The Corpus of Medieval Narrative Art

Now on-line (3,156 pages);

• Amiens Cathedral - the portal sculpture (so far just the 118 west facade quatrefoils)

• Angers Cathedral - most of the 12th/13th century windows (Complete - 150 pages)

• Auxerre Cathedral - a selection of the 12th/13th century windows (Complete - 138 pages)

• Bourges Cathedral - all the 13th century windows (473 pages covering ambulatory bays. Upper windows later)

• Bourges Cathedral - the portal sculpture (40 pages so far covering the Genesis cycle in the dado spandrels)

• Chartres Cathedral - the 12th and 13th century windows (almost done - 1,066 pages so far)

• Le Mans Cathedral - the upper windows (complete - 266 pages covering nearly all of the mid-13th C glass)

• Poitiers Cathedral - the choir stalls carvings (complete - 42 pages)

• Poitiers Cathedral - the 12th and 13th century windows (complete - 233 pages)

• Rouen Cathedral - the transept portal sculpture (160 pages covering the Portail des Libraires quatrefoils)

• Rouen Cathedral - the 13th century windows (just started - 88 pages so far)

• Sens Cathedral - the four early 13th century windows (complete - 59 pages)

• Tours Cathedral (St Gatien) - the mid 13th century clerestory windows (complete 340 pages)

And for something completely different;

• My PhD Thesis ("Narrative art in northern Europe, c.1140-1300: A narratological re-appraisal") - Full text and images

• The 2007 Courtauld / Harvard trip to Saxony

This Website is a repository for photographs of medieval art which I shot between 2006 and 2010, whilst working on my PhD at the Courtauld Institute of art. Since my doctoral research interest was visual narratology, the emphasis here is very much on narrative art as it appears in stained glass and portal sculpture. Although practical considerations meant that I had to give up on academia after completing my PhD, I am still trying to find time to finish the task of post-processing and uploading the best of the roughly 10,000 images I shot on my various research trips to France. Eventually I may also implement a long-held wish to rewrite the whole website so that it can be searched and browsed by iconographical, as well as geographical, criteria. Unfortunately the only time I ever get to work on the website now is on the train during my daily commute between Tunbridge Wells and the City - so this may take some time.
If you have any queries, please feel free to contact me at www.hitop.me ;

       sw 'at' flat3.co.uk

All images on this site are © Dr Stuart Whatling unless otherwise indicated but I freely grant license for anybody to use these images for any legitimate academic purpose. Let me know if you need higher-resolution images for publication. Commercial usage is strictly prohibited without prior permission.
Despite the similarity in web address this site is not associated with the International Centre for Medieval Art (ICMA) in New York - if you got here by mistake whilst looking for them, please go to; www.medievalart.org

Update History;

Recent Changes:

16/12/16 - Oh dear - more than a year since my last update. The 'day-job' is taking up far too much time! Will try to get cracking on the total re-write before long...
04/12/15 - More from Rouen - another Typological Passion
21/11/15 - Finally I've started the Rouen windows! The two Joseph bays are up - more to follow.
21/04/15 - Alas the last of my Auxerre windows; Bay 11 - Moses / The Fall / Samson (where next I wonder?)
08/04/15 - And for the best 'murdered in the bath' scene; Auxerre Bay 13 - St Andrew the Apostle
15/12/14 - Featuring the best pantomime dragon in medieval art; Auxerre Bay 15 - St Margaret of Antioch
11/12/14 - You wait ages for an update and then two come along at once. Another Joseph for the collection; Auxerre Bay 17 - Joseph
09/12/14 - Oops- that was a long break! Auxerre; Bay 19 - Noah / Abraham / Lot
28/01/14 - Another from Auxerre; Bay 20 (Mary of Egypt) - plus an enigmatic iconographical diversion!
28/01/14 - First of the Auxerre is up; Bay 21 (Creation)
21/01/14 - After more than a year I've finally made some progress on Auxerre. First windows coming soon!
11/12/12 - The last of Angers - Bay 103a - Life of St Laurence.
10/12/12 - Something new for Angers - the Jesse Tree in Bay 103b.
06/12/12 - Reloaded Angers bay 107a (St Peter).
04/12/12 - Reloaded Angers bay 107b (St Eloi) with better images.
06/11/12 - Reloaded Angers bay 102b (St Martin) with better images.
02/11/12 - Reloaded Angers bay 102a (St Maurille) with better images.
01/11/12 - Reloaded Angers bay 108a (Thomas Becket) and bay 108b (John the Baptist) with better images.
31/10/12 - Reloaded Angers bay 123 (Death of the Virgin) and bay 125 (St Catherine) with better images.
30/10/12 - Reloaded Angers bay 121 (St Vincent) with better images.
26/10/12 - STOP PRESS! Having nearly finished Angers Cathedral with lousy photos from my 2006 visit I've just realised that I went back there and shot much better images in March 2009 - so now I need to re-do all those pages with the better photos. Ho hum... I suppose it's a reflection on how exhausting those research trips were that I'd completely forgotten about my second visit to Angers.
22/10/12 - And another St Martin window - Bay 102b - St Martin of Tours
19/10/12 - A local Angevin bishop-saint - Bay 102a - St Maurille of Angers
17/10/12 - First of the Angers St Martin windows - originally in the west facade but now in Bay 104.
12/10/12 - Another window about St Thomas Becket - Angers Bay 108a
10/10/12 - Uploaded Angers Bay 100b - The Infancy of Christ
09/10/12 - Uploaded Angers Bay 100a - The Passion
03/10/12 - Pretty awful photos I'm afraid but such as they are, here's Bay 101 - Life of St Julien of Le Mans
25/09/12 - Two more late 12th century windows from Angers; Bay 123 - Death of the Virgin and 125 - St Catherine
24/09/12 - Uploaded Angers bay 121 (St Vincent) and corrected a few more post-migration 'file not found' errors
05/09/12 - Started uploading the Angers Cathedral windows
(older updates deleted to reduce page loading time)