medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: John Briggs <[log in to unmask]>
> CARLOS wrote:
> > An example of a tympanum with just two symbols of the Evangelists:
> > http://www.geocities.com/cdesastre20008/fOWNHOPE.htm
the exception proves the rule: a very provincial example of a very rare
iconography.
mmmm... unusual _mudra_ being displayed by the BVM, as well.
> > (see: ZARNECKI, G., J. HOLT y T. HOLLAND (ed.), English Romanesque Art
1066-1200, London, 1984, nš. 138)
> But Professor Zarnecki rather more cautiously says "perhaps the symbols of
St Mark and St John." :-)
i don't think i'd share his caution unless i could come up with another
iconographical possibility/plausibility.
and i can't.
otOh, it is interesting that we have the same two evangelists here as in the
Spanish example.
though i can't think of why that is, or what the significance of it might be.
just a coincidence, maybe.
if anybody actually believes in coincidences.
> I would suggest that, even at this date, the sculptors are using pattern
books - and not necessarily comprehending (or if they comprehend, not
necessarily paying much attention to) the symbolism of the, er, symbols :-)
just bumbling ignoramouses, picking away at bits of stone in their spare time,
eh, John?
leaving aside the issue of "comprehension" of iconographic motifs, this is a
complicated question --this bidness of "pattern books" serving as *the* source
of imagery/iconography for artists who are, for some unclear reason, in thrall
to them.
in point of fact, we know very little for sure about what the "source" of
iconographic --much less stylistic-- conceptions was in the period(s) before,
say, the late m.a.
and i'd be happy to hear of *any* "pattern books" which have survived from the
period of this Anglo-Saxon tympanum (mid-11th c.??); or, indeed, from any
period before it or from the 12th c.
it could be argued that the operative word there is "survived", and it is
quite possible that suchlike "pattern books" did exist but, being
quintessentially utilitarian objects, they were just "used up" or, at the
least, discarded when the iconographical and stylistic "ideas" contained in
them simply went "out of date". (the Villard ms's survival was just a fluke,
in this mind game.)
no one believes in the pivotal significance of the absolutely paltry
percentage of the survivals of works of art more than i do --the chance
survivals which we happen to have vastly skew our understanding of
(particularly) stylistic developments.
so, the absence of surviving "pattern books" from the early periods does not,
in itself, prove --or even suggest-- that they did not exist, and i have no
particular objection to supposing that they did, ocassionally, exist as _aides
memoires_ for *iconographic* ideas.
the main problem i have with the presumption of their wide-spread use as
vectors of *style*, however, lies in the fundamental flaw in the premise which
is assumed in such a construct:
that middlevil artists were even capable of replicating objects in the "real"
(i.e., phenomenal) world, including other works of art.
there is no evidence to support such an idea, and a great deal of evidence
invalidating it.
clearly, medieval figurative art is, first and foremost, *visionary* rather
than "replicative" in its operation.
and this has implications for iconography as well as style.
best from here,
christopher
"Lots of useless other data points just enlarge the consciousness of the
agrieved showing how particular the pain is."
--Burma Shave
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