translation studies. retrospective and prospective views

merchants, tradespeople, craftsmen, pilgrims, and peasants all gathered to
praise the Incarnated God, the door to mankind’s salvation. The image of
Christ enthroned in majesty carved above the great west doors of many
French cathedrals or high up on the screen-like façade of Early English
cathedrals signified not only that it was through Jesus, the God made man,
that the believer would gain access to the house of the Lord, but also that
He was the beacon, the ‘light born of light’ spreading the beam of divine
illumination over the entire world.
The radiating power of Christ is more evident in the treatment of
the space between the pointed arch and the lintel of the central portal at
Chartres Cathedral. The decorative arrangement of the tympanum is
dominated by the figure of Christ seated on a throne, in a mandorla of
light, holding a book in his left hand and raising his right in a gesture of
blessing. Flanking the two upper parts of the mandorla and the other two
lower corners of the tympanum are the signs of the Four Evangelists: the
winged man, the eagle, the winged lion and the winged ox corresponding
to Matthew, John, Mark and Luke. Underneath, on the lintel separating the
space of divine confirmation from the disquieting space of liminality
associated with the entrance, are the twelve Apostles enthroned. The two
additional figures thought to represent Enoch and Elijah, the only two men
that had been taken up to God bodily and without dying, complete the
lintel composition. The complementary figures carved in the archivolts
surmounting Christ represent, according to M. F. Hearn, the Twenty-four
Elders of the Apocalypse (Rev. 11: 15-18). However, their role is not as
Hearn suggests simply to “complete the cast of the standard image” (1981:
203) of apocalyptic iconography although it is undeniably true that the
Romanesque program of tympana decoration included them frequently.
The representation of Christ in a mandorla was a favourite subject for
Romanesque portals too and a standardized icon of the Second Coming
and Last Judgement imagery. So were the twelve Apostles supporting the
enthroned Saviour, but the overall treatment of all these characters was
different from the Romanesque sculptural program.
If we compare the carved representations of Christ in Majesty
decorating the tympana of Chartres and Autun cathedrals, the difference
between the Gothic and Romanesque treatment of the subject will become
more evident. First of all, let us consider the thematic approach. The
Romanesque sculptural program, of which Autun cathedral is just an
example, focused on the representation of the Last Judgement in the
semicircular space above the central west portal. The emphasis was
obviously laid on the sinful nature of mankind who was constantly
reminded both of the promise of salvation granted to the virtuous and of
the terrible punishments awaiting the wicked at the end of all days. Central
118