Highways and Byways in Cambridge and ElyConybeare, John William Edward
History
Highways and Byways in Cambridge and Ely
Conybeare, John William Edward
Cambridgeshire (England) -- Description and travel; Isle of Ely (England) -- Description and travel
The Golden Calf is set high on a magnificent ruby pillar. Before it
Moses is breaking the Tables of the Law; one fragment of which shows a
Flemish inscription. Below, an idol is falling headlong from a
precisely similar pillar. The kneeling figure in this scene is the
Governor Aphrodisius, who was converted by the miracle; as is recorded
in the apocryphal "Gospel of the Infancy." In the Massacre scene Queen
Athaliah is represented by a conventional figure of the _Virgo
Coronata_ (with her Babe in her arms). The artist evidently had this
figure in stock, and used it rather than take the trouble of producing
something less incorrect. Near her there is a minutely depicted
mediaeval thatched house worthy of notice. So is the business-like
callousness in the expression on the leading soldier's countenance.
This window bears, as has been said, the date 1517, written 15017.
* * * * *
We are now in the choir, where our first window gives:
TYPE | TYPE
Naaman washing in Jordan. | Esau tempted by Jacob to sell
| his birthright.
|
ANTITYPE | ANTITYPE
Christ baptised in Jordan. | Christ tempted by the Devil.
All three Temptations are given, the first being in the foreground.
The countenance of the Devil (as a respectable old man) is a
marvellous study.
* * * * *
The second window in the choir is:
TYPE | TYPE
The raising of the Shunamite's son.| The Triumph of David
| (I _Sam._ xvii).
|
ANTITYPE | ANTITYPE
The raising of Lazarus. | The Triumphal Entry.
The Shunamite's house is another bit of minute detail. Note the dishes
on the shelf in front. Note also the magnificently gigantic head of
Goliath borne by David on the point of the Philistine's own huge
sword.
* * * * *
The third window:
TYPE | TYPE
The Manna. | The Fall of the Angels.
|
ANTITYPE | ANTITYPE
The Last Supper. | The Agony in Gethsemane.
The manna is shown as falling in the shape of Communion Breads. Below,
Christ gives the sop to the red-haired Judas, while Peter, who thus
becomes aware of the traitor's identity, clenches his fist with a
gesture of menace extraordinarily forcible.
The connection between the right-hand subjects is not obvious. Dr.
James suggests that it refers to Christ's speaking of the casting out
of Satan as a result of His Passion (John xii. 31). The smaller scale
of this scene, and the nimbi given to Christ and the Apostles point to
its having been the work of a special artist.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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