Cet article est paru en français le 21 janvier 2009.
I already translated into English a post about the facade of Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais Church. Here is another one to point out the fact that, inside in the choir, one can find splendid stalls (seats for the clerics attending the mass). According to the Guide bleu, some of them date back to the reign of Henry II, the others are from the 17th century.
My interest was attracted to the scenes of daily life depicted on these stalls. The clothes suggest that the figures are from the 16th century and so these are stalls from Henry II's reign (1547-1559). You can notice that in these times, in sacred places, they did not mind depicting scenes that are far from religious...
- an intellectual (may be a cleric) in his study :
- a stone-cutter :
- a winegrower, a cooper, a wine merchant or... a wine lover :
- a couple dancing or... quarelling :
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- a scene with a man joining a woman bathing. They don't seem to be quarelling...
- a woman being blessedby a priest whereas behind her a figures seems far from benevolent... maybe a pick pocket :
-a surprising scene with a kneeling man on the right with a leg above his head. Maybe a surgeon (the 16th century is the epoch of the famous French surgeon Ambroise Paré at the beginning of modern medicine) :
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