Gazette des Beaux-Arts Janvier-Décembre 1971 [antikvár]

THE GRANDE CHASSE OF THE SAINTE-CHAPELLE T BY ROBERT BRANNER "lnE celebration of the 700th anniversary of Saint-Louis' death in 1270 has once again brought into prominence the prodigious achievements of France in the thirteenth century, the "great century" of the Middle Ages. Public exhibitions and savant colloquia, television programs and articles of ail sorts have served to crystallize and to disseminate recent discoveries as well as long-known facts about the Capetian prince and his period. And these in turn will undoubtedly further increase interest and research in things French in the thirteenth century. It is therefore with some hesitation that I ofFer the present article, in the knowledge that much still remains to be done but in the hope that the readers of the Gazette are not yet saturated with Saint-Louis. Of all the monuments that Louis IX erected, the Sainte-Chapelle is undoubtedly the most famous and most visible to us today. Although it has been written about extensively, it still apparently has not surrendered all its secrets Built to house the Crown of Thorns and a number of other relics of the Passion that the king acquired in 1239 and 1241, it is the sole survivor of the royal palace of that day, a splendid and brilliant reminder of a court that has long since ceased to exist and of art-forms that have no true parallels in modern times. Chief among the latter was the Grande Châsse, the great reliquary box that once stood on a platform behind the chapel altar before being destroyed in 1791 (fig. i)'- The Grande Châsse was the focal point of the chapel, for in one sense the building was meant merely to protect the reliquary from the elements : It was in the Châsse itself that were to be found the containers holding the actual relics, and the archi- tecture really did little more than to safeguard it and to provide an area in front of it 'for the performance of the liturgy. But in every other sense the liturgy, the Châsse, and the chapel were closely related in form and meaning, for the celebration GAZETTIÎ DES BEAUX-ARTS of the mass was a re-enactment of the Passion, physical remains and reminders of which were thought to be enclosed in the Châsse, while the form of the Châsse and the form of the chapel echoed one another in what can only be called a deliberate and intimate manner. Although it no longer exists, the Grande Châsse is known in some detail from old inventories of the chapel and from various views made before it was melted down (fig. 2). One of the key documents, interestingly enough, is an item in the inventory of the treasury of Saint-Denis, where a fairly accurate replica of the Châsse seems to have existed prior to 1634 This work will help us to form a better picture of the Sainte-Chapelle Châsse. The Grande Châsse was oblong, measuring approximately 2.7 meters across the long or front side, with silver and copper-gilt reliefs on three faces and padlocked doors on the fourth or rear face (fig. i)''. The front or western face had three panels. In the central one was a representation of the Crucifixion with the sun and moon, the Cross rising from a mound of earth ; flanking the Cross were the Virgin, Saint John, I onginus, and another figure, probably Stepaton. In an arch above were four small kneeling angels that may have looked something like the sculpted stone figures on the arches above the royal niches in the chapel (fig. 3), although the latter hold censers and basins while the angels on the Châsse probably had their hands clasped in prayer \ The lateral panels on the front each contained two superimposed arches, the upper pair framing angels and the lower ones figures of Ecclesia and Synagoga. The left or north face of the Châsse showed the Flagellation. The general design of the terminal was probably similar to the central panel on the front, since there were also four small kneeling angels on the arches above the Flagellation. In addition there was ill the center the iDust of an ang'el issuing* from a cloud The right or south face contained a Rcsnrrcctiou in which Christ was flanked FIG. 1.—Paris, Sainte-Chapelle, interior of apse in drawing made for Gaignieres, detail. (Paris. B.N., Est. Va 9. f. 54 bis.) Phot. B.N.