Cathedral of Saint Lazarus of Autun
From 1120–1146 this cathedral in the middle of France was built solely to commemorate Lazarus, the saint whom Jesus brought back from the dead. Prior to this church being built, the chaotic economic and political climate of France, and most of Europe, prevented a lot of sculpture or decorated churches. Around 1100 there was a church building boom that echoed across Europe, which created the space for the Autun Cathedral and allowed for more sculpture and relief decoration. This church facade and interior decor became one of the first to revitalize the sculptural element of design.
During this time, pilgrimages became popular. People would travel long distances to churches and reliquaries in order to pray and pay respect to that specific Saint. They believed that this act of travelling would grant your prayers as well as give you a sort of enlightening, or liminal, experience. Many pilgrims would go to specific saints for specific things and would experience the whole journey, often finding churches along the way to tide them over until the main Saint course.
The church was built in the Latin cross style with a long Nave, a transept for the clergy to stand in, and a series of stages for choirs to sing as well as to house the reliquary. The whole building was built to look like a cross. The main entrance holds the main attraction of the Autun Cathedral: The Last Judgement Tympanum. This decorates the area above the doorway, with many different architectural elements that add to the effect.
Once inside, you can see the capitals, which are the tops of the columns that are decorated with sculpture and relief carvings. Here are four capitals, for example, each with a biblical scene on it. There are more, but these are the ones with most detail still visible. On one column, The Three Magi Capital depicts the three wise men woken by the angel to go see Jesus’ birth. Atop another column, the Suicide of Judas Capital shows Judas hanging from a tree while demons pull him up into hell. The little tendril decor on the capital is used to look like tendrils grabbing Judas. On the third column, the Flight to Egypt Capital depicts Mary and baby Jesus on a donkey, in which some people believe they are fleeing to Egypt. The fourth column holds the Vices and Virtues capital, depicting Charity defeating Greed and Patience defeating Wrath, showing people what they can accomplish with the right set of values and morals.
Leaving behind the capitals, The Last Judgement Tympanum can be found above the entryway to the church. This sculptural element is one of the first well known monumental sculptures in the medieval period. Political and economic chaos in the medieval caused a lack of artist, or craftsmen, commission. This led to the lack of sculpture and other monument type decoration. The Last Judgement is unique to the Autun Cathedral because it deals with life after death, mimicking the new testament story of Lazarus being brought back from the dead. Since nobody can ever read in art history, the narrative quality of the sculpture helped people understand the message.
Christ is the central figure on the tympanum. He is very linear with no real attention to proportion, in the Romanesque style that was prevalent at the time. He is elongated and sitting flatly upon the city of heaven, his throne. The four angels surround Christ and seem to be holding up his giant body halo. On Christ’s left the damned are seen being sent to hell, with demons pulling them and hooking them. While on the right, the blessed are being sent to heaven, naked and pure. In the upper right, the Virgin Mary and an angel announcing everybody’s ascension to heaven. Saint Michael is weighing souls of the damned to see how sinful they are. Demons can be seen pulling on the scales to skew the balance. The hell portion of the tympanum was made as horrific as possible, to scare people who couldn’t read into repenting and going into the church to pray. Almost as a sort of warning like this is what will happen to you if you don’t give the church money. Along the lintel of the entryway, pilgrims and angels are seen on their journey to either heaven or hell.
Temptation of Eve is another sculpture from the Autun Cathedral, although it is now in the Musée Rolin, in Autun, France. Half of it depicted Adam but that part is missing. On the remaining half, Eve is depicted mid temptation, supposedly telling Adam to eat the fruit like she just did. She was made to look like a serpent weaving through the trees and shrubbery.
This church quickly became popular due to its construction and sculptural decorations. The church was entirely built for the relics of Lazarus, unlike many churches, which may contain multiple relics. The church was highly specific and because of that many pilgrims would come for specific prayers. The church was built in the Romanesque style and would be referenced in the coming years regarding the Gothic style.
Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris, “Last Judgment, Tympanum, Cathedral of St. Lazare, Autun (France),” in Smarthistory, December 5, 2015, accessed September 6, 2020, https://smarthistory.org/last-judgment-tympanum-cathedral-of-st-lazare-autun-france/.
Kren, Emil, and Daniel Marx. “Eve.” Eve by GISLEBERTUS, www.wga.hu/html_m/g/gisleber/5eve.html.
- Chandler Everett — Sept. 6, 2020
