The austere character of the nave emphasises the splendid decorations of the eastern parts. No massive screen prevents our seeing the church from the great entrance to the apse. The fact that the choir is open possibly lessens our sense of mystery and of awe, but we are more than compensated by the splendid view of the building from end to end.

The irritating custom of railing off the eastern limb of the church and demanding a fee for admission happily does not obtain at Notre Dame. It is all but universal in England, and renders an intelligent appreciation of the architectural history of our great churches a matter of some difficulty. At Paris one may wander where one will, so long as one does not interrupt the offices. That pompous and irresponsible chatterer the cathedral verger does not impose himself upon us, and disturb our study and diminish our pleasure, as he does in churches on this side the Channel. Only the Sacristy need be visited in the company of an official.

The transepts of French cathedrals are rarely such important features as they are in those of this country. The vast church of Bourges has no transepts at all. At Noyon, as at Paris, the transepts have no aisles. Of the crossing and transepts at Paris Viollet-le-Duc and Guilhermy write as follows:

“At the four angles of the crossing, massive piers, some covered with combined pilasters, others with clustered columns, rise without a break from the ground to the vaulting. The two transepts at the outset were only of two bays similar to those of the nave. They were lengthened by a shallower bay when the faÇades were rebuilt. The later bays are easily distinguished from the four older ones. Thin round vaulting-ribs cross at a crown deeper and more pronounced than those of the older parts. The north and south doors are set in a rich arcading, of which the divisions and the tympanums can be compared to nothing more fitly than a large window with mullions. In the south transept, statues more or less mutilated, representing Christ and the saints, remain at the points of the gables. In describing the exterior of the faÇades we pointed out the open gallery which extends the whole breadth of each transept, and the great rose window a little above it. The exterior arcading of the gallery is repeated by a similar arcading inside. There is a passage between the two rows of little columns, and there is another above this. The effect of the rose windows in the interior, with glowing stained glass in all their compartments, recalls the marvellous descriptions that Dante has given us of the circles of Paradise. The incomparable splendour alternately astonishes and enchants us. To decorate the side walls of his bays, Jean de Chelles continued the arcading and the mullioned windows.”

The vaulting and the rose of the south transept were repaired between the years 1725 and 1728 by Boffrand, the king’s architect, at the expense of Cardinal de Noailles. The pair of arches leading to the choir aisles with their elaborate crocketed canopies are somewhat feebly contrived in both transepts. The clustered shafts are clumsily arranged. The details on the north side differ from those on the south. On the east and west sides of both transepts there are two narrow bays of the triforium. The clerestory consists of short pointed windows with wheel windows beneath them. This is due to Viollet-le-Duc, and is intended to show us the arrangement which obtained throughout the church previous to the alterations which resulted from the fire in the thirteenth century.[12]

At the angle of the south transept in front of the great south-east pier of the crossing is the famous statue of the Virgin and Child, which, in Notre Dame, occupies a place not unlike the far more famous and more venerable statue of S. Peter in the vast basilica which at Rome is dedicated to him. Mr. Belloc has used a photograph of it as the frontispiece to the volume quoted in the footnote, and he writes of it as follows: “But of all the additions to the interior of Notre Dame which popular fancy or the traditions of some crisis give it, none is more worthy of being known than that which alone survives of them, and which I have made the frontispiece of this book. It is not that the statue has—as so much of the fourteenth century can boast—a peculiar beauty; it is indeed (when seen from below, as it was meant to be) full of a delicacy that the time was adding to the severity of the thirteenth century; it has from that standpoint a very graceful gesture; the exaggeration of the forehead disappears, the features show the delicate and elusive smile that the fourteenth century always gave to its Madonnas, and there appears also in its general attitude the gentle inclination of courtesy and attention that was also a peculiar mark of a statuary which was just escaping the rigidity of Early Gothic. But its beauty, slight and ill-defined, is not, I repeat, the interest of the statue. It is because this image dates from the awakening of the capital to its position in France, because it is the symbol of Paris, that it rises up alone, as you may see it now, where the southern transept comes into the nave,[13] all lit with candles and standing out against the blue and the lilies. It is a kind of core and centre to the city, and is, as it were, the genius catching up the spirit of the wars, and giving the generation of the last siege and reconstruction, as it will give on in the future to others in newer trials, a figure in which all the personality of the place is stored up and remembered. It was made just at the outbreak of the Hundred Years’ War, it received the devotion of Etienne Marcel, it heard the outcry that followed the defeat of Poictiers and the captivity of the king.” Mr. Belloc concludes: “It has been for these five hundred years and more the middle thing, carrying with full meaning the name ‘Our Lady of Paris,’ which seems to spread out from it to the Church, and to overhang like an influence the whole city, so that one might wonder sometimes as one looked at it whether it was not the figure of Paris itself one saw.”

