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Image © Hildesheim, St Godehard
Psalm: 42
Iconography: A nimbed figure points to his forehead and holds up a book with the text Send forth your light. Beneath are two clamouring men, reaching up for the book, while the third, with an excess of hair clutches the letter frame. Christ said he was the Light of the World (John 1:9), so the light is Christ. St Paul said that Christ was the head and the church was the body (Col. 1:18). The believers reach for the Light. The hairy man represents worldliness: St Augustine believed that hair represented the superfluity of worldly things, and thus monks were tonsured. (AP, 221; PL,St Augustine,xxxvi, 605)
Art: The wild hair of the worldly man originally flowed beyond the letter frame. The cloak of the lower man on the left had a folded hem.
Thread stitch: yes
Historical Relevance:
Quire: 10


Image © Hildesheim, St Godehard

 

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