I’ve put three example of 12th century art from Sweden and Norway in the files section.
Aleydis / Eva
Andersson
Message #877, March 7, 2003
I’ve thought the Mosjö madonna interesting for 2 reasons – the headgear and the short capelet rather than a full mantle. Have you seen the rear of the statue?
Katrine / Katherine Barich
Message #878, March 7, 2003
Yeah, the capelet is very interesting and she also has some
big patterns on her chest, either embroidery or appliqué, but I haven’t heard of appliqué
this early. Not that I’m an expert in the history
of appliqué… I haven’t seen the
backside of the Madonna, but I’m going to Stockholm in four weeks and I’ll try to see if it’s possible. But
if I recall it correctly, all the Madonnas
at the historical museum are mounted on the wall. The photos are taken from their website, but
unfortunately they didn’t include
a shot from the back. I’ll try to get some more pictures from Sweden and
Norway. I just have to find the
books where I found the pictures and then find somebody’s scanner
that I can use.
Especially I would like to have a picture of the Madonna from
Heda. She’s very interesting for
several reasons: she has black hair, not the stereotypical blonde; her dress is in a very nice blue
colour with red bands where the
sleeves are connected. The colouring is probably retouched during
the centuries, but I’ll try to find some
analysis of the original pigments. But
something that hasn’t changed is the width of the bands on the sleeve.
They’re very wide; the same proportions on a
human would be maybe 8cm wide.
Well, I’ll look for
a picture and then I send it to my ex-boyfriend to scan, but it may take some weeks.
Eva
PS. Oops, forgot to say something about the headgear. I find
that interesting also. It is a
crown, since she’s the queen of heaven, but it is interesting to see the influence of the older Nordic
decorative style in this context.
~ Aleydis / Eva Andersson
Message #882, March 8, 2003
I recently picked up the “Art of Scandinavia” (volume 2) and it has a nice representation of 12th century Madonnas. I will see if the Heda Madonna is depicted. Although I am sure that you have access to many books that would take some digging for us to find – so when you find your books, would you tell us what they are, or add them to the bibliography database please?
~ Katrine /
Katherine Barich
Message #878, March 7, 2003