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Carolyn Whitson
Dec 29, 20248 min read
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
In my previous two posts , I discussed medieval symbolic animals which derived from real-life creatures, and then the Monstrous Races,...
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Carolyn Whitson
Feb 3, 20245 min read
Devil's Gonna Get You!
13th c. capital of a sinner being devoured, Saint Pierre, Chauvigny, France A nasty case of Covid pretty much bankrupted my energy for...
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Carolyn Whitson
Dec 28, 20239 min read
Angels We Have Seen On High
I thought I'd finish out our year with something light-hearted and ravishingly beautiful. The West Window of Worcester Cathedral was...
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Carolyn Whitson
Nov 27, 202310 min read
Everything Old is New Again: The Watts Memorial Chapel
One of the bittersweet realities for lovers of Romanesque art is that the majority of it exists in a state of decay and dislocation. ...
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Carolyn Whitson
Oct 16, 20236 min read
The Anti-David: St. Bartholomew by Marco D'Adrate, 1562
A statue has been haunting me. I saw it inside the Duomo of Milan. In retrospect, I think it's the only thing I really saw in the Duomo,...
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Carolyn Whitson
Jul 18, 20237 min read
di Balduccio Monument--The Christian Virtues
Capturing the back of the sarcophagus of Saint Peter Martyr is much trickier than photographing the front. The apse is quite close by,...
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Carolyn Whitson
Jul 9, 20236 min read
The di Balduccio Tomb--the Pagan Virtues
As much as I love medieval art that strikes me as bizarre, I really love it when I come across works which are marvels of symbolic...
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Carolyn Whitson
Mar 19, 20236 min read
Works and Days (a hymn, but not to Hesiod)
12th century mosaic, Bobbio, depicting the month of March, emphasizing wind (I think) By the time March arrives, the January 1st...
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Carolyn Whitson
Nov 6, 20222 min read
Origins of Sirens
On October 25th, 2022, I gave a lecture at Metropolitan State University on the Origins of Sirens. In the presentation, I trace how...
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Carolyn Whitson
Feb 18, 20215 min read
Pre-Romanesque Churches in Asturias
Few 9th century churches survive anywhere in Europe, but in Northern Spain are a few precious remaining examples. Santa Cristina de Lena...
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Carolyn Whitson
Feb 15, 20218 min read
Early Christian Churches in Rome, Part 2
Here, I continue to point out some features of church architecture, generally before 1100. Please see Part 1 post for more on this...
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Carolyn Whitson
Feb 14, 20215 min read
Early Christian Churches in Rome, Part 1
What follows here are some features of churches from roughly 350-1100 in Rome. Most of my photo studies are of Romanesque and Gothic,...
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Carolyn Whitson
Feb 9, 20215 min read
Creation and Expulsion of Adam & Eve in the Stained Glass of Chartres Cathedral
To tell the story of Mary through a medieval church's lens, one must have at least one space to tell the story of Eve. At Chartres...
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Carolyn Whitson
Jan 22, 20212 min read
Notre Dame de Paris' Tympanum
This image features the fate of the damned--stretching from their judgment by Saint Michael (upper-left), across to punishments for...
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Carolyn Whitson
Jan 22, 20214 min read
San Juan de La Pena, Service and Miracles
Up in the remote hills in northern Spain, the monastery of San Juan de la Pena contains the ruins of a tiny cloister, with magnificent...
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Carolyn Whitson
Jan 22, 20213 min read
Remembering the Notre Dame de Paris Interior, Part 1
Notre Dame de Paris was engulfed in a terrible fire in 2019. Here, I include some of my photos of the interior, taken in 2018. I don't...
1,510 views1 comment
Carolyn Whitson
Jan 22, 20215 min read
Remembering the Notre Dame de Paris Interior, Part 2
This entry continues an analysis of the thirteenth century choir screen of Notre Dame de Paris, with photos taken in 2018, before the...
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Carolyn Whitson
Jan 22, 20214 min read
Remembering the Notre Dame de Paris Interior, Part 3
One thing that revolutionized looking at medieval stained glass for me was using a serious zoom lens, and then spending time in...
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Carolyn Whitson
Jan 22, 20213 min read
Chartres Cathedral--another temple to Mary the Queen
Chartres isn't very far from Paris, by modern standards, and its veneration of Mary is an occasion for comparisons to Notre Dame de Paris....
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