Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Gilles: Front facade--the unidentified apostles of the right side of the central portal; and the archangels (page 3 of three pages)





These four apostles are a symmetrical match to those on the left hand side. However, they have not been identified. Stoddard refers to them numerically as 3, 4, 5, and 6. (1 and 2 are the two statues on the right portal splay.)
 

Statues 3 and 4

The drapery style and drapery at the lower hem level are different in these four from the four on the opposite side. However, Number 4 does have crossed legs, like Thomas. The head of 3 is the most complete of any of the Apostles.
 

Statues 5 and 6

Of these two Stoddard says, the drapery is much heavier and "all the folds are more plastically conceived, like Roman sculpture" (27). In 6 the drapery is especially notable--the strange curled form on his chest and in general the heavily undercut folds. It is characteristics like this which some scholars use to identify possible sculptors.
 


Return to page 1 of Saints and Angels.

Works consulted or quoted:
Whitney S. Stoddard. The Facade of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard: Its Influence on French Sculpture. Middletown, Conn: Wesleyan UP, 1973.


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© 2007 Mary Ann Sullivan. I have photographed (on site), scanned, and manipulated all the images on these pages. Please feel free to use them for personal or educational purposes. They are not available for commercial purposes.