Physical description
Christ is shown in the centre with a basket containing the fishes. The disciples are at each side of him and the people are seated on the ground before him. The background is of a blue chequer pattern.
Place of Origin
France (made)
Date
late 12th century to early 13th century (made)
Artist/maker
Unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Clear and coloured glass with painted details
Dimensions
Height: 44.6 cm framed, Width: 51.4 cm framed, Height: 43.0 cm sight, Width: 50.0 cm sight, Weight: 6.1 kg framed
Object history note
(1188) Romanesque cathedral at Troyes destroyed in a fire.
(1208) Bishop Hervé begins the rebuilding. By the time of his death in 1223 the choir was completed except for aisles and chapels.
(1849-1866) Renovations in the cathedral. Much of the glass was dispersed and those that survived were subsequently dispersed.
One view (see Grodecki, Lafond) is that these panels (C.105-108-1919) were made for the Romanesque Cathedral at Troyes; they survived the fire and were re-used in the new Cathedral, with additions of borders to make them fit the new window openings. They were put in the Lady Chapel sometime after 1223.
More recent opinion suggests that they could have come from another church in Troyes, perhaps from St-Etienne; still dating from c.1170-80 with 13th century additions.
The panels had been on loan from J. Pierpont Morgan Sr. from 24 January 1910.
Historical context note
(Little, Gesta, 1981) has identified what he feels to be four series of narrative glass originally from Troyes Cathedral. Two of these series relate to panels in the V&A. This information is taken from the descriptions recorded in the 19th century by Arnaud, Guilhermy and Fichot:
1) St Nicholas series:
- one panel in the V&A (C.106-1919) and one in the Musée de Cluny
- have borders added in 13th century to fit the new apertures
- were reused in the ambulatory chapels
- however, it is possible that the St Nicholas series may have come from another church in Troyes
2) Temptation series
- two panels in V&A (C.107-108-1919), one in Canadian private collection
- earliest known of this subject
- the story of the Temptations of Christ are recorded in some depth in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke and referred to in passing only in Mark.
- the traditional art historical understanding of the ordering of the temptations is as follows:
The command to turn stones into bread
The taking of Christ up to the top of the temple and challenging him to thrown himself down.
The taking of Christ up a mountain and offering him dominion over all the kingdoms of the world.
- however, the temptations as recorded in Matthew are as above but in Luke the order is as follows:
Stones, mountain, temple
Little makes reference to an illustrated psalter from Paris, dated to about 1200, which shows the temptations in an expanded format. Arnaud's descriptions of these panels in 1837 only record the usual scenes but with one addition - a scene of Christ with a vase full of gold and silver coins at his feet (the whereabouts of this panel is not known).
For this Temptation series, Little proposes a 6-scene window and suggests that the whole window would have been too small for the openings in the pre-fire Romanesque cathedral at Troyes and so believes that these panels were probably originally in a smaller church.
Descriptive line
Panel of clear and coloured glass with painted details. Depicting Christ Feeding the Five Thousand. From Troyes, France, 12th and 13th centuries.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
A. F. Arnaud, Voyage archaeologique et pitteresque dans le department l'Aube, 1837
F. de Guilhermy, Paris Bib. Nat., ms. Nouv.acq. 61111, fols., 117-119
Bernard Rackham, Guide to the Collections of Stained Glass, V&A, London, 1936
Louis Grodecki, '?', Bulletin de la Societé nationale des Antiquaires de France, 1954/5, p.127
Jean Lafond, Les Vitraux de la Cathédrale de Saint-Pierre de Troyes, Paris, 1957
Louis Grodecki, Le Vitrail francais, Paris, Musée des Arts Decoratifs, 1958
Louis Grodecki, 'Problemes de la peinture en Champagne pendant la seconde moitié du douxieme siecle', Acts of the Twentieth International Congress of the History of Art, vol. I, 1963, pp.129-141
J. Squilbeck, 'La Tentation du Christ au désert et le Belliger Insignia', Bulletin des Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, 38/9, Brussels, 1966-7, p.129
C. Fichot, Statistique monumentale de Départment de l'Aube, Troyes, 1894, III, pp.33-43
Object Information File, C&G office files
The Year 1200: a Symposium, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1975
Charles T. Little, 'Membra Disjecta: More Early Stained Glass from Troyes Cathedral', Gesta, XX/I (1981), pp.119-127
Matthew 4: 1-11 Mark 1: 12-13 Luke 4: 1-13
Materials
Glass
Techniques
Painting; Pot metal
Subjects depicted
Jesus Christ; Fish
Categories
Religion; Christianity; Stained Glass
Collection code
CER
