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Arbre de Jessé, ivoire, Bavière

A Árvore de Jessé é um motivo frequente na arte Cristã entre os séculos XII e XV e representa uma esquematização da árvore genealógica presumida de Jesus da Nazaré a partir de Jesse, pai do rei David.

História

A mais antiga representação conhecida do motivo da árvore de Jessé data de 1086. Aparece no Codex Vyssegradensis, evangelho da coroação de Bratislau II da Boémia.

Iconografia

É aceite que a origem desta iconografia remonta a uma citação do Livro de Isaías onde se lê_ «Porque brotará um rebento do tronco de Jessé, e das suas raizes um renovo frutificará.» (Isaías 11:1). . Os artistas combinaram esta frase com a genealogia de Jesus Cristo na forma como é descrita no evangelho segundo Mateus: «Genealogia de Jesus Cristo, filho de Davi, filho de Abraão» (Mateus 1:1), ou segundo o Lucas (3, 23-38), genealogias para as quais existiam inúmeras interpretações. A propósito da Árvore de Jessé, uma diligência análoga é frequentemente feita para a Virgem Maria.

Jessé é quase sempre representado deitado ou reclinado. Frequentemente encontra-se adormecido, com uma mão sustendo a cebeça.. Esta posição de repouso é por vezes associada a um sonho profético que se refere à descida do adormecido. Na Idade média difunde-se um episódio do Sonho de Astíages, onde Astíages, avô de Ciro o grande, havia visto num sonho uma vinha que saía do ventre da sua filha Mandane.

Na obra Vida de Geraldo de Aurillac de Odon de Cluny, encontramos a citação de um sonho profético tido pelo pai de Geraldo: " Enquanto dormia, foi-lhe dito para ter relações com a sua mulher : igualmente lhe nasceria um filho por ter sido invocado, ao qual daria o nome de Gerald, e foi-lhe dito também que esta criança seria seria de primeiro mérito. " A arte românica mostra Jessé deitado no chão, mas durante o gótico aparece gradualmente em repouso num leito, por vezes num enquadramento bastante ostensivo como na Igreja de Saint-Étienne de Beauvais, cujo vitral data de 1520.

Do seu flanco ou do seu ventre, frequentemente, por vezes so seu dorso ou mais raramente da sua boca, saía uma árvore cujos ramos enquadravam os supostos ancestrais de Cristo, desde o Rei David reconhecível pela sua harpa, até Maria. O vitral da Catedral de Chartres representa, de baixo para cima, David, Salomão, Roboam, Abias e por fim Maria. Ficava ao critério dos artistas a escolha dos textos a ser usados e a posição em que dispunham as figuras do Antigo testamento, nomeadamente os profetas que os teólogos da Idade Média associavam à anunciação de Cristo. No topo encontra-se Jesus, por vezes na cruz, por vezes criança nos braços da sua mãe Maria.

Durante o século XIII, a representação da árvore desenvolve-se verticalmente, e apenas durante o século XV começam a existir ramificações laterais.

Embora ainda presente na iconografia Cristã do século XV, o motivo entra em declínio no século XVI até desaparecer por completo depois da Contra-reforma..

Suportes

A Árvore de Jessé foi um motivo popular em todas as artes plásticas. Encontramos exemplares em iluminuras, gravuras, vitrais, na escultura monumental, frescos, tapeçarias ou bordados.

Manuscritos

Psautier de Scherenberg, Strasbourg, c. 1260

O motivo aparece em inúmeras bíblias românicas sob a forma de uma maiúscula decorada no início do Livro de Isaías ou do evangelho de Mateus. A bíblia de São Beningno, datada do século XII, uma das mais antigas que chegou até nós, mostra Jessé e sete pombas representando os sete dons do Espírito Santo. A bíblia dos Capuchinhos (último quartel do século XII) é outro exemplo, onde a árvore de Jessé decora o L maiúsculo de Liber generationis no evangelho de Mateus.

