This week I have chosen to talk about the Doors of Bishop Bernward. The two panels horizontal to each other that I will be talking about is the seventh one down, the Offerings by Cain (grain) and Abel (lamb) and the Nativity, you can find a great picture in our book on page 449. I have a very religious background so for me I love looking at these doors and coming up with my own interpretation for them. In the two panels there are a lot of similarity to each other, I find it very interesting how the artist came up with this idea to pair these images from the Old Testament to the New Testament. All of the panels seem to match with each other almost perfectly.
There are a ton of similarity between the Offerings scene and the Nativity scene. First off the fact that both scenes have to do with children, the Offerings scene is Eve’s Children and the Nativity is with Mary’s Child. Next in the title Offerings by Cain and Abel, Abel was Offerings the Lamb to God, and the in Nativity God is giving us the Lamb of God. When looking at the Nativity and in what I know about what happened, Offerings were given to Christ from the three wise men when he was born like gold, frankincense, and myrrh. When looking back at the Offerings by Cain as it says in the title Grain being Cain and Lamb being Abel they were Offerings to God to show his faith and love. Another interesting parallel I found is that Abel’s lamb was the first sacrifice to take away sin, and Jesus was the sacrificed to save us from sin. It is interesting to see the unique similarities just in what the story was about and the title of both panels.
Now let us talk about the compositions of the Offerings by Cain and Abel versus the Nativity panel. I am going to start with the Offerings by Cain and Abel first, when taking a good look at the panel and knowing the background God is reaching his hand down to take the offerings from Abel but not from Cain. The plants that are growing in the background on Abel’s side are going and become new and fruitful but on Cain side they are tangled and are not growing as strong and beautiful as Abel’s, which is telling the reader that God was not in favor with what Cain had brought him. Abel sacrificed a lamb for his sins and Cain brought fruit and grains and God was not happy with Cain’s choice. In this panel there is not a lot going on composition wise it is very open and clean. But when looking at the Nativity scene there is almost too much going on that I can’t really tell what is going on, there is just a ton of reliefs pushed into this panel. The low reliefs in the background are of buildings, which is different from what we learned Christ was born in which was a stable. Jesus is on the top right hand side in his bed but not as a baby as a grown man. It is really hard for me to tell but I think Mary is lying in the bed while Joseph watches over her. In the composition of these two panels are very different the Nativity scene is so much more busy then the Offerings scene. It is interesting because I find it so easy to read the Offerings scene but when looking at the Nativity scene from what I know about the birth of Christ I can’t really tell what is going on in this panel. In all these themes in both panels are very similar but the composition of both panels are very different.
I, too, come from a religious background. I wonder, do you think someone who has a religious background would have more of an advantage to studying religious works of art than one who has not, and has not had any background in studying art? Since I haven't had much experience in looking at art and studying it, I personally don't think I would be able to write a full analysis on it if I didn't have some idea of the religious events that are going on. I like your analysis of the two works of art because they help explain what is going on in those two pieces. Some of the parallels you made, such as Abel offering up a lamb that was used as sacrifice for sin and the birth of the Lamb that saves us all from sin, I did not even think of, but they make sense how they would be the same.
ReplyDelete