The façade of the house ([Plate LI.]) faces a small square in which stands a modern statue of Jacques Cœur. The main feature of this façade is a central pavilion ([Plate LII.]) which contains the main portal of the house comprising two entrances, the larger for horsemen and guests, the smaller for tradesmen and servants. Above the portal is a niche sheltered by a carved canopy, wherein an equestrian statue of Charles VII. originally stood. The niche is flanked by two false windows, and out of each leans a stone figure, one representing a man-servant, the other a maid-servant, both dressed in the costumes of the time, who peer out into the street as if to watch for the return of their lord. On the left of the pavilion rises a beautifully elaborated prism-shaped tower, within which winds a spiral staircase leading to a chapel. This chapel occupies nearly the whole of the first story of the front, and a great window that lights it opens above the entrance.
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The coat of arms of Jacques Cœur—three black cockle-shells and three crimson hearts, the latter in punning allusion to his name, with his motto "A vaillans cœurs rien impossible," the word "cœurs" being represented by two hearts—is frequently repeated in the carvings of the façade. Indeed everywhere throughout the building we find these emblems,—in the windows, in all the carvings, above the mantlepieces, even on the tiles of the roof, and the bell of the chapel; and the nail-heads of the door-fastenings are shaped like hearts.
The main entrance leads directly into the great courtyard, around which the various constructions which make up the whole are irregularly grouped. The design of the pavilion of the façade is repeated on the inner side, but in place of the statue of the king the niche was originally occupied by a statue of Jacques Cœur. To the left of the portal, under an arcade, is the entrance to the spiral stairway ([Plate LIII.]) which winds within the tower to the chapel. The tympana above the three openings to this stairway are carved in relief with rude but vigorous figures, the designs being appropriate to their situation. On the tympanum most plainly shown in our illustration, for example, the carving depicts three acolytes preparing an altar for service. Throughout the house the carvings are, after the same fashion, made characteristic of the rooms or entrances which they adorn: the carvings over the kitchen staircase represent culinary operations,—a roast hanging above the fire, a boy turning the spit, a woman washing plates, a cook grinding spices,—that leading to the dining-room is ornamented with fruit-trees, and so forth.
The principal side of the court, architecturally considered, is opposite the main entrance ([Plate LV.]). The chief feature of this side is a great octagonal tower which contains the stairway leading to a dining-hall situated on the first floor and corresponding in position to the chapel in the front wing. The north and west sides of the courtyard are surrounded, on the ground floor, by cloisters ([Plate LIV.]) above which were the living-rooms and household offices.
| PLATE LVI | HOUSE OF JACQUES CŒUR: THE CHAPEL |