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Sacred Portraits

This is very much work in progress.

 

The figure sculptures and stained glass windows of the gothic cathedrals of France have been something I've photographed fo many years, but it was only on a recent visit to Chartres and Reims Cathedrals that I began a new series of mobile phone images of the characters depicted in the portals of these monumental gothic buildings. The figures are a mixture of historical and apochryphal characters that seem to reflect the challenges of Christian belief - what is fact and what is fiction?

 

In conjunction with these sculptural explorations, the glories of the 13c stained glass of these cathedrals is likewise a fascination and has resulted in these first extrapolations from a series of windows. On removing the faces from their surroundings, and retaining the framing of the faces as delineted by the glazing bars, a strange portrait of each un-named character is made manifest.

Chartres Figures FINAL
Reims Figures FINAL
Bishop bw toned
Final 1 copy
Final 2 copy
Final 3 copy
Final 4 copy
Final 5 copy
Exeter Triptych 2 copy
Wells Cathedral v1 web
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