A parallel dogged attachment to a scholarly construct might be that
which architectural and sculptural historians had/have to the
pre-eminence of Chartres in the development of the "Gothic" (now,
**there's** a concept for you) style in those media.
Though Jim is certainly better equipped to speak to this question.
BTW, no one has mentioned the wonderful adaptation of the "Dwarfs on Giants"
image in the 13th c. lancet windows of the Chartres Transepts, where the 4
evangelists sit on the sholders of 4 O.T. prophets.
Dear Christopher,
Re your first point, a recent massive tome on French *Gothic*
architecture points out that Chartres Cathedral was provided with
transepts on a scale unknown in *Gothic* architecture but comparable
to that of the largest of *Romanesque* pilgrimage churches, i.e.
Santiago de Compostella. Even more puzzlingly, the mid-12th-century
Royal Portals, although an important monument in the development of
*Gothic* portal sculpture, are usually considered *Romanesque* in
style. The *Gothic* windows of Abbot Suger's east end at Saint-Denis
are also filled with *Romanesque* stained glass. Language
does sometimes get in the way.
Re your second point, the Evangelists on the shoulders of Prophets in
the south transept window has often been associated with the Bernard
of Chartres image, even though Klibansky quite successfully
dissociated the two back in 1936 (nevertheless, an article in
Notre-Dame de Chartres recently claimed that the window must be
post-medieval, since it would have been unthinkable in the Middle
Ages to associate the Evangelists with dwarves!). There are other
comparable images scattered about Europe, moreover, all of them
equally unexplained. It seems to be an iconographic motif with no
surviving documentary presence, although I'm still looking.
Cheers,
Jim Bugslag
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