1media/Mendel_II_041_v_thumb.jpeg2021-12-13T16:45:06-08:00Reuben Reyes08d11d3149a14696568606dd1407795a98c2dff2394471A depiction of a stone mason, the most likely person to carve our objectplain2021-12-13T16:45:06-08:00Reuben Reyes08d11d3149a14696568606dd1407795a98c2dff2
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12021-11-03T13:51:07-07:00Who made this?7plain2022-06-13T10:30:57-07:00By Reuben Reyes '23
The person who carved this particular spandrel is unknown. It was likely a highly skilled French stone-mason from Vézelay who carved a griffin under the instruction of the master mason (the architect of the particular cathedral). Stone masons were typically well paid and traveled a fair amount because their skills were in demand for building churches and cathedrals, especially during the Crusades. They usually stayed in lodges with other stone masons where they could hone their craft and learn from other highly skilled masons techniques and methods they could implement in their own craft. Medieval stone masons were highly regarded because they were essentially sub-creators of God's work; while God was the grand architect of the universe, stone masons reproduced God's work in the form of elaborately designed and decorated churches and cathedrals.
