Paris
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Title: Paris
Author: Grant Allen
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARIS ***
PARIS
Grant Allen’s Historical Guides
Fcap. 8vo, Green Cloth, with rounded corners to
slip in the pocket. Price =3/6= net each.
PARIS
FLORENCE
CITIES OF BELGIUM
VENICE
ROME
DRESDEN with Nuremburg, etc.
LONDON: GRANT RICHARDS
9 HENRIETTA STREET COVENT GARDEN W.C.
GRANT ALLEN’S HISTORICAL
GUIDES
P A R I S
[Illustration]
LONDON: GRANT RICHARDS
1900
First Edition. Printed Jan. 1897
Second Edition. Printed Jan. 1900
INTRODUCTION
THE object and plan of these Historical Handbooks is somewhat
different from that of any other guides at present before the public.
They do not compete or clash with such existing works; they are rather
intended to supplement than to supplant them. My purpose is not to
direct the stranger through the streets and squares of an unknown town
towards the buildings or sights which he may desire to visit; still less
is it my design to give him practical information about hotels, cab
fares, omnibuses, tramways, and other every-day material conveniences.
For such details, the traveller must still have recourse to the trusty
pages of his Baedeker, his Joanne, or his Murray. I desire rather to
supply the tourist who wishes to use his travel as a means of culture
with such historical and antiquarian information as will enable him to
understand, and therefore to enjoy, the architecture, sculpture,
painting, and minor arts of the towns he visits. In one word, it is my
object to give the reader in a very compendious form the result of all
those inquiries which have naturally suggested themselves to my own mind
during thirty-five years of foreign travel, the solution of which has
cost myself a good deal of research, thought, and labour, beyond the
facts which I could find in the ordinary handbooks.
For several years past I have devoted myself to collecting and arranging
material for a set of books to embody the idea I had thus entertained. I
earnestly hope they may meet a want on the part of tourists, especially
Americans, who, so far as my experience goes, usually come to Europe
with an honest and reverent desire to learn from the Old World whatever
of value it has to teach them, and who are prepared to take an amount of
pains in turning their trip to good account which is both rare and
praiseworthy. For such readers I shall call attention at times to other
sources of information.
These guide-books will deal more particularly with the Great Towns where
objects of art and antiquity are numerous. In every one of them, the
general plan pursued will be somewhat as follows. First will come the
inquiry why a town ever gathered together at all at that particular
spot—what induced the aggregation of human beings rather there than
elsewhere. Next, we shall consider why that town grew to social or
political importance and what were the stages by which it assumed its
present shape. Thirdly, we shall ask why it gave rise to that higher
form of handicraft which we know as Art, and towards what particular
arts it especially gravitated. After that, we shall take in detail the
various strata of its growth or development, examining the buildings and
works of art which they contain in historical order, and, as far as
possible, tracing the causes which led to their evolution. In
particular, we shall lay stress upon the origin and meaning of each
structure as an organic whole, and upon the allusions or symbols which
its fabric embodies.
A single instance will show the method upon which I intend to proceed
better than any amount of general description. A church, as a rule, is
built over the body or relics of a particular saint, in whose special
honour it was originally erected. That saint was usually one of great
local importance at the moment of its erection, or was peculiarly
implored against plague, foreign enemies, or some other pressing and
dreaded misfortune. In dealing with such a church, then, I endeavour to
show what were the circumstances which led to its erection, and what
memorials of these circumstances it still retains. In other cases it may
derive its origin from some special monastic body—Benedictine,
Dominican, Franciscan—and may therefore be full of the peculiar
symbolism and historical allusion of the order who founded it. Wherever
I have to deal with such a church, I try as far as possible to exhibit
the effect which its origin had upon its architecture and decoration; to
trace the image of the patron saint in sculpture or stained glass
throughout the fabric; and to set forth the connection of the whole
design with time and place, with order and purpose. In short, instead of
looking upon monuments of the sort mainly as the product of this or that
architect, I look upon them rather as material embodiments of the spirit
of the age—crystallizations, as it were, in stone and bronze, in form
and colour, of great popular enthusiasms.
By thus concentrating attention on what is essential and important in a
town, I hope to give in a comparatively short space, though with
inevitable conciseness, a fuller account than is usually given of the
chief architectural and monumental works of the principal art-cities. In
dealing with Paris, for example, I shall have little to say about such
modern constructions as the Champs Elysées or the Eiffel Tower; still
less, of course, about the Morgue, the Catacombs, the waxworks of the
Musée Grévin, and the celebrated Excursion in the Paris Sewers. The
space thus saved from vulgar wonders I shall hope to devote to fuller
explanation of Notre-Dame and the Sainte Chapelle, of the mediæval
carvings or tapestries of Cluny, and of the pictures or sculptures in
the galleries of the Louvre. Similarly in Florence, whatever I save from
description of the Cascine and even of the beautiful Viale dei Colli
(where explanation is needless and word-painting superfluous), I shall
give up to the Bargello, the Uffizi, and the Pitti Palace. The passing
life of the moment does not enter into my plan; I regard each town I
endeavour to illustrate mainly as a museum of its own history.
