TheGreen Man, also known as afoliate head,[1] is amotif in architecture and art, of a face made of, or completely surrounded by,foliage, which normally spreads out from the centre of the face.[2] Apart from a purely decorative function, the Green Man is primarily interpreted as asymbol of rebirth, representing the cycle of new growth that occurs everyspring.
The Green Manmotif has many variations. Branches orvines may sprout from the mouth, nostrils, or other parts of the face, and these shoots may bear flowers or fruit. Found in many cultures from many ages around the world, the Green Man is often related to naturalvegetation deities. Often used as decorativearchitectural ornaments, where they are a form ofmascaron or ornamental head, Green Men are frequently found inarchitectural sculpture on both secular andecclesiastical buildings in the Western tradition. In churches in England, the image was used to illustrate a popular sermon describing the mystical origins of thecross of Jesus.
"Green Man" type foliate heads first appeared in England during the early 12th century deriving from those of France, and were especially popular in theGothic architecture of the 13th to 15th centuries. The idea that the Green Man motif representsa pagan mythological figure, as proposed byLady Raglan in 1939, despite its popularity with the lay public, is not supported by evidence.[1][3][4][5]
Usually referred to in art history as foliate heads or foliate masks, representations of the Green Man take many forms, but most just show a "mask" or frontal depiction of a face, which in architecture is usually inrelief. The simplest depict a man's face peering out of dense foliage. Some may have leaves for hair, perhaps with a leafy beard. Often leaves or leafy shoots are shown growing from his open mouth and sometimes even from the nose and eyes as well. In the most abstract examples, the carving at first glance appears to be merely stylised foliage, with the facial element only becoming apparent on closer examination. The face is almost always male; green women are rare.Lady Raglan coined the term "Green Man" for this type of architectural feature in her 1939 articleThe Green Man in Church Architecture inThe Folklore Journal.[6] It is thought that her interest stemmed from carvings atSt. Jerome's Church inLlangwm,Monmouthshire.[7]
The Green Man appears in many forms, with the three most common types categorized as:
In terms offormalism, art historians see a connection with the masks inIron AgeCeltic art, where faces emerge from stylized vegetal ornament in the"Plastic style" metalwork ofLa Tène art.[10] Since there are so few survivals, and almost none in wood, the lack of a continuous series of examples is not a fatal objection to such a continuity.
TheOxford Dictionary of English Folklore suggests that they ultimately have their origins in lateRoman art from leaf masks used to represent gods and mythological figures.[1] A character superficially similar to the Green Man, in the form of a partly foliate mask surrounded byBacchic figures, appears at the centre of the 4th-century silver salver in theMildenhall Treasure, found at aRoman villa site inSuffolk, England; the mask is generally agreed to representNeptune orOceanus and the foliation is ofseaweed.[11]
In hislectures at Gresham College, historian and professorRonald Hutton traces the green man to India, stating "the component parts of Lady Raglan's construct of the Green Man were dismantled. The medieval foliate heads were studied by Kathleen Basford in 1978 and Mercia MacDermott in 2003. They were revealed to have been a motif originally developed in India, which travelled through the medieval Arab empire to Christian Europe. There it became a decoration for monks’ manuscripts, from which it spread to churches."
A late 4th-century example of a green man disgorging vegetation from his mouth is at St. Abre, inSt. Hilaire-le-grand, France.[12] 11th century RomanesqueTemplar churches inJerusalem have Romanesque foliate heads. Harding tentatively suggested that the symbol may have originated inAsia Minor and been brought to Europe by travelling stone carvers.[citation needed] The tradition of the Green Man carved into Christian churches is found across Europe, including examples such as the Seven Green Men ofNicosia carved into the facade of the thirteenth centurySt Nicholas Church in Cyprus.[citation needed] The motif fitted very easily into the developing use of vegetalarchitectural sculpture inRomanesque andGothic architecture in Europe.[citation needed] Later foliate heads in churches may have reflected the legends aroundSeth, the son ofAdam, according to which he plants seeds in his dead father's mouth as he lies in his grave. The tree that grew from them became the tree of thetrue cross of the crucifixion. This tale was inThe Golden Legend ofJacobus de Voragine, a very popular thirteenth century compilation of Christian religious stories, from which the subjects of church sermons were often taken, especially after 1483, whenWilliam Caxton printed an English translation of theGolden Legend.[13]
According to the Christian author Stephen Miller, author of "The Green Man in Medieval England: Christian Shoots from Pagan Roots" (2022),[14] "It is a Christian/Judaic-derived motif relating to the legends and medieval hagiographies of theQuest of Seth – the three twigs/seeds/kernels planted below the tongue of post-fall Adam by his son Seth (provided by the angel of mercy responsible for guarding Eden) shoot forth, bringing new life to humankind".[15] This notion was first proposed by James Coulter (2006).[16]
From theRenaissance onward, elaborate variations on the Green Man theme, often with animal heads rather than human faces, appear in many media other than carvings (includingmanuscripts,metalwork,bookplates, andstained glass). They seem to have been used for purely decorative effect rather than reflecting any deeply held belief.
In Britain, the image of the Green Man enjoyed a revival in the 19th century, becoming popular with architects during theGothic revival and theArts and Crafts era, when it appeared as a decorative motif in and on many buildings, both religious and secular.[citation needed] American architects took up the motif around the same time.[citation needed] Many variations can be found in Neo-gothicVictorian architecture. He was popular amongst Australian stonemasons and can be found on many secular and sacred buildings,[citation needed] including an example onBroadway, Sydney.[citation needed] In 1887 a Swiss engraver, Numa Guyot, created a bookplate depicting a Green Man in exquisite detail.[17]
In April 2023, a Green Man's head was depicted on the invitation for theCoronation of Charles III and Camilla, designed byheraldic artist andmanuscript illuminator Andrew Jamieson. According to the official royal website: "Central to the design is the motif of the Green Man, an ancient figure from British folklore, symbolic of spring and rebirth, to celebrate the new reign. The shape of the Green Man, crowned in natural foliage, is formed of leaves of oak, ivy, and hawthorn, and the emblematic flowers of the United Kingdom."[18][19] which alluded to "the nature worshipper in King Charles" but polarized the public.[5] Indeed, as the medieval art historian Cassandra Harrington pointed out, although vegetal figures were abundant throughout the medieval and early modern period, the foliate head motif is not ‘an ancient figure from British folklore’, as the Royal Household has proclaimed, but a European import.'[3]
Art historians call this a foliate head; in English over the last twenty years it has been constantly called a Green Man, a term first applied to it by Lady Raglan in 1939, whose authentic meaning was quite different.
