This panel most likely depicts a prophet which would originally have formed part of a large Jesse Tree window.
Jesse was the father of King David. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would come from the House of David and wrote (11:1-3):
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
Jesse Trees were common in 12th and 13th century medieval art. They are intended to show the geneology of Jesus Christ which is described in the Gospel of St. Matthew.
Most Jesse Trees have a reclining figure of Jesse at the bottom with a vine or tree growing up from him. The branches of the tree hold, in the centre, kings from the line of David. Flanking these kings are figures of prophets who foretold the coming of Christ and proclaimed his ancestry.
Recent research has suggested that this panel and another one in the V&A (C.125-1929) came from a Jesse Tree window in Soissons Cathedral in France.
Soissons Cathedral and many of its windows were greatly damaged in the 16th and 19th centuries. Some of the damaged glass had been replaced with glass from another church and extensive restoration work has confused the original iconography.
Physical description
Depicts a man with long hair and beard standing facing to the left. The background is blue and the man wears a green tunic and red mantle. He holds a scroll in his left hand.
Place of Origin
France (probably, made)
Date
ca. 1250 (made)
Artist/maker
Unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Glass with painted details
Dimensions
Height: 47.0 cm, Width: 14.6 cm
Object history note
According to Caviness, this panel , C.125-1929 and one in Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts, USA are all that survive from a Jesse Tree window. Their style is similar to those at the Sainte-Chapelle.
She believes they came from Soissons because the figures are similar in style to figures from some Soissons panels which no longer survive and are only known from photographs. We don't know if Soissons even had a Jesse window but it is likely that they did.
Louis Grodecki believed that artists from Sainte-Chapelle worked at Soissons because there are similarities in the painting style of the faces and hair.
Soissons Cathedral was heavily damaged in a Huguenot attack in 1567.
In 1815 two powder magazines exploded near the cathedral and destroyed nearly all the windows in the nave and damaged some in the ambulatory.
This glass was replaced with some from the abbey church of St. Yved in Braine.
In the 1860s major restoration work was undertaken.
In the 1880s the glass was removed and much glass was dispersed before WWI.
The surviving windows suffered extensivc restorations that have altered original settings and compositions. Whole windows were transferred from their original locations.
Historical context note
This panel most likely depicts a prophet which would originally have formed part of a large Jesse Tree window.
Jesse was the father of King David. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would come from the House of David and wrote (11:1-3):
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
Jesse Trees were common in 12th and 13th century medieval art. They are intended to show the geneology of Jesus Christ which is described in the Gospel of St. Matthew.
Most Jesse Trees have a reclining figure of Jesse at the bottom with a vine or tree growing up from him. The branches of the tree hold, in the centre, kings from the line of David. Flanking these kings are figures of prophets who foretold the coming of Christ and proclaimed his ancestry.
Recent research has suggested that this panel and another one in the V&A (C.125-1929) came from a Jesse Tree window in Soissons Cathedral in France.
Soissons Cathedral and many of its windows were greatly damaged in the 16th and 19th centuries. Some of the damaged glass had been replaced with glass from another church and extensive restoration work has confused the original iconography.
Descriptive line
Panel of clear, coloured and flashed glass with painted details. Depicting a prophet from a Jesse Tree. French, c.1250
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Caviness, Madeline H. and Virginia Chieffo Raguin. Another Dispersed Window from Soissons: A Tree of Jesse in the Sainte-Chapelle Style. In: Gesta XX/1 (1981). pp.191-198.
Relates this panel to another in the Museum (C.125-1929) and to one in the Worcester Art Museum (Massachusetts).
Labels and date
TWO PROPHETS
These two prophets must have come from a window dedicated to the Tree of Jesse, a symbolic representation of the genealogy of Christ. They would have been on the left and right sides respectively, flanking seated figures of kings. This window, executed in a style very similar to that found in the glass of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, was probably in Soissons Cathedral, and another prophet figure from it is now in the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts (U.S.A.).
France, about 1250
Museum nos. C.125-1929, C.3-1983 [(PW) 2003]
Production Note
Probably from the same workshop as earlier panels in the Sainte-Chapelle, Paris.
Materials
Glass
Techniques
Painting; Pot metal
Subjects depicted
Prophet
Categories
Stained Glass
Collection code
CER
