This tall lancet window presents St James the Less, one of the Twelve Apostles and traditionally regarded as the “brother of the Lord” and first Bishop of Jerusalem. The figure stands in quiet dignity, depicted frontally and enclosed within a double architectural canopy typical of the great glazing campaign of the early 13th century at Bourges.

James is identified by the inscription IACOBVS. In contrast to his namesake, James the Greater, this figure carries no weapon, staff, or attribute, reflecting the iconographic conventions of the period: early 13th-century cycles often portrayed James the Less simply as a contemplative apostle, before the later medieval tradition fixed his emblem as the fuller’s club.

The window shows the typical Bourges palette—dense ruby and sapphire grounds, opalescent flesh tones, and sharply modelled leadwork. The saint’s drapery falls in heavy, rhythmic folds, and his left hand rests on a small book, signifying his role as a teacher and early Christian leader.

Context

The apostolic cycle of the choir clerestory at Bourges belongs to one of the finest surviving Gothic glazing programmes in Europe. The apostles are divided between the North and South sides and arranged in groups of three. In window w.210, James the Less appears with Barnabas and Thaddeus (Jude), a grouping typical of the way medieval cycles paired the “lesser-known” apostles with figures from the wider apostolic tradition.

Significance

This panel is an excellent example of early Gothic apostolic imagery before the iconographic standardisation of the later Middle Ages. The absence of an identifying emblem is characteristic of c.1200 glass, where inscription and pose alone indicated identity. Its survival allows a rare view into the original aesthetic and theological rhythms of the Bourges clerestory.