Ropes and Knots: A Contribution to the History of Emulatio in the Architecture of the Late 15th and Early 16th Centuries North of the Alps

When reflecting on the art of the late Middle Ages in court circles, attention is drawn to the phenomenon of imitating the effects of one type of artistic form in different media. This treatment is described using the rhetorical category of emulatio, anachronistic in this case, because it is significant for the modern art theory developed in Italy. One of the more interesting examples of this phenomenon is the reference to carpenters in stone architectural decorations. Particularly symptomatic is the introduction of a stone carved decoration in the form of ropes (with knots) to portals, window frames, traceries, vaults, and even to the decoration of flat surfaces. The most well-known examples are found in the Hieronymites Church in Belém and the Manueline style in Portuguese architecture. The earliest examples are the portals in several churches in Lesser Poland founded by an chronicler of the Polish Kingdom Jan Długosz, dating from the third quarter of the fifteenth century. The motif of a rope was often used in a constructional way, as if it actually served in building practice, binding or tying something together, and even joining parts of architecture with non-architectural features. Sometimes this motif also carried important ideological meanings, as in the case of architectural works related to the Order of the Cord (Ordre de la Cordelier), founded in 1498 by duchess Anne of Brittany. The paper presents the development of this type of decoration in various European countries of the late Middle Ages, its ancient sources, and literary origins.