In front of the statue is an iron grille terminating in spikes for candles. After Poitiers, the citizens of Paris annually offered a gigantic candle to be burned in front of this statue in order that the ills which afflicted France might cease. It was of the exact length of the walls of the capital itself, and was of course coiled up ropewise. The first presentation was made on August 14th, 1437. The candle necessarily grew with every increase in the area of the city. By the beginning of the seventeenth century it was felt that the limits of vastness had been reached, and in 1605 a silver lamp, which was always to burn before the statue, was presented instead of the candle. This was destroyed by the Revolutionists. On the pillar below the statue is a sculpture said to represent Eve with the serpent’s tail. The identity of the existing statue with the original one so eloquently described by Mr. Belloc has been doubted, but the grounds for doubt appear to be small. In this transept are two marble slabs in memory of seventy-five victims of the Commune.

The place on the north side, corresponding with the statue of Notre-Dame de Paris on the south, is filled by a statue of St. Denis, a fairly good work by Nicolas Coustou.[14] The splendid glass of the great rose window in the south transept has in the main divisions of its four circles the twelve apostles, and a host of bishops and saints with symbols and palms, to whom angels bear golden crowns of glory. In one of the small compartments St. Denis is represented carrying his head, and in others are scenes from what is known as “les Combats des ApÔtres,” amongst them being the arrival of St. Matthew in the presence of the King of Egypt, and the baptism of the King after his conversion by the Apostle. The great rose window of the opposite transept is devoted to scenes from the life of the Virgin. She is represented with Christ in her arms, and is surrounded with an army of patriarchs, judges, prophets, priests and kings, all of whom are related to the Saviour by ties of blood or as His spiritual forerunners. The glass includes curious representations of the Antichrist, decapitating Enoch; and of the destruction of the Antichrist by the Almighty, who appears in a cloud. The small rose or wheel windows in the sides of the transepts have been filled with glass from designs by Steinheil. The pavement of the transepts is of squares of black Bourbon marble alternating with Dinan stone. Great attention was given by Viollet-le-Duc to the polychromatic decoration of the transepts, but it cannot be said that he has been more successful in these parts of the church than elsewhere. The effect aimed at appears to have been that of tapestry with simple patterns; indeed, of the whole it is said, “cette dÉcoration forme, jusque sous les roses, une sort de brillante tapisserie.” Some of the canopies are of the most intricate patterns, but they would be better suited to wood or metal work than to painting. The scheme includes a series of paintings by Perrodin of persons distinguished in the history of the diocese of Paris. The figures have elaborate decorative borders.

The removal of statues and memorials from the nave, which we have already deplored, had just the shadow of a justification from the purely Æsthetic standpoint. Many of the monuments were incongruous, some were positively grotesque. In Westminster Abbey we have an example of the shocking effect of inappropriate statuary in a Gothic building; we know, only too well, how terribly one of the most beautiful interiors in the world suffers from a crowd of tombs which are out of keeping with the very spirit of the place. By the removal of the memorials at Notre Dame, the church has doubtless regained the aspect intended by its designers.

The nave leads uninterruptedly to the choir, which ends in the high altar; and the high altar, with the adjacent shrine of St. Marcel, was the primary reason of the existence of the cathedral. We have seen that in its earlier form little or no provision was made for chapels and consequently for side altars. Everything was arranged to concentrate the eye on the chief altar, and to lend dignity to its position. Its sacred character was respected even in the far-off days in which the body of the church was used for commercial purposes, or for festivals the reverse of religious.

