| March 21, 2003 |
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Gravely Gorgeous
Cornell  University's art museum shares its gallery of gloriously grotesque architectural ornaments, a collection of images filtered through a 19th-century lens. While gargoyles were most popular during the Gothic period of medieval architecture, these fanciful decorations also played a significant part of the Gothic Revival in the 1800s. Old gargoyle-infested buildings were repaired, and new ones sprung up in Europe and America. The legendary gargoyles of Notre Dame de Paris owe more to Victorian romanticism than to medieval superstition. In fact, most of the original medieval sculptures had broken off, and the figures seen today were installed around 1843. But gargoyles aren't just the winged demons you may imagine. The literal definition of a gargoyle is a "decorative waterspout." Weird and fanciful statuary that doesn't perform this function is termed a "grotesque." Many grotesques have a humorous appearance and depict a world filled with vineyard robbers and contorted toothache-sufferers. No matter what you call them, these gruesome beauties are morbidly appealing. (in History) |
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