York East Window, 1405-7, The Seventh Day of Creation
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Talk about biting off more than one can chew: the Great East Window of York Minster is composed of more than 300 panels, relates a great deal of the Old Testament, and meticulously visualizes the whole book of Revelation. It's a masterpiece both in its ambition and in its beauty. Other cathedrals and churches have taken on this subject in stained glass (most notably, Sainte Chapelle in Paris, 150+ years earlier), but most medieval churches make smaller gestures to the importance of Revelations in their tympanums, mosaics, and frescoes. Even though I routinely write blogposts that violate the standards of brevity for the form, composing a post which attempts to describe the East Window in totality is too grueling to be attempted. So, I'm going to discuss one facet of the window: its depiction of animals and monsters. This is the first part, where we'll look at the Genesis panels; in part two, I'll discuss the magical and symbolic creatures in Revelation.
In the Old Testament segment of the window, all the animals are realistic (except for the fishes, but we'll get there). There's only one monstrous hybrid in the Creation scenes, and that's the human/serpent in Eden. Above, you can see the Seventh Day of Creation. The artist(s) who designed the panel made a decision to depict God resting by having him take a seat while his creations worship him. You have birds around him on the left, and animals on the right. In the foreground is Adam on his knees on the left, and the lion and the lamb on the right. The Creation story hovers above the Revelation one to place an "In the Beginning," as a frame of reference for Judgment Day ("In the End"). My students might have memed this as "How it Started" and "How it's Going," and they wouldn't be wrong. In Genesis we read about not just the creation, but also the first Sin, which sets in motion a cascade of tragedies and bad behavior which necessitate the final judgment.
With Adam, the lion, and the lamb, you have the essential elements for the story in Revelation, where Jesus acts as both lion and lamb, punishing the evil and giving the good a gentle pasture. Interestingly, the lion's gaze is up at God, while the lamb's looks to Adam. Even though this is the day where everything is perfect and in place, Adam's gaze looks into space, more than at God, apprehensive and/or solemn about what's to come.
God in Majesty with Lamb, Book, and Tetramorph
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Compare the Seventh Day's composition with "God in Majesty, with Lamb and Book" (Rev. 5:6-7). In the Genesis panel, God is not separated from his creations, but Christ, in the Revelation 5 panel is set apart in an otherworldly space, contained in a mandorla. With him is his symbolic representative, who in John's visions will break the seven seals on the book of Doom. Surrounding him is the tetramorph, understood in Christian theology as representing the four evangelists who authored the gospels.
In Revelation (and as executed in the East Window) all the animals are symbolic. These animals (plus the man with wings, symbol of St. Matthew) represent areas of dominance: The lion (St. Mark) is ruler of the wild earth, the ox (St. Luke) is ruler of the domesticated earth, the eagle (St. John the Evangelist) rules the air (or heavens), and the man represents the dominion of men. They surround Jesus much as the animals in the Seventh Day surround God, but their presence is not due to creation, but due to announcing the eternal rule of Jesus.
The animals in the other Genesis panels are meant to be a description of the reality which God created. For example, fish are real fish, even if the artists (who may have referenced illuminated manuscripts illustrating Genesis) aren't too clear on what a whale is.
The Fifth Day: Creation of Birds and Fishes (Genesis 1: 20-3)
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I have to hand it to the artists here: they had a lot to represent from the text, and a small space in which to do so. At the top, surrounded by a regal red firmament, is God (his hand, anyway, which now has me rethinking all those British direction-signs which use a hand, called manicules). He has an attending angel, witnessing his work. The blue section appears to operate as both sky and sea (that, or fish are flying or birds are swimming). In the foreground is scrim of land, with mushroom-like trees. There are no "creeping creatures," but there is a lonesome scallop shell (perhaps foreshadowing its use as a symbol for pilgrims). The gold bird in the middle is most likely an eagle, but the fish don't seem to translate into recognizeable species. The toothy fish in the center is meant to be a whale, but. . .no.
The Fourth Day of Creation: the Firmament (Genesis 1: 14-19
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The creation of Day and Night is pretty straight-forward here. I am not sure how far back the tradition of giving the sun and moon faces goes, but it's fairly common in medieval religious art. Compare this panel with the one below, where the new world is born after the final judgment. God is now handing the second creation fully to Jesus, where rays extend from him as though he is the new sun. The moon, sun, and stars are less detailed here, as though their brightness is eclipsed (no pun intended) by the new ruler on his throne. No animals are shown in this panel, symbolic or real. John of Patmos has the ultimate vision revealed to him, and righteous are below in the tabernacle of God with men.
The New Heaven and the New Earth (Revelation 21:2-5)
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Back to Animals:
The Sixth Day: Creation of Adam. Genesis 1:24-31
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Above, it appears as Adam's creation takes place on a bed of light. He is surrounded by a few animals, though. The lamb which will eventually be symbolized as The Lamb in Revelation is nearest him. In either the river beside him or the sky below him (hard to tell) you can see the form of a bird. Given that it has no facial details, I'm wondering if the window was damaged at some point, and then repaired with fragments of glass that were collected, but not necessarily in that panel. It would explain how weirdly-made the dog in the lower-right is, along with the out-size, chaotic flowers near the horse. The horse is an interesting inclusion here, since there will be four horses which figure strongly in the Revelation panels.
The Temptation and Fall. Genesis 3: 1-6
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