Cleveland Museum of Art

Engaged Capital with a Supporting (Caryatidal) Figure Flanked by Lions

Date

c. 1125–1150

Medium

limestone

Culture

Western France, Vendée or Angoulême?, 12th century

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This sculpture is an excellent example of the Romanesque sculptor’s ability to accommodate his subject to the format of the capital. Much of the artistic quality of this work derives from the skillful contrast and balance of rounded solids, deep voids, and shallow prismatic hollows. It also illustrates the love of fanciful subject matter in largely religious contexts. A capital is essentially the top element of a column, usually carved, that acts as a mediator between the column and the load it supports. In this way, the subject of this capital serves as a metaphor.

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