Birth of Gothic Sculpture: Saint-Denis, Paris, Chartres 1135–1150

Musée de Cluny, Paris

NOW CLOSED

Double capital: Bird sirens confronting in foliage Double capital, with bird sirens confronting in foliage, from the cloister of the abbey of Saint-Denis Calcaire. Photo: Michel Urtado; © Service presse RMN-Grand Palais (musée de Cluny - musée national du Moyen-Âge)

Between 1135 and 1150, as the new Gothic architectural style took over from the Romanesque, an equivalent sculptural tradition took hold across the Île-de-France region. This exhibition of column-statues from the Chartres Royal Portal, as well as fragments of those from the western portals of the Suger Abbey in Saint-Denis, and Gothic sculptures of the period from Paris, testifies to an era of great creative experimentation. Find out more about the ‘Birth of Gothic Sculpture’ exhibition from the Musée de Cluny’s website.

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Head of an Old Testament King, from the abbey of Saint-Denis. Photo: © The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

Column statue of an Old Testament Queen, from Notre-Dame de Chartres cathedral. Photo: François Lauginie; © DRAC Centre-Val-de-Loire

Head of King David, from Notre-Dame cathedral, Paris. Photo: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/Image of the MMA

Capital, from the abbey of Sainte-Geneviève, Paris. Photo: Michel Urtado; © Service presse Rmn-Grand Palais (musée de Cluny – musée national du Moyen-Âge)

Event website