Metal-Work in the Service of the Church
From the earliest days the Church has employed utensils and
vessels of metal in its liturgical ceremonies. This practice
increased during the Middle Ages. The history of the metalwork of
the Church in the Middle Ages is in fact the history of the art of
metalworking in general, and this is not only because the Church
was the foremost patron of such works and because almost all the
works that have been preserved from the Middle Ages are
ecclesiastical in character, but also because until the twelfth
century the works of the goldsmith were also almost exclusively
manufactured by monks and clerics. But in the period of the
Renaissance also the manufacture of church metalwork formed a very
important branch of the gold-smith's art, and even in our own day
these works are counted among those in the production of which
that art can be most profitably developed; but not only the
goldsmith's art, that is the artistic treatment of the precious
metal, had its growth and development in the service of the
Church, the base metals also, especially iron, bronze, and brass,
have been largely utilised. As we are dealing, however, with the
historical development of the metalwork in the service of the
Church, we shall confine ourselves more particularly to works in
the precious metals, without however entirely excluding those in
the inferior metals from our consideration.
I. ANTIQUITY
Beginning with antiquity, we must first prove that the Church did
in fact make use of valuable works of metal in the most ancient
times. Honorius of Autun (d. 1145) makes the remark that the
Apostles and their followers had employed wooden chalices in the
celebration of the holy Mass, but that Pope Zephyrinus had ordered
the use of glass and Pope Urban I of silver and gold vessels
(Gemma animae, P. L., CLXXII, 573). This opinion seems to have
been widely disseminated during the Middle Ages; it is
nevertheless untenable. Recourse to chalices made of wood or some
other cheap material was undoubtedly often made necessary in
antiquity as the result of a lack of the more valuable materials
or during the stormy times of the persecutions, but this custom
cannot have been general. If the earliest Christians believed in
the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and of this there
can be no doubt, they assuredly also made offering of their most
precious vessels in order that the Sacred Mysteries might be
worthily celebrated.
The earliest positive notices of the use of metalwork in the
service of the Church date from the third and fourth centuries. It
is especially the "Liber pontificalis", which is now accessible in
the critical editions of Duchesne and Mommsen (see LIBER
PONTIFICALIS) from which we derive the most interesting
information concerning the subject under discussion. Here we first
meet with the statement that Pope Urban had the sacred vessels
made of silver, which does not by any means imply that before that
time they were all made of glass. Of greater importance are the
accounts of the magnificent donations of valuable works in metal
made by Emperor Constantine to the Roman basilicas. It would take
up too much space to enumerate them all, and we shall content
ourselves with mentioning a few examples. To the Vatican basilica
he presented seven large chalices (scyphi) of the purest gold,
each of which weighed ten (Roman) pounds; furthermore forty
smaller chalices of pure gold, each weighing one pound. The church
of St. Agnes received a chalice of solid gold weighing ten pounds,
five silver chalices of ten pounds each, and two silver patens of
thirty pounds each. The metal plates for the Eucharistic bread
(patens) are often mentioned in connection with the chalices; thus
the Lateran basilica received seven gold and sixteen silver patens
of thirty pounds each. Though not to the same extent, the other
churches also were in possession of valuable metalwork for the
liturgical service. The Church of Carthage, according to the
testimony of Optatus, possessed so many valuables of gold and
silver, that it was no easy matter to remove or hide them at the
time of the persecutions (Contra Parmen., I, xviii). Ibas, Bishop
of Edessa, was accused at the Council of Chalcedon (451) of having
purloined a valuable chalice set with precious stones, which a
pious man had presented to the church. As to the various kinds of
metalwork used in the Church, the "Liber pontificalis" mentions
the following in addition to chalice and paten as in use in the
lifetime of Pope Sylvester: a silver bowl of ten pounds, which was
intended for the reception of the chrism at baptisms and
confirmations, a silver baptismal vessel of twenty pounds, a
golden lamb weighing thirty pounds, which was set up in the
baptistery beside the Lateran. seven silver stags that spouted
water, each of which weighed eighty pounds, and especially
numerous vessels for wine, e. g., in the Vatican basilica two
specimens of the purest gold, each of a weight of fifty pounds. Of
importance to us also is the statement that beside the golden lamb
just mentioned there stood silver statues, five feet in height, of
the Redeemer and St. John, weighing l80 and 125 pounds
respectively. Furthermore mention must be made of the metal
caskets, crosses, reliquaries, and book-covers, which were
likewise made either entirely or in part of precious metal. With
this enumeration the number of metallic utensils employed in
Christian antiquity is by no means complete. The centre of
Christian worship is the sacrifice and the altar, for this reason
it was early made of valuable material or at least covered with
it. Metal plates were furthermore used to adorn the confession (q.
v.) and the immediate surroundings of the altar. Great wealth of
the precious metals was spent upon the superstructure of the
altar, or ciborium, which was decorated with metal statues, with
chalices and votive crowns. When Leo III had the ciborium,
presented by the Emperor Constantine, restored, he employed for
that purpose 2704 1/2 pounds of silver. A large amount of metal
was also used for the iconostasis, a screen connecting from two to
six columns; thus Leo III had the iconostasis in the church of St.
Paul recovered at an expenditure of 1452 pounds of silver.
