The Popular in Service of the Sacred: The Sculpted Musicians of Santiago de Compostela
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Avia Shemesh
Abstract
This article explores the complex sculpted program in the refectory of the Archbishop’s Palace in Santiago de Compostela and the sculpted musicians of the western portal of Santiago de Compostela Cathedral. I describe multiple images of a courtly banquet complete with food service, dining, and entertainment, including figures of musicians, who were generally present at such feasts. Symbolic scenes were incorporated with these commonplace elements to create a dual interpretation of the scene as a parallel representation of earthly and heavenly banquets. Through the figures of the musicians, questions of musical iconography and its meaning come to light, alongside a clear reflection of the relationship between patrons and audiences.
Abstract
This article explores the complex sculpted program in the refectory of the Archbishop’s Palace in Santiago de Compostela and the sculpted musicians of the western portal of Santiago de Compostela Cathedral. I describe multiple images of a courtly banquet complete with food service, dining, and entertainment, including figures of musicians, who were generally present at such feasts. Symbolic scenes were incorporated with these commonplace elements to create a dual interpretation of the scene as a parallel representation of earthly and heavenly banquets. Through the figures of the musicians, questions of musical iconography and its meaning come to light, alongside a clear reflection of the relationship between patrons and audiences.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Table of Contents VII
- Blurred Boundaries in Pre-Modern Texts and Images: Aspects of Audiences and Readers-Viewers Responses 1
- The Sacred and the Profane in German Courtly Romances and Late Medieval Verse Narratives: With an Emphasis on Ulrich Bonerius and Heinrich Kaufringer 15
- The Poetic and Ideological Blurring of Boundaries in the Jewish Book of Ethics Orḥot Ṣaddiqim 41
- Laughing at Death: Blurred Boundaries in Giotto’s Last Judgment 57
- The Popular in Service of the Sacred: The Sculpted Musicians of Santiago de Compostela 79
- Image and Legend of Saint Margaret as an Aid in Childbirth Rituals 101
- Violent Women and the Blurring of Gender in some Medieval Narratives 125
- On the Heavenly and the Earthly, the Secular as Sacred – A New Reading of Medieval Hebrew Fables 145
- The Secular and the Sacred in a Bifolio from Louis of Laval’s Book of Hours and Its Spiritual Use 165
- Between Psalter and “Mirrors for Princes”: On the Moral and Didactic Messages in BL Cotton MS Domitian A XVII 185
- Visual and Textual Authority: Reading Chevalier in Manuscripts of La Vie des pères 205
- Aspects of Italian and Flemish Identity in Relation to Book Illumination: Reception of Devotional and Antiquarian Ideas through Depictions of Jewelry 229
- List of Illustrations 249
- Notes on Contributors 253
- Index 255
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Table of Contents VII
- Blurred Boundaries in Pre-Modern Texts and Images: Aspects of Audiences and Readers-Viewers Responses 1
- The Sacred and the Profane in German Courtly Romances and Late Medieval Verse Narratives: With an Emphasis on Ulrich Bonerius and Heinrich Kaufringer 15
- The Poetic and Ideological Blurring of Boundaries in the Jewish Book of Ethics Orḥot Ṣaddiqim 41
- Laughing at Death: Blurred Boundaries in Giotto’s Last Judgment 57
- The Popular in Service of the Sacred: The Sculpted Musicians of Santiago de Compostela 79
- Image and Legend of Saint Margaret as an Aid in Childbirth Rituals 101
- Violent Women and the Blurring of Gender in some Medieval Narratives 125
- On the Heavenly and the Earthly, the Secular as Sacred – A New Reading of Medieval Hebrew Fables 145
- The Secular and the Sacred in a Bifolio from Louis of Laval’s Book of Hours and Its Spiritual Use 165
- Between Psalter and “Mirrors for Princes”: On the Moral and Didactic Messages in BL Cotton MS Domitian A XVII 185
- Visual and Textual Authority: Reading Chevalier in Manuscripts of La Vie des pères 205
- Aspects of Italian and Flemish Identity in Relation to Book Illumination: Reception of Devotional and Antiquarian Ideas through Depictions of Jewelry 229
- List of Illustrations 249
- Notes on Contributors 253
- Index 255
