3-038-956 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

St. Jacques, Dieppe, [France], 1871. 'Battered about as the town has been by its various enemies, and notably by ourselves [ie the English] in 1694, when the combined Dutch and English fleets, unable to reduce Brest, gave vent to the chagrin of their commander in bombarding Dieppe, it is not to be expected that any very ancient buildings are still in existence. The Church of St. Jacques, however, the east end of which forms the subject of the accompanying Engraving, is an exception, and in the elaboration of its external detail is not unworthy of rank among the churches and cathedrals of Normandy. Its interior, some portion of which is as old as the thirteenth century, presents many features of interest to the architect and antiquary...Nothing, however, can be richer in material for the artist than the delicate carving to be found on the exterior of its apsidal chapels. The same skill which for generations has enabled the "bons Dieppois," as Henry IV. called them, to surpass all but the Chinese and Japanese in their ivory carvings, must have guided the chisels which wrought this exquisite tracery in stone'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.