David Jeppesen and Dr. Martha Peacock, Visual Arts
Traditionally, apes represent sin and the fallen state of mankind in medieval and renaissance art. Applying this interpretation to all apes represented in art can prove troubling, however, as in Jan van Eyck’s Ghent Altarpiece (1425-32). This altarpiece painted by the Flemish master for St. Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium, is a celebration of Christ as the mystic lamb of God. It’s exterior features the scene of the Annunciation of Christ’s birth as well as the sibyls and prophets who foretold it. The interior portrays not only Christ crowned and enthroned above the world, flanked by Mary, John the Beloved and angels, but also as the sacrifice and presiding high priest at a celestial mass to which all the righteous flock. Thus because of the subject matter of the altarpiece, as well as the placement of the carved apes within the composition, the normal interpretation of apes as icons of folly seemed incongruous. The purpose of this research has been to find a more satisfactory explanation for the presence of the apes.
The apes in question reside on the interior of the left wing of the altarpiece in the carved frieze at the base of the lectern around which the angels sing. The ape-bearing lectern is situated next to the frame containing Mary and directly above the frame containing the militant saints (defenders of the faith), further discrediting an interpretation of the apes representing sin. It is true that the lectern is situated next to Adam, but if the apes were a reference to Adam’s sin we should find a similar reference to Eve’s sin in the corresponding scene of angels playing musical instruments on the interior of the right wing, beside Eve, which we do not. I therefore sought another explanation in the lectern itself.
Above the apes in the frieze is a carved armored figure slaying a serpent with his sword. I initially took this figure to be St. George slaying the dragon, but closer examination revealed his prominent wings, making it much more likely that this was the Archangel Michael slaying the serpent Satan as recorded in the Revelation of St. John (1). Viewed in this light, the apes would certainly not be too out of place merely representing the demonic nature of the devil above them. This is the explanation put forth by Janson, who maintains that the apes are present as part of a small “Gothic revival” in the altarpiece (2).
I venture contrary explanation, however. Janson points out that placing apes in the holy entourages from the East (for example, the Magi or particularly the Queen of Sheba) became popular in the International Style of the fourteenth century (3). This practice would have made its way north to Flanders with the spread of the International Style. In addition, by the late fourteenth century Germanic tradition cast the Queen of Sheba as the thirteenth sibyl to prophecy of the coming Christ, and connected her with the twelfth sibyl, the Erythraen Sibyl (4). Such a connection is significant in the Ghent Altarpiece when one considers that the apes so often associated at the time with the Queen of Sheba are on the interior face of the same panel that has a representation of the Erythraen Sibyl on the opposite side. While it is possible that this placement is merely coincidental, van Eyck was known for constructing very intricate religious symbolism in his art work, and hence the proximity of a symbol of the Queen of Sheba and the Erythraen Sibyl seems quite intentional. Furthermore, the apes in the Ghent Altarpiece bear strong resemblance to apes used in representations of the East or Oriental processions in both the southern and northern artistic traditions, such as Gentile da Fabriano’s Adoration of the Magi (1423) and Jaquesmarc de Hesdin’s St. John in the Wilderness (1385). Thus far from merely indicating the presence of latent northern Gothic tradition in this masterpiece of van Eyck’s, I propose that the apes in the Ghent Altarpiece represent the unique marriage of northern religious thought and southern artistic tradition that existed in renaissance Flanders.
References
- Especially probable as St. Bavo’s Cathedral is dedicated to both St. John the Baptist and St.
John the Revelator. - H.W. Janson, Apes and Ape Lore in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. London: The
Warburg Institute, University of London, 1952, p.53. - Ibid., p. 67, note 105.
- Ibid., p. 69, note 105.