medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear listmembers,
On a subject related to some of my recent postings to this site, I am
wondering if anyone has knowledge of the appearance of Passion-related
animals as medieval wall-paintings. I am thinking in particular of obvious
examples such as the cock and the pelican (an explicitly eucharistic symbol
of Christ feeding his young with his own blood but also, by extension,
Passion-related, especially given the fact that the pelican pierces her
breast and Christ's breast-wound was, of course, the most sought-after and
efficacious of the Five Wounds) but also of less-obvious but equally
eligible candidates - the horse and rider (Christ the warrior-knight riding
into battle on his horse, the cross - discussed in last month's postings),
the hound (representing Christ the hunter of humanity at the Passion), the
figure of a man fishing with a harpoon or spear - also eligible as a
Passion image since Christ is sometimes described as fishing for humanity
at the Passion, often using a 'net of breast blood'. The stag (particularly
when under attack) is also of some importance.
I am not so much interested in their individual appearances (although I
would certainly welcome postings on these) but, more importantly, their
collective appearance as part of a fairly loose set of images and the
possible symbolism behind them.
If anyone has any information on their appearance in late medieval Europe I
would be very grateful for your contribution.
Best wishes,
Salvador Ryan, Department of Modern History, NUI Maynooth, Ireland.
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