Grotesques and Other Monsters

"Grotesques are the diverse beasts, hybrid creatures and fantasy scenes involving animals and humans found in various forms of Gothic art. The ultimate source of much of this imagery is in Roman art, some themes came from the combat scenes between men and beast used in the sculpture and decorative initials of the Romanesque period. The late thirteenth and the fourteenth century saw an unprecedented elaboration of this type of fantasy subject, in the borders of manuscripts, and in decorative sculpture and woodwork – especially misericords", small ledge-like projections on the other side of choir stall seats to give support when long standing was required. (T&H 110) Grotesques also frequently appeared on roof bosses, carved projections of stone or wood placed at the intersections of ribs in vaults. After the erection of the Canterbury Cathedral in the thirteenth century they became a usual architectural device. (T&H 207)

In difference to gargoyles, grotesques serve no architectural but purely ornamental functions. Sometimes – and with the very same meaning – also called chimera, their other functions may be similar to those of the gargoyles (see above). The placing of grotesques, obviously secular and even occasionally erotic, in a religious context, is a mixture very characteristic of the later Middle Ages. The popularity of grotesques declined after ca. 1350, though they still occur in the fifteenth century, particularly in sculpture and woodcarving. At that time they were usually called babewyneries (T&H) or babewyns (Benton) (from Italian babunio 'baboon'), because predominant in many animal scenes were monkeys and apes. (T&H 110; Benton 10) For the symbolism of grotesques, see chapter Gargoyles.

Religious Opposition to Grotesque Statuary

Gargoyles and grotesques were very expensive compared to their lack of functional use in religious ceremony. They caused arguments because most of them are too far away to see them properly, but were carved with high concern about details. And if they could be seen properly, they also were reasons for criticism, as for example voiced by St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) of the Cistercian order:

"What are these fantastic monsters doing in the cloisters under the very eyes of the brothers as they read? What is the meaning of these unclean monkeys, strange savage lions and monsters? To what purpose are here placed these creatures, half beast, half man? I see several bodies with one head and several heads with one body. Here is a quadriped with a serpent's head, there a fish with a quadruped's head, then again an animal half horse, half goat ... Surely if we do not blush for such absurdities we should at least regret what we have spent on them."

Clairvaux thought the monks to be distracted by gargoyles. But critics like Clairvaux were in the minority. Most of the clergy was convinced of the use or at least "beauty" of gargoyles and grotesques.

It seems, that in Gothic grotesque sculpture most depictions were connected with the temptations, and with sins and sinners. After all, a warning can be interpreted into almost all gargoyles and grotesques. But for all this, one should never forget that with gargoyles everything is possible: they could also be simple devices for drainage, allowing the sculptors to have a little fun, to caricature their contemporaries. Sometimes it even seems as if there was a competition to create the most implausible gargoyle. Today this, or a competition with a similar aim, is more certainly the case. (Benton 122) So the popularity of gargoyles never really declined. Did they in medieval times maybe frighten the people, today they amuse them.

Previous

Literature