Finding aid for the Jan van der Meulen photographs of Chartres Cathedral, Circa 1950-1990 90.P.6
Jan Bender and Ann Harrison
Special Collections
2013
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
Business Number: (310) 440-7390
Fax Number: (310) 440-7780
reference@getty.edu
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Jan van der Meulen photographs of Chartres Cathedral
Creator:
Lefèvre-Pontalis, Eugène Amédée, 1862-1923
Creator:
Photographie Giraudon
Creator:
Le Secq, Henri
Creator:
Neurdein frères
Creator:
Meulen, Jan van der
Identifier/Call Number: 90.P.6
Physical Description:
36 Linear Feet
(66 boxes)
Date (inclusive): circa 1950-1990
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection. Click here for the
access policy .
Abstract: The archive consists of photographs and slides documenting Chartres Cathedral and related buildings of the 12th and 13th centuries
taken by architect and art historian Jan van der Meulen and an assistant over the course of many campaigns, mostly between
1959 and 1983.
Language of Material:
English
.
Biographical/Historical Note
Jan van der Meulen (1929-2011) was a medieval art historian and a leading authority on Chartres Cathedral. Born in Cape Town,
South Africa, van der Meulen initially trained as an architect before deciding to study art history, specifically architectural
history. After earning a doctorate from Marburg in 1962, van der Meulen devoted himself to research, but he soon found the
academic climate in Europe too confining and left for the United states where the interdisciplinary approach he favored found
greater acceptance. Van der Meulen taught art history at Pennsylvania State University from 1968 to 1974. He next joined
the faculty at Cleveland State University where he taught until his retirement in 1989.
The author of numerous articles and several books, including
Chartres: Biographie der Kathedrale (1984) and
Chartres, sources and literary interpretation : a critical bibliography (1989), van der Meulen devoted his career to the study of Chartres. His methodological approach to the cathedral entailed
exhaustive re-measurement and photographic documentation of the structure and its elaboration.
The key role of photography in van der Meulen's research methodology tied in directly with his background. From 1953 to 1955
van der Meulen had worked as a professional photographer for Het Lichtbeelden Instituut in Amsterdam. The Chartres Cathedral
photographic archive is the product of van der Meulen's combining of his training as an architect, an art historian, and a
photographer.
Scope and Content of Collection
The archive consists of photographs and slides documenting Chartres Cathedral and related buildings of the 12th and 13th centuries
taken by architect and art historian Jan van der Meulen and an assistant over the course of many campaigns, mostly between
1959 and 1983.
Over 21,000 black-and-white catalogue prints and their negatives recording Chartres Cathedral form the bulk of the collection.
These photographs provide systematic and detailed documentation of the architecture and sculptural decoration of the cathedral,
especially the three sculptured portals, as well as comparative photographs of motifs from other French and German churches
related to Chartres. A further 11,500 catalogue prints with negatives document rural churches in the Aisne and Oise regions,
sources for the stylistic developments seen at Chartres.
Van der Meulen recorded the stained glass windows of Chartres, as well as the architecture and sculpture. Over 2300 35 mm.
slides taken by van der Meulen document the entire clerestory and lower panels with the exception of the northern side aisle.
Each panel of the clerestory was photographed twice with a 400 mm. lens from the opposite triforium, one darker exposure to
reproduce the true color value and one additional, slightly overexposed slide to assure that all the inner details and fold-lines
would be clearly visible.
In addition to the photographs taken by van der Meulen, the collection contains supplementary research material in the form
of copy photographs. There are almost 500 nineteenth-century photographs of Chartres Cathedral (modern prints from original
glass plate negatives) taken by photographers such as Eugène Lefèvre-Pontalis, Henri Le Secq, Photographie Giraudon, and Neurdein
Frères. Further copy photographs, as well as drawings and photocopies, reproduce archival materials on Chartres housed in
various repositories, including written documents, ground plans and other architectural drawings from the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries.
Preferred Citation
Jan van der Meulen photographs of Chartres Cathedral, circa 1950-1990, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession
no. 90.P.6
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa90p6
Publication Rights
Access
Acquisition Information
Acquired in 1990.
