FROM VANITAS TO VERITAS: THE PROFANE AS THE FIFTH MODE OF ROMANESQUE ART DE VANITAS A VERITAS: LO PROFANO COMO EL QUINTO MODO DEL ARTE ROMÁNICO (original) (raw)

Various profane images-monstrous creatures, labyrinths and gaming boards, athletes and knights-were deployed outside churches as symbols of worldly vanity and as apotropaic devices. The paper argues that the same imagery was brought inside the sacred spaces, as well, to complicate the progression through the four Augustinian modes effected in mural decorations, stained-glass, liturgical objects, etc., and even to thwart the anagogical ascent. Engaging the profane subjects not only with their eyes but also their feet, the faithful were thus reminded that, like the ancient Israelites in the desert, they were pilgrims in this world and had continuously to struggle against material temptations, indeed even art itself, if they were to reach the Promised Land. RESUMEN En los exteriores de las iglesias medievales se desplegó una panoplia de imágenes profanas: criaturas monstruosas, laberintos, juegos de mesa, atletas y caballeros, se representaron en calidad de elementos apotropaicos y símbolos de la vanidad mundana. En este artículo se ar-gumenta que el mismo repertorio temático se introdujo en el interior de los espacios sagrados, [Recepción del artículo: 02/10/2017] [Aceptación del artículo revisado: 30/10/2017]