MEDIEVAL SCULPTOR, French
(active 1150-1170 in Chartres)

Statuettes

1150-70
Stone
Cathedral, Chartres

The west portal of the Chartres Cathedral is called Royal Portal. It has been suggested that the designation "royal" refers to the Virgin as Queen of Heaven. This portal, begun in about 1150, offers an iconographical and technical conception of sculpture that is partially inherited from Romanesque portals. The theme is a résumé of the Christian doctrine and an illustration to the links between Old and New Testaments: on the jambs are the prophets and the precursors of Christ, and on the tympana, from the left to the right are depicted the Ascension, Christ of the Apocalypse, and the Mystery of the Incarnation. In spirit, the portal is Gothic; tympana and lintels are recessed under the arches, which are decorated with series of statuettes, and each jamb is occupied by a single figure whose core it becomes, to form the famous column-statue.

The picture shows some of the statuettes: Music (with Pythagoras) and Grammatic (with Donatus).