Welcome to Pilgrim to the Past!
This is a website dedicated to people who enjoy medieval and ancient art, and want to know more. Maenad, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC...
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Carolyn Whitson
- Jul 7
- 14 min
The Bronze Doors of San Zeno: Poisoned Beauty
Portals in medieval churches were often imbued with imagery of the contrast between sin and salvation, punishment and redemption. The...
1211
Carolyn Whitson
- Jun 9
- 11 min
"But I really want to do horses...": The Master Carvers of Fidenza
The sculptural program in Fidenza's San Donnino is an oft-overlooked set of masterpieces. Fidenza is a small town compared to the much...
811
Carolyn Whitson
- Mar 18
- 12 min
Santa Sabina & The Complicated Past
Often, examining an object found in an old church is a lot like playing "Where's Waldo?" in reverse. You have your "Waldo," the special...
1370
Carolyn Whitson
- Feb 7
- 11 min
Welcome to the Working Week...Demons and their Jobs in Medieval Art
In my last post, I began the Herculean task of trying to give a general overview of demons in medieval art. I came away from writing...
2910
Carolyn Whitson
- Feb 3
- 5 min
Devil's Gonna Get You!
13th c. capital of a sinner being devoured, Saint Pierre, Chauvigny, France A nasty case of Covid pretty much bankrupted my energy for...
2070
Carolyn Whitson
- Dec 28, 2023
- 9 min
Angels We Have Seen On High
I thought I'd finish out our year with something light-hearted and ravishingly beautiful. The West Window of Worcester Cathedral was...
590
Carolyn Whitson
- Dec 10, 2023
- 8 min
Art Nouveau Heaven--the Watts Cemetery Chapel Interior
Entry view, facing altar Stepping inside the Watts Cemetery Chapel is an altogether different experience from walking about its exterior....
412
Carolyn Whitson
- Nov 27, 2023
- 10 min
Everything Old is New Again: The Watts Memorial Chapel
One of the bittersweet realities for lovers of Romanesque art is that the majority of it exists in a state of decay and dislocation. ...
640
Carolyn Whitson
- Oct 16, 2023
- 6 min
The Anti-David: St. Bartholomew by Marco D'Adrate, 1562
A statue has been haunting me. I saw it inside the Duomo of Milan. In retrospect, I think it's the only thing I really saw in the Duomo,...
440
Carolyn Whitson
- Sep 26, 2023
- 4 min
Victory for the Vase Painters!
Hydria, 470-460 BCE, from Puglia, Italy. Home museum is the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli. Last May, I had the pleasure of...
510
Carolyn Whitson
- Sep 5, 2023
- 5 min
The "Three Living Meet Three Dead" Fresco by Buonamico Buffalmacco, 1336
Some art seems to have a life of its own, its own vitality and presence which can make it seem like a character in its own right. The...
2090
Carolyn Whitson
- Aug 10, 2023
- 9 min
What Becomes a Martyr Most? Part 3 of the di Balduccio Monument of Milan
di Balduccio monument for Saint Peter of Verona, 1339 After having examined the larger sculptures at the base of this monument, we arrive...
980
Carolyn Whitson
- Jul 18, 2023
- 7 min
di Balduccio Monument--The Christian Virtues
Capturing the back of the sarcophagus of Saint Peter Martyr is much trickier than photographing the front. The apse is quite close by,...
670
Carolyn Whitson
- Jul 9, 2023
- 6 min
The di Balduccio Tomb--the Pagan Virtues
As much as I love medieval art that strikes me as bizarre, I really love it when I come across works which are marvels of symbolic...
1210
Carolyn Whitson
- Mar 19, 2023
- 6 min
Works and Days (a hymn, but not to Hesiod)
12th century mosaic, Bobbio, depicting the month of March, emphasizing wind (I think) By the time March arrives, the January 1st...
600
Carolyn Whitson
- Nov 6, 2022
- 2 min
Origins of Sirens
On October 25th, 2022, I gave a lecture at Metropolitan State University on the Origins of Sirens. In the presentation, I trace how...
560
Carolyn Whitson
- Aug 16, 2022
- 5 min
Time Travel through the French Monuments Museum in Paris
I love when a museum makes learning fun. The French Monuments Museum (FMM, for brevity here) in Paris gives a presentation that is...
490
Carolyn Whitson
- Apr 7, 2022
- 8 min
The Gods of Industry
The Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Company headquarters was designed by and constructed for people with big ambitions. They saw...
680
Carolyn Whitson
- Dec 26, 2021
- 6 min
What Child is *This*?
Medieval artists had a standard repertoire of scenes from the life of Jesus to reproduce in churches and personal religious items. ...
1030
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