The ornamental colonnettes of the royal portal of Chartres: Architecture and sculpture in the context of design and labor (France)

This study focuses on the ornamental colonnettes of the royal (west) portal of Chartres cathedral. Through a pluralistic methodological approach, these marginal colonnettes are placed within a broad social, economic and historical context. In part one, The Architectural Context, the role of the colonnette is examined in relation to the emergence of the gothic style in the Ile-de-France (royal domain) of the 1130s and 1140s. It is argued that practical issues of standardization and mass production, in addition to economic motivations for lower labor and shipping costs, led to the colonnette becoming an integral element in gothic architectural design. In so doing, this work ultimately challenges traditional concepts of the emergence of the gothic style which typically describes the gothic as a spontaneous event which arrived in the royal domain via outside influences. This study examines existing regional architectural practices which, from a twenty-first-century perspective, appear to have coalesced into ‘gothic’.; In part two, The Sculpture in Context, the question of iconography and reception is considered by arguing that the marginal ornament of the colonnettes must be read within the greater context of the theological teachings of the church and the Neoplatonic interests of the cathedral school of Chartres. It is posited that the ornament played a role in the overall message of the portal.; Labor practices within the sculptural workshop are also investigated. Past scholarship rarely acknowledged the ornamental sculpture when determining the productivity of an individual, thereby relegating it to the realm of anonymous assistants. This study considers individual production and the distribution of work on the facade in order to address larger questions of design process and labor practices within the collaborative workshop. The concept of a hierarchical division of labor between master and assistant is disputed by examining the individuals responsible for the ornamental carving and the labor process utilized. Rather than finding a division of labor based on masters and assistants as traditionally thought, it appears that the division was based on specialized tasks, not on a hierarchical arrangement of talent and personalities.