Description
West Façade, Right Frieze, Life of Christ, Right Side of Right Portal
36: Christ Washes the Feet of the Apostles
(John 13:1-15)
Christ (barefoot) kneels at left, holding one of the feet of Peter (halo, facial type associated with Peter). Christ is washing Peter's foot in a large basin shaped like a chalice. Two other Apostles sit at right; one holds a book. They look at and gesture toward one another. On the perpendicular face of the capital are three seated figures that Heimann identifies as Apostles witnessing the scene. Two men sit holding books. One has a beard, the other is beardless. Another beardless man sits in the concave corner where two faces of the capital join. He is beardless, holds his hand to his face, and holds an object that might be a book (Heimann, p. 87).
This scene is out of sequence. If the order of events in the Gospels were used, it should have been immediately after the Last Supper. Nolan states that its placement here after the Entombment and Resurrection makes it the first of a group of scenes of “key events in the apostles’ final interactions with Christ” (p.61).
At right are figures from:
37: Christ meets two pilgrims on the way to Emmaus.
38: Supper at Emmaus
Subject
Cathédrale de Chartres--Pictorial works.;Church decoration and ornament--France--Chartres--Pictorial works.;Church architecture--France--Chartres--Pictorial works.;Christian art and symbolism--France--Chartres--Medieval, 500-1500--Pictorial works.