O rei David era considerado o autor dos salmos, sendo os saltérios frequentemente ilustrados com árvores de Jessé, sobretudo nos manuscritos Ingleses, onde a árvore se enrola em torno do B maiúsculo do texto Beatus Vir no início do primeiro slmo. Um dos mais antigos exemplares é o saltério de Huntingfield, datado do fim do século XII. Na British Library encontra-se um dos mais belos saltérios do século XIV, denominado de Gorleston. Nestes dois exemplares, Jesse encontra-se deitado no rodapé da capitular B. Pode-se igualmente citar o Saltério de Macclesfield (Fitzmuseum, Cambridge) e o Saltério e Livro de horas do duque de Bedford.

Certos manuscritos consagram uma página inteira ao motivo, ajustando os figurantes, por exemplo na Sibila de Cumas do saltério de Ingeburg, datado do início do século XII.

Posteridade

A árvore de Jessé vai sofrendo transformações iconográficas, motivadas pela popularidade do tema da ascendência divina no século XV. Servirá de modelo para representar a genealogia das famílias reais antes de se tornar no protótipo da árvore genealógica..

Ver também

• Commons

• Genealogia de Jesus

Referências

Bibliografia

• Madranges, Étienne. L'Arbre de Jessé, de la Racine à l'Esprit (em francês) 2007 ed. [S.l.]: éd. Molière. 256 páginas. ISBN 978-2-84575-294-8 
• Mâle, Émile (1998). L'Art religieux du XIIe siécle en France. Étude sur les origines de l'iconographie du Moyen âge (em francês) 8 ed. [S.l.]: Armand Colin. 256 páginas. ISBN 2-200-01718-9 
• Réau, Louis (1955-1959). Iconographie de l'art chrétien. [S.l.]: Presses universitaires de France. 1527 páginas  !CS1 manut: Formato data (link)
• Duchet-Suchaux, Gaston; Pastoureau, Michel (1990). La Bible et les saints : Guide iconographique. [S.l.]: Flammarion. 319 páginas. ISBN 2-08-011725-4 

The oldest complete Jesse Tree window is in Chartres Cathedral, 1145

A Árvore de Jessé é uma representação na arte dos ancestrais de Jesus, mostrada numa árvore que se inicia com Jessé de Belém, pai do Rei David. Trata-se da mais antiga manifestação do uso da árvore genealógica como representação gráfica da genealogia. Tem origem numa passagem bíblica do Livro de Isaías, que descreve metaforicamente a descendência do Messias, e é aceite pelos Cristãos como sendo referente a Jesus. O tema é recorrente na arte ocidental, em particular durante a época medieval. A mais antiga representação conhecida data de 1086 e aparece no Codex Vyssegradensis.

A passagem no livro de Isaías é «Porque brotará um rebento do tronco de Jessé, e das suas raizes um renovo frutificará.» (Isaías 11:1). Na bíblia vulgata em latim usada durante a Idade média, lia-se et egredietur virga de radice Iesse et flos de radice eius ascendet. Flos, pl. floris é latim para flor. Virga é traduzida como verga, ramo ou galho, cuja referência muito próxima a virgo ou virgem sem dúvida influenciou o desenvolvimento da imagem.

No Novo testamento a ascendência de Jesus é delineada por dois dos escritores do Evangelho, Mateus e Lucas. Lucas descreve as gerações de Cristo no III capítulo do Evangelho segundo Lucas, começando pelo próprio Jesus e fazendo o percurso desde o seu pai terreno José até Adão.

O Evangelho segundo Mateus inicia-se com a frase {{«Genealogia de Jesus Cristo, filho de Davi, filho de Abraão» (Mateus 1:1). Com esta introdução, Mateus deixa clara a ascendência de Cristo: é um dos escolhidos de Deus, pela sua descendência de Abrão e é um ramo de Jessé por descender do seu filho David.

A árvore de Jessé na arte

Miniature, Jacques de Besançon, Paris, c.1485. Showing 43 generations. Below, the birth and childhood of Mary

Master of James IV of Scotland, Flemish, 1510-20, Getty. Note the flower-cups

Plaster cast of the "Root of Jesse", originally from Westminster Abbey, Royal Architectural Museum, UK. Albumen print, ca. 1874

As representações pictóricas da Árvore de Jessé ilustram uma árvore ou videira simbólica com ramos que se afastam de modo a representar a genealogia de acordo com a profecia de Isaías. No século XII, o monge Herveu expressou a interpretação medieval da imagem, baseado no texto da vulgata: O patriarca Jessé pertenceu à família real, sendo por isso que a raiz de Jessé simboliza a linhagem dos reis. A haste simboliza Maria assim como a flor simboliza Jesus Cristo.".

