The monks of Saint-Germain-des-Prés had a special devotion for Saint Vincent (d. 304), as their abbey had been founded to receive a relic of the saint’s tunic. The relic had been transported from Spain by the Merovingian king Childebert (d. 558), who is shown here on horseback. The remaining scenes of this window, which is a composite from a larger ensemble, illustrate Saint Vincent’s confrontations with the Roman proconsul Dacian. These include, from the bottom: two guards before Dacian; Bishop Valerius and Saint Vincent in chains with Dacian condemning them; King Childebert and King Clothar on their way to Spain; Valerius and Vincent led to prison; Vincent’s body thrown into the sea and a man blowing an oliphant from a tower. A censing angel and tower decorate the uppermost panel of the window.
Like the contemporary, famous windows of Louis IX’s royal chapel, Sainte-Chapelle, these panels make it clear that by the middle of the thirteenth century Paris was the leading center for a new, expressive style of glass painting.
#107. The Director's Tour, First Floor: Scenes from the Legend of Saint Vincent of Saragossa and the History of His Relics
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Artwork Details
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Title:Scenes from the Legend of Saint Vincent of Saragossa and the History of His Relics
Date:ca. 1245–47
Geography:Made in Paris, France
Culture:French
Medium:Pot-metal glass, vitreous paint, and lead
Dimensions:Overall: 147 x 43 1/2in. (373.4 x 110.5cm) Overall (Installation Opening): 144 x 41 1/2 in. (365.8 x 105.4 cm)
Classification:Glass-Stained
Credit Line:Gift of George D. Pratt, 1924
Object Number:24.167a-k
From the Lady Chapel of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris (closed February 1792; panels possibly removed by November 25, 1796; chapel destroyed 1802); perhaps, Musée des Monuments Français, Paris (1796–1816); transferred to the former Royal Abbey of Saint-Denis, Paris (1817–18); installed in the Choir, Royal Abbey of Saint-Denis, Paris (early 19th c.–removed by 1854); perhaps Eugène Stanislas Ouidnot, Paris; by descent, Oudinot family, Paris; possibly Charles Leprévost, Paris (?); [ Michel Acézat (Paris), Paris (by 1921, from Leprévost–sold 1924)]; George D. Pratt, Glen Cove, NY (in 1924, for The Met)
Didron, Adolphe-Napoléon. "Mouvement Archéologique." Annales Archéologiques 1 (1844). pp. 192–93.
Lenoir, Albert. Statistique Monumentale de Paris: Explication des Planches. Paris: Imprimerie Impériale, 1867. pp. 103–104.
Lenoir, Albert. Statistique Monumentale de Paris: Cartes, Plans et Dessins. Paris: Imprimerie Impériale, 1867. pl. XXXII.
Magne, Lucien. "Le Vitrail." Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 2nd ser., 31, no. 2 (February 1885). pp. 148, 151, 162–63, ill. p. 161.
"List of Accessions and Loans." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, o.s., 19, no. 12 (November 1924). p. 279.
Rorimer, James J. "Reinstallation of a Stained-Glass Window." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 29, no. 3 (March 1934). p. 51.
Rorimer, James J. "Notes: Reinstallation of a Stained Glass Window." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, o.s., 29, no. 3 (March 1934). p. 51.
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Grodecki, Louis. "Vitraux de Saint-Germain-des-Prés." Bulletin de la Société nationale des antiquaires de France (June 6, 1956). pp. 82–83.
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Guide to the Collections: Medieval Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1962. fig. 37.
Verdier, Philippe. "The Window of Saint Vincent from the Refectory of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés." Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 25–26 (1962-1963). pp. 39–99, fig. 7, 10–12, 21, 43.
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Sherrill, Sarah B. "Current and Coming: Medieval Art [Stained Glass at the Cloisters]." The Magazine Antiques 101, no. 3 (March 1972). pp. 432, 439.
Werner, Alfred. "Aus der Arbeit der Museen: USA, New York, The Metropolitan Museum." Pantheon 30, no. 2 (March–April 1972). p. 164.
Raguin Virginia C. "The Genesis Workshop of the Cathedral of Auxerre and Its Parisian Inspiration." Gesta 13, no. 1 (1974). pp. 34–35, fig. 13.
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Shepard, Mary B. "French 13th Century stained glass from Saint-Germain-des-Prés at Winchester College." The Journal of Stained Glass 18 (1986–87). pp. 115–23.
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Shepard, Mary B. "The St. Germain Windows from the Thirteenth-Century Lady Chapel at Saint-Germain-de-Prés." In The Cloisters: Studies in Honor of the Fiftieth Anniversary, edited by Elizabeth C. Parker. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992. pp. 283–301, fig. 4.
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Hayward, Jane. English and French Medieval Stained Glass in The Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Volume 1, edited by Mary B. Shepard, and Cynthia Clark. Corpus Vitrearum USA, Vol. 1. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003. no. 28–38, pp. 157–80, fig. 28–38.
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Griffin, Sarah, and Eleanor Townsend. Medieval Glass at Winchester College. Fayetteville, Ark.: University of Arkansas Press, 2021. p. 4, fig. 4.
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