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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture From: Marjorie Greene <[log in to unmask]> > For Auvergne, see: > http://www.art-roman.net/issoire/issoire2.htm > The webmaster does indeed include the "horriblement peint" interior (done in the 19th c.) and all can conclude for themselves if this is indeed horrible. My quarrel with the capitals is not the paint, especially the original paint, but the phony plaster capitals trying hard to pass for the real deal. However, the Last Supper, phoniness and all, is moving and somehow pleasing to the eye, at least this eye. the Augergne stuff is characterized by a sometimes overly-static stolidity --good, solid, sturdy Peasant Folk, laconic in their movements and gestures. the paint here is not nearly as garish (at least on the capitals) as the previous example we saw on this thread and, again, i suspect that it follows rather closely what survived. it appears "horriblement" to our eyes mainly because we're just inured to seeing sculpture in monochrome --even the most restrained, "realistic" (i.e., naturalistic) paint, even faded with time, is quite striking to us. cf. the Well of Moses, which we saw last week on another string. this is somewhat curious, since we may assume that the Middlevils didn't need their Doors of Perception cleansed and, therefore, their vividly painted sculptures (and frescos) would have effected them all the more powerfully. another factor should be taken into account, however, when looking at this stuff in its present context --esp. in photographs. romanesque churches are, by nature, somewhat dark and would have been darker still with their "stained" (colored) --or even "grisaille" (translucent)-- glass in place. add the element of flickering candlelight and you have an "excuse" for what appears, in the present lighting conditions, as garishness. i've always thought that this latter consideration was particularly significant for mural paintings, esp. ones which seem to have some sort of deliberate optical illusion going on, like the wonderful frozen movement in the lower drapery of the Christ here http://www.art-roman.net/stsavin/stsavin9x.jpg at St. Savin-sur-Gartemp http://www.art-roman.net/stsavin/stsavin.htm an avatar of Marcel Duchamps, that painter was http://www.beatmuseum.org/duchamp/nude2.html http://www.snap-dragon.com/_private/Duchamp/SadYoungManinaTrain.jpg quite astonishing, really. c ********************************************************************** 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