SLIDE 2

o General information about the tomb:

o Italian marble used for the lower part (mourners)

o Dinai marble (black) used for the lower part and the slab on which the effigy is

rested

o The effigy is a 19th century replica, realised according to engravings

o It is made of polychromed alabaster, with additions that come from the real marble

effigy

SLIDE 3

o In the context of studying Philip the Bold’s patronage and his tomb, it is impossible

to be devoid of considering the place in which the duke’s monument was conceived

for, the Chartreuse of Champmol, in the newly conquered land of Burgundy.

o The Duke needed to create a religious foundation after conquering the region – he

founded a Carthusian monastery, for the unusual number of 24 monks and

dedicated the church to the Virgin Mary and Trinity.

o The church was completed supposedly at the same time as the tomb, at the

beginning of the 1410s.

SLIDE 4

o The will recites “I choose the site for my burial in the church of the convent of the

charter house in Dijon, in the place called Champmol, whose construction was

initiated by me and I order that my body is placed and buried in the aformentioned

church”.

o Philip the Bold died in 1404 in Halle and was brought all the way to France from the

Low Countries. His body was laid in a cellar beneath the church, while his

monumental tomb was installed in the chancel, in front of the altar.

o It is important to take into consideration the surroundings of the tomb – though

very briefly – to notice that the presence of the Duke is not manifested only thought

his tomb; his heraldry was spread around the place, depicted in the portal, both in

painting and sculptural relief.

o Every part of this environment that PTB created aimed at celebrating his family and

primarily himself, his grandeur, both as a man engaged in political matters, but also

as a great patron of the arts.

SLIDE 5

o The tomb represents the serene body of Philip the Bold, his eyes open, his hands

joint in prayer. His crowned head is resting on a red pillow, behind which two angels

(which come from the original effigy) hold a helmet, gesturing the dressing of a

knight.

o This might be assertive of the duke’s political power.

o The Duke is dressed in a mantle that features blue, gold and white, the colours –

together with the red of the pillow – of his family. He also holds a sceptre in his

hand. These clothes, as well as the tomb in its entirety, are unusual for the setting

for which the monument was conceived. The Carthusian were a monastic order that

lived a very ‘essential’ life and we know that PTB requested to be buried in

Carthusian clothes. Clash between his body and the effigy – almost like a hidden

transi?

o At the bottom of the covered effigy rests a lion at his feet, typical of the iconography

of medieval tombs in the 13th and 14th century.

SLIDE 6

o Following the same level of vitality that the upper level coveys by means of depicting

(even through the polychromy) PTB as alive (perhaps resurrected, as we know he

firmly believed in resurrection) rather than dead, the lower level features a

procession of almost fourty mourners. The scene, set in movement, gives a rhythm

to the monument.

o Each mourner has an individualised gesture and pose; I will say something about

them later, when trying to reconstruct the complex historiography of the monument

SLIDE 7

o The very detailed accounts for the creation of this monuments depends primarily on

the accounts for the creation of the Chartreuse.

o Read quickly and notify that a more detailed time line, drawn out of the Drouout

article (translated by me) is in the handout.

SLIDE 8

o Primary issue is trying to assign each parts to the right craftsman; we most certainly

know that Sluter envisaged the ‘design’ of the monument, while de Werve sculpted

most of the surviving parts.

o Jean de Marville, the first ever to be commissioned the work, attempted at giving

breadth to the alabaster architectures in the lower lever. He did so by means of

detaching the little white columns from the ‘corpus’ of the tomb chest. In doing so,

he creates a new effect of three-dimensionality by creating an interplay of

architecture. The ogives are alternated in shape, paired in two in a rectangular

format, and then changed to a triangular recess indicated by the single column.

o Sluter ‘gave life’ as Pierre Quarré, curator at the MBA Dijon, to the cortege of

mourners. They are liberated from their “architectural prison” and free to walk

around, interacting with the space in which they are placed and with each other.

