The grotesque in church art . l and popular was not originally considered the son of Venus, whom hepreceded in birth. It is scarcely too much to say that hepersonified the love of a Supreme Unknown for creation ;and hence the assumption by Love of the character of adeliverer. There are other shell deities in mythology. Venus hadher shell, and her Northern co-type, Frigga, the wife of theNorthern sun-god, Odin, rode in a shell chariot. The earliest of our examples is the most serious and 54 THE GROTESQUE IN CHURCH ART. precise. The Dragon is a very bilious and repulsive reptile,while th
The grotesque in church art . l and popular was not originally considered the son of Venus, whom hepreceded in birth. It is scarcely too much to say that hepersonified the love of a Supreme Unknown for creation ;and hence the assumption by Love of the character of adeliverer. There are other shell deities in mythology. Venus hadher shell, and her Northern co-type, Frigga, the wife of theNorthern sun-god, Odin, rode in a shell chariot. The earliest of our examples is the most serious and 54 THE GROTESQUE IN CHURCH ART. precise. The Dragon is a very bilious and repulsive reptile,while the child form, thrice repeated in the same carving, hasgrace and originality. This is from Lincoln Minster. The next is also on a misericorde, and is in ManchesterCathedral. Here the shell is different in position, beingupright. The Child in this has long hair. The third example is from a misericorde at BeverleyMinster, the series at which place shews strong evidence ofhaving been executed from the same set of designs as those. DRAGON AND CHILD, BEVBKLBY MINSTER. of Manchester Cathedral, and were carved some twelve yearslater. Many of the subjects are identically the same, but inthis case it will be seen how a meaning may be lost by acarvers misapprehension. The shell would not be recogniz-able without comparison with the other instances, and the1 )ragon has become two. The head of the Child in thiscarving appears to be in a close hood, or Puritan infantile cap,which, as the foundling cap, survived into this all the three carvings, the Dragons are of the two-leered &£>
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