Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1999, Page 104

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ÁRBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS
Madonna are in a special class.The largest and finest surviving Icelandic example (fig. 27) is
unfortunately badly damaged and all the minor figures from the doors are missing. The
Madonna itself is in Late Gothic style and the whole piece is thought to be from the
second half of the 13th century, perhaps made in Norway. From the same period is a
Madonna front an unidentified Icelandic church; the canopy on spiral columns, however, is
of more recent date (fig. 28).Two much later altar-shrines include Mary with the Child
(fig. 29) and St. Olaf (fig. 30).
After 1400 church art was extensively imported. As in the other Nordic countries a
large amount of wooden sculpture was imported, most of it froni the Hansa towns of N.
Germany and from the Netherlands, where highly specialised workshops engaged in mass-
production. Of the surviving figures which can tell us something of the stylistic
development (see the illustrations here and in Isl. þjóðm.V, pp. 97-99), most have lost both
the original pigment and chalk ground and sorne have been re-painted later.
The Marian cult gradually increased in Europe and the true family idyll can be seen in
the many representations of theVirgin and Child with St Anne from around 1500. Several
examples carved in oak have survived in Iceland (e.g. fig. 31).
The altarpieces containing several figures mark a high point in Late Medieval church
art, where sculpture and painting go hand in hand. Several works of high quality are
preserved in Iceland.The two cathedrals had particularly large and expensive altarpieces and
that from Hólar still survives. It underwent restoration in 1989 (figs. 32-33). It is decorated
in rich colours and gilt and is probably Gerntan handwork from around 1525.
Finally, of the medieval pieces a couple of Late Medieval crucifixes are mentioned. One is
the very large crucifix ffom Hólar Cathedral in a very realistic figurative style, which may
have been brought from Germany about the same time as the altarpiece (fig. 34).The other is
an example of Icelandic folk art, combining Romanesque and Gothic styles (fig. 35).
The Reformation in Iceland reached fulfilment in 1550. As far as the very traditional
decorative wood-carving is concerned it does not seem that the ecclesiastical upheaval brought
any profound changes, to judge from the few objects apparently from the second half of tlie
16th century (e.g. figs. 36-37). The carving is mostly Rontanesque, but a Renaissance
influence can be seen in the costumes on the carved figures on the chair-posts from
Draflastaðir Church in Fnjóskadalur (fig. 36 and Isl. þjóðm.V, p. 128). This chair also has a
relatively early example of the use of „höfðaletur“, an Icelandic script based on Gothic
minuscules.
For figurative clturch art the Reformation had a ntuch greater effect in that all the figures
of saints had to be rentoved and it also marked the end of the extensive iniport of church
art from abroad. To some extent the crucifixes were retained and in time new ones were
made. Some were actually given inscriptions explaining that it was not the wooden figure
one should worship, but Him the figure represented. (Similar inscriptions are also known
frorn the Middle Ages.)
After the Reformation the sermon becante a much more intportant part of the service
than before and the pulpit became an important piece of church furniture. In time it
becante decorated with carving and sculpture. A splendid Renaissance pulpit, which Bishop
Guðbrandur Þorláksson obtained for Hólar Cathedral, has the date 1594 and was brought
from abroad, probably Germany (fig. 38).
There is much more carving and sculpture surviving from after 1600 than front earlier times
and the date is carved on many objects. Several pulpits of Icelandic origin have survived (e.g.
fig. 39), but all are simpler than the Guðbrandur pulpit. The ornamental carving has been