Swarthmore College Works Art & Art History Faculty Works Art & Art History 1986 The Seven Sleepers And The Seven Kneelers: Prolegomena To A Study Of The "Belles Verrières" Of The Cathedral Of Rouen Michael Watt Cothren Swarthmore College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-art Part of the Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture Commons Let us know how access to these works benefits ouy Recommended Citation Michael Watt Cothren. (1986). "The Seven Sleepers And The Seven Kneelers: Prolegomena To A Study Of The "Belles Verrières" Of The Cathedral Of Rouen". Gesta. Volume 25, Issue 2. 203-226. DOI: 10.2307/ 766982 https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-art/12 This work is brought to you for free by Swarthmore College Libraries' Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Art & Art History Faculty Works by an authorized administrator of Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Seven Sleepers and the Seven Kneelers: Prolegomena to a Study of the "Belles Verrières" of the Cathedral of Rouen Author(s): Michael W. Cothren Source: Gesta, Vol. 25, No. 2 (1986), pp. 203-226 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the International Center of Medieval Art Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/766982 . Accessed: 12/01/2015 16:10 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press and International Center of Medieval Art are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Gesta. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 130.58.65.20 on Mon, 12 Jan 2015 16:10:22 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The Seven Sleepers and the Seven Kneelers: Prolegomena to a Study of the "Belles Verribres" of the Cathedral of Rouen* MICHAEL W. COTHREN Swarthmore College Abstract WtP.... .. The recomposed, much-altered, and partially dis- persed vestiges of the original nave-aisle glazing of Rouen Cathedral-the so-called "Belles Verrieres"- ......... constitute one of the most important but least studied ensembles of French stained early 13th-century glass. 1W Aj? I.-'A This article will address two windows represented in ......... kk the "Belles as a means of a . exploring working Verrieres" 0 for the Rouen nave-aisle ........... methodology reconstructing gg glazing. From a close analysis of all remaining frag- Nk ments, the original design of the Seven Sleepers of . sm. Ephesus and John the Evangelist windows will be EMIR, ..............., reconstructed. Once assembled, each window will be ...... .. ..0-2, . evaluated in relation to stylistic, iconographic and wg historical contexts. The iconography of the Seven Sleepers, closely tied to the political history of Nor- mandy at the turn of the 13th century, will allow that IN window to be dated with rare to the . .. ...... precision years ................. xl between 1200-1202. The stylistic relationship between *!?S the John the Evangelist window and other glass at Rouen and Beauvais will argue for a date significantly A-Z later, in the 1240s. It thus appears that the glazing of It.R the nave aisle at Rouen extended throughout the first half of the 13th century, rather than being restricted to A.... the first two decades, as is usually assumed. ............................ ......... ......... ...... ... ......... The "Belles Verrieres" of the chapels of St.-Jean-de- .. .. ..... la-nef (Fig. 1) and St.-Sever along the north nave aisle of the AW ?31 cathedral of Rouen have long been recognized as master- . ..... .. ....... .. .. JA pieces of early 13th-century painting.' Tradition has a ?7C ascribed their sobriquet to the 14th century;2 their very Ag survival may result from an even earlier recognition of their extraordinary quality.3 Originally produced for nave-aisle windows, the that now the "Belles Ver- panels compose V ribres"were dismounted with the walls which held them less than a century after their creation. In the 1270s, when -A.. liturgical changes called for additional altars at Rouen, chapels were built between the buttresses of both nave aisles Rather than the aisle (Fig. 3).4 discarding displaced g: windows, panels from some of them were reused to fill the narrow lancets of the Rayonnant windows in the newly .......... constructed chapels. The transformations necessary to accommodate the FIGURE 1. "Belle Verribre"of the Chapel of St.-Jean-de-la-nef Cathe- broad early 13th-century panels to the reduced size of the dral of Rouen (photo: author). GESTA XXV/2 @ The International Center of Medieval Art 1986 203 This content downloaded from 130.58.65.20 on Mon, 12 Jan 2015 16:10:22 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Ad awl! m Il FIGURE 2. Detail offig. 