Resumen de Splendor and peril: the cathedral of Paris, 1290-1350
The final phase of construction, begun in 1296, of Notre-Dame, the cathedral of Paris, encompassed sixteen chevet chapels, the enclosing wall of the liturgical choir, and an urgent campaign of structural consolidation. This study proposes that through the integration of a visually complex architecture with imagery, the master masons Pierre de Chelles and Jehan Ravy composed an environment that must be understood in terms of contemporary optical theory and devotional practices rather than modern notions of stylistic progress. Setting Notre-Dame within the context of fourteenth-century building in Paris illuminates the process of meaningful selection that guided its design.
