Student 17 Exam I Spring 2000

In my essay, I will discuss the uses of color in the illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen, Yourba bead work, and selected musical examples. First, Hildegard was the tenth child of a noble family and at the age of seven or eight was given to the monastery of Disibodeberg. At the age of twelve she escaped and established a convent known as Rupertsberg. Females of this era were inferior to the men, and she fought for independence of her community. She also preached against corruption and heresy. She went on crusading missions against the Cathars, very unusual for a woman of the Middle Ages. She was not afraid to argue with authority and once refused to dig up a corpse from her cemetery. She was beyond thought and knowledge and extended into visionary prophecy. She had a series of visions following an illness, around four to five years after she became ill. One of her visions was the Cosmic Egg. The Cosmic Egg was a display of the harmony of the universe. The colors red and orange were the fire around the egg symbolizing God burning everywhere. In the center of the egg was air and water . The circular egg displays wholeness and infinity. The blue against the colors red/orange sets up an uneasy feeling.

Sophia is a female personification of wisdom and she is portrayed with fins. The blue represents a mother like, soft image. The fins were representation of fish, which is still today a symbol of Christianity. The Choir of Angels is another vision which was illustrated by blue angels in a concentric circle with a square background. The green was used because Hildegard's writing sometimes referred to viriditas, which means green, symbolizing creativity and vitality. Just as Jesus brings happiness to sad people.

Two people helped Hildegard interpret her visions; Volmar, a monk, and Richardis van Stade, a nun. She had always experienced visions, yet at age forty was ordered to write. Hildegard also had chants, and once wrote an entire mystery play, the Ordo Virtutem.

Hildegard's visions compared to music would be harmonious. Major tonality, happiness: Beethoven Sonata Pathetique is minor and conveys sadness; Chopin's Harp Etude, consonance. The color of music can be seen in Debussy's Pagodas. Hildegard is an excellent example of medieval society and was one of the most prolific, educated women of all time.

Second, Yoruba bead work is a excellent example of the use of color. It is divided into three categories: "fun-fun", (white) -aloof and standoffish, or icy; "pupa", (red) -hot, temperamental, passionate type person' "dudu" (brown) - down to earth, calm person. The Yoruba ring was a self-portrait. It conceals and reveals. The ring was interlacing, being symbolic to the two worlds, spiritual and physical interlacing. The Yoruba people, or people of West Africa, considered Ife a sacred city. The Yoruba people had an excellent philosophy of color. The Yoruba people had deities called Orishnas.

Third,the word rhythm is a wave-likeoccurance; and can be displayed in life by time and by writing in syllables. John Pollack's Waiting for the Storm, is an excellent example in visual rhythm. DaVinci's Virgin of the Rocks and Rapheal's School of Athens display rhythm by movement. The African dance and music are very closely related. Finally, the use of line and color are very vivid on Hildegards visions, the Yoruba art and on music. These elements of art are used wonderfully and have so many underlying meanings..

Group II

In the 14th century A.D. the Cathedral of Chartes was built to house a Holy Relic. The Holy Relic was the Sancta Camisia which was worn by the Virgin Mary when she was announced that she was going to have Jesus, or when she actually delivered Jesus. The Chartres was also a house of repentance. In 1420 Henry V made an act of pilgrimage there. This house of prayer was so holy it survived under Viking attack (Rollo) and it also survived three fires, one in 1020, 1134 and a large fire in 1194, which gave the Sancta Camisia a new name, when it was brought out, unharmed three days after the fire. Chartres was also known as a school. A school of visual culture. It had two teachers John of Salisbury and Fulbert . Second, the Chartres had four main parts, the choir, the ambulatory, and the nave are a few examples. The Nave a word meaning "ship" or better known as a "ship of rules". The nave makes your eyes go upward symbolic to a soul. The Chartres was of gothic style and known for its high ceilings and windows. The Cathedral has buttresses to hold up the walls, and gargoyles to scare away the evil spirits. The floor has a Labyrinth similar to a maze, yet a person will always end up in the center. There is a merchants' window and a knights' window, these contain signatures of those who donated money to the Cathedral. The three west windows are the Jesse, the windows of passion, and judgment windows. The Jesse window on the left tells of Jesus life. The incarnation window tells of Jesus life. The Passion window tells of his death and ascension. The Jesse window has Jesse in the bottom with a Jewish cap on with a tree coming from his groin into Mary to Jesus which also contains 7 doves and 7 prophets; representing seven gifts from the Holy Spirit. The rose window a series of three circles, each with 12 windows and Jesus being the center. They tell the story of Jesus. Also on the Chartres is a Royal Portal with three doors. The first one telling the story of Jesus, the middle having Jesus set on his Mother's knee with the 12 apostles in 4 groups of three, 12 symbolic to perfection in cosmos and 4 perfection in material world. Also the four represent the apocalyptic visions, Mark being a lion, Luke a calf ; these four figures symbolize the four evangelists. The last door has the seven liberal arts that are still the foundation for education today. The rose window is in a circle, as the alpha and omega are beginning to end; the circle is also representing the infinity of the spiritual life Jesus gives. In the Holy Bible in the book of Revelations, Jesus calls himself the alpha and the omega. Their is also a blue virgin window which has Mary in a beautiful blue, symbolic to mother-like, calming image; however, today arcidic rain has turned it black. Finally the Chartres should be considered a work of art for several reasons other than the long time to construct; the choir itself took two hundred years. The efforts continued, and most of all because of all the symbolizing that it shows through underlying meanings and, the excellent displayed elements of art.

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