1533

Virgin and Child beneath a Canopy, from the Château of Pagny

This figural group and elaborate architectural surround formed the central element of the decoration of the façade of the chapel at the château of Pagny. A late-medieval building, the chapel was renovated in Renaissance style during the 1530s as part of successive renovation campaigns undertaken by Philippe Chabot de Brion, admiral of France and governor of Burgundy, and his uncle by marriage Cardinal Claude de Givry. The exterior façade was enlivened with a new front portal, with a double door in the form of a triumphal arch surmounted by pinnacles—of which this was the tallest and most prominent—and elaborate sculpted decoration overall. The canopy demonstrates the delicacy of the decorative motifs on the façade, while the separately carved group of the Virgin and Child speaks to the heavy draperies and simple outlines of Burgundian sculpture.