The Tree(s) of Jesse

Because I did a lot of research before our recent Jaunt up to Germany I was able to plan in a number of surprise stops for Susan.

The Tree of Jesse is one of Christian art's most enduring images — a genealogical tree rising from the belly of sleeping figure of Jesse, father of King David, bearing the ancestors of Christ upon its branches, crowned by the Virgin and Child. There are Trees of Jesse all over the place, including two in Issoudun that Susan wrote about eleven years ago.

We stopped in Joigny for lunch, but also so we could look at a 16th-century (1530) half-timbered house which has a Tree of Jessie on its wooden façade, with sinuous branches spreading up to the triangular gable, adorned with grape clusters and fifteen figures.

In Troyes, the Cité du Vitrail (stained glass) museum has a 16th-century Tree of Jesse from Laines-aux-Bois as a centrepiece of its collection.

They're like London buses. You wait ages for one, then two come along at once.