St Maurice Black or White?

Had an excellent day at the Victoria and Albert museum Spotlight on the Diaspora  gave my St Maurice presentation twice. Met some lovely people. Here's the transcript of my talk.  The second time was a literally last minute, hurried affair, without my most important prop the image of Magdeberg's St Maurice  - given as the Victoria and Albert attendants were closing the museum down around us - for those who had missed the first.

All the Victoria and Albert staff were brillant very flexible , enthusiastic  and supportive made my presentation(s) go so well so, a big thanks to them all.

Apart from how well the idea that the Victoria and Albert's St Maurice was really black was aceppted - despite its apparent whiteness - and why. My other take away was VuVox billed as:

A Virtual Gallery in Four Pictures [from Spotlight on Africa and the Diaspora] [time] 13.30 – 16.30[venue] Digital Studio [Sackler Wing]Use your camera or one of ours to take your own creative photographs of your 4 favourite Spotlight objects.  Then upload your images and design your own virtual gallery with a story or captions. 

The result you see above - a cross between a collage, a video , a picture and a panorama - a VuVox aka collvidpicpan - the one above is my first attempt. I believe this to be a brilliant idea, much better more accessible, a creative alternative to Prezi, Apple's Keynote or Microsoft's PowerPoint for making web based presentations.

All in all a good day.

Does Saint Maurice have to be black to be Saint Maurice?

Victoria and Albert  St Maurice v Magdeberg Cathedral St Maurice

I was delighted when I was invited by the Victoria and Albert Museum to comment on the image  of St Maurice as part of their Spotlight on Africa and the Diaspora program . The St Maurice In Magdeberg cathedral was one of the earliest (to me) and most dramatic images of a Black In Renaissance in Europe I discovered when I started this blog.

I was surprised when I saw the actual St Maurice I’d been invited to discuss with a V&A curator, this was not a St Maurice image in the Magdeberg style , this image was the like no St Maurice I’d seen so  far (see images below) - this St Maurice  looked distinctly  European.

Sixteenth Century St Maurices from German Influenced Areas

Subsequent research gave possible reasons as to why in Germany at that time an apparently white St Maurice could be appreciated when the overwhelmingly accepted image was black. Nevertheless this white St Maurice forced me to consider, did St Maurice need to be look black for me to see him as black, the V&A's St Maurice has curly hair but no other visible signs of blackness, is that enough, to be black do you have to look black ?

Discussing the question with friends - black and white - brought up the same question but this time colour inverted - do you have to look white to be white? That's what I wrote about in my response to V&A's St Maurice in the brochure to support the Spotlight on Africa and the Diaspora program:

I must have said something right (or controversial) as I've been invited to present the V&A's St Maurice and my response in front of the piece - for 40 minutes on the 19th November.

This invitation has prompted me to dig deeper into the background of the V&A's St Maurice, its creator and his times, I plan to write about my findings in the next post.

Taken Back to My Comparative Roots

Holy Trinity Church, Long, Melford, Suffolk

The outcome of my visit to Suffolk’s fifteenth century Holy Trinity Church at Long Melford in search of more Renaissance Blacks was a very pleasant surprise. Although I did not identify any Renaissance Blacks, I did find one Black , more of that later. I was taken right back to one of the fundamental reasons as to why I enjoyed studying Renaissance works of Art - it is Art with a purpose. Comparing English and Italian Art of the time and its meaning makes my Renaissance studies even more enthralling. Walking around Holy Trinity considering the purpose of the building and its Art and artifacts took me back to my comparative Renaissance roots.

Detail of Upper Part of façade

Santa Marie Novella , Florence

The lettering frieze high upon Holy Trinity’s flint and stone battlement walls compares with one of my most enduring Renaissance images - the polychrome marble and marble inlay facade of Santa Marie Novellla (built 1448-70) in Florence which is dominated by the name of its patron - Giovanni Rucellai  (1403–1481) incised into the marble in large Roman letters :

IOHANES*ORICELLARIVS*PAV* F*AN*SAL*MCCCCLXX 

Notably the patron's name is incisied  in full with the remaining text in abbreviation, in its expanded form reads:

IOHANNES ORICELLARIUS PAULI FILIUS ANNO SALUTIS MCCCCLXX 

and translating from Latin to English:

Giovanni Rucellai son of Paolo in the blessed year 1470.

Detail left of porch of Battlements

Holy Trinity Church, Long, Melford, Suffolk

Like Santa Marie’s facade Holy Trinity's patron’s name - John Clopton (1423-1497) - is found in wall’s lettering. However, In contrast to Rucellai’s confident, aspirational Latin. the name of Holy Trinity’s chief organiser, fund raiser and benefactor of the church’s rebuilding scheme is found in the continuous statement running around the church in humble, common, vernacular English written in a Gothic script:

Pray for ye sowlis of William Clopton, Margy and Margy his wifis , and for ye sowle of Alice Clopton and for John Clopto’, and for alle thoo sowlis ye seyd John is bo’nde to pray for....

