“The Annunciation”: a double triptych for Meaux Cathedral

Pierre Carron: contemplating and passing on

‘Painting is like a labyrinth of work… and suddenly something happens, and you find something… like a miraculous catch of fish.’ Pierre Carron

Bishop de Monléon commissioned a major work for the choir of Meaux Cathedral from the renowned artist Pierre Carron, enriching the cathedral with a remarkable iconographic programme that offers every visitor a form of catechesis leading along a path of beauty and spirituality. Mary and the Church in the work of Redemption, and the martyrdom of Saint Stephen, are the programme’s principal subjects. As Jacques Moulin, Chief Architect of Historic Monuments, points out, no painter has undertaken an iconographic programme in a cathedral for 50 years, apart from commissions for stained glass or sculpture. The project is therefore highly unusual. Pierre Carron, the artist selected by the diocese, modestly explains that the programme ‘tries to reconnect a thread with all the magnificent things that have been done in religious art over the past 2,000 years’. Like great altarpieces, two diptychs are intended to greet visitors as they enter the cathedral. When closed, the two altarpieces show representations of the Creation of the World and the Holy Cross on either side of the altar. When open, they reveal scenes of the Annunciation, with the angel Gabriel and Mary towards the centre; on the outer sides, the martyrdom of Saint Stephen appears on the left, and Saint Paul escaping from Damascus, lowered from the ramparts in a basket, on the right. The six canvases have already been completed.

When the altarpieces are closed, two canvases depict the Cross and the Creation of the World. The six canvases have already been completed. Father Régis Martin, parish priest of the Pontault-Combault pastoral area, writes: ‘At the invitation of the bishop and the project team, I had the opportunity to discover the chosen work and its creator, Pierre Carron, with them. The idea of adorning the choir with diptychs that will be opened for solemn ceremonies is most judicious. Like a jewel set into the stone of the building, these figurative works will leave no one indifferent. I admit that I was hesitant at first sight. Yet this figurative work, which might initially seem somewhat old-fashioned, invites a real reading: the details matter greatly and carry meaning, both through what they evoke and through their pictorial qualities. […] Yes, I allowed myself to be won over, and I am certain that, through the figures it brings to life, this work will give the cathedral a colourful warmth and a spiritual presence.’

English translation. Read the original French text.