THE ZODIAC AS A HIDDEN ABC OF PAINTING... DEMONSTRATION OF THE "EDM" CODING SYSTEM ON THE PAINTING "THE NATIVITY" FROM THE BELVEDERE GALLERY IN VIENNA (original) (raw)
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The article is about the so-called EDM system, the mainstream "secret" coding system of western European sacred painting, described in 2021. It sketches the Western and Hungarian origins of the discovery, from Hamlet's mill and the reinterpretation of Propp's fairy tale theory to the clarification of the astromythical coding of Csontváry and Philipp Otto Runge. Using a few concrete works by Raphael, Dürer and Hieronimus Bosch, he shows how additional layers of meaning, the hidden contents so common in mythical painting, are built on the EDM system of frescoes, panel paintings and engravings. He lists a number of EDM works analyzed from the Italo-Byzantine period, Proto-Renaissance, Italian and German Renaissance, and devotes a special chapter to the EDM symbolism of the Last Suppers, with 'long-table' composition appering from Taddeo Gaddi, tracing the evolution of the zodiacal and tarot principle encoding of the portrayal, eternity, the Eucharist and the Trinity.
THE "ZODIAC" SYMBOLISM OF HENRI MATISSE'S PAINTING "NUDE (BLACK AND GOLD)"
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Painted in 1908 by the French master of Fauvism, this painting is interesting in that its symbolism is based on a forgotten or secret sacred system. I described this system, called "EDM" (exile-domicile-monogrammed), in 2021, basically in relation to Raphael's Madonna paintings, but it was already apparent then that it is a mainstream Western European sacral coding system which is present in Christian painting from the 6th century to the present day. This rather general system is even inherited in late classicistic trends, historical and genre painting. This is why, surprisingly, a nude may show a hidden monogram of Jesus, since the Christogram is an obligatory element of the EDM system. The original and prepared versions of the painting are shown in Figure 1.
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The title for this article is inspired by the questions repeatedly asked by my students, and this study attempts to break the question apart and reconsider the language used to study the zodiac in medieval art. The terms 'pagan', 'Christian' and 'Christianising' are problematic and create misleading binaries, so first I reframed the question by carefully redefining the terms used to describe the zodiac in medieval art. I further refined the query to one central question: Why did the signs of the zodiac, and the constellations generally, persist in their Hellenistic renderings in art and texts into the Christian era and beyond, and not reinvented with more religiously-appropriate signifiers? Drawing from contemporary texts and art, I suggest that there were two cultural forces perpetuating the Hellenistic zodiac: the methods of dissemination of astronomical knowledge from classical sources, and the active creation of zodiacal art. I explore how the folkloric authority of the zodiac signs synergistically combined with the visual arts to stimulate astrological practices. I argue that art production was crucial as an advancing influence and not simply a by-product of a classical inheritance.
Archaeology and Science, 2017
Although the zodiac as a concept was invented in Babylonia, during the time of the Achaemenid Empire, its earliest visual representations are found in the Hellenistic period. However, the majority of surviving examples of images of the twelve signs date from the Roman Imperial Age. In this paper, we will analyse correlations between important phases in the history of astrology and the appearances of the zodiac motif in different visual forms and periods throughout Antiquity. It is our contention that the increased production of objects and monuments with zodiacal decoration corresponds to periods of increased astrological activity, its presence among the highest echelons of power, their positive attitude towards it, as well as the accessibility of the lower strata of society to the knowledge and practice of astrological theory.
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The analysis discusses the zodiacal symbolism of Delacroix's painting Christ on the Sea of Galilee. By describing the forgotten mainstream Western European sacred coding system (EDM system), he identifies the planets hidden in the characters of the work, the Christogram and the Milky Way, which can be considered the painter's zodiacally coded commentary.
5. The Romanesque Zodiac: Its Symbolic Function on the Church Facade
Transformations of Time and Temporality in Medieval and Renaissance Art, 2014
…no two cultures live conceptually in the same kind of time and space. Space and time, like language itself, are works of art, and like language they help condition and direct practical action." Lewis Mumford 1 Changes in the conception of time have been perceived by historians to be one of the important expressions of Renaissance in the twelfth century. Jacques Le Goff, Father Chenu and others have shown that these changes emanated form the new learning in the monastic and cathedral schools as well as from technological and social developments in the urban milieu. 2 Whether or not these changes are reflected in the art of the twelfth century has not been examined. It is my contention that the depiction of the zodiac on Romanesque church facades constitutes a visual expression of current conceptions of time. My first objective will be to explicate between the monumental image of the zodiac and theories of time set forth in contemporary exegetical and philosophical texts. Upon this basis I propose the specific iconographic function of the façade zodiacs.
Studies in Iconography , 2023
Conrad Rudolph, "Astrological Theory and Elite Knowledge in Non-Elite Public Art: Order in the Zodiacal Archivolt at Vézelay," Studies in Iconography 44 (2023) 1-30. The great sculpted portals of the Middle Ages were perhaps the leading form of public visual media of the time, and their cycles of the Zodiac and Months were staples of large-scale public art in Europe for centuries. The appearance of these cycles at Sainte-Madeleine at Vézelay (c. 1120–1132) is the earliest in cyclical form in Europe (the configuration found in macrocosmic/microcosmic images). In this important manifestation, there are a number of apparent irregularities that scholars have traditionally dismissed as "mistakes." However, these irregularities can be shown to have been caused by an application of the medieval theory of zodiacal melothesia, a recognition of which leads to not only a deeper understanding of the role of science in medieval works of art but also of the desire for complexity in the object/viewer dynamic that brought the previously scientific cycle into mainstream public art at Vézelay in the first place.
ZODIAC ON THE ANCIENT MOSAICS: Personification of Time Concept
Roma döneminde altın çağını yaşayan mozaik sanatı halka açık yapıların yanı sıra refah seviyesi yüksek insanların evlerini de süslemeye başlamıştır. Mozaik döşemelerde yaşanan bu ciddi talep artışı, ustaları model çeşitliliğine zorlamış bunun sonucunda da, çok geniş bir repertuar ortaya çıkmıştır. Zodyak ve zaman kavramının kişileştirilmesi de bu yeni dönemde kullanılan motiflerden birisi olmuştur.