Theophilus Presbyter

Christ crucified from a Processional Cross, by the circle ofRoger of Helmarshausen,Lower Saxony, c. 1100, cast bronze

Theophilus Presbyter(fl.c. 1070–1125) is the pseudonymous author or compiler of aLatintext containing detailed descriptions of variousmedievalarts, a text commonly known as theSchedula diversarum artium( "List of various arts" ) orDe diversis artibus( "On various arts" ), probably first compiled between 1100 and 1120.

Work

The oldest manuscript copies ofDe diversis artibusare found in Vienna (Austrian National Library,Codex 2527) and inWolfenbüttel(Herzog-August-Bibliothek, Cod. Guelf. Gud. Lat. 69 2°).Gotthold Ephraim Lessingrediscovered the document when he worked as librarian in Wolfenbüttel, and published excerpts in 1774. The work contains perhaps the earliest reference tooil paint,which aroused great interest as the mention disprovedVasari's myth ofJan van Eyckdeveloping the technique ofoil paintingin the early 15th century, about whichantiquarieshad already become suspicious.It also contains what seems to be the earliest textual evidence forwire-makingusing adraw plate.

Theophilus'Schedulaallows detailed insights into the techniques used in the applied arts in thehigh Middle Ages.The work is divided into three books. The first covers the production and use of painting and drawing materials (painting techniques,paints,andink), especially forilluminationof texts and painting of walls. The second deals with the production ofstained glassand techniques of glass painting, while the last deals with various techniques ofgoldsmithingand other metalwork. It also includes an introduction into the building oforgans.

The First Book, on painting, is not particularly well-informed, but adequately reliable, the Second, on glass, is better, while most of the Third Book is clearly the work of a practising metalworker. It has recently been suggested that the apparent contradictory evidence as to dating, practical experience, and location of 'Theophilus' is best explained if theSchedulais understood to be a compilation.

The work has been translated into English, French, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Hungarian, German, Italian, Japanese, Bulgarian, and Russian, mostly in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Biography

'Theophilus' was quite possibly aBenedictinemonk. It has been suggested (particularly byEckhard Freise) that Theophilus is the same person as the artisan monkRoger of Helmarshausen.Roger appears to have come fromStavelot Abbeyin theMeuse Riverregion, was active as an artist and author between 1100 and 1107 inSt. Pantaleon's church inCologne,and moved toHelmarshausen Abbeyin 1107. The identity of the two men has been argued among researchers for some time, but Freise's conclusions have not yet been accepted by all researchers. Other suggestions have also been made, and at present there can not be said to be a consensus.

Editions and translations

Two editions of Theophilus's work with English translations:

• Ilg, A., ed. (1874). "Theophilus Presbyter. Schedula diversarum artium".Quellenschriften für Kunstgeschichte(in German). Vol. 7. Vienna.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)(Edition.)
• Dodwell, C. R.The Various Arts. De Diversis Artibus.Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961, reprinted 1986. (Edition with English translation.)
• Hendrie R.An Essay upon Various Arts in three Books by Theophilus called also Rugerus.London, 1847, 1961. (Edition with English translation.)

• Hawthorne, J. G.andC. S. SmithTheophilus: On Divers Arts.University of Chicago Press, 1963; reprinted New York: Dover Publications 1979;ISBN0-486-23784-2.(English translation.)

Further reading

In English

• White, Lynn (1964). "Theophilus redivivus".Technology and Culture.5(2): 224–233.doi:10.2307/3101163.JSTOR3101163.S2CID260096342.reprinted inMedieval Religion and Technology.University of California Press. 1978.
• Thompson, Daniel V. (1967). "Theophilus Presbyter, words and meanings in technical translation".Speculum.42(2): 313–339.doi:10.2307/2854679.JSTOR2854679.S2CID161939192.

In German

• Brepohl, E. (1999).Theophilus Presbyter und das mittelalterliche Kunsthandwerk(in German). Cologne.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)(2 volumes).
• Freise, E. (1981). "Roger von Helmarshausen in seiner monastischen Umwelt".Frühmittelalterliche Studien(in German). Vol. 15.
• Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim (1774).Vom Alter der Ölmalerey aus dem Theophilus Presbyter(in German). Berlin.
• Theobald, W. (1933).Technik des Kunsthandwerks im 10. Jh. Des T. Schedula Diversarum Artium(in German). Berlin.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)1953 and 1983 (includes translations and explanations of sections of the work).

External links

• Incomplete Latin e-text.
• English and French medieval stained glass in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art,an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Theophilus Presbyter