infancy of Christ (east wall)—was presumably added during the abbacy of Roger (1115–
31), whose statue flanks the central porch.
An apocalyptic vision of the Second Coming fills the huge tympanum: the Majestic
Christ, enthroned and crowned, holding the Book of Life on his left knee, his right hand
raised in blessing, dominates the entrance to the Heavenly Jerusalem. Symbols of the four
Evangelists and two elongated seraphim form a framing mandorla; twenty-four Elders
strain to regard the central vision. The figures are in high relief; the carving is crisp,
precise, and vigorous. Flanking the doorway are St. Peter, patron saint of the abbey, and
the prophet Isaiah. On the central face of the trumeau are three pairs of lions and
lionesses, their bodies crossed in a vertical “triple-x” composition. On the west lateral
face is St. Paul; on the east, the most elegant figure in all of Romanesque art, the prophet
Jeremiah unwinding his scroll. The cusped trumeau and jambs, as well as the regality of
Christ and the Elders, recall the exoticism of Islamic Spain; the richness of pose and the
details of robes, crowns, and book are solidly within the Languedocian tradition.
Moissac, Saint-Pierre, south portal.
Photograph courtesy of Whitney
S.Stoddard.
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 1184