A large amount of metalwork is also required for the illumination
of the basilica. Constantine alone presented to the Lateran church
174 separate articles of the greatest variety intended for this
purpose. It is sufficient here to make mention merely of the
chandeliers or lustres (coronae), the candelabra and lamps; they
were made of bronze, silver, or gold. The Lateran church received
among the rest a chandelier with fifty lamps of the purest gold,
weighing 120 pounds, and a candelabrum of the same material, with
eighty lamps. Even the vessels for storing the oil were sometimes
made of precious metal. The Lateran basilica was the owner of
three such vessels of silver, weighing 900 pounds. Practically
nothing however of all these treasures has come down to us only a
few small chandeliers of bronze, dating from the fifth to the
eighth centuries, have been found, most of them in Egypt. There
remains one more article of metal that was much used in the
service of the Church from the earliest centuries, the censer.
According to the "Liber pontificalis" the baptistery of St. John
at the Lateran had a censer of gold weighing fifteen pounds, which
was ornamented with green precious stones. If we take account then
of all these articles, the conclusion naturally follows that the
use of articles of metal in the service of the Church had attained
extraordinary proportions in Christian antiquity.
More difficult than the enumeration of the works in metal is the
description of their decoration and the technical processes
employed in their manufacture, because on this point our literary
sources are almost wholly silent, while of the old Christian
works, which might enlighten us, but very few are extant. We must
therefore, in this case also, confine ourselves particularly to
the statements of the "Liber pontificalis". Here we find numerous
references to images (imagines) of Christ, the Blessed Virgin, the
Angels, and Apostles; in most cases it is impossible to determine
whether the works were carved or cast, certain it is that both
methods were employed. The statues of Christ and the Apostles on
the ciborium presented by Constantine to the Lateran church were
undoubtedly carved. In some cases the core of the statue was of
wood which was overlaid or covered with silver or gold. Painted
images also were sometimes decorated with reliefs of silver or
gold. Gregory III, for example, employed five pounds of pure gold
and precious stones in the decoration of a statue of the Madonna
in S. Maria Maggiore. Precious stones in particular were a
favourite form of decoration for articles made of metal golden
statues were at times completely covered with them. When Sixtus I
provided the confession of the Vatican basilica with costlier
furnishings, Valentinian presented a tablet in relief with the
images of Christ and the Apostles which was studded with precious
stones. The baptistery too beside the Lateran church possessed a
censer which was adorned with precious stones. The works in bronze
were often inlaid with silver decorations. Thus the chapels of St.
John received doors with silver ornamentation. This was probably a
kind of niello. To obtain colour effects enamel and verroterie
cloisonee were likewise employed; of these a more detailed account
will be given later. We shall call attention here only to the
best-known specimen that has been preserved, the pentaptych in the
treasury of Milan cathedral the central division of this is
ornamented by this process with the paschal lamb and the cross.
Finally, as to the workshops from which the Church derived its
metalwork, there can be no doubt that they existed in all the
larger cities of the civilized countries of ancient Christendom;
but the cities of the Eastern Roman Empire, and especially
Byzantium, seem to have been pre-eminent. There is a tendency even
at the present day to consider almost all of the larger works that
have been preserved as products of Eastern art. In fact a large
number of works in metal were brought from the Orient to the
Western countries. We mention here only a reliquary cross in St.
Peter's at Rome, a present of the Byzantine emperor Justin II.
II. MIDDLE AGES
A. Byzantine metal-work
We begin the Middle Ages with the Byzantine metalwork, in order to
remove at the outset the impression that the term Byzantine is
used to express a definite period of time; it is used rather to
denote a definite geographical circle of art and culture, that is
to say, Byzantium with its immediate and more distant
surroundings. There were two factors that exerted a powerful
influence upon the Byzantine work: first, the almost boundless
extravagance which prevailed at the imperial Court, and which, as
a result of the intimate relations existing between State and
Church, made itself felt also in the latter; second, the close
contact with the art of the inland provinces, particularly with
Persian art. The Persian, or, to use a more general term, the
Oriental, influence gave rise to an extravagant seeking after
colour effects in the art of metalworking accompanied by a
suppression of the main object, namely the production of plastic
works. To understand the latter change, we must briefly explain a
few technical terms.
To give artistic form to the shapeless mass of metal the processes
employed are casting and hammering or chiselling. In the former
process the metal is brought to a liquid state and poured into a
hollow form, which has previously been prepared by pressing a
solid model into a yielding mass. Although casting must be
regarded as the original mode of treating metals, nevertheless, so
far as giving artistic form to gold and silver is concerned,
hammering was of greater importance. By means of hammers the sheet
of metal is hollowed out and in this way given plastic form. Very
closely connected with hammering is the art of engraving this
consists in directing the blow of the hammer not directly upon the
metal but transmitting it by means of small steel chisels. It is
these two latter processes that we have chiefly in mind when we
speak of the goldsmith's art. By means of these the ancient art of
the Occident produced its most beautiful works in metal. A
different state of affairs existed in the Orient, and particularly
in the home of the Mesopotamio-Persian and Syrian art, where, so
to say, the hand had less plastic training than the eye a gift for
colour. The glittering gold here received additional decoration by
means of coloured enamels. This preference for coloured
representation instead of the plastic was transmitted to Byzantium
also. But it will always remain to the credit of the Byzantine
goldsmith's art that it produced magnificent works in metal for
the service of the Church. The process employed in the Orient and
Byzantium is known as cloisonne enamel (email cloisonne); it
consists in soldering very thin strips of gold on the gold
baseplate so as to form cells into which the coloured enamel paste
is pressed and fused in place, the enamel combining with the metal
during fusion.
