Head of an Old Testament King

Description Carved for the abbey church of Saint-Denis (outside Paris), this Old Testament king presented a model of sacred rulership for the French kings who served as the patrons of the monastery. The head, from a pier (column) figure on the building's west façade, was broken off during the French Revolution, when the royal burial church became a key target for vandalism. This head reflects a moment of artistic transition. The carver still works in the abstracted Romanesque style, but incorporates elements based on the observation of nature, such as the soft rounding of the face and the wavy curls of hair. Artists would continue to expand upon this interest in naturalism in the Gothic and Renaissance periods.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
12/31/1969	Technical Report	other
3/26/1940	Treatment	other
6/16/1942	Treatment	other
6/14/1966	Treatment	cleaned
3/17/1969	Treatment	other
6/22/1971	Treatment	cleaned
2/05/1981	Examination	examined for condition
2/05/1981	Treatment	cleaned; other
8/24/1984	Loan Consideration	examined for loan
5/17/1993	Treatment	other
11/18/1998	Treatment	cleaned; loss compensation; other
1/17/2006	Loan Consideration	examined for loan

Exhibitions

• The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century. Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence. 0.
• Treasures from Medieval France. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. 1966-1967.
• An Exhibition of the Treasures of The Walters Art Gallery. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton; Pace Wildenstein Gallery, New York. 1967.
• The Royal Abbey of St. Denis at the Time of Abbot Suger (1125-1151). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 1981.
• Set in Stone: The Face in Medieval Sculpture. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 2006-2007.
• Naissance de la Sculpture Gothique, Saint-Denis, Paris, Chartres (1135-1150). Musée de Cluny, Paris. 2018-2019.

Provenance Raoul Heilbronner, Paris; Dikran Kelekian, Paris; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1911, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1911