Cathédrale de Chartres; Civilization, Medieval; Mont-Saint-Michel (Abbey : France)
Here as everywhere else throughout the church, one feels the
Virgin's presence, with no other thought than her majesty and grace.
To the Virgin and to her suppliants, as to us, who though outcasts
in other churches can still hope in hers, the Last Judgment was not
a symbol of God's justice or man's corruption, but of her own
infinite mercy. The Trinity judged, through Christ;--Christ loved
and pardoned, through her. She wielded the last and highest power on
earth and in hell. In the glow and beauty of her nature, the light
of her Son's infinite love shone as the sunlight through the glass,
turning the Last Judgment itself into the highest proof of her
divine and supreme authority. The rudest ruffian of the Middle Ages,
when he looked at this Last Judgment, laughed; for what was the Last
Judgment to her! An ornament, a plaything, a pleasure! a jewelled
decoration which she wore on her breast! Her chief joy was to
pardon; her eternal instinct was to love; her deepest passion was
pity! On her imperial heart the flames of hell showed only the
opaline colours of heaven. Christ the Trinity might judge as much as
He pleased, but Christ the Mother would rescue; and her servants
could look boldly into the flames.
If you, or even our friends the priests who still serve Mary's
shrine, suspect that there is some exaggeration in this language, it
will only oblige you to admit presently that there is none; but for
the moment we are busy with glass rather than with faith, and there
is a world of glass here still to study. Technically, we are done
with it. The technique of the thirteenth century comes naturally and
only too easily out of that of the twelfth. Artistically, the motive
remains the same, since it is always the Virgin; but although the
Virgin of Chartres is always the Virgin of Majesty, there are
degrees in the assertion of her majesty even here, which affect the
art, and qualify its feeling. Before stepping down to the thirteenth
century, one should look at these changes of the Virgin's royal
presence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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