Chartres Cathedral

Editor’s Note:

This is a section from the window referred to as ‘Miracles of the Virgin’ which is located in the sixth bay of the south aisle of the cathedral.

The guilds of the city of Chartres were one of the many groups and individuals who donated money for the building of the cathedral. The guilds also donated certain stained glass windows wherein they had themselves and their trades pictured in certain glass sections.

In the full window pictured below there are four descending sets of five overlapping circles. The section we are discussing is in the lowest position of the lowest set of five circles.

Editor’s Note:

A choir screen is a screen or low wall separating the choir from the aisles. The choir screen in the cathedral of Chartres is monumental, encircling the entire sanctuary like a true wall. It constitutes a rich tableau of pictures and stories of religious scenes and symbolic representations of abstract ideas, all to encourage moral and spiritual improvement.

This figure is an allegory for Greed, represented here as a woman sitting on a pig. The woman wears a commoners cloths and her hair is tied with a ribbon. She holds a cup to her mouth and has a cake in a dish on her lap.

These small statues were placed inside the bays onto the large buttresses and gathered on three levels. This figure is located in the fifth south bay on the upper level.

Editor’s Note:

This is a section from a Zodiac window located in the South Ambulatory of Chartres Cathedral.

In the full window pictured below there are three descending columns of circles. The section pictured above is the second circle down in the left-hand column.