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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...
Carolyn Whitson
Dec 28, 20239 min read
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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....
Carolyn Whitson
Dec 10, 20238 min read
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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. ...
Carolyn Whitson
Nov 27, 202310 min read
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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,...
Carolyn Whitson
Oct 16, 20236 min read
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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...
Carolyn Whitson
Sep 26, 20234 min read
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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...
Carolyn Whitson
Sep 5, 20235 min read
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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...
Carolyn Whitson
Aug 10, 20239 min read
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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,...
Carolyn Whitson
Jul 18, 20237 min read
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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...
Carolyn Whitson
Jul 9, 20236 min read
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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...
Carolyn Whitson
Mar 19, 20236 min read
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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...
Carolyn Whitson
Nov 6, 20222 min read
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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...
Carolyn Whitson
Aug 16, 20225 min read
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The Gods of Industry
The Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Company headquarters was designed by and constructed for people with big ambitions. They saw...
Carolyn Whitson
Apr 7, 20229 min read
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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. ...
Carolyn Whitson
Dec 26, 20216 min read
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"The Past is Never Dead": The George Floyd Memorial
Like many white residents of the Twin Cities, for over a year I had avoided the site where George Floyd was murdered by police. On the...
Carolyn Whitson
Sep 22, 20217 min read
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Crypt of the Original Sin
Caves evoke mystery to a modern person. We're so used to having all the light we want, wherever and whenever we go. Our interiors are...
Carolyn Whitson
Sep 5, 20217 min read
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The Lion King, Part 3
Let's look at some less-well-known uses of lions in medieval art, including art from outside the Christian tradition. Sanctuary Knocker,...
Carolyn Whitson
Jul 14, 20219 min read
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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...
Carolyn Whitson
Jul 10, 20214 min read
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The Lion King, Part 1
If you're looking at prestige art and architecture, it's likely that you're going to find lions in its decoration. I wouldn't be...
Carolyn Whitson
Jun 21, 20214 min read
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The River God(father)
Baptism changed both in its practice and its artistic representation from its introduction in the Gospels to its depictions across...
Carolyn Whitson
Jun 5, 20219 min read
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