LWL-Denkmalpflege, Landschafts- und Baukultur in Westfalen
Visual Worlds – World Views.
Romanesque Wall Painting in Westphalia

Soest, Catholic St. Nicholas’ Chapel, Thomästraße 7, ground plan (The mappings (German version) can be opened by clicking on the red markings).

Building structure
Small hall church with three axes and two middle pillars, western end fractionized into three walls with inner gallery, narrow choir bay and semi-circular, recessed apse.

Building data
Built during 3^rd quarter of the 12^th century as a chapel for the provost of St. Patrokli.

Romanesque polychrome architectural decorations
After exposure and conservation in 1862/63, overpainted again in 1933, 1963-66 exposed once again and conserved, again conserved in 1984.
Based on the plaster ground being integrated in the painted ornamentation and left visible, the uniform polychrome architectural decorations on walls and vaults must have been carried out at the time of construction of the building.
In the nave a frieze band with scrolling vines runs along below each of the three windows, on which the arcatures that frame the windows are based. The painted wall hangings that decorate the wall surfaces below this, are set off in white, each with corresponding decoration on the opposite surfaces and alternating from bay to bay, ranging from a network of squares placed across the corners, with crosses at the intersections to medallions on the middle bay with probably pentamerous palmettes. The flat pilasters were only painted on the face ends with green ashlars with white joints.
With its geometric ornamentation of loops and squares that disguises the groin system of the vault, the vault decor emphasises the impression of a continuous ceiling. In the black or grey contoured bands that with their exposed more yellow shade of plaster stand out against the lime-washed surroundings, there are leaf ornaments inscribed with white lime paint. With only a few exceptions one ornament per bay has been used in the two opposite loop-type bands, and the band stretched out between them and positioned quadratically. In addition there are decorative shapes such as rising vines, circles, heart vines, rhombuses and drop-shaped ornaments each with foliate fillings.
The polychrome architectural decorations are as unique as the layout design and cannot therefore be easily classified within the series of Westphalian painting systems as far as dating is concerned, but with regard to the painting technique and inner ornamentation fits well into the end of the 12^th century.

Figurative Romanesque wall painting
Choir bay and apse: Enthroned Christ with Saints in the calotte, row of Apostles in the window area and in the choir bay, also St. Nicholas, in the vault Enthroned Mother of God and characters from the Old Testament in medallions.

Crafting technique/painting technique
Fresco painting on thin, single-layered plaster, that was applied from top to bottom and carefully smoothened. Clearly recognisable are the horizontal plaster seams that are congruent with the scaffold positions at a distance of 140 cm between each. For the new plaster as a ground for the wall paintings the approximately 70 year-old plaster from the time of construction had obviously been removed with a great deal of effort.
In particular the paint layers that were applied al fresco onto the fresh plaster are preserved, i.e. the preparatory drawing in iron-oxide red, and some inner colours and underpaintings that were carried out in earth pigments. In particular the areas intended for gilding were incised. White highlights, including the chrysographies (meander-like highlights) originating from the Byzantine region that are preserved as negative impressions on the figure of John and further coloured, but only partially preserved modellings and shadings, were applied in secco-technique. Some individual black contours on the figures, on the painted architecture and the ornamentation have been found, but the majority are red contours. Based on the paint remnants the background of the painting was in azurite blue.
The following pigments were used: iron-oxide red, yellow ochre, green earth, malachite, azurite, red lead, vermilion, vine black, white lead.
In the barrel vault of the choir bay the halos of the figures are modelled in three places by plastic plaster applications on which there is evidence of gold remnants. In the apse calotte these types are no longer preserved, however there are traces of keying that indicate the earlier existence of gilded applications, not only on the halos but also on the throne and the attributes of Saints, garment elements, architectural details, framings and ornaments. The keying indentations that were supposed to obtain increased adhesion of the plastic plaster applications, can be clearly distinguished from the incised plaster modulations, that were intended design, e.g. in Balve and Soest-Ostönnen.

