Chimeras of Notre-Dame de Paris

The image features two weathered stone figures, designed as chimeras, positioned on the limestone balustrade of Notre-Dame cathedral against a clear blue sky. The left figure sits perched on a support, its arms resting forward, while the right figure is shown in profile, hunched with its jaw open. The architecture displays intricate Gothic stonework, including trefoil-arched openings and decorative pinnacles, contrasted against the smooth expanse of the sky.

These figures are iconic examples of 19th-century Neo-Gothic revivalism, famously added during the restoration of the cathedral by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc between 1843 and 1864, reflecting the Romantic preoccupation with medieval grotesques and the uncanny.