medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I may [well] be underestimating him, but I do wonder how much
wyvern/dragon distinctions would have mattered to a provincial carver in
the (very) far west in the early c16. The general associations of such
types of beast might be the best we can expect.
That illumination comparison is very strong, though. You could scour the
works of Michael Camille for more chaps in Wyvern/dragon-headed
costumes, to see what ideas he takes from them. Best place to start -
Image on the Edge: Essays in the Margins of Medieval Art. London:
Reaktion Books.
From what I recall of your other carvings at St Levan, an acquaintance
with his work (if you don't already have one) is pretty essential.
Jon
PS
The VCH project Susan mentions sounds excellent. Putting all these
sometimes-bizarre images in one place will make such a difference when
it comes to discerning what lies behind them; and in particular to
making a dispassionate assessment of how sophisticated and well-informed
these carvers' choice of image, superficially 'rustic' to our eyes,
might actually be.
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