Stained-glass windows from Sainte-Chapelle now in Musée de Cluny in Paris:
The Zeal of the Levites
Paris, around 1243-1248
Coloured glass, grisaille, lead
From the upper chapel of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, Bay of Exodus
A crowned man dressed in mail shirt kills another crowned figure. This unusual scene recalls the “brothers” who eliminate their “brothers” from the Book of Exodus; here, a king who kills another.
The episode refers to the Levites’ slaughter of the
Jews, who were guilty of worshiping the golden calf in their excessive zeal, a sin reproached by Moses.