French Carved Walnut Models of the Architectural Facades of the West Fronts of Two Gothic Cathedrals
A Pair of Fine French Carved Walnut Models of the Architectural Facades of the West Fronts of Two Gothic Cathedrals Notre-Dame de Paris and Probably Notre Dame de Rodez
Both with apertures at the back enabling them to be lit up
Late 18th Century - Early 19th Century
Size: 70cm high, 52cm wide, 16.5cm deep - 27½ ins high, 20½ ins wide, 6½ ins deep / 65cm high, 38.5cm wide, 16cm deep - 15¼ ins wide, 6¼ ins deep
Both with apertures at the back enabling them to be lit up
Late 18th Century - Early 19th Century
Size: 70cm high, 52cm wide, 16.5cm deep - 27½ ins high, 20½ ins wide, 6½ ins deep / 65cm high, 38.5cm wide, 16cm deep - 15¼ ins wide, 6¼ ins deep
Gothic art originated around 1140 in the Ile-de-France and was initially confined to the cathedrals and most important abbeys of this region, but was soon regarded as a model for the rest of France and eventually for Europe as a whole.
The West front of Notre-Dame de Paris was begun in 1200 and over the intervening eight hundred years has become the symbol of Paris. The huge towers stand above double side aisles and so are wider and more stable allowing the buttresses to not have to protude too far. An impression was created of looking at a triumphal arch, and originally above the three portals running across the entire facade the builders created a Gallery of Kings. Here twenty eight statues of the Kings of Israel looked out over the Ile-de-Cite, but during the French Revolution in the anti royalist belief that they represented a succession of French monarchs they were taken down. In 1802 Napoleon in an elaborate ceremony at Notre-Dame re-established the ‘culte catholigue’ and eventually reproductions of the original statues were returned to the gallery. Nowhere else in medieval architecture does a royal gallery display a succession of Kings shown in close array quite so impressively.
The red sandstone Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Rodez was begun in the northern gothic style in 1277 and only completed in 1562. The west front has a flamboyant rose window above which is a renaissance gable. The north east tower is 87 metres high and remarkably for its beautiful proportions, its plain lower late 14th century storeys are surmounted by three octagonal upper tiers of 1526 built during Bishop Francois d’Estaing’s incumbency by Antoine Salvan, a local architect. Much of its original statuary was lost during the revolution.
The West front of Notre-Dame de Paris was begun in 1200 and over the intervening eight hundred years has become the symbol of Paris. The huge towers stand above double side aisles and so are wider and more stable allowing the buttresses to not have to protude too far. An impression was created of looking at a triumphal arch, and originally above the three portals running across the entire facade the builders created a Gallery of Kings. Here twenty eight statues of the Kings of Israel looked out over the Ile-de-Cite, but during the French Revolution in the anti royalist belief that they represented a succession of French monarchs they were taken down. In 1802 Napoleon in an elaborate ceremony at Notre-Dame re-established the ‘culte catholigue’ and eventually reproductions of the original statues were returned to the gallery. Nowhere else in medieval architecture does a royal gallery display a succession of Kings shown in close array quite so impressively.
The red sandstone Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Rodez was begun in the northern gothic style in 1277 and only completed in 1562. The west front has a flamboyant rose window above which is a renaissance gable. The north east tower is 87 metres high and remarkably for its beautiful proportions, its plain lower late 14th century storeys are surmounted by three octagonal upper tiers of 1526 built during Bishop Francois d’Estaing’s incumbency by Antoine Salvan, a local architect. Much of its original statuary was lost during the revolution.
French Carved Walnut Models of the Architectural Facades of the West Fronts of Two Gothic Cathedrals
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