According to tradition, the monastery of Moutiers-Saint-Jean was founded by the first Christian kings of France, Clovis and his son Clothar. They are almost certainly the donors standing at either side, presenting their charters. The small seated figures on either side represent ancestors of the Virgin and Christ, including Moses. The tympanum above shows the Coronation of the Virgin in heaven, one of the most popular subjects in thirteenth-century French art. Despite damage sustained during tumultuous times, the naturalistic rendering of the anatomy, the plant motifs, and the delicate details throughout make this doorway an exemplary testament of the Gothic style.
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Clovis
Artwork Details
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Title:King Clovis I
Date:ca. 1250
Geography:Made in Burgundy, France
Culture:French
Medium:Limestone with traces of paint
Dimensions:Overall: 74 1/2 in. (189.2 cm)
Classification:Installations
Credit Line:The Cloisters Collection, 1940
Object Number:40.51.1
From the monastery of Moutiers-Saint-Jean, Côte d'Or, Burgundy, France; near Dijon; M. Ohresser, Moutier-Saint-Jean, France (until 1909) ; [ Demotte Inc., Paris (sold 1909) (?)] ; Michel Manzi French, Paris (through M. Pagenel, Paris, until 1919) ; [ Demotte Inc., Paris (sold 1919)] ; [ Duveen Brothers, London, Paris and New York (sold 1919)]
"Compte rendu des travaux de la Commission Départementale des Antiquités de la Côte d'Or du 15 novembre 1900 au 15 juillet 1901." Mémoires de la Commission des Antiquités de la Côte d'Or 14 (1901). p. xxiv.
Vittenet, Alfred. L'abbaye de Moutier-Saint-Jean (Côte d'Or): Essai historique. Mâcon: Imprimerie Protat Frères, 1938. pp. 104–5.
Rorimer, James J. "Reports of the Departments." Annual Report of the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 71 (1940). p. 20.
Rorimer, James J. "XIII Century Statues of Kings Clovis and Clothar at the Cloisters." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 35, no. 6 (June 1940). pp. 122–26.
Rorimer, James J. "It Was Just Yesterday." In Studies in the History of Art Dedicated to William E. Suida on His Eightieth Birthday, edited by Samuel H. Kress Foundation. London: Phaidon Press, 1959. p. 10, fig. 1.
Rorimer, James J. The Cloisters: The Building and the Collection of Medieval Art in Fort Tryon Park. 3rd revised ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1963. pp. 16–19, fig. 1.
Quarré, Pierre. "Le portail de Saint-Thibault et la sculpture bourguignonne du XIIIe siècle." Bulletin Monumental 123, no. 3 (1965). pp. 190–91.
Stoddard, Whitney S. Monastery and Cathedral in France: Medieval Architecture, Sculpture, Stained Glass, Manuscripts, the Art of the Church Treasuries. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1966. p. 264.
Deuchler, Florens. "The Cloisters: Ein Museum für mittelalterliche Kunst in New York." Du 32, no. 2 (1972). p. 121.
Rorimer, James J. Medieval Monuments at The Cloisters: As They Were and As They Are, edited by Katherine Serrell Rorimer. Revised ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1972. p. 31, fig. 30.
Schmidt, Gerhard. "Review of Gotische Skulptur in Frankreich 1140-1270 by Willibald Sauerländer." Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 35, no. 1/2 (1972). p. 141, fig. 21.
Forsyth, William Holmes. "A Gothic Doorway from Moutiers-Saint-Jean." Metropolitan Museum Journal 13 (1978). pp. 33–74, fig. 1, 10.
Young, Bonnie. A Walk Through The Cloisters. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1979. p. 8.
Verdier, Philippe. Le Couronnement de la Vierge: Les Origines et les Premiers Développements d'un Thème Iconographique. Paris: Librairie philosophique J. Vrin, 1980. pp. 22, 114, 173–76, pl. 31.
Enders, Sabine. "Die hochgotische Bauskulptur in Burgund." PhD diss., W. Köhler, 1984. pp. 42–50, fig. 20.
Gillerman, Dorothy. "The Portal of St.-Thibault-en-Auxois: A Problem of Thirteenth-Century Burgundian Patronage and Founder Imagery." The Art Bulletin 68, no. 4 (December 1986). pp. 577–78, 579.
Schwarz, Michael Viktor. Höfische Skulptur im 14. Jahrhundert: Entwicklungsphasen und Vermittlungswege im Vorfeld des Weichen Stils. Manuskripte zur Kunstwissenschaft in der Wernerschen Verlagsgesellschaft, Vol. 6. Worms: Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, 1986. p. 94.
Young, Bonnie. A Walk Through The Cloisters. 5th ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988. pp. 8–9.
Stratford, Neil. "La sculpture médiévale de Moutiers-Saint-Jean." Congrès Archéologique de France 144 (1989). pp. 180, 182–83, fig. 44.
Stratford, Neil. "The Moutiers-Saint-Jean Portal in The Cloisters." In The Cloisters: Studies in Honor of the Fiftieth Anniversary, edited by Elizabeth C. Parker. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992. pp. 260–81, fig. 2, 10, accession number wrongly identified as 40.50.1.
Meredith, Jill. "Romancing the Stone: Resolving some Provenance Mysteries of the Brummer Collection at Duke University." Gesta 33, no. 1 (1994). p. 42, fig. 11.
Barnet, Peter, and Nancy Y. Wu. The Cloisters: Medieval Art and Architecture. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005. no. 37, pp. 70, 195.
Rauwel, Alain. "La fausse charte de Clovis pour Moutiers-Saint-Jean." Bulletin de la Société des sciences historiques et naturelles de Semur 113 (2005).
Little, Charles T., ed. Set in Stone: The Face in Medieval Sculpture. New York, New Haven, and London: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006. p. 67.
Borlée, Denise. La sculpture figurée du XIIIe siècle en Bourgogne. Sciences de l'histoire. Strasbourg: Presses Universitaires de Strasbourg, 2011. pp. 161–62, 164–65, 167, fig. 133.
Barnet, Peter, and Nancy Y. Wu. The Cloisters: Medieval Art and Architecture. 75th Anniversary ed. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012. p. 68–69.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012. p. 208.
Husband, Timothy B. "Creating the Cloisters." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 70, no. 4 (Spring 2013). pp. 35–36, fig. 72, ill. back cover.
Fozi, Shirin. "The Kings of the Cloisters." Leadership and Society: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (2024). fig. 36, pp. 40-42.
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