Boussac-Bourg

Chapelle de l'Assomption de la Vierge

The church or chapel of the Assumption of the Virgin, at Boussac-Bourg, dates from the 11th century and consists of a single bay covered with a round-arch vault and prolonged by a semicircular apse. The tower is modern. The wall paintings date back to the 12th century

THE WALL PAINTINGS

The prioral church of Boussac-Bourg was decorated with two registers of wall paintings. There are still remarkable fragments. In the apse, the ox, attribute of St. Luke, is part of a tetramorph that has practically disappeared. On the right of the axial window is a remarkable Nativity and in the lower register the Baptism of Christ. On the south wall, crusade scenes with knights and horses and a St. Christopher carrying the Christ Child

The Nativity scene is both rare and remarkable with its use of perspective and the richness of the pigments used. The scene is framed by the oval summit of a crenellated tower, giving a perspective effect very unusual in the 12th century. Even the Christ Child's crib is represented in perspective. The Virgin, lying under a blue blanket scattered with stars, is pointing her finger at the Child; Joseph is looking at her lovingly; the ox, which with the donkey, is watching over the Child, is staring at Joseph. Mary's back is propped against cushions and her cover is light blue; Jesus is in a crib under a dark-green cover. Red and yellow ochres are also used in the rest of the painting, with a correspondence between the colour of the Child's hair and his Mother's halo and between the Virgin's veil and the infant's nimbus

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