The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 24, 2024
Capital with Addorsed Quadrupeds
late 1100s-early 1200s
Overall: 32.7 x 39.4 x 27.7 cm (12 7/8 x 15 1/2 x 10 7/8 in.)
Location: not on view
Did You Know?
A quadruped is an animal with four feet; the specific animal shown here is unidentified.Description
Monstrous images were prevalent in the decoration of religious buildings during the Middle Ages. Such images must have impressed, perhaps even terrified, the monks and visitors who spent much of their time within the cloister or church, a place of prayer, contemplation, and reflection. Scholars have speculated how such images would have been received by the people given the ubiquity of monsters in medieval society. The carved monsters, often symbolizing vice and retribution for sin, were possibly designed to provoke a range of emotional responses including laughter, wonder, surprise, fear, and shock. This striking imagery must have had a strong impact, which in turn led Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153), the spiritual head of the Cistercian order, to admonish their use as distracting from prayer.- Mrs. Chauncey J. Blair, Chicago, IL1916-The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Cahn, W. Gesta VIII (1969). p. 53The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 47 archive.orgThe Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 47 archive.orgThe Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 54 archive.orgCahn, Walter, and Linda Seidel. Romanesque Sculpture in American Collections. New York: B. Franklin, 1978. Vol. III no. B III 8, 158
- Medieval Monsters: Terrors, Aliens, Wonders. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 7-October 6, 2019).
- {{cite web|title=Capital with Addorsed Quadrupeds|url=false|author=|year=late 1100s-early 1200s|access-date=24 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1916.1981