The Good Samaritan Window, Chartres Cathedral The Good Samaritan Window, Chartres Cathedral Trade windows first appeared at the cathedrals of Chartres and Bourges between 1205 and 1215. The 176 windows of Chartres present 125 depictions of tradesmen engaged in twenty-five different occupations making, transporting, and selling their products in forty-two windows. Anne Harris suggests that the trade windows at Chartres are an attempt to confront the increasingly pressing challenge which the town’s emerging urban economy presented to the church’s way of life and its understanding of the world. The parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) complemented by a series of Old and New Testament typologies
The Good Samaritan Window, Chartres Cathedral the two trees; the curves of the trees suggest the mandorla typical of "Maiestas Domini" iconography. He stretches out his right hand in a gesture of authority and holds an orb in his left. Pilgrimage is clearly the dominating motif of the Good Samaritan window. Good shoes, such as those provided by the shoemakers of Chartres (Panels 1-3), and food for the journey (if indeed bread is what is shown in Panel 24) are basic necessities for the successful completion of a journey. The window then reproduces in visual form the allegorical interpretations of the parable of the Good Samaritan