Pietà

The Rood Screen of St Germain d’Auxerrois is the first sculpture in which Goujon’s mature style is displayed. The Rood Screen, of which the principal panels are preserved in the Louvre, was executed in collaboration with Lescot. Its sculptured decoration consists of a central panel of the Pietà flanked by four smaller reliefs of the evangelists. The Pietà is based on various Italian motives; the pose of the dead Christ is from an engraving of Parmigianino, and other elements come from Rosso, particularly the figure of the fainting Virgin and the close-cropped curls with which almost all the characters are equipped. The most striking feature of the relief is the patterning of closely repeated parallel folds against the plain ground of the panel, a treatment of drapery inspired partly by Cellini, whose influence seems to be mainly responsible for Goujon’s change in style after his arrival in Paris.