Detroit Institute of Arts

Image copyright © Gregory Varnum, 2018

CC-BY-SA-4.0

Results: 6 records

B01: Apostle or saint - Evangelists - St. Matthew - symbol - angel

B02: Apostle or saint - Evangelists - St. Mark - symbol - winged lion

B03: Apostle or saint - Evangelists - St. Luke - symbol - winged bull

B04: Apostle or saint - Evangelists - St. John - symbol

view of font

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Anne & Tom Heck, 2001

Image Source: digital image of a December 2001 photograph by Anne & Thomas Heck

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the authors [BSI print file]

view of font

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Gregory Varnum, 2018

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 14 April 2018 by Gregory Varnum [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Detroit_Institute_of_Arts_-_April_2018_(8560).jpg] [accessed 19 August 2019]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-4.0

INFORMATION

FontID: 03211DET
Museum and Inventory Number: Detroit Institute of Fine Arts
Church/Chapel: [provenance unklnown: probably France]
Church Location: [NB: address & coordinates given for the DIA] 5200 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI 48202, United States -- Tel.: +1 313-833-7900
Country Name: United States
Location: Michigan
Directions to Site: The Museum is located in Midtown Detroit
Font Location in Church: [in a museum]
Century and Period: 12th century, Romanesque
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Anne and Thomas Heck for the photographs of this font
Described and illustrated in Cahn (1979-1999, vol. II: 261-262) as a limestone baptismal font at the Detroit Institute of Arts, a work of doubtful authenticity. Listed and illustrated in the DIA entry [https://www.dia.org/art/collection/object/baptismal-font-24816] [accessed 19 June 2022]. This is a large capital-shaped font; the basin is rounded but has four protrusions at 90-degree angles [the D.I.A. has identified them as the symbols of the Evangelists]; all the available space is carved with several motifs: interlaced ribbon, rosettes and vegetal motifs on the basin sides and arches filled in with figures and other motifs in the base. The whole appears to be a single block of limestone (description based on ill. on p. 88, Lallov, 1934 and notes provided courtesy of the Detroit Institute of Arts--see BSI archive file). Provenance is given as a gift of G.J. Demotte to the D.I.A. Cahn (1979) lists it as a work of doubtful authenticity and of more recent creation (Cahn, 1979-, v. 2, p. 261-262).

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 42.35942, -83.064576
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 42° 21′ 33.91″ N, 83° 3′ 52.48″ W
UTM: 17T 329979 4691748

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, limestone
Number of Pieces: one
Font Shape: round (unmounted)
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round
Diameter (includes rim): 109.2 cm* / 149.9 cm**
Font Height (less Plinth): 95.2 cm* / 95.9 cm**
Notes on Measurements: * Cahn, 1979-, v. 2, p. 261 / ** DIA [cf. FontNotes]

REFERENCES

Cahn, Walter, Romanesque Sculpture in American Collections (2 vols.), New York [v.1]; Turnhout, Belgium [v.2]: B. Franklin [v. 1]; Brepols [v.2], 1979-1999
Lallov, William J., "The Font and the Baptistry", 3, Liturgical Arts, 1934, pp. 80-96; r["References"]