Double Capital with the Entombment of Christ and the Holy Women at the Tomb
Unknown · 1150-1175
Two scenes from the end of the Passion wrap around this double capital, once set on a pair of columns in a cloister arcade. On one side the body of Christ is lowered into the tomb by his followers; on the other the holy women arrive at the sepulchre on Easter morning and find an angel there. Look for the small arch that stands for the entrance of the tomb: the sculptor engraved the Latin word angelus on it, labelling the messenger for the monks who walked past every day. The figures are stocky and close packed, with large heads and eyes, their drapery drawn in fine parallel grooves typical of Languedoc carving.
The capital comes from the cloister of the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Pons-de-Thomieres in the Herault, whose church became a cathedral in 1318. The cloister was wrecked by Protestants in 1567, rebuilt in 1668, then abandoned and razed in 1785. In the nineteenth century the capital turned up in a house next to the old cloister site, passed by inheritance in 1908 to a collection near Mazamet, and reached the Paris art trade before the Louvre bought it in 1933 with outside help.
Did You Know? The sculptor helpfully carved the word angelus over the tomb entrance so nobody would mistake the angel for one of the women.
Unlock the Full Guide
Read every room and listen to every work in all museums with premium.