Oak woodcarving in the choirstall area of the Cathedral of Amiens, 1508-1519. This scene shows Jesus teaching his disciples, while the crowd outside listens attentively. The beauty of the oak woodcarvings that adorn the otherwise simple seating for clerics is world renowned.

The 19th century author and medieval art enthusiast, John Ruskin, wrote an essay on the cathedral of Amiens, "The Bible of Amiens." Ruskin's Christian faith and his appreciation for religious art went hand in hand, and his appreciation of the deeply moving relief sculpture in the wooden choirstalls inspired him to write write the following:

"Sweet and young-grained wood it is: oak, trained and chosen for such work, sound now as four hundred years since. Under the carver's hand it seems to cut like clay, to fold like silk, to grow like living branches, to leap like living flame,...and it shoots and wreathes itself into an enchanted glade, inextricable, imperishable, fuller of leafage than any forest, and fuller of story than any book." (Ruskin and Proust and Wolfe, p. 18)

Donated by James T. Womack and Anne Richardson, Nashville, TN.