Double Capital with Birds
Birds, pinecones, and leaves enliven this large capital, set over paired shafts. The cloister from which it comes was built as the wealth of the community increased through the visit of pilgrims en route to Santiago de Compostela. On the way, they stopped to venerate the relics of Saint Gaudens, a local shepherd boy who was martyred in the fifth century by the Visigoths, with his mother, Saint Quitterie. Sculpture from the cloister was sold as building material in the wake of the French Revolution. Part of the cloister was reconstructed at Saint-Gaudens in the 1980s.
Artwork Details
- Title: Double Capital with Birds
- Date: 12th–13th century
- Geography: Made in Gascony, France
- Culture: French
- Medium: Marble
- Dimensions: Overall: 15 3/4 x 17 3/4 x 8 3/8 in. (40 x 45.1 x 21.3 cm)
- Classification: Sculpture-Architectural
- Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1949
- Object Number: 49.56.9
- Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters
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1170–80
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ca. 1125–50
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ca. 1125–50
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ca. 1381
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