medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: Sandra Lowerre <[log in to unmask]>
> >is this the work by her that is mostly made up of "heavenly voices", but
does have one section where there is a *very* abrupt intrusion of a positively
Demonic voice?
> Yes, the devil is the only male voice and the only one who is not in fact
singing.
no, it's a very *LOUD*, startling *YELL*, and scarey as Hell (as it were), if
you're not expecting it.
> We mainly looked at depictions of angels and the devil; the apocalypse will
be next. Unfortunately, most of the available images in the web gallery of art
and other online galleries are late medieval (apart from the younger works of
course).
of course, works depicting these subjects in the period between, say, the
Ravenna mosaics and roughly the very late 11th century will be in some form of
painted medium --frescos or manuscripts-- which are, in the main, not as
easily found on the web (yet).
the "enluminures" site of the French Ministre de Culture is a growing resource
in this area, however :
http://www.enluminures.culture.fr/
though it is a bit difficult to use when searching for particular subject
matter in illuminations.
among depictions of "Heaven" and "Hell" in Romanesque sculpture, "Hell" is
frequently depicted as a very disorderly, chaotic place, inhabited by
fearsome, vengeful demons :
http://www.art-roman.net/perse/perse21.jpg
http://www.art-roman.net/perse/perse30.jpg
http://www.art-roman.net/perse/perse31.jpg
http://www.art-roman.net/perse/perse32.jpg
however, an interesting thing happens at Conques
http://www.westga.edu/~rtekippe/slides1201/conquestymp.jpg
http://www.dkiel.com/SouthofFrance/Massif/Conques/tympanumsmall.jpg
where this *seeming* chaos of Hell
http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/Images/arth212images/romanesque/conques/tympanum/hell.jpg
in actuality compositionally shares the same "structure" as the much more
orderly-appearing Heaven
http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/Images/arth212images/romanesque/conques/tympanum/heaven.jpg
a close look reveals that, while the order-imposing architectural arcade of
the latter has been removed from the Hell scene, the composition is actually
formally the same, with a central figure flanked by compositional elements,
each of which is topped by a more or less "round" form.
i think that we may assume that what is at work here is not some
theologically-driven concept of Hell as being "organised" like Heaven, but
rather the action of a compositional principle quite commonly seen in
"Romanesque" art, which principle the great French art historian Henri
Focillon termed the "Loi du Cadre" --a geometric form is used to determine the
composition of elements of the work, and, indeed, the whole work itself.
> On a more personal note:
> Not being a native speaker of English I might not get some of the more
intricate and subtle comments or allusions people on the list come up with.
understood.
and no reason why you should.
or that the list should be "dumbed down" for that reason, i'm sure you will
agree.
> If any of my explanations sound(ed) somewhat awkward to American/English/...
ears, I apologize.
no need for that, at all.
your English is nearly flawless.
otOh, perhaps you can imagine how i would get along on a German-speaking email
list.
i can't.
best from here,
christopher
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