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Workshop Summaries
Simon Bening's Stein
Quadriptych, Manuscript or
Altarpiece?
Lynn Ransom, Free Library of
Philadelphia/Mellon Fellow,
University of Pennsylvania
This workshop took place before
Simon Bening's cycle of
miniatures containing scenes from
the life of Christ, known today as
the "Stein Quadriptych"
after a previous owner. Lynn Ransom
began by outlining the central
question of whether or not the
miniatures were intended to be
viewed simultaneously as an
"altarpiece," the common
assumption is, or if they were
rather intended to be viewed
individually as miniatures in a
picture-book or as single leaves in
something like a portfolio. Ransom
argued for the latter using
physical evidence and suggesting
that each miniature was the object
of devotional looking and
contemplation, much like the
chapters of a Vita Christi. She
offered several examples of similar
picture books as well as the
example of the retablo of Isabella
of Castille by Juan de Flandes, a
similar Vita Christi cycle of panel
paintings that were recorded in a
1505 inventory of the queen's
possessions as being found grouped
together in a cabinet in no
particular order. A portion of the
cycle was then later turned into an
altarpiece by Margaret of Austria,
but then in modern times once again
dispersed as individual panels. The
following discussion continued the
debate with some sticking to the
opinion that the miniatures were
indeed intended to be viewed
simultaneously. Those in favor of
the simultaneous viewing took the
term "altarpiece" to task
because it implied liturgical
connotations that may not have been
intended for the miniatures, but
that they nevertheless could have
been part of a small "house
altar." Some viewed the visual
and formal continuity of the cycle
as proof that Bening wanted them to
be viewed simultaneously, while
others considered that the
continuity would have rather
enhanced individual viewing in a
serial mediation on each image.
Regardless of the true intention
behind the cycle, the discussion
highlighted assumptions that modern
viewers bring to historical objects
and the problems of knowing how the
devotional gaze might have been
directed or guided by an
object's format.
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