medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: John Dillon <[log in to unmask]>
> Thanks, chris. Here's a whole page of expandable views of the five capitals
found at Nazareth in 1908 and now mounted on a wall in the church of the
Annunciation there:
> http://picasaweb.google.com/JuliannaLees/NazarethCapitals#
thanks, John, i actually came across this page a few weeks ago, when i
stumbled upon the essay by this "Julianna Lees" on the Plaimpied connection to
the Nazareth.
that latter site is a worthy effort, but not particularly reliable and
Methodologically Challenged, as one might expect of a non-specialist (or even
from many "specialists," Methodology being somewhat passé, in this
millennium).
the quantity of the photos here is not quite up to the quality of the works
themselves, nor of their remarkable state of preservation --they were found
buried, all in one place, apparently in anticipation of the imminent arrival
of the Saracens in 1187 and are all nearly finished, save for the backgrounds,
which are still quite rough (though this feature may actually be preparation
for a coating of gesso which was never applied).
no doubt they would have been painted as well, though no polychromy at all is
present --they look for all the world like they just came out of the
sculptor's shop yesterday.
as Ms. Lees says, there are plaster casts of them in the V&A; and also in the
Trocadero cast museum in Paris, where i first saw them "in the [plaster]
flesh" in '68 and made some serious, detailed photographs of them myself.
they really are quite unique and spectacular objects and, if my own kinky
Theory about the origins of the sculptor is right, would be the final --quite
"Baroque"-- [surviving] works of an artist whose career can be "documented"
over a period of at least 30 years.
they have been the subject of an excellent monographic study by Jaroslav
Folda:
The Nazareth Capitals and the Crusader Shrine of the Annunciation (Monographs
on the fine arts, 42).
University Park, P.A.: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1986.
who, as his title suggests, put forward the theory that they were originally
intended as part of a large stone "Shrine" to be placed in (rather than a
portal on) the church, which may have undergone extensive repairs after the
disasterous earthquake of 1171.
it is not clear to me whether he still holds to this interesting and original
hypothesis or not, but i see no reason why it might not be true.
c
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