French, La Réole
Portal, late 12th century
Limestone , 363.2 x 241.3 cm (143 x 95 in.)
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A rectangular opening is seen from the front, piercing a wall and providing access between two separate spaces. The interior left and right sides of the opening are lined with cylindrical vertical stones set on top of each other. The interior top side of the opening is faced by a continuous rectangular stone, that has its vertical face decorated with Greek meanders. Surrounding the rectangular opening and protruding towards us from the wall, there is a limestone archway. The archway is comprised of pairs of columns on either side, topped by an arch. Each column pair is formed by a round column and a square column. The round column is topped by a carved animal head. The square column is made of vertical rectangular shaped stones placed end-on-end. Massive, rectangular carved stones rest above each pair of round and square columns, sustaining the arch rising above. The interior edge of the arch has five scalloped lobes, with a carved head positioned inside each of the middle three. The head in the center seems to be especially damaged.
Spanish Cloister
Commentary
The portal is depicted still in situ in an engraving in La Guienne militaire (1865), a book written by the Bordeaux antiquarian Leo Drouyn. It was the entrance of an important Medieval private house in La Re?ole, a town located on the Garonne river some fifty miles upstream from Bordeaux. The house was commonly known as the Maison Seguin, and more rarely, Maison de la Synagogue. The building, now demolished, was presumably the residence of an influential local family, the Seguins, who are documented at La Re?ole as early as the fourteenth century. In its original location, the portal was situated at the head of a flight of stairs and gave access to the first story of the house.
Despite of its clear provenance, the portal is not uniform in style and may have been pieced together from several elements fortuitously obtained. The three heads inserted in the lobes at
the summit of the arch are an especially jarring feature of the design. The base of the arch itself and the heavy cornice molding on which it rests impinge on the lintel decorated with a meandering ribbon. The rest of the portal is more architecturally coherent. It is a stepped construction with single colonnettes. On top of these colonettes are capitals featuring lion masks. Similar capitals were also seen in the windows of the Seguin house.
The portal or at least its component parts resembled other sculpture from the Bordeaux region near the end of the Romanesque era. For example, the three heads resemble another famous Bordelaise architectural element in an American museum: the Langon chapel preserved at The Cloisters in New York City.
Despite of its clear provenance, the portal is not uniform in style and may have been pieced together from several elements fortuitously obtained. The three heads inserted in the lobes at
the summit of the arch are an especially jarring feature of the design. The base of the arch itself and the heavy cornice molding on which it rests impinge on the lintel decorated with a meandering ribbon. The rest of the portal is more architecturally coherent. It is a stepped construction with single colonnettes. On top of these colonettes are capitals featuring lion masks. Similar capitals were also seen in the windows of the Seguin house.
The portal or at least its component parts resembled other sculpture from the Bordeaux region near the end of the Romanesque era. For example, the three heads resemble another famous Bordelaise architectural element in an American museum: the Langon chapel preserved at The Cloisters in New York City.