms im Blick des Nordens von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, hg. von Christoph Stiegemann (Kat. zur gleichnamigen Ausstellung im Diözesanmuseum Paderborn 2017) Petersberg 2017, S. 162-173
Ulrich Rehm
- Im Glanz der alten und der neuen Weisheit. Überlegungen zum mittelalterlichen Symboltransfer aus der Antike am Beispiel des Walknochenreliefs mit der Anbetung der Heiligen Drei Könige im Victoria & Albert Museum (Inv.-Nr. 142- 1866), in: Heilige. Bücher – Leiber – Orte, hg. von Daniela Wagner und Hanna Wimmer. Festschrift für Bruno Reudenbach, Berlin 2018, S. 281-286
Ulrich Rehm
- Mittelalterliche Mythenrezeption. Paradigmen und Paradigmenwechsel. Böhlau-Verlag, Köln, 2018, 268 Seiten (Sensus. Studien zur mittelalterlichen Kunst, Bd. 10)
Ulrich Rehm
- Klassische Mythologie im Mittelalter. Antikenrezeption in der bildenden Kunst, Köln: Böhlau 2019. 486 S.
Ulrich Rehm
(See online at https://doi.org/10.7788/9783412518530)
