LDS Scripture Commentary / Photos: Chartres Cathedral
Chartres, north side, center portal
INNER ARCH
• Eighth archivolt: Creation and Fall [bottom to top]
(5) Creation of sun and moon
Note cruciform nimbus, identifying creator as Christ.
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Window 006 - Good Samaritan (restored, detail)
• Panel 18: Satan tempts them and they eat. Note the dark, ominous red background which echoes the serpent from Quadrant 16, and contrasts with the refreshing blue of the previous.
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Window 059 - Symbolic Window, Typology of the Passion of Christ (restored)
NB: Read TOP to BOTTOM, unlike most windows. Some are modern (marked *).
• Row 12: (Bottom row): Blacksmiths as donors.
• Row 11: Samson carries gates of Gaza; Christ's body being annointed; David slays lion to protect sheep [some argue for Samson slaying lion, but sheep make me think likely David. On the other hand, the other side panels are often of the same characters, so I suppose a repeat of Sampson would fit that pattern. - GLS]
• Row 10: Elijah raises son of widow of Sareptha; Jacob blesses Ephraim and Manasseh; Elijah meets widow of Sareptha.
• Row 09: King David with pelican feeding young on her own blood.
• Row 08: Abraham takes Isaac to Mount Moriah for sacrifice; Descent from the Cross; Abraham is stopped from sacrificing Isaac.
• Row 07: Jonah near Ninevah (*).
• Row 06: Moses shows brass serpent; Adam collects blood at the foot of the cross (*); Israelites mark their doorposts with blood of the lamb (tau).
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Window 006 - Good Samaritan
Bottom to top, left to right. Circles start at 6 o'clock, proceed left to right:
• Panels 9,10,11: Samaritan binds his wounds, places the man on his donkey, and takes him to a waiting inn-keeper.
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• Quadrant 12: Samaritan cares for wounded man at the inn.
• Quadrant 13: God creates man, (breathing into Adam the breath of life?).
• Center 14: Adam in paradise.
• Quadrant 15: God makes woman from rib ('tsela') as Adam sleeps. The appearance of the legs matching both Adam and Eve is a beautiful bit of work, rich with symbolism.
• Quadrant 16: God forbids the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. Note the red serpent already coiled about the trunk.
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Window 018 - The Crucifixion, Occulus (restored).
Jesus is flanked by Mary and Saint John. Adam and Eve sit as his feat, his blood atoning for their sin.
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original (4295076105)
Window 006 - Good Samaritan (restored)
Bottom to top, left to right. Circles start at 6 o'clock, proceed left to right:
• Panels 1,2,3: Cobblers, the donors of the window
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• Quadrant 4: Jesus tells a parable.
• Quadrant 5: Man leaves Jerusalem for Jericho
• Center 6, quadrant 7: Thieves leap out to attack and rob him
• Quadrant 8: Priest and levite pass by without helping.
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• Panels 9,10,11: Samaritan binds his wounds, places the man on his donkey, and takes him to a waiting inn-keeper.
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• Quadrant 12: Samaritan cares for wounded man at the inn.
• Quadrant 13: God creates man, (breathing into Adam the breath of life?).
• Center 14: Adam in paradise.
• Quadrant 15: God makes woman from rib ('tsela') as Adam sleeps. The appearance of the legs matching both Adam and Eve is a beautiful bit of work, rich with symbolism.
• Quadrant 16: God forbids the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. Note the red serpent already coiled about the trunk.
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• Panel 17: They sit under the tree (a first step toward sin, perhaps?).
• Panel 18: Satan tempts them and they eat. Note the dark, ominous red background which echoes the serpent from Quadrant 16, and contrasts with the refreshing blue of the previous.
• Panel 19: God calls to them, but they hide and make fig-leaf aprons.
• Quadrant 20: Cherubim drives them from the garden and tree of life.
• Quadrant 21: Adam digs while Eve spins with a distaff.
• Center 22: God/Christ judges their sin but also promises redemption. {? makes covenant with them)
• Quadrant 23: Cain takes an axe to Abel's head; the first murder. Abel's name can be made out in text below the panel. Like Abel--and the man in the parable--we have fallen victim to a fallen world, and lie wounded and bleeding.
• Quadrant 24: Christ sits to redeem and judge, surrounded by angels. Reminds us that he is the ultimate figure to whom the parable of the Samaritan points.
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Chartres, north side, center portal
INNER ARCH
• Eighth archivolt: Creation and Fall [bottom to top]
Note cruciform nimbus, identifying creator as Christ.
(12) & (13) Adam and Even happy in Eden [with God holding a book of law? commandments?]
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INNER ARCH
• Eighth archivolt: Creation and Fall [bottom to top]
(6) Creation of birds and fish. To the left, Adam is in God's mind.
Note cruciform nimbus, identifying creator as Christ.
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Chartres, north side, center portal
INNER ARCH
• Eighth archivolt: Creation and Fall [bottom to top]
(17) Driven from Eden; note angel with flaming sword;
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Chartres, north side, center portal
INNER ARCH
• Eighth archivolt: Creation and Fall [bottom to top]
(14) Temptation
(We note God's absence during this and the previous.)
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