Creating the City of God: The Darkness and Elegance of the Middle Ages

Author: Wang Pingli
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features: After the glorious Greece and Rome, Europe was brewing a new temperament. It was said to be cold and cruel. This temperament was so different from Greece and Rome that later generations considered the next thousand years as a deformed era and gave it a fixed name, the "Dark Age." This cannot be called anything but ironic: since the Middle Ages, God has ruled the minds of Europeans. Wasn't it in the beginning of the "Genesis" that God said, "Let there be light"? Yet this devout thousand years was called the "Dark Age" by later generations. Where did the light God brought go? This is a simple question. However, this question exposed the flaws of the term "Dark Age": "Dark Age" was a slander or at least a misunderstanding of the entire Middle Ages, especially its art. If it was a slander, it wasn't surprising. Enlightenment thinkers had an excessive aversion to everything about the Middle Ages. They couldn't help but portray all the bishops of the Middle Ages as greedy little men and all the monks as ignorant fools. They fabricated many stories about this, starting with Boccaccio's "Decameron." Modern scientists took it for granted that many Middle Age concepts were foolish. For example, they believed that people in the Middle Ages insisted that the Earth was the center of the universe due to ignorance and the indoctrination of the Church. In reality, the idea that the Earth was round and revolved around the sun was not shocking or strange in the Middle Ages, because the astronomical knowledge passed down from Greece was not lacking in admirers in the Middle Ages. The Greeks had long suspected that the Earth was not the center of the universe. However, ideas alone were not enough to spread them widely; they needed mathematical persuasion. In this regard, the mathematical model of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) provided a relatively complete solution for the intellectual circles of the entire Middle Ages. Aquinas's premise was that the Earth was the center of the universe, so monks and believers gradually accepted the geocentric concept. If Aquinas had assumed that the Sun was the center of the universe and had been able to explain it successfully with the same mathematical methods, it is likely that the astronomical concepts of the Middle Ages would have been no different from today's. Once Aquinas's theory was widely accepted and regarded as orthodox, it would naturally require a struggle to overturn it, which is why Copernicus, Bruno, and Galileo were threatened and persecuted by the Church. This was not a flaw of the Middle Ages Church but a flaw of all people and all societies. Modern society also has authority and orthodoxy, and anyone who wants to completely subvert it will face suppression no less severe than the heresies of the Middle Ages Church. If it was a misunderstanding, it also stemmed from a prejudice. Europeans, like the Chinese, also suffer from a fondness for the past and disdain for the present. Ancient Greek and Roman art satisfied the romantic tastes of modern Europeans. It was more ancient than the Middle Ages, and ancient things were said to radiate a natural simplicity, sublimity, and beauty. Although we know that the ancient era was far from lacking in cunning, bloodshed, greed, and fraud, and that even today there are people who possess a natural simplicity, sublimity, and beauty by nature. Of course, Middle Age art was indeed very different from ancient Greek and Roman art. If we were to use some words to superficially summarize it, it would be that ancient Greek and Roman art reflected confidence, positivity, brightness, and dignity, whether in the work itself or in the creator. After all, the Greeks dared to compete with the gods in skill, and the Romans established a world empire unprecedented in history. The spirit of Caesar's "I came, I saw, I conquered" permeated the ideology of his successors. Middle Age art was almost the opposite—it was the most humble art in history. Under the premise of original sin, people's confidence and dignity were absurd. Before the twisted body and tragic face of Christ, didn't the beauty of the naked body that the Greeks used to show off and the grandeur of the temples that the Romans used to display seem self-indulgent? This was the starting point of the Middle Ages artists. In their view, the forms and colors used in art were always imperfect means. To deliberately pursue realism like the Greeks was meaningless, because God could never be depicted by human hands. Therefore, shapes and colors could only be auxiliary, and people's eyes should not linger only on the artwork itself—this was "losing oneself in trifles"! Instead, one should experience deeper, more spiritual meanings through hints, metaphors, implications, and symbols in the artwork. The revelation and will of God were vast and profound, and they deserved the viewer's reverent and pious contemplation. This was the support behind all Middle Age artworks. Therefore, Middle Age art was a reflective art, constantly reminding the viewer of their status and faith. Before God, humans were humble, but they lived in God and were always connected to Him. Artworks became a medium between humans and God, making them more philosophical and emphasizing the spiritual. Middle Age artists also achieved this effect through many methods. For example, painting and sculpture did not deliberately pursue realism but aimed for a symbolic, flat, and decorative effect, intending to create an atmosphere. Churches increasingly created an interior effect that was lofty, profound, full of changing light and shadow, and ethereal. All of this was intended to evoke a spiritual touch in the viewer, as if it came from the effusion of a hidden sacred radiance. Yet, for such a spiritual pursuit, for hundreds of years, we have been naming it "darkness and ignorance." How cruel is that. Artworks inevitably face this dilemma: the more concrete, realistic, and sensory, like the Greek Venus or Poseidon, the more easily people are trapped in the cage of the eyes. People cannot transcend visual pleasure and intoxication, no longer wanting to say or able to say anything. Any description or praise is redundant, because it has already exceeded the limits of positive language. Therefore, modern aestheticians often mention that beauty cannot be analyzed and cannot be mixed with concepts. The more abstract, expressive, and rational, like Middle Age art, the more easily people can directly pass through the artwork itself to face what it symbolizes. And this beauty is analytical, thinkable, and imaginable. These were the two artistic styles in Europe before the emergence of modern art, and they were not particularly superior or inferior to each other. "Dark" is more of a description of Middle Age artistic style than a criticism. Deep within the lofty and profound Gothic cathedrals, there were stunning sculptures, paintings, stained glass windows, and chandeliers. Perhaps the church itself was a microcosm of Middle Age art. The church was the Middle Ages' "spiritual box," and its stunning aspects lay in its dark interior, just as human beauty lies in its depths—the love for God that it contains—a longing for salvation that all people in all ages share. This book has a relatively broad practical value and can serve as a reference book and practical material for Western architecture and culture researchers, students and teachers of architecture, practical art workers, travel enthusiasts, and the general public interested in Western culture.