IMMORTALIZED IN STONE: AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE MEDIEVAL SCULPTURE

21 May - 21 June 2026

  • IMMORTALIZED IN STONE

    AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE MEDIEVAL SCULPTURE

  • Formerly in the collection of Maurice Denis and remaining in the collection of the artist's descendants ever since, the present fragment constitutes a remarkable example of early 14th-century French secular art as well as a moving image of what might be the face of a son of Saint Louis. Characterized by a commanding presence and distinctive facial features, this young man, immortalized in stone, offers us direct access to the French Middle Ages, with its rich history and art production. Although the identity of this young man remains unclear, it has been considered to be the bust of Philip III the Bold, second son of Saint Louis of France, by Medieval sculpture specialist Marcel Aubert. The art historian ­believed that this bust originates from a full-length sculpture that once adorned the wall of the Priory of Saint Louis in Poissy as early as c. 1304. Although this identification has not been unanimously accepted and the identity of this young man remains unclear, his bust nevertheless is truly a one-of-a-kind work from the Middle Ages.

     

     

     

     

  • Old photograph of an exceptionally rare medieval stonen sculpture depitcing the bust of a young man, perhaps Philip III the Bold, son of Saint Louis, display in the collection of French artist Maurice Denis

    Bust of a young man (Philip III the Bold?). Photography c. 1947, when it was part of Maurice Denis’ collection.

    Carved from limestone by a talented French sculptor active in the dawn of the 14th century, this sculpture depicts the Bust of a young man in slightly larger than life size. The young man, evidently a person of great importance given that he was deemed worthy of having his portrait sculpted, sports a hairstyle typical of the early 14th century - featuring bangs and curled locks on each side in front of the ears - and wears a garment of which only the shoulder portion remains visible. The young man's face shows personalized features, such as his plump cheeks, prominent chin, protruding eyes with swollen lower eyelids, large mouth with thin lips, and flat nose with a pointy tip. In the state of preservation it has survived to this day, the sculpture at hand constitutes a fragment of an originally much larger work that undoubtedly depicted this noble young man in full-length figure.

     

    Since its rediscovery within the collection of the renowned French artist Maurice Denis (Granville, 1870-Paris, 1943), this sculpture has attracted the attention of art historians, particularly of Marcel Aubert (Paris, 1884-Paris, 1962), dean of curators of the national museums of France and specialist of Medieval sculpture. He was the first to state that this fragment is the bust of Philip III the Bold, son of Saint Louis, which was originally part of the sculpture series of the six children of Saint Louis installed in the church of the Priory of Saint Louis in Poissy, erected at Philip IV the Fair's request, shortly after 1304 and under the direction of the master sculptors Pierre d'Hérouville and Guillaume de Berry.

  • A detail from an illuminated manuscript from the 13th century depicting king Saint Louis praying while riding his horse.
    Louis IX praying while traveling, from the Vie et Miracles de saint Louis. Paris, BNF, ms. Français 5716, fol. 47v. © Paris, BNF
    To commemorate the canonization of his grandfather Louis IX, who became Saint Louis of France on August 11, 1297, his grandson Philip IV the Fair decided, shortly after Louis IX's canonization, to begin the construction of a new Dominican monastery in Poissy, the town where Saint Louis was born and baptized. Under the supervision of the masters in charge, Pierre d'Hérouville and Guillaume de Berry, the construction of this Priory progressed rapidly: we know that the masters in charge had already received payments since 1298. We also know that a clock was already in place by 1301 and that several religious buildings were ready by 1304, the exact year when the foundation was ratified by a charter. In 1324-1325, several significant payments were made by the king for the creation of a large stained-glass window, which was installed in 1331. The Priory, which consisted of a wide nave with side aisles reserved for nuns, a transept, and a choir with radiating chapels where worship ceremonies took place, quickly became one of the most important in France. Moreover, the church's treasury was particularly rich, notably containing the ­Royal Breviary of Saint Louis of Poissy, now held in Paris (Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. NAL 3255), illuminated by Richard de Verdun, son-in-law of Master Honoré, at the request of Philip IV the Fair and specifically intended for the Priory of Saint Louis.
     
