I can't say that I am totally surprised to have run across these two very complex coats of arms that we have seen before in another setting, but I also wasn't expecting to find them here.
And it's interesting to see that they hadn't lost any of their "nothing succeeds like excess" taste in the decorative arts.
Of course, when you're the king and queen, and have your own private box at Roskilde Cathedral, so that you can attend the ceremonies and hear mass, etc. without having to mix with the hoi polloi, you're going to want to put your own stamp on it.
And as the longest reigning of the Danish monarchs, at 59 years, 330 days (1588-1648), well, you've got plenty of time to make your mark on the country.
I am referring, of course, to King Christian IV and his queen, Anne Catherine of Brandenburg, whose arms we have seen over and over again in the castle he built, Frederiksborg Castle.
And now here we are at Roskilde Cathedral, looking across the way at the private box built for them.
We'll see parts of this box in greater detail below, but feel free to click on the image above to see a larger, more detailed photograph, and take in the total and utter splendor that is this carved, painted, and gilded masterpiece.
In the center are the personal ciphers of Queen Anne Catherine and King Christian IV.
On the right, next to his cipher, are the Royal Arms of Christian IV:
And on the left, next to her cipher, the arms of Queen Anne Catherine of Brandenburg:
We have already covered these very complex coats of arms sufficiently in our review of them in Frederiksborg Castle, so I'm not going to repeat all that here.
But, Wow! What an amazing work of heraldic, and other, art!
No comments:
Post a Comment