In Byzantium cloisonne enamel forced the art of hammering and
chiselling into a very subordinate position; enamel was used to
decorate secular articles, such as bowls and swords, but
especially the metalwork of the Church. The ornamentation
consisted partly of decorative designs partly of figurative
representations. Among the works that have come down to us there
are many of a miniature- like purity, which in spite of their
small size are truly monumental in conception. Of the larger works
only a very small number have been preserved, the most famous is
the golden altar-front (Pala d'oro) of St. Mark's at Venice. The
remaining pieces are for the most part relic-cases which were
suspended from the neck or placed upon the altar (examples at
Velletri and Cosenza), crosses and book covers (a magnificent
specimen in the royal jewel-room at Munich). From the period in
which this art reached its highest perfection, the tenth and
eleventh centuries, we have the so-called staurotheca (a reliquary
tablet) in the cathedral at Limburg on the Lahn the reliquary of
Nicephorus Phocas (963-969) in the convent of Lavra (Athos), and
the lower band of the so-called crown of St. Stephen in the crown
treasures at Budapest (1076-77). The terrible pillaging of the
capital by the western crusaders, 1204, dealt the deathblow to
this flourishing art.
Although the examples of Byzantine metalwork decorated with enamel
are by far the most numerous, specimens of hammered work are not
entirely lacking. In the first place we may mention two
architectural relic-cases which are in the form of a central
structure surmounted by a dome (at Aachen and Venice). The
reliquary tablets with carved reliefs are either in the form of a
small folding-altar or of a cross, which often bears the portraits
of the emperor, Constantine, and his mother on the obverse, and on
the reverse, the crucifixion. A distinct type of the Greek
goldsmith's art are the icons; one of the most valuable is in the
Swenigorodskoi collection (St. Petersburg). A rare specimen with
excellent chasing, a gilded silver pyx with the crucifixion of
Christ, is in the cathedral at Halberstadt (eleventh century). At
only one place in the West is it possible at the present day to
get an idea of the magnificence and costliness of the Byzantine
metalwork, in the treasures and library of St. Mark's at Venice,
which still possesses a portion of the booty of the year 1204.
B. Barbarian metal-work
Though the manufacture of artistic metalwork for the Church was
accompanied by no difficulties in the countries of the older
civilization conditions were much more unfavourable among the
barbarian nations which embraced Christianity. Nevertheless we
know that among them articles of metal were much used in the
service of the Church. Gregory of Tours in one place speaks of
sixty chalices fifteen patens, twenty encolpia of pure gold, which
King Childebert took as booty in the year 531 in a campaign
against the Visigoths. When St. Patrick came to Ireland, he had in
his retinue, among others, three workers in metal namely Mac
Cecht, Laebhan, and Fortchern. There are still in existence fifty-
three small bells, tubular and box-shaped, which belong to this
Irish art of metalworking; among the Franks Saint Eligius of Noyon
(588-659), a goldsmith, was even consecrated bishop.
Here the interesting question arises, how these "barbarians"
succeeded in producing artistic work in metal. The works
themselves that have been preserved alone can answer this
question. There are, it is true, but few of these the most
important to be considered here are a chalice and a paten which
were found near Gourdon (Burgundy) and are now preserved in the
National Library of Paris, a relic-case also Burgundian, in St
Maurice (Switzerland), the famous votive-crowns of the Visigothic
kings from Guarrazar, especially those of Recesvinth and Svintila
(631), a Gospel-cover of Queen Theodolinda in Monza, a reliquary
in purse form from Hereford (now in Berlin), a Gospel-cover from
Lindau (later purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan) and the Tassilo
chalice in Kremsm�nster (Austria); there may further be assigned
to this period, because of their style the St. Cuthbert cross in
the cathedral at Durham, the chalice of Ardagh, the shrines of
several old Irish bells, and a number of croziers and crosses in
the collection of the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, and in the
British Museum, London. When we consider that these works extend
over a period of more than four centuries and are the products of
several races it is at once apparent that we can give but a faint
intimation of the character and decoration of the metalwork of the
Church among barbarian nations.
The material used in the manufacture of these works is almost
exclusively gold, while their artistic decoration consists for the
most part of the so-called verroterie cloisonnee, a glass mosaic.
The process employed in this decoration is akin to that of
cloisonne enamel; the setting of the semiprecious stones or paste
gems is done in one of two ways: they are either bedded between
thin bands of metal like cloisonne enamel, or set in openings
which are cut into the gold plate itself. At times the gold plate
is completely covered with the stones. Chased ornamentation on the
other hand is of rarer occurrence it is found in a crude fashion
on the Hereford reliquary. That niello was not unknown to the
"barbarian" nations is proved by the chalice in Kremsm�nster, a
present of Tassilo, Duke of Bavaria (about 780). In Irish art
filigree also found a very delicate development one of the most
valuable examples, one that displays a concentration of all the
processes with which the native masters were conversant, is the
chalice of Ardagh.
C. Carlovingian and Othonian metal-work
The second period embraces the age of the Carlovingian and
Othonian emperors, i.e., in round numbers a period of 200 years.
