Galicia, the Switzerland of SpainMeakin, Annette M. B.
History
Galicia, the Switzerland of Spain
Meakin, Annette M. B.
Galicia (Spain : Region)
On either extreme of the tympanum are two angels, lifting in their arms
and presenting to Christ each a little naked figure representing a human
soul, which holds in its little hands its “title clear to mansions in
the skies.” The faces of the angels are full of tender and passionate
sympathy. Those to the left are bringing in the Jews, those to the right
the Gentiles, an illustration of the words, “And He shall give His
angels charge concerning thee.” The number of figures on the Gentile
side is double that on the side of the Jews, according to Isaiah’s
prophecy that the barren woman should have more children than she who
had a husband. The archivolt or face of this marvellous arch is
decorated with exquisitely sculptured foliage, which forms a graceful
background to the heads of the four-and-twenty elders.
The lateral arch to the right has also a statue of Christ, but a very
small one, on the keystone of its archivolt. In His left hand he holds a
sealed book representing Eternal Truth. Eve is seen to His right and
Adam to His left; then in the next semi-circle come Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, and Judah on the right, and Moses, Aaron, Samuel, and David on
the left. A thick and exuberant foliage partially conceals these
figures; the upper band of sculpture in this arch also appears, at the
first glance, to represent nothing more than a semi-circle of foliage
behind a tore or large round moulding such as is commonly used in the
bases of columns. Looking more closely, however, and with the aid of an
opera-glass, we clearly distinguish the arms and heads of little naked
human beings at intervals between the foliage peeping over the tore,
with their legs and feet on the lower side of it. Lopez Ferreiro and
Eladio Oviedo believe that the tore represents the old Jewish Divorce
Law, and the figures--the Jews who are still bound by it (they nearly
all hold scrolls in their hands stretched over the tore)--Bills of
Divorce; the thick foliage represents sin. The Jews are being rescued,
two and two, naked (so that no sin may remain on them), by tender
angels. The first angel, with a cloth, bears them in his arms, and the
second hands them still naked into the Christian Church (which is
represented by the tympanum of the central arch already described).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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