Bishop Bernward For St. Michael's Church At Hildesheim

Survey of Western Art 1
Wed 12:00pm
Research Paper Part 1 and 2:
Erin Hook
A very significant piece of Ottonian Art is a pair of extremely sculptured and detailed bronze doors which were commissioned by Bishop Bernward for St. Michael’s Church at Hildesheim, these doors were finished in 1015. In Bernward's biography written by Thangmar of Heidesheim, Bernward excelled in the arts and was especially known for his great ability with metalwork and the entire art of building. Since he was so skilled in this field he was probably very involved with these doors He may have been inspired when he visited Rome and saw extensive doors built in bronze and wood. (1 pg 215)

These doors are considered by many art historians to be the first monumental
One thing that particularly stood out to him were the wooden doors of Santa Sabina, he wanted to bring some of that monumental architecture back to Hildesheim. These wooden doors along with the doors that Bernward had built have scenes from the old and new testament. The stories being told are virtually the same, they begin with an introduction, then a temptation, followed by some sort of punishment. You read these panels in opposite directions on either side of the doors. When you look at the doors from left to right you can see that the scenes are similar. For example, the third panel from the top you see Adam and Eve about to give into temptation and on the other side the crucifixion, the tree and the cross have a similar shape. This is an Ottonian piece and the Ottonians were very influenced by the Carolingian Renaissance time period. So these doors definitely show off some of that influence.
Their works of art have been saved through manuscripts, religious sculpture, and architecture. Charlemagne, the emperor at the time started a cultural revolution which became known as the Carolingian renaissance. Charlemagne saw himself as a new Constantine since he was using a christian model. One of the most important things Charlemagne did was invite well renowned scholars from all over Europe to help him revise his ideas for politics, literature, and religion (4). This painting is of Matthew one of the four scribes of the Gospels. It really shows how people would have written in Medieval times, with one hand holding an ink horn and the other holding the stylus. In medieval times people could either write on a scroll or on a codex and in this case he is using a codex which is a book made of sheets bound on one edge. This is very stylized and very different from that of other Carolingian artwork due to the way the lines were drawn.(5) What really shows a main difference is that in previous paintings of Matthew he is just a man writing, but in this painting the lines are so fluid and chaotic that he is “transformed into a Roman author setting down his thoughts into a man seized with the frenzy of divine inspiration.”(1pg