While it can hardly be said that this period added anything
essentially new to the metalwork of the previous centuries, it is
nevertheless true that it gave new forms and a further development
to many of the articles already in use. We now also more
frequently meet with works cast in bronze, whereas in the so-
called "style of the period of migrations" of the preceding age it
was not necessary even to mention them. With the increase in the
wealth of the Church, there arose also the necessity for an
increased amount of valuable metalwork, this was especially the
case in the large monasteries which counted among their own
members metalworkers of great artistic skill. The manufacture of
the metalwork for the Church during the tenth and eleventh
centuries was in fact so largely in the hands of the monks that
this entire period has been designated as the period of monastic
art. While France had led in the development during the ninth
century, from the tenth century it gradually fell behind Germany.
One of the causes that helped to bring about this result was the
lively interest which several of the prominent ecclesiastical
princes took in the art of metalworking as developed within the
Church, the most deserving of mention in this connection is
Archbishop Egbert of Trier and after him Bishops Meinwerk of
Paderborn and Bernward of Hildesheim. In France the art of
metalworking flourished especially in Reims, but also in Corbie
Tours, and Metz. In Germany the centres of the goldsmith's art of
the Church were, besides Trier, especially the monasteries at
Ratisbon, Reichenau, Essen, Hildesheim, and Helmershausen.
The characteristic feature of the art of the period of migrations,
the verroterie cloisonnee, gradually disappears and yields
precedence to the Byzantine cloisonne enamel which flourished
especially at Trier and Reichenau. The revival of the plastic
tendency in metalworking was of greater importance. We have from
the period under discussion even at this day several altar-
decorations and book-covers with figural representations, which
reveal a truly amazing skill in metal-hammering; such is the
valuable antipendium of Henry II from Basle. The primitive method
of covering a wooden core with thin sheets of metal was also still
practiced. A Madonna in the collegiate church at Essen (Rheinland)
and an in age of St. Fides (Foy) at Conques, France, are the two
best known examples of this art. In Italy the most important work
of this period is the decoration of the high altar in the church
of St. Ambrose in Milan the work of Wolvinus, executed under
Archbishop Angelbert II (824-66). Prominent examples of the French
metal work are the portable altar, shaped like a ciborium, and the
binding of a copy of the Gospels in the royal jewel-room at
Munich, which were probably made at Reims and were brought to
Germany as early as the reign of King Arnulf (d. 899). Germany
possesses, as evidence of a more advanced art of metalworking,
four crosses in the collegiate church at Essen which reveal the
powerful influence of the Byzantine art. Closely connected with
Essen are the school of the monastery at Helmershausen, where the
monk Rogerus wrote the first handbook of the industrial arts,
"Schedula diversarum artium", and the school of Hildesheim, which
through the activity of Bishop Bernward became the centre of the
metalworker art in Northern Germany; the folding-doors of the
cathedral with crude reliefs, a column, which is patterned after
Trajan's Column in Rome, and two candle-sticks belong to this
period. In France scarcely a single work of any size has been
preserved; in Italy several bronze doors, for instance, those of
the basilica of St. Paul at Rome (1070) and Monte Gargano (1070),
are noteworthy, because they were procured from Byzantium and show
the influence of the Byzantine art.
D. Romanesque metal-work
The golden age of the metalwork of the Church is the Romanesque
period (1050-1250). We have already, it is true, mentioned above
several works belonging to this age, because the various styles of
art often overlap, and sharp distinctions can be drawn only by
force. The characteristic which at once distinguishes the
metalworks of the Romanesque period from the older works is their
large size; this distinction is most noticeable in the
reliquaries. For, while the receptacles for relics had up to that
time been uniformly of small dimensions, they grew in the
Romanesque period into large shrines, for the transport of which
three or four men were necessary. Several new varieties of
metalwork also were added to the old, especially the aquamanile,
i.e., a vessel in the form of an animal, used for washing the
hands, and the metal structures placed upon the altar; other
articles assumed new forms. These changes are in part due to the
evolution of the liturgy. Almost to the close of the tenth
century, for instance, neither cross nor candlestick was permitted
upon the altar, only small reliquary caskets being tolerated; the
altar itself up to this time had preserved the shape of a table or
sarcophagus. As soon as these regulations were broken and
candlestick, cross, and superfrontal found a place upon the altar.
this change necessarily exerted a strong influence upon the
manufacture and decoration of the articles mentioned.
The material employed in the manufacture of the metalwork of the
Church also experienced a change, as copper took the place of
gold. Furthermore the cloisonne enamel was supplanted by the
champleve. The champleve enamel differs from the cloisonne by the
small cells intended to receive the enamel not being made in the
Byzantine fashion by means of strips of flat gold wire soldered to
the gold plate, but by being dug out of the plate with a burin. A
peculiarity of the workshops of Limoges (France) was the affixing
of the heads of persons or even of the entire figure in high
relief. The design in the figures themselves was for the most part
filled out with coloured enamel. A second difference consists in
the more frequent occurrence of plastic ornamentations in silver.
Of course plastic decorations, as we have already seen, were not
lacking in the earlier periods, but the Romanesque period gave a
mighty impulse to this branch of the metal worker's art and can
show many extraordinary productions, for instance on the shrine of
the Three Kings at Cologne. Lastly, a third difference is apparent
in the ornamentation, in that secular types of decoration are now
more and more used on articles intended for the Church. On a
reliquary at Siegburg (near Cologne), for example, apes, deer,
dogs, and naked men are represented; the well-known fabulous
creatures of the Romanesque art also win a place for themselves in
the art of metalworking.