For this reason, too, I shall devote most attention in every case to
what is locally illustrative, and less to what is merely adventitious
and foreign. In Paris, for instance, I shall have more to say about
truly Parisian art and history, as embodied in St. Denis, the Île de la
Cité, and the shrine of Ste. Geneviève, than about the Egyptian and
Assyrian collections of the Louvre. In Florence, again, I shall deal
rather with the Etruscan remains, with Giotto and Fra Angelico, with the
Duomo and the Campanile, than with the admirable Memlincks and Rubenses
of the Uffizi and the Pitti, or with the beautiful Van der Goes of the
Hospital of Santa Maria. In Bruges and Brussels, once more, I shall be
especially Flemish; in the Rhine towns, Rhenish; in Venice, Venetian. I
shall assign a due amount of space, indeed, to the foreign collections,
but I shall call attention chiefly to those monuments or objects which
are of entirely local and typical value.
As regards the character of the information given, it will be mainly
historical, antiquarian, and, above all, explanatory. I am not a
connoisseur—an adept in the difficult modern science of distinguishing
the handicraft of various masters, in painting or sculpture, by minute
signs and delicate inferential processes. In such matters, I shall be
well content to follow the lead of the most authoritative experts. Nor
am I an art-critic—a student versed in the technique of the studios and
the dialect of the modelling-room. In such matters, again, I shall
attempt little more than to accept the general opinion of the most
discriminative judges. What I aim at rather is to expound the history
and meaning of each work—to put the intelligent reader in such a
position that he may judge for himself of the æsthetic beauty and
success of the object before him. To recognise the fact that this is a
Perseus and Andromeda, that a St. Barbara enthroned, the other an
obscure episode in the legend of St. Philip, is not art-criticism, but
it is often an almost indispensable prelude to the formation of a right
and sound judgment. We must know what the artist was trying to represent
before we can feel sure what measure of success he has attained in his
representation.
For the general study of Christian art, alike in architecture,
sculpture, and painting, no treatises are more useful for the tourist to
carry with him for constant reference than Mrs. Jameson’s _Sacred and
Legendary Art_, and _Legends of the Madonna_ (London, Longmans). For
works of Italian art, both in Italy and elsewhere, Kugler's _Italian
Schools of Painting_ is an invaluable _vade-mecum_. These books should
be carried about by everybody everywhere. Other works of special and
local importance will occasionally be noticed under each particular
city, church, or museum.
I cannot venture to hope that handbooks containing such a mass of facts
as these will be wholly free from errors and misstatements, above all in
early editions. I can only beg those who may detect any such to point
them out, without unnecessary harshness, to the author, care of the
publisher, and if possible to assign reasons for any dissentient
opinion.
C O N T E N T S
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 3
HOW TO USE THESE GUIDE-BOOKS 10
ORIGINS OF PARIS 11
I THE ÎLE DE LA CITÉ 16
A. The Palais de Justice and the Sainte
Chapelle 17
B. Notre-Dame 22
Map of Historic Paris 33
II THE LEFT OR SOUTH BANK 34
A. The Roman Palace and the Musée de Cluny 35
B. The Hill of Ste. Geneviève 55
III RENAISSANCE PARIS (THE LOUVRE) 62
A. The Fabric 64
B. The Collections 71
I. Paintings 72
II. Sculpture 153
1. Antique Sculpture 154
2. Renaissance Sculpture 168
3. Modern Sculpture 187
III. The Smaller Collections 189
IV THE NORTH BANK (RIVE DROITE) 197
A. The Core of the Right Bank 198
B. The Outer Ring of Louis XIV 208
V THE FAUBOURG ST. GERMAIN 213
VI ST. DENIS 230
VII THE OUTER RING, ETC 246
INDEX 253
HOW TO USE THESE GUIDE-BOOKS
_T__HE portions of this book intended to be read at leisure_ =at
home=, _before proceeding to explore each town or monument, are enclosed
in brackets_ [_thus_]. _The portion relating to each_ =principal object=
_should be quietly read and digested_ =before= _a visit, and referred to
again afterwards. The portion to be read_ =on the spot= _is made as
brief as possible, and is printed in large legible type, so as to be
easily read in the dim light of churches, chapels, and galleries. The_
=key-note words= _are printed in_ =bold type=, _to catch the eye. Where
objects are numbered, the numbers used are always those of the latest
official catalogues_.
_Baedeker’s Guides are so printed that each principal portion can be
detached entire from the volume. The traveller who uses Baedeker is
advised to carry in his pocket one such portion, referring to the place
he is then visiting, together with the plan of the town, while carrying
this book in his hand. These Guides do_ =not= _profess to supply
practical information_.
_Individual works of merit are distinguished by an asterisk_ (=*=);
_those of very exceptional interest and merit have two asterisks_.
=Nothing= _is noticed in this book which does not seem to the writer
worthy of attention_.
