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Lot Essay
Rediscovered in Strasbourg in the 1950s, this head of a king has traditionally been connected to the north portal of the transept of the Strasbourg Cathedral (the portal of Sainte-Laurent). This attribution has been discussed by several professors and curators, most recently in the 2007 exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. However, this attribution appears to be complicated by several factors.
The construction of this portal only took place between 1494 and 1505 under the direction of Jacques de Landshut, in a stylistic language that does not seem to relate to that of the present head. A second hypothesis proposed to place the present head as part of the north portal of the west facade, whose tympanum notably depicts the Adoration of the Magi. This proposition, although more logical topographically, does not seem to accord any better with the characteristics of the present work. The sculptures in situ, despite massive restorations affecting the heads in particular, are distinguished by a different style, and above all by the use of pink sandstone, the emblematic stone of the Strasbourg Cathedral, which contrasts with the material of our head. Even if white sandstone quarries existed in the Grand Est and the Vosges regions, there appears to be little to truly connect this piece to local Strasbourg production.
The stylistic analysis points decidedly towards the Parisian basin at the time of the emergence of Gothic art. The rigorous and angular treatment of the hair and beard, ending in carefully defined curls, the prominent eyes with incised pupils, the archaic-looking floral crown, as well as the hieratic frontality of the figure, find parallels in the sculptures of the first decades of the 13th century, or even in some very primitive examples from the 12th century, such as those preserved on the facades of the abbey church of Saint-Denis.
Whatever its original location, this head was part of an important and impressive commission. Of remarkable quality, it constitutes a precious relic from the beginnings of monumental Gothic sculpture, at the moment when the rigidity inherited from the Romanesque style begins to soften, revealing the first breath of naturalism.
The construction of this portal only took place between 1494 and 1505 under the direction of Jacques de Landshut, in a stylistic language that does not seem to relate to that of the present head. A second hypothesis proposed to place the present head as part of the north portal of the west facade, whose tympanum notably depicts the Adoration of the Magi. This proposition, although more logical topographically, does not seem to accord any better with the characteristics of the present work. The sculptures in situ, despite massive restorations affecting the heads in particular, are distinguished by a different style, and above all by the use of pink sandstone, the emblematic stone of the Strasbourg Cathedral, which contrasts with the material of our head. Even if white sandstone quarries existed in the Grand Est and the Vosges regions, there appears to be little to truly connect this piece to local Strasbourg production.
The stylistic analysis points decidedly towards the Parisian basin at the time of the emergence of Gothic art. The rigorous and angular treatment of the hair and beard, ending in carefully defined curls, the prominent eyes with incised pupils, the archaic-looking floral crown, as well as the hieratic frontality of the figure, find parallels in the sculptures of the first decades of the 13th century, or even in some very primitive examples from the 12th century, such as those preserved on the facades of the abbey church of Saint-Denis.
Whatever its original location, this head was part of an important and impressive commission. Of remarkable quality, it constitutes a precious relic from the beginnings of monumental Gothic sculpture, at the moment when the rigidity inherited from the Romanesque style begins to soften, revealing the first breath of naturalism.