( fl c. 1300–50). French architect. His name is known through an inscription (destr.) that accompanied his kneeling figure on a relief located on the north side of the sculptured choir enclosure at Notre-Dame, Paris. As reproduced in a drawing made for the collection of Roger de Gaignières, it records that Ravy served as ‘masson de nostre dame de Paris’ for 25 years and that he began work on the sculpture of the choir, which was finished by his nephew Jean Lebouteiller in 1351. He was probably master of the works at the cathedral, taking over that position after the death of Pierre de Chelles sometime after 1318. Thus it is likely that Ravy oversaw the execution of at least the later sections of the choir enclosure, including the reliefs of the south side decorated with scenes from the Resurrection, the hemicycle, where an open arcade surmounts smaller reliefs comprising a Joseph cycle, and perhaps the additional chapels built around it. Since sculptors were by that date customarily referred to as ‘imagiers’, it is unlikely that he was the author of the choir reliefs, which are more reasonably attributed to one of the sculptors simultaneously employed at court.

• Ravy, Jean
  • Chelles, de: (2) Pierre de Chelles
  • Paris, §V, 1(i): Notre-Dame: Architecture
  • Paris, §V, 1(ii)(b): Notre-Dame: Sculpture, after c 1235