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<blockquote data-quote="Blue439" data-source="post: 830854" data-attributes="member: 53455"><p><strong>The unbridled imagination of the Romanesque Age sculptors (2023)</strong></p><p></p><p>The Age of the Romanesque (roughly between 1000 and 1200) was when Christian sculpture blossomed and spread to all parts of churches and monasteries. It did so especially on capitals, those trapeze-shaped stones inserted between a column shaft and whatever part of the building the said column is supporting. Moving away from the archaic, Pagan-inspired floral and labyrinthine abstract motifs (even though those continued to be used as well, to some extent), capitals became “historied”, meaning that they began to tell stories aimed at the members of the congregation, or at monks or nuns themselves when in a monastery.</p><p></p><p>Most times, significant leeway was given to the sculptors and the themes touched upon on those capitals were immensely diverse: religious scenes of course, meant to educate the immense majority of those who could not read, and would not have had access to the Gospels anyway, as books were so scarce and enormously expensive; but also scenes from daily life, as well as an astounding bestiary. Not to mention openly erotic, pornographic or even scatological...! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite9" alt=":eek:" title="Eek! :eek:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":eek:" /> Of course, moral standards were very different back then, as well as the very way in which life was comprehended and envisioned.</p><p></p><p>To show how flourishing such sculpture was, below are four examples taken from just one humble parochial church in Burgundy.</p><p></p><p>All photos were taken with a Z7 II and the usual Gitzo tripod and Benro geared head. The first two with the Z 200-400mm, ƒ/4.5-5.6 S lens, the last two with the Micro-Nikkor 85mm, ƒ/2.8 D PC tilt-shift lens with an FTZ II adapter.</p><p></p><p><em>A scene from daily life: wrestlers during a village fair:</em></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]417127[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p></p><p><em>“If you do not live your as a good Christian, this is how your sins will be punished in Hell!” The sinner (probably someone who spread rumors), hands bound and legs immobilized by the weight of a dæmon, has his tongue pulled with large pincers:</em></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]417128[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p></p><p><em>A good bestiary example with lots of imagination thrown in: are these walruses? Lions? Elephants? Marine or land beasts?</em></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]417129[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p></p><p><em>Finally, a purely religious/teaching motif: a miser, bowed down under the weight of the heavy money purse attached to his neck, is being pulled into Hell by a dæmon. Of course, all of this is more educated guess based on the vague general shapes than anything else...</em></p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]417130[/ATTACH]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Blue439, post: 830854, member: 53455"] [B]The unbridled imagination of the Romanesque Age sculptors (2023)[/B] The Age of the Romanesque (roughly between 1000 and 1200) was when Christian sculpture blossomed and spread to all parts of churches and monasteries. It did so especially on capitals, those trapeze-shaped stones inserted between a column shaft and whatever part of the building the said column is supporting. Moving away from the archaic, Pagan-inspired floral and labyrinthine abstract motifs (even though those continued to be used as well, to some extent), capitals became “historied”, meaning that they began to tell stories aimed at the members of the congregation, or at monks or nuns themselves when in a monastery. Most times, significant leeway was given to the sculptors and the themes touched upon on those capitals were immensely diverse: religious scenes of course, meant to educate the immense majority of those who could not read, and would not have had access to the Gospels anyway, as books were so scarce and enormously expensive; but also scenes from daily life, as well as an astounding bestiary. Not to mention openly erotic, pornographic or even scatological...! :eek: Of course, moral standards were very different back then, as well as the very way in which life was comprehended and envisioned. To show how flourishing such sculpture was, below are four examples taken from just one humble parochial church in Burgundy. All photos were taken with a Z7 II and the usual Gitzo tripod and Benro geared head. The first two with the Z 200-400mm, ƒ/4.5-5.6 S lens, the last two with the Micro-Nikkor 85mm, ƒ/2.8 D PC tilt-shift lens with an FTZ II adapter. [I]A scene from daily life: wrestlers during a village fair:[/I] [ATTACH type="full"]417127[/ATTACH] [I]“If you do not live your as a good Christian, this is how your sins will be punished in Hell!” The sinner (probably someone who spread rumors), hands bound and legs immobilized by the weight of a dæmon, has his tongue pulled with large pincers:[/I] [ATTACH type="full"]417128[/ATTACH] [I]A good bestiary example with lots of imagination thrown in: are these walruses? Lions? Elephants? Marine or land beasts?[/I] [ATTACH type="full"]417129[/ATTACH] [I]Finally, a purely religious/teaching motif: a miser, bowed down under the weight of the heavy money purse attached to his neck, is being pulled into Hell by a dæmon. Of course, all of this is more educated guess based on the vague general shapes than anything else...[/I] [ATTACH type="full"]417130[/ATTACH] [/QUOTE]
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