Roger of Helmarshausen

( fl first quarter of the 12th century). German goldsmith. He served his apprenticeship, up to 1100, at Stavelot Abbey (Ardennes); he may then have made a journey to Constantinople (now Istanbul). After 1100 he went to the monastery of St Pantaleon, Cologne, and around 1107 moved to Helmarshausen Abbey in the Weser region (north Hessen), where he is mentioned as a respected writer and goldsmith. At Helmarshausen, according to a document, Roger was the creator of a portable altar dedicated to SS Kilian and Liborius (Paderborn, Di?zmus. & Domschatzkam.). The altar, commissioned by Heinrich of Werl, Bishop of Paderborn (reg 1084-1127), was produced about 1120. It consists of an oak box (340*165*210 mm) with a lid and claw feet. The outer surfaces are partly covered with silver-gilt plates decorated predominantly with niello but also with engraving and repouss? work. Gold filigree and mounted cut stones are also used. At the top, on one side, is a depiction of the Donor with an inscription and the symbols of two Evangelists and, on the other, a portrait of the patron of Paderborn Cathedral, Bishop Meinwerk (reg 1009-36), also beside Evangelists' symbols. The background of each between the lines of script is densely filled with fine arabesques and flat, rhomboid patterns. Also depicted in niello are the Twelve Apostles on the long sides and the Virgin with SS John and James (the Less) on the back panel. The front panel is the only surface of the altar with a silver embossed relief, showing Christ in Majesty in a circular filigree aureole embellished with jewels, as well as SS Kilian and Liborius. The latter appear again on the bottom of the casket in a splendid drawing on a gilt copperplate. The Apostles on the long sides are masterfully portrayed, individually characterized by a sparse but apt use of line, seen especially in their postures and hair, with all the details executed with care. The archaic attitude and the isolation of the figure from his surroundings, still found, for example, on the tomb slab of Rudolf of Swabia (c. 1080; Merseburg Cathedral), gives way in Roger's work to the complex interrelationships of the Apostles.

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