Note 236 — Chapter VIII · Gothic in the Midi

The cathedral of Auch, which can be visited from Toulouse, was rebuilt (1371) by a nephew of Innocent VI, and again, after a fire in 1483. It is quite devoid of capitals. The façade is neo-classic. The choir stalls (1520-29) are masterpieces; Italianate fawns and Bacchantes are placed beside sacred personages. The magnificent windows, of the transition between Flamboyant Gothic and Renaissance, were the work of Arnaud de Moles (1507-13); their portrait studies are like Holbein’s pictures. Abbé Canéto, Notice sur l’église metro. de Ste. Marie d’Auch and Congrès Archéologique, 1901.

The cathedral of Rodez, some fifty miles west from Albi, built its grand Flamboyant tower, la couronne, from 1510 to 1526, under the Blessed François d’Estaing. The Romanesque cathedral at Rodez was supplanted by the present one in 1277. The works flagged, however, and the nave was built as late-Gothic by Bishop Guillaume de la Tour d’Oliergues and a nephew who succeeded him. The west façade was left bare, since there the church overlooked the ramparts; to it were added later a rose window and a Flamboyant gallery. G. de Cogny, in Bulletin Monumental, 1874, vol. 39; Bion de Marlavagne, Cathédrale de Rodez (Paris, 1875).