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ORDER OF THE CROWN
of
CHARLEMAGNE
IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
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DÜRER, Albrecht
The Imperial Crown c. 1510
Pen drawing with watercolour, 238 x 289 mm
Kupferstichkabinett, Germanisches Nationalmuseum,
Nuremberg
Artistic Portrayals of
Charlemagne
by Sutherland McColley
One wonders what
Charlemagne looked like. As you will see from the
following selection of images; Flemish, German, Italian and
other artists have had their own vision beginning in 817 to at
least 1890. By far the most prominent of the artists
was Albrecht Dűrer who presents the Emperor with the familiar
crown. Most of the paintings portray him an older man with
a beard, wearing a crown, on horseback, or holding a scepter and
a sword. The images were executed in various media: oil and
watercolor paintings, manuscripts, stone or bronze sculpture,
frescos, tapestries and coins. Few images fit
the description given in 817 to 836 by his advisor, architect,
courtier and biographer Einhard, in "The live of Charlemagne" in this translation from "Einhardi Vita Karoli Magni", 6th edition, ed. G. Waita, in Monumenta Germaniae
Historica: Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum (Hanover: Hahn, 1911; repr. 1965). "[Charles] had a large and
powerful body. He was tall [at slightly over six feet or
1.83 meters], but not disproportionately so, since it is known
that his height was seven times the length of his own foot.
The crown of his head was round, his eyes were noticeably large
and full of life, his nose was a little longer than average, his
hair gray and handsome, and his face was attractive and
cheerful. Hence, his physical presence was [always]
commanding and dignified, whether he was sitting or standing.
Although his neck seemed short and thick and his stomach seemed
to stick out, the symmetry of the other parts [of the body] hid
these [flaws]. [When he walked] his pace was strong and the
entire body powerful." Research has revealed several
hundred images. Many had little detailed data as to date,
size, etc. Those reproduced here are all in public
collections outside the United States. Only a few
representations are in America.
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Charlemagne with a
wife, in a depiction from a manuscript written between 817 and
823.
The Emperor is
portrayed in simple Frankish costume which he preferred to wear
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TADDEO ZUCCARO (Italian 1529-1566)
Fresco
Detail from: "Charlemagne Returns the Ancient Patrimony to the Church"
Collection: Sala Regia, Vatican Palace, Vatican State
Photograph: Scala/Art Resource, New York, NY
UNKNOWN ARTIST (French
14th Century)
Parchment
Date: Second half of the 14th
Century; Detail from: Grandes Chroniques de
France entitled; "Coronation of Charlemagne by
Pope Leo III at St. Peter's Rome
Collectio: Musée Goya, Castres, France
Photograph: Giraudon/Art Resource, New York, NY
BERNAERT van ORLEY
(Flemish c. 1491-1541)
Oil on wood panel
Size: 23 x 7 3/4
inches
Detail from:
"Charlemagne
Receiving the Relics of the Holly Cross from
Constantine"
Collection: Galleria
Sabauda, Pinacoteca Reale, Turin Italy
Photograph: Alinari/Art,
New York NY
UNKNOWN ARTIST
(10th Century)
Parchment
Size: 26.5 x 17 cm.
Date: 991, a copy of a
Carolingian original of 830 to 836
Detail from: Lupus of
Fulds's Leges Barorum, showing
the Emperor with his son
Pepin
Collection: Biblioteca dei
Capitolati, Modena, Italy
Photograph: Nimatallah/Art
Resource, New York, NY
Taken from a drawing of a
mosaic which once
decorated San Susanna, Rome,
but was later destroyed
ALBRECHT DŰRER
(Germany 1471-1528)
Oil and tempera on wood
panel
Size 6 feet 2 7/8 inches by
2 feet 11 inches
Date: 1512/13
Based upon five pen and
watercolor studies of 1510. (4 in the collection
of the Graphische Sammlung
Albertina, Vienna, Austria; the 5th, a
copy, in Budapest, Hungary.
The insignia and robes, whose originals
Důer was able to study, were
mistakenly traced back to Charlemagne.
