| f. Seat Backs |
|
i. Introduction |
Below the historiated medallions are the seats themselves. The backs of the seats of the upper stalls, rectangular panels with slightly rounded corners, are all arranged in the same general way, but the ornamental devices differ in each of the thirty seats on each side. The decorative vocabulary is extremely varied and imaginative. Plants are the most frequent motives, but there are also female figures with the hindquarters of goats; centaurs, a fountain flanked by dolphins; beings wearing helmets or crowns, imaginative animals, etc. In a few cases there are subjects that seem to be narrative or emblematic in nature.