_See little at a time, and see it thoroughly._ =Never= _attempt to “do”
any place or any monument. By following strictly the order in which
objects are noticed in this book, you will gain a conception of the_
=historical evolution= _of the town which you cannot obtain if you go
about looking at churches and palaces hap-hazard. The order is arranged,
not quite chronologically, but on a definite_ =plan=, _which greatly
facilitates comprehension of the subject_.
ORIGINS OF PARIS
PARIS is =not=, like Rome, London, Lyons, =an inevitable city=. It
does not owe its distinctive place, like New York, Chicago, San
Francisco, Melbourne, to natural position alone. Rather does it resemble
Madrid or Berlin in being in great part of artificial administrative
origin. It stands, no doubt, upon an important navigable river, the
Seine; but its position upon that river, though near the head of
navigation, when judged by the standard of early times, is not exactly
necessary or commanding. Rouen in mediæval days, Havre at the present
moment, are the real ports of the Seine. The site of Paris is in itself
nothing more than one among the many little groups of willow-clad
alluvial islets which are frequent along the upper reaches of the river.
The modern city owes its special development as a town, first to its
Roman conquerors, then to its bridges, next to its mediæval counts, last
of all to the series of special accidents by which those counts
developed at last into kings of the nascent kingdom of France, and
inheritors of the traditions of the Frankish sovereigns. It is thus in
large part a royal residential town, depending mainly for prosperity
upon its kings, its nobles, its courts of justice, its parliaments, its
university, its clergy, and its official classes; comparatively little,
till quite recent times, upon the energy and industry of its individual
citizens. We say, as a rule, that Paris is the capital of France; it
would be truer to say that France is the country which has grouped
itself under the rulers of Paris.
The name itself points back to the antiquity of some human aggregation
upon this particular spot. It is =the name of a tribe=, _not_ that of
their capital. The Parisii were a Celtic people of comparatively small
importance, who occupied the banks of the Seine at the period of the
Roman conquest. Their town or stronghold, Lutetia, called distinctively
Lutetia Parisiorum (Lutetia of the Parisii), was situated, says Cæsar,
“in an island of the river Sequana”—the same which is now called the
Île de la Cité. Two adjacent islands of the same alluvial type have long
since coalesced to form the Île St. Louis; a fourth, the Île Louviers,
is at present enclosed in the mainland of the northern bank by the
modern quays.
This =stockaded island village= of the Parisii was conquered by the
Romans in B.C. 53. Under Roman rule, it remained at first an unimportant
place, the really large towns of Gaul at that time being Arles, Nîmes,
Marseilles, Bordeaux, and Lyons. In the north, Treviri was the chief
Roman settlement. Towards the end of the Roman period, however, Paris
seems to have increased in importance, and overflowed a little from the
island to the south bank. The town owed its rapid rise, no doubt, to the
two Roman bridges which here crossed the two branches of the Seine,
probably on the same sites as the modern Petit-Pont and Pont Notre-Dame.
The river formed its highway. Constantius Chlorus, who lived in Gaul
from A.D. 292 to 306, is supposed to have built in the faubourg on the
south side the palace of the Thermes, which now forms a part of the
Museum of Cluny. Julian certainly inhabited that palace in 360. The town
was known as Lutetia almost as long as the Roman power lasted; but after
the Frankish invasion (and even in late Roman times), the name of the
tribe superseded that of the ancient fortress: Lutetia became known as
Paris, the stronghold of the Parisii, just in the same way as the
Turones gave their name to Tours, the Ambiani to Amiens, and the Senones
to Sens.
After the occupation of Gaul by Clovis (Hlodwig), Paris sank for a time
to the position of =a mere provincial town=. The Merwing (or
Merovingian) kings, the successors of Clovis, resided as a rule at
Orleans or Soissons. The Frankish emperors and kings of the line of
Charlemagne, again (the Karlings or Carlovingians), held their court for
the most part at Aix-la-Chapelle. The town by the Seine was so
completely neglected under later sovereigns of the Karling line (who
were practically Germans), that during the invasions of the Northmen
from 841 to 885 it was left entirely to its own resources. But its
count, Eudes, defended it so bravely from the northern pirates, that he
became the real founder of the French State, the first inaugurator of
France as a separate country, distinct from the Empire. His provincial
city grew into the kernel of a mediæval monarchy. From his time on,
Paris emerges as the capital of a struggling kingdom, small in extent at
first, but gradually growing till it attained the size which it now
possesses. The Teutonic King of the Franks was reduced for a time to the
rocky fortress of Laon; the =Count of Paris= became Duke of the French,
and then =King of France= in the modern acceptation.
As the kingdom grew (absorbing by degrees Flanders, Normandy, Aquitaine,
Provence, Champagne, and Burgundy), the capital grew with it; its limits
at various times will be more fully described in succeeding pages. From
first to last, however, Paris preserved its character as rather the
official and administrative centre than the commercial emporium.
Nevertheless, even under the Romans, its symbol was a ship. Its double
debt to the river and the monarchy is well symbolised by its mediæval
coat of arms, which consists of a vessel under full sail, surmounted by
the _fleur de lis_ of the French kings, and crested above by a mural
crown.
