ambs, under the renaissance band of carving, are two statues one
above the other on Gothic corbels but under renaissance canopies.

Beyond the arch great piers rise up with three faces separated by Gothic
pinnacles. On each face there is at the bottom--above the
interpenetrating bases--a classic medallion encompassed by Manoelino
twisting stems and leaves, and higher up two statues one above the
other. Of these the lower stands on a Gothic corbel under a renaissance
canopy, and the upper, standing on the canopy, has over it another tall
canopy Gothic in style. Higher up the piers rise up to the vault with
many pinnacles and buttresses, and between them, above the arch, are
other figures in niches and two angels holding the royal arms.

The design of the whole is still very Manoelino, and therefore the
master of the royal tombs spoken of by Gregorio Lourenco was probably a
Portuguese, but the skill shown in modelling the figures and the
renaissance details are something quite new. (Fig. 71.)

Many Frenchmen are known to have worked in Santa Cruz. One, Master
Nicolas, has been met already working at Belem and at the west door
here, and others--Longuim, Philipo Uduarte, and finally Joao de Ruao
(Jean de Rouen)--are spoken of as having worked at the tombs.

Though the figures are good with well-modelled draperies, their faces,
or those of most of them, are rather expressionless, and some of them
look too short--all indeed being less successful than those on the
pulpit, the work of Joao de Ruao. It is likely then that the figures are
mostly the work of the lesser known men and not of Master Nicolas or of
Joao de Ruao, though Joao, who came later to Portugal, may have been
responsible for some of the renaissance canopies which are not at all
unlike some of his work on the pulpit.

The pulpit projects from the north wall of the church between two of the
chapels. In shape it is a half-octagon set diagonally, and is upheld by
circular corbelling. It was ready by the time Gregorio Lourenco wrote to
Dom Joao III. in 1522, but still wanted a suitable finishing to its
door. This Gregorio urged Dom Joao to add, but it was never done, and
now the entrance is only framed by a simple classic architrave.

Now Georges d'Amboise, the second archbishop of that name to hold the
see of Rouen, began the beautiful tomb, on which he and his uncle kneel
in prayer, in the year 1520, and the pulpit at Coimbra was finished
before March 1522.