Chartres North Exterior Slides 115

Chartres North Exterior Slides 115

Chartres, North side, right portal

INNER ARCH

• First archivolt: twelve angels bearing sun, moon, and stars.
• Second archivolt: life of Gideon
Right: (story starts in bottom left of arch, so these events are in reverse order)

† Dressed in armor (medieval!) he leads two Mideanites captive after defeating them in battle.
† Gideon wrings water from fleece;
† Gideon offers sacrifice;
† Gideon visited by angel while he winnows corn;
† Dragon;

• Third archivolt: life Judith (prefiguring Mary)

Right: (story starts in bottom left of arch, so these events are in reverse order)

† Judith has cut of head of Holofernes, which servant places in sack.
† Kneels at foot of Holofernes (note parallels with Esther opposite);

• Fourth archivolt: Tobias, son of Tobit, who restored vision to his father as Christ would to Israel (starting at top of arch, continued from bottom left of the arch);

† Tobias travels with dog (fidelity) and angel watching;
† Tobias meets Raguel, Sarah's father;
† Tobias marries Sarah, and they pray in bedroom on wedding night;

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