Images of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse, France. Digital Imaging Project: Art historical images of European and North American architecture and sculpture from classical Greek to Post-modern. Scanned from slides taken on site by Mary Ann Sullivan, Bluffton College.

The Miègeville Portal: Capitals--page 3 (of 3 pages)

1110-1115

	Capitals on the left side of the door depicting two events in the life of Mary and infancy of Christ The inner capital represents the Annunciation and Visitation while the outer depicts the Massacre of the Innocents. In the Annunciation (below) the sculptor represents two angels, one with a thurible and the other holding a kind of crozier, recognizing Mary; this is clearly a variation on the later depiction of a kneeling Mary being greeted by Gabriel. In the Visitation, Mary visits Elizabeth who is pregnant with the future John the Baptist (Luke 1:39).



Massacre of the Innocents According to Matthew (2:16-18), King Herod had heard that his throne would be lost to the King of the Jews (newly born) so he order the massacre of all the male children in Bethlehem. See St. Trophime in Arles for a depiction in relief of this grisly event.

Capitals on right side of door: the Expulsion (inner)and a foliate capital with lions (outer)

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© 2008 Mary Ann Sullivan. I have photographed (on site), scanned, and manipulated all the images on these pages. Please feel free to use them for personal or educational purposes. They are not available for commercial purposes.