DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45257#0281
A COLLECTOR OF MEDALS
175
serving how anxious they evidently were to study
the special wishes of their patron the Duke. We
learn from the Inventory of this Prince that
he was an ardent collector of medals, and that
he had bought from a Florentine dealer a medal
of the Emperor Constantine. The figure of the
most prominent of these three Magi on the left of
the scene appears to have been copied from
this very medal.1 In the background may be
noticed the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris
and the Sainte Chapelle. Again two bears are
introduced in allusion to the Ducal device.
In the centre of the picture is a tabernacle of
pure French Gothic style adorned with figures
of prophets and saints. These tabernacles were
used in the fourteenth century (the Due d’Aumale
observes), as halting-places between Paris and Saint-
Denis and were called Montjoies.
The Fall of the Rebel Angels'2 which comes
next is one of the loveliest pages of the series.
God the Father, surrounded by Cherubim and
Seraphim, is enthroned above the golden rays of
the Sun. From amongst the ranks of the Angels
—who are seated around in a semicircle—the
rebels are being cast headlong to Earth. As
Lucifer in his fall strikes his handsome head and
diadem upon the ground fire bursts from him,
1 Durrieu mentions that one of the Kings seems to have been in-
spired by this medal, but as a matter of fact he is faithfully copied
from it.
2 See Plate XXXVIII.
175
serving how anxious they evidently were to study
the special wishes of their patron the Duke. We
learn from the Inventory of this Prince that
he was an ardent collector of medals, and that
he had bought from a Florentine dealer a medal
of the Emperor Constantine. The figure of the
most prominent of these three Magi on the left of
the scene appears to have been copied from
this very medal.1 In the background may be
noticed the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris
and the Sainte Chapelle. Again two bears are
introduced in allusion to the Ducal device.
In the centre of the picture is a tabernacle of
pure French Gothic style adorned with figures
of prophets and saints. These tabernacles were
used in the fourteenth century (the Due d’Aumale
observes), as halting-places between Paris and Saint-
Denis and were called Montjoies.
The Fall of the Rebel Angels'2 which comes
next is one of the loveliest pages of the series.
God the Father, surrounded by Cherubim and
Seraphim, is enthroned above the golden rays of
the Sun. From amongst the ranks of the Angels
—who are seated around in a semicircle—the
rebels are being cast headlong to Earth. As
Lucifer in his fall strikes his handsome head and
diadem upon the ground fire bursts from him,
1 Durrieu mentions that one of the Kings seems to have been in-
spired by this medal, but as a matter of fact he is faithfully copied
from it.
2 See Plate XXXVIII.