Undoubtedly there are many churches throughout medieval Christendom in
which all four such heads (and many more) appear/ed. It would be most
interesting to know if these particular four were ever so neatly
juxtaposed in a medieval church and whether such arrangement corresponds
to the intentions of the original architect/sculptor(s)--bearing in mind, of
course, that many medieval churches have been pretty thoroughly mucked about
by restorers.
I am (for what will be to many listmembers obvious reasons) especially
interested in why, even to a 19th-century architect, the queen is the only
female included--or more specifically, why is the king the only one here
who has a female counterpart? Naturally the bishop would not be expected
to have one (although an abbess might do--which brings up the question
whether abbesses EVER appeared in sculptural programs of this nature?),
but why hasn't the knight got a lady with him?
John Parsons
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