young man holding a book., inv. 2007.1.84,
Photo © Musées de Châlons-en-Champagne, P. Martin
In the past, it was assumed that this very static character indicated an older execution.
Today, however, the diversity of styles present in the cloister of Notre-Dame-en-Vaux is interpreted as a deliberate reference by the patrons to various highly symbolic locations of Christianity in the 12th century: here, Saint-Denis and the Parisian sculptural workshop of the 1140s.
The mutual influences and stylistic combinations in Châlons are numerous. If we focus on the very geometric drapery used here, we can find it on other column statues, like that of a young man whose face, treated in a completely different style, can be compared to that of the bride in the Wedding at Cana.
One could imagine a collaboration between artists, who exchanged their model books and perhaps worked together on the same piece.