The evolution in style may be briefly characterized as follows:
the monastic art of the previous period with its Byzantine
tendencies is subdued but not entirely supplanted by the popular
tendency; the two rather enter into a close union which we
designate as Romanesque art. Monuments of the Romanesque art in
metals still exist in large numbers, but these are almost
exclusively works of ecclesiastical origin. This is due not merely
to the fact that the churches, which have been correctly called
the oldest museums, have guarded their treasures more carefully
than the worldly owners; it is rather to be ascribed to the fact
that at that time the metalwork for secular purposes was a
practically negligible factor. We must not infer from this,
however, that in the Romanesque period, as in the preceding, it
was monks and clerics who were the principal manufacturers of the
metalwork for the Church. During this period the art of
metalworking, as well as the plastic arts in general, gradually
passed into the hands of the laity. A number of Benedictine
monasteries, it is true, still clung to the old traditions of the
order, and remained centres of artistic pursuits
By far the largest amount of ecclesiastical metalwork of the
Romanesque period is to be found in Germany, where the art of
metalworking created magnificent works in the districts bordering
on the Rhine and the Meuse. On the Rhine the Benedictine monks
Eilbert (1130) and Friedericus (1180) of the Benedictine monastery
of St. Pantaleon produced several reliquaries and portable altars
which they decorated for the most part with enamel. They were far
surpassed by the laymen Godefroi de Claire and Nicholas of Verdun,
who combined plastic ornamentation and enamelling with amazing
perfection. They are the creators of the two most beautiful
reliquaries of this whole period; Godefroi wrought the shrine of
St. Heribert at Deutz (1185), and Nicholas the shrine of the Three
Kings at Cologne. In France likewise the art of enamelling was
zealously cultivated, especially in Limoges, where small articles
of metal for church use were manufactured in large quantities and
exported in all directions.
The art of casting also can show several famous names such as
Reiner of Huy, who cast the well-known baptismal font at Li�ge,
and Riquinus of Magdeburg in whose workshop the gate of the
cathedral at Novgorod was probably manufactured (1150). All these
works are surpassed by the beautiful baptismal font at Hildesheim,
the work of an unknown master. Italy has almost nothing to show
from this period, except a few bronze doors, which enlighten us to
the position of casting in bronze; such are the doors of Barifano
of Trani in Ravello (1179) and Monreale (1189) and of Bonano at
Pisa (1180).
E. Gothic metal-work
The Gothic epoch (1250-1500) brought numerous changes and new
requirements, also in church metal vessels. In this period the
feast of Corpus Christi was first introduced (1312), and thereby a
new metal vessel, the monstrance or ostensory, made necessary. For
this purpose a vessel was employed like those which up to that
time had been in general use for exhibiting relics. Another
vessel, which came into use at this time and upon whose
manufacture great stress was laid, is the "pax", or "osculatorium"
(instrumentum pacis). The growing veneration of saints and relics
required an increase of reliquaries. One of the results of this
was that these were no longer made as large and costly as in the
Romanesque epoch. Combined with this was the striving for
constantly new forms of reliquaries, among which busts in
particular now became very popular. The early Gothic altars with
double folds or wings became in fact small galleries of busts of
the saints. The number of cast statues of the saints and of the
Blessed Virgin also increases very considerably from the
fourteenth century. The material as well as the technique and
decoration of the works of the goldsmith again experience a
change. Copper, which has been almost a necessity for the bulky
Romanesque reliquaries, now gives way to silver; this is employed
especially for the figures in relief which were then much used,
and which served more frequently than in the Romanesque period as
statuettes for the decoration of shrines.
Very intimately connected with this change of material was an
alternation in the mode of ornamentation. The champleve enamel had
lost its power of attraction, and indeed it could not very well be
used upon the thin sheets of silver translucent enamel therefore
took its place; this was applied by cutting the relief-like
representation in the silver ground and pouring a transparent
enamel over the relief, so that the different parts according as
they are higher or lower produce the effect of light and shade in
their various gradations. Siena has long been regarded as the
starting point of this new mode of ornamentation, because a
chalice in Assisi made by the Sienese Guccio Manaja about 1290 is
the oldest example of this process. From Italy it early spread to
Germany, where it flourished especially on the Upper Rhine, and to
France.
The features of the religious metalwork of this age that more than
any other distinguish it from the earlier productions are the
superstructure and construction; the same difference prevails as
between a Romanesque and a Gothic church. The ponderous Romanesque
style is replaced by a pleasing lightness and mobility of form.
However in the art of metalworking as in the other arts we must
carefully distinguish within this period between the early Gothic
work and the late Gothic. Only the early Gothic work may be
described as possessing so to say, an aristocratic character, a
certain ideal striving after the sublime; like the fairest period
of chivalry, however, this striving lasts but a short time; it
soon gives way to the homely and real actuality. The late Gothic
metalwork throughout lacks the idealism of the early Gothic. This
likewise is connected with the cultural development. The common
people, who had grown in power, took pride, as the nobility had
done before, in securing for themselves a lasting memorial by
means of religious foundations and presents to churches. To
dedicate magnificent, artistically executed works, however, their
means were in many cases insufficient, thus giving rise to many
works in metal of poor workmanship, especially chalices,
monstrances, and reliquaries. So far as lightness of the structure
in particular is concerned, this peculiarity is again best
recognized in the reliquary and also in the monstrance. Very
frequently since the fourteenth century the form chosen is that of
two angels kneeling upon a base-plate and supporting the
reliquary, sometimes holding it in a horizontal position as a
casket, sometimes vertically as a tower. In Germany there are two
excellent examples of this inverted position, two reliquaries in
the cathedral treasures of Aachen which are constructed in the
form of chapels with towers abounding in open-work, and are borne
by saints. Reliquaries in general assumed the form of churches in
miniature; gabled hood-mouldings, pinnacles, finials, crockets,
rampant arches and buttresses, in short the whole architectural
scaffolding of the early Gothic cathedral are found in the
shrines, of which the most important is the reliquary of St.
