1536-1538

Choir Screen, from the Chapel of the Château of Pagny

This screen is the central interior element from the chapel of the château of Pagny, and one of the finest architectural structures surviving from the French Renaissance. During the 1530s, the chapel was embellished in successive redecoration campaigns by Philippe Chabot de Brion, admiral of France and governor of Burgundy, and his uncle by marriage, Cardinal Claude de Givry, archbishop of Langres. The coats of arms over the central archway are those of the cardinal; Chabot; and Françoise de Longvy, wife of Chabot, niece of Givry, and the heiress of Pagny. The statues placed atop the screen at left and right represent Saints Claude and Philip. At center are the Virgin Mary and Saint John. Originally, a stone sculpture of Christ on the cross stood on the column capital at the top of the arch.