Saturday December 7, 2024, on the occasion of the reopening to the public of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, a little air of Vendômois will breathe into the nave. Not the famous Vendôme carillon but the world-famous talent of master goldsmith Goudji. Old works but also new creations by the artist who has lived in Vendômois for nearly thirty years will find or regain their place in the heart of the cathedral, after more than five years of colossal work to erase the scars of the fire of April 15, 2019 .
A cross of gold, silver and precious stones
Goudji's new work, which was created especially for the revival of the cathedral, is a processional cross. Just a few months after the fire, Nicolas Perruchot, then president of the departmental council, initiated the mobilization of Vendôme artists. Their works were sold during an exceptional auction in Chambord under the hammers of Rouillac auctioneers. The result of this sale amounted to some €22,000, a sum which was doubled by the departmental council to allow the purchase of the materials necessary for this new creation by Goudji.
During the presentation of Goudji's works in May 2021 at Blois Cathedral.
© ( Photo archives NR)
Volunteering, the artist worked for a long time on the intellectual and symbolic design, then on the manufacturing. The hammered silver, the inlaid stones, the assembled elements…
The silver processional cross of Notre-Dame represents Christ the King. It has a height of 1.56 m and a weight of 5.6 kg (including 3.5 kg of silver), and is made up of different hard stones (rose quartz, sodalite, jasper, crystal with inclusions of tourmaline, lapis lazuli, aventurine, carnelian, stones of the heavenly Jerusalem) and a golden crown. This cross surmounts a beech pole which finds its place in a base carved from Pontijou stone.
The golden rule of art is that the work cannot be seen. What is obvious is the spiritual impulse, the symbolic radiance of all the colors of these hard stones, so difficult to tame. “ What matters is the emotion, the beauty of what transcends ».
In the heart of the Vendômois that he loves, Goudji has signed many pieces of goldsmithing.
© (Photo archives NR )
It joins other pieces signed by the artist
Already in 1985, Goudji created a baptismal font, an Easter candlestick and an ewer for Notre-Dame. In 2007, on the occasion of Benedict XVI's visit, he made cameos of the last ten popes, from Leo XIII to Benedict XVI on the occasion of the 120e anniversary of the collection of 255 portraits from the 19e century.
They are like the previous ones, finely carved on shell, and their frame is silver. And, the following year, it was a paten and a cruet that the goldsmith hammered for the cathedral. Miraculously preserved from the fire, these works were stored in the basement of the Louvre awaiting their return to Notre-Dame.