A copy, about 1600, is in
the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria
Collection: Germanisches
National Museum, Nurember, Germany
Photograph: Giraudon/Art
Resource, New York, NY
Portrait of Charlemagne in
an ancient painting now found in the Vatican Museum, Rome
UNKNOWN ARTIST
(Italian 16th Century)
Oil on canvas
Inscribed: "Carolus M:Imp"
Collection: The Uffizi,
Florence, Italy
Photograph: SEF/Art
Resource, New York, NY
MELCHIOR BROEDERLAM
(Flemish c. 1355-1411
Oil on wood panel
Size: 3 feet 9 1/4 inches x
2 1/2 feet
Date: 1511-1520
Detail from: left panel of
triptych in the Anchin Polyptuch
entitled: "The Coronation of
the Virgin"
Collection: Musée des
Beaux-Arts, Dijon, Frnace
Photograph: Erich Lessing/Art
Resource, New York, NY
JACOB JORDAENS
(Flemish 1593-1678
Oil on canvas
Size: 25 3/8 x 30 3/4
inches
Date: 1660-65
Detail from: the modello
for the tapestry cycle "The History of Charlemagne"
The scene "The Homage of
Caliph Harun al-Rashid to Charlemagne" is based
upon Charlemagne's nearly
contemporary biography, the Vita Karoli Magni Imperatori
by Einhard written circa
833
A 1660 study in gouache,
water color and black chalk on paper for the
collection of The Louvre is
on loan to the Musée des Beaux Arts, Arras, Frnace
Collection: Musée des Beaux
Arts, Arras, France
Photograph: Phillips
Gallery, London, England
CAROLINGIAN (Early 9th
Century)
Silver
Date: 806
Minted in Frankfurt
It is not a likeness of the
Emperor, but copied from the
style of Roman coins.
Charlemagne introduced sound silver currency
which became the official
instrument of exchange
Collection: Staatliche Museum,
Berlin, Germany
Photograph: The Bildarchiv
Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, Germany
UNKNOWN ARTIST
(German 17th Century)
Oil on Wood
Size: 190.5 x 17 cm.
Detail from: "Saint
Philip and Saint Charlemagne"
Collection: Historisches
Museum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Photograph: Historisches
Museum
GIROLAMO MUZIANO
(Italian 1532-1592)
(Attributed to)
Pen and brown ink with
brown wash, heightened with opaque white over black chalk on
laid paper, mounted on woven papger
Size: 12 x16 1/4 inches
(30.6 x 16 cm.)
Collection: National
Gallery of Canada, Ottawa Canada
Photograph: National
Gallery of Canada
DÜRER, Albrecht
(German 1471-1528)
Pen and watercolor on paper
Date: 1510
One of the studies for the artist's Portrait of
Charlemagne
Collection: formerly in the Lubomirski
Museum, Lviv, Poland
Present Collection unknown
UNKNOWN ARTIST
(German 19th Century)
Sandstone and metal
Size: 24.4 x 19.4 cm.
(Life-size, full length)
Date: 1890
Collection:
Historisches Museum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Location: Old
Bridge, Franfurt am Main
Photograph: E.
Bertling, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Raphael. The Coronation of Charlemagne. c 1516-1517. Fresco. Vaticano, Stanza dell'Incendio, Rome
GIACOMO JAQUERIO
(Italian c. 1375-1453)
Fresco
Detail from: "The New
Heroes"
Collection: Manta
Castle, near Saluzzo, Italy
Photograph: Alinari/Art
Resource, New York, NY
UNKNOWN ARTIST
(Carolingian 9th Century)
Bronze statuette
Size: 24 x17
inches 17.5 x 9.5 cm.
Date: 9th century
Charlemagne or his
grandson Charles the Bald
This work is only
surviving example of Carolingian three-dimensional sculpture
Collection: The Louvre,
Paris, France
Photograph: Erich
Lessing/Art Resource, New York, NY
CROWN OF CHARLEMAGNE
West German or Milan
Gold, cloisonne,
enamel, precious stones and pearls
Size: foreplate
14.9 cm. high x 11.2 cm wide
Date: octagon shape 962
or 967; crown cross 11 century;
top-arch 1024-39; red
velvet cap 18 century.
The emblem of the Order
is said to have been made in 962 for the coronation of
Otto the Great or for
his son Otto II as co-emperor in 967
Collection:
Kunsthistorisches, Vienna, Austria
Photograph: Scala,
London, England
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