Building Name

:

Notre-Dame-du-Port  

Location

:

Choir

Capital

:

5

Subject

:

Announcement of the Precursor and the Redeemer

Description

:

Capital on the 4th column of choir, northeast side Angel announces to Zacharia the birth of John the Baptist while pulling Zacharias's beard

Reference

:

This capital comprises three annunciations and visitations. The first annunciation concerns Zachariah, who learns from an angel that he will have a son named John. Luke (I, 11-13): Apparuit autem illi angelus Domini, stans a dextris altaris incensi... Ait autem ad illum angelus : Ne timeas, Zacharia, quoniam exaudita est deprecatio tua, et uxor tua Elisabeth pariet tibi filium, et vocabis nomen ejus Joannem. The iconographic is faithful to the biblical text, the angel is represented to the right of the altar's incense, where Zachariah officiates. When John the Baptist is born, Zachariah, who was told what to name the newborn, carried a tablet on which he wrote: Joannes est nomen ejus (Luc 1,63), the verse found on the next scene. The Visitation, is simply evoked by the word reported by Luke (I, 39-46). The second annunciation described on the capital is the ultimate Annunciation, that of the angel Gabriel to the Virign, inspired by the text at the beginning of Luke (I, 28). Ave gratia plena. The third Annuncation is the apparition of the angel to Joseph (Dream of Joseph). The words on the capital condense the text of St. Matthew (I, 19): Joseph vir ejus cum esset justus et nollet eam traducere, voluit occulte dimittere eam. The Rotbertus who signed the capitals could also be the author/artist of the neighboring capitals--the style is very close.

Corpus Ref.

:

vol. 18, Allier, Cantal, Loire, Haute-Loire, Puy-de-Dôme, 197-199