Last Judgements and Midnight Trains

Today was our last day in France—it is so hard to leave! Yet change is the nature of travel, so today we bid farewell to Beaune by visiting its own Hotel Dieu, a 15^th century hospital founded for the poor and sick by famous art patron and Burgundian Chancellor Nicholas Rolin. Though we also got to see the main hall for patients and some slightly disturbing medieval brain surgery tools, the main draw of the Hotel Dieu is Rogier Van Der Weyden’s Last Judgement polyptych, popularly known as the Beaune Altarpiece! This was spectacular to see in person, the multiple thin layers of glaze making the wood panels luminous and vibrant with bright color, and there was huge magnifying glass that moved along the altarpiece showing off various small details like the jewels, angels’ wings, and draperies. Stevens gave each of us a tiny postcard model of the work with the outside panels of the patrons opening onto the inner Last Judgement image and everything—I love mine sooo much. It is now safely in my journal for all time.

 So bye bye Beaune, on to Autun to see Gislebertus’ portal tympanum on the Romanesque pilgrimage church of St. Lazare. Though I didn’t recognize the name at first, this is an artwork I have seen in several classes and one that I have always especially liked for its creative, detail-oriented sculpture (especially the devils). We sat down and drew parts of the tympanum and compared the two Last Judgement images…but it was a little cold and I was relieved to go inside the church (I didn’t dress appropriated—you never know what the weather is gonna do!)

Almost right next door to the church was the Autun museum where we saw Gislebertus’ other surviving sculpture of Eve, who is very beautiful and also quite serpentine as she is captured in the act of tempting Adam. This is the first female nude created since antiquity and is very special.

 And with that, our studies in France were at an end. We drove back to Dijon to await our overnight train to Rome, set to board at 8. There was a gameplan to try and get all our baggage on the train in the 4 minutes provided—people were assigned to be lifters or draggers, but then it turned out we were in the slightly wrong place and all turned to anarchy. But we all still made it on! Alex, Melissa and I shared a miniscule cabin with triple bunkbeds (all narrow). I had the one on the very top trying to be generous, but then it turned out mine was the best because of all the extra room provided by the luggage shelves. I spread all out, curled up, and slept blissfully through the night. I’ve always been a great car sleeper, so it was ideal really.