Durante o período medieval, quando a genealogia assumia um papel central na organização social, a descendência real de Cristo era objecto de muito mais ênfase do que na actualidade, sobretudo por parte da nobreza e realeza, incluindo os que se juntavam ao clero. Estes grupos constituem os principais mecenas das artes. Na Idade média, o símbolo da árvore como representação da linhagem foi adoptado pela nobreza e passou para uso comum inicialmente na forma de árvore genealógica e mais tarde como modo de representação de qualquer linha de descendência. A forma é actualmente amplamente usada em áreas como a biologia e para representar estruturas hierárquicas de organizações.

A Árvore de Jessé foi representada em praticamente todos os suportes artísticos, especialmente como tema para vitrais e iluminuras. Encontra-se também em pintura mural, peças escultóricas, arte tumular, pavimentos e bordados.

As primeiras representações da passagem de Isaías, no século XI, ilustram o rebento na forma de um caule ou de ramo de flores seguro na mão pela Virgem, por Cristo quando seguro por Maria, ou Isaías ou figuras ancestrais. O rebento como atributo actuou como lembrança da profecia. No mundo Bizantino, a Árvore é representada apenas como cenário de fundo de algumas cenas da Natividade, também como lembrança para o espectador. Com efeito, a Árvore era muito mais comum na Europa do norte, de onde pode ter sido a sua origem, do que em Itália.

Existem também outras formas de representação da Genealogia de Jesus que não recorrem à metáfora da Árvore de Jessé, a mais amosa das quais pintada no tecto da Capela Sistina por Michelangelo.

A forma comum de representação

A forma mais comum que a Árvore de Jessé assume mostra a figura de Jessé na base do espaço pictórico, reclinada ou em repouso e frequentemente maior que as restantes figuras. Do seu lado ou do seu umbigo floresce o tronco de uma árvore ou videira em ascensão, dividindo-se para cada um dos lados. Nos ramos encontram-se figuras que representam os ancestrais de Cristo, normalmente envoltas em folhagem ou gavinhas. O tronco ascende gradualmente até Maria e depois até Cristo no topo.

O número de figuras representadas varia imenso, dependendo do espaço disponível para o conjunto. Como limite máximo, se todas as gerações descritas por Lucas forem representadas, existem 43 gerações entre Jessé e Jesus. A identidade das figuras também varia, e pode não ser especificada, mas Salomão e David são geralmente incluídos, e todas são coroadas. A maior parte das Árvores de Jessé mostram Maria sob a figura de Cristo, ou Cristo nos braços de Maria durante o gótico, sublinhando o facto de ser através dela que o rebento de Jessé terá nascido. São José raramente é representado embora, ao contrário de Maria, seja incluído na genealogia do evangelho. Acreditava-se na Idade média que a linhagem de David apenas podia celebrar matrimónio entre si e que Maria tinha descendido independentemente de Jessé. Por vezes Cristo e outras figuras são representadas na forma de ramos de flores, como frutos ou rebentos da Árvore.

A Árvore de Jesse foi a única profecia do Antigo Testamento a ser tão linearmente e frequentemente ilustrada

The Jesse Tree was the only prophecy in the Old Testament to be so literally and frequently illustrated, and so came also to stand for the Prophets, and their foretelling of Christ, in general. Both the St-Denis and Chartres windows include columns of prophets, as do many depictions. Often they carry banderoles with a quotation from their writings, and they may point to Christ, as the foretold Messiah. The inclusion of kings and prophets was also an assertion of the inclusion and relevance in the biblical canon of books that some groups had rejected in the past.

While particularly popular in the Medieval era, there were also many depictions of the Jesse Tree in Gothic Revival art of the 19th century. The 20th century has also produced a number of fine examples.

The Vysehrad Codex and Lambeth Palace Bible

The earliest known representation of the Jesse Tree can be firmly dated to 1086 and is in the Vyšehrad Codex, the Coronation Gospels of Vratislav II, the first monarch of Bohemia, which was previously a dukedom.