The great eastern limb of the church is raised above the transepts by three steps. Once we have passed into the Ambulatory, or pourtour, of the choir, we are in the most interesting part of the building; for here our story is of historical monuments and decorative objects still happily existing, and not an account of things which have long since ceased to be. When we step into the ambulatory, we pass from newer to older work, but we experience no violent transition from one style to another. The style of the choir is, speaking generally, the style of the whole church. The differences, interesting as they are to the minute student of architectural development, are such as would remain unnoticed by those who do not pretend to special knowledge. This unity reminds one of an Italian Romanesque basilica rather than a Gothic cathedral. Viollet-le-Duc has noted that the capitals in the triforium of the choir seem to be earlier in date than those of the main arcade beneath it; that if nothing were left save the capitals of the two parts, one would conclude that those of the triforium were earlier. This is manifestly impossible, but it shows that not the smallest deviation of style was allowed in constructing the upper story.

Among the capitals of the columns in the choir there are a few representations of animal life amongst the conventional foliage, while the capitals in the nave represent foliage alone. The choir is throughout a shade nearer Romanesque than the nave, but the difference is so slight that only close examination reveals it. Already we have remarked on the superiority of an apsidal termination to any other form in a Gothic church. The ordered grandeur of Notre Dame is nowhere more impressive than in the beautiful sweep of the apse with its spacious ambulatory. It must have been even more imposing in its simplicity before the construction of the side chapels was undertaken, although we are far from regretting an addition which, though it may have reduced the original dignity of the church, has added variety to it and rendered it more interesting.

Let us begin our detailed examination of the choir and its chapels with the famous Screen of sculptures by Jehan Ravy and his nephew Jehan le Bouteiller, which we must study from the ambulatory. In his History of Sculpture, Professor Wilhelm LÜbke devotes considerable space to this series in the chapter devoted to “Northern Sculpture in the Late Gothic Epoch” (1300 to 1450). After stating that France exhausted herself during the golden age of Gothic sculpture, and that the period under discussion was so stormy as to be unfavourable to the production of works of art, he writes of the screen as follows:

“One of the most important works of the epoch [the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth centuries] are the extensive reliefs which cover the choir screen in the interior of the Cathedral of Paris. These are only the remains of the formerly far richer plastic ornament which, in a great measure, fell a sacrifice under Louis XIV. to a vain love of ostentation. The earlier series on the north side contains a crowded representation in an unbroken line of the History of Christ; from the Annunciation to the Prayer at Gethsemane. These representations are vividly conceived, and the style in which they are executed breathes the spirit of the thirteenth century. Perhaps they belong to the end of that century or to the beginning of the next. The reliefs on the south side are different in many points. They continue the History of Christ; and, indeed, the whole was so arranged that the cycle which began at the east passed along the north side to the west end of the choir, and was continued on the lectern,[15] where the Passion, Crucifixion and Resurrection were depicted in front of the congregation, concluding at the south side in a scene moving from west to east. Of the latter scenes, the only ones now in existence are those which extend from the Meeting of Christ as the Gardener with Mary Magdalen to the Farewell to the Disciples after the Resurrection. The artist of these later scenes left his name, in an inscription that has now disappeared,[16] as Jehan Ravy, who for twenty-six years conducted the building of Notre Dame, at the end of which time it was completed under his nephew Master Jehan de Bouteiller, in 1351. Master Ravy evidently thought that he could improve upon his predecessor’s work on the north side; for while the latter had combined the scenes into one unbroken series, he divided his into separate compartments by arcades, so that these later representations, which are still in existence, are separated from each other by small columns. In so doing he followed the general taste of the century, which was inclined to exchange a picturesque character for the calm epic relief of the former period. While, however, his somewhat short figures are certainly superior in correctness to the figures of the north side, owing to his understanding of the physical structure and to the neatness of execution, there is in the figures of the north side a fresher tone of feeling and more grace of action, compared with which the far more constrained attitudes of the later works form an unpleasing contrast, and even occasionally degenerate into commonplaceness. Thus in these works, in spite of all expenditure of artistic care, there is an unmistakable decline of creative power.”

