The Visions of John

The Apocalypse or Book of Revelation of the Evangelist John is the central theme of this capital. On the north side a large haloed angel (the “golden crown” of the Revelation?) swings his “sharp sickle”. The imposing apparition is underlined by the rich folds of his draperies. On the south side an angel (ANG[E]L[V]S) floats down from the clouds. He grasps, and pulls upward John's forearm (S[ANCTVS] IOH[ANNI]S), a gesture that makes clear the necessary waking up from the “Revelations of Jesus Christ”. This same scene is found in numerous illustrated “Beatus”-manuscripts of Com- mentaries on the Revelation, disseminated between the 10th and 13th century. On the east and west sides an angel with large, outspread wings and a backwards-swept cloak is riding on horseback. The galloping horses could represent the “white horse” ridden by he who “is called Faithful and True”, or be representative of the “armies of heaven on white horses” (Rev 19:11,14). The angel with the sickle and the armies of heaven signify that “the time is near”, for the visions of John on Patmos are, as the opening verses of the Revelation put it, sent by God’s angel to “bear witness to the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ […] Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written therein”. The exaggerated gestures and rapid movements are suited to the intensity of these dream sequences. A feeling of urgency, a sense of impending drama, is created here. So it is easily forgotten that the extreme stylistic smoothness of some other capitals of the south wing is totally absent here. In the bevelled impost frieze strange acrobatic birds with long interlaced necks take hold of horned masks and help to lead the viewer into the supernatural world of the visions of John.

inscription mask bird angel sickle John Beatus Apocalypse horseman ANG(E)L(U)S S(ANCTUS) IOH(ANNI)S