Les stalles de l’ancien duché de Bretagne : de la fin de la guerre de Succession jusqu’au concile de Trente
The choir stalls of the ancient Duchy of Brittany present an exceptional corpus from the historical point of view as well as from that of the history of art. This thesis focuses on this particular church furniture, supplying its inventory, a study of its iconography and the history and conditions of its creation. The first step of the inventory reveals about ten groups of choir stalls still preserved in Breton churches, which, at least, represent more than 300 stalls and a thousand of sculptures. Themajority of those groups were created between the last decades of the 15th century and the middle of the 16th century. Furthermore, archives give a certain number of useful information for the comprehension of a context of their creation, patrons’ wishes and woodcarvers’ work. Carvers appear to be qualified independent workers possessing an important experience and qualification. The conditions of work depend on geographic and linguistic areas, type of patronage and, afortiori, the specific political and religious context of this period. For example, the Franco-Breton nobility plays a key role in this context, especially in the diffusion of Italian motifs. Iconography of the choir stalls is, finally, of a high interest because of the richness of motifs and the variety of references used in its. The opening of the duchy to the world trade in the late Middle Ages contributes to the diffusion of models and the development of artistic exchanges. Mixing in joyful syncretism religious and profane themes, images from International Gothic and new vocabulary of the first Renaissance, the choir stalls’ carvings of Brittany show us the clerical vision of a world, where moralistic meanings, Christian hermeneutic, satirical views of the society and carnival culture are merged together without contradiction