What's in Front of Your Nose?

What’s in Front of Your Nose Commentary by Bridget Nichols Cite Share Show Bible Passage Read by Ben Quash This image appears in an illustrated Weltchronik, probably produced in Regensburg, Bavaria, between 1400 and 1410, with a further addition in 1487. It is one of a number of manuscript versions of the thirteenth-century Austrian poet Rudolf von Ems’s (c.1200–c.54) compilation of salvific events in world history. Balaam’s inclusion in a history of salvation points to a positive appreciation on the poet’s part, despite the judgement of the biblical record that Balaam was a bad prophet. We might conclude that Rudolf was looking to Numbers 24:17, where Balaam prophesies that ‘a star shall come out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel’. Christian tradition took this up as a messianic reference and associated it typologically with the star observed by the Magi. The artist has shown only the three central figures in the episode—Balaam, the ass, and the angel—and the illustrator subverts the prophet’s dignity in several ways. The viewer is drawn immediately to the fierce intentness of the gazes of prophet, ass, and angel. But while the ass trains her eyes on the angel, and the angel looks directly at Balaam, Balaam’s angle of vision is oblique and suggests that he is not seeing what the ass sees. Their difference of vision is counterbalanced by the physical similarities that link prophet and creature. The coarse fur of Balaam’s hat is picked out in vertical brush strokes, replicating the hairy ears and straight forelock of the ass. While Jewish men were usually shown by medieval artists wearing round hats tapering to a high point, Polish and Lithuanian Jews were not subjected to the strict identifying dress codes operating in other parts of Europe. Has the Austro-German artist chosen to suggest both Jewish identity and foreignness in this way, consistent with the biblical Balaam who obeys the God of Israel, yet lives far away from the Israelite people? The angel is caught in flight over the path between schematically painted vineyards. His sword blade points upward, menacingly close to Balaam, but his left hand seems to stretch almost tenderly towards the ass. Perhaps the angel has understood her fear and indignation and is poised to console her by stroking her muzzle. References Aust, Cornelia. 2019. ‘From Noble Dress to Jewish Attire: Jewish Appearances in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Holy Roman Empire’, in Dress and Cultural Difference in Early Modern Europe, ed. by Cornelia Aust, Denise Klein, and Thomas Weller (Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg), pp. 90–112 Getty. n.d. ‘MS 33 (88.MP.70)’, available at https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103RWQ [accessed 22 July 2024] Rowe, Nina. 2018. ‘Devotion and Dissent in Late Medieval World Chronicles’, Art History, 41.1: 12–41 [Charles Blakeman window in St Etheldreda’s, Ely Place (1953-1958) depicts the Magi and the angel, with Balaam and the ass in the far left. The star is placed centrally over the angel’s head: https://loandbeholdbible.com/2017/08/19/balaam-foresees-a-star-numbers-221-2425/ ]