Funerary Spirit from the tomb of Philippe Chabot at The Louvre, Paris

cults3d

This impressive tomb stands out among French Renaissance funerary monuments for its rhythmic sculpture of the statue and the extraordinary decorative ensemble it was part of, including a mysterious figure of Fortune that has survived in fragments.\n\nPhilippe Chabot and future King Francis I grew up together and Chabot participated in the king's Italian campaigns, both being taken prisoner in Pavia. After a brilliant military career, the admiral returned to France where he became embroiled in court intrigue and fell out of favor in 1541. Accused of embezzlement, he was imprisoned and his property seized. Through the intervention of the duchess of Etampes (mistress of Francis I), he regained the king's favor just before his death in 1543. Chabot was buried in Paris at the church of the Celestines - in the chapel of the prestigious Orléans family, due to his kinship with them. His son Léonor commissioned the tomb, but we know neither when nor by whom it was made. The effigy was placed in 1565, and the epitaph likely written between 1570 and 1572.\n\nThe admiral is depicted alive and dressed as a soldier wearing damascened armor, an emblazoned tabard, and the collar of the Order of Saint Michael. He has a whistle of command in his left hand. His demeanor is noble and serene: he lies on his side, one elbow resting on his helmet (his gauntlets are nearby). During the Renaissance, traditional stiff poses of recumbent effigies gave way to more flexible attitudes. The portrayal of the deceased as a living person suggests a desire to soften death's representation; perhaps it also expresses nostalgia for earthly life. This work represents a significant innovation in the iconography of the recumbent effigy, yet the artist retained the traditional attribute of the lion at the deceased's feet. The sculptor's identity is unknown, but the quality of the work suggests a skilled craftsman. The name of Pierre Bontemps has been suggested due to certain affinities with Charles de Maigny's statue, but this suggestion is now disputed: Chabot's effigy has greater suppleness and elegance, his face is more expressive. This sculpture's powerful rhythm is the work of a superior artist.\n\nThe alabaster effigy was the central feature of an unprecedented decorative ensemble for a tomb. The statue sat atop a black marble sarcophagus, beneath which lay a prostrate figure of Fortune (laid low by the admiral's disgrace or his death?). A highly ornate circular surround enclosed this ensemble, featuring the deceased's arms and funerary genii holding upturned torches (symbolizing life's passing). This innovative funerary design closely resembles Fontainebleau-style decoration, especially the fireplace in the queen's bedroom. An ornamentalist working on paper with no regard for funerary art conventions could have designed this monument, which would then have been executed by sculptors. This substantiates historian Jean Taveaux' claim that attributed the work to Jean Cousin, a renowned artist who died c. 1560 and painted Eva Prima Pandora in the Louvre.