Capital Depicting Monsters Devouring Human Beings (1941.42)
On this decorative capital from the top of a medieval column, fierce lions and fantastical monsters devour human figures and tear them limb from limb. One human figure, balancing on another's head, has his knees bitten by two lions while another monster’s paws grip his shoulders. The monster may be a simurgh or senmurv, a mythical creature with a dog’s head, lion’s paws, wings, and a tail. These beasts were common in the art of the Sasanian Empire some 500 years earlier in Iran, but the simurgh’s appeal meant that it was imitated in later silks made in Islamic Spain and elsewhere. The sculptor could have come across this fierce beast in imported silk fabrics that were used to make French priestly vestments
Despite this capital’s overall symmetry, there is a sense of disorder and tumult. This alarming scene sat atop a column in the now demolished Notre-Dame de Montermoyen church in the French city of Bourges, perhaps to instill fear and awe in parishioners. The lions’ swirling manes and the exaggerated facial expression of the central human figure are typical of the Romanesque style, serving as a powerful reminder of the consequences of sin and divine wrath. An array of these sculpted capitals conveyed moral lessons to churchgoers, whether rich or poor, educated or illiterate.