It's hard for me to believe that it's been five years since I was last in the little village of Lavardin. It's a very picturesque place in the valley of the Loir river (no E, it's le Loir, a smaller river, not the much grander Loire) between the towns of Vendôme and Montoire, about 40 miles (65 km) north of Saint-Aignan and a 45-minute drive from Amboise. Lavardin is one of the 150 or so Plus Beaux Villages de France and is the site of the ruins of a medieval château-fort. CHM and I drove through there in June 2015 and stopped to take photos of the wall paintings inside the village church.
I posted these photos back then, but not in the form of a slideshow. Here they are, or at least half of them. The show runs for 2½ minutes. I'll make a slideshow of the other half of the photos for another day. The paintings date back to the 12th century and on into the 16th. In the 17th century, they were covered over with a coating of limestone render and remained hidden until the beginning of the 20th century. They are very colorful and well preserved.
Yes, just like you, I can't believe it is already five years since we went to visit my cousin in the Loir Valley!
ReplyDeleteThose murals are really magnificent!
Do you suppose the paintings were covered with the render in order to protect them from a real or imaginary threat? They are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHi Sheila. I asked the same question on Susan's blog yesterday!
DeleteBoth the Michelin Green Guide to the Loire Valley and Wikipédia say that the wall paintings in the church at Lavardin were badigeonnées à la chaux au XVIIe siècle, lorsque l'art médiéval cessa de plaire. Those medieval paintings were no longer the style in Classical France, I guess.
DeleteHere's what I replied: Two reasons usually. They start to look old and tatty but no one has the skills to repaint them and besides they are old fashioned looking. Second sometimes they become inappropriate because dogma changes. So many churches in countries that became Protestant after the Reformation cover up their wall paintings, for example.
DeleteWell I was going to ask why they were covered up, but you've all beat me to it as I'm on the West Coast. Thanks for the nice explanations.
DeleteThe paintings are wonderful. Perhaps they were protected by the overcoat. The slideshows are nice to watch.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of touring through France with my parents in 1961. Rheims cathedral sticks in my mind.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ken, for the infornation.
ReplyDelete