So few remnants of =Roman Paris= exist at our day, that we will begin
our survey with the =Île de la Cité=, the nucleus of the mediæval town,
leaving the scanty earlier relics to be noted later on in their proper
places. But before we proceed to this detailed description, two other
facts of prime importance in the history of old Paris must be briefly
mentioned, because without them the character of the most ancient
buildings in the city cannot be properly understood. These two
facts—even if mythical, yet facts none the less—are the histories of
the two great patron saints of the early burghers. It is not too much to
say that to the mediæval Parisian, Paris appeared far less as the home
of the kings or the capital of the kingdom than as the =shrine of St.
Denis= and the =city of Ste. Geneviève=.
Universal tradition relates that =St. Denis= was the first preacher of
Christianity in Paris. He is said to have suffered martyrdom there in
the year 270. As the apostle and evangelist of the town, he was deeply
venerated from the earliest times; but later legend immensely increased
his vogue and his sanctity. On the one hand, he was identified with
Dionysius the Areopagite; on the other hand, he was said to have walked
after his decapitation, bearing his head in his hand, from his place of
martyrdom on the hill of Montmartre (Mons Martyrum), near the site from
which the brand-new church of the Sacré-Cœur now overlooks the vastly
greater modern city, to a spot two miles away, where a pious lady buried
him. On this spot, a chapel is said to have been erected as early as
A.D. 275, within five years of his martyrdom; later, Ste. Geneviève,
assisted by the people of Paris, raised a church over his remains on the
same site. In the reign of King Dagobert, the sacred body was removed to
the =Abbey of St. Denis= (see later), which became the last
resting-place of the kings of France. It is probable that the legend of
the saint having carried his head from Montmartre arose from a
misunderstanding of images of the decapitated bishop, bearing his
severed head in his hands as a symbol of the mode of his martyrdom; but
the tale was universally accepted as true in mediæval days, and is still
so accepted by devout Parisians. Images of St. Denis, in episcopal
robes, carrying his mitred head in his hands, may be looked for on all
the ancient buildings of the city. St. Denis thus represents the
earliest patron saint of Paris—the saint of the primitive Church and of
the period of persecution.
The second patron saint of the city—the saint of the Frankish
conquest—is locally and artistically even more important. Like Jeanne
d’Arc, she touches the strong French sentiment of patriotism. =Ste.
Geneviève=, a peasant girl of Nanterre (on the outskirts of Paris), was
born in 421, during the stormy times of the barbarian irruptions. When
she was seven years old, St. Germain, of Auxerre (of whom more will be
said under the church of St. Germain l’Auxerrois), on his way to
Britain, saw _la pucellette Geneviève_, and became aware, by divine
premonition, of her predestined glory. When she had grown to woman’s
estate, and was a shepherdess at Nanterre, a barbarian leader
(identified in the legend with Attila, King of the Huns) threatened to
lay siege to the little city. But Geneviève, warned of God, addressed
the people, begging them not to leave their homes, and assuring them of
the miraculous protection of heaven. And indeed, as it turned out, the
barbarians, without any obvious reason, changed their line of march, and
avoided Paris. Again, when Childeric, the father of Clovis, invested the
city, the people suffered greatly from sickness and famine. Then
Geneviève took command of the boats which were sent up stream to Troyes
for succour, stilled by her prayers the frequent tempests, and brought
the ships back laden with provisions. After the Franks had captured
Paris, Ste. Geneviève carried on Roman traditions into the Frankish
court; she was instrumental in converting Clovis and his wife Clotilde;
and when she died, at eighty-nine, a natural death, she was buried by
the side of her illustrious disciples. The history of her body will be
given at length when we come to examine her church on the South Side,
commonly called the Panthéon; but her image may frequently be recognised
on early buildings by the figure of a devil at her side, endeavouring in
vain (as was his wont) to extinguish her lighted taper—the taper, no
doubt, of Roman Christianity, which she did not allow to be quenched by
the Frankish invaders.
Round these two sacred personages the whole art and history of early
Paris continually cluster. The beautiful figure of the simple peasant
enthusiast, Ste. Geneviève, in particular, has largely coloured Parisian
ideas and Parisian sympathies. Her shrine still attracts countless
thousands of the faithful.
Having premised these facts, we are now in a position to commence our
survey of the city. I strongly recommend the reader to visit the various
objects of interest in the exact order here prescribed. Otherwise, he
will not understand the various allusions to points already elucidated.
But no necessary organic connection exists between the =collections of
the Louvre= and the town in which they are housed. Therefore, they may
be visited off and on at any time (see Introduction to the Collections
in Part III). =Utilize rainy days in the Galleries of the Louvre.=
I
THE ÎLE DE LA CITÉ
[THE Île de la Cité, the oldest Paris, consisted in the Middle
Ages of a labyrinth of narrow and tortuous lanes, now entirely
replaced by large and stately modern official buildings. In
Roman and Frankish times, it comprised the whole of the town,
save a small suburb extending as far as the present Museum of
Cluny, on the South Side. Among its sunless alleys, however, in
later mediæval days, numerous churches raised their heads, of
which =Notre-Dame= and the =Sainte Chapelle= alone now remain;
while others, dedicated to the oldest local saints, such as Ste.
