Restoration and Significance of the Painting at Chartres Cathedral: A Historical Masterpiece

It is an imposing painting (3.80 mx 3.60 m with its frame) which was hoisted to a height of 11 m under the south rose of Chartres Cathedral on Friday October 6. Removed in July 2021, before the interior restoration work on the southern arm of the transept, it was put back in place after having itself benefited from a restoration thanks to the patronage of the American Friends of Chartres association.

What does this painting represent?

Classified as a historic monument in 1982, this oil on canvas dating from the 17th century is an interpreted copy of the famous and last painting executed by Raphael in 1520 for Cardinal Julius de’ Medici and today kept at the Vatican Pinacoteca. It could come from the Jacobin convent of Chartres from where it was transported to the cathedral in 1791.

Here is the future face of the esplanade of Notre-Dame de Chartres cathedral

The painting has two distinct narrative parts. The top represents the transfiguration of Christ as described in the New Testament, Gospel according to Saint Matthew. The first plan of the painting announces the following episode in the life of Christ, the Healing of an epileptic.

What did the restoration consist of?

Despite a restoration carried out in the early 1990s, the painting showed blisters on the re-canvassing carried out. The weight of the frame had also warped it. “We had to consolidate it and revive its colors,” explains Elodie Delaruelle, conservator-restorer of paintings, who worked on this project with Lucia Tranchino for the support and Maxime Seigneury for the frame.

premium What is this painting from Chartres Cathedral which will be exhibited at the Chartres Museum of Fine Arts

Four months of work were necessary with a team of ten people to restore this painting to its original beauty. Transported to the cathedral on Friday morning by the Bovis company, specializing in the handling of works of art, the painting was unpacked and put back in its frame on the ground then hoisted under the south rose using scaffolding. All under the eye of Dominique Lallement, president of American friends of Chartres.

Laurence Franceschina

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