5/8/2023 0 Comments Effigies by William K. Wells‘In Christian cemeteries there was a strong tendency for graves to be clustered around the burial place of a particularly holy person, preferably a martyr, but failing that, a Church leader or someone well known for the holiness of his or hers life. ‘We pray not to instruct God but to get our will in line with Heaven’ 1ĭoes the graffiti represent an attempt by the bereaved to attach the name of a deceased person to a particularly ‘notable’ or ‘ennobled’ individual – one whom was possibly regarded as a ‘folk’ saint within the community – or was it simply the desire to be affiliated with the ‘symbolism of the ideal’ in the post-Reformation world? In the Medieval world, intercessors were sought in every avenue of life as a way to ‘fast track’ the soul to heaven. A good body of evidence now exists which supports the theory that such motifs are examples of ‘memorial’ graffiti. Although a range of apotropaic symbols are often present, the majority of the graffiti seems to consist of names and dates, often within cartouches. Why have effigies and monuments to the dead historically attracted graffiti ? It is phenomenon that seems to be particularly prevalent during the 16 th and 17th centuries.
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