The series on the north side should be visited first. The scenes are fourteen in number, and have reference to the Visitation:

• The Shepherds and the Star of Bethlehem;
• The Nativity;
• The Visit of the Magi;
• The Slaughter of the Innocents;
• The Flight into Egypt;
• The Presentation in the Temple;
• Christ among the Doctors;
• His Baptism;
• The Marriage-Feast at Cana;
• The Entry into Jerusalem;
• The Last Supper;
• Christ Washing the Feet of St. Peter;
• The scene in the Garden of Olives.

The later works on the south side, in which Professor LÜbke traces a decline of creative force, represent:

• The Meeting of Christ as the Gardener with Mary Magdalen;
• The Holy Women (the Three Maries) Kissing the Saviour’s Feet;
• Jesus appearing to the Apostles (who are represented in a turreted building);
• The Disciples of Emmaus, with Christ among them;
• The Breaking of the Bread;
• Another version of Christ Appearing to the Apostles;
• The Doubt and the Conversion of St. Thomas;
• The Miraculous Draught of Fishes;
• Christ’s Message to the Apostles to Preach the Gospel to all Nations.

It is extremely fortunate that these very interesting sculptures have been left to us, for they constitute incomparably the most important of the internal decorations at Notre Dame, which, as we have seen, is relatively poor in the mediÆval tombs which are the glory of Westminster Abbey. While we are thankful for what is left, we cannot help feeling a grudge against Cardinal de Noailles, who caused some of the scenes to be removed, and thus left the series incomplete. That the modern restoration of the painting of the sculpture was wise can hardly be maintained.[17]

For the moment we will leave the ambulatory, and consider the Choir and Sanctuary. It will be interesting, before we examine the present state of these parts, to sketch briefly their aspect in the fourteenth century. Corrozet and De Breul have left us descriptions which have been illustrated and elucidated by the indefatigable Viollet-le-Duc. The entrance to the choir at the crossing was filled by a magnificent screen of stone richly adorned with carving. This was about eighteen feet high. The top formed the rood-loft, which was approached by two circular staircases placed at either end of the screen. In the centre was, of course, the entrance to the choir. When the doors were open the high altar could be seen from the end of the nave. Over this door was a decorated gable terminating in a great crucifix. According to De Breul this crucifix was a masterpiece of sculpture, as were the other statues which composed the group. The loft was broad, and had on both sides an open stone parapet, on which were placed carved lecterns. The west front of the screen had sculptured scenes of the Passion, which formed part of the series by Jehan Ravy and Jehan de Bouteiller lately described. On either side of the doorway, beneath the sculptures, were small altars. The choir-stalls of carved wood occupied much the same place as do those which we see to-day. Between the rows of stalls were low tombs with recumbent figures. The Sanctuary, approached by steps, was railed off, and filled the apse. The space between the columns was filled by a screen with carved scenes, which rose almost to the level of the bases of the capitals. The altar was low, and of stone, and possessed a re-table on which was placed a cross. Enclosing it on all sides, save that towards the church, was a screen with hangings of tapestry. At the four corners of this screen were tall figures of angels. Immediately behind the altar, and towering over it, was the shrine of St. Marcel, a lofty open structure of brass and other metals in two stages, ending in a gable at the apex of which rose a crucifix.

On the first stage, so that it could be seen from all parts of the choir, was the feretrum or reliquary of St. Marcel. This chief shrine had on its side shrines of less importance, while, in the background to the north, was the small altar of the Trinity, on which was placed the reliquary of Notre Dame, containing portions of the dress and other relics of the mother of Christ. A few fine tombs were also in the sanctuary, and not far away was a bronze statue of Eudes de Sully. An illustration, partly conjectural, of the choir and sanctuary in the condition which I have attempted to describe from Viollet-le-Duc’s Dictionnaire, is reproduced here. It will be seen that while the furniture and ornament of this part of the church is sufficiently splendid, it is nevertheless simple. There would be ample space for the due performance of the great ceremonials which constantly took place. Such was the appearance of the choir and sanctuary until Louis XIV., in fulfilment of the vow of Louis XIII., who had dedicated himself and his kingdom to the Virgin, began his transformation.

