with a reverential conscientiousness that is far too rare, by M.
Guillaume Lecointe, and by him this precious relic of twelfth-century
architecture and art was given to the Commune of Petit-Quevilly. A
small arcade of engaged colonnettes goes right round the whole church;
the larger pillars have carved capitals, and there is the usual
conventional Norman moulding on the round arches.

In the apse are four round-headed windows, all slightly smaller than
the four in the choir and the six in the nave. In the chancel-arch
there are two clustered columns, and also in the nave and apse. The
others have plain round shafts. The simple vaulting of the choir and
apse is excellently done, and on the roof above the choir you see the
frescoes that are the chief treasure of the place, representing scenes
from the Annunciation, the Wise Men, the Flight into Egypt, and other
Biblical subjects. These paintings are boldly and well executed, and
are of the highest interest. Indeed, their workmanship is such, that
many antiquaries refused to believe that they were contemporary with
the building itself. As if the little chapel had not suffered
vicissitudes enough, it was put up to public auction at the Revolution
in 1789, and used by its new proprietors as a stable and granary. They
were careful to cover the whole of their ceiling with a thick coat of
whitewash, and it is only in the last few years that the patriotic
work of M. Lecointe has been completed by the careful recovery of
these ancient paintings from beneath their bed of whitewash. Even then
their value was not fully appreciated, and only when M. LeRoy had
submitted certain detached portions to a chemical analysis was it
proved that frescoes of the twelfth century had really been preserved.

By this careful observer it has been shown that a couch of sandy
mortar was first laid on the stones of the vault, then a second layer,
rich in lime, and especially in white of egg, was applied, and the
surface was ready for the application of the colours. These are blue,
green, yellow ochre, reddish-brown, black, and white. Cobalt blue, or
"azure," was only discovered in the sixteenth century by a German
glass-maker. The blue used in these paintings is the true "outremer"
of the twelfth century, the solid colour made from lapislazuli, which
was worth its weight in gold. That it was employed at all, is one more
evidence of the munificence of Henry II. in his foundation. The green
is a mixture