Even before you enter the Chartres Cathedral, its magnificence will undoubtedly overwhelm you. Approaching the cathedral from the west, your gaze is immediately drawn heavenward. Even without the two gothic towers bordering the west façade of the cathedral with their conical tops pointing to the Heavens, the rose window decorating the upper middle portion of the front wall will undoubtedly capture your wandering eyes, locking them in its glorious brilliance. But even its powerful grasp is not enough to hold you once the two towers grab ahold of you. Almost it seems, they have not only clasped onto your sight, but even your whole being. So strong is this pull that you feel that you have been lifted so high, that if you raised your arm, and stretched forth your finger, you just might be able to touch the throne of God.
Lest your raptured soul takes its flight to Paradise, you must quickly shake off this feeling of euphoria and make your way up the stairs to the Royal Portal, a set of three doors piercing the west façade of the cathedral. Due to lack of time, you must direct your attention to the tympanum above the middle portal with just a cursory glance toward those on the right and left. (The tympanum on the right depicts a seated Mary holding the child Jesus, while the one on the right shows the ascension of Christ to Heaven.) Centered under the middle arch is Christ at the Second Coming. Immediately surrounding him are symbolic reliefs depicting the writers of the four Gospels: Matthew as an angel, Mark as a lion, Luke as a bull, and John as an eagle. Standing directly below Christ and the four writers are the twelve apostles. In the inner archivolt Christ is surrounded by twelve angels, two of whom are crowning him as Christ the King. These angels are in turn surrounded in the outer two archivolts by the twenty-four elders of the Apocalypse. On the door jams, on each of the portals, Old Testament kings and queens are depicted in changing styles from Early Gothic to High Gothic. Unfortunately, as Laurie Adams states in her book, “many of these statues were destroyed during the French Revolution in 1789 by rioting crowds that mistook the biblical figures for kings and queens of France”. (208)
As you step through the portals and enter the nave between the two towers you will notice that bordering the nave on each side are two small aisles. The aisles are divided from the nave via a series of cluster piers with colonnettes. As you step into the nave the view is breathtaking. The soaring piers on either side, and the rays of colored light spilling through the stained-glass windows are magnificent, but “the overwhelming sensation on entering Chartres Cathedral from the western entrance”, as one author puts it in A History of Western Art(212), “is height.” The ceiling vaults shoot up a staggering 120 feet.
As you head east down the nave you will soon come to the crossing where, by looking left and right, you can observe the north and south entrances. Embedded in the north transept is a 42-foot diameter rose window, so called due to its shape. This rose window is surrounded by geometric shapes, royal coats of arms, and depictions of biblical figures. Depending on the time of day, the brightness of the light varies in intensity as it passes through the stained glass.
As you walk through the crossing you will next pass by the choir. Around this area to the back you will then enter the apse, a large semicircular recess located at the end of the cathedral, in what is known as the liturgical area (the location of the altar). Protruding out of the apse is what are known as radiating chapels; each with its own display of biblical history in illuminating stained glass. As you look at the marvelous handiwork and consider the amount of finances poured into this great cathedral, it begs the question: were the people displaying their love of God, or were they buying their way into Heaven?
A Comparison of Two Nativities
When comparing the nativity scenes depicted by Giotto and Pisano, one cannot help but notice the striking differences between the two artists’ renderings. Not only have they used different mediums-Giotto painted a fresco, Pisano sculpted a bas relief-but their use of space is glaringly different. Spaced out over a wide area, Giotto’s painting shows two scenes: the annunciation to the shepherds and the nativity. Pisano however crams four scenes (the nativity, along with the annunciations to Mary and the shepherds, and a scene of Mary bathing the infant Jesus) into a very limited space. Whereas Mary dominates the central space in Pisano’s sculpture, and the infant Jesus is relegated to an unimportant position behind her, the mother and child in Giotto’s painting seem to equally hold positions of importance as they gaze lovingly at each other from the left side of the picture. Regardless of the differences depicted in these works of art, it is obvious that both men had a passion unequaled by many.
© 2018 Stephen Moore. All rights reserved.
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References
Adams, Laurie Schneider. A History of Western Art. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011
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