Jean-Marc LUCE, The peplophore in the Fenaille Museum in Rodez : a bronze Greek statuette in the severe style.

    The Fenaille Museum in Rodez possesses a little-known female figure in bronze, purchased and perhaps discovered in Greece by General Higonet, during the Morea campaign of 1828-1829. The statuette comes from the sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis. The figure is in fact a support upon which some unknown object rested. The position of the points of attachment on the head of the young woman precludes the possibility that this was a mirror base. The work, in the severe style, probably dates from the 480’s B.C.E., and belongs to a group whose place of origin various specialists have attempted to locate. Opinions on this subject vary widely. The author emphasizes the resemblance between the Rodez figure and the figured handles of the hydria from the Metropolitan Museum in New York (no. 26.50). Since this container bears an inscription stating that it was given as a prize for the games in honor of Hera at Argos, the attribution to the Argos group seems most likely.

Éric MORVILLEZ, New research on the villa of Montmaurin, in the light of Georges Fouet’s notebooks.

    Research based on Montmaurin’s archaeological records have shed new light on three points concerning the architecture of the villa. The first concerns the three-lobed structure mentioned in the final publication. Georges Fouet’s sketches allow us to distinguish at least three successive phases of construction in this area : a trefoil-shape room, then an intermediate hall under a curved ceiling, and finally a curving portico, which can still be seen. In the second place, the existence of stairs leading to the rooms which overlook the second courtyard cannot be confirmed. Any connection between these rooms and the room which terminates in an apse, which has undergone a great deal of restoration, seems improbable. Finally, a study of the field sketches gives us a better understanding of the restoration carried out on the colonnade of the bath courtyard and its "pseudo-tuscan" design. The drawings, as well as the photos taken before restoration, seem to indicate a connection between some of the elements which have been excavated, but raise new problems : missing column bases along the parapet, the diameter of the column shafts which exceeds that of the capitals, and the uncertain role of the imposts.

Céline PIOT, The villa of Lamolie in Astaffort (Lot-et Garonne) : an ancient rural estate in Southern Aquitaine.

    Thanks to fieldwork and an aerial photograph, the site of Lamolie at Astaffort, in the lower valley of the Gers, has been identified as a large Gallo-Roman villa, of about 1 ha. The discovery of numerous objects, especially ceramics, allows us to date the occupation of this stratum to the period from the very beginning of the first century to the seventh A.D. It also allows us to place the site in its setting and underline its commercial role in the ancient world.

Valérie YVONNET-NOUVIALE, Concerning nine capitals from Saint-Caprais d’Agen : Overlapping influences, Toulouse and Moissac.

    The cathedral of Agen holds a vast collection of capitals, which can be divided into two groups: those with a cubic shape and those which are derived from the Corinthian style. In this second category, nine bear a resemblance to the sculpture of St. Sernin of Toulouse. The capitals with leaf motifs essentially employ the same motifs as those used in the upper areas of the Toulousan basilica. Nevertheless, these are not slavish copies, but rather interpretations of Toulousan models. Moreover, certain historiated capitals, as well as a figured impost, are related to the sculpture of the cloister at Moissac. Hypotheses to explain the double influence of Toulouse and Moissac on the St Caprais site should be studied, with the goal of proposing a relative chronology for the three buildings.

Olivier TESTARD, The old nave of the cathedral of Toulouse and its southern origins.

    Archaeological examination of the old nave of the Cathedral of St. Etienne of Toulouse allows one to distinguish the various stages of its construction from the Romanesque to the Gothic periods. This analysis has shown that the simple nave from the early thirteenth century is the result of a single architectural undertaking and that its building demonstrates a thorough mastery of construction techniques and workshop organization. A study of the cathedral in the context of influences from the South of France, notably the barrel vault over a single nave in the second half of the twelfth century, as at St.-Pons-de-Thomières, provides information on the origins of southern Gothic architecture in Toulouse. The latter developed from the single Romanesque nave and the broken barrel vault. The outward force of the barrel vaults leaves a weakened area between the buttresses, which requires high-quality masonry, or the support of side-aisles or galleries. In some churches with single naves, the lateral internal arches serve to transfer part of the load towards the buttresses. In Toulouse, these arches were transformed into wall-arches. They allowed builders to complete the vault before the windows were completed. Crossings covered by pointed arches were necessary to cover the large span of nearly twenty meters, while opening lunettes imposed by the use of narrow, high windows. The bulging of these vaults does not indicate incompetence, but resulted from the decision to adopt the rib vault to the role of roof support, traditional in the south.

Chantal FRAÏSSE, The monastic buildings of the former abbey of St. Pierre of Moissac.

    Archaeological findings and archival documents help to trace the plan of the former abbey and its evolution from the Early Middle Ages to contemporary times, when the construction of the railway definitively ended the spatial unity of the monastery. While many of the buildings have been significantly modified and have changed function, they have not disappeared as completely as had been believed. Thus, during recent works, the northern areas have revealed vestiges which allow speculation on the contours of the medieval topography.

