Chartres, Notre-Dame, west façade,
central portal, Christ in Majesty.
Photograph: Clarence Ward
Collection. Courtesey of Oberlin
College.
with a martyrs portal on the left and a confessors portal on the right. Additional sculpture
fills the transept porches. The north- and south-central portals were carved ca. 1200–15 in
a style whose clinging drapery accentuates the plastic forms. In the slightly later sculpture
of the south-side portals (ca. 1220), the north-side portals (ca. 1230), and the mid-13th-
century porches, the drapery falls in heavier vertical folds.
Chartres preserves the greatest amount of French Gothic stained glass in situ, with 173
windows. Donors represent a microcosm of medieval society, including craft guilds,
clergy, nobility, and royalty. The varied subjects depict saints, biblical episodes and
figures, and historical legend, as in the Charlemagne window. Lower-level windows are
composed in medallions; higher windows usually contain large figures. Rich red, blue,
yellow, and green predominate. As a total ensemble of architecture, sculpture, and stained
glass, Chartres expresses the spiritual and aesthetic vision of the Gothic cathedral.
The abbey church of Saint-Père in Chartres is a composite of several periods. The
west-tower porch is dated ca. 990. The church without transept extends along a
longitudinal axis of nave and choir flanked by single aisles. The elevation of the six-bay
nave constructed ca. 1210–40 is similar to Chartres cathedral. The lower level of the
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