Arrangement
Jan van der Meulen's original organization of his photographs with groups of materials designated by Roman numerals has been
generally maintained: I (pt.1). Chartres Cathedral; I (pt.2). Churches related to Chartres Cathedral; II. Chartres Cathedral
portal details; III. Stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral; IV. Rural churches of Aisne and Oise. The copy photographs
of supplemental material follow van der Meulen's original work and retain his organization into "notebooks."
Processing History
Jan Bender created the collection inventory in 2013 and Ann Harrison completed the finding aid.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Negatives (Photographs)
Church architecture -- France -- Aisne
Black-and-white prints (photographs)
Church architecture -- France -- Oise
Architecture, Gothic -- France
Glass painting and staining -- France -- Chartres
Meulen, Jan van der -- Photograph collections
Cathédrale de Chartres
Chartres Cathedral photographs
box 15
Organized by building location
box 15, box 16
Organized by decorative or structural divisions
box 16
Additions and attendant structures
box 16
Non-Gothic structures / elements
box 27
Organized by building location
box 28
Organized by decorative or structural divisions
Churches and monuments related to Chartres Cathedral
box 29, box 30
Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris
box 32
Conflans-Sainte-Honorine to Mantes
box 34
Sens to Villeneuve-l'Archevéque
Chartres Cathedral portal details
box 16, box 17, box 18, box 19
box 19, box 20, box 21, box 22
box 22, box 23, box 24, box 25, box 26, box 27
Stained glass
Scope and Contents
Images are arranged following the numbering set out in Delaporte,
Les vitraux de la cathédrale de Chartres (1926).
Cibachrome prints made as use copies by the Getty Research Institute
box 2, folder 3
10-11: South transept windows
box 2, box 3
13-21: Choir windows, south
box 3, box 4
22-33: Apse windows, southeast
box 5, box 6
35-46: Apse windows, northeast
box 6, folder 4-6
47-55: Choir windows, north
box 6, folder 7
57-58: North transept windows
box 7, folder 1-5
59-64: Nave windows, north
box 8, folder 1-7
65-85: Nave clerestory windows, south
box 9, folder 1-3
86-94: South transept clerestory windows, west
box 9, folder 4-5
95: South transept clerestory windows, south
box 10, folder 1-3
96-104: South transept clerestory windows, east
box 10, folder 4-7
105-116: Choir clerestory windows, south
box 11, folder 1
117-123: Apse clerestory windows
box 11, folder 2-5
124-135: Choir clerestory windows, north
box 11, box 12
136-144: North transept clerestory windows, east
box 12, folder 2-3
145: North transept clerestory windows, north
box 12, box 13
146-154: North transept clerestory windows, west
box 13, box 14
155-175: Nave clerestory windows, north
box 62, box 63, box 64, box 65, box 66
Original slides
Scope and Contents
Access restricted for conservation reasons.
Rural churches in the departments of Aisne and Oise
box 37
Breuil-le-Vert to Cambronne-les-Ribecourt
box 38
Cerny-les-Bucy to Cuise-la-Motte
box 40
Longpoint to Mont-Devant-Sassey
box 41
Morienval to Presles-et-Thierny
box 42
Quesmy to Saint-Vaast-de-Longmont
box 43
Saint-Vaast-les-Mello to Vasseny
Supplemental research photographs
box 45, folder 1-2
Notebook 201a : plans and exterior views
box 45, folder 5
Model at Denver Art Museum
box 45, folder 7
Profile detail blueprints
box 45, folder 8
Notebook 201c : Exterior views, Giraudon
box 45, folder 9
West portal views, Lefèvre-Pontalis
box 45, folder 11
Elevations and plans, Lassus
box 45, folder 12
West facade and portal views
box 45, folder 13
North portal views, Giraudon
box 45, folder 18
Creation iconography on portals
box 47, folder 4
North portal views, Viollet
box 47, folder 6
Contents list of Le Secq photographs
box 47, folder 7
Chapel of Saint Piat, exterior views
box 48, folder 5
Royal portal views, Neurdein
box 48, folder 8
Choir screen views, Neurdein
box 48, folder 10
Clock tower and Hotel Dieu gate views, Neurdein
box 49, box 50, box 51, box 52, box 53, box 54, box 55, box 56, box 57, box 58, box 59, box 60, box 61
Negatives
Scope and Contents
Access restricted for conservation reasons.
