Opening for the Book of Jeremiah: Verba Jeremie, from the Winchester Bible, fol. 148r, ca. 1150–80. Winchester Cathedral Priory of St, Swithun. Tempera and gold leaf on parchment. Lent by the Chapter of Winchester Cathedral. Image courtesy of the Chapter of Winchester Cathedral
The Old Testament book of Jeremiah begins with a frightened cry. Overwhelmed that God has chosen him as a mouthpiece, the young Jeremiah protests, "Ah, ah, ah." These three repeated syllables, simple and unassuming on the page, express the future prophet's trepidation—which is almost panic—toward the enormous task ahead of him. Taking his cue from this utterance of fear, one of the main artists responsible for the illuminations of the Winchester Bible chose to preface the book of Jeremiah with an image of this dramatic moment, eloquently capturing all of Jeremiah's instability and anxiety. His portrayal is one of the most affecting in the Winchester Bible, and its inclusion in the Met's exhibition offers a wonderful opportunity to reflect upon the medieval depiction of emotion through the eyes of one particularly imaginative artist.
The giant initial beginning the book of Jeremiah forms a frame for the scene. Though it looks more like a U or perhaps an A, it is the letter V, beginning the phrase "Verba Jeremie" (the words of Jeremiah). Within the V, a young Jeremiah balances on tiptoe, his body bent backwards and his arms spread wide. God the Father, represented in the visually familiar figure of Christ, swoops down from a gathering of heavenly clouds. He touches Jeremiah's lips with two fingers, a gesture of blessing, to indicate he has chosen Jeremiah to speak for him on earth. The scene takes place in a landscape filled with snaking vines heavy with fruit. Both figures hold unfurled scrolls that function like speech bubbles in a comic book to convey conversation. Quoting Jeremiah 1:6, the prophet's scroll protests: "Ecce nescio loqui quia puer ego sum" (Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child), while God's scroll, taken from Jeremiah 1:7, replies: "Ecce dedi verba mea in ore tuo" (Behold, I have given my words in thy mouth).
The artist who created this image was one of six that scholars believe to have worked on the Winchester Bible. He was likely involved with the project from the very beginning, preparing the drawings for a total of thirty-four initials. He completed seven of these with colors and gold, while the rest were either completed by other artists or left unfinished. Because his contribution to the Winchester Bible was so integral, many historians think he may have been responsible for its overall design, with other artists subsequently contributing different components. His work is most closely related to the visual style popular in Winchester around the middle of the twelfth century, indicating that the project's organizers first looked locally for artistic talent. Although he must have been trained in Winchester, his identity is a mystery, and his name is unknown. The art historian Walter Oakeshott gave the anonymous artists of the Winchester Bible nicknames based on salient features of their style, and he called the artist of the Jeremiah initial the "Master of the Leaping Figures." Though a mouthful, this delightful nickname characterizes the artist's work well, since his figures often seem ready to spring out of their frames and off the page entirely.
The Master of the Leaping Figures thus turned Jeremiah's first encounter with God into an action-packed confrontation. The figures seem to tumble within the rigid frame, breaking through its boundaries. God’s brisk descent from Heaven threatens Jeremiah's precarious pose—how long can he stay on his toes, and will he fall backwards? Even the figures' clothing indicates movement: Jeremiah's clinging robe suggests the tense musculature of someone about to jump into the air, while the edge of God's mantle rolls and jumps, and his garments' zigzagging hems defy gravity. At the same time, the vines' undulating stems, the waving speech scrolls, and even the interlocking patterns on the initial itself animate the entire composition. The overall sensation of movement is heightened by contrasts of saturated and muted colors, from the orange arc of Jeremiah's mantle to its pale yellow lining.
This visual dynamism easily captures the viewer's attention, though it serves another purpose as well: to express Jeremiah's inner turmoil. The gentle upward sloping of his eyebrows communicates something of his emotional state at this fraught moment, but, overall, the image conveys emotion less through facial expression and more through other features such as pose, gesture, and setting. For example, the figures are arranged along diagonal axes, a technique that creates a high degree of visual tension, matching the strain of the confrontation. Jeremiah's open right palm also seems to express his surprise and dismay. In addition, the restless motion of the composition's many curving lines and color contrasts expresses the young man's nervous anticipation of the task before him.
This means of depicting emotion is characteristic of the visual arts during the twelfth century, and especially of English painting around 1150. Following social conventions that discouraged overt displays of emotion, artists during this period tended to depict people with subdued or restrained facial expressions. Instead, emotional states were communicated through certain coded gestures, such as placing a hand on the side of the face to indicate sadness. A variation of this gesture may be seen in the Winchester Bible's Morgan Leaf, in which King David completely covers his face with his mantle upon learning of the death of his son.
David covers his face in grief upon learning of the death of his son Absalom. The Morgan Leaf, from the Winchester Bible: Frontispiece for 1 Samuel (?) with Life of David (v.) (detail), ca. 1150–80. Made in Winchester, England. Tempera and gold on parchment; 22 15/16 x 15 9/16 in. (58.3 x 39.6 cm). Lent by the J. Pierpont Morgan Library, New York
Although the depiction of emotion during this period followed specific rules, the rules were not intended to keep the viewer from empathizing with the people depicted. Perhaps the Master of the Leaping Figures chose this subject in the hope that its medieval viewers, primarily monks, would better understand and empathize with the prophet. Medieval viewers of the Jeremiah initial hardly could have been immune to its dynamic evocation of distress, and the image may have placed these viewers (who were also readers) in Jeremiah's frame of mind. It may have helped to prepare them for the many sorrowful prophecies he would make. Additionally, it could have encouraged humility before God. In light of this image, the greatest accomplishment of the Master of the Leaping Figures was to portray well-known Biblical stories with new depths of feeling.
As future blog posts will show, not every artist of the Winchester Bible shared the aesthetic or emotional choices of the Master of the Leaping Figures, even though his drawings laid the compositional groundwork for many other initials.