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Source Description
Carved for the abbey church of Saint-Denis (outside Paris), this Old Testament king presented a model of sacred rulership for the French kings who served as the patrons of the monastery. The head, from a pier (column) figure on the building's west façade, was broken off during the French Revolution, when the royal burial church became a key target for vandalism. This head reflects a moment of artistic transition. The carver still works in the abstracted Romanesque style, but incorporates elements based on the observation of nature, such as the soft rounding of the face and the wavy curls of hair. Artists would continue to expand upon this interest in naturalism in the Gothic and Renaissance periods.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
20152
label
Head of an Old Testament King
core
obj
dtoType
sculpture
citationUrl
pageCount
8
Source metadata
id
20152
sourceUrl
contentType
sculpture
stage
normalized
title
Head of an Old Testament King
description
Carved for the abbey church of Saint-Denis (outside Paris), this Old Testament king presented a model of sacred rulership for the French kings who served as the patrons of the monastery. The head, from a pier (column) figure on the building's west façade, was broken off during the French Revolution, when the royal burial church became a key target for vandalism. This head reflects a moment of artistic transition. The carver still works in the abstracted Romanesque style, but incorporates elements based on the observation of nature, such as the soft rounding of the face and the wavy curls of hair. Artists would continue to expand upon this interest in naturalism in the Gothic and Renaissance periods.
provenance
Raoul Heilbronner, Paris; Dikran Kelekian, Paris; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1911, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
ca. 1140 (Medieval)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Sculpture
sculpture (visual works)
imageCount
8
pageCount
8
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
36
height
19
depth
21.8
dimensionsRaw
H: 14 3/16 x W: 7 1/2 x D: 8 9/16 in. (36 x 19 x 21.8 cm)
style
Gothic
Source extras
cul
French
med
limestone
creator_ids
6229
collection_ids
MED
exhibition_ids
353
313
335
2053
2901
3563
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
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2803bdbf8bc6a776
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no
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no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
66c194be7159bb62
hasOcr
no
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no
seq
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type
photo
mediaId
260b370fb3b8736a
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no
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no
seq
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type
photo
mediaId
20c64815c9466361
hasOcr
no
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no
seq
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type
photo
mediaId
281751a3fb8aa3ae
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no
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no
seq
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type
photo
mediaId
53454142f86b7e41
hasOcr
no
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no
seq
7
type
photo
mediaId
a39323711be540d5
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
8
type
photo
mediaId
f693e7cc347e0087
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no