medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
That is one cute church. Perky.
DW
Gerallt Nash wrote:
> 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
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