medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Chris Daniell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Interesting pictures ... for those of us who know [don't] the background
could you put them in context
well, Chris, i wish i could.
i just came across them a few months ago, whilst trolling through the Ministre
de Culture's "Memoire" database of photographs
http://www.culture.fr/documentation/memoire/pres.htm
this site is a quite amazing resource for old photographs of monuments in
france, btw.
though it appears as though it were put together more or less without any
Adult Supervision -- in my experience fully 10% of the identifications are
faulty.
this photograph is identified as "Fragment du jubé [de Chartres], groupe en
pierre de l'Entrée à Jérusalem" :
http://www.culture.fr/Wave/image/memoire/0310/sap01_68p00657_p.jpg
and is, of course, a quite beautiful column figure from a destroyed cloister
(of EGLISE NOTRE DAME EN VAUX?) in Chalons-sur-Marne, discovered (i believe)
in a private garden in the town in the '60s.
which is what got me trolling through the Chalons stuff to begin with, to see
what else was there.
and i came across this, under "Edifice: Cathédrale Saint-Etienne, Objet:
Cuve baptismale en pierre sculptée" :
http://www.culture.fr/Wave/image/memoire/0007/sap01_55p01847_p.jpg
http://www.culture.fr/Wave/image/memoire/0007/sap01_56p00100_p.jpg
http://www.culture.fr/Wave/image/memoire/0007/sap01_56p00101_p.jpg
(and a very nice early Bishop's mitre :
http://www.culture.fr/Wave/image/memoire/0007/sap01_56p00012b_p.jpg )
as far as i'm aware, this "cuvre baptismale" has never been published --i've
never seen it before, at least.
appears to be "late 11th-early 12th c." to me, though our knowledge of the
stylistic chronology of that "romanesque" sculpture is quite spotty in most
regions.
the style strikes me as being less crude than legitimately archaic and so i'd
opt for an early date within the regional (southern Champagne) stylistic
sequence --there are even aspects of it (vigorous treatment of plastic form,
animated movements) which seem to be connected with the style of the column
figure mentioned above, which is, i believe, from the 1160s or so.
the iconography is...well, it's curious, is what it is.
as i read this face,
http://www.culture.fr/Wave/image/memoire/0007/sap01_56p00101_p.jpg
we have the Trumpet of the End Time being blown by an angel on the far right,
six souls issuing forth from three or four decorated sarcophagii below (at
first i wanted to read them as ships, with oars underneath), and heading for
another angel on the left.
from this shot,
http://www.culture.fr/Wave/image/memoire/0007/sap01_55p01847_p.jpg
it looks like the same motif is repeated on at least one other side of the
thing.
that's it, for "background" and "context", as far as i know.
best from here,
christopher
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|