Clopton and Rucellai are united in their appeal to the community to recognise and remember their efforts: Rucelliai seems to want them to know who he is - “the big man” while Clopton seems more much modest and community based in his appeal.

Givovanni Rucellai was one of the three richest men in Renaissance Florence , his wealth was founded on cloth and banking, presents himself through the abbreviated Latin text as an humanist elite, an educated man , a benefactor to city who like all good Florentines should : was glorifying God, venerating his heritage and honouring his city.

John Clopton was also a wealthy man whose fortune lay in cloth but seems to aspire to none of Rucellai’s intellectual or civic ambitions. One might go as far to say that difference is revealed in their respective, chosen language - vernacular English and elitist Latin. Clopton could be seen as the country bumpkin contrasting with Rucellai the sophisticated urbanite.

That contrast country versus town, common versus elite is further reflected, in the architecture of the two churches.

Holy Trinity's architect is unknown, perhaps a local master mason or builder supported by the village, while Santa Marie‘s facade’s architect was the archetypal Renaissance man - Italian, humanist, playwright, musician, painter, mathematician, scientist and athlete as well as architect and architectural theorist - Leone Battista Alberti (1404-72).

Santa Marie Novella , Florence

Alberti models his façade on his idea of harmonic unity rooted in Classical ideas found in the Roman Triumphal arches like Constantine Arch. Where proportion and symmetry are the dominant design guidelines: man being the measure of all with each of the works element in balance.

Alberti’s Classical façade masks Santa Marie’s thirteenth century Gothic structure. Holy Trinity has no presumptuous façade. It is what it is. Holy Trinity Church makes no pretence to hide its identity or history - a very pleasing honesty, lacking in pretension - a church built to the glory of God, with the help of John Clopton and others from the its environs

Decorated Ceiling of Clopton Chantry Chapel

Holy Trinity is built in the Decorated Gothic style: intricate tracery windows with much ornamentation, maximum surface decoration with many statue niches - decoration and colour everywhere even on the ceilings! There is symmetry but it is not a slave to the design: its Family chapels, its Porch and Lady Chapel have been incorporated into the design organically rather than to strict symmetrical plan, creating pleasing and often unexpected, surprising views.

The contrast between Classical and Gothic design still resonates to day for example America’s Classically inspired Capitol Hill and Britain’s Gothic Houses of Parliament - two very different designs perhaps reflecting the different governments - Presidential versus Parliamentary.

…...and I did find a Black he was on the Parish Baptism and Weddings notice board a wedding photograph of him and his bride dated 7th Aug 2010 !

Liverpool Cathedral's Blacks

I was in Liverpool last weekend to see my Mum and the rest of my family when I found I had the Sunday morning free. So I took the opportunity to visit Liverpool’s Catholic Cathedral - The Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King - known  locally as Paddy’s Wigwam. Although educated in the city as a Catholic - primary; St Bernard's, secondary ; Cardinal Newman; sixth form De La Salle - the former two, now long gone, having been demolished to make way for housing reflecting  the city's dwindling Catholic community and its need for improved housing stock. I had never had a reason to visit the Cathedral, this was a first. And a chance to see if I could find any Blacks.

Liverpool Cathedral from Hope Street

It is a truly magnificent building dominating its surroundings, approached from Hope Street its true majesty is made manifest. Although it does not have a square before it like St George’s Hall in the city centre or on hill like the Anglican Cathedral at the other end of Hope Street - the Cathedral commands the area. Surrounding buildings being kept at a respectful distant and lower in height isolate the Cathedral and empathise its importance and grandeur.


The magnificence is sustained by the visitors entrance to the Sanctuary being a very low ceiling , cramped ante-chamber before entering the huge, architectural space of the Sanctuary, creating a sublime effect from small, cramped space into a huge ,open one. 

The Cramped Ante-Chamber into the Sanctuary

Light - dark and coloured - is used to create an atmosphere of mystery and reverence - focused on the Altar at the centre. The very first thing that caught my eye was the Pope’s coat of arms in one two niches flanking the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, and there was one of the two Blacks I found on my visit.


This Pope’s arms are there to commemorate the visit of Pope Benedict to the Cathedral in 2010. The Black is part of a long tradition from Germany dating back to the twelfth century ,  reflecting the Pope’s heritage. I plan to write in more detail about this tradition in another post.

Pope Bendict's Coat of Arms

Pope's Coat of Arms in Liverpool

The other Black was St Martin de Porres (1579 - 1639) . I know him from my childhood, in the 1960’s  as the fan light over our front door in Beaconsfield Street had a small statue of this  Black saint.