The Choir is raised above the body of the church by three steps, and on the right and left hand is enclosed by a low grille in wrought iron with gilding. This rests on a stone foundation, and is terminated towards the centre by two massive columns, on which are hung the gates, which are of very beautiful design, representing conventionalised foliage and flowers. At the top of the gate, in the centre, is a foliated cross. The two bays on the south side of the choir nearest the entrance have the same arrangement of a small pointed window with a rose window beneath it, as exists in the side of the transept immediately adjacent. The remaining windows are in the altered and enlarged form, and the triforium of the choir is similar to, though of earlier date than, that which runs round the nave.

The Stalls occupy three bays on either side of the choir. The erection of these stalls is part of the work undertaken by order of Louis XIV. in accomplishment of his father’s vow, and it follows that they are not in character with the architecture of the choir. It was once proposed that for this reason new stalls of “Gothic” design should take their place. There is little likelihood of this being done now. Incongruity among things beautiful in themselves is by no means a calamity, and we may fairly question alike the taste and the learning of those who crave for uniformity at all cost. One is glad to think that Viollet-le-Duc never for a moment contemplated the banishment of these stalls, which are a particularly fine example of the best work of which the craftsmen of the time were capable. The stalls have been rearranged since they were first placed in the choir, and their number has diminished. Originally there were one hundred and fourteen stalls; now there are ten less. They are divided on each side into upper and lower tiers, each tier having twenty-six seats. The carvings are the work of Jean Nel and Louis Marteau, the designs being supplied by Jean de Goulon. The designer and the executants have combined to produce a really admirable piece of work, of which a full account is given in a very careful monograph, published by Chouvet in Paris in 1855, entitled Album des Boiseries sculptÉes du Choeur de Notre Dame de Paris. In this volume the carvings are dealt with one by one, and their merits intelligently discussed. At the back of the upper row of stalls are eight large carved panels, which represent scenes in the life of the Virgin. At the west end of the stalls are placed, opposite to one another, the throne of the archbishop and a similar throne for the dean of the chapter. These thrones or seats have elaborately-carved canopies. The relief on the back of the chair or throne on the right represents the cure of Childebert I. by St. Germain, Bishop of Paris. On the opposite chair is represented in similar style the martyrdom of St. Denis. Throughout the entire cathedral, in sculpture, in stained glass, in carving, the Virgin is glorified, and next to her in honour comes St. Denis. The stalls are lighted by lamps in metal brackets, and the choir itself is illuminated by handsome candelabra similar to those in the nave. In the second bay on the north side of the choir is a small organ used in the daily offices.

Close by this organ the stones of the pavement are movable, and cover the entrance of a small crypt. This is the principal subterranean chamber of the cathedral, and it was constructed so recently as the eighteenth century. It was set apart as the burial place of the Archbishops of Paris, and is little more than a vault. Over the coffins of those of the Archbishops who have been Cardinals are suspended their red hats and tassels. The excavations for this little crypt led to a discovery which was of great interest to archÆologists. Amongst other Roman remains was a small altar to Jupiter, which is now preserved in the Cluny Museum. In Paris À travers les Ages we read of a small crypt below the Chapelle S. Anne, on the south side of the nave. Used now as a coal cellar, it was formerly a burial place, as is attested by the following inscription: “Cave pour les cercueils de plomb; cave pour la sÉpulture des chanoines; caves pour la sÉpulture des musiciens, enfants de Choeurs et officiers clercs.”

The pavement of the choir is of pieces of marble of various colours, which together form a geometrical pattern. As one looks at it, one laments the magnificent tombs with bronze effigies which were formerly the glory of this part of the church.

The Sanctuary is approached by four steps of Languedoc marble, and three additional steps of the same material lead to the high altar. The High Altar still retains most of the leading features of the arrangement of Louis XIV. It was begun in 1699, and finished in 1714. The pseudo-classical architecture by means of which the great pillars of the apse were hidden has of course been swept away. The principal group of sculpture, representing the Descent from the Cross, is by Nicolas Coustou, who was born at Lyons in 1658. He was a pupil of Coysevox, his uncle, who at that time was director of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture at Paris. He obtained the grand prix, and went to study at Rome, where he was profoundly influenced by the work of Michael Angelo. Coustou’s output on his return to France was enormous. The “Descent from the Cross,” at Notre Dame was doubtless inspired by the famous group by Michael Angelo in St. Peter’s at Rome. It cannot be said that Coustou has approached the greatest of the Italians in the profundity of his pathos or in tragic solemnity, but the group at Notre Dame is not without decided merit, although it leans towards the melodramatic and artificial.

