Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: self-portrait

The construction of the church Saint-Léger (= Leodegar, Ludger) in Guebwiller started in 1182 and took about 100 years. The building, built from red local sandstone, is pretty huge and the style is between late romanesque and early gothic. The most interesting point I found is, that the architects of this church obviously spent a lot of time in Rosheim, studying the church Saints-Pierre-et-Paul, that is only about 30 years older. There are details in Rosheim, copied here. But the masters working here, never reached the elegant style seen in Rosheim. The main portal under the arches of the westwork like façade. The pillars are very well and delicately carved, as well as the wall behind, covered with geometrical floral patterns. But the heads under the lintel - and the tympanum itself seem a bit clumsy. There is a very small face on top of the archivolts. Is this a self-portait of the carver?

A previous church at this place was once part of the castle, erected by the Earls of Bourbon on a rocky headland overhanging a meander of the Bouble. In 937 Odo of Cluny, who was the second abbot in Cluny, added this place as a priory to the cluniac sphere. The still existing romanesque church of the "Abbaye Saint-Vincent de Chantelle", was built within the 12th century. Monastic life declined later and after the French Revolution was sold. Mid 19th century it was "bought back" by the abbey of Pradines. Since 1890 ist is a monastery again. The nuns living and working here, produce herbal cosmetics - and sell the worldwide. www.benedictines-chantelle.com/ Within the "public" area of the nave are some interesting carvings. A man, having an unproportional large head and very short legs, is holding tools. There is a kind of hammer in his right and a chisel (?) in his left hand. Two more items are hanging down from his belt. Angle meters? The carving is a bit rough, not very delicate. Probably nor carved by one of the masters, that worked within the Auvergne. But - in case the tools are identified correctly, this probably is a stone sculptor showing his tools. And in case this is right, then this capital may be counted as very early self-portrait! Sorry for the bad quality of the photo.

Radegonde (aka "Radegund", "Radegundis") was a princess, born in Thuringia around 520. She was married to Chlothar I but left her husband and founded the convent "Sainte-Marie-Hors-les-Murs" in Poitiers around 552. The nunnery was the first and became the most important in the Frankish Empire. After having received a fragment of the "True Cross" from the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, the name of the abbey changed to "Abbaye Sainte-Croix". In 587 Radegonde was buried here. The first church was erected over her tomb. Radegonde´s remains were exhumed in 1012 for public veneration, what triggered a major pilgrimage to Poitiers. After a major fire, the church was rebuilt. The church of today, constructed from the 11th to 12th centuries, was built in a combination of Romanesque and Gothic styles. Sculptured corbels line both sides of the nave. Next to this corbel is a mason´s mark (V). It may well be that the person seen here is a working stone mason, maybe an early self-portrait.

Saint-Pierre was the church of one of the largest Augustinian abbeys in the Poitou, that was founded in 991 by Audéarde, the wife of viscount Herbert I of Thouars. The monastery was on one of the "chemins" of the Via Turonensis, so when the number of pilgrims increased, the Canons Regular of St. Augustine had this large church erected in two construction phases from the 12th century on. This church is very long and has a wide ambulatory. It could surely host large groups of pilgrims. When the era of the pilgrimage ended, the abbey declined and impoverished during the Hundred Years' War. Most conventual buildings were destroyed in the Wars of Religion. The abbey church now serves the parish. I like the idea, that this carving may be a kind of self-portrait. Two of the craftsmen, who built this great church, proudly show their tools.