Three red chairs on a red carpet against the stone cold gray of the church of Saint-Etienne in Beauvais. They were arranged just the way you see them in the photograph and when I saw them, I couldn’t resist taking the photograph. Three empty chairs. They look like they are waiting for three important figures to come and sit in them. For a meeting. For an audience. For a lesson. For a ruling. I couldn’t tell why the chairs were there. But they made a beautiful photograph.
This church of Saint-Etienne was built between the 11th and 16th centuries.
Saint-Etienne’s church was harmoniously transformed from the Romanesque style to the flamboyant Gothic style. The choir is illuminated by a magnificent series of 16th century windows.The stained glass windows are thought to be the work of the famous Leprince family of master glaziers. The most famous window, by Engrand Leprince, depicts the Tree of Jesse. — from a guide I picked up at the tourist office.
I had spent most of the day trying to see the main draw in Beauvais, the Cathedral Saint-Pierre. By the time I had gotten to Saint-Etienne it was later in the day and my sometimes ongoing yet amusing frustration at the way the French go about their days (closing everything down from noon until two – or whenever lunch is) was relieved by the capture of this photograph.
Read my story about my day in Beauvais, visiting Cathedral Saint-Pierre.