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Quimper elevation, possibly by Lemercier, shows three serlianas in the transept and two inverted
versions of it as a continuous motif in the choir, suggesting that it would have been repeated
throughout the gallery level (fig. 24). 78 Two other engravings, one by Jean Marot from around
1660 and another by an anonymous artist from the mid-eighteenth century, also include the
serliana as a repeating motif in their elevations. Although these images provide strong evidence
for the existence of more than one serliana in the church, they all show significant discrepancies
differences compared to the interior, especially in the upper portions of the transept. They most
likely record possible design solutions conceived by Lemercier, who ultimately chose to use only
one serliana. 79
The designation of the church as the royal chapel most certainly affected the architect’s
design. This hypothesis is supported by a detailed description of the building’s interior dated
1625, which fails to mention any serliana. 80 The architectural motif could only have been built
in the following years, while construction of the nave was stopped but work on the interior
continued. Since the serliana only turns up several years after the church became a royal chapel, I
propose that Lemercier altered his original plan of the repeating decorative design in favor of a
single motif, which would call to mind the power of the monarchy.
The serliana in the church of the Oratory is located in the gallery, the area in palace
chapels traditionally reserved for the use of the king. Since the church lacked a state portrait of
the reigning sovereign, a traditional sign that literally stood for the monarch in his absence, the
serliana’s primary purpose was to represent the king. 81 Placed in the axial bay above the
altarpiece, the serliana originally stood in an opening between the apse and the oval rotunda; a
window in the rotunda, directly across from the serliana, looked out towards the Louvre. This
architectural motif was thus a symbolic evocation of the king: looming above the celebration of
the holy mass, it reiterated the building’s function as a palace chapel and reinforced the power of
the monarchy.
Indeed, a sign representing the reigning monarch was needed at the new royal chapel. On
25 March 1626 Louis XIII along with his brother and all the princes and lords of the court visited
the oratory to celebrate the universal jubilee, of which the Church of the Oratory was one of the
designated stations. 82 On this occasion, the congregation arranged for the king to sit on a dais
covered with a canopy, which was placed under the arcade separating the choir from the nave.
The following day Anne of Austria, along with Maria de’ Medici and all the ladies of their
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