MEDIEVAL SCULPTOR, French
(active around 1204 in Chartres)

Central portal on the north transept

c. 1204
Stone
Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Chartres (Eure-et-Loire)

Chartres Cathedral was rebuilt after a fire in 1194 destroyed large parts of the old cathedral. A completely new building was erected, one whose transept façades have portals that were given as much importance as those on the west front. The oldest of these is the middle doorway on the north façade, the so-called Triumph of Mary Portal.

In the tympanum Christ and his crowned Mother sit under a Gothic arcade, while the lintel illustrates two scenes, the death and the assumption of the Virgin. The tympanum is surrounded by five archivolt containing angels, prophets, the Tree of Jesse, and other Old Testament figures. The figures in the jambs represent saints and Old Testament figures.

The picture shows the Triumph of Mary Portal on the north transept.