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...
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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...
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Carolyn Whitson
- Jul 10, 2021
- 4 min
The Lion King, Part 2
The use of lions in medieval religious and political art hews closely to the traditions inherited from around the Mediterranean. Lions...
81 views0 comments
Carolyn Whitson
- May 19, 2021
- 9 min
Chasing a Ghost Along the Pilgrimage Trail
When I began to study medieval art in graduate school, I found myself often puzzling over murky, low-contrast images in black-and-white,...
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Carolyn Whitson
- Apr 9, 2021
- 7 min
Fabulous Fakes
Many's the time I've gotten excited by the prospect of visiting a medieval church, only to find that "medieval" mostly referred to the...
97 views1 comment
Carolyn Whitson
- Mar 5, 2021
- 9 min
Apocalypse Wow--The Sainte-Chapelle Rose Window
The stained glass in Sainte Chapelle (building completed in 1248) represents the highest achievement of the form. When you enter the...
922 views0 comments
Carolyn Whitson
- Feb 9, 2021
- 5 min
Creation and Expulsion of Adam & Eve in the Stained Glass of Chartres Cathedral
To tell the story of Mary through a medieval church's lens, one must have at least one space to tell the story of Eve. At Chartres...
1,181 views0 comments
Carolyn Whitson
- Jan 22, 2021
- 2 min
Notre Dame de Paris' Tympanum
This image features the fate of the damned--stretching from their judgment by Saint Michael (upper-left), across to punishments for...
134 views0 comments
Carolyn Whitson
- Jan 22, 2021
- 3 min
Remembering the Notre Dame de Paris Interior, Part 1
Notre Dame de Paris was engulfed in a terrible fire in 2019. Here, I include some of my photos of the interior, taken in 2018. I don't...
363 views1 comment
Carolyn Whitson
- Jan 22, 2021
- 5 min
Remembering the Notre Dame de Paris Interior, Part 2
This entry continues an analysis of the thirteenth century choir screen of Notre Dame de Paris, with photos taken in 2018, before the...
108 views0 comments
Carolyn Whitson
- Jan 22, 2021
- 4 min
Remembering the Notre Dame de Paris Interior, Part 3
One thing that revolutionized looking at medieval stained glass for me was using a serious zoom lens, and then spending time in...
41 views0 comments
Carolyn Whitson
- Jan 22, 2021
- 3 min
Chartres Cathedral--another temple to Mary the Queen
Chartres isn't very far from Paris, by modern standards, and its veneration of Mary is an occasion for comparisons to Notre Dame de Paris....
568 views3 comments
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