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Tuesday 2 May 2023

Reflecting on past lives

Like most cathedrals, York Minster is crammed full of memorials and statuary. I find them fascinating. I noticed these heads adorning some of the interior columns and I wonder whether they were modelled on real people? Assuming they have always been there since the Minster was built, they are medieval: 14th or 15th century. I wonder who they were? Famous citizens or simply the family and friends of the stone mason? I find them quite endearing. There are hundreds more examples, both inside and on the exterior of the Minster. 

In contrast, we know who many of the monuments commemorate. They are mostly Bishops and Archbishops, like this pious gentleman:

The figures below are biblical - King David and Miriam. But again, I wonder if their faces are purely imaginary or modelled on a real person known to the craftsman who carved them? I did rather like these two. 


Some of the tombs added in the 1700s have elaborate, painted figures, like those below. Somehow the colour makes them even more lifelike. I'm assuming they do have a passing resemblance to the people interred there. It would be fascinating to be able to time-travel, wouldn't it, to experience life in a different country or a different century? I'd want to be sure of coming back though! (I don't think I'd want to be stuck in one of those stiff, ruff collars for ever!) 


5 comments:

  1. Not sure about York Minster, but it's frequently said that some of the faces in our parish churches are those of the craftsmen who worked on the building, or occasionally of those who paid for the church. On the other hand, if it's saints who are being depicted there was a template for each saint - bald or long haired, bearded or clean-shaven, fat or thin and so on. Saints also carried things to denote who they were.

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  2. The carvings on the older buildings here are also said to be of the workers. It makes sense to carve something you know well.

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  3. I also loved David and Miriam's statues. Wow those life like painted ones do look realistic! The last wife was posed as if she was just thinking of bringing her hands to prayer...a form of realism beyond just paint...it makes statues resemble the actions of the people. Is there an artistic term for that? I can't think of one.

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  4. The statues are impressive, Jenny, even if those heads did remind me of gargoyles. The painted figures must have been directed not to smile.

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