Tuesday 28 July 2009

Eagles and virgins

More photos from Lancaster Priory, this time focussing on two objects of art on the floor (see earlier Priory photos here and here).

The eagle's head is from the church lectern. You can see the full piece in this photo on the Priory's homepage, where you'll also read that the lectern was presented to the Priory by E.G. Paley in 1870. (Edward Pale was a Lancaster architect - you can see his Wiki profile here).

The photo below shows a partial view of a large modern statue of Mary situated at the back of the church. My guess is that it is the most recent artistic addition to the priory's collection, but will have to confirm this after the next visit the priory - a good excuse to take more photos.

Mary in Lancaster Priory, originally uploaded by Lancaster Today.

This historical time-line of Lancaster Priory is worth scanning. The first building on the site dates back nearly 2,000 years, and you can find details of various additions, donations and other church-related events as well as the historical context in which they happened. Unfortunately, no mention of that statue of Mary though!

7 comments:

  1. Both pictures are lovely, but I really like the eagle! I looked at the photo of the whole lectern and it is beautiful.

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  2. It must be a very interesting site to visit with a camera. I must make a note of it if ebver I get in the neighbourhood.

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  3. The statue has a very male chin and profile for a Virgin Mary who I suspect was female - but not necessarily feminine.

    The photo of the eagle fairly sparkles with light and colour.

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  4. I love Lancaster Priory - just a shame I live 250 miles away :-(

    It's also worth noting that it has many hidden gems, not least of which are the fourteen, 15th century misericords hidden in the choir stalls.

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  5. It is impossible for me to think of a building going back five thousand years. Unless it was a lot of boulders stacked side by side or something similar. I know England and many other European countries can count their history in terms of hundreds of years.

    This is a magnificent photo of the Eagle's head. It looks almost like it was shot in RAW. Now that you got the new Nikon D70 camera and lens, you should try it sometime soon. I think you will be exhilarated by what you can see. I use Photoshop to go through my RAW photos and sometimes that works very well.

    Thanks for visiting. It is always appreciated. I am happy you liked the shot of a piece of my backyard.

    Tell you friends. Link up. Be part of history. Abraham Lincoln

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  6. Thank you Lois, Leif, RuneE, Julie, Dominic and Abe. @ Dominic: I suspect you are the closest commenter, and thanks for the next thing to look for when I'm next there! @ Julie: I thought that about the chin too @ Abe: I've just got Photoshop CS4 too. I predict interesting work ahead. :)

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Thanks for the comment in advance. All thoughts are appreciated ~ Eamon.