medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Is the mark on the main figure/mystery saint's head significant? a sign of a
wounded/or how he might have been martyred?
or is it shading to emphasise his round bald head?
Kit French
On Sun, 24 Dec 2006 15:54:07 -0600
John Dillon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Two further observations, both having to do with the scenes in the upper
>right:
>
> 1. The large birds on the ground really do look like large corvids and in
>all probability are meant to be ravens. The large birds in the air (this
>could be a "before-and-after" scene, BTW, in which case we might think of
>five birds rather than ten) don't closely resemble crows or ravens in flight
>but that could be down to the artist's particular skill set rather than to
>his intention.
>
> 2. The object just above the ploughing scene appears to be a large rock
>with timbers (levers) protruding from beneath it on one side. This puts me
>in mind of St. Nonnosus on Mt. Soracte, who by his prayers moved a large rock
>that others, wishing to create space for a vegetable garden, could not remove
>from its original position (Gregory the Great, _Dialogues_, 1. 7). Nothing
>else here being reminiscent of Nonnosus, I wonder if the mystery saint does
>not have attributed to him a miracle of the same sort.
>
> Best again,
> John Dillon
>
> On Sunday, December 24, 2006, 3:26 pm, John Wickstrom wrote:
>
>> Looking at the image for a few minutes, let me offer the following
>>impressions:
>> 1. A scapular may form part of the "habit' both of the monk kneeling
>> and the monastic figure in the vision above, and the monastic figure
>> in the distance speaking to (?) the other figure.
>> 2. The other figure in the distance seems to be a lay ruler or
>> authority of some sort who has perhaps risen from his seat (in
>> agitation?). The monastic figure seems to be haranguing him, or
>> perhaps vice versa.
>> 3. There are ten large birds.
>> 4. Why are two of the monastic figures bareheaded while one is cowled?
>> 5. The monastic figure in the vision poses like St. Francis viewing
>> the crucifix, at least in later versions e.g.
>> http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/b/b7/300px-Francisbyelgreco.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.answers.com/topic/franciscan&h=355&w=300&sz=27&hl=en&start=27&tbnid=D2-OKq_flHO56M:&tbnh=121&tbnw=102&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfrancis%2Bof%2Bassisi%26start%3D18%26ndsp%3D18%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN
>> There seems to be some object or objects lying between Christ carrying
>> the cross and the monastic figure viewing him. This scene also seems
>> to take place inside a building (hut?), perhaps some parallel to the
>> main scene?
>> 6. The monastic figures are all bearded, suggesting hermits, lay
>> brothers, reformed Benedictines or perhaps Franciscans.
>> 7. That roundel on the wall seems to have some sort of figures on it:
>> astrological, perhaps?
>> just a few observations on the Eve,
>> jbw
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious
>> culture [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Dillon
>> Sent: Sunday, December 24, 2006 2:34 PM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: [M-R] A mystery saint
>>
>>
>> Here's the mystery saint again:
>>
>> > http://nauplion.net/bugslag.html
>
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