Notre-Dame-du-Port, Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne, France.
Sandstone.
13th century.
Notre-Dame-du-Port.
L 63 in., maximum H 31 in., minimum H 16 in.
Metropolitan Catalogue: Cast no. 1449.
Purchased for GMU at Sotheby's New York, February 28, 2006.

Notre-Dame-du-Port is a basilica that was first built during the 7th century. The church is in the region of the Auvergne in central France. This is a section of the lower right side of the triangular portion of this oddly shaped composite tympanum over the south entrance to the Romanesque cathedral of Notre-Dame du Port. For his baptism, Christ is immersed to the waist in stylized water. A kneeling angel to the right holds his clothes, and a now-headless John the Baptist to the left holds onto Christ's arm. On the actual tympanum, two other scenes from Christ’s early life are carved on the triangular portion, to the left of this one– the Adoration of the Magi on the left, and the presentation of Christ in the temple at the center. In the semicircular portion of the tympanum, Christ in Majesty is enthroned above the three scenes from his life. A descriptive inscription surrounds the entire frame of the triangular pediment. The tympanum was painted, and some paint remains on the original, including a blue background. Much of the damage done to the tympanum occurred during the French Revolution.

~Anna Jones


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See Ian Robertson, Blue Guide: France (New York, 1984), 544. Figure. 42. Fig. 42 before cleaning. Fig. Notre-Dame du Port, two-part tympanum. Image by Kristobalite, flickr.com, 2008.]]> Wood.
1437-1521 CE.
St. Maclou, Rouen.
Metropolitan Catalogue: Casts no. 2103.
Purchased for GMU at Sotheby's New York, February 28, 2006.
Cast Location: Art and Design Building 2nd floor

These two reliefs are from the left door of the west façade of the Gothic church of St. Maclou. The reliefs date to 1540-1541; the rest of this door dates to about 1555-1560. Carved wooden panels like this ornament the five doors on the western side of the church. The panels are carved in the Late Gothic, or Flamboyant, style. This style is characterized by highly decorative architecture and was the last phase of Gothic architecture before the Renaissance. All the door panels of the church are attributed to sculptor Jean Goujon (c. 1510-c. 1568), and they are considered to be his earliest works. a. 57 x 75 in. An overall geometric design consisting of squares and circles encloses an abundance of intricate pastoral imagery. The central panel shows a farmer working in a wooded area with a castle in the background. Among the numerous figures framing the panel are half-women, bulls, moon-shaped male profile heads, garlands, and two youths holding drapery. Within the top border, a shepherd herds his animals in a wooded setting, and two children hold bouquets of flowers, fruits, and leaves.

~ Lucy R. Miller,  Anna Jones and Tina Delis


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Figure. Fig. Detail of no. 43a before cleaning. See Ian Robertson, Blue Guide: France (New York, 1984), 118.]]> Wood.
1437-1521 CE.
St. Maclou, Rouen.
Metropolitan Catalogue: Casts no. 2103.
Purchased for GMU at Sotheby's New York, February 28, 2006.
Cast Location: Johnson Ctr 2nd floor

These two reliefs are from the left door of the west façade of the Gothic church of St. Maclou. The reliefs date to 1540-1541; the rest of this door dates to about 1555-1560. Carved wooden panels like this ornament the five doors on the western side of the church. The panels are carved in the Late Gothic, or Flamboyant, style. This style is characterized by highly decorative architecture and was the last phase of Gothic architecture before the Renaissance. All the door panels of the church are attributed to sculptor Jean Goujon (c. 1510-c. 1568), and they are considered to be his earliest works. b. 77 in. x 48 in. A decorative rectangular frame contains an equally intricate circular frame, within which shepherds and kings appear to be in conversation, while other shepherds watch and tend their sheep in a circular woven fence. One figure at the right appears to be falling off the fence. Cherubs or winds appear within each corner of the larger frame. A bottom panel, unframed, contains four draped male figures in high relief, standing in various positions, three of them bearded, but the second one from the left now missing his head. Between these four figures, in the background, stand three more figures, carved in lower relief. The one in the center is a bearded male, those at the sides are women. These figures all stand on an architectural base, like a mantelpiece, supported by decorated brackets with female faces in between.

~ Lucy R. Miller, Anna Jones and Tina Delis


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See Ian Robertson, Blue Guide: France (New York, 1984), 118. Figure. 43b. Fig. 43 b being cleaned.]]> Origin unknown.
Stone.
French(?), early Gothic.
Location unknown.
H 38 in., W 28 in., D 18 in.
Not in Metropolitan cast catalogue.
Anonymous gift to GMU at Sotheby's New York, February 28, 2006.
Cast Location: Krasnow Bldg

Figures such as these representing Christian subjects that were used to ornament the door jambs of churches are a common Gothic feature, as are the intricate architectural details surrounding the figures. The scene here is the Annunciation, in which the angel Gabriel visits the Virgin Mary to tell her that she will be the mother of Jesus Christ. Gabriel is at the left, speaking to Mary at the right. The head of God the Father is between them, and the Holy Spirit descends towards Mary in the form of a dove.

~Anna Jones


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Figure. 44. Figure. No. 44 before cleaning.]]> Origin unknown.
Stone.
Perhaps twelfth or thirteenth century European.
Location unknown.
H 15 in., maximum W 21 in.
Not in Metropolitan cast catalogue.

