Cultural and Artistic Antecedents : Chartres 341 



sister at the English court. King Henry's sister, Adela, Countess 

 of Blois and of Chartres, made gifts to the cathedral about this time, 

 and was generous to it on various occasions. ^ Already in the epis- 

 copate of Fulbert (1008—1028), who conducted a famous school 

 at Chartres,^ Canute ' greatly helped the building of the cathedral 

 of Chartres.' ^ William the Conqueror gave a bell to Chartres which 

 was called by his name,"* so that England had for a long series of 

 years been interested in the cathedral and its bishops. 



Under these circumstances, it would not be surprising if Chartres 

 had exerted an influence upon the sculpture of our crosses, 

 an influence which is perhaps best suggested by the group of 

 the Visitation^ in the right tympanum of the west front, by the 

 Fhght into Egypt of a storied capital,^ and by vines between the 



1 Bulteau 1. 73, note 2. The Diet. Nat. Biog. (1. 135) says : ' It was through 

 her energy and beneficence that the cathedral of Chartres was rebuilt in 

 .stone, and freed from all taxation.' 



2 Taylor, The Mediaeval Mind 1. 296 ff. ; Clerval, Les Ecoles de Chartres 

 au Moyen-Age, pp. 31 ff., 194 ff. 



3 Diet. Nat. Biog. 9. 4. 

 * Bulteau 1. 71. 



^ See above, p. 48. 



6 See above, p. 52. Enlart (Michel, Hist, de VArt [2. 205 ; cf. 1^. 517-8]) 

 compares the west front of Rochester Cathedral mth that of Chartres. He 

 speaks of the statues of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba at Rochester, 

 and declares that, while smaller than those of Chartres, they are absolutely 

 of the same style. These he would date after the portal, and the portal itself 

 about 1160. Keyser {List of Norman Tympana, p. XVII) is of a similar 

 opinion : ' The series of figures on the arch mouldings, the statues between 

 the jamb shafts, and the treatment of the subject of " The Majesty " on the 

 tympanum,' all show the influence of ' Bourges, Chartres, Le Mans, and other 

 doorways of the great Romanesque churches in France.' Enlart (2. 204 ; cf. P. 

 518) also finds an analogy between the human figures, mingled with vine- 

 scrolls and dragons, on the door-jambs of the south portal and on the 

 triumphal arch at Kil(l)peck, near Hereford, and the style of the west door- 

 way of Chartres. The west front of Chartres is also compared mth some 

 rich Norman work on the ruined church of Shobdon (also in Herefordshire) 

 by Parker {Introd. to Goth. Arch., p. 78 ; cf. Michel 2. 205). The vine-scroll 

 with figurines on a shaft of the west front of Chartres is brought by 

 Marriage (Sculpt, of Chartres Cath., p. 44 ; see p. 80, above) into relation 

 with similar work on the west door of Lincoln Cathedral (cf. Viollet-le-Duc 8. 

 108, 210). The tympanum of Malmesbury is perhaps inspired by sculpture at 

 the abbey of Moissac (cf. Angles, LAhbaye de Moissac), according to Enlart 

 (Michel 2. 205), who finds the same style in sculpture at Bristol, York, and 



Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. XVII. 23 (129) 