Geneviève-des-Ardents, St. Éloy, and St. Germain-le-Vieux, have
been entirely destroyed. The west extremity of the island was
formerly occupied by the old =Royal Palace=, parts of which
still survive, included in the buildings of the modern =Palais
de Justice=. On the east end stood the cathedral of Notre-Dame,
with the episcopal palace in its rear; while, close by, rose the
earliest hospital in Europe, the Hôtel-Dieu, said to have been
originally founded by Clovis, and now represented by a vastly
larger modern building on a different site. As the burgesses
began to shift their homes to the quarters north of the Seine,
in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Cité was gradually
given over to the clergy. The kings also removed from the Palace
of the Capets to their new residences on the North Bank
(Bastille, Hôtel Saint-Paul, old castle of the Louvre), and gave
up their island mansion to the Parlement or Supreme Court, since
which time it has been commonly known as the =Palais de
Justice=, and extensively modernised. At the present day, the
Cité has become the head-quarters of Law, Police, and Religion,
and is almost entirely occupied by huge official structures,
which cover enormous areas, and largely conceal its primitive
character. It still contains, however, the most precious
mediæval monuments of Paris.
At least =two days= should be devoted to the Île de la Cité; one
to the Palace and the Sainte Chapelle, another to the Cathedral.
Do not attempt to see them both together.]
A. THE PALAIS DE JUSTICE AND THE
SAINTE CHAPELLE
Go along the Rue de Rivoli as far as the Square of the Tour St. Jacques.
If driving, alight here. Turn down the Place du Châtelet to your right.
In front is the pretty modern fountain of the Châtelet: right, the
Théâtre du Châtelet; left, the Opéra Comique. The bridge which faces you
is the Pont-au-Change, so-called from the money-changers’ and jewellers’
booths which once flanked its wooden predecessor (the oldest in Paris),
as they still do the Rialto at Venice, and the Ponte Vecchio at
Florence.
Stand by the right-hand corner of the bridge before crossing it. In
front is the Île de la Cité. The square, dome-crowned building opposite
you to the left is the modern Tribunal de Commerce; beyond it leftward
lie the Marché-aux-Fleurs and the long line of the Hôtel-Dieu, above
which rise the towers and spire of Notre-Dame. In front, to the right,
the vast block of buildings broken by towers forms part of the Palais de
Justice, the ancient =Palace of the French kings=, begun by Hugues
Capet. The square tower to the left in this block is the Tour de
l’Horloge. Next, to the right, come the two round towers of the
Conciergerie, known respectively as the Tour de César and the Tour de
Montgomery. The one beyond them, with battlements, is the Tour d’Argent.
It was in the Conciergerie that Marie Antoinette, Robespierre, and many
other victims of the Revolution were imprisoned.
These mediæval towers, much altered and modernized, are now almost all
that remains of the old Palace, which, till after the reign of Louis IX
(St. Louis), formed the residence of the Kings of France. Charles VII
gave it in 1431 to the Parlement or Supreme Court. Ruined by fires and
rebuilding, it now consists for the most part of masses of irregular
recent edifices. The main modern façade fronts the Boulevard du Palais.
Cross the bridge. The Tour de l’Horloge on your right, at the corner of
the Boulevard du Palais, contains the oldest public clock in France
(1370). The figures of Justice and Piety by its side were originally
designed by Germain Pilon, but are now replaced by copies. Walk round
the Palais by the quay along the north branch of the Seine till you come
to the Rue de Harlay. Turn there to your left, towards the handsome and
imposing modern façade of this side of the Palais de Justice. The
interior is unworthy a visit. The Rue de Harlay forms the westernmost
end of the original Île de la Cité. The prow-shaped extremity of the
modern island has been artificially produced by embanking the sites of
two or three minor islets. The Place Dauphine, which occupies the
greater part of this modern extension, was built in 1608; it still
affords a characteristic example of the domestic Paris of the period
before Baron Haussmann. Continue along the quay as far as the Pont-Neuf,
so as to gain an idea of the extent of the Île de la Cité in this
direction. The centre of the Pont-Neuf is occupied by an equestrian
statue of Henri IV, first of the Bourbon kings. Its predecessor was
erected in 1635, and was destroyed to make cannon during the great
Revolution. Louis XVIII re-erected it. From this point you can gain a
clear idea of the two branches of the Seine as they unite at the lower
end of the Île de la Cité. To your right, looking westward, you also
obtain a fine view of the Colonnade of the Old Louvre, with the
southwestern gallery, and the more modern buildings of the Museum behind
it. (See later.)
Now, walk along the southern quay of the island, round the remainder of
the Palais de Justice, as far as the Boulevard du Palais. There turn to
your left, and go in at the first door of the Palace on the left
(undeterred by sentries) into the court of =the Sainte Chapelle=, the
only important relic now remaining of the home of Saint Louis. You may
safely neglect the remainder of the building.