In a paper analysing this image, J.A. Hayes Williams points out that the iconography employed is very different from that usually found in such images, which she argues relates to an assertion of the rightful kingship of the royal patron. The page showing the Jesse Tree is accompanied by a number of other illuminated pages of which four depict the Ancestors of Christ. The Jesse Tree has not been used to support a number of figures, as is usual. Instead, the passage from Isaiah has been depicted in a very literal way. In the picture, the prophet Isaiah approaches Jesse from beneath whose feet is springing a tree, and wraps around him a banner with words upon it which translate literally as:- "A little rod from Jesse gives rise to a splendid flower", following the language of the Vulgate. Instead of the ancestors seen in later depictions, seven doves (with haloes) perch in the branches. These, in a motif from Byzantine art, represent the Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit as described by the Apostle Paul. Williams goes on to compare it with two other famous images, theTree of Jesse window at Chartres Cathedral and the Lambeth Bible in England.

Williams says:-

"While depictions of the Jesse Tree originated in Bohemia, the concept became widely popular throughout Europe and the British Isles. Within sixty years the composition had exploded and expanded, with rearranged original elements and new ones added."

However this claim of Bohemian origin may be somewhat overstated, as there is an "incipent" version in an Anglo-Norman manuscript of similar date to the Vysehrad Codex.

In the first decades of the 12th century, the early Cistercian illuminators of Cîteaux Abbey played an important part in the development of the image of the Tree of Jesse, which was used to counter renewed tendencies to deny the humanity of Mary, which culminated in Catharism. However, as Bernard of Clairvaux, strongly hostile to imagery, increased in influence in the order, their use of imagery ceased. The Lambeth Bible is dated between 1140 and 1150. The Jesse Tree illustration comes at the start of Isaiah and differs greatly from the earlier one, having much more the form that is familiar from both manuscript and stained glass versions. In it, Jesse lies at the border of the page with the tree springing from his side. The branches of the tree are depicted as highly formalised circular tendrils which enclose six pairs or trios of figures. At the centre, tall and highly stylised in the same manner as 12th century columnar statues, stands a full length Blessed Virgin Mary from whose head spring tendrils which enclose a bust of her Son, Jesus. He is encircled by the seven doves, with outspread wings; this became the usual depiction of them. Four Prophets with scrolls occupy medallions in the corners.

The Jesse Tree at Chartres Cathedral

Among the famous stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral in Northern France is the Jesse Tree window, of 1140-50, the far right of three windows above the Royal Portal and beneath the western rose window. It derives from the oldest known (and almost certainly the original) complex form of the Jesse Tree, with the tree rising from a sleeping Jesse, a window placed in the Saint-Denis Basilica by Abbot Suger in about 1140, which is now heavily restored.

The Chartres window comprises eight square central panels, with seven rectangular ones on either side, separated, as is usual in 12th century windows with no stone tracery, by heavy iron armatures. In the lowest central panel reclines the figure of Jesse, with the tree rising from his middle. In each of the seven sections it branches out into a regular pattern of scrolling branches, each bearing a bunch of leaves that take on the heraldic form of the Fleur de Lys, very common in French stained glass. Central to each panel is a figure:- David, Solomon, two more crowned figures, the Blessed Virgin Mary and, surrounded by the doves bearing the Gifts of the Spirit, a majestic figure of Christ, larger than the rest. In each of the narrower panels, edged by richly patterned borders, are the figures of fourteen prophets bearing scrolls.

Apart from the theological importance the design is one of the few subjects that works very well as a unified composition for one of the tall vertical spaces of the windows of Romanesque and Gothic churches; most other tall windows were divided into separate scenes. Saint-Denis and Chartres provided a model for many other such windows, notably the Jesse Tree windows of Canterbury Cathedral, c.1200, probably also made in France, and St. Kunibert, Cologne of 1220-35. Section references:- Brown, Lee, Seddon and Stephens.

The continuing tradition of the Jesse Tree in art

Illuminated Manuscripts

Capuchin's Bible, c. 1180, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris

The Tree appears in several other Romanesque Bibles apart from the Lambeth Bible, usually as a large historiated initial at the start of either Isaiah or Matthew. The Saint-Bénigne Bible is perhaps the earliest appearance, with just Jesse and the doves of the Seven Gifts. The Capuchin's Bible (see picture) is a later example, c. 1180, in which a Jesse Tree forms the L of Liber generationis.. at the start of the Gospel of Matthew.

