Gargoyles – "Stonemasons Working on Gargoyles" – Matthäus Schiestl – Catholic Art Print – Archival Quality

Gargoyles are a prominent feature of Medieval Catholic architecture. They are fantastical creatures made out of stone, sometime creepy, which are attached to the side of Gothic buildings. Their purpose is to protect the building. Sometimes they were disguised water gutters to take the rain off the masonry. When they were just stone beasts, their only function was to frighten off would-be interlopers, be they of the natural or supernatural world. They are extremely common on old Catholic architecture. Notre Dame is covered with them (see postcard). They were even used widely up through the 20th Century, often on mainstream buildings, but modernism et. al. finally finished them off. Matthäus Schiestl (German, 1869–1939) is one of our favorite Catholic artists. He was very famous in his day, selling tons of art and books and postcards and even designing stamps for the German government. Gargoyles are just a small part of your Catholic heritage, but I thought you might enjoy this one. Schi