* * * * *
[The thirteenth century (age of the Crusades) was a period of
profound religious enthusiasm throughout Europe. Conspicuous
among its devout soldiers was Louis IX, afterwards canonized as
=St. Louis=. The saintly king purchased from Baldwin, Emperor of
Constantinople, the veritable =Crown of Thorns=, and a fragment
of the =True Cross=—paying for these relics an immense sum of
money. Having become possessed of such invaluable and sacred
objects, Louis desired to have them housed with suitable
magnificence. He therefore entrusted one Pierre de Montereau
with the task of building a splendid chapel (within the
precincts of his palace), begun in 1245, and finished three
years later, immediately after which the king set out on his
Crusade. The monument thus breathes throughout the ecstatic
piety of the mystic king; it was consecrated in 1248, in the
name of the Holy Crown and the Holy Cross, by Eudes de
Châteauroux, Bishop of Tusculum and papal legate.
Three things should be noted about the Sainte Chapelle. (1) It
is a =chapel=, not a church; therefore it consists (practically)
of a choir alone, without nave or transepts. (2) It is the
=domestic Chapel of the Royal Palace=. (3) It is, above all
things, the =Shrine of the Crown of Thorns=. These three points
must be constantly borne in mind in examining the building.
Erected later than Notre-Dame, it represents the pointed style
of the middle of the thirteenth century, and is singularly pure
and uniform throughout. Secularized at the Revolution, it fell
somewhat into decay; but was judiciously restored by
Viollet-le-Duc and others. The “Messe Rouge,” or “Messe du St.
Esprit,” is still celebrated here once yearly, on the re-opening
of the courts after the autumn vacation, but no other religious
services take place in the building. The Crown of Thorns and the
piece of the True Cross are now preserved in the Treasury at
Notre-Dame.
Open daily, free, except Mondays, 11 to 4 or 5. Choose =a very
bright day= to visit it.]
Examine the =exterior= in detail from the court on the south side. More
even than most Gothic buildings, the Sainte Chapelle is supported
entirely by its massive piers, the wall being merely used for enclosure,
and consisting for the most part of lofty windows. As in most French
Gothic buildings, the choir terminates in a round apse, whereas English
cathedrals have usually a square end. The beautiful light =flèche= or
spire in the centre has been restored. Observe the graceful leaden
angel, holding a cross, on the summit of the _chevet_ or round apse. To
see =the façade=, stand well back opposite it, when you can observe that
the chapel is built in four main stories,—those, namely, of the Lower
Church or crypt, of the Upper Church, of the great rose window (with
later flamboyant tracery), and of the gable-end, partially masked by an
open parapet studded with the royal fleurs-de-lis of France. The Crown
of Thorns surrounds the two pinnacles which flank the fourth story.
The chapel consists of a lower and an upper church. The =Lower Church=
is a mere crypt, which was employed for the servants of the royal
family. Its portal has in its tympanum (or triangular space in the
summit of the arch) the Coronation of the Virgin, and on its centre
pillar a good figure of the Madonna and Child. Enter the Lower Church.
It is low, and has pillars supporting the floor above. In the
polychromatic decoration of the walls and pillars, notice the frequent
repetition of the royal lilies of France, combined with the three
castles of Castille, in honour of Blanche of Castille, the mother of St.
Louis.
Mount to =**the Upper Chapel= (or Sainte Chapelle proper) by the small
spiral staircase in the corner. This soaring pile was the oratory where
the royal family and court attended service; its gorgeousness bespeaks
its origin and nature. It glows like a jewel. First go out of the door
and examine the =exterior and doorway= of the chapel. Its platform was
directly approached in early times from the Palace. The centre pillar
bears a fine figure of Christ. In the tympanum (as over the principal
doorway of almost every important church in Paris and the district) is a
relief of the Last Judgment. Below stands St. Michael with his scales,
weighing the souls; on either side is depicted the Resurrection, with
the Angels of the Last Trump. Above, in the second tier, is Christ,
holding up His hands with the marks of the nails, as a sign of mercy to
the redeemed: to R and L of Him angels display the Crown of Thorns and
the True Cross, to contain which sacred relics the chapel was built.
Extreme L kneels the Blessed Virgin; extreme R, Sainte Geneviève. This
scene of the Last Judgment was adapted with a few alterations from that
above the central west door of Notre-Dame, the Crown of Thorns in
particular being here significantly substituted for the three nails and
spear. The small lozenge reliefs to R and L of the portal are also
interesting. Those to the L represent in a very naïve manner God the
Father creating the world, sun and moon, light, plants, animals, man,
etc. Those to the R give the story of Genesis, Cain and Abel, the Flood,
the Ark, Noah’s Sacrifice, Noah’s Vine, etc. the subjects of all which
the visitor can easily recognise, and is strongly recommended to
identify for himself.
The =interior= consists almost entirely of large and lofty windows, with
magnificent stained glass, in large part ancient. The piers which divide
the windows and alone support the graceful vault of the roof, are
provided with statues of the twelve apostles, a few of them original.