The Tree is also often found in Psalters, especially English manuscripts, illustrating the B initial of Beatus Vir.., the beginning of Psalm 1, which often occupies a whole page. Sometimes this is the only fully illuminated page, and if it is historiated (i.e. contains a pictured scene) the Tree is the usual subject. When not historiated, the initial had for about two hundred years been most often made up of, or filled with, spiraling plant tendrils, often with animals or men caught up in them, so the development to the tree was a relatively easy step. Indeed, although Jesse's son David was believed to be the author of the Psalms, it has been suggested that the tradition of using a Jesse Tree here arose largely because it was an imposing design that worked well filling a large B shape.

An early example is the late 12th century Huntingfield Psalter, and an especially splendid one from the early 14th century is the Gorleston Psalter in the British Library. In these and most other examples Jesse lies at the bottom of the B, and the Virgin is no larger than other figures. In the recently re-discovered Macclesfield Psalter of about 1320 another very elaborate Tree grows beyond the B, sending branches round the sides and bottom of the text. In the Psalter and Hours of John, Duke of Bedford (British Library Ms Add 42131), of about 1420-23, the Tree frames the bottom and both sides of the page, while the initial B at the top of the page contains the anointing of King David.

Some continental manuscripts give the scene a whole page with no initial. "Various selections" of the elements appear, and prophets and sometimes even the Cumaean Sybil (Ingeburg Psalter c. 1210) stand in the corners or to the side. A Lectionary of before 1164 from Cologne unusually shows Jesse dead in a tomb or coffin, from which the tree grows. Romanesque depictions usually show Jesse asleep on open ground or on a simple couch - all that can be told from the Bible about his circumstances is that he had sheep, which David herded. By the Gothic period small Trees are found in many types of manuscript, and Jesse is often more comfortably accommodated in a large bed, sometimes a luxurious one, as in the Beauvais window below.

Stained glass

The Jesse Tree panel from York Minster may date from 1150

Two panels, all that remain, of a Jesse Tree window of the late 12th or early 13th century, Canterbury Cathedral

Jesse Tree at Saint-Étienne church in Beauvais, France, by Engrand Le Prince, 1522–1524

A 19th century window from Notre Dame, Paris

Detail of Jesse from the Stained Glass window of All Saints Church, Hove, Sussex. England

Medieval

York Minster, England

A small and much fragmented panel from a Jesse Tree window, at York Minster is thought to be the oldest surviving stained glass in England, dating from perhaps as early as 1150.

Canterbury Cathedral, England

This window, dating from c. 1200, had an unfortunate history. Having survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the depredations of the Puritans and the ravages of time, it was dismantled and removed, with many other original windows during the 19th and early 20th centuries, and replaced by a copy. Fortunately two surviving panels were later returned and are in place in the Corona Chapel at the eastern end of the building.

Other examples are at the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris (1247) and the Cathedral of Le Mans (13th century).

Renaissance and Classical

Dorchester Abbey, Dorchester, Oxfordshire

The north window in the sanctuary is unique as it combines tracery and sculpture with stained glass in a single theme. It shows the ascent of Christ from Jesse. The tree with five undulating branches carved in foliage rises from the sculptured recumbent form of Jesse. Much of the 14th century glass is fragmentary, but still in its original tracery. The figures of Christ and the Virgin and Child with other figures are intact. The glass contains figures from a Tree of Jesse and additional figures are carved on stone mullions.

St. Leonard's Church, Leverington, Cambridgeshire

A 15th century restored Tree of Jesse window in the chapel of the east end of the church. Thirteen of the figures are original, seventeen are partly restored and thirty-one are modern. The kings are dressed in short doublets which are compared with similar figures in the manuscript of 1640 representing the victories of Edward IV which is in the British Library Harleian MS. 7353.

Holy Well and St. Dyfnog's Church, Llanrhaeadr, Denbighshire, Wales.

The Tree of Jesse window was made in 1533. The window depicts Jesse asleep in a walled garden, from him springs a many branched family tree, in which can be seen the ancestor kings of christ. The figures resemble 'court' playing cards, which took their form at about the time the window was made.

