Up a steep road that has more turns and branches than a grape-vine, and
suddenly we come out on a little platform before the west front of the
diminutive church of St. Martin. Off to the west and around on each side
there unfolds a panorama of smiling valleys and green hillocks in most
enticing succession.
As one enters the western portal, he first observes that the three
westerly windows on each side are modern, and of these there can be no
higher praise than that they harmonise admirably with their fourteen
ancient neighbours to the east of them. These fourteen are chiefly
interesting because of the delicacy of their composition, which is
really delicious.
[Illustration: CONSTABLE OF MONTMORENCY AND HIS FIVE SONS, MONTMORENCY
CHURCH (16TH CENTURY).
_Here the donors are frankly the important feature. So proud
were the Constable and his wife (Madeleine de Savoie) of their
five sons and seven daughters that we find four pairs of windows
portraying them._]
Perhaps the chief interest here is the gallery of family portraits
afforded by the donor's figures upon the panes. Among the many admirably
drawn faces of distinguished scions of the House of Montmorency, the
best is that of the founder of this church, William, the father of our
friend the great Constable, which is behind the altar, to the left. It
is evidently the work of a great artist. The fourth on the right and
the fourth on the left (and, therefore, opposite each other) are two
windows containing one, Anne de Montmorency, and the other, his wife,
Madeleine de Savoie, each attended by their children. These two were
made about 1563, while those to the east of them range from 1523 to
1533. The Constable is supported by his five sons and his wife by her
seven daughters. She is looking toward the altar, but he is looking
across at her. Each of these domestic groups occupies nearly half of the
entire embrasures, but it does so in such a frank manner as to entirely
avoid the appearance of intrusion, so generally the result of portraits
like these. As we walk around the church we are amazed that so fragile a
medium as glass should have preserved through all the centuries these
portraits in more perfect condition than many which were consigned to
canvas or marble. In fact, one wonders why this was not more often done,
and at the same time wishes it had been effected as frankly as in these
two just described, and not by the intrusion of donors upon a window
devoted to another subject. It is impossible to repress a smile upon
noticing that the Crucifixion scene which bears the portrait of its
donor, Guy de Laval, shows him kneeling in the central panel, while the
crucifix is in a side one! Lest these comments may have seemed severely
intended, let us point out a few of the many lovely features. For
instance, the second window from the east in the north wall has in its
central panel the Virgin holding the Infant Jesus, who reaches out His
baby hand to receive a dove. The greensward below is picked out with
bright flowers and peopled by small animals, quite as one sees them on
the early tapestries. Nothing could be more charming. The tracery lights
are excellently treated throughout, sometimes in a most unusual manner.
Above the window just described, we find on a lilac field thirteen
golden coins, each bearing a different head. This comment upon the
higher panes leads us to speak of a most delicate group of four panels
perched up above the north portal. Across them extends what appears to
be a long cloister having a rich damasked curtain fastened shoulder-high
from column to column, above which is afforded a distant prospect of
gardens, etc., while in each of the panels there stands a female saint.
But little height is needed for this picture, so the traceries above
come down low, and are filled by a throng of blue eaglets on a golden
ground, the heraldic insignia of the Montmorencys. Before the Battle of
Bouvines the shield of this house bore but four eaglets, but on that day
Mathieu de Montmorency captured twelve of the enemy's standards with his
own hand. In recognition of these deeds of prowess King Philip Augustus
added twelve more eaglets to his arms, one for each captured standard,
thus raising the total to sixteen. These arms we shall see often
repeated in the windows at Montmorency, Ecouen and Chantilly. A visit
to this little church is a delightful experience and fills us with eager
expectation of what its founder's son, the great Constable, can show us
in his two castles of Ecouen and Chantilly. We are tempted to stray off
into the charming forest which stretches away more than five miles to
the northwest and to revel in the natural beauty of its chestnut trees,
but the Constable awaits us, so off we must be to Ecouen.