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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

  
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