Dijon – where the mustard comes from, of course! I rode into Dijon from the south, trucking my way through the world famous vineyards of the Côte d’Or. The capital city of Burgundy has a reputation for good food to match its fine wines. The city centre features a number of notable buildings – a ducal palace, Gothic churches – from the later Middle Ages when the duchy was at the height of its political influence and a centre of European art. This golden age in Burgundian history began with Duke Philip the Bold.
Philip was born in 1342, the fourth child of the French king Jean le Bon, who was captured at the battle of Poitiers and imprisoned in London with the 14 year old Philip. After their release in 1360, as an expression of gratitude for his support, Jean invested Philip with the duchy of Burgundy, so beginning a Valois line of four dukes who ruled until 1477. During this century the duchy reached its greatest extent; through successful military campaigns and judicious marriage, the dukes acquired several provinces in the Netherlands. Dutch and Flemish artists from this region led artistic developments in Europe during the fifteenth century; at the beginning of this “Northern Renaissance” stands the sculptor, Claus Sluter.
We know so much more about the life of Claus Sluter than we do about the other two great medieval sculptors, Gilbert of Autun and the Master of Naumburg. He was born in Haarlem in the Netherlands, probably about 1360, though the exact year is not known. His name appears in a register of sculptors and stonemasons in Brussels before 1385. In 1385 Sluter entered the service of the duke in Dijon as an assistant to the court sculptor, Jean de Marville, who died in 1389, at which point Sluter was appointed his successor. He held the position of court sculptor until his death in January 1406.
The entire body of Sluter’s work consists of three ensembles, all sculpted for a Carthusian monastery, the Chartreuse de Champmol. In 1383 when construction of the monastery began, Champmol was just outside the city walls of Dijon. Philip wanted the monastery to serve as his own burial place as well as for his successors – a royal dynastic mausoleum. Sluter worked there until the end of his life.
His first task was to complete the portal of the funerary chapel. On the trumeau in the centre of the doorway, there is a Madonna and child. On each side of the doorway are sculptures of the kneeling duke and duchess, backed by St John the Baptist and Saint Catherine.
The Fountain of Life was a large monument designed as the centrepiece of the monastery’s cloister. Its hexagonal pedestal rose from the centre of a fountain, six life-sized figures of Old Testament prophets stood around the base, and on a plinth above was an image of the crucified Christ with Mary Magdalene kneeling at the foot of the cross. The work has suffered damage over the centuries: the crucifixion scene no longer exists, although the torso of Christ is on display in the Museum of Fine Arts in Dijon. Only the prophets survive – Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, King David, Daniel and Zachariah, six Old Testament figures endowed with the vision to foresee the coming of the Messiah. As a consequence, the monument is now called the Well of Moses. These six magisterial figures each have great presence. Each is unique and individual: their experience of life is etched on their faces. The realism of each sculpture adds a new dimension to the art of portraiture.
Jeremiah, for example, is the only prophet portrayed in the act of reading. It is evident from his eyes that he has difficulty reading. It is no surprise, then, to learn that originally a pair of golden eye-glasses were attached to the sculpture. It is also no surprise to learn that Philip the Bold wore eye-glasses too. The book he is reading appears to have individually carved pages. Even the star pattern on his shoes is precisely and beautifully carved.
The Fountain of Life is the central achievement of Sluter’s career; he has taken us into a new world of dramatic realism.
The third ensemble of Sluter’s work is the tomb of Philip the Bold. The carved figure of the Duke lies on top, surrounded at the head by two angels and his feet resting on a lion’s head. Philip had died in 1404 in Brabant and was escorted back to Dijon by a funeral cortège. Inspired by what he observed as the cortège entered Dijon, Sluter has encircled the tomb with a procession of mourners: 41 alabaster figures in total, each about 40 cm high. Religious figures come first – a bishop, deacons, Carthusian monks, and choristers – followed by noblemen and court officials. These figures are much smaller than the prophets on the Well of Moses, but they are no less monumental and expressive. No two mourners are alike and all possess powerfully individual personalities, regardless of the face being hidden or just partly visible. All, in different ways, express the pain of grief.
The realism of these small, memorable figures is remarkable. Some openly express their sorrow, others contain their grief. A chorister is depicted weeping, a mourner wipes away tears with his robe, a nobleman has a solemn, downcast expression, another mourner wrings his hands, a court official consoles another by putting an arm around his shoulder. All the mourners are robed in heavy woollen garments; grief is also evident in the fall of the drapery, as if it too is a subtle extension of personality. The faces of some mourners are completely hidden by a cowl, others only partially concealed so one can peer inside the cowl to see a perfectly carved and expressive face. These figures are both perfectly natural but also deeply spiritual.
Sluter has sympathetically depicted his contemporaries in a timeless, universal way. The realism and the expressiveness of these stunningly beautiful figurines lend to each a charmingly human quality that is the key feature of Sluter’s work. In that respect, he anticipates the Italian Renaissance.
