Image on the Edge Quotes

“I could begin, like St Bernard, by asking what do they all mean, those lascivious apes, autophagic dragons, pot bellied heds, harp-playing asses, arse-kissing priests and somersaulting jongleurs that protrude at the edges of medieval buildings, sculptures and illuminated manuscripts? But I am more interested in how they pretend to avoid meaning, how they seem to celebrate the flux of 'becoming' rather than 'being'.”
― Michael Camille, Image on the Edge: The Margins of Medieval Art

“Compared to the routine, more coarse, carving of the Apostles and Elders, the monstrous rout seems to have been produced by a more expert sculptor, suggesting a scale of value that did not elevate the Divine archetype over the debased animal.”
― Michael Camille, Image on the Edge: The Margins of Medieval Art