Portal
maker
Unknown
Datelate 12th century
Place MadeLa Réole, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France, Europe
MediumLimestone
Dimensions363.2 x 241.3 cm (143 x 95 in.)
ClassificationsArchitectural Elements
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberS7w10
eMuseum ID719914
EmbARK ObjectID11352
TMS Source ID578
Last Updated8/14/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryThe portal is depicted still in situ in an engraving in La Guienne militaire (1865), a book written by the Bordeaux antiquarian Leo Drouyn. It was the entrance of an important Medieval private house in La Re?ole, a town located on the Garonne river some fifty miles upstream from Bordeaux. The house was commonly known as the Maison Seguin, and more rarely, Maison de la Synagogue. The building, now demolished, was presumably the residence of an influential local family, the Seguins, who are documented at La Re?ole as early as the fourteenth century. In its original location, the portal was situated at the head of a flight of stairs and gave access to the first story of the house.
Despite of its clear provenance, the portal is not uniform in style and may have been pieced together from several elements fortuitously obtained. The three heads inserted in the lobes at
the summit of the arch are an especially jarring feature of the design. The base of the arch itself and the heavy cornice molding on which it rests impinge on the lintel decorated with a meandering ribbon. The rest of the portal is more architecturally coherent. It is a stepped construction with single colonnettes. On top of these colonettes are capitals featuring lion masks. Similar capitals were also seen in the windows of the Seguin house.
The portal or at least its component parts resembled other sculpture from the Bordeaux region near the end of the Romanesque era. For example, the three heads resemble another famous Bordelaise architectural element in an American museum: the Langon chapel preserved at The Cloisters in New York City.
Despite of its clear provenance, the portal is not uniform in style and may have been pieced together from several elements fortuitously obtained. The three heads inserted in the lobes at
the summit of the arch are an especially jarring feature of the design. The base of the arch itself and the heavy cornice molding on which it rests impinge on the lintel decorated with a meandering ribbon. The rest of the portal is more architecturally coherent. It is a stepped construction with single colonnettes. On top of these colonettes are capitals featuring lion masks. Similar capitals were also seen in the windows of the Seguin house.
The portal or at least its component parts resembled other sculpture from the Bordeaux region near the end of the Romanesque era. For example, the three heads resemble another famous Bordelaise architectural element in an American museum: the Langon chapel preserved at The Cloisters in New York City.
BibliographyNotesM. Lapoujade. "Essai de statistique archéologique. La Réole." Actes de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, Belles-Lettres et Arts de Bordeaux (1846), pp. 337-38. (as from a house in La Réole, in situ)
Léo Drouyn. La Guienne militaire, vol. 1 (Paris, 1861), pp. 161-62, pl. 54. (as from a house in La Réole, in situ)
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 51. (as Spanish or Southern French, 11th or 12th century, Romanesque)
Ronald Hilton. Handbook of Hispanic Source Materials and Research Organizations in the United States (Stanford, California, 1956), p. 194. (as Spanish or Southern French, 11th or 12th century, Romanesque)
Walter Cahn. "Romanesque Sculpture in American Collections. IV. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston." Gesta (1969), pp. 50-51, no. 5. (as a composite work assembled by Gardner, the components as 12th century)
Jacques Gardelles. "La sculpture monumentale en Bordelais et en Bazadais à la fin du XIIe et au début du XIIIe siêcle." Bulletin monumental (1974), pp. 29-48, figs. 29-30, 32. (as from a house in La Réole described by Drouyn, about 1200)
Jacques Gardelles. Sculpture Médiévale de Bordeaux et du Bordelais (Bordeaux, 1976), pp. 120-21, no. 121. (as from a house in La Réole described by Drouyn, end of the 12th century to early 13th century)
Cornelius C. Vermeule III et al. Sculpture in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1977), pp. 78-79, no. 107. (as late 12th century)
Rollin van N. Hadley (ed.). The Letters of Bernard Berenson and Isabella Stewart Gardner 1887-1924 (Boston, 1987), pp. 524-28, 530-31. (as late 12th century)
Barbara Mangum and Valentine Talland. "Dowels, powder, and cracks: Collaboration in the preservation of a 12th-century portal from Bordeaux." AIC: Objects Specialty Group Postprints, vol. 4 (1996), pp. 79-85.
Ellen Promise, "Bordeaux Portal: Unpinning a Capital," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 17 April 2020, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/bordeaux-portal-unpinning-capital
Léo Drouyn. La Guienne militaire, vol. 1 (Paris, 1861), pp. 161-62, pl. 54. (as from a house in La Réole, in situ)
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 51. (as Spanish or Southern French, 11th or 12th century, Romanesque)
Ronald Hilton. Handbook of Hispanic Source Materials and Research Organizations in the United States (Stanford, California, 1956), p. 194. (as Spanish or Southern French, 11th or 12th century, Romanesque)
Walter Cahn. "Romanesque Sculpture in American Collections. IV. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston." Gesta (1969), pp. 50-51, no. 5. (as a composite work assembled by Gardner, the components as 12th century)
Jacques Gardelles. "La sculpture monumentale en Bordelais et en Bazadais à la fin du XIIe et au début du XIIIe siêcle." Bulletin monumental (1974), pp. 29-48, figs. 29-30, 32. (as from a house in La Réole described by Drouyn, about 1200)
Jacques Gardelles. Sculpture Médiévale de Bordeaux et du Bordelais (Bordeaux, 1976), pp. 120-21, no. 121. (as from a house in La Réole described by Drouyn, end of the 12th century to early 13th century)
Cornelius C. Vermeule III et al. Sculpture in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1977), pp. 78-79, no. 107. (as late 12th century)
Rollin van N. Hadley (ed.). The Letters of Bernard Berenson and Isabella Stewart Gardner 1887-1924 (Boston, 1987), pp. 524-28, 530-31. (as late 12th century)
Barbara Mangum and Valentine Talland. "Dowels, powder, and cracks: Collaboration in the preservation of a 12th-century portal from Bordeaux." AIC: Objects Specialty Group Postprints, vol. 4 (1996), pp. 79-85.
Ellen Promise, "Bordeaux Portal: Unpinning a Capital," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 17 April 2020, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/bordeaux-portal-unpinning-capital
ProvenanceNotesCreated as the entrance to a private house in La Réole, then called Maison Seguin or Maison de la Synagogue, likely for the influential Seguin family in the late 12th century.
The house was demolished at an unknown date in the early 20th century.
Perhaps purchased by the Belgian art dealer Georges-Joseph Demotte (1877-1923), Paris from an unknown dealer on 1 July 1910.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from Demotte, Paris for 80,000 francs on 10 July 1916, through the American art historian Bernard Berenson (1865–1959).
The house was demolished at an unknown date in the early 20th century.
Perhaps purchased by the Belgian art dealer Georges-Joseph Demotte (1877-1923), Paris from an unknown dealer on 1 July 1910.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from Demotte, Paris for 80,000 francs on 10 July 1916, through the American art historian Bernard Berenson (1865–1959).
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