Capital, Triforium of Choir, Notre Dame, Paris 19th-20th century

Curator: This drawing by Charles Herbert, titled "Capital, Triforium of Choir, Notre Dame, Paris," offers a detailed study in pencil and brown wash. I find the isolated presentation so striking. Editor: Yes, there's a hushed, almost reverential quality in its formal rendering. Note the classical acanthus leaves, reinterpreted within the Gothic frame of Notre Dame. Curator: The capital is a potent symbol here; it’s the crowning achievement, isn't it? It literally mediates between the earthly support of the pillar and the heavens the cathedral aspires to touch. Editor: Absolutely. And Herbert has carefully rendered the play of light and shadow, emphasizing its three-dimensional form and the semiotic weight it carries within the architectural whole. Curator: Herbert captures the cathedral's ambition, its yearning for the divine, in this small piece of stone. Editor: Indeed, the drawing evokes the cathedral's cultural and spiritual significance through pure form.