United States or Serbia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
In the volume referred to I have given a skeleton plan upon such a scale of subdivision that a tracing-board, of 5 feet by 8 feet, would be divided up into over one million parts, and, as all these subdivisions are perfect representations of the original Vesica figure with all its properties, the design of the largest building, with the minutest detail, could be drafted with absolute accuracy.
As regards the sculptural ornamentation of the door itself, it is felt and not only portrayed: the Christ standing between the immense valves of the vesica piscis which crowns the portal is an example of twelfth-century sculpture. The iron-studded panels of the doors have already been praised by Street, who placed their execution likewise in the twelfth century.
In this old MS. it is also shown that the easiest method for finding the centre of a circle, however large, or any segment of a circle, is by means of the Vesica Piscis.
The vesica piscis was often used to establish the two main internal dimensions of the cathedral plan: the greatest diameter of the figure corresponding with the width across the transepts, the upper apex marking the limit of the apse, and the lower, the termination of the nave. Such a proportion is seen to be both subtle and simple, and possesses the advantage of being easily laid out.
Christ enthroned in a vesica is supported by two angels; below is the Madonna as orante, surrounded by the Apostles. The border consists of fine leaf-scrolls, late twelfth century in character. A silver statuette of the Madonna and Child is of the fourteenth century. The Child is nude, tall, and thin, and wears a crown decorated with pearls and trefoils.
It is evident, on the other hand, that we can afford to cut into this profile without fear of destroying its strength, and that we can afford to leave projections outside of the other, without fear of destroying its lightness. V., and the pointed oval, or vesica piscis, which is traced by them, may be called the Limit of ornamentation.
Now let me try to describe the wonderful properties of the Vesica Piscis, so that you may understand the mystery which shrouded it in the minds of those Mediæval builders.
One can well understand the object which led the learned Rabbi Maimonides, the greatest savant of the Middle Ages, when addressing his pupils in the twelfth century, to command his hearers: "When you have discovered the meaning thereof, do not divulge it, because the people cannot philosophise nor understand that to the Infinite there is no such thing as Sex;" but later on the noted writer on Symbolism, Durandus, in the introduction to his book, is more explicit, and gives the real meaning as follows: "The Mystical Vesica Piscis ... wherein the Divinity and, more rarely, the Blessed Virgin are represented, has no reference, except in name, to a fish, but represents the Almond, the symbol of Virginity and self-production."
In the centre is the Baptism of Christ, with a landscape background; on the right are SS. Augustine and Stephen; on the left, SS. Nicholas and Michael. Above are half-lengths of the Madonna and Child in a vesica starred with cherubs; on the right, SS. Peter Martyr and Francis; on the left, SS. Peter and Dominic. Another has the Madonna, SS. Julian, James, Dominic, and Matthew on a gold ground.
John that "In the beginning was the Logos, and by it were all things made"; so the Vesica Piscis, the cradle of the Logos, became the great secret of Masonry, the foundation as we find it upon which Gothic Architecture was evolved, the means by which its wonderful plans were laid down, and the most reverenced figure in Religious Symbolism, as shown by its use in seals, engravings, sculptures, pictures, &c., throughout the Middle Ages.
Word Of The Day