THE CHAPEL

The pictorial decoration of Fénis Castle, carried out at the behest of Boniface I de Challant in the first quarter of the 15th century, follows the artistic style which spread all over Europe from the second half of the 14th century known as International Gothic. The chapel was decorated with paintings by workers close to Giacomo Jaquerio, an artist on the payroll of the Savoy court and the princes of Achaea. The chapel, which was originally planned to be separated from the hall by a wooden partition, depicts sacred subjects, with apostles and saints on two levels. Instead, on the eastern wall, there is the Crucifixion and the Virgin of Mercy welcoming the faithful under her cloak. Some of the figures on bended knee may be members of the Challant family, including the selfsame Boniface who commissioned the paintings in the foreground on the right, wearing the red houppelande, a type of overcoat.