    In 1695, the Priory was ravaged by a violent fire (which may be linked to the traces of black deposits still visible on the bust in its current state), causing extensive collapse and destruction; most of the building was subsequently rebuilt by Jules Hardouin-Mansart on the orders of Louis XIV. The building was subsequently converted into a hospital during the Revolution, before being sold in 1791 and then demolished in 1808. All that remains today of this remarkable monastery is the gatehouse, which has housed the Jouvet Museum since 1974.
  • Detail from the Royal Breviary of Saint Louis of Poissy
    Paris, BNF, ms. NAL 3255, fol. 507 © Paris, BNF
  • A drawing by François Roger de Gaignière depicting the series of six statues of the six children of Saint Louis from the chapel of the Priory of Saint-Louis of Poissy
    François Roger de Gaignières, Interior of the Priory of Saint Louis, Poissy, with the sculptures depicting the six children of Saint Louis. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, coll. Gaignières, Pe 1a, f°31 © Paris, BNF
    Luckily, we can still today imagine part of the sculpted decoration that was in place in the church of the Priory (the only public area of the monastery) thanks to a drawing made by François Roger de Gaignières (Entrains-sur-Nohain, 1642-Paris, 1715), which is now preserved in Paris (Bibliothèque nationale de France; fig. 2). On the wall at the back of the nave, to the left of the choir, there was a series of six sculptures, apparently life size, representing the six children of Louis IX and his wife, Margaret of Provence. From left to right (and, according to François Roger de Gaignières, from the tallest to the smallest), these statues depicted: Louis, Philip, John, Isabella, Peter, and Robert. Except for Robert of France, who died in 1317, the other five children had all died by the time these statues were created. Considering the fact that the foundation's ratification was signed in 1304, Marcel Aubert proposed dating these sculptures around that specific year. Philip IV the Fair thus undoubtedly included these statues in the iconographic program of the Priory of Saint Louis in ­Poissy to celebrate the memory of his parents, the lineage of his grandfather, and to establish a direct filiation from the Saint king to himself. Of these statues, only that of Isabella of France (complete, still in Poissy today; fig. 3) and that of Peter, headless (now preserved in the Musée Cluny in Paris; fig. 4), have survived - unless this present fragment is, as Marcel ­Aubert thought, the bust of Philip III the Bold. A few other sculptures from the former Priory of Saint Louis in Poissy are known and preserved today at the Musée Cluny in Paris: an Angel bearing the Crown of Thorns and the Nails (Cl. 18762), an Angel's head (Cl. 23246), an Angel blowing a trumpet (Cl. 23292), and a Headless angel bearing the Crown of Thorns (Cl. 23441).
  • Photograph of the remaining fragment of the scultpure of Pierre I of Alencon, son of Saint Louis, from the chapel of the Priory of Saint Louis in Poissy, showing Pierre I of Alencon Headless.
    Headless Peter I of Alençon, statue from the Priory of Saint Louis in Poissy. Paris, Musée Cluny, Cl. 23408 © Paris, Musée Cluny
    The main question, whether scholars accept or reject the identification of this bust as Philip III the Bold, lies in the importance one decides to accord to François Roger de Gaignières' drawing. If one relies fully on the image given to us by the French historiographer, then the bust shows no trace of a small rosary on its head nor of a mantle collar, as in François Roger de Gaignières' drawing. On the other hand, if one considers François Roger de Gaignières' drawing as approximate (comparing the drawing of Isabella and the original statue, some details do not match, such as the collar), the hypothesis of an identification with the statue of Philip III the Bold at Poissy becomes plausible. Alain Erlande-Brandenburg also stated that the size of this bust is too large in comparison with the sculpture of Isabella. The argument of the size of the sculpture, too tall to be the statue of Philip III the Bold, echoes a confusion made by Michèle Beaulieu but which could actually give us new clues to the identification. In supporting that this bust is the one of Philip III the Bold from Poissy, the art historian states that it was the first of the six sculptures and therefore the largest. However, according to François Roger de Gaignières' drawing, the first and largest sculpture depicted Louis of France, eldest son of Saint Louis, which raises the question of whether this bust might be Louis. The hypothesis that this present fragment is the bust of Philip III the Bold, son of Saint Louis and father of Philip IV the Fair, created for the Priory of Saint Louis in Poissy, is based primarily on the sculpture's provenance (it was apparently found in a demolished house in Poissy and later acquired by Maurice Denis from a dealer in Saint-Germain-en-Laye) and on morphological comparison with the funerary statue of Philip III the Bold at Saint-Denis. The identification of this bust with Philip III the Bold was accepted by art historians Michèle Beaulieu and by Suzanne Moreau-Rendu. Furthermore, the sculpture was exhibited as the bust of Philip III the Bold in 1960 in Paris. However, the identification has been rejected by Alain Erlande-Brandenburg, who finds the arguments in favor of this identification insufficient.
  • Black and white photograph showing the sculpted head of Philip III the Bold, from his effigy in Saint-Denis.
    Head of a funerary statue of Philip III the Bold, Saint-Denis © Monuments historiques
    The question of the resemblance between the present head and the effigy of Philip III the Bold at Saint-Denis must be approached in the same way: if one seeks exact physiognomy resemblance, then this bust does not seem to perfectly match the face of Philip III the Bold. However, the similarities in the shape of the eyes (with this straight cut above the lower eyelids), the mouth (with thin lips), and the chin (with its rounded tip) are, however, intriguing (fig. 5). The rarity of this work makes its identification with a historical figure of great importance plausible. The sculptor was obviously of great talent, and this fragment has been compared with important works from the early 14th century: Erlande-Brandenburg finds stylistic similarities with sculptures from Poissy while Michèle Beaulieu compares the present bust with the imposing Virgin and Child from Salins-du-Jura.
     
    Whether identifiable as Philip III the Bold (or Louis of France?) or not, this poignant bust is a truly remarkable and rare example of a secular work from the dawn of the 14th century. The seven centuries of age and history that this unique bust carries have certainly taken with them any decisive arguments that might have allowed us to identify this young man. He is, nevertheless, an outstanding figure immortalized in stone by a leading French sculptor of the Middle Ages.

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