The Sacrifice of Isaac Capitals at Sainte-Foy at Conques and Saint-Seurin at Bordeaux

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This article deals with a founding scene of the Old Testament: the sacrifice of Isaac, and its visual and graphic representation on a new type of support, medieval historiated capitals, through two case studies in France. It clearly highlights the complex relationships and interconnections between sculpture, epigraphy, liturgy and sacred space, not in a fixed way, but as a movement, through specific liturgical moments. Moreover, the author shows very well the different layers of meanings that an image can take on depending on its context, beyond its immediate and main meaning, as "alternative connotations".

The overall impression given by this very well-constructed and convincing article is that it is a synthesis which, for lack of space, could not go into detail and give all the necessary references. Perhaps this is a constraint due to the number of characters per article; if this is not the case, here are a few elements that deserve to be better explained to go beyond mere allusion.

-       Line 107: add a precise bibliographical reference for Honorius Augustunensis and its comparison of the columns; line 109: add a precise bibliographical reference for William Durand and the comparison of the columns; here is also an article that could be useful for the author: Éliane Vergnolle, « La colonne à l’époque romane : réminiscences et nouveautés », Cahiers de civilisation médiévale, 41, 1998, p. 141-174.

-       On the abbey of Conques, I would like to inform the author of this important project: « Conques in the global wolrd » https://conques.eu/

-       Lines 132-135: Precise bibliographical reference to the Corpus des inscriptions de la France médiévale must be added. The author can find the volumes online: https://www.persee.fr/collection/cifm . Moreover, the author must be aware that this corpus is not finished: it covers three-quarters of France, but neither North nor East.

-       Line 135: there is a problem with the reference to the Abbaye de Moutiers-Saint-Jean which is not in Poitiers, but in Burgundy (Côte-d’Or).

-       Line 142: « The Church Fathers viewed Isaac as a prefiguration of the sacrifice of Christ. » Which ones ? Give some examples and precise bibliographical references.

-       Lines 149-150: the transcription of the inscription has been misunderstood. The inscription begins on the west side of the capital and continues on the south side, otherwise the Latin sentence makes no sense: MACTANDVS OMO A[BR]AHAM IBI OBTVLIT SVAM PROL[EM] (omo is for homo, a man). The omega is not part of the sentence: the Greek letters alpha and omega surround the divine hand inscribed in a cruciferous nimbus; these letters are not part of the inscription describing the scene.

-       Line 161: Speaking about the capital of San Pedro de la Nave, the author must add  bibliographical reference.

-       Line 171: « Daniel in the Lion’s Den is paired with the Sacrifice of Isaac in twelfth-century France… » Please, give examples and concrete location.

-       Line 231: the author must write « Saint-Seurin of Rions » (and not « de Rions » which is a Gallicism); Rions is a city.

-       Comment on part 4: To extend and deepen the author's development, we should mention another (still unpublished) inscription on one of the capitals on the south side, representing the lions: the word "leo" on the flank of the lion on the right. Robert Favreau explained the different meanings attributed to the iconographic figure of the lion during the Middle Ages, a figure linked in particular to the death and resurrection (see Robert Favreau, « The iconographic theme of the lion in medieval inscriptions », Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 135ᵉ année, N. 3, 1991. pp. 613-636. I can send a picture of this inscription to the author.

-       The conclusion is a little too brief. The author should expand on what is said in the penultimate line: images and inscriptions can have 'connotations', additional layers of meaning, depending on the context. The term 'connotation' is particularly interesting and deserves to be developed.

-       Finally, the author seems to be relying on the project « Data Artem », https://www.dataartem.org/. This needs to be made clear.

 

Pictures:

Figure 2 is not very good, I suggest to the author to ask directly to the abbey of Conques the picture; or to contact the author of this website: https://jalladeauj.fr/conques/styled-3/ (mail at the end).

Figure 3 is not really evocative, so it is not necessary.

Figure 8: I can send a better picture to the author.

Author Response

Please see attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I do appreciate the attempt to contextualize two twelfth-century capitals based on their locations within their respective churches and the author(s) does cite much of the relevant liturgy in this regard (I might suggest the work of Margo Fassler's book on Chartres as exemplary), though the bibliography is by no means exhaustive or comprehensive. It is good to be reminded that works of the same iconography can mean differently within different architectural contexts, though I am not entirely persuaded by the conclusions (more below). I regard this article largely as a case study for a well-established theoretical framework.  Some additional critical reflection on the interpretive framework might be in order. For example, the notion of "ductus" as a design principle is simply accepted as established,  though not all scholars would agree on this. Concerning Saint-Seurin, the references to Cluny's customaries are appreciated, though I am not entirely sure that this source entirely makes sense for the carving under consideration. For one, this is a collegial church, not a monastery. While both sets of institutions shared common values, such as an appeal to the vita apostolica, there could be substantial differences, including their mission, their rituals, etc. What is more, the Cluniac customaries do not represent universal liturgical practices and the customaries are less rule books for all monks, than retrospective accounts of practices at a single monastery. True, many monasteries sought to emulate Cluny's practices, but the ordering of these practices was more a product of the 13th century than the 12th. There is a great discussion of current thinking on Cluniac liturgy in the recent edited volume by Bruce and Vanderputten (A Companion to the Abbey of Cluny in the Middle Ages). 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Some typos occur throughout. Will need another round of editing. 

Author Response

Please see attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf