Christ treading on the beasts
Encyclopedia
Medieval art
The medieval art of the Western world covers a vast scope of time and place, over 1000 years of art history in Europe, and at times the Middle East and North Africa...
, though it is never common. It is a variant of the "Christ in Triumph" subject of the resurrected Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
, and shows a standing Christ with his feet on animals, often holding a cross-staff which may have a spear-head at the bottom of its shaft, or a staff or spear with a cross-motif on a pennon
Pennon
A pennon was one of the principal three varieties of flags carried during the Middle Ages . Pennoncells and streamers or pendants are considered as minor varieties of this style of flag. The pennon is a flag resembling the guidon in shape, but only half the size...
. Some art historians argue that the subject exists in an even rarer pacific form as "Christ recognised by the beasts".
Iconography
The iconographyIconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
derives from Biblical texts, in particular Psalm 91
Psalm 91
Psalm 91 , referred to by its Latin title Qui habitat , is known as the Psalm of Protection. As a religious song, this Psalm is commonly invoked in times of hardship...
(90):13: "super aspidem
Asp (reptile)
Asp is the modern Anglicisation of the word aspis, which in antiquity referred to any one of several venomous snake species found in the Nile region. It is believed that the aspis referred to in Egyptian mythology is the modern Egyptian cobra....
et basiliscum
Basilisk
In European bestiaries and legends, a basilisk is a legendary reptile reputed to be king of serpents and said to have the power to cause death with a single glance...
calcabis conculcabis leonem
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
et draconem
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
" in the Latin Vulgate
Vulgate
The Vulgate is a late 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It was largely the work of St. Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of the old Latin translations...
, literally "The asp and the basilisk you will trample under foot/you will tread on the lion and the dragon",
translated in the King James Version as: Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet". This was interpreted as a reference to Christ defeating and triumphing over Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
. Sometimes two beasts are shown, usually the lion and snake or dragon, and sometimes four, which are normally the lion, dragon, asp
Asp (reptile)
Asp is the modern Anglicisation of the word aspis, which in antiquity referred to any one of several venomous snake species found in the Nile region. It is believed that the aspis referred to in Egyptian mythology is the modern Egyptian cobra....
(snake) and basilisk
Basilisk
In European bestiaries and legends, a basilisk is a legendary reptile reputed to be king of serpents and said to have the power to cause death with a single glance...
(which was depicted with varying characteristics) of the Vulgate. All represented the devil, as explained by Cassiodorus
Cassiodorus
Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator , commonly known as Cassiodorus, was a Roman statesman and writer, serving in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. Senator was part of his surname, not his rank.- Life :Cassiodorus was born at Scylletium, near Catanzaro in...
and Bede
Bede
Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...
in their commentaries on Psalm 91. The verse was part of the daily monastic service of compline
Compline
Compline is the final church service of the day in the Christian tradition of canonical hours. The English word Compline is derived from the Latin completorium, as Compline is the completion of the working day. The word was first used in this sense about the beginning of the 6th century by St...
, and also sung in the Roman liturgy for Good Friday
Good Friday
Good Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...
, the day of Christ's Crucifixion
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...
.
The earliest appearance of the subject in a major work is a 6th century mosaic
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
of Christ, dressed as a general or emperor in military uniform, clean-shaven and with a cross-halo
Halo (religious iconography)
A halo is a ring of light that surrounds a person in art. They have been used in the iconography of many religions to indicate holy or sacred figures, and have at various periods also been used in images of rulers or heroes...
, in the Archbishop's Chapel, Ravenna. One arm holds open a book showing the text of John
Gospel of John
The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...
14.6: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life", while the other holds the bottom of a cross resting across Christ's shoulder. Here the subject is thought to refer to the contemporary struggle of the Church against the Arian
Arianism
Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father...
heresy
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
, which denied the divine nature of Christ; the image asserts the orthodox doctrine. A lion and snake are shown.
