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Chartres cathedral (ten thousand figures & reliefs): *
Sculptural programme notes; see illustrations below
the north transept façade: these portals focus on the precursors of Christ, leading to His incarnation, with emphasis on the Virgin Mary. She is glorified in the centre, the left shows the Incarnation & the right the Old Testament prefiguration & prophecies.
West façade: Portail royal: a visual encyclopaedia of theological knowledge. Each of the 3 portals focuses on a different aspect of Christ's role; his earthly incarnation (right), his second coming (left) & his eternal aspect in (centre).
right portal: upper- 2 registers showing the Annunciation, visitation & nativity, Annunciation to the shepherds & presentation to the temple. On the tympanum is the Virgin & Child enthroned; surrounded by distinctive personifications of the 7 Liberal Arts, with the classical authors & philosophers associated with them
left portal: more enigmatic; the tympanum shows Ascension of Christ (Christ standing on a cloud, supported by 2 angels) or Second Coming; the figures on the lower lintel might be the disciples or the prophets. The angels in the upper lintel, descending from a cloud, shouting to those below, would seem to supports the second Coming interpretation. The archivolts contain the zodiac signs & labours of the months (cyclical nature of time)
central portal: conventional representation of the End of Time as described in the Book of Revelation (the tympanum shows Christ within a mandorla, surrounded by the 4 symbols of the evangelists, the lintel shows the 12 Apostles, the archivolts show the 24 Elders of the Apocalypse
Running horizontally across the entire façade (unifying it) are the jamb statues affixed to the flanking columns of the doorways; tall, slender standing figures of kings & queens (from whom the Portail royal derived its name) of the Old Testament. The frieze in the sculpted capitals on top of the jamb columns presents a lengthy narrative of the life of the Virgin & life and Passion of Christ.[
South transept façade: addresses time from Christ's death to his Second Coming; central portal concentrates on the Last Judgement & the Apostles, left portal on the lives of martyrs; the right portal on confessor saints. Contains many subsidiary scenes depicting conventional themes (labours of the months, signs of the zodiac, personifications of the virtues & vices, scenes from the lives of the martyrs (left porch) and confessors (right porch).
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Reims, Amiens and Paris (sculptural programmes): *
The portals of Rheims cathedral are laden with statues & statuettes (only Charters cathedrals has more). The central portal, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is surmounted by a rose window framed in an arch itself decorated with statuary, in place of the usual sculptured tympanum. The "gallery of the kings" above shows the baptism of Clovis in the centre flanked by statues of his successors. The facades of the transepts are also decorated with sculptures. The north façade has statues of bishops of Reims, a representation of the Last Judgment and a figure of Jesus (le Beau Dieu).
Amiens Cathedral is renowned for the quality and quantity of early 13th-century Gothic sculpture in the main west façade and the south transept portal, and a large quantity of polychrome sculpture from later periods inside the building.. The western portals are famous for their elaborate sculpture, featuring a gallery of local saints & large eschatological scenes.
Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, is a model of the new 12th century Gothic architecture. It was famous also for its rich sculpture. The tympanum over the central portal on the west façade, facing the square, illustrates the Last Judgment, figures of sinners being led off to hell, good Christians taken to heaven. The sculpture of the right portal shows the coronation of the Virgin Mary, the left portal shows the lives of saints who were important to Parisians, particularly Saint Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary. The exterior of Notre dame was populated by a number of fabulous & frightening grotesques, to include its gargoyles, the chimera, visual message for the illiterate worshipers, symbols of the evil and danger that threatened any who strayed from the teachings of the church. The gargoyles (added in about 1240) also had a practical purpose, to disperse rain water away form the buttresses, walls & windows where the water would erode the mortar.
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Royal Tombs of St. Denis: *
illustrations below, from left to right:
Henry II and Catherine de Medici overview of the royal tombs Clovis I and Childbert
