Thévenot, Coffetier, Steinheil, restaurateurs des vitraux de la cathédrale de Bourges (1845-1858)

Abstract

Between 1845 and 1858 the restoration of the windows in the side aisles of Bourges Cathedral was entrusted to three men who are well known to historians of art : Etienne Thevenot, Louis Steinheil and Nicolas Coffetier. Despite the existence of many archival documents, the day-to-day activity and especially the philosophy of the différent restorers has long been overlooked. Following the publication of an extremely severe article attacking Thévenot, which was attributed to the pen of Didron, but was probably written by a former diocesan architect, the intervention of the glass-painter from Clermont was judged catastrophic, whereas the work of Steinheil and his associate Coffetier passed without mention. In reality a confrontation of the documents emanating from restoration ateliers with the windows as they as appear today allows us to re-evaluate the restoration work of Thévenot at Bourges. It can be characterised as a minimal intervention that respects the work of art. On the other hand, the work of Steinheil and Coffetier, although praised in the nineteenth Century, appears to be far more destructive, because the two men did not hesitate to replace a very large number of ancient windows for no justifiable reason. The case of Bourges testifies to the difficulties faced by nineteenth-century restorers and the code of ethics applied to restoration, while the art was still in its infancv.