"Pope on Parade" Topic

I've just finished a Medieval Pope with entourage in 15mm.
I used a mix of Mirliton, Donnington and Black Raven figures. The Pope is a fairly hefty conversion from another figure.

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Very nice! I'm currently painting up a Papal army and was thinking of doing something very simular!

Very nice vignette.

Really nice, and quite respectful. One suggestion would be to visit a Catholic gift store and get a small copper coloured crucifix pin to replace the very plain cross carried by the monk at the head of the procession.

I've been bugged!

Zeelow has asked me via PM for a bit more info.

I've been thinking about how to do something like this for a while and looked at a variety of litters such as the one from Eureka. I already had a couple of the fantasy ones from BRF and had written them off for this because a) I thought the figures would be too big and b) the porters were virtually naked.
I bought a variety of monks from Donnington, thinking about doing a scene with the four hooded monks standing next to a grounded litter while the Donnington priest (a nice figure who will go on a different base) was standing at the front.
I then thought about trying the BRF porters for size and decided they'd be about right after all (though the faces are almost Elven). I already had an idea for a seated Pope figure, so the next step was to clothe the porters. This was done using milliput. I gave one of them shoes too, but decided the effort wasn't worthwhile for the others.
The Pope started life as a Mirliton mounted Hungarian archer as at picture
He is leaning forward while drawing an arrow with his right hand. I clipped away the bow, quiver and parts of the hat and skirts. I then bent the legs and built them up with milliput to make more of a seated posture before covering them with another layer of milliput for the lower vestments. I added a mozetta cape around his shoulders and built the throne around him before the milliput had set using plastic card. I added a little bit to his left elbow just to make the posture fit the throne better.
The 'Santa Claus' hat is a camauro which was the typical papal headgear when not wearing the tiara.

I had intended to have a couple of standard bearers carrying papal flags but I found out that when the pope was carried on a sedia gestatoria he was followed by men carrying flabella which are essentially the same as Egyptian fans. Luckily I had recently bought some extra Egyptian standards from Magister Militum which fitted the bill nicely. I put these into the hands of some Mirliton peasants which I already had – I tried to bend the arms round a bit so that they looked more like they were holding the fans upright but they'd only go so far. The sedia gestatoria is generally used for the coronation but I'm assuming that it was used more in Medieval times.
I also found out that a symbol of the popes was a parasol (umbracullum). While this was a sunshade it also became a symbol of papal temporal power. The carrier for this is another Mirliton peasant. His arms started out to his side but I was able to bend this one so that it was right in front of him so that he could hold the parasol upright and high.
The guards at the front are standard Mirliton pavisieri. I have another dozen figures to provide the stands of guards to go with this – only another 48 keys to paint!
I used red tunics for all of the servants and soldiers as this seems to have been the papal livery. I think the monks are in a mixture of suitably coloured cowls for a variety of orders.
I thought about painting the mounted figure as a cardinal but decided to do him as a lesser member of the clergy. He is a smaller figure than the others so perhaps he is a 'nephew' of the Pope.

Lentullus – nice idea, particularly if I can find one with three horizontals as a ferula.

"with three horizontals as a ferula."

I am not familiar with that. Could you link an image? I shop in Catholic gift shops from time to time and will keep my eyes open.

Ferula at
link
Can be a standard cross or a three horizontal bar cross.

The Pope started life as a Mirliton mounted Hungarian archer

As was in fact often the case with medieval popes.

Beautiful job, very impressive. When "clibinarium" and I make the Sassanians, we will do something rather similar for the Shahanshah.

atb,
khurasanminiatures.tripod.com

Thanks K.
I'm looking forward to getting some of your Sicilian arab archers when they are done so that Frederick II can pepper him with arrows :)