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Friday, November 18. 2005

The rear wall, behind the altar, of San Miniato, the Benedictine chapel which we posted yesterday. Note the painted timbers of the roof beams - my flash couldn't quite reach that high. How come only Catholics get to have this kind of stuff? (I know, I know.)

 

Posted by Bird Dog in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 06:40 | Comments (12) | Trackbacks (0)

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bird dog -


do a search on "James Arthur".

then come back and have a closer look
at the lanscape behind the
figure of Christ on the right hand panel.
#1 gumshoe on 2005-11-18 10:25 (Reply)
huh? I tried. clue me in.
you are ahead of me here.
#1.1 bird dog on 2005-11-18 12:06 (Reply)
some nice photos of San Miniato here:

http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/san_miniato_photo_gallery.htm


BTW -


unless there are two(or more) San Miniatos,
the fresco in your original post would appear
to be elsewhere in the church...
...here is the main altar:


http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/images/san_miniato_nave_small.jpg

http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/images/san_miniato_altar_small.jpg

http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/images/tabernacle_small.jpg
#2 gumshoe on 2005-11-18 10:54 (Reply)
apologies if this is a double post:


BD -

i just saw from your earlier post
that you've recently visited
San Miniato...

i ,unfortunately,
missed it when i had a chance to visit Florence.

are you sure this fresco(in your original post)
is "behind the altar"?


these photos show some good pics of the church,
and show the altar surmounted by a half-dome:



Main Link:

http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/san_miniato_photo_gallery.htm

Altar Pics(3):

View of Nave:
http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/images/san_miniato_nave.jpg

i was going to say: "what a beautiful 'little' church',before i saw the scale from the figure in the foreground
in this photo. what beautiful geometries and light in the interior.

Tabernacle and part of Half Domed Apse:
http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/images/san_miniato_altar.jpg

Tabernacle:
http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/images/tabernacle.jpg

Half-Domed Apse behind Altar:
http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/images/vault.jpg
#3 gumshoe on 2005-11-18 12:11 (Reply)
did you find & visit:

http://www.jamesarthur.net

??

(he's recently deceased,BTW...under not so conventional circumstances...not a lot of info available so ,i'll not repeat the few internet rumors i've seen in that regard)


here's a brief excerpt from his website
that applies to the panel i referred to above:


"Figure 2. Artwork as Revelator

Amanita muscaria is a "good luck charm", associated with the four-leafed-clover in artwork and traditional folklore. It is not restricted to pictorial art in obvious places. Mushroom-associated symbolism is found throughout religious artwork as well. Decoding these religious art symbols has always been a favorite pass-time of mine and with recent validation of symbol experts who have added greatly to my abilities to do so,it seems when you start to look, there is mushroom imagery everywhere, especially when the artist is one of those "in the know". For good reason, as the story unfolds you find that the depth of your understanding of religious art, is directly associated with the depth of your understanding of archetypes and symbols."

it's truly a fascinating treasure hunt.

i was stunned when i first read his site.
obviously he's not the only person writing in this vein.
the internet has distributed rather a lot of material on the topic,not all of it either scholarly or reliable,imo.

but the evidence Arthur assembles is hard to dismiss.

hope you enjoy reading.

(BTW a brief review of buddhist art will reveal similar themes...and leads also to some speculation on inter-religious influences)
#4 gumshoe on 2005-11-18 13:01 (Reply)
BD -

this is now my third try posting this(text below)...

when the authentication fails and then works the second time...i get a msg saying the post will be reviewed before getting posted ...others (like the one directly above) are posting normally.

go figure.

sometimes the authentication codes are difficult to make out...
some of the X's and H's look awfully similar,
as an example.

____________________________

"apologies if this is a double post":


BD -

i just saw from your earlier post
that you've recently visited
San Miniato...

i ,unfortunately,
missed it when i had a chance to visit Florence.

are you sure this fresco(in your original post)
is "behind the altar"?


these photos(links below) show some good pics of the church,and show the altar surmounted by a half-dome:


Main Link:

http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/san_miniato_photo_gallery.htm

Altar Pics(3):

View of Nave:
http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/images/san_miniato_nave.jpg

i was going to say: "what a beautiful 'little' church',before i saw the scale from the figure in the foreground
in this photo. what beautiful geometries and light in the interior.

