JULIAN OF NORWICH, HER SHOWING
OF LOVE AND ITS CONTEXTS ©1997-2024 JULIA BOLTON HOLLOWAY
|| GENERAL INDEX || JULIAN OF NORWICH || ST BIRGITTA OF SWEDEN || EQUALLY IN GOD'S IMAGE: WOMEN IN THE
MIDDLE AGES || MIRROR OF SAINTS
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THE CHICHESTER BETHANY
SCULPTURES
AND THE PLAYS OF TERENCE
JULIA BOLTON HOLLOWAY
n Chichester Cathedral are two sculpted
panels in stone showing scenes from the Raising of Lazarus at Bethany. In
the first panel we witness Mary and Martha of Bethany pleading
with the figure of Christ, who is cross-nimbed and who holds the
Bible, while behind him stand three apostles, a fourth having
had his head broken off, while the one nearest to Christ
likewise holds the Bible, the Gospel he is to write. Mary on her
knees and bare-headed, and Martha, standing behind her and with
a head veil on her head, plead with Christ, their hands with
palms placed together in prayer, within a doorway above which
are seen architectural details.
In the second
panel we see extreme top left the lugubrious faces of Mary and
Martha of Bethany, their mouths and eyes drawn down like pagan
tragic players' masks. Christ, cross-nimbed and holding his
Book, with his other hand in the gesture of blessing, is seen
with Lazarus being raised up from his tomb, his grave-clothes
still wrapped around his legs and chest while his freed hands
are raised in prayer towards Christ. Two servant figures (in
pointed Jewish hats) are in the act of prying off the stone.
Four disciples stand about Christ and Lazarus.
Both panels pay attention to the folds
of Christ's and the disciples' robes and also to embroidered
motifs upon Christ's robe and differing traits of hair and
beard, the second Christus having quite different hair
attributes than he does in the first. In the second the faces in
general lose the more calm concern of the first panel and
instead show agitation, sorrow and horror.
The date of these
panels is uncertain, some authorities believing them to be
Anglo-Saxon work of around 1000, others, that they are of
Norman provenance of around 1130.
The first of these two images is
Anglo-Saxon, from the Winchester Benedictional, the second
Norman, for the Church of the Ascension in Nazareth. Much the
same style prevails but instead of progress in skill, there is
regress, a cruder quality. I would therefore suggest that the
Chichester panels, by two separate artists in order to explain
their different styles, date from the Norman period.
This essay will not attempt to date the
panels but will attempt to study them in relation to the
liturgical dramas, especially that of the Resuscitatio
Lazari, the Raising of Lazaus, of the period and to the
pre-Christian plays of Terence, which were owned and copied out
in medieval monasteries of this period and which strongly
influenced these Christian liturgical dramas, especially that of
the Resuscitatio Lazari. Following that discussion it
will relate these sculptures and these plays to the context of
both the liturgy's use of the Biblical texts which underlie
these presentations and to the reinforcement of that miracle
story in the Gospels not only by Christians worshiping in
England but also by those who went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem,
visiting Bethany the week before Easter Sunday in preparation
for Christ's own Resurrection from the dead.
IN PROGRESS
This is a chapter from the E-Book: Latin
with Laughter: Terence through Time
JULIAN
OF NORWICH, HER SHOWING OF LOVE AND ITS CONTEXTS ©1997-2024 JULIA BOLTON HOLLOWAY
|| GENERAL INDEX || JULIAN OF NORWICH || ST BIRGITTA OF SWEDEN || EQUALLY IN GOD'S IMAGE: WOMEN IN THE
MIDDLE AGES || MIRROR OF SAINTS
|| BIBLE AND WOMEN || BENEDICTINISM|| THE CLOISTER || ITS SCRIPTORIUM || AMHERST
MANUSCRIPT|| HEAVEN WINDOW || CATALOGUE (HANDCRAFTS,
BOOKS ) || BOOK REVIEWS || BIBLIOGRAPHY ||
