medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On 12/23/11, Robert Kraft wrote:
> Can this really have been intended as Adam and Eve and two sons
>
> (from last year's list)?
>
>
>
> http://tinyurl.com/yhpnke
>
>
>
>
> Below is the description given with the image, which depicts two
>
> boys (I assume) in leopardskin-like garb, a nicely robed woman
>
> holding a lamb, and an opulently dressed man (with a tiara?) holding
>
> three "trays" of unidentified objects. Perhaps the interpreters took
>
> the objects to symbolize the offerings made respectively by the boys
>
> in the Genesis story -- animal sacrifice (Abel) and vegetation
>
> (Cain) (but then, why don't the boys hold them?). Was the formation
>
> in the lower middle taken to be a serpent? What other candidates are
>
> there for this scene? The NT story of the return of the prodigal son
>
> (with his brother, about to be celebrated with a feast) occurs to
>
> me, although if most of the other biblical scenes are from Jewish
>
> scriptures, that would be a counter argument. How about some story
>
> from Greco-Roman traditions?
>
>
<SNIP; deleting the description given with the image, which refers to Antonio Ferrua with identifying which of his several publications on the catacombs of the Via Latina deals most discursively with this scene>
I've wondered about Ferrua's interpretation as well but have never taken the time to look it up. Or to see whether it was accepted by F. P. Bargebuhr (whose posthumously published monograph on these paintings was savaged in BMCR; see <http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/1992/03.02.01.html>) or by William Tronzo, _The Via Latina Catacomb: Imitation and Discontinuity in Fourth-century Roman Painting_ (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1986). It was accepted by Stephanie Moser, _Ancestral Images: The Iconography of Human Origins_ (Cornell University Press, 1998), p. 41; for those who can access Google Books, this is at < http://tinyurl.com/c9swatg >. But Moser's presentation gives one pause. In contradistinction to Bob, she (and, presumably, Ferrua as well) takes the two figures on the left as Adam and Eve and those on the right as Cain and Abel. But the two figures on the right -- here's the link again: < http://tinyurl.com/yhpnke > -- would seem from their dress to be a woman and a man rather than two men. Is that perception off? Is there good reason for thinking that the figure holding the lamb could actually be depicted in male dress?
Best,
John Dillon
**********************************************************************
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
|