Image: Clonfert Cathedral Mermaid 2009 09 17

Description: Clonfert Cathedral, Clonfert, County Galway, Ireland 15th-century carving of a mermaid with comb and mirror at the southern pier of the chancel arch. Photographed in the natural evening light. The mermaid can be interpreted as an allusion to St Brendan, the patron of Clonfert Cathedral. To quote one of the surving texts of Brendan's voyage: When all this was over at last, they resumed their journey and once more got into great difficulties, because they saw a beast coming towards them with a human body and face, but from the waist downwards it was fish. It is called a siren, a very lovely creature with a beautiful human shape; it sings so well and its voice is so sweet that whoever hears it cannot resist sleep and does not know what he is doing. When this sea monster approached them, the shipmen fell asleep and let the ship drift: the monks too forgot themselves completely because of its voice and did not know where they were. (See The Voyage of St Brendan, ISBN 0-85989-755-9, p. 141.) According to Colum Hourihane, the mermaid is commonly represented in Romanesque sculpture throughout Europe but they do not appear in Irish art before the 13th century and are comparatively rare after that. Only five such examples are recorded. He writes: Placed at the entrance to either the chancel or the body of the church these symbols must have warned the worshipper of the evils of sin and the need to resist temptation (especially of the flesh) in all its forms. (See Colum Hourihane: Gothic Art in Ireland 1169–1550, ISBN 0-300-09435-3, p. 93.)
Title: Clonfert Cathedral Mermaid 2009 09 17
Credit: Self-photographed
Author: Andreas F. Borchert
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Attribution Required?: Yes