Church of Germigny-des-Prés, the mosaics

A rare testimony of the work of mosaic artists, the ornamentation of the eastern apse is the only one in conservation in France, and more generally in the West, from the Carolingian era, with the exception of Italy. Its restoration began in 1847 and consisted largely of filling in the missing pieces, most notably the gold background, but which did not alter its authenticity, despite the fact that the vault itself has been reconstructed. On the other hand, the fragments discovered in place on the right cross-arm that precedes the apse (wings of seraphim and leaves) disappeared during the reconstruction process and have not been recorded. Under the blind arcades, the very fragmentary decoration was completed with fleuron, consonant with an Oriental design that has no proven bearing with the original.

As in Aachen, comparisons can be made with works from the 5th and 6th centuries, in Rome and especially in Ravenne. Very likely the materials themselves, again much like the palatine chapel, were plundered from paleo-Christian monuments.

The primary interest lies, all the same, in the unusual iconography of this work, which reflects Theodulf’s own theological beliefs. In the lower portion of the representation, a text establishes his patronage of the work: “See and contemplate the holy oracle with its cherubim and the resplendent ark of the divine testament. Before this spectacle, strive to touch the Master of Thunder with your prayers; and, I pray of you, remember Theodulf in your prayers.”[1] Hence in the centre of the eastern apse, in the half quarter sphere, instead of the Christ figure, the Ark of the Covenant is featured in the form of a casket with shaft handles. The scene is a faithful rendition of the Saint of Saints of the Temple of Solomon as described in the Old Testament (Kings). Entirely gilded, the Ark barely stands out from the gold background in the lower portion and rests on a bluish area in the shape of a parallelogram; on its surface are two symmetrical figures of angels, their wings outspread and hands turned up in a gesture of adoration. Two other monumental angels standing on a strip of ground take up the front part and the height of the half quarter sphere. They frame the hand of God set against a starry sky, according to the arrangement describing the Temple where “wings of seraphim meet at their tips in the middle of the house”. In the same symmetrical stance, they point to the Ark with one hand, while the other blesses. A dark, curved band separates the area of heaven from the gold below.  

This iconographical choice echoes Theodulf’s own conceptions. In the writings under the title Opus Caroli Regis—to which he was a major contributor—he comes across unequivocally as an iconoclast. It is difficult to know to what extent this relative refusal of images, but which was never followed through, was shared by Charlemagne. This is why, in some studies, the slightest detail of the representation appears to hold great significance; the bluish area under the Ark comes to be seen as an evocation of Jordan and the four groups of wavelets in the separating band as the twelve stones collected by Joshua in Jordan to raise a monument in Galgala. And then the white caps would appear to be the twelve other stones marking the passage of the Ark to Jordan. But we must exercise caution here as some of the representations are quite conventional, not to mention their restorations. Many of these theories are too far fetched to be convincing, such as the idea that the empty Ark announces the future, or that the hand is the hand of Christ instead of God’s. The vertical line running across the palm would suggest that this is the wound left by the nail of the Crucifixion, but, apart from the fact that such an image is very rare, there is no firm evidence to support the authenticity of this line as the hand has been extensively restored.