Cousolre No. 1 / Cousolr / Curtis Solra

PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

Results: 15 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

RS01: head, face or mask - winged - with cross

Scene Description: in one of the spandrels of the upper surface of the basin

Image Source: B&W photograph in Ghislain (2009)

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

RS02: design element - motifs - foliage

Scene Description: in one of the spandrels of the upper surface of the basin

Image Source: B&W photograph in Ghislain (2009)

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

RS03: design element - motifs - unidentified

Scene Description: appears to be a vase or similar; too eroded for identificacion -- in one of the spandrels of the upper surface of the basin

Image Source: B&W photograph in Ghislain (2009)

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

RS04: symbol - grapes and vine leaves

Scene Description: or are they wings? -- in one of the spandrels of the upper surface of the basin

Image Source: B&W photograph in Ghislain (2009)

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

Apostle or saint - St. Walbert and St. Bertille - Tree of Life

Scene Description: Cloquet interprets the scene as the Devil (the lio) tempting Adam & Eve; this is highly unlikely since the figures are depicted fully dressed in medieval attire, the woman holding an open book on her left hand

Image Source: Rolland ([1928?]: [555])

Copyright Instructions: PD

animal - mammal - lion - passant-gardant

Scene Description: Cloquet identifies it with the Devil tempting Adam & Eve; Ghislain sees "la victoire du christianisme sur le paganisme" [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: Ronse (1929: fig. 40)

Copyright Instructions: PD

design element - architectural - arcade - blind - round arches - columns with capitals and bases

Scene Description: on two sides of the basin; six arches on each side

Image Source: Rolland ([1928?]: [555])

Copyright Instructions: PD

design element - motifs - flat moulding

Scene Description: all around the opening of the inner basin

Image Source: B&W photograph in Ghislain (2009)

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

design element - motifs - foliage

Scene Description: on the angles of the underbowl

Image Source: Rolland ([1928?]: [555])

Copyright Instructions: PD

design element - motifs - foliage

Scene Description: in all the spandrels of the two arcades on the sides of the basin

Image Source: Rolland ([1928?]: [555])

Copyright Instructions: PD

design element - motifs - roll moulding

Image Source: Rolland ([1928?]: [555])

Copyright Instructions: PD

human figure - male - grotesque or fantastic - Green Man or woodwoose - foliage motif?

Scene Description: on one of the sides of the basin; arguable how 'human' the mask is; perhaps simian? -- "Reproduction gauche et dégénérée d'un motif iconographique, qui abonde dans les fonts du baptême, à savoir une tête diabolique mordillant les rameaux de l'arbre paradisiaque" (Cloquet)

Image Source: B&W photograph in Ghislain (2009)

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of church exterior - east view

Image Source: digital photograph taken 25 August 2008 by Chatsam [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Église_Saint-Martin_de_Cousolre_ext_4.JPG] [accessed 15 March 2015]

Copyright Instructions: Released by its author into the public domain

view of church exterior - west tower

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 March 2015 by Chatsam [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Église_Saint-Martin_de_Cousolre_ext_5.JPG] [accessed 15 March 2015]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of church exterior in context

Scene Description: the church in the context of the centre ville

Image Source: digital photograph taken 25 August 2008 by Chatsam [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rue_Cousolre.JPG] [accessed 15 March 2015]

Copyright Instructions: Released by its author into the public domain

INFORMATION

FontID: 02843COU

Museum and Inventory Number: Musée des Beaux-arts de Lille

Church/Chapel: [orig. from Notre-Dame de Cousolre, but moved to the museum in Lille by 1895]

Church Patron Saints: St. Mary the Virgin

Church Location: 59149 Cousolre, France

Country Name: France

Location: Nord, Hauts-de-France

Directions to Site: The font was reported by Cloquet already in the Musée des Beaux-arts de Lille ca. 1895. Cousolre itself is near Beaumont, about 30 km SW of Charleroi

Historical Region: Avesnois

Font Location in Church: [In a museum]

Date: ca. 1155-1160?

