Paintings in Besançon Cathedral
The paintings in Besançon Cathedral comprise a total of 35 canvases listed as historical monuments, including masterpieces by artists such as Fra Bartolomeo, Jean-François de Troy, Charles-Joseph Natoire, and Charles André van Loo.
The largest canvases hang in the apse of the Holy Shroud and the chapel of the Sacred Heart, but other works are also stored in rooms not open to visitors, making them impossible to contemplate.
Today, after the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie, the Cathédrale Saint-Jean in Besançon is the building with the largest number of paintings, far ahead of the Eglise Sainte-Madeleine and the city's observatory.
[1] In their quest for excellence and prestige, the canons turned to one of the finest French painters of the time, the artist Charles André van Loo.
[1] Thus, on June 27, 1749, Charles André van Loo agreed with Father Mignot to paint the Resurrection for the sum of 2,250 livres, with the chapter particularly insisting on the inclusion of the Holy Shroud in his canvas.
In the same year, Canon Arvisenet commissioned the artist Jean-François de Troy to paint the Martyrdom of Saint-Etienne, a work destined to adorn the chapel dedicated to this saint to the north of the apse.
[1] Donations enabled the main cycle to progress, and on January 13, 1751, Abbé Mignot commissioned Charles André van Loo to complete the remaining four works for the sum of 1,600 livres, on the sole condition that his wife be offered a gold cloth reproduction of the Bisontinental Holy Shroud.
The Besançon diocese's choice of this artist is explained by Jean-François de Troy's growing recognition as a religious painter and the speed with which his works were completed.
The municipal magistrates, delighted with the quality of the painting, decided to pay for the gilded frame and had a note engraved on it, recalling their generosity.
[2] A letter from Natoire to the Marquis de Marigny dated August 27, 1754, states[2][3] "I have completed another painting for a chapel in Besançon (the Entombment).
[2] During one of her trips to Franche-Comté in 1790, a certain Madame Gauthier recounted: "There is (in the cathedral) a modern chapel, lined with varied and polished marble, adorned with five paintings: two by Natoire, very mediocre, and two by Etroy, whose drawing is esteemed, but the coloring is so bad, that they should be preferred to the painter's sketches.
As can be seen in the background on the right of the painting, Judas, seen in profile, is guiding a troop of advancing soldiers with a torch in the chiaroscuro, and asking for silence with his finger.
[4]Oil painting – height: 3.20 m – length: 2.40 m – note: signed and dated on a stone lower right "DETROY ECr A ROME/1751"[4][9] – classification: historical monument.
[12][8] Christophe Leribault writes in his study of the artist: "As befits the subject, de Troy has here emphasized the diversity of the characters' attitudes, from indifference to hatred.
[16] On either side of Christ, two joyful angels can be seen, one dressed in blue, lifting the stone that covered the tomb, the other grasping and unfolding the shroud that Jesus is shedding.
I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him.
Canon Quinnez described the work in 1914:[16] "With one hand over his heart and the other outstretched, St. Stephen, in a deacon's tunic, is on his knees, his pleading eyes raised to heaven.
"[12] Oil painting – height: 3.10 m – length: 2.30 m – note: Signed and dated on one of the temple steps "C. NATOIRE f. ROMÆ 1754"[16] – classification: historic monument.
The canvas on wood was inspired by a painting, completed in 1611, by the artist Peter Paul Rubens, displayed in the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp.
[25] Oil painting – height: 1.32 m – length: 1.56 m – note: the Chifflet family coat of arms (Gules a saltire Argent, in chief a snake Or biting its tail) is inscribed – classification: monument historique.
[27][30][31] Canvas – height: 0.75 m – width: 0.62 m.[32][33] The former Saint-Martin chapel was conceived as a showcase for this Passignano Madonna, long known in Besançon as Notre-Dame des Jacobins.
An inventory dated 22 nivôse an IV (January 12, 1796) indicates that "this painting is in a wooden, gilded and sculpted frame, with a glass that is locked at the front".
[36] The Sacré-Coeur chapel, whose crypt houses the tombs of eight of the sovereign counts of Franche-Comté de Bourgogne, features eight paintings on canvas by Bisontin painter Édouard Baille during the 19th century.
[36] These canvases are, in fact, copies of ancient frescoes dating back to the 15th century, which adorned the tombs of the "Cimetière des Comtes", originally located in the former cathedral of Saint-Étienne.
[36] They include:[32] The red hat and tunic identify Jerome de Stridon, who lived as a hermit near Bethlehem, where he translated the Old and New Testaments into Latin.
The use of light coming from the upper left corner of the painting and the play of chiaroscuro show the influence of Caravaggio in Northern Italy.
[41] This Pietà, whose attribution is still a matter of debate (although a Flemish artist who spent time in Rome is favored), pays homage to a famous work by Michelangelo completed in 1498–1499 for Cardinal Jean Bilhères de Lagraulas.
The motif borrowed from Michelangelo's sculpture, placed at the center of the composition, is depicted at the entrance to the sepulcher, where a tree, both dry and green, symbolizes death and resurrection, while on the horizon appears fortified Jerusalem.
The scene is directly inspired by one of the passages in the Acts of the Apostles and features the crowd of disciples in the background against a monumental architectural backdrop, with St. Peter receiving the gifts of the faithful.
The work was first attributed to the Italian painter Le Tintoretto, then to Jacob de Baccker, and finally to Ambrosius Francken, whose similar iconography is preserved in the Krakow Museum in Poland.
