While visiting Sienna this past Friday I
got to enjoy the Santa Maria Cathedral. In the cathedral I was mind blown by
the sculpture built by Nicola Pisano Pulpit.
This sculpture was carved between 1265- 1268 and it represents the
Christian doctrine of Salvation and the final destiny of humanity. It consists
of nine beautifully sculpted columns with a staircase, which was built later in
1543 by Bartolomeo Neroni. The Pulpit
has three levels and each with different symbolic meaning. At the bottom of each
column are lions, and looks as if they are trying to protect what is in the
middle, which has the Seven Liberal Arts
and Philosphy. On the top of the Pulpit
are small statues of Christian Virtue
and Evangelists and Prophets. This
statue also has carvings of the Last Judgement and Madonna with Child. The
first panel is about Magi and their journey, the second panel is the candor of
presentation removing the sadness from the flight of Egypt, third panel shows the
conflict between the desperate mothers and soliders in Slaughter of the Innocents, the fourth panel shows the love of Christ
and how he was thought of by the people, and the fifth panel shows the life of
Christ and his crucifixion surrounded by mourning individuals and the hateful
people who killed him. My favorite panel is the third panel Slaughter of the Innocents because of
the reality in the scene. It shows the heartache and it makes you see how truly
hard life was during that time.
The third panel on he "Pulpit" which represents the Slaughter of Innocents.
No comments:
Post a Comment