1910 Articles

The Breviary of St. Louis (Arsenal MS. II86) and the Central Portal of the Cathedral of Bourges

Dike, Francis

The central portal of the west façade of the cathedral of Bourges presents two characteristics which so far as I know are unique in the history of French Christian iconography. The tympanum represents the story of the Last Judgment and of the Resurrection of the Dead, and is enclosed by six rows of cherubim, seraphim, angels and prophets in the courses. The lower lintel is devoted to the Resurrection, and as on the portal of Paris, Amiens, Reims, Bordeaux and Poitiers, the moment is that in which the souls, at the sound of the archangel's trumpet, rise from the tombs in which they have been awaiting the last day. The second lintel represents the weighing of souls, the division of the damned from the elect, and the reception into paradise and hell.