THIRTEEN STRIKING FIGURES OF LUXURIA.
After several years'reflection, I think that the best translation of
Luxuria is
HEDONISM.
1.Vézelay (Yonne)
Capital of the richly-decorated nave.
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2. Ôo (Haute-Garonne) Copy of bas-relief from the rustic parish church, now in the Musée des Augustins, Toulouse.
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3. Octogone, Montmorillon (Vienne) Re-erected statue.
photo by Tina Negus
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4. Church of Saint-Hilaire, Melle (Deux-Sèvres): a very eroded figure
with hands clasped in prayer between two suckling snakes.
5. Väte (Gotland), Sweden: this figure suckles two large snakes,
while a toad and an asp are looking for nipples in her armpits: the sign of
a witch.
This is truly a 'Witch on the Wall'.
photo by Kjartan Hauglid
6. The celebrated and eroded snake-suckler to the
left of the doorway at Moissac (Tarn-et-Garonne).
On the left, a demon with bloated belly and hairy claws spews a toad in her
direction...
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...while a toad also tries to insert itself into her vagina.
She grips her palms in pain and horror, while her face contorts in the agony of the damned.
for more details of Moissac click here.
Stylistically related are these fragments at Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne (Corrèze),
photographed by Adrian
Fletcher.
The rich man is being ridden into Hell by a devil.
The figure on the left may be Gluttony, having 'licked the platter clean'.
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7. Limalonges (Charente-Maritime)
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9. A remarkable horned (Satanic) Luxuria on the cathedral
of St. Maurice, Vienne (Rhône-Alpes).
10. A rare tongue-sticking, mouth-pulling, Gorgon-like Luxuria on a cloister
capital at Tarragona, Spain.
11. A corbel on the basilica of San Isidoro (León) emphasises breasts
in a rather baroque - and modern - way,
suggesting inspiration from representations of Terra.
12. A corbel on the church of Lomilla de Aguilar (Palencia), which, like the
broken corbel at Archingeay,
directly connects the motif of Luxuria with that of the Exhibitionist.
photo by 
dirk
vde
MORE PHOTOS ON FLICKR >
Click
for the connection with Terra and snakes
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TEN more examples are on the CD-ROM
See a remote and rustic exhibitionist interpretation of Luxuria in Ireland
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An
Italian figure which may be Luxuria - or a high-class whore
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and interpretations and variations on the theme in rural Denmark
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The most shocking depiction of Luxuria, however, depicts her without snakes >
