Parke-Bernet Galleries. 1949. Part II of the notable art collection belonging to the estate of the late Joseph Brummer, sale code 1069. 11-15 May 1949, New York.
","citation":"Parke-Bernet Galleries. 1949. Part II of the notable art collection belonging to the estate of the late Joseph Brummer, sale code 1069. 11-15 May 1949, New York.
, no. 771","date":1949,"id":2549,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/171364795"},{"boilertext":"Walter Cahn, \"Romanesque Sculpture in American Collections, VII. New York and New Jersey,\" Gesta 10, no. 1 (1971).\n\tChurch of St. Madeleine, Vézelay (France); moved to the newly-established Musée Lapidaire of the church between 1840 and 1861 during Viollet-le-Duc’s restoration of the building and replaced with a copy [1]; removed from the museum sometime before January 1934 [2]. [Demotte Inc., Paris and New York, by January 1934, when he transported the capital to the United States [3]]; [acquired by Gabriel Dereppe]; [purchased from the above by Joseph Brummer (1883-1947), New York (NY), through the mediation of Aldo Jandolo, Oct. 31, 1942, stock no. N5393 [4]]; purchased by the Princeton University Art Museum, May 1949 [5].\n
\n\n\t[1] The nineteenth-century copy, still in situ, is published in Le Patrimoine de la Basilique de Vézelay, 1999, p. 264, n. AN44.\n
\n\n\t[2] Francis Salet, La Madeleine de Vézelay, Melun 1948, p. 201, n. 44.\n
\n\n\t[3] See the Demotte archive, The Cloisters, Architecture, no. 6337. See also the letter from Gabriel Dereppe to Ernest Brummer dated May 25, 1949, in the museum files).\n
\n\n\t[4] For the provenance until this point, see Brummer Gallery Records, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY), and the object folder in the museum files. Aldo Jandolo and his brother Ugo, dealers based in Rome and New York, were important sources for Brummer, especially for Italian antiquities (see Irene Bald Romano, “Antiquities in the Nazi Era: Contexts and Broader View”, in The Fate of Antiquities in the Nazi Era, special number of RIHA Journal, 2023, p. 1-63: 57 and fn. 198).\n
\n\n\t[5] The Notable Art Collection Belonging to the Estate of the Late Joseph Brummer, Parke-Bernet Galleries (New York), May 1949, Part II, no. 771.\n
","remarks":null},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"A lion and an eagle are caught within decorative spiraling vines. This sculpture is incomplete, and its meaning remains elusive. It was once part of a large double capital in the upper narthex (vestibule) of the pilgrimage church of Sainte Madeleine at Vézelay. The nineteenth-century architect Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc removed the capital when he restored and reconstructed the church, which was threatened by collapse.\n","remarks":"EUR1_02-05_WLA-Day 1 Cataloguing "},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Handbook Entry","textentryhtml":"\r\nPart of a large, double capital, this sculpture was originally in the upper narthex (vestibule) of Sainte Madeleine at Vézelay in Burgundy. The nineteenth-century architect Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc removed it when he restored and reconstructed the Romanesque structure, which was threatened by collapse, and a copy now occupies its place. \r\nAs is usual in Romanesque buildings, the carving is allied with a structural element rather than existing on its own. Also characteristic of French Romanesque architectural sculpture is the adaptation and abstraction of foliate capitals from ancient Roman monuments. Caught in decorative, spiraling vines, known by the French term rinceaux, the lion and the eagle may be symbolic of the evangelists Mark and John, or they may be purely ornamental. It is difficult to reconstruct the meaning or role of the subject in the series of capitals in the basilica’s upper narthex since the nineteenth-century copy now in situ may not accurately reflect the original appearance of the capital’s missing portions. The carving is powerfully conceived: crisply outlined vines resemble metalwork, with a beaded vein adding texture and richness. Overlapping layers of animals and vines carved in high relief create patterns of light and shade, so the forms are easy to read from a distance. \r\nVézelay was an important medieval pilgrimage site, where the relics of Mary Magdalene were venerated. The location of Vézelay in the duchy of Burgundy made the church (the nave of which was completed in the 1130s, and the narthex in the 1140s) a central location for preaching the Second Crusade in 1146. ","remarks":null}],"datebegin":1140,"sortnumber":"1949 117y","published_date":"2026-05-08 02:00:27.092837","objectid":23744,"dimensions":"h. 24.1 cm (9 1/2 in.)\r\nupper surface: 25.0 x 19.0 cm (9 13/16 x 7 1/2 in.)","on_view":true}