The first depictions show Christ standing frontally, apparently at rest, standing on defeated beasts. From the late Carolingian period
Carolingian art
Carolingian art comes from the Frankish Empire in the period of roughly 120 years from about AD 780 to 900 — during the reign of Charlemagne and his immediate heirs — popularly known as the Carolingian Renaissance. The art was produced by and for the court circle and a group of...
, the cross starts to end in a spear-head, which Christ may be shown driving down into a beast (often into the mouth of the serpent) in an energetic pose, using a compositional type more often (and earlier) found in images of the Archangel Michael fighting Satan. In all the depictions mentioned above and below, up to the Errondo relief, Christ is beardless. Later still the beasts more often appear beneath the feet of a seated Christ in Majesty
Christ in Majesty
Christ in Majesty, or Christ in Glory, in Latin Majestas Domini, is the Western Christian image of Christ seated on a throne as ruler of the world, always seen frontally in the centre of the composition, and often flanked by other sacred figures, whose membership changes over time and according to...
, becoming an occasional feature of this subject. Alternatively the beasts become a solitary snake trodden on by Christ.
The more "militant" depictions are especially a feature of Anglo-Saxon art
Anglo-Saxon art
Anglo-Saxon art covers art produced within the Anglo-Saxon period of English history, beginning with the Migration period style that the Anglo-Saxons brought with them from the continent in the 5th century, and ending in 1066 with the Norman Conquest of a large Anglo-Saxon nation-state whose...
, which Meyer Schapiro
Meyer Schapiro
Meyer Schapiro was a Lithuanian-born American art historian known for forging new art historical methodologies that incorporated an interdisciplinary approach to the study of works of art...
attributes to "the primitive taste of the Anglo-Saxon tribes for imagery of heroic combats with wild beasts and monsters, as in Beowulf
Beowulf
Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...
and the pagan legends."
Notable examples
The motif appears in several other works from the Carolingian period onwards, which include:- an ivoryIvoryIvory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
reliefReliefRelief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
from CharlemagneCharlemagneCharlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
's "Court School" on the detached back cover of the Lorsch Gospels, an illuminated manuscriptIlluminated manuscriptAn illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniature illustrations...
Gospel bookGospel BookThe Gospel Book, Evangelion, or Book of the Gospels is a codex or bound volume containing one or more of the four Gospels of the Christian New Testament...
of about 810 (Vatican MuseumsVatican MuseumsThe Vatican Museums , in Viale Vaticano in Rome, inside the Vatican City, are among the greatest museums in the world, since they display works from the immense collection built up by the Roman Catholic Church throughout the centuries, including some of the most renowned classical sculptures and...
, with four beasts). - the central panel of the Carolingian ivory book cover of Bodleian LibraryBodleian LibraryThe Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...
, MS Douce 176, often known as the "Oxford book cover"; four beasts. - another Carolingian ivory relief, also probably originally a book-cover, from Genoels-Elderen, now in Belgium, either a much more provincial version of Carolingian style, or Northumbrian; There are four beasts.
- the Anglo-SaxonAnglo-Saxon artAnglo-Saxon art covers art produced within the Anglo-Saxon period of English history, beginning with the Migration period style that the Anglo-Saxons brought with them from the continent in the 5th century, and ending in 1066 with the Norman Conquest of a large Anglo-Saxon nation-state whose...
stone Ruthwell CrossRuthwell CrossThe Ruthwell Cross is a stone Anglo-Saxon cross probably dating from the 8th century, when Ruthwell was part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria; it is now in Scotland. Anglo-Saxon crosses are closely related to the contemporary Irish high crosses, and both are part of the Insular art tradition...
