Chartres Cathedral (Part Six).

Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

English: The Vendôme Chapel Stained Glass Windows

in Chartres Cathedral.

Français: Cathédrale de Chartres - 

Vitraux de la chapelle Vendôme.

Photo: August 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: MOSSOT.

(Wikimedia Commons)

On the whole, Chartres' windows have been remarkably fortunate. The Mediaeval glass largely escaped harm during the Huguenot iconoclasm and the religious wars of the 16th-Century, although the West Rose sustained damage from artillery fire in 1591. The relative darkness of the Interior seems to have been a problem for some. A few windows were replaced with much lighter grisaille glass, in the 14th-Century, to improve illumination, particularly on the North Side, and several more were replaced with clear glass in 1753, as part of the reforms to Liturgical practice that also led to the removal of the jubé.

The installation of the Vendôme Chapel, between two Buttresses of the Nave, in the Early-15th-Century, resulted in the loss of one more Lancet Window, though it did allow for the insertion of a fine Late-Gothic Window, with donor portraits of Louis de Bourbon and his family witnessing the Coronation of the Virgin with assorted Saints.

Although estimates vary (depending on how one counts compound- or grouped-windows), approximately 152 of the original 176 Stained Glass windows survive – far more than any other Mediaeval Cathedral anywhere in the world.

English: The Central Portal in the West Facade at Chartres Cathedral.

Français: Portail central du porche occidental de la cathédrale de Chartres.

Photo: 18 June 2006.

Source: Own work.

Author: Urban.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Like most Mediaeval buildings, the windows at Chartres suffered badly from the corrosive effects of atmospheric acids during the Industrial Revolution, and subsequently. The majority of windows were cleaned and restored by the famous local workshop, Atelier Lorin, at the end of the 19th-Century, but they continued to deteriorate. 

During World War II, most of the Stained Glass was removed from the Cathedral, and stored in the surrounding countryside, to protect it from damage. At the close of the War, the windows were taken out of storage and re-installed. Since then, an on-going programme of conservation has been underway and isothermal secondary glazing is gradually been installed on the exterior to protect the windows from further damage.

The Cathedral has three great Façades, each equipped with three Portals, opening into the Nave from the West and into the Transepts from North and South. In each Façade, the Central Portal is particularly large and was only used for special ceremonies, while the smaller Side Portals allowed everyday access for the different communities that used the Cathedral.

English: The South Elevation of Chartres Cathedral.

Français/Deutsch: Monographie de la cathédrale de Chartres. 

Atlas / Gestochen von E. Ollivier gezeichnet von Lassus, Gedruckt bei Bougeard.

Date: Paris, Imprimerie impériale, 1867.

Source: Monographie de la Cathédrale de Chartres - Atlas.

Author: Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus (1807–1857).

Scan and Post-Processing by Hubertl.

(Wikimedia Commons)

One of the few elements to survive from the Mid-12th-Century Church, the Portail Royal, was integrated into the new Cathedral, built after the 1194 fire. Opening onto the parvis (the large Square in front of the Cathedral where Markets were held), the two Lateral Doors would have been the first entry point for most visitors to Chartres, as it remains today. The Central Door was only opened for the entry of processions on major Festivals, of which the most important was the Adventus, or Installation, of a new Bishop. 

The harmonious appearance of the Façade, results, in part, from the relative proportions of the Central and Lateral Portals, whose widths are in the ratio 10:7 – one of the common Mediaeval approximations of the Square Root of 2.

As well as their basic functions of controlling access to the Interior, Portals were the main locations for sculpted images on the Gothic Cathedral, and it was on the West Façade, at Chartres, that this practice began to develop into a visual summa or encyclopaedia of theological knowledge. The three Portals each focus on a different aspect of Christ's role: His Earthly Incarnation, on the right Portal; His Second Coming, on the left Portal; and His Eternal Aspect, in the centre Portal.

Judgment Day Decoded: 

The Sacred Geometry of Chartres Cathedral.

Video available on YouTube at

http://youtu.be/MIo8ILX7ax0.

Above the right Portal, the Lintel is carved in two Registers, with, (lower) the Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Annunciation to the Shepherds and (upper) the Presentation in the Temple. Above this, the Tympanum shows the Virgin and Child enthroned in the Sedes sapientiae pose. 

Surrounding the Tympanum, as a reminder of the glory days of the School of Chartres, the Archivolts are carved with some very distinctive personifications of the Seven Liberal Arts, as well as the classical authors and philosophers most associated with them.

The final portion of Maurice Duruflé's "Prelude, Adagio & Choral Varié" 

on the Latin Hymn "Veni Creator".

Philippe Lefebvre performs on the instrument, installed in 1971, 

in a recording made ten years after the installation.

Available on YouTube at

http://youtu.be/R9m60BzjqI0.

The left Portal is more enigmatic, and art historians still argue over the correct identification. The Tympanum shows Christ standing on a cloud, apparently supported by two Angels. Some see this as a depiction of the Ascension of Christ (in which case the figures on the lower Lintel would represent the Disciples witnessing the event), while others see it as representing the Parousia, or Second Coming of Christ (in which case the Lintel figures could be either the Prophets, who foresaw that event, or else the 'Men of Galilee', mentioned in Acts 1:9-11). 

The presence of Angels in the upper Lintel, descending from a cloud and apparently shouting to those below, would seem to support the latter interpretation. The Archivolts contain the signs of the zodiac and the labours of the months – standard references to the cyclical nature of time, which appear in many Gothic Portals.

PART SEVEN FOLLOWS.