Jean-Baptiste Lassus’s Sainte-Chapelle

The watercolour of the Sainte-Chapelle drawn by Lassus dates from the first years of the restoration, when the desire to restore the monument to its original thirteenth-century form was still very strong. The chapel is shown without its fifteenth-century flamboyant rose window and its exterior staircase built by Louis XII, taking the more sober appearance it may have had during the reign of Saint-Louis. Lassus clearly emphasises that intention by inscribing at the top ‘Saint Loys,’ and at the bottom the name of the original architect ‘Pierre de Montereau.’