Saint-Étienne church, Beauvais, France

A magnificent Renaissance three-light window by Engrand Le Prince (1522–1524), with the royal ancestors richly-dressed in fashionable garments, rising from large flower-pods. Jesse has a splendid four-poster bed. In the tracery, the central section has the form of a Sacred Heart and contains the Virgin and Christ Child rising from a lily and surrounded by radiant light.

Cathedral Notre-Dame, Moulins, Central France

15th - 16th century Tree of Jesse window above Jesse can be seen a king on horseback.

19th and early 20th century

St. Bartholomew's Church, Rogate, West Sussex.

The Jesse window of 1892 by Lavers & Westlake is a colourful design. All the figures are seated in the vine except for the Virgin Mary who is seated within a flowering virga, outside the vine. Above her head are seven doves representing the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. The figures in the window are; in the first light - Hezekiah, Solomon, Melchizedek. Middle light - Jesse, David, the Virgin and Christchild on her knee. Third light - Jehoshaphat, Asa, and Isaiah. The three light window is dedicated to the Honourable J J Carnagie born 8 July 1807 died 18 January 1892, placed in the church by Henry Allen Rolls (brother of the co-founder of Rolls Royce Limited) in 1892.

Pusey House Chapel, Oxford, Oxfordshire.

In the east window there is a Tree of Jesse commemorating Pusey, who was one of the leaders of the nineteenth century Oxford Movement in the Church of England. Pusey died in 1882 and Pusey House was established as his memorial. The window is by Sir Ninian Comper and contains figures of Old Testament prophets, and fathers of the Church, representing some of the areas of his study, surrounding Christ in Majesty and the Virgin and Child. The figure of Pusey can be seen, kneeling at the base of the second light from the right.

St. Mary of the Assumption Church, Froyle, Hampshire

The Tree of Jesse 5 light east window is by Kempe/Burlison & Grylls 1896. Nineteen figures can be seen including Jesse, King David, King Solomon, the Blessed Virgin Mary and Child.

St. Matthew's Church, Newcastle, Northumberland.

Tree of Jesse window by Kempe 1899.

St. Peter's Church, Stonegate, Wadhurst, E.Sussex

The 5 light west window is a Tree of Jesse window made by James Powell & Sons, London in 1910. Depicting 21 characters including Jesse, King David, King Solomon, The Virgin Mary and Child.

All Saints Church, Hove, East Sussex

The Tree of Jesse window at the west end of the south aisle is by Clement Bell, installed by the firm Clayton & Bell in 1924. The window embodies a profusion of rich deep colours, reds, blues, dark green, mauve and gold. It has four upright sections, surmounted by quatrefoil insets depicting the Mother & Child, flanked by Joseph and Jacob. Below, shown in kingly attire is the genealogical lineage of Joseph with some of his forebears from the house of David, Salathiel, Zorobabel, Sadoc, Matã, Ozias, Jehoshaphat, Ezekias, Josias, Roboam, King David, Solomon and Asa. Below these are the prophet Isaiah a recumbent Jesse, and in the bottom corner Matthew recording these details in the opening of his gospel.

St. George's Church, Slough, Britwell, Berkshire.

A five light Tree of Jesse window is mentioned in the church inventory. A huge and spectacular window in Predefinição:Convert/LoffAoffDbSmid glass, set in concrete, and made by James Powell & Sons and John Baker in 1960, it was demolished in October 2004.

St. John the Baptist Church, Claines, Worcester

This church has a fine 19th century mosaic paving depicting the Tree of Jesse. It was designed and executed by Aston Webb.

Modern

St. James's Church, Portsmouth, Milton, Hampshire

The consecration of St. James Church took place in 1913, built on a north-south axis in Gothic form. The addition of the Tree of Jesse stained glass east window, inserted to mark the church's 21st anniversary (1954). The window by Sir Ninian Comper shows the descent of Jesus, through Mary, from King David, the youngest son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite.

St. Andrew's Church, Swavesey, Cambridgeshire

The east window in the Lady Chapel contains a 1967 Tree of Jesse by Francis Skeat. In the letters to the incumbent and the churchwardens Skeat writes:-

"The window scheme of my design is intended to symbolise the descent of Our Lord from Abraham and the patriarchs as detailed in the opening chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel. It is not merely a Jesse Tree since it goes back before his time..........."