SLIDE 9

o Another innovative aspect was the importance given to the angels, who kneel

directly on the marble tombstone and tenderly watch over the duke with expression

that combine distress [linking them to the mourners below] and serenity [belief in

resurrection symbolised by the opened eyes of the gisant - also this is a clear sign of

the style of Claus de Werve, whose style was softer than the rigid Sluter]

SLIDE 10

o DESTRUCTION OF THE TOMB 1792-93: it seems that already from 1791 the tomb

was not intact, although it is not possible to know the degree of damage at such an

early stage. More information is to be found in the chronicles about the Chartreuse,

although there is not much recalled about the tomb itself between 1410 - a rough

year of its installation in the choir - and the years of the Revolution.

o 1789-91: suppression of the Chartreuse. 19 February 1790 the Carthusian order

ceased to exist and the monks were forced to leave the Chartreuse a few months

after. Here the real destruction started, after the monastery had been abandoned. 4

May 1791, the site is sold to Emmanuel Crétet.

o The director of the School of Drawing of Dijon was concerned with moving the tomb

to the Church of Saint Benigne in July 1791; the installation was organised in a short

time.

o What was saved of the tomb? parts of the effigy, almost all the statuettes and the

inscription on the slab, the black slabs survive, though they had been damaged.

o By mid-1792, all the tombs had been transferred; nonetheless, in 1793, it had been

decided that the tombs were to be destroyed, as they celebrated despotic rulers,

against the ideas of the Revolution. The effigies were completely destroyed. The

pieces that had been subtracted to this fate, spread around, passing from one

private owner to another. The mourners were collected both from PTB and JTF

tombs (80 in total) - in 1794 there were only around 60 left.

o The museum opened in 1799 and 10 more mourners were found in the years

between the relocation of the tomb and now.

SLIDE 11

o RESTORATION OF THE TOMB BETWEEN 1819 AND 1826: Saint-père started the first

restoration in 1819.

o In 1820, SP commissioned a “big chest in the shape of the tomb to situate the pieces

in the same was as they originally were placed”. Followed by the physical restoration

of the damaged pieces of the mourners. Materials used were isinglass (to glue

pieces together) and a massive cleaning. Many more people were involved in this

complex process of cleaning and reconstructing the damaged tomb of PTB.

o 1823 discussion about where to locate the tombs, whether to place them in the

Museum or not. The Grande Salle du Palais des Ducs was acquired by the museum in

1823, therefore the decision of placing both tombs there. The decision of the place

was made both to remember the memory of the Dukes and their grandeur and to

highlight the “weight” that historically these tombs had.

o 1824 and issues in mounting the tomb of PTB in situ in the museum, due to the

usage of unsuitable mounting tools, the slab on which the effigy rested was too

heavy to be lifted by the equipment used by the team. 20 August 1824, the

monument is placed and the restoration is completely finished.

o [1847: Auguste Mathieu - La salle des Gardes au Musee de Dijon en 1847 painting]

o Iron bars were installed around the tomb by SP in 1826.

o 1841: idea of reinstalling the tombs in the Dijon cathedral of St Benigne; Fevret de

Saint-Memin, another specialist involved in the restoration of the tombs, advised

against it, bringing into play issues of further deterioration of the tombs, and a

massive cost of removal/reinstallment.

SLIDE 12

o Picture

SLIDE 13

o 1900-1930: reconsidering the order of the mourners, reestablishing it according to

18th century drawing by Lesage. The missing mourners trying to be located, perhaps

ended in private collections? 1945 Pierre Quarré found three more and put them

back in their original place. Four were acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art and

two have disappeared. In the 1990s more original parts were located: 1991 slab

from the tomb.

o 2003-2005 new restoration: fastening of the mourners (though not sure to reflect

the original layout) to ensure security. Soot covering the statues led to more drastic

decisions of intervening on the monument.

o Alabaster stone for the arcades? Jean Délivré: original canopy obtained in 1991

made of marble. Crucial discovery as the restorations since the 19th used alabaster

instead, adhering to the textual sources rather than paying attention to the

physicality of the monument itself.

o LESAGE DRAWINGS AND ISSUES OF DETACHING THE TOMB FROM ITS CONTEXT?

Perhaps because there has been a lack of linearity in the physical location of this

monument that, being in a different place than that of origin, is not as important?

SLIDE 14

o Further comments on the drawings

SLIDE 15

o Brief thoughts on Gilquin

SLIDE 16

o Read quote in English: “These figures are very well sculpted and finished with great

care and we have such a high consideration of them that those who are curious,

everyday, [try to] steal some. Perhaps we might have lost the succession of all these

rares pieces if the Carthusians had not managed to preserve the remains of such a

precious oeuvre by means of iron grills that are still placed around the tombs

nowadays”