The Tabernacle of Paul Jourdain

Terrence Paris is Public Services Librarian at Mount St. Vincent
University in Halifax.

The National Gallery of Canada undertook several projects in
anticipation of the opening of its new building in 1988. One project was
restoring the tabernacle from the Church of Saint-Antoine-de-Longueuil
completed by Paul Jourdain, dit Labrosse, of Montreal in 1741. Of the
many built by artisans during the French regime, this tabernacle is one
of the few that survive.

Villeneuve, Assistant Curator of Early Modern Art, has written an
admirable catalogue describing the tabernacle’s importance as the
central prop for Eucharistic ritual, the tabernacle’s characteristic
architectural elements, the work of Jourdain and his contemporaries, and
the painstaking restoration required to prepare the work for public
display. Several layers of oil paint had to be removed to uncover the
original water-based gilding done by the Sisters of the Congrégation de
Notre-Dame (an interesting instance of an artistic contribution by the
period’s religious women). A Louis XV-style altar table that supported
the tabernacle was also restored to reveal a tromp l’oeil green marble
front.

The National Gallery should be commended for issuing such a useful
addition to the research literature in early Canadian art. The
photographs are clear and carefully selected, the notes are informative,
and the comprehensive bibliography reveals the extensive scholarship
required to prepare a research monograph of this quality.