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Stained glass windows depicting the story of Psyche
- Localisation : The Psyche Gallery
- Année de création :1542-1544
- Artiste :Anonymous
Description
The Duke of Aumale had the Psyche Gallery laid out specifically to accommodate forty-four Renaissance stained glass windows from the Château d’Ecouen. Bequeathed in 1830 by his grand-uncle, the Duke of Bourbon, they were executed between 1542 from 1544 on commission from Constable Anne de Montmorency for his Château d’Ecouen. It is very rare for secular stained glass windows such as these, depicting non-religious iconographic themes, to have remained intact to this day. They are painted in grisaille with silver yellow stain highlights.
The sketches used to make these stained glass windows are attributed to the Flemish painter Michel Coxcie. They are copies of engravings (held by the Condé Museum) attributed to the Master of the die, an anonymous Italian engraver who copied the works of Raphael.
These stained glass windows are accompanied by thirty poems featuring eight verses. The authors are Claude Chappuys, La Maison Neuve and Mellin de Saint Gelais. These poems appear in quatrains in the windows. The latter recount the fable of Cupid and Psyche, and faithfully illustrate the text of The Metamorphoses, a novel by Apuleius, a second century A.D. Latin author. The tale is presented by Apuleius as an entertaining story, told by a slightly inebriated old lady who tries to console a young girl abducted by bandits on her wedding day. But this novel on the metamorphoses of the soul and the worship of Isis is above all a coming-of-age story.
