School "TROUBADOUR" of the second third of the... Lot 279

School "TROUBADOUR" of the second third of the XIXth c. The arrival of the relics of the Crucifixion of Christ in Paris HIGH-RELIEF in alabaster. H. 11 W.15,8 cm in a wooden frame. Accidents, losses and restoration in the upper left corner. This small picturesque scene, rich in detail, narrates the triumphal arrival of the relics of the Passion of Christ in Paris on 19 August 1239. Indeed, one notices in front of the central horse the King Saint Louis who, having forsaken his royal clothes to wear a simple tunic, wears, barefoot, the holy crown of thorns to Notre-Dame de Paris. Pilgrims returning from Santiago de Compostela, soldiers carrying standards adorned with the cross and crown, onlookers and devotees, as well as an assembly of clerics, take part in this highly symbolic procession. The procession also includes a reliquary in the form of a model of the Holy Chapel, a case of Gothic art specially erected to preserve these relics. Our small alabaster relief is fully in line with the troubadour vein which was born in the 19th century of the new taste for national history. It is also part of a historicist desire to commemorate the great events in the history of France. Historical representations linked to the monarchy and Christianity were encouraged from the return of the Bourbons to power in 1814-1815 and especially after 1830 with the advent of Louis-Philippe. The sacred figure of the founding king is based on the highly symbolic figure of the patron saint of France.