An agreeable route from Paris to Conches, etc., is by way of Montfort
l'Amaury, which lies beyond Versailles, just off the main road to Dreux,
and 45 kilometres distant from Paris. If the pilgrim is travelling by
train or if he wishes to go straight from Paris to Conches, he should
then postpone until another occasion his visit to Montfort l'Amaury, and
will thus keep in store for himself a very pleasant half-day automobile
excursion. The object of the visit proves to be a small church which has
preserved its sixteenth century glazing practically intact. Nothing
could be more simple than its ground plan, for there are no transepts,
no chapels, simply one long building rounded at the east end, whose
shape suggests that of a man's thumb. While we must not expect to find
so splendid a glass series as at Conches, neither must we fail to
appreciate that here is a church with thirty-three windows, all of the
sixteenth century, and in excellent state of preservation. As we enter
by the small south portal the effect that meets our eye is most
agreeable. Closer inspection of the windows unfortunately reveals that
they vary markedly in quality and are evidently the work of different
artists. It cannot be denied that many of them are commonplace, although
none is really poor. Their dating helps to explain this mediocrity, for
they were constructed towards the end of the sixteenth century, at a
time when our art was hurrying into decadence. The few earlier ones, and
especially that dated 1544, are the best. The latter is the eighth on
the left and depicts Jesus being shown to the people. Another, the third
on the left, tells the story of Joseph, and is an obvious example of the
Italian influence so prevalent during that epoch. The scene in which he
is escaping from Potiphar's wife is almost an exact copy from Raphael.
We must not fail to remark the third from the eastern end, in which the
Holy Ghost is descending upon the assembled disciples in the form of a
shower of golden tongues. The grouping of the figures, the play of the
colours, and the richness lent by these touches of gold, all combine to
make a brilliant picture. The second to the right of this contains the
Falling of Manna in the Wilderness, but as the tones used here are much
lower, and the manna is depicted as a rain of white spots, the window,
as a whole, is much quieter than the one just described. In the church
at Montfort l'Amaury an instructive light is thrown upon the obtrusive
appearance of donors so frequently found during the sixteenth century.
We know that the figures are often so large as to be positively
obnoxious, but it is here demonstrated beyond doubt that the artist
worked very much more carefully upon these portraits than upon the rest
of his window. There are few places where this can be more conveniently
studied, and for this reason our visit has been a useful one, even
though the glass be of a class a little below the best.