St John the Baptist Church - The Layer Monument

The Layer monument is an early 17th-century polychrome marble mural monument (320 × 350 cm) erected in the memory of the lawyer

Christopher Layer Christopher Layer (1683–1723) was an English Jacobite conspirator, executed for high treason in 1723 for his part in what became known as the Atterbury Plot. Early life Born on 12 November 1683, he was the son of John Layer, a laceman, of Dur ...

(1531–1600), and located in the Church of Saint John the Baptist,

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

Inscription

Its inscription is in Latin, and reads in translation:

Interpretation

The monument is notable on two accounts, firstly, its four figurines housed in its two columns, ''Pax'' and ''Gloria'', ''Vanitas'' and ''Labor'', are relatively rare examples of

Northern Mannerist Northern Mannerism is the form of Mannerism found in the visual arts north of the Alps in the 16th and early 17th centuries. Styles largely derived from Italian Mannerism were found in the Netherlands and elsewhere from around the mid-century, e ...

sculpture extant in Britain; secondly, these four figurines exemplify how, during the era of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

, Christian iconography occasionally integrated symbolism which originated from the western

esoteric Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas ...

traditions of

alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

and

astrology Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Di ...

into works of art, including funerary monuments.

The Layer Quaternity

The four figurines of The Layer Quaternity share a number of iconographical details with those found in an illustration in ''Alchemia'' (1606) by the German academic

Andreas Libavius Andreas Libavius or Andrew Libavius was born in Halle, Germany c. 1550 and died in July 1616. Libavius was a renaissance man who spent time as a professor at the University of Jena teaching history and poetry. After which he became a physician a ...

in its chapter entitled ''De Lapide Philosophorum'' ( The Philosophers' Stone). These include - an identical pairing of a lower, mortal pair with an immortal pair, a bare-legged male with a draped female above, the titulary captions of ''Gloria'' and ''Labor'', a palm branch, the sun and moon, and a rotundum. Symbolically, the Layer Quaternity correspond to the alchemical "deities" of

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...

Luna Luna commonly refers to: * Earth's Moon, named "Luna" in Latin * Luna (goddess), the ancient Roman personification of the Moon Luna may also refer to: Places Philippines * Luna, Apayao * Luna, Isabela * Luna, La Union * Luna, San Jose Roma ...

Mercurius Mercury (; la, Mercurius ) is a major god in Roman religion and mythology, being one of the 12 Dii Consentes within the ancient Roman pantheon. He is the god of financial gain, commerce, eloquence, messages, communication (including divinati ...

and

Vulcan Vulcan may refer to: Mythology * Vulcan (mythology), the god of fire, volcanoes, metalworking, and the forge in Roman mythology Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * Vulcan (''Star Trek''), name of a fictional race and their home p ...

as named in ''

Atalanta Fugiens ''Atalanta Fugiens'' or ''Atalanta Fleeing'' is an emblem book with an alchemical theme by Michael Maier (1568–1622), published by Johann Theodor de Bry in Oppenheim in 1617 (2nd edition 1618). It consists of 50 discourses with illustration ...

'' (1617) by the German alchemist-physician

Michael Maier Michael Maier ( la, Michael Maierus; 1568–1622) was a German physician and counsellor to Rudolf II Habsburg. He was a learned alchemist, epigramist, and amateur composer. Early life Maier was born in Rendsburg, Holstein, the son of a spe ...

(Emblem XVII). Collectively the Layer Quaternity are a unique alchemical

mandala A mandala ( sa, मण्डल, maṇḍala, circle, ) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for e ...

. Through polarized symbolism they delineate essential coordinates associated with Mandala art, namely Space (Heaven and Earth) and Time (Young and Old). Utilizing variety and multiplicity, key attributes of Northern Mannerist art, they also represent fundamental aspects of the human condition, namely, gender, youth and age, pleasure and suffering. A fifth, uniting symbol, a skull, is located at the very centre of the monument. The skull is the commonest of all '' memento mori'' symbols in

funerary art Funerary art is any work of art forming, or placed in, a repository for the remains of the dead. The term encompasses a wide variety of forms, including cenotaphs ("empty tombs"), tomb-like monuments which do not contain human remains, and comm ...

. It was also defined as the philosophical vessel (''Vas Philosophorum'') in Renaissance-era alchemy. The role of the Quaternity in religious symbolism is discussed in depth in the writings of the Swiss psychologist

Carl Gustav Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...

. In essence, the Layer monument's four figurines represent spiritual entities which agree with Jung's analytical psychology, that the psyche moves toward individuation in fours (made up of pairs of opposites).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Layer Monument 1600s sculptures Sculptures in England Funerary art Buildings and structures in Norwich Hermeticism Luna (goddess) Marble sculptures in the United Kingdom Apollo in art Mercury (mythology)

Inscription

Interpretation

The Layer Quaternity

See also

References

External links