Each bears his well-known symbol. Spell them out if possible. Beneath
the windows, in the quatrefoils of the arcade, are enamelled glass
mosaics representing the martyrdoms of the saints—followers of Christ,
each wearing his own crown of thorns: a pretty conceit wholly in accord
with St. Louis’s ecstatic type of piety. Conspicuous among them are St.
Denis carrying his head, St. Sebastian pierced with arrows, St. Stephen
stoned, St. Lawrence on his gridiron, etc. Examine and identify each
separately. The apse (formerly separated from the body of the building
by a rood-screen, now destroyed) contains the vacant base of the high
altar, behind which stands an arcaded tabernacle, now empty, in whose
shrine were once preserved the Crown of Thorns, the fragment of the True
Cross, and other relics. Amongst them in later times was included the
skull of St. Louis himself in a golden reliquary. Two angels at the
summit of the large centre arch of the arcade bear a representation of
the Crown of Thorns in their hands. Above the tabernacle rises a canopy
or baldacchino, approached by two spiral staircases; from its platform
St. Louis and his successors, the kings of France, were in the habit of
exhibiting with their own hands the actual relics themselves once a year
to the faithful. The golden reliquary in which the sacred objects were
contained was melted down in the Revolution. The small window with bars
to your R, as you face the high altar, was placed there by the
superstitious and timid Louis XI, in order that he might behold the
elevation of the Host and the sacred relics without being exposed to the
danger of assassination. The visitor should also notice the inlaid stone
pavement, with its frequent repetition of the fleur-de-lis and the three
castles. The whole breathes the mysticism of St. Louis: the lightness of
the architecture, the height of the apparently unsupported roof, and the
magnificence of the decoration, render this the most perfect
ecclesiastical building in Paris.
In returning from the chapel, notice on the outside, from the court to
the S., the apparently empty and useless porch, supporting a small room,
which is the one through whose grated window Louis XI used to watch the
elevation.
I would recommend the visitor on his way home from this excursion to
walk round the remainder of the Île de la Cité in the direction of
Notre-Dame, so as to gain a clear idea of the extent of the island,
without, however, endeavouring to examine the cathedral in detail on
this occasion.
Vary your artistic investigations by afternoons in the Bois de Boulogne,
Champs Elysées, etc.
B. NOTRE-DAME
[In very early times, under the Frankish monarchs, the principal
church of Paris was dedicated to =St. Stephen the Protomartyr=.
It stood on part of the site now covered by Notre-Dame, and was
always enumerated first among the churches of the city. A
smaller edifice, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, also
occupied a part of the site of the existing cathedral. About the
middle of the twelfth century, however, it was resolved to erect
a much larger cathedral on the Île de la Cité, suitable for the
capital of so important a country as France had become under
Louis VI and Louis VII; and since the cult of the Blessed Virgin
had then long been increasing, it was also decided to dedicate
the new building to Our Lady alone, to the exclusion of St.
Stephen. The two early churches were therefore cleared away by
degrees, and in 1163 the work of erecting the present church was
begun under Bishop Maurice de Sully, the first stone being laid
by Pope Alexander III, in person. The relics of St. Stephen were
reverently conveyed to a new church erected in his honour on the
hill of Ste. Geneviève, south of the river (now represented by
St. Étienne-du-Mont, to be described hereafter), and Our Lady
was left in sole possession of the episcopal edifice.
Nevertheless, it would seem that the builders feared to excite
the enmity of so powerful a saint as the Protomartyr; for many
=memorials of St. Stephen= remain to this day in the existing
cathedral, and will be pointed out during the course of our
separate survey.
=Notre-Dame de Paris= is an edifice in the =Early French Gothic
style=, the first great church in that style to be erected in
France, and the model on which many others were afterwards
based. Begun in 1163, it was consecrated in 1182, but the
western front was not commenced till 1218, and the nave was only
finished towards the middle of the 13th century. Much desecrated
in the Revolution, the cathedral has been on the whole admirably
restored. It stands at present lower than it once did, owing to
the gradual rise of the surrounding ground; formerly, it was
approached by thirteen steps (the regulation number, imitated
from the Temple at Jerusalem). It has =two western towers=,
instead of one in the centre where nave and transepts intersect,
as is usual in England; so have all the cathedrals in France
which imitate it. This peculiarity is due to the fact that
French Gothic =aims= especially =at height=, and, the nave being
raised so very high, a tower could not safely be added above it.
Other differences between English and French Gothic will be
pointed out in detail in the course of our survey.
Though Notre-Dame was the first great building in Paris proper,
it must be borne in mind that the magnificent Basilica of St.
Denis, four miles to the north, and also the Abbey Church of St.
Germain-des-Prés, in the southern suburb, antedated it by
several years.
Recollect three things about Notre-Dame. (1) It is =a church of
Our Lady=: therefore, most of it bears reference to her cult and
legends. (2) It is the =cathedral church of Paris=: therefore,
it is full of memorials of local saints—St. Denis, Ste.
