|
new :
cathedrale
saint-jean-baptiste de lyon 
from Lyon
to Switzerland and Italy - motorway aires on the A42 and A40
after
the whirlwind, in les landes
on first arriving in France
- driving
France is not England
Marianne - a French national symbol,
with French definitive stamps
the calendar of the French
Revolution
the 6th
bridge at Rouen: Pont Gustave Flaubert,
new vertical lift bridge
Futuroscope
Vulcania
the French umbrella &
Aurillac
the forest
as seen by francois mauriac, and today 
places and
playtime
roundabout art of
Les Landes
50 years old:
Citroën DS
the Citroën 2CV:
a French motoring icon
la
belle époque
Pic du
Midi - observing stars clearly, A64
Carcassonne,
A61: world heritage fortified city
Grand Palais, Paris
Marianne - a French national symbol,
with French definitive stamps
the calendar of the French
Revolution
le pique-nique
Hermès scarves
bastide towns
mardi gras! carnival in Basque
country
what a hair cut! m & french pop/rock
country life in France: the poultry
fair
short biography of Pierre
(Peter) Abelard
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The rose window [1231–35] in the south facade is considered to
be one of the most important roses in Europe, together with those at Notre
Dame in Paris and at Chartres. The Lausanne South Rose was made by a wandering
artist from Picardy, Pierre d’Arras, and is related in style and
iconography to that of the Laon
workshop.
In medieval times, a rose window was round like the universe. This Imago
Mundi, summing up all human knowledge, is seen in the spectacular
early rose window in Lausanne cathedral. The stone tracery was built in
about 1205, while the glass was placed in about 1230.
Keyed
diagram of the South Rose window [1]
The diagram above shows the present-day arrangement of the enormous
Lausanne rose, which has a diameter of eight metres, or twenty-six feet.
In the list below, panels marked with an asterisk were
replaced during its 1909 restoration.
The window is arranged in concentric ‘circles’.
In the middle diamond, the central panel is surrounded
by four allegories of the creation.
Next, reading outwards, come four semicircular lobes
containing the four seasons accompanied by the appropriate months.
Next at the compass points, come four circles. Each circle
contains two panels referring to the four elements and, on the inner side,
three signs of the zodiac panels (summing to twelve).
Towards the outside, at the X-points, the arcs illustrate
the four rivers of paradise.
And flying around the outside are the eight winds.
More detail is available below.
Although the central panel now shows a creation scene, originally there
was a personification of the Year, Annus. Note that other than
the replaced central panel, there is no Christian iconography in this
rose, unlike the 13th-century roses at Chartres.
Central panels: Creator, light and dark, land and
water, birds and fishes, animals and men
[n°s 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
In the small central square [diamond]:
2 Light and dark* 3 Land and sea*
1 The Creator*
4 Fish and birds* 5 Animals and men *
In the four semicircles:
[n°s 6, 10, 11, 12]
6 Spring, a man surrounded by flowers and leaves and holding a flower
10 March, wearing a cotton turban-like hat, pruning the vines
11 April, wearing a toque, flowers in hand, opens the door to his garden
12 May, on a white horse, carries his falcon to the hunt
[n°s 7, 13, 14, 15]
7 Summer, red rays warming the blue sky
13 June, incorrectly labelled JULIUS, cuts the hay
14 July, reaps the harvest with a sickle
15 August, stripped to the waist, threshes the harvest under a baking
sun
[n°s 8, 16, 17, 18]
8 Autumn, amid the red and white grapes
16 September, harvesting the grapes
17 October, tending his pigs while they eat acorns (and hunt for truffles?)
18 November, the month of cattle and pig slaughter
[n°s 9, 19, 20, 21]
9 Winter, dressed in white and hooded, weathers a storm of icicles
19 December, raising his glass to death, symbolises the year that has
gone*
20 January, a double-headed Janus figure, with one hand holding up his
cup to
the bountiful year ahead, the other looking at
the year that has passed
21 February, warming his hands*
The four elements and the zodiac:
Earth surrounded by Aeromancy, Scorpio, Libra and
Saggitarius
[n°s 22, 40, 32, 33, 34]
22 Earth, a woman surrounded with ears of corn
40 Aeromancy, surrounded by seven doves by whom she foretells the future
32 Scorpio
33 Libra
34 Saggitarius
Water surrounded by the Moon, Aquarius, Capricorn
and Pisces
[n°s 23, 35, 36, 37, 39]
23 Water, breastfeeding a fish
39 The moon being drawn across the sky in a chariot but with only two
horses
35 Capricorn
36 Aquarius
37 Pisces
Air surrounded by Pyromancy, Gemini, Aries and Taurus
[n°s 24, 41, 26, 27, 28]
24 Air, breastfeeding a dragon
41 Pyromancy, foretelling the future from the flames of the fire
26 Aries
27 Taurus
28 Gemini
Fire surrounded by the Sun, Virgo, Cancer and Leo
[n°s 25, 38, 29,30,31]
25 Fire, feeding a salamander
38 The sun with a fiery halo being drawn across the sky in a chariot
29 Scorpio
30 Leo
31 Virgo
26-37 The signs of the zodiac portrayed in usual medieval style;
(27, 29, 34 and 36 are replacements)
The four rivers of Paradise, illustrated as bearded
men pouring their waters across the four corners of the earth. they are
‘accompanied’ by various peoples and creatures:
42 The Geon (Nile)
43 The Tigris
[N°s 44, 50, 51, 20]
44 The Phison (Ganges)
45 The Euphrates
46 Ethiopians, with four eyes to help the accuracy of their archery
47 Gangaridae, inhabitants of the Ganges who supposedly lived off the
sweet smell of fruit - and died in the presence of any foul odour
48 Acephali, creatures with no heads and with eyes in their bodies
49 Cynocephali, dog-headed men, thought to live in India
50 Pygmies, also thought to inhabit India, here fighting a crane
51 A Satyr, a small hook-nosed creature with horns and goat-like feet
52 Sciapodes, creatures that lived in the desert and had only one foot,
which they used as a sunshade*
53 Cephi, elusive creatures detectable only by their human-like footprints
The eight winds:
54 Auster, the south wind
55 Euroauster, the south-east wind
56 Subsolanus, the eastern wind of the Levant
57 Vulturnus, the south-east wind
58 Septentrion, the north wind
59 Corus, the north-west summer wind
60 Zephyr, the west wind
61 Austerozephyr, the south-west wind
end notes
- This diagram and
the key are from
 |
The rose window, splendour
and symbol by Painton Cowen
Thames and Hudson [UK], hbk, 2005
276 pages, 350 illustrations, 300 in colour
ISBN-10: 0500511748
ISBN-13: 978-0500511749
£29.99
[amazon.co.uk]
$63.75
[amazon.com]
Previously, Painton Cowen also wrote
Rose windows (Art & Imagination)
pbk, 1990
ISBN-10: 0500810214
ISBN-13: 978-0500810217
amazon.com
/ amazon.co.uk |
 |
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