This is a characteristically Romanesque design, inventive and lively. Heads at the corners of the capital are equipped with arms that entwine with vines and scrolls. On the right-hand corner of the abacus is an inscription, so far unidentified.]]> Origin unknown.
Stone.
Twelfth century Romanesque(?).
Location unknown.
H 35 in., W 79 inches.
Not in Metropolitan cast catalogue.
Cast Location: Concert Hall Lobby

A clustered row of stone colonnette capitals, probably from the facade of a church. This decorative detail, consisting of birds, animals, and humans entwined or hanging among leafy tendrils right-side-up and upside-down would have originally flanked one of the portals of a church. Architectural details like these served not only as decoration but also to demonstrate the designer's knowledge of classical styles of architecture. It was seen as a mark of prestige to have such details incorporated into a structure, and it showed a level of mastery of that which had once been considered pagan. Furthermore, artists had the opportunity to be creative with a wide range of designs and subject matter. The subjects incorporated in these designs range from generic to pagan to Christian.

~Nathan Barber


]]> Origin unknown.
Wood.
German(?),
Renaissance(?).
Location unknown.
H 6 1/4 in., L 28 in.
Metropolitan Catalogue Cast no. 1851.
Cast Location: Robinson B359 hallway

Acorns, thistles, roses, and holly are entwined in a scroll motif on this relief. The presence of thistle, symbol of Scotland, and rose, symbol of England, may suggest British rather than German origin.


~Lucy R. Miller

]]> Rochester Cathedral.
Stone.
Completed 1130 CE.
Rochester Cathedral, west doorway.
H 13 in., W 8 in.
Metropolitan Catalogue: Cast no. 1553.
Cast Location: Robinson B359 hallway

This slightly curved block is one of the slightly wedge-shaped blocks that surrounded one of the arched doorways of the cathedral. This block, from the right side of the arch, is carved with heads in slightly different positions, each one surrounded by leafy vines. The other voussoirs would have been similarly decorated, so that each of the inward-looking faces appeared to be looking at the scene carved in the tympanum, located over the doorway, between the arch and the lintel. Rochester is in Kent, southeastern England, on the route to Canterbury. The cathedral was built between the 11th and 14th centuries, but it was mostly complete by the middle of the 12th century. Opposite the cathedral is a Norman castle.]]> King Henry VII's (1457-1509) chapel, Westminster Abbey.
Wood.
Early sixteenth century.
Westminster Abbey.
Maximum W 21 in.
Not in Metropolitan cast catalogue.
Cast Location: Robinson B359 hallway

St. Benedict's sixth-century rule required clergy members to sing the daily offices of the church while standing at their places in the choir of the church. They were rarely allowed to sit. Some elder monks used a staff or crutch to relieve their discomfort during these long hours. The misericord, from the Latin word misericordia (pity), was a hinged wooden seat that appeared in churches as early as the eleventh century. The long robes of the monks somewhat disguised the fact that the monks were sitting on these narrow misericords, some of which were elaborately carved on the undersides, so that they could only be seen when the seats were raised. Their subjects included domestic brawls, fantastic creatures, mermaids, craftsmen, shepherds, Bible stories, fables, sirens, unicorns, various animals, and Medieval legends. Many of them conveyed moral lessons.

Misericords can be found in the Medieval cathedrals, parish churches, and monastic churches of Germany, France, and England, and date to as early as the eleventh century. In Britain, on certain days in the church calendar, the choir was open to the laity, who, having stood through hours of services, would have had the opportunity to study carefully the images and stories represented in these carvings. This plaster misericord, painted to resemble wood, shows a woman using a bundle of sticks to beat a kneeling man. At the same time, the man is being made to do a woman's work of winding wool. Perhaps this was an admonition to men not to stick around the house too much, or perhaps it elaborates upon the evil nature of women. The image closely resembles that of Aristotle being beaten by Phyllis (or Campaspe), a common Medieval analogy for the evil nature of women. The same message is also conveyed in misericords, manuscript illuminations, tapestries, and stained glass, with an image of Phyllis/Campaspe riding a bridled Aristotle.

~ Martha Munters


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See Elaine C. Block, Corpus of Medieval Misericords, 2003, 5 vols.; Christa Grössinger, The World Upside-Down: English Misericords, 1997; Mike Harding. A Little Book of Misericords (London, 1998); Richard Hayman, Church Misericords and Bench Ends (Buckinghamshire, 2000); Dorothy and Henry Kraus, The Hidden World of Misericords (New York, 1975); Westminster Abbey website, http://www.westminster-abbey.org/faq/faq_abbey.htm]]> Origin unknown.
Marble.
Renaissance.
Rome, Vatican Museums, Gabinetto delle Maschere no. 444.
L 46 in., H 9 in.
Metropolitan Catalogue: Cast no. 2028.
Cast Location: Robinson B359 hallway

This relief is part of a frieze showing putti (cherubs) holding up an intricate garland of myrtle and ivy, pomegranates, quinces, nuts, pinecones, seed-pods, and flowers - bound together by a ribbon. In the center of the fragment, a bouquet of flowers is tied with a ribbon. An egg-and-dart design lines the top and bottom.

This type of frieze originated in a popular type of Roman sarcophagi, known today as "Garland Sarcophagi." Yet this is not an ancient relief: the ribbons and the crest-like design in the center show that it is far more likely to be from the Renaissance. It is displayed in the Vatican by itself. This motif decorates tombs, but it was also used to ornament fireplaces, furniture, even the facades of buildings. The popularity of such designs has continued until today, and viewers may recognize putti and garlands in, for example, the relief decoration on a fiberglass garden planter!

~Lucy R. Miller


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See Walther Amelung, The Sculpture of the Vatican Museums, vol. 2 (Berlin, 1908), 80, nos. 444, 444a. Fig. 50.]]>