On one side of the altar is a kneeling statue of Louis XIII. by Guillaume Coustou, and on the other a similar statue of Louis XIV. by Antoine Coysevox. Guillaume Coustou was the younger brother of Nicolas, and like him studied at Rome. He represents Louis XIII. offering his crown and sceptre, which he holds in his hands, to the Virgin. The statue of Louis XIV. suggests the accomplishment of his father’s vow. Coysevox, from whose chisel it came, was the leading French sculptor of his time. He was born at Lyons in 1640, and died in 1720. The statues of angels bearing the instruments of the Passion are by various sculptors. The angel with the crown of thorns and that carrying the reed are by Corneille Van ClÈve. The angel with the nails is by Claude Poirier; that with the sponge by Simon Hurtrelle; that with the scroll by Laurent Magnier; and that with the lance by Anselme Flamen. The bas-relief in bronze-gilt in front of the altar represents the Entombment, and is by Van ClÈve. The cross and candelabra formerly belonged to the cathedral of Arras. The lectern of sculptured bronze is dated 1755, and has on its base the name of Duplessis, founder to the King. A superb example of Gobelins tapestry, the gift of Napoleon I., is used on great festivals to cover the floor of the sanctuary. The pavement is partly in mosaic, and has a representation of the arms of France.

The comparatively new stained glass of the choir and apse is not so bad as one might expect. It is by MarÉchal of Metz. The central window of the apse is devoted to the Visitation. To the right are Eudes de Sully and St. Marcel; St. Augustine and St. Jerome; St. Luke and St. John; Daniel and Jeremiah; David and Abraham; St. George and St. Martin; Charlemagne and Pope Leo. III.; and St. Hilaire and St. IrÉnÉe. To the right the subjects are St. Denis and Maurice de Sully; St. Gregory and St. Ambrose; St. Mark and St. Matthew; Ezekiel and Isaiah; Aaron and Melchisedec; St. Stephen and St. Laurent, St. Louis and St. Gregory VII., and St. Remi and St. Martin. The small rose windows of the choir, like those of the transept, are filled with glass by Steinheil. The choir, more perhaps than any other part of the cathedral, has suffered from the wholesale destruction of glass which has already been described. Visitors to the cathedral of Chartres can estimate the value of mediÆval glass in a Gothic cathedral. It is unfortunate that the great windows of the clerestory at Paris were filled up before the notable revival in the art of stained glass, which commenced in England, and has now extended to France.

We must now return to the Ambulatory and the adjacent chapels. It is in this part of the church that Viollet-le-Duc’s decorations are most profuse, and it is not possible to consider them successful. It is quite probable that no such scheme of decoration could be open to fewer objections than that of Viollet-le-Duc. The truth is that the colour confuses our appreciation of the fine lines of the architecture, and it is frequently restless and irritating where it should be most reposeful.

The Chapels of the Choir. On the south side are the following chapels:—

Chapelle Saint-Denis. The chief object of interest here is a statue, by Auguste de Bay, of Archbishop Affre, who is represented at the moment when he made his heroic appearance on the barricade of the Faubourg Saint Antoine with an olive branch. This was on June 25th, 1848, during the Commune. The Archbishop was struck by a ball and killed.

Chapelle Sainte-Madeleine. This chapel contains the grave of the Papal nuncio Garibaldi, Archbishop of Myra, who died in 1853. Archbishop Sibour, who was murdered in the church of St. Etienne du Mont on Jan. 8th, 1857, by a priest, is commemorated by a kneeling statue in marble by Dubois.

Chapelle Saint-Guillaume. The statue of the Virgin seated, with the Child Jesus in her arms, is attributed to Bernini, who came from Rome to Paris during the reign of Louis XIV. to make alterations and additions to the Louvre. The Mausoleum of Henri-Charles d’Harcourt, Lieutenant-general of the armies of the King, who died in 1769, is a pretentious and theatrical work which was once highly esteemed. It is by the sculptor Pigalle, and is of white marble. The widow who kneels by the tomb and appears to be calling her husband is warned away by a figure of Death. The genius of War is represented lamenting, and the whole is completed by trophies of arms.

