medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Henk
How right you are. We at St Fagans: National History Museum, in Wales,
have recently completed the re-erection of a small medieval church which
has been refurbished to show how it would have looked pre-Reformation
(i.e. early 16th c). This involved re-creating or replicating features
such as the rood screen and statues that were lost, as well as painting
copies of wall-paintings that were discovered in the church before it
was moved to the Museum - the originals have been conserved and are
currently in store, though some are also on display. We have used the
same types of pigments and techniques as would have been used when the
paintings were originally painted and the result is quite spectacular
(image of work in progress attached). We will shortly be starting phase
2 of the project, but the work carried out to-date gives a good
impression of how the interior of a small church would have looked in
the Middle Ages.
Gerallt D. Nash
Senior Curator, Historic Buildings
National History Museum
St Fagans
CARDIFF, CF5 3DW, Wales - GB
-----Original Message-----
From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious
culture [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Henk 't
Jong
Sent: 07 December 2007 11:29
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] colour/color of statues?
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
culture
Hi Chris,
Believe me I know what pigments (and they did not use vegetable dyes in
wall-painting) look like. I'm an artist, have experimented with medieval
painting techniques and seen medieval colours in manuscripts and on
walls from close-up. The basics have not changed: ochre is still ochre,
and so are malachite and azurite, sootblack and leadwhite. Through time
and athmospherical causes colours have faded or have been covered in
soot, but when these colours were newly painted they were as garish as
you think the projections are. In the mean time these cannot really be
compared, because they are projected (usually after dark) on bare stone,
which has a different effect than quite dull paint-surfaces. The light
and dark effect with laser lighting so does not look as it was in
reality, but the intensity of the colours is the same as that of the
medieval paints. I'm sorry if that doesn't fit in with your perception.
Not long ago there was an exposition in Amsterdam about the colours on
classical statues. Scientists had painstakingly reconstructed the paints
and had copies of famous statues coloured as they originally had been.
You should have heard the outcry: this can't have been true! Our
classical era wasn't as vulgarly gaudy as was shown! In short: people
did not believe their eyes and had trouble leaving the clichees of
perfectly white Greek temples and people walking around in white sheets
behind. I sense a similar reluctance with you
You'd better believe that the outsides and insides of churches were
indeed as garish as is shown in the laser-lights in Amiens, just not in
the same intensity. And after a few years a kind of patina tempered the
colours. But the colours in Maastricht never were medieval, but a (much)
lighter, and in the case of blue, darker version of the real ones. I've
had that confirmed in a recent exhibition of Cuypers' work.
The statues you see in the St Servaas portal are all 19th c (the church
was restored by Cuypers between 1858 and 1908) and most of the scuplted
arches are as well. The style of the figures now is more 14th and 15th c
than 13th, even if the original work dated to the first half of the 13th
c. I've learned to be very critical of all 'medieval' church sculpture
as most of it has been renewed, restored, replaced and restyled during
the 19th c. And that includes French churches and cathedrals. Most
people have no idea how influential Viollet-le-Duc was in that aspect.
Henk
--
Mijn Postvak In wordt beschermd door SPAMfighter.
1869 spam-mails zijn er tot op heden geblokkeerd.
Download de gratis SPAMfighter via deze link:
http://www.spamfighter.com/lnl
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|