Century and Period: 12th century (mid?), Romanesque

Workshop/Group/Artisan: Namur font? / affiliation Beauchevain? [Ghislain]

Cognate Fonts: Chéreng, Gand, Gentinnes...

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

Baptismal font noted in Jennepin (1887). A square baptismal font of the Namurois group with a single column support at the base; the four sides of the basin are ornamented thus: 1)a large lion regardant occupying most the left and centre and a human figure (male on the left holding a staff? on his right hand, female on the right holding a book on her left hand) on either side of a tall accanthus-like plant; 2 and 3)blind arcade of 6 (?) round arches; 4)a human mask from whose open mouth emerge the branches of a vine/garland. Cloquet (1895) says of the first side images: "il est évident que nous sommes, comme à Gand, en présence d'Adam et d'Ève, écoutant les exhortations du démon." In the earlier article by Cloquet (1890, p. 417), he describes the scenes depicted on this font as "le triomphe de saint Walbert et de son épouse Bertille". Noted and illustrated in Ronse (1929), who describes the scene as the Fall [NB: the female figure appears to hold an open book to her bossom; New Eve? Mary?; both figures wearing long skirts]. Described and illustrated in Oursel (1994), who mentions that St. Walbert was the founder of the Cousolre church, hence his identification of the scene with his wife St. Bertile. Oursel (ibid.) dates the font to the mid-12th century. Listed in Drake (2002) as a Mosan font. Drake (ibid.) mentions that "by tradition, when the font still stood in the church of Cousolre, it was known as 'La pierre de Walbert'. Catalogued and illustrated in Ghislain (2009) as a baptismal font of the Namurois group, filiation Beauvechain, made of grey limestone ca. 1155-1160, with Tournai influences, and remarks on the detail similarities with the fonts at Termonde, Siennes, Nivelles, Heel, etc. Ghislain (ibid.) identifies the couple as Walbert and Bertille, "confortés par la présence de l'Arbre de la Vie, image de la croix et du Paradis bien merité." The spandrels of the upper side, at the angles of the basin opening, are decorated, three with foliage motifs, and one with a winged feline mask with a cross in its mouth.

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 50.245222, 4.151362

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 50° 14′ 42.8″ N, 4° 9′ 4.9″ E

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, limestone (grey)

Font Shape: square (mounted)

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: square

Drainage Notes: no lining

Diameter (inside rim): 66.5 cm*

Basin Depth: 35 cm*

Basin Total Height: 48 cm*

Trapezoidal Basin: 85 x 88.5 cm*

Notes on Measurements: * Ghislain (2009)

LID INFORMATION

Notes: [cf. FontNotes]

REFERENCES

Cloquet, Louis, "Fonts de baptême romans de Tournai", 45, Revue de l'art chrétien, 1895, pp. 308-320; r["References"]

Cloquet, Louis, "Travaux des sociétés savantes: Comité des travaux historiques", 40, Revue de l'art chrétien, 1890, pp. 415-420; r["References"]

Drake, Colin Stuart, The Romanesque Fonts of Northern Europe and Scandinavia, Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2002

Enlart, Camille, Manuel d'archéologie française depuis les temps mérovingiens jusqu'à la Renaissance, Paris: Alphonse Picard & fils, 1902

Jennepin, A., "Notice sur une vasque de fonts baptismaux pédiculés éxécutés au X ou XIe siècle pour l'église Notre-Dame de Cousolre", XX, Annales du Circle archéologique de Mons, 1887

Oursel, Hervé, Nord roman: Flandre, Artois, Picardie, Laonnois, La Pierre-qui-vire, Yonne: Zodiaque, 1994

Rolland, Paul, "Les fonts baptismaux tournaisiens: un produit artistique d'exportation aux XIe. et XIIe. siècles", [?], [?], Renaissance de l'art français et des industries de luxe, [1928?], pp. p. [555]-561; r["References"]

Ronse, F. T., Les fonts baptismaux de Zedelghem et les fonts romans tournaisiens du XIIe siècle, Bruges: Apostolat liturgique, 1929