Description
It is generally thought that this capital represents the medieval topos of the Mystic Mill
At right, a bearded prophet, representing the law of the Old Testament, empties a sack of grain into a mill.
At left, St. Paul, representing the New Testament, stoops to receive the flour from the mill into a sack. His face is characteristic of many representations of St. Paul- he has a receding hairline and a long beard that ends in two points.
Same subject matter was used at St. Denis, in a stained glass window that is no longer extant.
Note: Saints Peter and Paul figure prominently in the sculpture of Vézelay- in the central inner portal and on several capitals in the nave and narthex. Salet and Feldmen attribute this to the direct ties between Vézelay and the Papacy. Vezeley owed its allegiance directly to the Pope rather than to the Bishop of Autun, and various Popes visited Vézelay when they were in France.
Salet: Number 20
Location: South side of nave. West side of fourth arcade pillar from the west
