Csornay Boldizsár - Hubai Péter szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 96. (Budapest, 2002)

KOVÁCS, ZOLTÁN: A New Representation of the Salvator Mundi from the workshop of Quentin Massys

Christ as the King of Glory.

11 The most important features of the type are the frontal pose, the right hand raised in blessing, and the globe, usually figuring prominently, either held by the Saviour in His left, placed on His knees with His left hand resting upon it, or, in a few cases, placed on the ground with His foot resting on it. Sometimes it is only a simple sphere, but more often a metal or translucent crystal globe, surmounted by a cross. Although the claim that the Salvator Mundi was a Northern invention cannot be substantiated, nevertheless it was north of the Alps where this iconographie type gained a truly widespread popularity.

12 Apart from a few earlier examples, the iconographie tradition of the Salvator Mundi flourished in the 15th century Netherlands.

13 While it had been present in several different contexts referring to both God the Father and Christ, in the Low Countries new life was breathed into the medieval iconographie convention by providing it with new content, emphasising the theological concepts of Salvation and Blessing. Mention should be made of some of the most important antecedents of the Salvator Mundi: the medieval representations of the Maiestas Domini carrying regal attributes including the orb;

14 Byzantine images of the Pantokrator

15 and the Italian mosaics reflecting their influence (fig. 39); divine figures holding a book as they appear in 14th century altarpieces;

16 certain 11 Cf. M. Hartig, Der Christuskönig in der Kunst, eine ikonographische Studie, Die christliche Kunst 23 (1926-7), 290-312; J. Kollwitz, Das Bild von Christus dem König in Kunst und Liturgie der christlichen Frühzeit, Theologie und Glaube 1947-8, 95-117; K. Wessel, Christus Rex. Kaiserkult und Christusbild, Archäologischer Anzeiger, Beiblatt 68 (1953), 118-36; RDK III, 692-102, Christus als König; R. Deshman, Christus rex et magi reges. Kingship and Christology in Ottonian and Anglo-Saxon An,Frühmittelalterliche Studien 10 (1976), 367-405. 12 Cf. Gottlieb, op. cit. (cfr. n. 10), 313. At the time this article was written, Gottlieb may not have been aware that Simone Martini painted Christ the Saviour holding a globe in the tympanum of the Notre Dame des Doms of Avignon as early as 1341, a fact that was unknown before the discovery of sinopia underdrawings during the restoration of the ruined fresco in 1960-3. The sinopias make it plausible that Simone 's fresco may have been the first representation of the Salvator Mundi. The second of these shows Christ with an open book in his left, inscribed EGO SVM LUX MUNDI, which has been substituted for a globe in the third one (fig. 40). See D. Contini, L'opéra compléta di Simone Martini, Milan 1970, 100-1 No. 31, plates LXIII-LXIV. Cf. G. Paccagnini, Simone Martini, Milan 1955, 166-8, pi. 86. 13 An early example from the second half of the 14th century is the sculpted figure of the Salvator in the parish church of Karlstadt (Unterfranken), which had presumably functioned as a trumeau sculpture. Cf. F. Mader - R. Hoffmann, Christus in der Kunst, München 1947, 43. The Saviour at the pilgrimage site of Bettbrunn (near Ingolstadt) dates from about 1300, nevertheless His globe and sceptre are of a later date. Cf. M. Hartig, Stätten der Gnade, München 1947, 9. 14 For the Romanesque representations of the Maiestas Domini, see R. Berger, Die Darstellung des thronenden Christus in der romanischen Kunst (Tübingener Forschungen zur Archäologie und Kunstgeschichte 5), Reutlingen 1926. 15 For the iconographie analysis of Pantokrator images, see C. Capizzi, nANTOKPATQ P. Saggio d'esegesi letterario-iconografica (Orientalia Christiana analecta 170), Roma 1964; K. Wessel, Das Bild des Pantokrator, in: Polychronion. Festschrift für Franz Dölger zum 75. Geburtstag, Heidelberg 1966, 521-35. 16 Among the several examples, let us cite just some reproduced in La pittura in Italia. Il Duecento e il Trecento, a cura di E. Castelnuovo, Milan 1986: the Trapan Polyptych (II, pi. 794); the polyptych painted by Simone Martini for the Santa Catcrina church in Pisa (I, pi. 526); the polyptych by Bernardo Daddi now in the Courtauld Institute, London (I, 463); an altarpiece representing the birth of the Virgin by Paolo di Giovanni Fei now in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena (I, pi. 554); and the polyptych by Naddo Ceccarelli in the same museum (I, pi. 552).