medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: CARLOS <[log in to unmask]>
> Here you have Thurlby's description of the tympanum:
http://www.geocities.com/cdesastre20008/DSCN4210.JPG [don't forget to enlarge
the image to its full size by cliking on the "arrows" icon in the lower
right.]
> "In the centre is a large, frontal, seated figure with a cruciform
halo and right hand held away from the body is [SIC?: "in"] blessing.
as Zarnecki says, the hand is not "blessing", it is holding a circular object
between the thumb and the forefinger.
follow the line of the thumb up to its end and you can see the round object.
this is *much* clearer in the color plate which Zarnecki publishes than it is
in this wretched b&w .jpg.
there's simply no doubt about it.
an egregious error on Thurlby's part.
>From behind the head a series of rays cuve down to the shoulder.
"rays"?
again, Thurlby has the ideas of Zarnecki concerning these "rays", suggesting
that they might be either part of a mandorla or, more likely (for him) the
back of the throne the BVM is sitting on.
my own preference is for a deliberately ambiguous conflation of the throne and
the (iconographically quite unusual) mandorla.
the "standard" iconography for a Sedes Sapientia calls for her to be seated on
a quite fancy throne (usually of the expensive "lathe turned" type), beneath
some sort of more or less elaborate architectural canopy.
i can't think of an example of her being surrounded by a mandorla, but there
probably is (another) one.
i think that it could be argued that here the iconographer is trying to Pull a
Fast One on the Tradition (and the Theology) and give her a mandorla which, in
a pinch, could be explained away as just being part of the throne.
but his audience would no doubt "read" those "rays" as mandorlic in
character.
>(...) On the lap is a smaller figure also with a cruciform halo and giving
blessing with the right hand, whilst a scroll falls across the legs on the
left
the scroll in the hands of the Kid is unusual, i believe.
it suggests reference to some specific text (duh), the first part of which
might have been written on it in the original polychromy.
> (...) In the foliage on the right is a large, winged lion, while on
the left there is a bird (...) A Virgin and Child tympanum would also
be most appropiate for a church dedicated to the St Mary, but how are
we to account for the cruciform halo of the 'Virgin'?
why does he refer to the Child as a "smaller figure with a cruciform halo" and
put "Virgin" in quotes?
the idea that this is not a Sedes type V&C is simply untenable, it seems to
me.
>It [the Virgin's cruciform halo] has been interpreted as a mistake by a
sculptor who misunderstood the model (...) But perhaps there is no mistake
there's no "mistake".
there's a deliberate attempt to greatly Enhance the Standing of the BVM by
giving her a cruciform halo and a mandorla.
>and a representation of the Trinity was intended, the Trinity being completed
wuith the bird on the left tympanum or, more likely, with a bird carved on a a
voussoir above God the Father (...) The bird refers to St John's Gospel while
the winged lion, the symbol of St Mark, suggests specific reference to chapter
16, verse 19, of St Mark's Gospel which tells that the Lord 'was received up
into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God'. Therefore, far from being a
misunderstood representation of the Virgin and Child, the Fownhope tymapnum
could be an ingenious combination of Virgin and Child and Trinitarian imagery"
(pp. 141-3).
this is just such jumbled thinking that i don't know how to comment on it.
the possibility that there were other figures in the nearby archivolts is, of
course, a possibility --and one which would complete what is already a rather
extraordinary iconographic statement.
c
"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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