MEDIEVAL SCULPTOR, French
(active 1120-1135 at Souillac)

The Prophet Isaiah

1120-35
Stone relief. height 176 cm
Sainte-Marie, Souillac

The former abbey church of Sainte-Marie at Souillac (Lot), built between about 1075 and 1150, had suffered extensive damage during the Huguenot wars. The extensive figured portal was affected extremely badly, and the remaining pieces were put back in position in the seventeenth century. Nowadays these fragments are on the inner western wall.

This relief is on the inner west wall. The figure of the prophet, pulsating with powerful plastic life, embodies a maximum of what Romanesque art was capable of producing in high relief. The direct model of the figure is that of Jeremiah on the south portal of Saint-Pierre at Moissac. However, there is one main difference: the figure of Jeremiah is standing still, whereas the figure of Isaiah almost seems to be moving.