Jesse appears in the right hand light and is in a standing position facing left. The figures in the window are:- first light, Boaz; second light, Ruth and above her Jacob; middle light, Abraham and Isaac; above them, the Blessed Virgin Mary and Child; at the top, Asa; fourth light, David with Solomon above him; fifth light, Jesse.

The text at the bottom of the window reads:-

“ Who for us men, and for our Salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man. ”

Cathedral Notre-Dame, Clermont-Ferrand, France

Tree of Jesse rose window 1992; with at the centre the Virgin seated, crowned, and on her lap the Christ-child with his arms extended. Eight glass medallions surrounding contain Jesse lying in the lower medallion, other figures including David and Solomon each holding scrolls, and in the top medallion the Holy Spirit represented by a Dove.

Saint Louis Abbey, St. Louis. U.S.A.

This newly built abbey has Jesse Tree window, a fine arts project by students who made the window over a period of 4½ years. Twenty-one panels make up the 16’ × 5’ Jesse Tree window, based on the twelfth century Jesse Tree from Chartres Cathedral. Inspired by the design, the students have begun creating their own stained glass window depicting the lineage of St. Louis Priory School.

Abbey Church, Buckfast Abbey, Devon

The church was rebuilt on medieval foundations between 1905 and 1937. The marble floor of the Lady chapel depicts the Tree of Jesse made in the Abbey's own workshops in Byzantine style mosaic.

Llandaff Cathedral, Cardiff, Wales

The Tree of Jesse window by Geoffrey Webb is a feature of the Lady Chapel and marks the first stage in the restoration of the cathedral following damage in the Second World War.

Painting

The Virgin Mary from the ceiling of St Michael's, Hildesheim

Relief of Tree of Jesse, Cathedral St. Peter, Worms, Germany

A comb from Bavaria, c.1200

The large flat wooden ceiling in the Church of St Michael, Hildesheim of c.1200 has the space to include a complex iconographic scheme based around the tree, which encompasses Adam and Eve, the Prophets and the Four Evangelists.(whole ceiling illustrated below) Panel paintings are rare, but a German example of c. 1470 (Darmstadt) shows a Tree on the outside of the wings of a tryptych. A large Polish baroque oil by Michael Willmann (1678, Kościół Wniebowzięcia NMP, Krzeszów) shows a typically crowded Baroque apotheosis scene, with thin tendrils lacing round the figures, but not supporting them.

The nave ceiling of Ely Cathedral was painted with a scheme rather similar to Hildesheim by the gentleman artist Henry Styleman Le Strange, who began in 1858. After his death (leaving no detailed drawings for the remainder) in 1862, it was completed by another amateur artist, Thomas Gambier Parry using his special Gambier Parry process of frescoes with lavender oil.

Architectural stone-carving

Relatively small-scale Jesse Trees feature in prominent positions in many medieval churches, most notably under a statue of St James on the central column of the famous main entrance (the Portico de la Gloria of 1168-88) of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Another masterpiece of Romanesque stone-carving, the cloister of the Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos, has a Tree on a flat panel carved in relief. Several 13th century French cathedrals have Trees in the arches of doorways: Notre-Dame of Laon, Amiens Cathedral, and Chartres (central arch, North portal - as well as the window). However these mostly show the ancestors in archivolts on both sides of an arch, and although they are connected by tendrils, the coherence of the image is rather lost. Another popular way of showing the ancestry of Christ was to have a row or gallery of statues of the Kings of Judah (part of the ancestral line from Jesse) on the facade, as at Notre Dame de Paris, but these too go beyond the image of the Tree. In a shorthand version, a statue of the Virgin and Child on an entrance trumeau to Freiburg Minster is supported by a Jesse sleeping on a chair (c. 1300).

Other arts

Ivory from Bavaria The rectangular back of an ivory comb (right) from Bavaria, from about 1200, is delicately carved with a Tree of Jesse scene, showing Jesse lying with the tree emerging from his navel. Two branches form a mandorla around the Blessed Virgin Mary who raises on hand to support the infant Christ, while with her other, she holds a scroll. A prophet stands to either side.

San Zeno, Verona

A bronze west door from the Basilica of St Zeno in Verona has a Tree in relief of about 1138 on a single panel, with Jesse, Christ and four ancestors.