Patrice CABAU, The bishops of Toulouse (third-fourteenth centuries) and their burial sites.

    From the time of its foundation shortly before the middle of the third century, to its elevation to metropolitan status at the beginning of the fourteenth, the church of Toulouse was administered by a long succession of bishops, who were slowly lost to memory. Their tombs were dispersed among different sites, and no ancient episcopal list has survived. As it exists today, the roll of bishops is a result of scholarly research primarily from the thirteenth, fourteenth seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The current study is based on all of these works, a critical analysis of their sources and research from new documents, with the goal of proposing a revised episcopal list. The latter remains incomplete and its chronology is uncertain in parts. As for the burial place of the bishops of Toulouse, it appears that, while a site was initially established at the Basilica of St. Sernin, it was only moved to the Cathedral of St. Etienne at the end of the thirteenth century.

Marie-Laure FRONTON-WESSEL, The painted ceiling of the Great Hall of the Court of Appeals in Toulouse.

    In 1997, during an examination of the Great Hall of the Court of Appeals in Toulouse, a painted ceiling was revealed. It seems contemporaneous with the construction of the Hall, completed in 1492. This is today the only example of a medieval painted ceiling in Toulouse. Investigations indicate a unified scheme of decoration, with varied iconography, whose stylistic characteristics resemble those of many other painted ceilings of the same period in the South of France. Covering a room notable both for its size and its function, the ceiling is distinguished from other similar structures more by its particularly complex design than by its decoration. As a unique example, yet one which may be placed in a wider context, this ceiling can no longer remain obscure : it deserves to be completely uncovered and presented to the public.

Louis LATOUR, Research in campanology : the old bell of Auterive and the missing bell of Beaumont-sur-Lèze.

    The church of St. Paul in Auterive possesses an antique bell which is notable for the epigraphy which adorns it. The inscription "Mentem sanctam, spontaneam honorem deo et patrie liberationem, JHS XPS", is to be found on a great number of bells, particularly in mountain areas, and arises from the legend of St. Agatha, who is said to have protected Catana from the lava of Aetna. The figured cartouches which accompany it represent biblical scenes, in no apparent order, and are intended to sanctify the bronze and consecrate the bell to the service of God. The same scenes were found on the bell of Beaumont-sur-Lèze. Its inscription "XPS vincit, XPS regnat, XPS imperat XPS ab omni malo nos defendat" is also a plea that Christ deliver us from our sins and protect us from natural disasters.
    The two bells, probably cast in the same workshop, may be dated to the beginning of the fifteenth century.

Bruno TOLLON, "Dame Tholose", a Renaissance political allegory.

    In 1544, the Capitouls of Toulouse commissioned sculptor Jean Rancy to create a figure representing "Dame Tholose" to replace the vane of the Tower of the Archives. (The bronze, cast in 1550, remained there until 1832 where, with additions, the sculpture adorned the column of Dupuy square.) The article examines the possible conditions which produced the first allegorical bronze representing a city, which served thus to unite a glorious past and the epithet of the humanists : "Palladia Tolosa".

Georges BACCRABÈRE, Toulousan ceramics of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries from the Penitents-Blancs quarter of Toulouse.

    A cesspit uncovered to the northeast of the old town, near the Promenade des Capitouls, has turned up ceramics of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This pottery is made up of kitchen ware, and closed containers intended for liquids. The former include pots and jugs, while most of the latter are pitchers. The wide-mouthed vessels are of common ceramic, including basins and polychrome pottery, with plates and cups decorated with sgrafitto. The white clay ceramic vessels with painted decorations are primarily plates and bowls. Finally, the site has provided pottery intended for hygienic and family use: jars, trays, chafing dishes, chamber pots, and glassware.

Marie-Luce PUJALTE, Eighteenth-century Toulousan construction foremen : their function and their prerogatives.

    In the course of the eighteenth century, the role and the prerogatives of the architect undertaking private restoration projects remained badly-defined. In common dwellings, based on simple and often-repeated plans, constrained by narrow lots, construction was most often entrusted to masons who were local craftsmen. On the contrary, in the dwellings of the upper classes, a milieu of erudition, plans were most often carried out by experts with academic knowledge, more likely to think along scholarly lines. Two personalities of the Toulousan artistic community seem to have left their mark on the eighteenth century private construction, through the numerous commissions they received. Guillaume Cammas, the town’s official painter and architect, and Maduron, the town’s public works director, were able to give a very local interpretation to French Classicism, while conserving the traditional brick architecture.
    There is still a great deal of unexplored ground to cover in researching attribution, but at this point it seems that artists from outside Toulouse had trouble establishing themselves in the town, since the the parliamentary aristocracy, the élite, set the tone and preferred to call upon those who upheld Toulousan traditions.

 Translated by Pamela Marquez

 

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