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palace chapel at Versailles, designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart and constructed from 1689 to
1710 (fig. 89). In addition to each chapel having the same plan, interiors with two distinct levels,
and similar exterior silhouettes, both include pictorial references to the Passion relics. 40 At the
Sainte-Chapelle, stained glass windows in the central section of the east side showed the Passion
narrative, while panels on the south side featured the history of the relics, as for example the
image depicting St. Louis and Robert d’Artois Bearing the Relics (fig. 90). 41 At Versailles,
reliefs on the spandrels and piers facing the nave depict scenes from the Passion, while Antoine
Coypel’s ceiling painting of God the Father in Glory (1709-1710) includes many relics housed at
the Sainte-Chapelle (fig. 91). 42 As Martha Mel Edmunds demonstrates, the celebration of the
Passion relics at Versailles was intended as a significant reference to Louis IX’s chapel, marking
its continued place of honor during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 43
Prior to the fire of 1630, Louis XIII had also paid tribute to the holy chapel. In 1612 he
and his mother donated seven thousand livres to the Sainte-Chapelle for velvet wall hangings
embroidered with golden fleurs-de-lis. 44 Then in 1626 the Chambre des comptes, acting on
behalf of the king, commissioned a reliquary for the Sainte-Chapelle modeled after the
thirteenth-century building. Placed on the high altar under the grande chasse, the reliquary
symbolized the tradition of St. Louis, specifically the establishment of France as the new Holy
Land by the acquisition of the most renowned relics of Christianity (fig. 92). 45 The reliquary’s
function was to hold the numerous relics that no longer had their original container, many of
which had gone missing during the political volatility of the second half of the sixteenth
century. 46 Indeed from the start of the Wars of Religion in 1562 a number of the works from the
treasury mysteriously disappeared. During the League’s control of Paris, the canons of the
chapel brought further depletion to the collection when they were forced to sell relics and
reliquaries to support their daily needs and those of the Leaguers. The stability achieved by the
Bourbon government secured the treasury while renewing the Sainte-Chapelle’s place of honor
within the French kingdom.
Evidence of the king’s preoccupation with the chapel and its relics is visible in Grégoire
Huret’s undated print of Christ Giving the Crown of Thorns to Louis XIII (fig. 93). 47 In this
image, which shows Christ handing the crown of thorns to the kneeling king, Louis XIII
reaffirms the concept that France as owner of the holy relics is God’s chosen land. The theme is
reinforced by symbols of royal power shown in the background. Two angels standing behind the
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