The St. Honoré Portal at Amiens Cathedral and Its Reception

Abstract

This article discusses the depictions of healings on the St. Honoré portal at Amiens Cathedral (post-1240) and the visual strategies by which its viewers were invited to participate in the saint’s cult. I contend that the carved figures who gaze or gesture beyond the borders of the tympanum invited the active participation of a broad audience of spectators: male and female, young and old, rich and poor, clerical and lay, and disabled and hale. Moreover, I argue that by referencing both the saint’s vita and more contemporary miracle accounts, the sculptures negotiated between the historical past and the Gothic present, allowing the viewers to share in the hope for a miraculous cure.