ABSTRACT
This paper focuses on the role of and the relations among techniques, materials, and colours with respect to the iconography of selected polychrome high medieval Marian wood sculpture from Italy. It takes its departure from an observation, which has been presented in the context of conservation and art technological research. In polychrome medieval sculpture throughout Europe, two trends have been characterised: the golden style and the lively painted style. But no clear explanation has been given so far for the preference of such a style in each piece.
This paper discusses as a case study the Presbyter Martinus Madonna (1199) from the former Camaldolese monastery of Borgo Sansepolcro, preserved in the SMPK, Berlin. This Madonna is famous for her well-preserved polychromy from the time of origin and the inscription, which identifies her as Sedes Sapientiae. In contrast to earlier interpretations of this sculpture, which focused on the differences and contradictions between its form and polychromy, here it’s shown that technical execution, polychromy, and iconography are deeply interwoven aspects. This argument is underlined by a discussion of the sculpture’s role model, the Sedes Sapientiae (about 1180) from Santa Maria in Camuccia of Todi, preserved in the Museo diocesano di Orvieto-Todi. The Todi Sedes Sapientiae displays colourful polychromy, while the Presbyter Martinus Madonna is dominated by a golden appearance. The paper argues, that the choice of a mostly golden rendering of the latter is related to the spiritual environment of the Camaldolese-Benedictine order. Under consideration in several writings of the influential Benedictine Petrus Damianus, it can be shown that the Presbyter Martinus Madonna is indeed a close visual translation of Damianus’ words into colour, form, and material. The meaningful selection of precious and costly materials, which of course is a sign of the monastery’s wealth, elucidates that culminated meanings are extended to polychromy.
