Phantasmagorical Medieval Critters

The one at the top is a lion with the head of a snake (isn't here something of that kind in the Book of Revelation?) and the one at the bottom appears to have the body of a goose, the feet of a deer, a snaky neck and a human face enclosed in some sort of a hood. They appear on the font of St Mary's, Upavon, Wiltshire.

Dead Bishops

Three dead Bishops- as represented on their tombs in Winchester Cathedral. Winchester was the richest diocese in England- and the man who occupied its bishop's throne was ipso facto among the most powerful in the land. Wykeham and Waynflete did terms as Chancellor of England and Foxe was Lord Privy Seal.



William of Wykeham (1320ish-1404)



William Waynflete (1398-1486)



Richard Foxe (1448-1528)- a very dead bishop. This effigy shows him as a naked cadaver- and why not? Contemporaries said of him that he was Fox by name and fox by nature.

Late Late Gothic

Elsewhere the Renaissance was in full efflorescence but here in England in the late 15th century the most prestigious art was still thorough-goingly gothic, but gothic at its most refined- delicate, aspiring, ethereal. It's behind the times, but if I had to gaze at the ceiling- as Bishop Waynflete's effigy (see previous post) has been doing for the past 500 years I'd just as soon have this in view as one of Michelangelo's strenuous male nudes. It's certainly more restful- and has- I think- more of eternity about it...