St Mark's Basilica, Venice

A large mosaic Tree was put on the north wall of the north transept in the 1540s, by the Bianchini brothers as mosaicists, following a design by Salviati.

Monstrance from Augsburg

A late 17th century monstrance from Augsburg has an effective version of the traditional design, with Jesse asleep on the base, the tree as the stem, and Christ and twelve ancestors arranged around the holder for the host.

Church of Saint Francis, Oporto, Portugal.

An 18th century Tree of Jesse carved in wood in the Baroque style, it is three dimensional and has coloured and gilded figures perched among its branches. Thirteen figures with the black bearded figure of Jesse lying on the bottom. The tree culminates with a picture of the Madonna and Child and a dove above them. On either side of the tree are other figures who appear to be either singing or reading from an open book which they are holding.

Abbotsford House Chapel, Abbotsford, Nr Melrose, Borders, Scotland

The Chapel of Abbotsford House was built in 1855 by Sir Walter Scott's granddaughter Charlotte, and her husband James Hope-Scott purchased a carved and painted wood altar front which depicts the Tree of Jesse, it is Gothic design and Flemish, dated c.1480.

Cathedral Notre-Dame, Antwerp, Belgium.

Embroidered Cope depicting the Tree of Jesse.

The Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, Palestinian Territories

The Bas-relief of the Tree of Jesse is a large work by religious sculptor Czesław Dźwigaj which was recently incorporated into the Church of St. Catherine within the Church of the Nativity as a gift of Pope Benedict XVI during his trip to the Holy Land in 2009. Measuring in at 3 and a quarter meters wide and 4 meters high, its corpus represents an olive tree figuring as the Tree of Jesse diplaying Christ's lineage from Abraham through St. Joseph along with other biblical motifs. Situated along the passage used by pilgrims making their way to the Grotto of the Nativity, the bas relief also incorporates symbolism from the Old Testament. The upper portion is dominated by a crowned figure of Christ the King in an open armed pose blessing the Earth.

Modern use of Jesse Tree

The secular Christmas Tree, and the Advent calendar, have been adapted in recent years by some modern Christians, who may use the term "Jesse Tree", although the tree does not usually show Jesse or the Ancestors of Christ, and so may have little or no relation to the traditional Tree of Jesse. This form is a poster or a real tree in the church or home, which over the course of Advent is decorated with symbols to represent stories leading up to the Christmas story, for the benefit of children. The symbols are simple, for example a burning bush for Moses and a ram for Isaac.

Gallery

Click on the images to enlarge them.

• 
  The beginning of the Gospel of Matthew from the Fécamp Bible shows the initial letter decorated with a Jesse Tree
• 
  Scherenberg Psalter, c.1260. Mary and Child, David and Solomon above, Isaiah and Jeremiah below. Note the doves in the medallions.
• 
  Wall painting c. 1380-90 from Toruń in Poland. Unusually, a Crucifixion occupies the middle of the Tree, with Christ in Glory above.
• 
  The bottom of a large stone relief from Worms Cathedral, end of the 15th century, previously in the demolished cloister.
• 
  16th (?)century painting from the Cathedral at Limburg
• 
  Michael Willmann 1678
• 
  Basilique Saint-Quentin, France
• 
  Rose window from the Basilica of St Denis, Paris, showing Jesse at the centre. This is not the earliest St Denis Jesse window, which is vertical like Chartres.
• 
  Chester Cathedral

See also

• Poor Man's Bible
• Stained glass
• Stained glass - British glass, 1811-1918
• Medieval art
• Genealogy of Jesus

External links

• The Jesse Tree
• Bibliotheque nationale de France Mandragore database 12 illuminated examples at a good size. Press "Images" at right.
• British Library manuscript image search 10 examples found by putting "Jesse" in "Image description" box. Many famous ones not included, & most enlargements seem not to work
• University of Cambridge (search on "Tree of Jesse")
• 4 examples from the Getty
• Chartres Cathedral; many good images of glass and portal
• Various medieval works, including the original Saint Denis window, with many photos showing which parts are restored (click "France S. Denis")
• Tree of Jesse Directory: approx 300 references to the Tree of Jesse listed.
• Tree of Jesse plaster ceiling in Dartmouth Museum, believed to be a unique example