[146] The same feat can be seen in St. Nizier at Troyes, rebuilt in 1528 and literally filled with XVI-century glass. Its best window is in the transept (1552), and shows the beasts of heresy trampled upon, for that day was nothing if not controversial. In a central window of the choir, the Descent of the Holy Ghost, the artist made the hands of a figure in one panel appear in the neighboring panel, regardless of the stone mullions. In 1901 an anarchist bomb exploded in St. Nizier, and in 1910 a terrible storm wrecked more of its windows. The church possesses a Saint Sépulcre and a Christ de Pité in which the Gothic spirit lingers. Its reredos, now in the Museum, was from the Juliot atelier. Her international fairs early accustomed Troyes to foreign influences. Flemish realism had fortified her sculptors and vitrine artists, and during the first third of the XVI century (when the trade of the city tripled itself) the new Italian ideas found favor. For a generation the just and loyal measure of Champagne’s own Gothic tradition held the leadership, but finally the Italian Renaissance conquered. When abstract types were substituted for types precisely observed, imagery became cold, declamatory, and pretentious. In several of the churches of Troyes will be found the Education of the Virgin by her mother, St. Anne, a theme for which this city had a partiality.
[147] Abbé O. F. Jossier, Monographie des vitraux de St. Urbain de Troyes (Troyes, 1912); E. Lefèvre-Pontalis, “Jean Langlois, architecte de St. Urbain de Troyes,” in Bulletin Monumental, 1904, vol. 64, p. 93; Albert Barbeau, St. Urbain de Troyes (Troyes, Dufour-Bonquot, 1891), 8vo; Viollet-le-Duc, Dictionnaire de l’architecture, vol. 4, pp. 182-192; Abbé Lahore, L’église Saint-Urbain (1891).
[148] Within walking distance of Troyes are Ste. Maure, with a Jesse tree by Linard Gontier; Les Noès, with good sculpture and a Jesse-tree window of 1521; St. André-lès-Troyes, with a lovely St. Catherine statue; St. Parre-les-Tertres, with a Vision of Augustus in camaïeu like a magnificent enamel on white glass, and another grisaille-like Vision of Augustus at St. Léger-lès-Troyes (1558); Chapelle St. Luc, with a triptych on wood, sculpture of the Three Maries, and good glass; Torvilliers, Pont-Ste.-Marie, and Montgueux, with other objets d’art. Eight miles away, at Verrières, is the best portal of the region and more late-Gothic glass. There are storied windows at St. Loup, St. Ponanges, Rosnay, Brienne, Rouilly (with a good Virgin image), Pouvres, Chavanges, Bar-sur-Seine, Bar-sur-Aube (with a statue of St. Barbara), Mussy-sur-Seine, Montier-en-Der, Arcis-sur-Aube, and Ceffonds, whose windows were the gift of Étienne Chévalier (1528). Some thirty miles away lies St. Florentin (six miles from Pontigny), where are twenty splendid Renaissance lights, among them a Creation window (1525), with God the Father wearing the tiara, one of 1528 telling St. Nicolas’ life in quatrains describing each scene, and a 1529 window devoted to the Apocalypse. Between Troyes and St. Florentin lies Ervy, where is a Crucifixion window (1570), showing the Saviour nailed to a Tree of Knowledge Cross with apples and leaves on its top, and Adam and Eve standing below. There are also the noted windows of the Sibyls (1515), representing twelve instead of ten prophetesses, each accompanied by the event of the New Law which she is said to have foretold, and the window called the Triumph of Petrarch (1502).
[149] Of the same appealing type as St. Martha at Troyes are the Virgin and Madeleine of the Holy Sepulcher group at Villeneuve l’Archevêque (Yonne), where are also some beautiful portal images of the XIII century. M. Ch. Fichot has brought forward testimony that would indicate the image called St. Martha in the church of the Madeleine is really one of St. Mary Magdelene herself. However, the majority of those who have written on the sculpture of Champagne continue to call it a St. Martha.
[150] Congrès Archéologique, 1855, 1875, and 1911, p. 447, the cathedral of Châlons; p. 473, Notre-Dame-en-Vaux; p. 496, St. Alpin; p. 512, Notre-Dame-de-l’Épine; E. Lefèvre-Pontalis, “L’architecture dans la Champagne méridionale au XIIIe et au XVIe siècle,” in Congrès Archéologique, 1902, p. 273; ibid., “Les caractères distinctifs des écoles gothiques de la Champagne et de la Bourgogne,” in Congrès Archéologique, 1907, p. 546; Louis Demaison, Les églises de Châlons-sur-Marne (Caen, 1913); E. de Barthélemy, Diocèse ancien de Châlons-sur-Marne. Histoire et monuments (Paris, 1861), 2 vols.; E. Hurault, La cathédrale de Châlons-sur-Marne et sa clergé au XIIIe siècle; A. J. de H. Bushnell, Storied Windows, chapter 34, on the windows of Châlons (New York, Macmillan Company, 1914); Abbé E. Musset, Notre Dame-de-l’Épine près Châlons-sur-Marne. La légende, l’histoire, le monument et le pèlerinage (Paris, Champion, 1902); Chanoine Marsaux, “La prédiction de la sibylle et la vision d’Auguste,” in Bulletin Monumental, 1908, p. 235.
