Chimeras of Notre-Dame de Paris

Two carved stone chimeras, or grotesques, occupy the foreground and middle ground of a Gothic balustrade. The figure on the left is seated in a crouching, alert posture with horn-like ears, looking outward with a sharp, angular visage. A second, smaller figure to the right is also seated, leaning forward with a more rounded, simian-like face and heavy brow. The background is a flat, overcast sky, emphasizing the weathered texture of the grey limestone.

These sculptures are 19th-century additions by the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc during the Gothic Revival restoration of the cathedral, intended to evoke the medieval fascination with apotropaic guardians and the boundary between the sacred and the grotesque.