1 (photomontage: author) late 13th-century openings and the apparent disregard for best known of the early 13th-century windows of Rouen,6 both the original design and iconography of the earlier although many of its features have never been satisfactorily windows which characterizes the way these panels were explained. The second window, which depicted the life of rearranged (Figs. 1, 2)' present serious obstacles to under- St. John the Evangelist, may be the least well known. Its standing the original disposition of the "Belles Verribres." existence has heretofore been acknowledged only in oblique Further complications are introduced by the alienation of references,7 and its panels have previously been misiden- additional early 13th-century panels, reused in other late tified or overlooked. 13th-century chapel windows, but now divided among The methods to be employed here are far from revo- several American collections, a modern "reliquary"window lutionary. First, the primary artifacts-the fragmentary, in a choir chapel at Rouen, and the storage dep6t of the transformed panels themselves-will be examined for clues French Ministbre de la Culture at the Chfateauof Champs- concerning the original design of the early 13th-century sur-Marne. Thus, to the difficulties of destruction and windows which held them. The reconstructions which transformation is added the impossibility of studying the emerge from this archaeological study will then be addressed surviving panels in close proximity to one another. as historical documents to discern their original position Though daunting, the barriersto a fuller understanding within their stylistic, iconographic, and political contexts of this glass are not insurmountable. Two windows will be and thus their original meaning to their medieval audience. examined here as case studies through which to explore a This investigation will lead to a reevaluation of the dating of working methodology for reconstructing the original nave- the nave-aisle glazing. In the case of the Seven Sleepers aisle glazing of the Cathedral of Rouen. The first, devoted to window, architectural,historical, and iconographic informa- the legend of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, is perhaps the tion will add more reliable chronological clues to the 204 This content downloaded from 130.58.65.20 on Mon, 12 Jan 2015 16:10:22 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions notions of stylistic evolution which have consistently been used to date this glass. It will be primarily on the basis of style, however, that the John the Evangelist window is dated later than the Seven Sleepers window. considerably Good Samaritan This raises the possibility that a rather lengthy campaign or Chapel of Chapel of Window Sts. Peter and Paul an extended series of isolated campaigns were involved in accomplishing the nave-aisle glazing. * The Seven Sleepers No trace of a window depicting the legend of the Seven of survives the reused panels of Sleepers Ephesus among , *., .. the two "Belles Verrieres"installed in north nave chapels at Rouen, but the association of Seven Sleepers panels with * . the nave-aisle glazing is well documented. In studies of glass painting published in 1823 and 1832, Eustache Langlois * . noted the existence of early 13th-century stained glass- including scenes that can be identified with extant Seven Sleepers fragments-in two chapels (now dedicated to the * Throne of St. Peter and to Ste.-Colombe) along the south . aisle of the nave (Fig. 3).8 Presumably, this glass had already been removed by the middle of the 19th century. Chapel of Ste.-Colombe Neither in 1856 or 1864 nor de in 1857 Guilhermy Lasteyrie Chapel of St.-Sever Chapel of the Throne mention it.9 Although replaced ca. 1870 with modern, tidier *S of St. Peter Chapel of windows in medieval style (more in keeping with 19th- St.-Jean-de-la-nef century ideas of aesthetic harmony than the patchwork effect of the late the medieval 13th-century concoctions),10 Tour panels were kept at Rouen on the second floor of the Tour St.-Romain. When Jean Lafond inventoried this dep6t in St.-Romain 1911, some of this glass, including all but one of the "American" panels from the Seven Sleepers window, had FIGURE 3. Plan of the Cathedral of Rouen locations already disappeared. Between 1911 and 1932 additional indicating of windows pertinent to this study (author after Lanfry). panels made their way to the art market, whereas those that remained were seriously damaged, if only from neglect." Considering this history, it is astonishing that eleven figural compositions and numerous other smaller fragments pearled fillets were added to this panel, presumably by an still survive from the Seven Sleepers window and that their early 20th-century dealer who sought to transform an provenance can be established with such certainty.12 Louis irregular panel defined by curving and ragged edges into a Grodecki first associated the "American" Seven Sleepers regular, and more marketable, rectangle.