Sermon on the Mount - Pontlevoy
Submitted by walwynThis vibrant three-light window, signed and dated “Julien Fournier, Tours, 1890”, represents Christ preaching the Sermon on the Mount before a gathered crowd beneath tall palm trees. The scene exemplifies the confident narrative style and technical refinement of the Fournier Studios during the later nineteenth century, when their workshop in Tours was among the most prolific in central France.
Christ, dressed in a robe of deep crimson, stands on a rocky outcrop at the centre, his right arm raised in blessing. Around him are gathered listeners of varying age and status—peasants, elders, mothers, and children—rendered with the warm naturalism typical of Fournier’s mature work. The composition combines careful spatial perspective with vivid colour and expressive figure drawing, set against a luminous sky that fills the church interior with clear light.
The upper tracery panels contain medallions depicting related Gospel scenes, possibly the Temptation of Christ, the Healing of the Sick, and the Multiplication of the Loaves, extending the theme of divine teaching and mercy. Each is framed by rich Gothic ornamentation in red, blue, and gold, harmonising with the floral borders of the main lights.
This window illustrates the didactic and devotional character of late nineteenth-century ecclesiastical glazing in rural France. Fournier’s approach, while rooted in Neo-Gothic convention, integrates subtle naturalism and warmth of expression that reflect the broader evolution of French stained glass in the 1880s and 1890s—balancing religious instruction with visual immediacy.

