Chapiteaux from Saint-Jean-Au-Mont-Lez-Thérouanne, - Lot 311

Chapiteaux from Saint-Jean-Au-Mont-Lez-Thérouanne, Abbey founded in the 11th century, destroyed at the sieges of Thérouanne in 1513, 1537 and 1553. A deed of Philip II, dated September 1, 1568, attests that the monastery of Saint Jean was "entirely destroyed and demolished with all the buildings, so that there remained stone upon stone nor any vestige of the cloister." A moving relic of medieval art in Artois and northern France, "Probably the most beautiful and curious of all those collected in Thérouanne since the town's ruin in 1553 (apart from the sculpted group of Christ of the Judgement, from the cathedral (of Saint-Omer)", according to Canon Coolen. This is a very important piece of Romanesque architecture, forming six Corinthian capitals, decorated with beautifully crafted foliage, several of which are conjoined - below the level of the astragals, you can see the line engraved with a point marking the circumference of the columns. The diameter of the colonnettes that were to fit them; two of them measure 0.38m, the other four 0.19m in diameter. Comparisons can be made with the capitals of Saint Rémi de Reims (Robert de Lasteyrie du Saillant : Architecture gothique en France II, fig 921), but these Thérouanne capitals have a more slender corbeille (0.30m); the Dommartin capitals in the Musée d'Amiens (R de Lasteyrie.op.cit fig 924) are very similar in character, but their parallel ribs give an idea of dryness, whereas these are fan-shaped. At the November 7, 1962 meeting of the Société nationale des antiquaires de France, Mr. Jacques Vanuxem discussed this lapidary monument, admitting that this capital, linked to the Mont St-Jean site, which overlooks the primitive Thérouanne rampart four hundred meters away, could have been transported there from another corner of the Thérouanne ruins. Drawing on comparisons provided by Mr. Pierre Heliot, he adds: "The Dommartin capitals belong to a church consecrated in 1163 but completed a little later. The Arras choir was probably completed before 1180. We believe that the group of capitals at Saint-Jean-Au-Mont dates from the same period..." last quarter of the 12th century. Trapezoidal monolithic stone block, two sides almost at right angles. Upper surface approx. 1.33 m by 0.65 m (L. 0.90 m; Ht. 0.35 m) - hard sandstone and micaceous limestone. Late Romanesque. This piece may have formed part of the portal, the cloister entrance or supported large nave arches (accidents and missing pieces). Bibliography: Chamoine Georges Coolen: Porche Provencal de l'ancienne abbaye de Saint-Jean-Au-Mont-Lez-Thérouanne - Bull. de la Ste Nationale des antiquaires de France. 1962 p163-164 (1964) and B.HSAAM T. XIX.372,1962 p624-633. Jacques Vanuxem : un groupe de chapiteaux provenant de l'abbaye Saint-Jean-Au-Mont près de Thérouanne. Bull. de la Ste -Nationale des antiquaires de France, année 1964 pp 160-163 Pierre Heliot: églises du Moyen âge dans le Pas-de-Calais, Arras 1947 p162.166 Philippe Luto: Mémoire sur l'histoire de la ville de Boulogne -sur-mer et son comté (manuscript no. 168.bibliothèque de Boulogne-sur-Mer) XVIIIème siècle - Bull. de la société des antiquaires de la Morinie T IV p69-78 - Dom H;Huyghebaert : Les origines de l'abbaye de Saint-Jean-Au-Mont. BSAM T.XVIII p.449-473. and Monasticon belge.T III p 17-28. - O.Bled : Thérouanne, une ville disparue .Bull d'histoire. et de Phil.1894