Needlepoint

The Fifer

For my entire life (or at least as far back as I can remember) I have looked at this little boy. He has been sitting on a chair in our living room for the past seventeen years. He never ages, he never moves, or plays that flute of his. He just sits on our sofa—a boy in needlepoint. This pillow has always fascinated me. When I was little I would look at it and wonder about it. At one point I even took it down to my room to sit with the rest of my dolls.

A couple months ago the Frist Center in Nashville announced that they were going to have an Impressionist exhibit of paintings from the Musee D’Orsay. The posters and signs had The Fifer on them but I was so surprised when I saw the Fifer’s rosy cheeks up on a billboard on the way downtown. I passed that billboard every day just waiting until the chance came that I could go see the exhibit.

I have always had a love for impressionist art—my favorites being Boudin’s seas and Degas’ ballerinas. I was able to see both of these at the Frist as well which was so exciting, but The Fifer was nothing that I could imagine. It was much larger in person. The Frist Center was something I was looking forward to for a while, but now that I’ve gone, I just want to go again……..

"The Girl Behind the Red Door"

I have always been "the girl behind the red door." My front door has always been bright red, so the first thing I saw when I looked at the Laon Cathedral was the three portal doors of the cathedral.

The Blessed and the Not So Blessed

Which one are you? Do you pass the final judgment? One walking up to this, about to enter the Autun Cathedral in France, would be terrified. This tympanum was meant to scare sinners and bring them into the church. This is over the west door in the narthex, which depicts the Last Judgment. In the center, Christ presides in majesty from inside a mandorla surrounded by angels.

To his right the apostles stand facing away from Christ except for Peter who faces Christ and takes the righteous to heaven. Above the apostles, an enthroned Virgin Mary extends her hands in blessing while an angel trumpets to waken the dead. On the far left, the blessed ascend to heaven by holding on to the legs and wings of the angels. St. Peter oversees the operation with a key, and takes one righteous soul by the hand.

Below, more of the redeemed rise from their graves with the help of angels and rejoice. Towards the left, a person sits on his grave and unwraps his grave clothes, looking up in wonder. Among the saved can be spotted two bishops and two pilgrims. The pilgrims have symbols on their bags - a Greek cross for the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and a scallop shell representing Santiago de Compostela.

On Christ's right there is depicted the Weighing of Souls, presided over by Archangel Michael who leans on the scales to help them go in the right direction. Meanwhile, a devil attempts to sway the scales in his favor by hanging on them.

Along the bottom is an inscription warning against the horrors of Hell. On the far right, divided from the horrific scene by a vine, an angel trumpets to awaken the dead. Below this, more of the damned march to their doom. The most interesting are towards the right: a greedy man clutches his moneybags, and one sinner is pulled into Hell by two giant claws around his head. Two people sit on their tombs in their grave clothes. Compared with the joyful parallel on the left, they do not look to be in any hurry to cast them aside and stand up.

World's Greatest Button

These very ornate looking things are called fibulas. The fibula served two purposes - as jewelry and as a clothes fastener (much like a safety pin or a button). The fibula was made in many different shapes and sizes. They would come with many different jewels and designs. The clothing worn by men and women during that era was not sewn. Fibulas were a common find. They were a necessity. The Etruscans were the first to wear fibulas. Often times the designs were zoomorphic. They had many animal figures. Very intricate metalwork was needed to make these fibulas.

They used fibulas to fasten their clothing to themselves, but they were also used as a means of status. That fancier fibula you had, the more important were. This Fibula was found in the Queen's burial in France. It shows two hooked fish and if you look closely you can see an eagle.