Yesterday we drove Judy into Bury Saint Edmund's 'bus station where she caught a 'bus back to Leicester. On Friday we had lunch at our favourite restaurant - The Swan Inn, in Monks Eleigh. Excellent lunch as always. After lunch we wandered round exploring the village. The next four photos were taken on the road that leads up from the Swan to the church.
This last picture was a very pleasant surprise. The church is full of seventeenth/eighteenth century 'box' pews, and some re-used even earlier very narrow oak pews. I was exploring the pews and panelling, and in a dark corner I could see an oval area of very dark paintwork. Couldn't see what it was, though. So I set the flash on my camera, which produced the above picture of an eagle (I think). Style wise it appears to be probably of 16th century date. It is painted directly onto wood panelling. Early Churches can be full of surprises.
3 comments:
I'm sure your right Mike about the painting being of an eagle despite its dove-like expression; tincture was of great communicative significance in the paintings and heraldry of the period - those are indubitably eagle colours.
Extracts from the work of Marian Therese Horvat, Ph.D...
The eagle, believed to be the only animal that could gaze straight into the light of the sun, symbolises St. John, who in his Gospel soars into the mystery of the Incarnation of God so naturally and contemplates it so profoundly that he seems like an eagle flying toward the sun...
By the twelfth century, the medieval doctors of the Church had enlarged upon the symbolism of the four beasts to also recall the major events in the life of Christ...
...as the eagle rises to the unknown heights, Christ rose to Heaven in the Ascension.
PS
Thank you for letting me have Jude back, and thank you for giving her a well deserved break. Love you all loads and heaps.
C.
PPS
I'm horrified to see that I left out both the apostrophe and the final e of the fourth & fifth words of my previous comment (counting I'm and you're as two words each).
I must be over exposed to modern ungrammatical linguistic trends!
PPPS word verification has twice rejected my input despite careful and correct completion on my part - I am starting to suspect my key-board of rank disobedience... Well cogs must be slipping somewhere!
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