Leseprobe

67 originally intended. This encounter begins quite soon after entering the church, when, from the start of the nave, the Transfiguration can first be glimpsed. At this point, all that can be seen is the very base of themountain and the feet of the Apostles, but this is just enough to pique interest and draw the beholder onwards. As the beholder walks along the nave towards the choir, more and more of the illusion is gradually revealed. By halfway, the bodies of the three Apostles are almost entirely visible, the colours of their garments icono- graphically identifying at least two of them—Peter in his customary blue and yellow, John in his customary pink and green, and James in white and purple. By three-quarters of the way along, the Apostles are fully resolved and it is clear from the glimpse of the trailing garments of the prophets that something is happening above their heads. Then finally, upon reaching the transept and the edge of the choir, the full Transfiguration is revealed with the shimmering body of Christ flanked by the prophets, Moses and Elijah. In this space, where the painting changes constantly as the beholder moves through the church, viewing Lemoyne’s Transfiguration feels more like attending a theatrical per- formance than looking at a painting. The ambulation required to activate the scene gives the experience something of the embodied liveness of the theatre, or perhaps more accu- rately, it is like an inversion of a magic lantern show: instead of a series of static images Figure 3: François Lemoyne’s Transfiguration of Christ (1723) seen from transept looking through to Chapel of Saint-Louis in the former church of the Jacobins. Paris, Church of Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin.