214. Robert de Lannoy, Saint James the Great,

Saint-Jacques of the Hospital Church, Pari, 1326-1327.

Stone, 175 x 58 cm. Musée national du Moyen

Age-Thermes et hôtel de Cluny, Paris. Gothic.

 

 

This sculpture was part of a group that was originally decoration for the Hospital of Saint Jacques of the Pilgrims that was built in 1319. This building was constructed by the royal family and the Parisian bourgeois to receive pilgrims on the way to the Compostela. Twelve apostles have accurately been identified and five of these are housed in the Musée National du Moyen Age in Paris. Guillaume de Nourriche sculpted two of the five between 1319 and 1324 while Robert de Lannoy did the rest between 1319 and 1327 including the statue of Saint Jacques himself, which is recognizable by the bread box stamped with a shell. Important details include the flat folds in his garments which was typical of the style in the fourteenth century, the thin composition of his body in comparison with his head and his narrow shoulders. His flat bust is revealed by the movement of his cloak that is tied behind his waist in the style of an apron and cascades to the side of his body animating the lower curves of his form.