When we visited the Cathedral of Bourges to inspect the glass of the
thirteenth century (see page 42) we referred to that of the fifteenth
which fills the windows of the nave chapels. It is to inspect these that
we now make our second visit. It is very usual for chapels to radiate
from around the choir of a church, but rarer to find them introduced
into the side walls of the nave after the completion of the edifice.
Perhaps it would not prove so eminently satisfactory at Bourges if it
were not for the fact that the cathedral lacks transepts; but whatever
the reason, the result in this instance is admirable. The window
apertures of these nave chapels indicate that they were constructed at a
later period than the rest of the cathedral, for instead of the single
broad windows which we find elsewhere about the interior, the lighting
of each chapel is effected by a group of lancets bound together to form
one very wide window space, the lancets being separated only by narrow
stone mullions. To this architectural indication of date is added that
of the glass, which is among the best that is known of the fifteenth
century canopy type. The glazing of these chapels varies greatly in
excellence, but is always good. In almost every case the windows consist
of four lancets. We note here the custom of placing upon the window a
small kneeling figure of the donor, and from contemporary paintings we
are able to affirm that the glass artist made these portraits as perfect
as his skill permitted. In the chapel given by Pierre Trousseau not only
do we find the donor but also his sister and his two brothers. This
tendency to introduce various members of the family increased steadily
in vogue, so much so that in the sixteenth century we shall often find
two or three generations kneeling in a row in the lower panels. In the
first two chapels on the left the personages hold in their hands long
winding scrolls on which there is writing. This form of decoration was
also much elaborated in the next century, and very successfully, too.
But the greatest of all fifteenth century chapels is the most easterly
one on the north, just at the point where the choir chapels succeed to
those of the nave. It was given by Jacques Coeur, the merchant prince
of Bourges, who became treasurer of France under Charles VII. It is as
beautiful in detail and ensemble as a canopy window has ever been made.
The mullions separating its four lancets are not allowed to interfere
with the one great subject that extends over them all. Across the top of
this picture is carried the most elaborate Gothic dome ever attempted in
glass painting. The ceiling beneath it is blue sprinkled with golden
stars, and the groining of the arches which support it is golden also.
The robes of the figures, beautiful in combination of colour, are
elaborated to the last degree of decorative detail. Notice along the
edge of the kneeling saint's robe a row of simulated embroidery panels
gay with colour and gold. It is clear that Jacques Coeur employed upon
this window the best glass artist to be found, just as he must have
engaged the most skillful architects and builders for his palace, to the
glories of which we alluded in our thirteenth century pilgrimage. This
window and that dwelling stamp him as one of the most intelligently
appreciative patrons of the arts which his time produced.
The fact that the cathedral is built upon the edge of the old Roman
walls makes possible a well-lighted crypt instead of the gloomy cavern
generally found beneath the choirs of most cathedrals. In the embrasures
at the eastern end of this lower church or crypt have been placed a set
of fifteenth century windows taken from the old Ste. Chapelle of
Bourges, each consisting of four canopies. Under the two central ones of
each stand the coloured figures in the usual way, but under the two
outer canopies the figures are partly concealed behind simulated
architectural columns. This unique arrangement serves to render the
glass architecture all the more convincing. It would have been well if
other towns had followed the example set by Bourges in thus preserving
in some store-house like a cathedral the glass of other edifices which
had to be destroyed.
If we travel by automobile from Bourges to Clermont-Ferrand, we will
probably elect to pass through Nevers and Moulins. We have already
advised the railway traveller not to alight at Moulins and he will
probably not do so at Nevers. About the latter we will say but a word.
Although the cathedral has a special interest in that it is one of the
two churches in France having an apse at its western as well as its
eastern end (the other is at Besancon), it need not detain him, because
it has no old glass. If he decides to stop to look at the cathedral, he
should not fail to see the old palace of the Dukes of Bourbon, with the
story of Lohengrin carved by Jean Goujon on the outside of its graceful
spiral staircase.