, with two matched beasts that have been described as "otter-like". Christ has no cross, and stands with his hands held together in front of him. The image here, which is much the most discussed by scholars, partly because it is badly worn and hard to read, has been denied to be of the subject at all - see below. Here the image represents the divine nature of Christ, matching the slightly smaller image on the other main side of the shaft representing his human nature with Mary MagdaleneMary MagdaleneMary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...
drying his feet. - the Anglo-SaxonAnglo-Saxon artAnglo-Saxon art covers art produced within the Anglo-Saxon period of English history, beginning with the Migration period style that the Anglo-Saxons brought with them from the continent in the 5th century, and ending in 1066 with the Norman Conquest of a large Anglo-Saxon nation-state whose...
Bewcastle CrossBewcastle CrossThe Bewcastle Cross is an Anglo-Saxon high cross still in its original position in the churchyard of Bewcastle, near Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The cross probably dates from the 7th or early 8th century and features reliefs and inscriptions in the runic alphabet...
, a very similar depiction to the Ruthwell Cross. - the late Carolingian illustration for Psalm 90 in the Utrecht PsalterUtrecht PsalterThe Utrecht Psalter is a ninth century illuminated psalter which is a key masterpiece of Carolingian art; it is probably the most valuable manuscript in the Netherlands. It is famous for its 166 lively pen illustrations, with one accompanying each psalm and the other texts in the manuscript...
shows Christ using the shaft of his cross, not yet a spear, as a weapon against the serpent. - the Stuttgart Psalter, of similar date, below a Temptation, Christ's cross appears to end in a spear-point, which is plunged into the serpent.
- the ivory head of an early 11th century tau cross in the British Museum.
- the Crowland Psalter (Bodleian, MS Douce 296), Anglo-Saxon from the mid-11th century, with spear and two beasts, in what was to be a common pattern for psalters.
- An end of the shrine of Saint HadelinSaint HadelinSaint Hadelin d. about 690, born in Gascony, was one of the scholarly, mostly Irish monks, who preached Christianity and started conversion work in what is now Belgium under the pagan invaders, as did Saint Servatius and Saint Remacle.He is especially venerated in the Walloon diocese of Namur, as...
, c. 1075, Church of St Martin, ViséViséVisé is a Walloon municipality and city of Belgium, where it is located on the river Meuse, in the province of Liège.The municipality consists of the former municipalities of Visé, Lanaye, Lixhe, Richelle, Argenteau and Cheratte....
; beardless Christ has a foot on each of the necks of two beats. - the "Errondo Tympanum" relief, by the Master of CabestanyMaster of CabestanyThe Master of Cabestany is the name given to an anonymous sculptor active in the second half of the 12th century. He was identified in the 1930s after the discovery of several pieces remarkable for their workmanship and their style; chief among these was the tympanum of the church in Cabestany,...
(1150–1175), now in the Cloisters, New York, showing three figures of Christ (now bearded), each standing on a beast, in a combined scene of the Temptations. - tympanum relief of c. 1216 at the church in StrzelnoStrzelnoStrzelno is a town in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland. The town is located south of Inowrocław. According to the June 2005 Census, the population numbered 12,486.-History:...
, PolandPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
; two beasts beneath a seated Christ. - Gothic sculpture on the portal of Amiens CathedralAmiens CathedralThe Cathedral of Our Lady of Amiens , or simply Amiens Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral and seat of the Bishop of Amiens...
of standing blessing Christ and two beasts.
Christ recognised by the animals?
An alternative view of the iconography of the Ruthwell and Bewcastle Crosses sees the panels with Christ as showing a different depiction, even rarer than Christ treading on the beasts, which has been called "Christ as Judge recognised by the beasts in the desert". This hitherto unrecognised subject was first proposed by Fritz SaxlFritz Saxl
Friedrich "Fritz" Saxl was the art historian who was the guiding light of the Warburg Institute, especially during the long mental breakdown of its founder, Aby Warburg, whom he succeeded as director.Saxl was instrumental in moving the Warburg Institute to safety in London at the outset of the...
, followed by Meyer Schapiro
Meyer Schapiro
Meyer Schapiro was a Lithuanian-born American art historian known for forging new art historical methodologies that incorporated an interdisciplinary approach to the study of works of art...
