Photo
[Ed. Hautecœur, Paris.
“CHIMÈRES.”
The second story of the façade is occupied by a noble arcade which shelters twenty-eight colossal statues. This is known as La Galerie des Rois, and stretches across the entire width of the front. The statues were formerly believed to be conventional representations of the ancient kings of France, but they are doubtless intended for the kings of Judah as ancestors of the Virgin. A similar feature will be found as part of the façade of Amiens. There, however, the statues are at a greater height from the ground, and are twenty-two in number. Above the Galerie des Rois at Paris there is a graceful open arcade of slender arches and columns. The five large statues here date only from the year 1854. The third main division has in the centre a vast wheel window with open tracery, while in each of the lateral bays we have pointed arches with twin pointed openings and small circular panels in the tympanum. The vacant space in the spandrels of each division is occupied by a trefoil panel. At Amiens once more we meet with a main division similarly composed. At Notre Dame, immediately over the division containing the wheel window, is an open arcaded screen of gigantic proportions, surmounted by a parapet or pierced cornice behind which rise the two towers. So dexterously has this arcade been planned, so graceful are its lines, so delicate its details, that the impression which it leaves on the mind—in spite of the solidity of its construction and the vastness of its scale—is almost that of some such unsubstantial material as lace. To the platform supported by this screen everybody should ascend, if only to make the acquaintance of the famous Chimères or “Devils of Notre Dame.” This collection of specimens of fantastic sculptured zoology is without parallel in Europe. These weird beasts which scowl from their point of vantage upon the French metropolis fascinated the great etcher Méryon, and more recently they have formed the subject of a series of admirable drawings by Mr. Joseph Pennell, the value of which has been enhanced by an essay, partly descriptive, partly philosophical, from the pen of the late R. A. M. Stevenson. The chimères are not merely curious examples of the extravagantly grotesque. Their horror lies, not in their departure from natural forms, but in the fact that, while the features of various beasts or monsters are retained, they are impressed with characteristics of ferocity and cunning which are essentially diabolical or suggestive of the lowest depths of human depravity. They have nothing in common with the crude and impossible gargoyles so frequently found in buildings erected when the pointed style was in its decadence. Speaking roughly, their anatomy is possible: it is conceivable that they should breathe and live.
Photo
[Ed. Hautecœur, Paris.
“CHIMÈRES.”