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9 Symmetrical panel with candelabra decoration, three dolphins surmounted with two seahorses, a basin, two cornucopias and a flame urn

This carved relief once formed part of a retable, a decorated structure behind an altar, in the chapel at the Château de Gaillon in the Normandy region of France. The castle served as a fortress during the Middle Ages, but after Cardinal Georges d’Amboise (1460–1510) took up residence there in the late fifteenth century, he invited Italian architects and artists to renovate the structure, thereby transforming it into France’s first Renaissance castle. The chapel’s decoration incorporated classical motifs that were popular in Italy at the time.

Cardinal d’Amboise served Louis XII as his chief minister and played a vital role in the development of French Renaissance culture.