La verrière « Aux Morts de la Guerre » de Maurice Denis (1920-1925), de Paris à Montréal

Abstract

After the First World War, monuments designed to commemorate its victims were prevalent in a wide variety of artistic fields, both civil and religious. At the Paris church of Saint-Roch, in 1920, the priest Jean Peuportier commissioned the famous painter and theoretician Maurice Denis (1870-1943) to decorate the chapel of souls in purgatory situated on the south side of the nave. The ambitious project was supposed to comprise a stained glass window and two commemorative plaques giving the names of all the parishioners who had lost their lives during the war but the project was never completed. Research carried out during the preparation of a catalogue raisonné of the work of Maurice Denis has brought attention to the different episodes in this affair and allowed for the preparatory work for the stained glass composition to be correctly identified. Hitherto it was mistakenly associated with work carried out for the Saint-Germain church at Gagny.

Keywords

• Maurice Denis
• commémoration
• peintre verrier
• Musée départemental Maurice Denis
• Guerre de 1914-1918
• église Saint-Roch à Paris