Chimeras of Notre-Dame de Paris

The image features two weathered, grey stone chimeras on the exterior gallery of Notre-Dame de Paris. The foreground figure on the left is anthropomorphic with pointed, cat-like ears; it grasps a small, indistinct animal or prey figure against its chest with both hands while biting into it. Behind it to the right, a second, more feline-bodied chimera sits with its mouth agape, staring outward toward the city of Paris visible in the blurred background. Both sculptures are framed by modern protective metal safety netting, and the stone surfaces are marked by natural erosion and staining.

These sculptures, while famously associated with the 19th-century Gothic Revival restorations by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, draw upon the medieval bestiary tradition where grotesque figures were believed to ward off evil or represent the chaotic aspects of the natural and spiritual worlds.