Tomb of Philip the Bold

The Tomb of Philip the Bold is a funerary monument commissioned by the Duke of Burgundy Philip the Bold (d. 1404) for his burial at Chartreuse de Champmol. The monument was primarily built by Claus Sluter,[1] with contributions by Jean de Marville and Claus de Werve. Jean Malouel, official painter to the duke, is responsible design aspets.[1] Today it is housed in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon. The tomb was influential; Jean, Duke of Berry commissioned a similar work for his own burial,[2] and it inspired the well known Mourners of Dijon, crafted a generation later.

pleurants

Tomb of Philip the Bold

The monument is made from alabaster, marble, gilt and paint.[3] It shows Philip's sarcophagus effigy in repose with his hands upright and clasped in prayer. An angel with gilded wings holds a cushion for his head. He rests on a black marble slab, with a lion at his feet. Below him are 41 pleurants standing in pairs in Gothic niches, arranged in a mourning procession. [4]

Philip acquired the domain of Champmol, near Dijon, in 1378 to build the Carthusian monastery Chartreuse de Champmol, which he intended to house the tombs of his dynasty. He was buried in its choir on 16 June 1404, with his organs sent to the church of Saint Martin at Halle. In 1792, his body was re-interred at Dijon Cathedral. The following year his tomb was damaged by revolutionaries and looters. It was restored in the first half of the 19th century.[5]

References

1. Foss, 172.
2. Woods, 132.
3. Nicholas, Napoli. The Ethics of Ornament in Early Modern Naples. Routledge, 215.
4. Jugie, 121.
5. Jugie, 121.

Sources

• Jugie, Sophie. The mourners: Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy. Yale University Press, 2010
• Foss, Gloria. Romanesque & Gothic. London: Sterling, 2008. ISBN 978-1-4027-5924-6
• Woods, Kim (ed). Making Renaissance Art. Yale University Press.