Die Wiener Genesis im Rahmen der antiken Buchmalerei.

Until recently, the 48 miniatures of the Vienna Genesis, an illustrated manuscript de luxe of the 6th century AD, have been taken as proof for the existence of illustrated Bibles within the jewish-hellenistic culture. Such a rotolus is also said to have been the archetype of the miniatures of the Wiener Genesis. This theory bases on the studies of Kurt Weitzmann (and later on by the "Weitzmann school") who by using the method of picture criticism postulated a prosperous book illumination during the hellenistic period, to which he says all antique narratives can be traced back upon. The study therefore begins with an overview of research results of the past and a discussion of methods. Both make quite clear that the rivalry between the "schools" has not been overcome so far. In order to test Weitzmanns results and his reconstruction of the history of antique book illustration, part A begins with a summary of all preserved illustrated books (also if fragmentary) as well as the monuments which have been considered testimonies of book illustration. The summary categorizes the material into scientific or narrative and antique or medieval illustrations. This overview is the basis for the main part of the study (part B), the analysis of each of the miniatures of the Wiener Genesis. The results of this analysis will finally be summed up and interpreted within the evaluation. The main results are: The Wiener Genesis is - contrary to former opinions - an invention of the 6th century. The cycle of miniatures was especially developed to match the format of the codex. This development was based on the usual iconographic formular and developed closely linked to the paraphrased bible-texts. This method can solve all irregularities that have so far been used to underline the existence of an archetype in jewish-hellenistic culture using jewish exegetic texts as explanations. These irregularities can be explained within the codex by the close relation between text and picture, by the iconografic formular and by the illustration method (which will be reconstructed during this study) that it is based upon. Further on all studies on the painters and on the process of making a codex underline these results. Due to the results of part B together with the summary of all testimonies of illustration (part A) it is possible to say that a new form of art evolved during the period when the codices began to be accepted as the new form of book and when they entered large libraries during the 4th century: a form of art, where books of all genres were illustrated for a rich clientel.