The next stop was at Dijon’s St Benigne Cathedral. Since our focus is the Middle Ages, I did not photograph some of the more modern sculpture. After the French Revolution (and all the damage done to too many churches), sculpture of Enlightenment intellectuals and writers was added to some churches, including this one. In modern terms I suppose we would call this “rebranding” as the churches were now viewed as “temples of reason.”
The last photo is Le Palais des Ducs et des Etats de Bourgogne. I didn’t even try to pronounce that one! It is a former Dukes Palace turned into a museum of beautiful objects from 1384 – 1477. Since this is late Middle Ages, you can see the influence of the Early Renaissance artists where images take on a more natural appearance. During the Middle Ages, natural representation was never the point, so was not considered important. Early Renaissance painters created images better representing what people looked like in the terrestrial world and this influenced sculptures. You will see this in the beautiful faces of the altar piece and the alabaster monks represented in the last photo.