Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

different workshops and one—the angel Gabriel—was first set in the

left portal and then moved to its present location, which explains the

stylistic dichotomy of the pair. Mary is a slender figure with severe

drapery. The artist preferred broad expanses of fabric to the multi-

plicity of folds of the VisitationMary. Gabriel, the latest of the four

statues, has a much more elongated body and is far more animated.

He exhibits the elegant style of the Parisian court at the middle of

the 13th century. He pivots gracefully, almost as if dancing, and

smiles broadly. Like a courtier, he exudes charm. Mary, in contrast, is

serious and introspective and does not respond overtly to the news

the angel has brought.

SAINTE-CHAPELLE, PARIS The stained-glass windows in-

serted into the portal tympana of Reims Cathedral exemplify the wall-

dissolving High Gothic architectural style. The architect of Sainte-

Chapelle (FIG. 18-25) in Paris extended this style to an entire

building. Louis IX built Sainte-Chapelle, joined to the royal palace, as a

repository for the crown of thorns and other relics of Christ’s Passion

he had purchased in 1239 from his cousin Baldwin II (r. 1228–1261),

the last Latin emperor of Constantinople. The chapel is a master-

piece of the so-called Rayonnant (radiant) style of the High Gothic

age, which dominated the second half of the century. It was the pre-

ferred style of the royal Parisian court of Saint Louis (see “Louis IX,

the Saintly King,” page 482). Sainte-Chapelle’s architect carried the

dissolution of walls and the reduction of the bulk of the supports to

the point that some 6,450 square feet of stained glass make up more

French Gothic 477

18-24Annunciation

and Visitation,jamb

statues of central door-

way, west facade, Reims

Cathedral, Reims, France,

ca. 1230–1255.

Different sculptors working

in diverse styles carved the

Reims jamb statues, but all

detached their figures from

the columns and set the

bodies and arms in motion.

The figures converse

through gestures.

18-25Interior of the upper chapel (looking northeast), Sainte-

Chapelle, Paris, France, 1243–1248.

At Louis IX’s Sainte-Chapelle, the architect succeeded in dissolving the

walls to such an extent that 6,450 square feet of stained glass account

for more than three-quarters of the Rayonnant Gothic structure.

18-25ASanta
María, León,
begun 1254.