France (Autun, Burgundy)

Multi-Headed Monster or Hybrid Bird Historiated Capital from the Cathedral of Saint-Lazare

2212

High Romanesque (12th Century), c. 1120–1135 CE

A Romanesque historiated capital by Gislebertus (c. 1120–1135 CE) featuring a fantastical multi-headed hybrid creature combining avian, reptilian, and mammalian attributes, its serpentine necks reaching down toward heavy pinecone pods amid dense acanthus fronds — a complex moral emblem of chaos and spiritual duplicity subdued within the sacred framework.