Gertrude in Nivelles, the work of Nicholas in Douai and Jacquemon
de Nivelles (1295). The same is true of the remaining works in
metal.
The architectural ornaments forced themselves also upon articles
on which we would not expect them; thus the knob (nodus) of the
chalice often became a small chapel with many sharp corners and
edges making the handling of the chalice more difficult. Likewise,
the popular plastic figures were placed upon articles of use that
require a heavy formation, such as book-covers. A beautiful silver
book-cover from the Benedictine convent of St. Blasien in the
Black Forest is studded in this way with numerous figures of
saints; they are found even upon the smaller articles of use, as
upon a cloak-clasp in the cathedral of Aachen. The manufacture of
the religious works is taken more and more out of the hands of the
monks and clerics, who now furnish only the ideas, and gradually
passes altogether into the hands of the lay goldsmiths. By this
statement of course we do not wish to imply that there were not
individual artists still active in the convents, for that remains
true even to the present day, but for the development of an entire
period they are of no moment.
Among the few works of France, that have been preserved, the so-
called "golden horse of Alt�tting" attained great fame; it is a
half-worldly, half-religious ornament representing the veneration
of the Madonna by King Charles VI, whose horse in the lower part
of the picture is held by a squire (1404). In Germany we can find
no evidence of such exactly defined schools of art as in the
Romanesque age; the works still in existence are exceedingly
numerous, especially busts of saints and chalices. In contrast
with the preceding epochs Italy now took a pronounced lead in the
execution of artistic metalwork for the Church; the Italian works
are compact, they favour a strong substructure, which permits the
application of the favourite translucent enamel; there is evident
also a tendency to excessive ornamentation, whereby the fixed
forms are almost suffocated. Among the schools of Italy Siena was
at first pre-eminent; from this city the goldsmith Boninsegna was
called to Venice in 1345 to make repairs there to the Pala d'Oro
of St. Mark's. Sienese masters also began in 1287 the silver altar
in the cathedral at Pistoia, which was finally completed in 1399
by Florentine goldsmiths and is the largest piece of work of this
kind. The masterpiece of the Florentine school, the silver altar
of the baptistery, was begun in 1366 by Leonardo di Ser Giovanna
and Berto di Geri; this too was not completed until one hundred
years later, when the Renaissance had already fully entered into
Italian art.
Bronze casting also continued to produce numerous works for the
service of the Church. North Germany and the Netherlands (Dinant)
were most prominently active in this field. Here we must mention
first of all the numerous baptismal fonts of bronze, which are
decorated on their outer sheathing with representations in relief
and architectural ornament, next the seven-armed candelabra, door-
knobs, water-vessels (aquamanile), lecterns, especially the
beautiful eagle-lecterns. In Germany the names of many of the
masters have been handed down; in Wittenberg, Wilkin (1342), in
Elbing, Bernhuser, and in Lubeck and Kiel, Hans Apengeter. Lastly
mention should be made of the bells which were also cast in
bronze. While Germany distinguished itself by its religious works
cast in bronze, it was surpassed by France in another branch of
the metalworker's art. Here in the beginning of the thirteenth
century the art of the smith passed through its first period of
full vigour. At that time, thanks to the highly developed
technical processes, France produced metalwork for the doors of
churches such as has never been produced since. Germany, England,
and the Netherlands felt the favourable influence of the French
art, which produced its magnificent works on the cathedrals at
Rouen, Sens, Noyon and especially on the cathedral at Paris. Here
every wing of the folding doors has three iron bands, that serve
also as hinges, divided into a thousand branches and decorated
with birds of every kind and fantastic creatures. In addition to
the metalwork of the doors the blacksmith furnished the Church
with artistic chandeliers, railings, pedestals for the Easter
candle, lamps, and lecterns. The first place in the manufacture of
artistic railings undoubtedly belongs to Italy, where the high
perfection attained by the art of the Italian blacksmiths may best
be seen in Florence (Sta Croce), Verona, and Siena.
III. RENAISSANCE
While the religious metalwork in the Gothic style had increased in
quantity often at the expense of quality, a decided retrogression
in respect to quantity is noticeable during the Renaissance. This
is especially true of Germany. The distressing religious
agitations, the defection of many of the faithful from the old
religion and the increasing indifference to religious faith had
the effect of reducing the production of articles for church use
to very small proportions. In Italy, it is true, we know the names
of numerous artist goldsmiths -- there are about 1000 of them --
but there also the number of religious works of the Renaissance is
very small. At the head of the new movement in metalwork for the
Church we find the most distinguished sculptors, in fact the
leading masters of the Renaissance preferred to execute their work
in metal (bronze); we need mention here only the names of Ghiberti
and Donatello, the former the creator of the famous bronze doors
of the baptistery at Florence, the latter the maker of the high
altar in bronze in II Santo at Padua as these works however belong
to the domain of sculpture we must leave them out of consideration
here.
