Resumen de Imagining Savage Piety at St.-Paul-de-Varax
The writer describes a portal along the southern wall of the church of St. Paul-de-Varax, Dombes, France, that incorporates a 12th-century tympanum featuring a conversation between man and beast, with the incription “The abbot sought Paul and the faun showed him [the way].” The inscription links the carving to St. Anthony's encounters with fantastic creatures as he crossed the desert in search of Paul the Hermit, his spiritual mentor. Casting the exchange in decidedly positive terms, it is at odds with the negative moralizing interpretations typically applied to centaurs, fauns, and sirens in Romanesque sculptures across Europe. It is argued here that the faun offered a vision of unadulterated religiosity, analogous to the authentic faith sought by various Church reform movements during the 12th century. The writer asserts that the disco-ordinations between text and image highlight the fact that although these early saints might offer exemplary models of the holy life, their example could be accessed only through representations, whether textual or visual.
