The Cathedrals of Southern FranceMansfield, M. F. (Milburg Francisco)
History
The Cathedrals of Southern France
Mansfield, M. F. (Milburg Francisco)
Cathedrals -- France; France -- Description and travel
The cathedral of St. Sauveur is, in part, an eleventh-century church.
The portions remaining of this era are not very extensive, but they do
exist, and the choir, which was added in the thirteenth century, made
the first approach to a completed structure. In the next century the
choir was still more elaborated, and the tower and the southern aisle of
the nave added. This nave is, therefore, the original nave, as the
northern aisle was not added until well into the seventeenth century.
The west façade contains a wonderful, though non-contemporary, door and
doorway in wood and stone of the early sixteenth century. This doorway
is in two bays, divided by a pier, on which is superimposed a statue of
the Virgin and Child, framed by a light garland of foliage and fruits.
Above are twelve tiny statuettes of _Sibylles_ or the theological
virtues placed in two rows. The lower range of the archivolt is divided
by pilasters bearing the symbols of the Evangelists, deeply cut
arabesques of the Genii, and the four greater prophets--Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.
Taken together, these late sculptures of the early sixteenth century
form an unusually mixed lot; but their workmanship and disposition are
pleasing and of an excellence which in many carvings of an earlier date
is often lacking.
The interior shows early "pointed" and simple round arches, with
pilasters and pediment which bear little relation to Gothic, and are yet
not Romanesque of the conventional variety. These features are mainly
not suggestive of the Renaissance either, though work of this style
crops out, as might be expected, in the added north aisle of the nave.
The transepts, too, which are hardly to be remarked from the
outside,--being much hemmed about by the surrounding buildings,--also
indicate their Renaissance origin.
The real embellishments of the interior are: a triptych--"The Burning
Bush," with portraits of King René, Queen Jeanne de Laval, and others;
another of "The Annunciation;" a painting of St. Thomas, by a
sixteenth-century Flemish artist; and some sixteenth-century tapestries.
None of these features, while acceptable enough as works of art, compare
in worth or novelty with the tiny _baptistère_, which is claimed as of
the sixth century.
This is an unusual work in Gaul, the only other examples being at
Poitiers and Le Puy. It resembles in plan and outline its more famous
contemporary at Ravenna, and shows eight antique columns, from a former
temple to Apollo, with dark shafts and lighter capitals. The dome has a
modern stucco finish, little in keeping with the general tone and
purport of this accessory. The cloister of St Sauveur, in the Lombard
style, is very curious, with its assorted twisted and plain columns,
some even knotted. The origin of its style is again bespoke in certain
of the round-headed arches. Altogether, as an accessory to the
cathedral, if to no other extent, this Lombard detail is forceful and
interesting.
III
ST. REPARATA DE NICE
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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