Tabernacle and part of Half Domed Apse:
http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/images/san_miniato_altar.jpg

Tabernacle:
http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/images/tabernacle.jpg

Half-Domed Apse behind Altar:
http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/images/vault.jpg
#5 gumshoe on 2005-11-18 13:13 (Reply)
Having such readers is the true reward of doing this.
Thanks, Gumshoe.
#6 bird dog on 2005-11-18 13:13 (Reply)
you are most welcome,BD.

______________________________

as an example of inter-religious influence...

look at the symbolism in these two
pieces of artwork...one Buddhist,and one Christian.

in Christian symbolism,
the Lion is one of the Four Holy Animals/Symbols of the Evangelists...but is also symbolic of man's lower nature,
agressiveness,pride,the appetites(and the large role
of the appetites in buddist doctrine),etc

here is Manjushri,on the back of a Lion
("The snow-lion,on which he rides,symbolizes
the overcoming of the ego.")wielding the Sword of Discernment that cuts thru Illusion of Duality:

http://www.tsl.org/Masters/buddhas/images/manjushri.jpg


and another Manjushri and Lion picture:

http://imageserver.himalayanart.org:8087/fif=fpx/
52548695.fpx&obj=uv,1.0&page=image.html&rect=0,0,1,1&hei=400

(can't seem to locate a pic with both sword & lion,
although boht are traditional Manjushri synbols...odd)


and here....


at the San Miniato pulpit,
the Man surmounts the Lion and is transcended by the Eagle of Spirit.

http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/images/presbytery.jpg

the Lion typically is identified with St Mark and
"Resurrection" is one of the symbolic readings of the Lion,
although quite how, i am unsure(Transcending the Animal- nature= Resurrection,most likely)..and of course the Eagle
is identified with St John.

if i recall there were two St John's:

John the Baptist and John the Apostle...which "St John"
the Eagle represents,i am unsure,
....but there are many examples of pulpits
with a sculpted Eagle suppoting the lectern...

hence,a reference to "John the Evangelist",i believe,
who "foretold the coming of the Christ"...
so the Eagle/John symbolism for a pulpit is apt.
#7 gumshoe on 2005-11-18 14:11 (Reply)
You are most welcome,BD.

_________________________________________

"Your comment was successfully added.
Warning: This comment needs approval before it will be displayed"

i keep getting this message,BD,
and have no way to know if the other 3 or 4 posts i've
made to your thread here
have disappeared into the ether.

if so,
no biggie as i saved them to NotePad here,
but it's pretty annoying.

and i had some further things that related to the thread so far and might interest you .

pls let me know if they got shunted off
to a sidelined Inbox somewhere,
where you're still able to access them,
of if they're just *gone*.

sheesh.
gotta love spammers.
#8 Anonymous on 2005-11-18 14:20 (Reply)
check and see if they show up on comments.
I do not have the pre-approval system turned on, because we eliminated the spammers with a nuclear weapon.
If they arent showing up, let me know, and our genius Chris will try to fix it.
#9 bird dog on 2005-11-18 14:58 (Reply)
OK.

thanks for the reply.


here's the 4th try for this post i started
way back around noon.

heheheh.

i switched the option to Linear from "Threaded"
not sure if that matters,but it's worth a try.

none of my earlier posts are visible
(excepting the ones that got thru
and you replied to here on the blog)

________________________

BD -

this is now my third try posting this(text below)...

when the authentication fails and then works the second time...i get a msg saying the post will be reviewed before getting posted ...others (like the one directly above) are posting normally.

go figure.

sometimes the authentication codes are difficult to make out...
some of the X's and H's look awfully similar,
as an example.

____________________________

"apologies if this is a double post":


BD -

i just saw from your earlier post
that you've recently visited
San Miniato...

i ,unfortunately,
missed it when i had a chance to visit Florence.

QUESTION:

are you sure this fresco(in your original post)
is "behind the altar"?


these photos(links below) show some good pics of the church,and show the altar/tabernacle
surmounted by a half-dome:


Main Link:

http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/san_miniato_photo_gallery.htm

Altar Pics(3):

View of Nave:
http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/images/san_miniato_nave.jpg

i was going to say: "what a beautiful 'little' church',before i saw the scale from the figure in the foreground
in this photo....pretty good sized church!!
what beautiful geometries and light in the interior.

Tabernacle and part of Half Domed Apse:
http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/images/san_miniato_altar.jpg

Tabernacle:
http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/images/tabernacle.jpg

Half-Domed Apse behind Altar:
http://www.san-miniato-al-monte.com/images/vault.jpg
#10 Anonymous on 2005-11-18 16:13 (Reply)
just a check
#11 bird dog on 2005-11-20 04:23 (Reply)

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