Statue of St Martin 

St Martin of the Poor

At the time I never made the connection  between his colour and me. Our house had other familiar Catholic images - the Jesus with the bleeding heart, Mary Mother of God. Fittingly St Martin was a Dominican known as the Black Friars - not for their skin colour but the colour of their robes.

A very pleasant hour or so in landmark building in my home town made even more enjoyable by finding two Blacks.

.....they are often there, you just have to look

I had a few spare moments while in central London the other day so decided to pop into the National Gallery as it has been some time since I last visited this national treasure. As usual I was on the look out for the Black Presence - I was not disappointed. I found two, one obvious the other not so obvious and their presences came from two different traditions.

Since my last visit the National’s curators have moved things around as I came across quite by chance two of the National's most iconic paintings - Leonardo’s The Virgin and the Rocks and Holbein's The Ambassadors. They were in small, intimate rooms in the basement accessed without drama, in contrast to the positions I had known them to be hung previously. The Ambassadors used to be visible, from a distance, on one of the main axis of the Gallery, The Virgin and the Rocks had at one time dominated the entrance space to the Sainsbury Wing; now both were in much smaller spaces.

The hang in both rooms is balanced and visually pleasing with the masterwork dominating its room flanked by lesser - in size and in skill - works from contemporary artists Time did not permit an in depth study of the Holbein room other than just a cursory look - enough to find the Black Presence. The Ambassadors contains no Black Presence to my knowledge but this is a complex detailed painting focused study might well reveal a connection - perhaps a future blog post. The Black Presence in the room was very easy to find it was the Black Magus in Bartholomaeus Spranger’s The Adoration of the Kings. This was a conventional traditional presence The Black Magus with black attendant is positioned towards the edge of the composition in a strutting almost arrogant pose, complete with outlandish clothes in colour and cut and single earring, all underlining his exotic otherliness.

Bartholomaeus Spranger’s The Adoration of the Kings (detail)

The Black Presence in Leonardo room was much more difficult to spot. It needed a wall plaque to find the Black Presence as it was in such a novel place - a woman’s belt buckle.The work in question looked very Northern Fourteenth century in style and composition - the profile of a dour lifeless, ashen faced woman painted in oil. What was missing was the detailed often crowded background with its obligatory window view found in most 15th century Northern portraits, this work has a very plain background it is attributed to Giovanni Ambrogio de Predi Profile Portrait of a Lady. Although its presence in the Room was supposed to be due to its artistic connection to the Leonardo the only connection I could think of was the fact that Ambrogio de Predi was one of the brothers who worked with Leonardo on The Virgin and the Rocks installation. They are mentioned in the 1483 contract for the work , as they were to help with painting and gilding and also paint the side panels with angels

Giovanni Ambrogio de Predi Profile Portrait of a Lady

The plaque revealed the Black presence:

The Moor's head and the letters 'L' and 'O' which ornament the buckle of the belt may allude to Lodovico il Moro, Duke of Milan

Without that note I would have missed this Black Presence completely as this is a very, very dark painting. To actually reveal it I needed the help of the National’s (excellent) web viewing tool to expand the painting coupled with a bit of cutting and pasting supported by Photoshop

Giovanni Ambrogio de Predi Profile Portrait of a Lady (detail)

The woman's identity is unknown but from the the buckle it can be inferred she was part of the court of Lodovico il Moro, Duke of Milan as the Moor’s head was a version of his device. The Moor’s head was never actually part of his heraldic coat nevertheless the Moor and his head has been found to be directly associated with him.

Elizabeth McGarth in her article Ludivico and his Moors suggests Ludovico had a seal of the head of a moor in profile with a headband which can be seen in the Black Presence on the courtier's buckle. She also identifies the device on a document granting a concession from Ludivico to the Crivelli Familiy.

Decorated Letter L with moor head and Crivelli Arms

A painted chest or cassone from 1488 has Ludivio sitting proudly on horse back in some form of pageant with his horse’s livery featuring the brush device in his coat of arms , followed by a black African attendant part of Ludivicos’ armed guard. The Black has the characteristic white headband, I will be returning to this emblem in a future post.

So the Black Presence was there you just had to look: one a conventional Black Magus the other the Moors head as an emblem. Two different uses of the Black Presence one as part of the Adoration entourage and the other as a device or symbol for a Renaissance Prince. I left the Gallery thruogh the gift shop and could not resist the challenge to find the Black - a 70p post card of The Adoration of the Kings 1598, Jan Brueghel the Elder...with strangely all the Blacks all looking away from the Virgin must find out why......

Jan Brueghel the Elder The Adoration of the Kings 1598 (detail)