This is the second installment of my photos of the painted interior walls of the Saint-Genest church in the village of Lavardin. Here's a link to the first set of photos. The village is on the Loir river, which flows parallel to the wider and longer Loire river at this point, about 35 miles north.
The paintings date back to the 12th century and on to the 16th. They were covered over with whitewash or limestone render in the 17th century and remained hidden until the early 20th. Lavardin, a village over which looms the ruins of a medieval fortress castle, is one of the Plus Beaux Villages de France.
Do you have photos of Lavardin -- or perhaps a link to some you have posted in the past?
ReplyDeleteWhen I do a search on my blog on the word lavardin, I turn up only half a dozen posts. You can do the same search using the little search box at the top of the blog screen.
DeleteThe Jesus holding the chicken has a strange looking face. Perhaps it was added later by a painter with a sense of humor.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing to think that these could have been preserved, despite the whitewash or whatever, that was put over them. Wow.
ReplyDeleteIt could be the case that the paintings survived to our day because they were covered over.
DeleteThese two slide shows are really nice.
ReplyDeleteThanks. The photos were taken on a very good day.
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