Notre Dame Cathedral & Ghent Altarpiece: History & Art
Notre Dame Cathedral: A Gothic Masterpiece
Notre Dame: The construction of this cathedral, a masterpiece of Gothic architecture, was launched at the behest of the bishop of Paris, Maurice de Sully. It exhibits the same structural elements as other great cathedrals of the time, such as Saint Denis, Laon, and Senlis, including the framework for the facade of two towers, three open gates, and the large central rosette. However, in this case, the architectural proportions of this building are of perfect rationality, providing a balanced set complete with beautiful plastic decoration.
The current structure of Notre-Dame de Paris was begun in 1163. The design opted for a simple structure, in the same line as the Cathedral of Laon, its most direct precedent: five naves in the area of the header generated a double ambulatory and transept unmarked outwards. Work progressed quite quickly, and in the vicinity of 1200, the western facade began, completed around 1245.
In the time of St. Louis in the mid-thirteenth century, and under the hand of two of the most renowned architects of the time, Jean Chelles and Pierre de Montreuil, the cathedral underwent an important reform. First, a line of chapels was added between the buttresses of the north side, and then both arms of the transept were extended to the outside, equipping them with new covers and spectacular rose windows.
This pattern radiated by the hand of certain architects, also to Burgundy and to southern France, where it developed in the late thirteenth century, a very original architecture based on radically different approaches.
The Ghent Altarpiece: Poliptco of the Mystic Lamb
Poliptco of the Mystic Lamb: The Ghent Altarpiece, also known as the Mystic Lamb, is named precisely because this panel is the largest of all the work and the most important iconographically. The center stage features the Lamb on an altar. His blood flows from the breast and fills the chalice, symbolizing the figure of Christ and his sacrifice on the cross. Furthermore, above him is the dove of the Holy Spirit. He is surrounded by several angels, some with instruments of the Passion (the cross, the column, the nails…) while others scent the air with incense. Given this core group, below, we have a bronze fountain with a golden rod topped with a sculpture of an angel. It is the source of life, flowing with the water that gives eternal life. It is the reference to baptism and conversion to Christianity, just below the reference to the Eucharist that we saw at the altar and the chalice filled with blood. The fountain is surrounded by two semicircles of characters kneeling in adoration: on the left are the twelve prophets and on the right, fourteen apostles (including Matthias, Paul, and Barnabas, and not Judas). Behind them, on the left, are the Patriarchs, of which one is interesting to note from the pagan world: the bearded man wearing a white gown would be the poet Virgil, popular in medieval culture. On the right, popes and bishops. Finally, leaving the forest, we have the two groups of martyrs, men and women. They are distinguished by the palms of martyrdom. Among women are recognized Santa Ursula, Santa Barbara, Santa Ines, and Santa Dorotea.