Medieval Church Wall Paintings

December 15, 2007 3:47 PM

The Mills-Kronborg Collection of Danish Church Wall Paintings, courtesy of Princeton University's Index of Christian Art, includes descriptions and images of medieval and early modern church frescoes. There are more church frescoes at Painting and Sculpture in Medieval Hungary. (Another site features a fine panorama.) Anne Marshall has developed an extensive site devoted to similar paintings in England, many of which were whitewashed during the Reformation. The University of Leicester hosts a much more specialized database devoted to the Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy (no images); La Mort Dans L'Art/Death in Art has some Continental examples of The Three Living and the Three Dead.
posted by thomas j wise (4 comments total)

Hi, Thomas. Thought I would just sit here with you for awhile. Do you mind?
posted by LiveLurker at 6:55 PM on December 15, 2007

Another great post, thomas j wise. These are wonderful to browse through. The whitewashed English examples in particular are brilliant.
posted by greycap at 12:06 AM on December 16, 2007

Thanks, I'm going to explore this too.
posted by nicolin at 3:57 AM on December 16, 2007

The Danish wall paintings are an absolute delight. (Thank you so much for posting this, thomasjwise; I'd never have found it if you hadn't drawn attention to it here.) I like the Apocalyptic Madonna, and this rather mysterious allegory of something or other, and Titivullus writing down the conversation of the two gossiping ladies. And of course Masturbating Man and Urinating Man. Some of the religious images are reminiscent of late medieval blockbooks. I'm looking forward to the completion of the Bodleian Library's project to digitize its blockbook collection.
posted by verstegan at 2:48 AM on December 19, 2007