Dear Wen XIX
Originally posted on Stuart France:
Dear Wen,
‘Even in a little church not five miles from where I am sitting there is a thirteenth century font with a panel on which is sculptured in low relief the diabolical boar trying to uproot the True Vine with his snout.” – Introduction ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’.
The ‘Sign of Jonah’ is at least as old as the Babylonian Fish-Gods as also is the backward looking beast overcome by Marduk amongst others if memory serves.
It is always a hot debate when considering a static image whether the form is being swallowed by the fauna or is emerging from it.
The hero usually does both…sometimes cutting a way out!
A lot of the composite beasts were originally calendrical symbols anyway with each different section of the bodily form representing a span of time or season.
The Zodiac is an extension of this idea with the figures…
View original 158 more words
