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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture So far, I'm finding medieval images of whirlwinds are rare. In an off-list discussion the question came up as to whether the odd "V" or "U" shaped cloud in the scene over the left-most door of the Royal Portal at Chartres might be a whirlwind. See image at: http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/Images/arth212images/Gothic/Chartres/royport_ascentymp.jpg The shape of this cloud is strikingly similar to typical Debris Clouds that form at the foot of Tornaoes, as studied and modeled by modern climatologists. This idea aligns with Jan Van Der Meulen's view that the scene is more a Contemplation of Creation than an Ascension scene. The idea would be that the odd shaped cloud alludes to the appearance of God to Job in a whirlwind. God's litany of rhetorical questions to Job is arguably the most comprehensive description of Creation in the Bible, given in God's own voice, delivered to Job from the whirlwind. The idea is reinforced by the odd posture of the two flanking angles in the tympanum that appear to be leaning awkwardly toward the cloud with legs braced in apparent resistance to some sort of force pushing against them. Does anyone on the List know if this reading of the tympanum has been taken up in more detail by any serious art historians? I'd also be interested in any comments about it you may have. Cheers, Richard J Legault On Mon, Apr 10, 2017 at 9:17 AM, Kurt Sherry <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > I'll admit that I'm sort of curious about it, but that's because I'm from > Kansas, so tornadoes are sort of a big deal here. > > - Kurt > > On Thu, Apr 6, 2017 at 1:46 PM, Richard Legault <[log in to unmask] > > wrote: > >> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture >> Laura, >> >> While the images are indeed whirly, I think I'd go with sunbursts or >> stars and planets, especially from the context of a Coronation of the >> Virgin. The astronomical images are more fitting for a queen of heaven. >> Thanks for trying. I'll keep looking. >> >> Cheers, >> >> Richard J Legault >> >> On Thu, Apr 6, 2017 at 12:14 PM, Laura Jacobus <[log in to unmask]> >> wrote: >> >>> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and >>> culture >>> I doubt that there was an established iconography for the phenomenon. >>> I've come across a description of an (embroidered) image of a 'fiery >>> whirlwind' (prester) but cross-referencing this description with others of >>> the same or similar embroidery, and with a possible actual image it seems >>> to me that the textile being described was actually embroidered with what >>> we might call sunbursts, ie. a sun with wiggly rays. There's a link to a >>> paper I gave (text and images) on my academia.edu page >>> https://birkbeck.academia.edu/LauraJacobus. In case of doubt, it's the >>> one called 'Fiery Whirlwinds, Flying Pigs, and a 300-year-old Virgin....' >>> >>> all best >>> >>> Laura >>> >>> Dr. Laura Jacobus >>> Senior Lecturer in History of Art >>> Birkbeck, University of London >>> >>> >>> For details of my book on Giotto and the Arena Chapel see >>> http://www.brepols.net/Pages/ShowProduct.aspx?prod_id=IS-9781905375127-1 >>> >>> >>> >>> On 5 April 2017 at 18:24, Richard Legault <[log in to unmask]> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and >>>> culture >>>> The Whirlwind is a well known biblical image, most notably in the *Book >>>> of Job*, where God appears to Job from out of a whirlwind and in *2 >>>> Cronicles* where Elijah is lifted up in a whirlwind. I have been >>>> searching for good examples of whirlwind images in medieval art and so far >>>> have only be able to locate one possible (see "Exhibit B" at >>>> https://listoffigures.wordpress.com/tag/tornado/). >>>> >>>> I would be grateful to anyone on the list who can guide me to any >>>> primary medieval sources on whirlwinds (of any type including tornados, >>>> waterspouts, dust-devils and so-on) in texts, illuminations or any artwork >>>> of the period. >>>> >>>> Thanks >>>> >>>> Richard J Legault >>>> >>>> >>>> ********************************************************************** >>>> To join the list, send the message: subscribe 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: unsubscribe 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/medieval-religion >>> >>> >>> ********************************************************************** >>> To join the list, send the message: subscribe 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: unsubscribe 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/medieval-religion >> >> >> ********************************************************************** >> To join the list, send the message: subscribe 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: unsubscribe 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/medieval-religion >> > > ********************************************************************** To > join the list, send the message: subscribe 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: > unsubscribe 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/medieval-religion ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: subscribe 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: unsubscribe 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/medieval-religion