Montauban - L'église St Jacques - Mosaïque

This ceramic tile mosaic is a reproduction of Raphael's painting 'The Vision of Ezekiel,' located on the facade of the Church of St. Jacques in Montauban. The central figure of God the Father ascends with outstretched arms, supported by cherubim and the four symbolic beasts—the man, lion, ox, and eagle—against a radiant sky. The scene is bordered by an intricate interlocking geometric pattern in yellow and blue, set into the church's brickwork.

The artwork depicts the Merkabah or 'Chariot' vision from the Book of Ezekiel, which serves as the foundational text for Merkabah mysticism and later Kabbalistic interpretations of the divine throne. In the Western esoteric tradition, the four creatures are often identified with the four elements and the fixed signs of the zodiac, representing the structural harmony of the cosmos.