original spire was pulled down. Louis’s precious relics were scattered and today only fragments survive in the treasury of Notre Dame Cathedral.
The Naumburg Master
Medieval artists often travelled for work, and one French sculptor’s finest work is in Naumburg, Germany, where he carved twelve statues of the patrons and founders of St Peter and Paul’s Cathedral. He is known only as ‘the Naumburg master’.
Count Ekkehard and his wife Uta (Fig. 2.34) are the most famous of the Naumburg master’s sculptures. These were created long after their deaths, but they are so realistic that they could have been portraits. Some of their original bright colours can still be seen.
Claus Sluter (1340–1405/6)
When Philip the Bold became Duke of Burgundy, his first major project was the restoration of the Charterhouse of Champmol, a Carthusian monastery outside Dijon. He employed Claus Sluter, a sculptor from the Netherlands, to create the sculptures. The Well of Moses is Sluter’s most celebrated work.
Figure 2.35 A drawing showing the great cross at The Well of Moses with the single kneeling figure of Mary Magdalene.
Figure 2.34 Ekkehard and Uta, Naumburg Cathedral, Germany. The poses and gestures have a real human quality, especially in the amazing detail of clothing, faces and hands. Uta, who appears to feel the cold and pulls her heavy ermine cloak to her face, is said to have influenced some of Walt Disney’s cartoon queens.
