Branka Vranešević
(University of Belgrad, Serbia)

 
Problems in Studying the Heritage of Antiquity in the Middle Ages. The Case of Personifications of Divine Wisdom in the Leningrad Gospel

The Divine Wisdom was often the subject of thought and polemics of intellectuals, theologians and scholars from the Middle Ages to the present. However, the development of this subject matter, in Serbian environment, is not well researched. On the example of the Radoslav Gospel, created in 1427–28 (also known as Leningrad Serbian Gospel by the place where it is kept, Gospel of the Spiritual Visarion by its donor, Tetraevangelion of Inok from Dalљa by its scribe), an analysis of this subject matter, that received its final form in this particular example, can be carried out. These are the representations of the Divine Wisdom, next to the evangelists, in the guise of the Muses, or young girls, or angles with or without wings. At the root of the problem investigated in this thesis lies the questions how and when these representations have been made, what was their “model”, how have they changed throughout centuries and where can we find literary examples for such representations. The influence of Antiquity on Medieval and Byzantine art, which then influenced Serbian art, is indisputable. Namely, the composition of portraits finds its roots in the ancient Hellenistic tradition. The evangelists are represented as ancient philosophers, writers, followed by the Muses inspiring them. The revival of antiquity had a major influence on the formation of the final artistic expression that has spread and reached to us. By performing an analysis of the concept of personifications and its meaning, its appearance and development, followed with the idea of the Divine Wisdom, that has developed and changed throughout centuries, we reach to their visual representations. This analysis will be done through ancient and medieval examples, followed by the examples from Serbian miniature and wall painting. What was finally developed was the representation in the shape of ancient Muses, now in its new Christians meaning, and it received its ultimate form in the Radoslav Gospel.