Originally Posted by mcrt
I always get a kick out of statues with a sense of humor. On York Minster there is a gargoyle picking his nose. On the roof of Notre Dame in Paris there is a statue trying to keep its balance.
We did a lot of that on the Washington Cathedral. One carver in particular, John Guarante, caricatured a number of the other carvers and cathedral workers. He did one of Vincent Palumbo (who at the time was a young carver, but later was the master carver), squatting on the side of a buttress, carving but looking over his shoulder,
whistling at passing girls. (4th image down on that page) On the other side of the buttress was the cathedral dean, looking agast at Vincent's behavior.
Malcolm Harlow once started carving a gargoyle based on a woman he was dating, until he discovered she was two-timing him. She ended up with a skull face and medusa hair.