Physical description
Christ to the left, with a book in his hand. He is being carried by Satan who is represented as a green demon with snakes coming out of his head. The temple is seen to the right. Border of yellow, green and blue foliage pattern.
Place of Origin
Champagne-Ardenne, France (made)
Date
ca. 1170-1180 (made)
Artist/maker
unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Clear and coloured glass with painted details.
Marks and inscriptions
see note
Dimensions
Height: 46.2 cm, Width: 48.2 cm, Weight: 5.6 kg
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.
It has been considered 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. It has been believed that they were put in the Lady Chapel sometime after 1223. This assumption was based on three 19th century descriptions (see Arnaud, Guilhermy and Fichot) describing the panel in the cathedral.
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. Little (see bibliography) conjectures that the panel was originally in the Collegiate Church of Saint-Etienne in Troyes. This is based on the size of the panel and a reconstruction of the entire narrative window from the surviving panels of the cycle. The proposed reconstruction and the measurements (albeit from little surviving evidence) would fit the narrow axial lancet chapel windows at Saint-Etienne).
This panel along with Museum number C.107-1919, panels in the Musée Cluny in Paris and Montreal formed part of a Temptation of Christ window. The Montreal panel shows Christ seated upon the Temple with the devil tempting him to throw himself down. The Cluny panel shows Christ ministered to by angels after the third temptation.
The panels had been on loan from J. Pierpont Morgan Sr. from 24 January 1910.
Historical context note
(Matthew 4: 5-6) If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down; for it is written He shall give his angels charge concerning thee and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
The image on this panel shows the devil carrying Christ towards the temple. This is the first stage of the Second Temptation (as recorded by Matthew) or the Third Temptation (as recorded by Luke) in which they say that the devil brought Christ to Jerusalem and then set him upon the pinnacle of the temple.
The more usual representation of this temptation is that of Christ seated upon the pinnacle of the temple. There is another panel, in a private collection in Canada, showing Christ seated on the pinnacle which Little (Gesta, 1981) states is the second part of this panel.
(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 int he V&A. This information is taken from the descriptions recorded in the 19th century by Arnaud, Guilhermy and Fichot:
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 part of the Second Temptation of Christ. France, Troyes, 12th and 13th centuries.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Williamson, Paul. Medieval and Renaissance Stained Glass in the Victoria and Albert Museum. London, 2003. ISBN 1851774041
F. de Guilhermy, Paris Bib. Nat., ms. Nouv.acq. 61111, fols., 117-119
A. F. Arnaud, Voyage archaeologique et pitteresque dans le department l'Aube, 1837
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: 5-6 Luke 4: 9
Louis Grodecki, Le Moyen Age Retrouvé, Paris, 1986
fig. 229
Louis Grodecki, Le Vitrail romain, Fribourg, 1977
E.C. Pastan. 'Fit for a Count: the twelfth-century stained glass panels from Troyes', Speculum, vol.64, n.2 (1989), pp.338-72
Les vitraux de Champagne-Ardenne, CVMA France, Recensement 4 (Paris, 1992), p.239
Paul Williamson, ed., The Medieval Treasury, V&A, 1996
Production Note
Possibly originally from the Collegiate Church of Saint-Etienne, Troyes.
Materials
Glass
Techniques
Painting; Pot metal
Subjects depicted
Jerusalem; Snake; Jesus Christ; Satan; Temptation; Wing
Categories
Christianity; Stained Glass
Collection code
CER
