ARCHITECT, French
(active 15th century in Loiret)

Interior view

1449-85
Photo
Basilica of Notre-Dame, Cléry-Saint-André (Loiret)

A 14th-century church was destroyed by the English troops during the Hundred Years' War in 1428. The reconstruction of the church took place between 1449 and 1485 at the wish of the Dauphin, later Louis XI (1423-1483), victor against the English at Dieppe. Louis gave substantial financial support to the building, raised it to the status of a royal chapel, and chose it as his final resting place.

The ground plan, with ambulatory but without radiating chapels and triangular vault sections, was influenced by Notre-SDame in Paris. The elevation in the central nave, with vast empty wall surfaces between low arcades and a high clerestory, is that of a monumental parish church.

The photo shows the nave looking east.




© Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Krén and Daniel Marx.