The
Conques Last Judgment Tympanum
Detail:
The Cross
Between the two angels
blowing horns, two other angels reach down to support the top of the
Holy Cross. As in other iconography, the Cross is presented as a symbol
of the person of Christ, for its lower section merges into the mandorla
that surrounds him below.
The angel on the left holds a lance tip, which the inscription on the
cross labels as LANCEA, "lance." The other holds a nail, similarly
labeled CLAVI, "nails." The personified sun and moon, above the left
and right of the crosspiece respectively are also labeled with their
Latin names, SOL and LVNA. In a Crucifixion image, the sun and moon
refer to the darkness that fell at the moment of Christ's death
according to Luke
23:44-45 (cached).
Being the instruments that made the five wounds of Christ, the lance
and nails emphasize the identity between this symbolic representation
of Christ and the more naturalistic one below. They also emphasize the
interrelatedness of the Crucifixion and the Kingship of Christ.
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Photographed at the
site by Richard Stracke