The changes in style follow the course of the general evolution in
art. The vertical forms of the Gothic style give way to the
horizontal tendency, the forms become more vigorous and compact,
the vessels acquire a more flexible silhouette. However, the early
Renaissance left the forms of the commonest vessels, the chalices
and crosses, almost untouched, inasmuch as the tradition of a
thousand years made them appear sacred; we have numerous chalices
of the Renaissance the base of which shows the Moorish and Gothic
foils and the knob, the Gothic rotuli. Not until the late
Renaissance were the circular forms and volutes generally
employed. In other respects the customary Renaissance ornaments,
which are by no means the least charm of this style, are employed
in ecclesiastical and worldly articles indifferently. Putti,
hermae, caryatides, garlands, grotesques, acanthus leaves,
furthermore the elements taken from architecture, such as columns,
pillars, capitals, entablatures, balusters form an inexhaustible
source of constant change.
Silver during the Renaissance no longer maintains the position it
won for itself during the Gothic period. Several distinguished
religious works in silver have been preserved, but they are far
surpassed both numerically and artistically by the works in
bronze; the latter are often covered with silver or gold. The
artistic ornamentation of both ecclesiastical and secular
metalwork consists especially of delicately executed
representations in relief, which at first appear in moderation at
the more important points, but later presumptuously cover the
entire surface. At the same time enamel is very frequently
employed, sometimes the previously mentioned translucent enamel,
which completely covers the portions in relief with a coloured
surface, sometimes also the Venetian enamel, which flourished from
about 1500-1550. It was used to coat jugs and bowls, candlesticks,
candelabra, and ciboria. Another favourite form of decoration
consisted in the combination of metals and crystals this type of
decoration occurs during the Middle Ages, but was more
systematically and artistically carried out in the Renaissance.
The art of gem engraving likewise was again practiced after
ancient models upon cameos and gems. The ecclesiastical works of
the Renaissance therefore often represent an enormous value. We
need mention here only the value of a few papal tiaras. A tiara,
which Sixtus IV had made by the Venetian goldsmith Bartolomeo di
Tomaso, was valued at 110,000 ducats. Julius II confided to the
Milanese jeweller Caradossa the making of a tiara valued at
200,000 ducats (nearly 200,000 dollars). Hardly any works of
really marked importance, if we except the previously mentioned
altars in Florence and Pistoia, the completion of which falls in
this period, have been preserved from the Renaissance. We may
again mention a few reliquaries at Siena, which reveal a
pronounced change compared with the monumental shrines of the
Romanesque and Gothic periods. They are silver caskets with sides
in openwork, permitting a view of the relics. The use of crystals
is exemplified in a beautiful pax from Monte Cassino (now in
Berlin).
Elsewhere the influence of the Renaissance upon church metalwork
was early apparent. In the beginning only the non-essentials were
borrowed from the Italian Renaissance; it was the ornament that
was copied; the fundamental forms long remained Gothic. To the
above-mentioned types the Germans added especially the scroll
work, which was by preference combined with the Moresque and then
served as a pattern for the surface; it is not unknown in Italy,
but in Germany it held almost undisputed sway for about thirty or
forty years. In Germany during the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries the cities of Augsburg and Nuremberg gained
extraordinary fame by the manufacture of artistic metalwork; their
products were eagerly sought after throughout the entire world.
The Augsburg goldsmith, George Seld, in 1492 furnished one of the
first Renaissance works in Germany, a silver altar in the Reichen
Kapelle at Munich; here we find nude putti, flowers growing out of
acanthus calyces, friezes, and panels which breathe wholly the
spirit of the Italian Renaissance. A goldsmith of Nuremburg,
Melchior Bayo, in 1538, by order of King Sigismund I of Poland,
made an altar of chased silver which is in the chapel of the
Jagellons in the cathedral at Krakow. Besides these there are no
religious works of any importance from this period. As is proved
by the "Book of Holy Objects" of Cardinal Albrecht of Mayence, a
few prelates indeed were intent on increasing the treasures of
their churches in the new style, but as a rule the exigencies of
the times did not permit the manufacture of larger works in metal.
So far as the smaller utensils are concerned, these, even as late
as the middle of the sixteenth century, still show Gothic forms
as, for instance, a chalice of the well-known Gebhard von
Mansfeld, Archbishop of Cologne, in the "gr�nen Gew�lbe" at
Dresden (about 1560). All the works of this period are surpassed
by the productions which the goldsmith Anton Eisenhoit made about
the year 1590 for Theodor am F�rstenberg, Prince-Bishop of
Paderborn; these are a chalice, crucifix, book-cover and a vessel
for holy water. The articles are most exquisitely ornamented with
noble Renaissance forms done in flat chasing. The most beautiful
works of the Renaissance in Southern Germany, reliquaries,
chalices, monstrances, etc., are in the Reichen Kapelle at Munich.
France, like Italy, has a large amount of documentary evidence of
the manufacture of metalwork for the Church, but the endless wars
of Louis XIV and the Revolution consigned them almost without
exception to the melting-pot. A chalice in the church of St-Jean
du Doigt (about 1540), which has a stout knob transformed into a
chapel, and the cup and base being covered with clumsy tendrils,
is the only work which we are able to name here.