Chapelle Saint-Georges. Amongst the elaborate mural decorations of this chapel is a picture by Steinheil of St. George and the Dragon. The statue of Archbishop Darboy is by Bonnassieux. The prelate is represented falling amidst the bullets of the Communists, whom he blesses as he dies. This tragic incident took place in the prison of La Roquette, on May 27th, 1871. Close by is a kneeling statue of Archbishop Morlot (d. 1862) by LescornÉ. The chapel also contains a statue of St. George by the same artist.

The following are the chapels on the north side of the choir:—

La Chapelle de Notre Dame des Sept Douleurs, or La Chapelle du Petit Choeur. The bas-reliefs over the altar represent the angel appearing to the Virgin Mary, the Descent from the Cross, and the Entombment. The statue in wood of Notre Dame des Sept Douleurs is by Corbon. The compositions, in six panels, by Perrodin, represent: Jesus bearing the Cross; Christ on Calvary; the Descent from the Cross; the Communion of the Virgin; and the Death of the Virgin. The nine carved wood stalls are of the same period as those of the choir. They were possibly part of the original series, which, as we have seen, was reduced in number. At all events, the details indicate that the same designer and craftsmen were employed on them. This chapel contains the only important fragment of the original polychromatic decoration with which the walls of the cathedral were anciently embellished. It consists of a mural painting dating from the fourteenth century. In the centre is represented the Virgin enthroned with the Child. To the right is St. Denis, and on the left Bishop Simon Matiffas de Buci, who built the three chapels on the left of the apse. Beneath the picture was formerly the Bishop’s tomb. Below the representation of the Virgin and Child is a curious design representing angels bearing away a human soul. This painting was unfortunately restored by M. Maillot the elder, and has consequently lost much of its antiquarian interest.

Chapelle Saint-Marcel. Pierre Deseine’s enormous monument to Cardinal de Belloy fills a large part of this chapel. The cardinal is represented giving alms to two orphan girls. St. Denis looks on, and records the cardinal’s name on a list of the bishops of Paris noted for their charity. Close by is the tomb, with reclining figure, of Monseigneur de Quelen, by De Chaume. Amongst the mural decorations of this chapel the chief is a large painting by Maillot the younger. The subject is the “Translation of the relics of St. Marcel from the old Church of St. Marie to the Church of Notre Dame by Bishop Eudes de Sully.” The personages represented are portraits of the officials of the diocese, and include Archbishop Darboy and the AbbÉ la Place. In the vaulting is a design representing the Coronation of St. Marcel.

Chapelle Saint-Louis. This chapel has six statues in wood by Corbon, representing Christ, the Virgin, St. John, St. Denis, St. Rustiguex, and St. Eleutherius. The kneeling statue of Archbishop Louis-Antoine de Noailles, who died in 1729, is by De Chaume.

Chapelle Saint-Germain. Tomb of Archbishop Leclerc de JuignÉ (died 1811), a kneeling figure in relief. The tomb was repaired by Viollet-le-Duc, who modified its original design.

Chapelle Saint-Ferdinand. Monument of Archbishop de Beaumont (died 1781), from designs by Viollet-le-Duc.

Chapelle Saint-Martin. Monument of Jean-Baptiste de Vardes, Comte de GuÉbriant, Marshal of France, who died in 1643, and of his wife RenÉe du Bec Crespin. A splendid service was celebrated in Notre Dame on the Marshal’s death. His wife was sent to Poland as ambassadress extraordinary, and died there in 1643, without being able to erect a monument to her husband. The Marquis de Vardes erected the tomb, which was practically destroyed during the Revolution. It was renewed from designs by Viollet-le-Duc.

Behind the Sanctuary is the tomb with a jewelled effigy of Archbishop Matiffas de Buci, who died in 1304. It was removed from La Chapelle de Notre Dame des Sept Douleurs. In the arcading below the bas-reliefs of Jehan Revy and Jean le Bouteiller are placed little brasses with the names, arms, and date of the death of the persons whose remains are buried at Notre Dame. A list of the most interesting of these has already been given.