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<blockquote data-quote="Blue439" data-source="post: 826395" data-attributes="member: 53455"><p><strong>Two more capitals from the collegiate church of Chauvigny,</strong> to illustrate two different aspects of what was expected from this kind of decoration in churches during the Romanesque age.</p><p></p><p>The first one below is purely didactic. In the Middle Ages, most people, even among the nobility, could not read nor write. Only clerics knew, but also some sculptors who were then not only able to sign their name <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" alt="😎" title="Smiling face with sunglasses :sunglasses:" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/6.6/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png" data-shortname=":sunglasses:" /> , but also to caption their work. This was important because sculpture in general, and capitals in particular, were used to educate the unlearned masses through showing them images. The capital below thus contains a caption that reads <em>Gabriel Archangelus dixit Gloria in excelsis Deo,</em> i.e. “Archangel Gabriel chants Gloria in excelsis Deo”. The canons or the priests could read that caption, so that they would not be mistaken in explaining the image to the parishioners. <em>We</em> are also very lucky that this caption does not contain the sort of abbreviations they were so fond of in the Middle Ages, and which make some writings almost undecipherable!</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]412437[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p></p><p>The second capital, below, is a good example of imagination of sculptors running wild, like it so often did in those days. Those guys were amazing at imagining monsters they had never seen (for a good reason!) and at depicting them in full action on the stones! Here, we see sphinxes (or more accurately <em>sphinges</em>), themselves formidable creatures, being attacked by other undefined monsters with humanoid faces that are biting their tails. Biting, swallowing and regurgitating –anything one did with their mouth, indeed– were a big part of symbolism at the time. I have an enormous book on Romanesque symbolism which I haven’t dared attack yet, otherwise I would have been able to explain what the sculptor could have been trying to tell us... stay tuned! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite11" alt=":rolleyes:" title="Roll eyes :rolleyes:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":rolleyes:" /></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]412438[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Both photos taken with Nikon Z7 II, Micro-Nikkor 85mm, ƒ/2.8D PC-E tilt-shift lens, manual focus, FTZ II adapter. Gitzo tripod, Benro geared head. Natural light.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Blue439, post: 826395, member: 53455"] [B]Two more capitals from the collegiate church of Chauvigny,[/B] to illustrate two different aspects of what was expected from this kind of decoration in churches during the Romanesque age. The first one below is purely didactic. In the Middle Ages, most people, even among the nobility, could not read nor write. Only clerics knew, but also some sculptors who were then not only able to sign their name 😎 , but also to caption their work. This was important because sculpture in general, and capitals in particular, were used to educate the unlearned masses through showing them images. The capital below thus contains a caption that reads [I]Gabriel Archangelus dixit Gloria in excelsis Deo,[/I] i.e. “Archangel Gabriel chants Gloria in excelsis Deo”. The canons or the priests could read that caption, so that they would not be mistaken in explaining the image to the parishioners. [I]We[/I] are also very lucky that this caption does not contain the sort of abbreviations they were so fond of in the Middle Ages, and which make some writings almost undecipherable! [ATTACH type="full" alt="52280599590_12364f1017_o.jpg"]412437[/ATTACH] The second capital, below, is a good example of imagination of sculptors running wild, like it so often did in those days. Those guys were amazing at imagining monsters they had never seen (for a good reason!) and at depicting them in full action on the stones! Here, we see sphinxes (or more accurately [I]sphinges[/I]), themselves formidable creatures, being attacked by other undefined monsters with humanoid faces that are biting their tails. Biting, swallowing and regurgitating –anything one did with their mouth, indeed– were a big part of symbolism at the time. I have an enormous book on Romanesque symbolism which I haven’t dared attack yet, otherwise I would have been able to explain what the sculptor could have been trying to tell us... stay tuned! :rolleyes: [ATTACH type="full" alt="52282433314_8c5a146ff2_o.jpg"]412438[/ATTACH] Both photos taken with Nikon Z7 II, Micro-Nikkor 85mm, ƒ/2.8D PC-E tilt-shift lens, manual focus, FTZ II adapter. Gitzo tripod, Benro geared head. Natural light. [/QUOTE]
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