«Directly out of the Mouth of the Saint». When Figures in a Mural Speak. Thoughts on Ludwig Tieck’s Franz Sternbald’s Wanderings (1798)

Martin, Anita (May 2021). «Directly out of the Mouth of the Saint». When Figures in a Mural Speak. Thoughts on Ludwig Tieck’s Franz Sternbald’s Wanderings (1798) (Unpublished). In: Colloquium «Icon/Sign/Image» mit Prof. Dr. Seth Estrin, Graduate School of the Arts and Humanities – Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies. Universität Bern.

In literature, figures in wall paintings can open their mouth and speak. Franz Sternbald, the protagonist of Ludwig Tieck’s “old German story” restores a faded mural at a nunnery. The painting shows a scene from the legend of the blessed Genovefa, a legend from old times. As it is –– dated and already fading –– it does not catch the artist’s eye. Rather, Sternbald dislikes the mural because of the white notes “coming directly out of the mouth of the saint”. These are unrealistic, and the painting could not create the “deception” Sternbald expects from works of art. However, with the help of some medial impetus and an antagonistic restoration, the painting soon unfolds an old and forgotten magic: For Sternbald, the white notes turn into the voice of Genovefa, speaking directly to him. Here, I claim that this coming-into-presence of the old and faded Genovefa is the initial scene of an auto-catalytic figurative and poetic strategy for bringing saints back into presence and possibly back onto the stage in a secular age.

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