Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Identical

These three statues show an aspect of church design that tends to be forgotten. In older churches, the altars, ambos, etc., were often commissioned. The statuary, however, was often mass produced, and sold through supply houses like the Tiffin Manufacturing Company.
These three statues are identical, except for variations in the color.
This one is at St. Mary, Norwalk. While your at it, look at the wainscoating in the background. It's fantastic. I'll have to ask Alex Fries, who took this picture and was the first to point out the similarity between the statues, to get a close-up of it.
This one's in one of the towers at Good Shepherd, in East Toledo. The gate is from the old baptistry, and is a masterpiece of its period. Excellent work.
This one is in one of the transepts at St. Patrick's. The candlestand, at the right, is a gem. If I hadn't been on sensory overload at the time, I'd have gotten a picture of it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

There's one at Napoleon St. Augustine too.

Alex Fries said...

I will be up at church today. I'll get some close-ups. I've been avoiding the computer lately. Our stations of the cross are the same as those at Cary, except those ones (in the lower basilica), are like smaller versions.