ANGERS

A bad name dies hard and often lingers years after it is no longer

deserved. A striking example of this is found in the now unjust

appellation, "Black Angers." Black it may have been in the days when its

streets were dirty and narrow, but black it is no longer. Black it may

have seemed to the townspeople when their humble dwellings were frowned

down upon by the seventeen gloomy towers of its haughty thirteenth

century castle. Now the towers of the castle are razed, the walls that

girdled the city are tumbled into the great moat to form broad

boulevards, and altogether it is as agreeable a place as was ever

vilified by an outgrown name. Its most important edifice, St. Maurice

Cathedral, is not only a perfect treasure-house of glass, but is also

the depository of a profusion of admirable tapestries. Those interested

in the latter will find here (even more than at Rheims) what an added

inducement they provide for the sightseer. All around the nave are

suspended the series of the Apocalypse (as they are called), while on

the walls of the transepts are yet others dating from the fourteenth to

the eighteenth centuries. Nor are these all, for packed away in chests

are many more, which upon the occasion of certain church festivals are

brought out to hang in a row around the outside of the cathedral. In

fact, it is only on these festival days that one learns that the

interior wall space is insufficient to display half of the church's

possessions. Having set out this additional reason for visiting St.

Maurice Cathedral, let us now turn to its chief charm, the splendid

twelfth and thirteenth century glazing. We shall find the nave windows

filled with the largest and best preserved collection of twelfth century

glass that exists. They are very wide and high, characteristic of that

early period. In the choir there are fourteen excellent examples of the

thirteenth century medallion type, and there are others in the

transepts. We shall not now speak of the two great fifteenth century

rose windows, nor of the very large canopy ones which adorn the

transepts, nor of the few sixteenth century panels. It is proper to say

here, however, that they are excellent examples of those later periods,

thus rendering this cathedral one of the best in which to compare glass

styles all the way from the twelfth century to the sixteenth. The chief

glory of the edifice, however, consists of those which date from the

early mosaic period. So few and so unsatisfactory are the remains

elsewhere found of twelfth century glass, and so excellent are they

here, that it is to this church that one should come to study it. It is

a most fortunate coincidence for the student that the same interior

also contains many of the best types of the thirteenth century, because

this very contiguity enables him to conveniently contrast them with

those of the twelfth. The finer distinctions between their traits are

much more noticeable to him where the examples are side by side than

they would be if he had to carry the picture in his mind from one place

to another. He will at once notice that the earlier borders are much

wider than the later ones; some of those in the nave occupy nearly

one-fourth of the window space on each side, or in other words, if

brought together, the borders would fill nearly half of the entire width

of the embrasure. He will also observe that the figures in the earlier

ones are made of larger pieces of glass and have the draperies more

tightly drawn about them. It is very significant that the pieces of

glass are larger in the earlier windows: note this carefully, because in

many books we are told that the later artist of the thirteenth century

had no choice but to content himself with the small morsels of glass, as

he had no others. Thus they would have us believe that his wonderful

jewelled glow was merely the lucky result of having nothing but small

fragments at his disposal. Even so brief a study of twelfth century

glass as to show that the pieces then used were uniformly larger than

those of the thirteenth or jewel period, is enough to demonstrate that

the later artist deliberately used the smaller bits even with the added

trouble of more leading. He did so for the very purpose of obtaining the

sparkle and sheen that was never achieved before nor since, and

therefore he should receive due credit for his results. A close

examination of both the choir and nave windows will yield us many quaint

and interesting details. The first on the left contains a large Virgin

placed upon a panel occupying all of the window that is not given over

to a wide grisaille border. Six small medallions are arranged about this

panel, half of each on the panel and half protruding over the border.

One of these small medallions is placed at each corner and one in the

middle of the two long sides, like the pockets on a pool table. The

charming elaboration and colour work of the twelfth century borders

throughout the nave cannot fail to be noticed.

The set of thirteenth century windows placed about the choir have some

gorgeous blues and brilliant rubies. The fifth, counting from the left

side, proves to be a Tree of Jesse window, a sort of pictorially

genealogical tree which we will frequently encounter on our travels. In

this case the treatment is unusual, as the vine, winding up throughout

the window from the loins of Jesse in the lowest medallion, not only

distributes its historical personages over the central panes, but also

up and down the borders as well. The very wide embrasures of this

church give us an excellent opportunity of studying the colours of this

period.

While we are in Angers we must visit the church of St. Serge. As we are

now seeking early glass the chief interest of this small interior

consists of the five grisaille windows of the twelfth century which,

with their graceful design of pale brownish strapwork picked out and

accentuated by points of colour, leave little to be desired in their

soft beauty. They are to be found in the choir, and are considered by

most authorities to be the best type of twelfth century grisaille work

that exists. During a later pilgrimage we shall come again to this

church to inspect the attractive fifteenth century canopy windows which

decorate the nave clerestory (see page 175).