MAZIÈRE, Simon
(b. 1648, Pontoise, d. after 1721)

The Raising of the Cross

1714
Stone
Cathedral, Chartres

In 1712 Mazière was given the commission to complete the high-relief Gospel scenes along the exterior of the choir enclosure at Chartres, which had been begun in the early sixteenth century. In such an impressive setting, amid so many competing claims for contemplation, Mazière's scenes are perhaps little noticed by visitors today. Yet, as the largest of these, The Raising of the Cross, reveals Mazière achieved a near-Renaissance idiom, forceful and dramatic, by no means incongruous and quite free from any overly 'decorative' flourishes. Indeed, were his scenes not documented - to the years 1712-16 - they might pass as work of a much earlier period.