. The crucial difference is that in this interpretation the animals do not represent the devil, but actual wildlife encountered by Jesus, specifically in his forty days in the "wilderness" or desert in between his Baptism and Temptation. Schapiro assembled a good deal of textual material showing tropes of wild beasts submitting to Christ and other Christian figures, especially in the context of the early monasticism of the desert, where the attitude of the challenging local fauna was a live issue. The legend of Saint Jerome
Saint Jerome
Saint Jerome is a Christian church father, best known for translating the Bible into Latin.Saint Jerome may also refer to:*Jerome of Pavia , Bishop of Pavia...
and the lion is an enduring example, and later Saint Francis of Assisi
Francis of Assisi
Saint Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis. St...
renewed the theme.
This interpretation has met with considerable acceptance, though the matter cannot be regarded as settled. A small number of other examples of the new subject have been advanced, most from before about 1200, though the clearest is in a 14th century Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
n full-page miniature (BnF
BNF
BNF may stand for:In science:*Biological nitrogen fixation, a process that converts nitrogen in the atmosphere to ammonia*British National Formulary, the standard drug reference manual**British National Formulary for Children...
, Ms. Lat. 8846) which shows a Temptation of Christ followed by a scene which seems unmistakably to show lions, bears and deer sitting peacefully in pairs as they are blessed by Christ. The inscription round the image on the Ruthwell Cross, for which no direct source is known, reads: "IHS XPS iudex aequitatis; bestiae et dracones cognoverunt in deserto salvatorem mundi" - "Jesus Christ: the judge of righteousness: the beasts and dragons recognised in the desert the saviour of the world". The new interpretation would only apply to the two Anglo-Saxon crosses among the examples mentioned here; works such as the Ravenna mosaic and the Carolingian book-covers are not claimed to show it. Schapiro saw the "peaceful" image as the original version, its composition later turned into the "militant" version, probably after the Constantinian conversion, but surviving in a small trickle of examples, especially those produced in contexts of monastic asceticism
Asceticism
Asceticism describes a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from various sorts of worldly pleasures often with the aim of pursuing religious and spiritual goals...
, showing "Christ as the ideal monk".
Variants and related depictions
David
David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...
in the Durham Cassiodorus
Durham Cassiodorus
The Durham Cassidorus is an 8th century illuminated manuscript containing Cassiodorus's Explanation of the Psalms. The manuscript contains two surviving miniatures of King David, one of David as Victor and one of David as Musician. A third miniature is known to have existed, but does not survive...
is shown holding a spear and standing on a snake with a head at each end, a composite figure of the beasts. The book which the miniature illustrates is Cassiodorus's Commentary on the Psalms, which explains that Psalm 90:13 refers to Christ, and elsewhere that David, who is portrayed in the only two surviving miniatures, is a type
Typology (theology)
Typology in Christian theology and Biblical exegesis is a doctrine or theory concerning the relationship between the Old and New Testaments...
of Christ. In later Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, such as the Tiberius C. VI Psalter (British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
), the figure standing on a similar beast is Christ.
A variant depiction may also relate to a different text, Psalm 74
Psalm 74
Psalm 74 is part of the Biblical Book of Psalms. A community lament, it expresses the pleas of the Jewish community in the Babylonian captivity. It begins in verses 1-3 by imploring God to recall his people, and Mount Zion, and continues in verses 4-11 by describing the destruction of the Temple...
:13:- "Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters" (KJV). This was related by commentators to baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
, and on the wooden doors of Sankt Maria im Kapitol in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
(1049), may be referred to in the scene of the Baptism of Christ, where Christ stands on some sort of sea-monster. Another possibility, following the commentary of Eusebius, is that the Baptism provoked the devilish beasts to attack Christ, an episode often considered to relate to the Temptation of Christ
Temptation of Christ
The temptation of Christ is detailed in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. According to these texts, after being baptized, Jesus fasted for forty days and nights in the Judean desert. During this time, the devil appeared to Jesus and tempted him...
