As a result of following a brown sign we found new treasure! The Route des Triptyques is well worth following should you be pootling along the Route du Fours-Luzy (D981) in the departement (county) of Nievre (the south-west of Burgundy). This will get you to the church in a tiny village called Ternant, population 300. It is home to two astonishing medieval altarpieces. This blog post concerns one of them.
The Entombment of Christ, on the left of the altarpiece, with Mary Magdalen kneeling in the foreground, Christ outstretched on the tomb, and Joseph of Arimathea, Saint John, the Virgin, Mary Salome and Mary of Cleophas.
The Passion Altarpiece was made in a Brabantine workshop (in what was at the time the Burgundian Netherlands) around 1460. With its iconography it represents a Passion cycle frequently depicted in works from the southern Low Countries. Its composition is a classic inverted T arrangement and is typical in its tripartite construction (with extending hinged panels), depiction of donors and a painting of the coronation of the Virgin on the back of a panel.
The theme of the central three dimensional panel is the Crucifixion, with scenes of Calvary, the fainting Virgin and the kneeling donors. The landscape painted on the background is Jerusalem. The Virgin has her hands clasped above her head, supported by Saint John and a female saint. In the background a second female saint in an attitude of prayer, and Mary Magdalen, wearing an extraordinary turban, her back turned, lifts her arms towards the Cross. Both donors are richly dressed and kneeling. Charles de Ternant clasps his hands, a dagger in his belt. Facing him, his wife Jehanne de Vienne-Pymont is holding an open book, wearing a remarkable henin (headdress) and a bejewelled necklace.
Mary Magdalen, in a gown decorated using the brocart applique technique, kneeling to kiss the hand of the dead Christ.
Above them, linking the donors to the Crucifixion scene are two grimacing soldiers and a high ranking priest. In the middle are two other groups of soldiers and priests, surrounding Christ. At the top, Christ is fixed to the Cross by his ankles, between two cherubs. Another character is collecting the blood of Christ at his feet.
The righthand side depicts the painted interior of a brick house, pierced by a window and an open door. The scene within is a Pieta. The seated Virgin carries Christ while his head is supported by Saint John. The drama is observed by two small passers by, through the ajar window.
Jehanne de Vienne-Pymont, one of the donor couple.
The lefthand side also shows an interior, representing the Entombment of Christ. This is the moment when Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus place Christ's body in the tomb. A kneeling Mary Magdalen holds his hand. In the background the Virgin prays, while Saint John and two female saints (Mary Salome and Mary Cleophas) are also present.
The three scenes are topped by an interlaced decoration evoking the plant world and set under a dome of starry sky. The architrave is a high relief frieze of geometric motifs decorated with three coats of arms: Ternant and Isabeau de Roye (the parents of the donor), Ternant, and Burgundy.
One of the donor couple, Charles de Ternant.
The altarpiece measures 236 cm high x 550 cm wide (when open) x 44 cm deep. It is made of oak and painted walnut. Dendrodating shows that the oak was about 300 years old when it was felled in about 1450. The carcass is one single big plank with other elements such as a raised central compartment added using dowels and glue. This was then prepared by painting with a limewash base coat.
The sculptures are walnut, from pieces that have been split then sawn transversally and worked with a cleaver which was kept sharp with a honing stone and a flat edged file. The parts would have been held together in the workshop with nails which were replaced by beech dowels during restoration in the mid-20th century. The central figures are two pieces of walnut, held together with metallic supports. The ground is represented by wavy gouge marks.
The Fainting Virgin, in a gown painted in azurite blue, the central scene of the altarpiece.
The painted decoration on the sculpture uses a variety of techniques traditionally applied in the Brabantine workshops. There is gold on a base of Armenian bole (a type of red clay), a mixture of lacquers on silver leaf, a technique that created an embossed look called brocart applique, and azurite on a black undercoat. After the carving the work was painted white. Skin tones were painted on. Draperies were given a thicker base coat of white. Blue robes were painted in blue azurite over a black layer. Cloth of Gold was created by painting on red clay then covering with gold leaf and burnishing by rubbing with a smooth agate tool. The lacquered decoration was created by painting with the red clay then covering with silver leaf as a base. The lacquers themselves were made with cochineal for red and copper for green. Brocart applique was created by using a base of wax and pewter which was then gilded and lacquered.
The Passion altarpiece was a gift made by Charles Ternant, after his parents Philippe Ternant and Isabeau de Roye decided to build a new church in the village in 1448. Charles was born around 1433 and had been brought up with the future Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. He had spent a long time in the southern Low Countries, particularly in Brussels, where he was able to commission the altarpiece, probably after the death of his father in 1454. The altarpiece subsequently several times escaped destruction (pillaging, the Revolution, wars, incorporation into various collections, restoration).
Behind the Virgin is Mary Magdalen, in a turban, with her back turned to us, raising her arms in despair or supplication.
The style of the sculptures, the clothing and the iconography correspond to the Brabantine workshops of the second half of the 15th century. The altarpiece belongs to a style from around 1500, and which was already being produced by 1460. It has elements in common with a few other altarpieces from the period, and reflects a style associated with Rogier van der Weyden. He was working in Brussels from 1435 to 1450. So the altarpiece is thought to be slightly later than him, but by someone who is influenced by his style.
The monumental nature of the altarpiece also resembles several religious sculptures in other locations from the period. And finally, the use of the polychrome techniques typical of the Brabantine workshops such as brocart applique and lacquers on metallic leaf confirm the period in which the piece was made. It is interesting that the dendrodating indicates a date closer to 1450 than 1460.
Me trying desperately to get decent photos without reflections.
As an altarpiece the work was protected to some extent by being displayed with its back to the light. It has not been subjected to extensive repainting. Eighty percent of the paint is original, and retouches have respected the original colour scheme. The retouching can be picked up mainly by differences in tone and how the paint has aged.
The azurite blue and the ermine trim on the cloak and the clothes in red lacquer, especially, have been retouched numerous times. The polished gilding has been redone in a piecemeal fashion, presumably as and when wear or tarnishing occurred in the past.
The right panel of the altarpiece, a Pieta.
The first round of retouching was perhaps in 1881, coinciding with the altarpiece being classified as a Listed Monument. We know for sure that there was retouching done as part of a restoration that took place between 1938 and 1947. Some really poor quality and roughly executed retouching was done in 1971. This is likely when a vinyl varnish was abundantly slopped all over the altarpiece, coating all the sculpted figures in a thick and uneven layer, regardless of whether their original finish had been mat or shiny.
There has been fungal damage to the wood due to high humidity. The wood has been weakened and caused numerous small breakages. The introduction of beech dowels in 1947 allowed wood boring insects already present in the work to proliferate rapidly and to cross over into the walnut figures. Two different sized exit holes indicate that there must be several species present. One is probably a furniture beetle Anobium sp and the smaller holes may be one of its predators.
There is significant build up of encrusted dirt.
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