It all starts with a crumpled magazine page handed to me by my interlocutor standing in front of me. It represents a statue of the Virgin and Child. On this page, an inscription written in pen: “Châtenois, old church. It is in a museum in New York. The Capeluche 1296”. It also mentions the name of the museum, namely “The Met”. I’m curious to know more.
I notice the name of the “Capeluche”. It reminds me of part of Castinian history. I must dive back into the historical notice written by Julien Bastien in 1888. Remember that Julien Bastien was a teacher in Châtenois from 1879 to 1911, parish organist from 1879 to 1900, town hall secretary until 1912 and mayor of Châtenois in May 1925, before dying in the commune in July 1925. I then found in his research work that a chapel called Capluche was indeed mentioned. We also find the mention “La Capluche” in departmental archive documents.
Excerpt from Julien Bastien’s documents:
“The following extracts from the pouille of the diocese of Toul, one from 1753, the other from 1711, complete what relates to ecclesiastical benefices and chapels. There are three brotherhoods: of Notre Dame, of Saint Nicolas and of the Rosary. There is a chapel called Capluche, which receives a third of the large tithes from Viocourt, Saint Paul, and a quarter from Morelmaison”.
Extract from the Vosges Departmental Archives:
“Series h regular clergy before 1790. Ref 6 h priory saint-pierre de Châtenois
VI H 31 (Collection). Five pieces of parchment; a notebook and 35 pieces of paper. Chapels (Layette 1, Chatenoy, bundle 36). Chapel of Notre-Dame known as Capluche: Foundation in the church of the priory of Châtenois, by Raoul, abbot of Saint-Epvre de Toul and all his monastery, of a chapel, under the invocation of Notre-Dame, and attribution to this chapel of half of the mill of Viocourt (Wyocourt) with its income and eleven flesh of pork commonly called “pourchet” and thirty resaux of oats; in addition, “chores” and “breuils” located in the banns and finages of Viocourt and Saint-Paul and which are called Saint-Epvre; one third of the 24 Voy. at the end of this article. 121 tithes of Viocourt; one-third of the tithes of Saint-Paul; one third of one third of the tithes of Morelmaison (Moreimaison); twenty-six gelines per year in Viocourt and Saint-Paul. The altar will take the name of Notre-Dame altar. »
It was while attending the symposium on crosses and calvaries last September that the idea came to me to contact François Perrot from the Friends of the Pays de Châtenois association. He provided me with valuable information. And one thing leading to another, the story became more precise.
It was an American sculptor, George Gray Barnard (1863-1938), teaching the history of medieval art, who decided after a stay in France to create a medieval museum in New York. From 1905 to 1913, he was indeed in France and bought sculptures from antique dealers and individuals. In Lorraine, Barnard thus acquired several arcades from the cloister of Froville in Meurthe et Moselle and several statues, two of which would be from the Châtenois cemetery. At that time, no legislation prevented the export of heritage items. In 1925, ruined, he sold his collections to John Rockefeller Junior who donated them to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met). The Virgin and Child exhibited in this famous New York institution therefore comes from Châtenois. It was made of limestone and shows traces of paint.
