A dark, scratched and pitted face carved in blue-black Tournai limestone stares between sculpted symbols from the circular bowl of the 11th century baptismal font in the early Gothic Cathedrale Notre-Dame at Laon, Aisne, Hauts-de-France, France. The face, one of four, may depict one of the Evangelists - or possibly one of the four rivers of the Garden of Eden.
Laon, Aisne, Hauts-de-France, France: a dark and enigmatic face, scratched and pitted over 1,000 years of history, stares out between symbols sculpted on the circular bowl of the baptismal font in the south transept of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Laon. The face is one of four carved around the blue-black Tournai limestone bowl in primitive yet powerful medieval style. Experts believe that the four faces either depict the Evangelists, saints Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, or represent the rivers of the Garden of Eden or Paradise detailed in the Old Testament Book of Genesis: the Pishon, Gihon, Tigris or Chidekel and the Euphrates or Phirat. Opinions also diverge on whether the 11th century font should be included in lists of Tournai fonts actually made in and around the Belgian town, examples of which survive in France, Belgium, Germany and England. Although the font is broadly similar to those made at Tournai, it perhaps belongs to a wider artistic tradition known as Mosan: the style found in a larger Meuse valley area stretching through the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The Laon font probably survives from an earlier Romanesque church on the hilltop site that was largely destroyed by fire in 1112. Laon Cathedral, built between 1150 and 1230, is contemporary with Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris and is one of the most important and stylistically unified examples of early Gothic architecture. Laon lost its status as a bishopric during the 1789 French Revolution, but although the building has only held the status of a parish church since 1802, it is still universally known as Laon Cathedral.
Size: 3879px × 2602px
Location: Laon, Aisne, Hauts-de-France, France.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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