Inventing the Gothic portal : Suger, Hugh of Saint Victor, and the construction of a new public art at Saint-Denis

The influence of Hugh of Saint Victor's (a scholar at the abbey, d. 1141) "The Mystic Ark" on Abbot Suger's (abbot from 1122-1151) program for the portals at Saint Denis is studied. "The Mystic Ark" is a painting and treatise that attempted to depict all time, space, matter, history and spirituality, while the portals at Saint Denis are regarded as the first examples of Gothic public sculpture. The author explores the extreme schools of thought on the use of public imagery in the Church, the similar lines of reasoning and portrayal between the two works, and the potential that Suger would have interacted with and been familiar with Hugh's theories.