Le chevet de la collégiale Saint-Quiriace de Provins : l'œuvre d'Henri Ier Le Libéral

In many respects the collegiate church of Saint-Quiriace at Provins can be considered to be a seminal monument in gothic art. Inspired by the architecture of both Normandy and the Paris basin, the Master or Saint-Quiriace forces the capacities of the technical means available to highlight the fundamental characteristics of a new plastic expression. The monument has an aesthetic (maximum opening of spaces, tempered by their individualisation), a balance of proportions between levels, and a technicity (prefabrication and standardisation of the sculpted decoration) that are hallmarks of gothic architecture in its youth. Begun in the 1150s under the aegis of Henry the Liberal, this work announces the great constructions of the décade 1190- 1200.