February 9, 2016 · 11:04 pm
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Old things on walls

If you’re ever in Lucca, see if you can find these two venerable gents just hanging around on residential streets.

Who can tell us something about these two lovely old fellows?

P1010465

P1010466

And, for Jane ( and anyone interested in family coats of arms), a stemma.

used

 

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44 responses to “Old things on walls”

  1. Francis
    March 8, 2016 at 6:38 pm

    Some of the comments are hilarious. Let’s have a post competition. Fewest words with most comments!

    First fellow is Saint James of Compostella and the date is 1560. Clearly the ex-owner of the house must have gone on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella. Saint James has two signs to single him out apart from the name (in Latin here). It’s the pilgrim’s hat easily seen and the scallop shell (not easily seen but on his belt). Now about the other one or has it already been researched?

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  2. Bill Thayer
    February 13, 2016 at 12:00 am

    The coat of arms is that of the Trentalancia family, a Luccan family of course.

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  3. Jane
    February 11, 2016 at 12:34 pm

    I hope I see them some day! It will be like saying hi to old friends. Thanks for sharing!!!

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  4. Jane
    February 11, 2016 at 12:16 pm

    Bert led the way with his clues.

    According to wikipedia et al….There is a Leonard of Noblac who died in 559. Supposedly he converted to Christianity Xmas 496 and asked Clovis to grant him the right to liberate worthy prisoners. Hence the shackles… . There is a church in Friuli dedicated to him about 774….so could certainly be our guy as a following picked up in 11 and 12 cent. I gather he picked up an early following in areas were folks were headed to Compostela . How close was he to your St James? Are they a pair?

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    • Yvonne
      February 11, 2016 at 12:23 pm

      Thank you so much for that, Jane. They were not very far from one another on that particular street. And, the dates inscribed on both are the same.

      I’m so glad I walked down that street, saw them and decided to capture them. 🙂

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  5. Jane
    February 11, 2016 at 11:37 am

    I’m not doing well on the stemma, Yvonne….but old man number one certainly looks like a St James! Will have to dig some more. I like the idea that those rings, of old man number two, could be fetters, so Bert is way out in front on this! (PS I hope that was you who e-mailed me. )

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  6. Bruce Goodman
    February 11, 2016 at 8:19 am

    The first one is of Banjo Paterson, and the second one is Elle Macpherson once she’s got a little older. Moving them to Australia would be the right thing to do.

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  7. the eternal traveller
    February 10, 2016 at 9:04 pm

    The first one looks like he could do with a good feed and the second fellow looks like he’s had too many good feeds.

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  8. doesitevenmatter3
    February 10, 2016 at 7:47 pm

    Unfortunately, I can’t. But, they are lovely old fellows, indeed! Thank you for sharing them! 🙂
    HUGS!!! 🙂

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  9. Debra Kolkka
    February 10, 2016 at 4:55 am

    I will look for them when I am in Lucca in just over a week.

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    • Yvonne
      February 10, 2016 at 5:09 am

      As I recall, they were along the street that runs on either side of the waterway that goes through part of Lucca. (I think it’s Via del Fosso.)

      I’ll bet you’re looking forward to getting back there, Debra.

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  10. thecontentedcrafter
    February 10, 2016 at 1:34 am

    I like the comments here almost as much as your photos Yvonne! I spent all my Northern Italy time wandering around with my head up looking at the plaques on houses – sometimes in the oddest places…… little works of art just, as you say, hanging about on walls!! I LOVE Northern Italy!!

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  11. arlingwoman
    February 10, 2016 at 12:38 am

    Okay, I’m wondering if there are associations with St. James and lions. He looks like a lion here. And there’s something a bit mythic about him with his leonine face and robe. He reminds me of a clay sculpture I could not afford in my grad school days that a friend and I referred to as the joyous creature. Describing it would make this comment too long.

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    • Yvonne
      February 10, 2016 at 12:47 am

      He does look a touch leonine, a.w. I wish you could have afforded that clay figure, it sounds like it would have given you many years of joy!

      It just amazes me, the treasures you can see out in the public, in many places in Europe.

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      • arlingwoman
        February 10, 2016 at 1:36 am

        It truly is amazing. A few years ago, there was a book on Augustus St. Gaudens, a sculptor, and it mentioned a bronze he had done for a grave stone. It was promptly stolen. While it was recovered, the cemetery replaced the sculpture with a replica and stores the original. I can’t help but think there isn’t rather a lot of traffic in these pieces of art, but maybe people have too much respect–or just don’t notice them anymore!

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  12. gerard oosterman
    February 10, 2016 at 12:08 am

    I think the old bloke could well be my long lost uncle Gerardo. He left Parramatta to look for a decent whole-some wife in Italy. Rumours have it he got stuck into the chianti-marinare. On many nights he would be seen, swaggering around Lucca and he became so well liked by the locals that one of them put up this lovely plague.

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  13. mvaden1948
    February 9, 2016 at 11:59 pm

    Well , the first one was either a cowboy or a doctor….or at least that’s what my pain meds tell my brain his sign says. I can’t quite make out the second one. But then the meds make me see and say silly things. Or maybe that’s just being cooped up inside and barely able to walk on a beautiful sunny day. I’m really on the mend and love your delightful pictures that inspire my sillyness.

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  14. Cynthia Jobin
    February 9, 2016 at 11:56 pm

    I like the title of this post. It has so many possibilities for poetry.

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  15. Bert
    February 9, 2016 at 11:53 pm

    S. Iacobus is St James, of course you knew that. he is associated with the staff and hat of a pilgrim. There is usually a gourd attached to the top of the staff. “San Lumardo” got one hit on Google, and that was in a German book! He could be St Lombardo, but I can’t tell you anything about him. He could be San Lunardo, i.e. St Leonard of Noblac. There is another St Leonard, but he was born after 1561, so it’s not him. St Leonard is usually depicted as an abbot holding chains, fetters or locks, or manacles, Your chap could be holding fetters in his right hand.

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