Besides the works of the goldsmith's art, the productions in base
metal must not remain entirely unnoticed. These came not rarely
from the workshops of the goldsmiths. The most important
founderies were in Florence and Padua. It is not always easy to
distinguish between the works of sculpture and those of the
industrial arts. Certainly a large number of magnificent bronze
railings belong to the latter -- the most beautiful is in the
cathedral at Prato, the work of Bruno di Ser Lapo Mazzei (1444) --
as do also the candelabra, which, because of their elegance of
form and delicate ornamentation, are very effective. The best
known specimen is the excessively ornamented candelabrum in Il
Santo at Padua, the masterpiece of Riccio (1516). From bronze
there were also manufactured for the service of the Church Sanctus
bells, candlesticks, vessels for holy water, hanging lamps, about
the details of which we need not here concern ourselves. We merely
add that the works in iron are confined more particularly to the
railings in the side-chapels of the larger churches; they are of
no interest, however, from the standpoint of the history of art.
The last periods of church metalwork can be concisely described.
Like the whole of the baroque art, the metalwork of the Church of
this epoch, when compared with the delicately balanced regularity
of the Renaissance, also shows a certain clumsiness and unrest,
which in the rococo develops onesidedly into absolute
irregularity, to be changed in the Classicism which followed, into
the exact opposite, a pedantic, inflexible rigidity. These
peculiarities of the new styles do not, of course, find expression
in the goldsmith's art to the same extent as in the plastic arts.
Nevertheless this evolution is not wholly lacking even in the
smaller church utensils it may, for instance, be clearly observed
in the chalice, which in the baroque style is overloaded with
broad, clumsy ornaments; in the rococo the forms become more
delicate, all the parts assumed wavy lines, false and genuine gems
and porcelain paintings formed the decoration; Classicism
discarded these baubles and produced chalices of the severest
forms and with straight lines.
In France, which during this epoch set the fashion in Europe, the
Court and a number of prominent individuals devoted enormous sums
to provide valuable church furniture, at times in such a way that
true art was lost in splendid display. In a completely equipped
"chapel", which Cardinal Richelieu presented to the crown in 1636,
there was a cross, ornamented with 2516 diamonds of various kinds,
a chalice and a paten with 2113 diamonds, a madonna with 1253
diamonds, altogether 9000 diamonds and 224 rubies were employed in
furnishing the chapel. The Sainte-Chapelle at Paris was presented
by the "Chambres de comptes" with a reliquary one metre in length,
for which they paid 13,060 livres. New metalwork was at that time
produced in larger quantities in Germany, which in this art
especially maintained its pre-eminence. Indeed it is the time of
the so-called Counter-Reformation, which in Southern Germany and
Austria beheld the erection of so many magnificent churches. The
new houses of God, however, required new metal furniture. To the
present day the treasure rooms of many a cathedral -- and convent
-- church are filled with the crosses, candlesticks, and
antipendia that were made at that time; they are remarkable,
however, for their size rather than their artistic qualities; the
material is mostly silver. But works of art of great excellence
are not entirely lacking. The Abbey of St. Blasien formerly owned
an antipendium portraying the passage of the imperial army through
the Black Forest in the year 1678, a most beautiful piece of work
(now in Vienna). Other examples of the zeal employed in the
manufacture of precious metalwork are the reliquary shrine of St.
Engelbert in Cologne, dating from 1633, which shows the saint
lying prostrate on the cover, and statues of bishops on the sides,
but otherwise only architectural forms; also the shrine of St.
Fridolin at Sackingen (Baden), characterized by the complete
mobility of its lines, and furthermore the valuable monstrance in
Klosterneuburg near Vienna, which is in the form of an elder-tree
(1720).
Probably at no time was so little money expended upon religious
furniture as during the period of Classicism; it is the age of
barren Rationalism, which was practically devastating in its
effect upon the liturgy and religious life. To devote large sums
to the acquisition of precious furniture was not in consonance
with the spirit of this age. For this reason candlesticks and even
monstrances were not infrequently made of tin or wood, but to
preserve appearances, often coated with silver or gold. We do not
desire, however to leave this period with this gloomy picture. In
the baroque period the art of the blacksmith reached its second
climax in Germany and France. Under the hammer of the smith the
inert mass began to sprout and blossom. The superb choir-railings,
lanterns, candle-stands, and chandeliers show to the present day
that the art of the blacksmith in the service of the Church was at
that time spurred on to the highest endeavours. The revival of the
styles of the Middle Ages during the nineteenth century proved
beneficial to the religious metalwork also. At the present day
candlesticks, chalices, monstrances are manufactured, which in
costliness and purity of style are not inferior to the best works
of ancient art. Moreover the tendency toward the creation of a new
style is noticeable also in the art of metalworking. Whether this
is to be crowned with lasting success, is a question for the
future to decide.
BEDA KLEINSCHMIDT
Transcribed by Michael C. Tinkler
From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright � 1913 by the
Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version copyright � 1996 by
New Advent, Inc.
Taken from the New Advent Web Page (www.knight.org/advent).
This article is part of the Catholic Encyclopedia Project, an
effort aimed at placing the entire Catholic Encyclopedia 1913
edition on the World Wide Web. The coordinator is Kevin Knight,
editor of the New Advent Catholic Website. If you would like to
contribute to this worthwhile project, you can contact him by e-
mail at (knight.org/advent). For more information please download
the file cathen.txt/.zip.
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