Saint-Fort-sur-Gironde now has a splendid religious building, often remodeled by enlargements or repairs. This church as we see it today is an amalgam of styles, Romanesque, ogival or Renaissance. The stump is probably very old but the facade, recently restored, is half of the 12th century. The particularity of this facade is the presence of the heads of horses, connected by the bit, arching famous in archaeological circles. You can also discover, carved at the base of the arches of the facade, a frieze reproducing the seven deadly sins. The bell tower, from the 15th century, rises on the south side of the nave; its ground floor is pierced by a very beautiful Renaissance door on the pediment of which moldings, shells and awning shelter a statue of the Virgin. The upper part of the bell tower is the Renaissance part, with a terrace with a flamboyant balustrade bearing a set of two octagonal domes with scales and edges furnished with hooks. Inside you can admire, in addition to 2 paintings by the Saintonge painter P. VINCENT (17th century), the Crucifixion and the Assumption, both classified as Historic Furniture, magnificent stained glass windows, and a funerary liter, almost entirely reconstructed.
Pierre Vincent is known as a painter of religious subjects and his works are kept in churches in Charente-Maritime, Charente and Gironde. His activity is attested from 1781, the date of his first known work. It is a painting of St-Georges-des-Côteaux, soberly signed and dated "Vincent 1781". Subsequently, he accompanied his signatures with a “pinxit” [has painted], a Latin formula often used by painters. In 1786 and 1787, on the paintings made for the churches of Barbezieux and Lonzac, he added the Latin formula "Santonibus" ["for the Saintais"], which reflects his desire to belong to the circle of painters of the city. In 1788, we find traces of his activity on the border of the Gironde and the Dordogne, in Ste-Foy-la-Grande where he painted for the Notre-Dame church no less than 4 paintings, one of which is signed “P. Vincent pinxit 1788”. Around 1810, on the paintings kept in Mortagne/Gironde and St-Dizant-du-Gua, he replaced these obsolete Latin expressions with “P. Vincent painter in Bordeaux”, which indicates his change of address. The artist had a certain notoriety since he received numerous commissions for churches in Saintonge and Bordeaux. The theme most frequently represented is the Crucifixion, as in Barbezieux, La Clisse, Le Douhet, Mortagne/Gironde, Ozillac, St Dizant-du-Gua and St -Fort/Gironde. He also painted subjects such as the Adoration of the Magi or the Shepherds (Lonzac and Saintes) and above all the Assumption of the Virgin, which he depicted 4 times (Pons, Barbezieux, Saint-Fort and Sainte-Foy- the big one). In these last 2 churches, it is clear the similarity of the Assumptions, inspired by Rubens.
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