Controversy in Art

A sculpture of Saint Denis located on the west facade of Notre Dame cathedral. Saint Denis was the first Bishop of Paris and is one of the patron saints of France. In hagiography, Denis was beheaded and then carried his head to the place he wished to be buried. That location is now where St-Denis cathedral sits. This story is very important to the legacy of the religious importance of St-Denis.

In this window is depicted the Annunciation, which is the moment in time when the angel Gabriel came to Mary to tell her that would be the mother of Jesus Christ. In this image there is a figure on the bottom at the feet of Mary, this is Suger. Suger put himself into a number of his windows and is the first recorded religious patron putting himself into his art.

Suger claimed, in an attempt to circumnavigate the artistic controversy at the time, that his new, expensive stained-glass windows were meant for exegetical study of the literati, literate choir monks. He made the content of the windows very complicated in an attempt to give ground to his claims. Of course, Suger knew that his windows would be seen by the public and that was his end goal.

Suger claimed, in an attempt to circumnavigate the artistic controversy at the time, that his new, expensive stained-glass windows were meant for exegetical study of the literati, literate choir monks. He made the content of the windows very complicated in an attempt to give ground to his claims. Of course, Suger knew that his windows would be seen by the public and that was his end goal. In this example it is also easier to see Suger's new style of architecture that would become known as the Gothic style.