Magneville

Illustrated and noted in Turner ([ca. 1818?]), who remarks on the inscription "upon the font at Magneville, near Valognes […] may with safety be considered as of the latter part of the tenth, or beginning of the eleventh, at which period, the choir of the church of Magneville appears also to have been erected. Of the sculpture upon the font, as well as of the inscription, an accurate idea may be formed, from the annexed drawing: the most remarkable character of the inscription seems to be in its punctuation." In the 1840 session of the Comité historique des arts et monuments, published in the Bulletin Archéologique, vol. 1, pt. 1 (1843: 148, 185) M. de Gerville gave the following reading of the inscription: "Totus purgatur qui sacro fonte lavatur: / Fons lavat exterius, spiritus interius." The basin is shaped like a truncated pyramid upside-down, with rounded sides and a large human face on each corner. An entry in the Bulletin Monumental (2e serie, t. 2, vol. 12, 1846, p. 296) refers to the inscription on this font and includes a drawing. Ruprich-Robert (1855) mentions a noteworthy font here, without further details. Malle (1994) mentions the resemblance of one of the faces to those in ancient Assyrian art. The other three are more caricaturesque and have rather an Egyptian flavour. At the upper part of the basin a Latin inscription is visible [cf. Inscription]. The lower part of the basin is rounded and plain. The base is a thick pedestal and the lower base is rectangular, as is the plinth, probably of later date. "Fonts baptismaux de Magneville, du XIIe s.", plus an inscription (Favreau, 1985, p. 126). Vivier-Seguin (1941) describe the heads as one with long hair who sticks his tongue out; the next has big eyes and big cheeks and has two serpents issuing from his mouth and appearing to bite his earlobes; the third has permed hair framing his face; the fourth has a very long moustache and a curled beard; Vivier-Seguin argue that these masks, which have ben interpreted as representing sins or the different races of the world, could be simply sculptures without any symbolism (!). There are traces of polychromy on them (Vivier, 1941). Described by Jacques Pougheol in Les siècles romans an Basse-Normandie (1985: 133 no. 371) [after Vivier & Seguin]. [NB: there is a discrepancy in one word of the inscription, the secon verb, in the bibliographic sources: some have it as PURGATUR others as LAVATUR -- the inscription reads LAVATUR, as can be seen in the image below, just above and to the left of the head with the long braided hair (on one side), slanted eyes and prominent teeth]. Listed and illustrated in Palissy [ref.: PM50001505]: "12e siècle [...] La polychromie est d'origine [...] L'iconographie des quatre têtes symbolisant les quatre fleuves du Paradis est répandue dans les régions de la Meuse et dans toute l'Europe du nord."