Cefalù (Sicily)


A cloister capital with eight acrobats, this one an exhibitionist
which, like the others, supports the abacus with her feet.

Acrobats often form the figure 6 - the number associated with sin in the book of Revelations.

 

compare with a figure at Fontaines d'Ozillac (Charente-Maritime) >

 

Compare also with figures at the even more famous cloisters at nearby Monreale,
a cathedral (built at the height of
Norman power in Sicily) which almost seems to celebrate nudity
with many naked but not exhibitionist figures.


A naked figure wielding a sword.


Adam and Eve - which almost prefigure the series by Cranach, but for Adam's unapologetic nudity,
and the biting of the apple by the serpent.

click the picture for more photographs of Monreale cloisters