, which immediately follows the Baptism in the Synoptic Gospels
Synoptic Gospels
The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are known as the Synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in the same sequence, and sometimes exactly the same wording. This degree of parallelism in content, narrative arrangement, language, and sentence structures can only be...
.
In a Romanesque
Romanesque art
Romanesque art refers to the art of Western Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 13th century, or later, depending on region. The preceding period is increasingly known as the Pre-Romanesque...
tympanum of the Adoration of the Magi, at Neuilly-en-Donjon
Neuilly-en-Donjon
Neuilly-en-Donjon is a commune in the Allier department in central France.-Population:-References:*...
of c. 1130, Christ does not appear, but the Three Magi pick their way to the Virgin and Child along the back of a bull-like dragon, while the Virgin's throne sits on a lion; both animals are lying in profile, facing out of the scenes, and one of Mary's feet rests on the hind-quarters of each beast. Following the imagery of chapter 12 of the Book of Revelations, Bernard of Clairvaux
Bernard of Clairvaux
Bernard of Clairvaux, O.Cist was a French abbot and the primary builder of the reforming Cistercian order.After the death of his mother, Bernard sought admission into the Cistercian order. Three years later, he was sent to found a new abbey at an isolated clearing in a glen known as the Val...
had called Mary the "conqueror of dragons", and she was long to be shown crushing a snake underfoot, also a reference to her title as the "New Eve"
General subject
- Chazelle, Celia Martin. The crucified God in the Carolingian era: theology and art of Christ's passion, Cambridge University Press, 2001, ISBN 0521801036, 9780521801034, Google books
- Lasko, Peter, Ars Sacra, 800-1200, Penguin History of Art (now Yale), 1972 (nb, 1st edn.) ISBN14056036X
- Schiller, Gertrud, Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. I, 1971 (English trans from German), Lund Humphries, London, ISBN 853312702
- Eduard Syndicus; Early Christian Art, Burns & Oates, London, 1962
Mainly on Ruthwell and Bewcastle crosses
- Haney, Kristine Edmonson, The Christ and the beasts panel on the Ruthwell Cross, in Anglo-Saxon England, vol 14, Editors Peter Clemoes, Simon Keynes, Michael Lapidge, Cambridge University Press, 2008, ISBN 0521038383, 9780521038386,google books
- Herren, Michael W., and Brown, Shirley Ann, Christ in Celtic Christianity: Britain and Ireland from the fifth to the tenth century, Volume 20 of Studies in Celtic history, Boydell Press, 2002, ISBN 0851158897, 9780851158891, google books
- Hilmo, Maidie. Medieval images, icons, and illustrated English literary texts: from Ruthwell Cross to the Ellesmere Chaucer, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2004, ISBN 0754631788, 780754631781, google books
- Ó Carragaáin, Éamonn, Christian Inculturation in Eighth-Century Northumbria: The Bewcastle and Ruthwell Crosses, Colloquium Magazine, Vol 4, Autumn 2007, Yale Institute of Sacred Music, online text, with many photographs
- Schapiro, MeyerMeyer SchapiroMeyer Schapiro was a Lithuanian-born American art historian known for forging new art historical methodologies that incorporated an interdisciplinary approach to the study of works of art...
, Selected Papers, volume 3, Late Antique, Early Christian and Mediaeval Art, 1980, Chatto & Windus, London, ISBN 0701125144 (includes The Religious Meaning of the Ruthwell Cross (1944), etc.)
Further reading
- Saxl, FritzFritz SaxlFriedrich "Fritz" Saxl was the art historian who was the guiding light of the Warburg Institute, especially during the long mental breakdown of its founder, Aby Warburg, whom he succeeded as director.Saxl was instrumental in moving the Warburg Institute to safety in London at the outset of the...
, The Ruthwell Cross, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 6, (1943), pp. 1–19, The Warburg Institute, JSTOR - according to Hilmo, misreads a crucial source for the image.