Conservation history
First exposed in 1851. In 1861/62 conserved and painted over in historicising manner. In 1964-65 removal of the overpaint and conservation of the Romanesque original elements. Again conservation in 1984. In 2013 removal of loosely adhering soiling and in three parts grouting of moveable plaster scales.
The wall paintings still in existence today give an only weakly coloured, but otherwise quite complete impression of the former splendid paintings. Besides the multi-coloured garments of the numerous figures in ochre, light red, dark red, pink, blue and green and their mixtures with additional gold accentuations, the picture framings and backgrounds also show strong shades of luminous malachite and azurite blue underlaid in grey.

Description and iconography
The oversized enthroned Christ in the mandorla flanked by the evangelist symbols dominates the whole of the paintings in the apse. In his left-hand he is holding a narrow cross and is gripping a closed gilded book that is resting on his left leg. His right hand is raised in a gesture of blessing and he is looking down on the believers with a serious expression. As is usual in the Westphalian Romanesque wall paintings, the depiction of Christ in Majesty is extended here by Mary (on the right hand of Christ) and John the Baptist (on his left hand) as advocates of the people to form a Deesis. Mary is raising her hands to Christ in a pleading gesture, but is looking – like all four standing Saints – straight down at the observer. Next to her are St. Nicholas as a Bishop, next to St. John St. Patroclus as a knight and patron of the city of Soest.
In the window zone of the apse the Twelve Apostles are positioned below amble baldachin architecture. The row of Apostles runs into the window reveals. In the apex of the window soffits medallions have been added that, within the side window of the apse, show half-figures of the two archangels Gabriel and Raphael and in the middle window the Lamb of God. The four female Saints above the Apostles on the wall surfaces should rather be identified generally as female martyrs due to the lack of attributes.
At the end of the row of Apostles and only slightly larger than this on the south wall of the preceding bay St. Nicholas is portrayed under a widened arch architecture and upon whose head angels flying in from the sides are placing a mitre and bringing him a bishop’s crook. The figures praying at his feet indicate episodes of his life.
The four full- and two half-figures in medallions that can be found in the barrel vault of the choir bay, can be identified as follows: On the left of the enthroned Mother Mary, Isaiah and as the associated great prophet on their opposite right Jeremiah can be identified. Below them on the north side is Aaron and opposite him Gideon. The busts above the impost mouldings show King David on the right with harp and crown and on the opposite left his son, King Solomon.
With the depiction of the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child in the apex of the ante-choir vault, to which the Old Testament prophets and kings refer as anti-types, the wide range of contents in the Bible is covered in this painting system: from the Old, via the New Testament to the eschatological Christ in the calotte below it as an illustration of the Epiphany of St. John.

Art-historical classification
The rich late-Romanesque painting of the choir with a painting system complex in content covering both the walls and the vault of the choir bay and the apse is a monument of highest rank in its artistic quality and its state of preservation.
With pointedly protruding tails of fabric in the garments and voluminous, gathered robes with strong refractions, the depiction shows the typical elements of the Zackenstil (Jagged Style).
The stylistic analysis of the figures made a separation of two artists‘ hands probable who could have worked together both on the painting of the apse calotte and in the scene of St. Nicholas on the south wall of the preceding bay. Then the row of Apostles and the row of Prophets would have been attributed to only one hand each.
The characteristics of the apse paintings with their crowded abundance of figures and ornamentation, the rich gildings and chrysographies, the physiognomies and types of figures orientated on the antique ideal, following patterns from a circle of workshops in Soest and possibly also patterns from workshops in Cologne, combined in a wide range of shapes, can best be dated to the time around 1250 and therefore attributed to a workshop in Soest at the end of the “Staufer” era under the influence of the Cologne Archbishop Conrad I. of Hochstaden.

Dating
Around 1250, polychrome architectural decorations um 1180.