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 230 SCULPTURE OF THE ROMANESQUE PERIOD. The stone reliefs on the pulpit and high altar of the church of Wechselburg are equally truthful and vigorous ; our illustration (Fig. 96) is from one of the compartments of the pulpit, and represents Abel offering his Lamb. Bronze casting also greatly improved in Germany at this period. The school of Dinant acquired considerable fame in the early part of the thirteenth century, and many important works were executed by its masters for the various cathedrals of the Rhine provinces. The font of St. Barthelemy, at Liege, is one of the most remarkable. The basin, like the molten sea in Solomon's temple, rests on twelve brazen oxen. From Germany we turn to France, and find a corre- sponding advance in architectural sculpture. To the early part of the twelfth century belongs the west front of St. Gilles, near Aries in Provence, in which antique marble columns are introduced, supporting an entablature the frieze of which is adorned with reliefs representing scenes from the life of Christ. The ecclesiastical buildings of Burgundy are especially rich in architectural sculpture. The pediment of the principal entrance of the cathedral of Autun is filled with a representation of the Last Judgment, which has a weird and striking effect. Devils are seen tearing the con- demned, and St. Michael is introduced protecting a re- deemed soul from their fury. The name of the artist of this remarkable group was Gislebertus. The west front of the cathedral of Chartres is one of the most important works of the late Romanesque school of Central France. In its three portals the architecture and sculpture harmonise with and supplement each other ; the