During the progress of certain works undertaken for the preservation of the two domes, some paintings of great interest were laid bare on the removal of several coats of whitewash from the western cupola. Traces of similar decoration were found on the eastern cupola and its pendentives, but these it was found impossible to preserve, the action of the air causing them to peel at once from the surfaces. But the western composition is intact, and though the brilliance of the colour has no doubt suffered from time, we can still appreciate the learning, vigour, and firmness of hand perceptible in the design, which is outlined in black. This western cupola, which is ovoid, and some fifty-three feet in diameter, like that of the east, is divided by its pictorial scheme into eight sectors, separated by wide bands of boldly-designed fruits and flowers. Fig. 116 gives an exact idea of the general arrangement. Eight colossal figures of prophets, varying in height from fifteen to sixteen feet approximately, form the chief motives of the decoration. David, the prophet king, and the four great prophets: Daniel to the left of David; then in order, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel on the right, towards the choir of the church, and the three minor prophets--Jonah, Esdras, and Habakkuk--are painted in modulated tones, the dark outline forming a setting, on a background varying from tawny to deep red. The figures are enframed in a firmly-drawn architectural setting. This architecture is painted in gray against the masonry, the courses of which are indicated by double lines of brown upon the pale ochre of the general surface. Each prophet holds a phylactery or banderole inscribed with his name in beautiful thirteenth-century characters. The floriated bands which divide the sectors terminate above in a circular frieze surrounding the crown of the cupola. The latter represents a starry sky, the centre painted with the apotheosis of St. Stephen, the patron of the cathedral. The frieze is painted with scenes from the trial and stoning of the Saint; the life-size figures are full of expression and grouped with great variety. In these paintings there are evident leanings towards the naturalistic evolution; and though the figures of the prophets are still hieratic in certain respects, the poses, heads, and details all point to evident research in the matter of physiognomy. This research is carried very far in the figures of the circular frieze, where the hands have evidently been carefully studied from nature. [Illustration: 118. PAINTINGS IN CAHORS CATHEDRAL. FRAGMENT OF THE CENTRAL FRIEZE OF THE CUPOLA]