[151] Congrès Archéologique, 1890, Toul. In the series of Villes d’art célèbres, published by H. Laurens (Paris), are studies on Tournai, Ipres, and Avila: Henri Guerlin, Ségovie, Avila, Salamanque; Henri Hymans, Gand et Tournai and Bruges et Ypres.
[152] L. Petit de Julleville, Histoire de la langue et de la littérature française, dirigée par (Paris, Colin et Cie, 1841-1901), 8 vols. In vols. 1 and 2 the Middle Ages are treated by Léon Gautier, Gaston Paris, and Joseph Bédier; Gaston Paris, La littérature française au moyen âge (Paris, Hachette, 1890); ibid., Les origines de la poésie lyrique, en France au moyen âge (Paris, 1892); Léon Gautier, Origines et histoire des épopées françaises (Paris, V. Palme, 1878-94), 4 vols.; Joseph Bédier, Les légends épiques (Paris, H. Champion, 1908-13), 4 vols.; P. Tarbé, Les chansonniers de Champagne (1851); Delaborde, Notice historique sur le château de Joinville. Haute-Marne (Joinville, 1891); Natalis de Wailly, éd., Jean, sire de Joinville, texte original accompagné d’une traduction. Translated into English, Bohns’ Antiquarian Library, VI, London; Bouchet, éd., Villehardouin (Paris, 1891). English translation by Sir F. T. Marzial (London, Everyman’s Library, 1908).
[153] Chanoine Boissonnot, La cathédrale de Tours (Tours, 1904); Paul Vitry, Tours et les châteaux de Touraine (Collection, Villes d’art célèbres), (Paris, H. Laurens, 1905); ibid., Michel Colombe et la sculpture française de son temps (Paris, 1901); Marchand et Bourassé, Verrières du chœur de l’église metropolitaine de Tours (Paris, 1849), folio; A. J. de H. Bushnell, Storied Windows, chapter 22, on Tours (New York and London, 1914); Charles de Grandmaison, Tours archéologique (Paris, 1879); Abbé Bossebœuf, Tours et ses monuments; Monseigneur Chevalier, Promenades pittoresques en Touraine (Tours, 1869); Abbé J. J. Bourassé, Recherches hist. et archéol. sur les églises romanes en Touraine (1869); L. Courajod, La sculpture française avant la Renaissance classique (Paris, 1891); Louis Gonse, La sculpture française depuis le XIVe siècle (Paris, 1895), folio; Giraudet, Histoire de la ville de Tours (Tours, 1873), 2 vols.; Chalmel, Histoire de Touraine (1841), 4 vols.; Henri Guerlin, La Touraine (Collection, Provinces françaises), (Paris, H. Laurens); L. Barron, La Loire (Fleuves de France), (Paris, H. Laurens); C. H. Petit-Dutaillis, Charles VII, Louis XI et les premières années de Charles VIII (Paris, Hachette, 1902).
[154] Behind the choir of Tours Cathedral, in the Place Grégoire de Tours, a veritable nook of the Middle Ages, are XII-century vestiges of the Episcopal Palace, a mansion of the XV century, and near by is the rue de la Psalette, in which Balzac set the scene of his Curé de Tours. Why has not Tours named her chief square and residential street for Balzac, her own son, instead of for Emile Zola? Balzac’s sister has told of the profound impression made on him by the cathedral of Tours, especially by its marvels of stained glass, so that all through the novelist’s life the mere name “St. Gatien” had the power to rouse him to the dreams and aspirations of his youth.
[155] R. de Lasteyrie, L’église St. Martin de Tours (Paris, 1891); Monsuyer, Histoire de l’abbaye de St. Martin; Henri Martin, Saint-Martin (Collection, L’art et les saints), (Paris, H. Laurens); Ed. Chévalier, Histoire de l’abbaye de Marmoutier (Tours, 1871), 2 vols. There are papers on the church of St. Julien de Tours in the Mémoires de la Soc. archéol. de Touraine, 1909, p. 13, and on St. Martin de Tours, 1907; also in the Bulletin Monumental, 1873, p. 830, on St. Symphorien de Tours. The abbatial of St. Julien, a contemporary of Tours Cathedral, is exceptionally pure Gothic. Its tower is Romanesque and in part dates before 1000.