medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: Diana Wright <[log in to unmask]>
> Christopher Crockett wrote:
>> in the pre-gothic sculpture of c. 12 it is, by far, the most common form
of
folliage.
>> at least assuming that what Art Hysterians consistently term "acanthus"
friezes are really, indeed, acanthus friezes.
> Probably because it is the foliage of Corinthian capitals, much appreciated
by the Romans,
first, presumably, by the Ismuth Dwellers.
butbut, that's just Kicking the Can down the Appian Way.
even putting aside the Begged Question of whether or not the "acanthus
friezes" of c. 12 were really founded on "Corinthian" capitals, whether
original Roman ones or the ubiquitous 12th c. copies --and the cap examples
really don't look all that much like the frieze ones-- dodging that Begged
Question, *why* did this ugly weed facinate, first the Ismuthians, then the
Romans, then the middlevils?
some German Giant early in the last century (Alois Riegl?) put forward the
idea that what we dismiss as "ornament" was actually of great significance, at
least to the Ancients --and, by extension, to the Middlevils as well.
but, i don't think that he bothered to venture an opinion of just *what*,
eggsactly, that significance might have been.
Robert Graves' _The Greek Myths_ is the only source i know which attempts to
tie "sacred" plants up with various mythological characters, and i'll have a
look in his index tonight, just out of curiosity.
>& there were hundreds, thousands, of them surviving for the romanesques &
medievals to appropriate for their own buildings.
lots used as spolia, of course, particularly in the early m.a.
running out of originals, and having learned how to carve stone on their own,
by c. 12 the form was endlessly copied (e.g., Cluny and all *over* Burgundy).
>I just bought an olive tree.
pretty far North for Olives, isn't it?
reminds me, i visited a friend in San Jose (just south of San Francisco) a few
years ago. he lived in an area which was a heavily Italian neighborhood in the
1920s --olive trees lined the streets, were once all over the back yards.
but S.J. is *much* closer to Italy in climate than Seatle, i should think.
>The really striking thing about the two great Byzantine exhibits at the Met
was the number of blue-collar Greeks who came in to see their heritage, people
who mostly had never been into a museum before. I had come with a chartered
bus of Dumbarton Oaks types & the culture contrast was powerful.
yes, the Mind Boggles.
c
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