| Crowns |
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When Mary gives her assent to the incarnation, the Trinity descends and crowns her thus. And woe betide her if she lets the crown fall off! In fact this Mary is cheating: she has had an hole made in the top of her head to receive a spike on the underside of the crown. |
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| Baptism |
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OK, this is how your medievals viewed the baptism of Christ but as J. David Blackstone says what is the point of going down to Jordan if you ain't going for total immersion? Even though The Players' policy is to reproduce the medieval experience, I feel that … |
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| Piero della Francesca - 1448ish | Verrocchio - 1475 | |
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… this image is more appropriate. It is somehow timeless. I like the ordinary clothes and, as the photographer explains (with more pictures), the sepia tone and soft focus enhance the effect. I also like the rôle reversal: the preacher slightly resembles Peter Evans who played Jesus in our 2009 production while the Action. As the videos below show, the definitive action is to push the baptisee backwards, presumably so that the nose is submerged for the shortest possible time. This is fine in the water where buoyancy helps to bring them back up but on stage perhaps it will be safer to push them forwards. |
From the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?
| Living waters |
Living waters (the phrase in the hymn is living fountains) is quite a popular name for Baptist churches. Ainon Baptist Chapel (built 1828, rebuilt 1880) in Gellywen, Carmarthenshire could also claim that name because the baptismal tank (bottom left in the lower picture) is fed directly from the stream which flows through the graveyard.