Geneviève, St. Marcel, Bishop of Paris, etc., amongst whom must
also be classed St. Stephen. (3) It is =a royal church=:
therefore it contains many reminders of the close alliance of
Church and State. Thus understood, Notre-Dame becomes an epic in
stone.
Open daily, all day long, free. Take your opera-glasses.]
* * * * *
Go along the Rue de Rivoli as far as the Square of the Tour St. Jacques.
Walk through the little garden. Notice, in passing, =*=the tower—all
that now remains of the church of St. Jacques-de-la-Boucherie—used at
present as a meteorological observatory. Turn down the Rue St. Martin to
the Pont Notre-Dame. In front, L, stands the Hôtel-Dieu; R, the Tribunal
de Commerce; centre, the Marché-aux-Fleurs; at its back, the Prefecture
de Police. Continue straight along the Rue de la Cité, passing, R, the
main _façade_ of the modern Palais de Justice (with a glimpse of the
Ste. Chapelle) till you come to the broad and open Place Notre-Dame
(generally known by its mediæval name of the Parvis). Take a seat under
the horse-chestnuts on the north side of the Place, opposite the
equestrian statue of Charlemagne, in order to examine the =façade= of
the cathedral.
The =**west front=, dating from the beginning of the 13th century (later
than the rest), consists of two stories, flanked by towers of four
stories. The _first_ story contains the three main portals: L, the door
of Our Lady; centre, of her Son; R, of her Mother. On the buttresses
between them stand four statues: extreme L, St. Stephen; extreme R, St.
Marcel, Bishop of Paris (a canonized holder of this very see); centre L,
the Church, triumphant; centre R, the Synagogue, dejected (representing
between them the Law and the Gospel). This first story is crowned and
terminated by the Galerie des Rois, containing figures of the kings of
Israel and Judah, ancestors of the Blessed Virgin (others say, kings of
France to the date of the building), destroyed in the great Revolution,
but since restored. On the parapet above it stand, R and L, Adam and
Eve; centre, Our Lady and Child with two adoring angels—the Fall and
the Redemption. The _second_ story contains the great rose window and
two side-arches with double windows. The _third_ story of the towers
consists of a graceful open-work screen, continued in front of the nave,
so as to hide its ugly gable (which is visible from further back in the
Place), thus giving the main front a fallacious appearance of having
three stories. The final or _fourth_ story of the towers is pierced on
each side by two gigantic windows, adding lightness to their otherwise
massive block. The contemplated spires have never been added. This
_façade_ has been copied with modifications in many other French
cathedrals.
Now approach the front, to examine in detail the =**great portals=,
deeply recessed, as is usual in French cathedrals, owing to the massive
masonry of the towers. The left or _northern_ doorway—that of =Our
Lady= (by which her church is usually entered) bears on its central pier
a statue of the Virgin and Child; beneath her feet are scenes from the
temptation of Eve, who brought into the world sin, and the first
murderer Cain, as contrasted with her descendant, the Blessed Virgin,
who brought into the world the Redeemer of mankind. Over Our Lady’s
head, a tabernacle, representing the relics preserved within. In the
tympanum, first tier, L, three patriarchs; R, three kings, typifying the
ancestors of the Blessed Virgin. Above, second tier, the Entombment of
the Virgin, placed in her sarcophagus by angels, and attended by the
apostles with their familiar symbols. Higher still, third tier, the
Coronation of the Virgin, in the presence of her Son, with adoring
angels. The whole thus represents the Glory of Our Lady. At the sides
below, life-size figures; extreme L, Constantine, first Christian
Emperor; extreme R, Pope Silvester, to whom he is supposed to have given
the patrimony of St. Peter—the two representing the union of Church and
State. Next to these the great local saints: L, St. Denis, bearing his
head, and guided by two angels; R, St. John Baptist, St. Stephen, and
Ste. Geneviève, with the devil endeavouring to extinguish her taper, and
a sympathizing angel. The figures on the arch represent spectators of
the Coronation of the Virgin. Minor subjects—signs of the Zodiac,
Months, etc.—I leave to the ingenuity and skill of the reader. The
=*=_centre_ doorway (commonly called the Porte du Jugement) is that of
the Redeemer, =Our Lady’s Son=; on its central pier, fine modern figure
of Christ blessing; above, in the tympanum, the usual Last Judgment.
First tier (modern) the General Resurrection, with angels of the last
trump, and kings, queens, bishops, knights, etc., rising from their
tombs; conspicuous among them is naturally St. Stephen. Second tier, St.
Michael the Archangel weighing souls, with devils and angels in waiting,
the devils cheating; R, the wicked (on Christ’s left) hauled in chains
to hell; L, the saints (on His right) ascending to glory. On the summit,
third tier, the New Jerusalem, with Christ enthroned, showing His wounds
in mercy, flanked by adoring angels holding the cross, spear, and nails;
L, the Blessed Virgin, patroness of this church; and R, Ste. Geneviève,
patroness of Paris, interceding for their votaries. (Last figure is
usually, but I think incorrectly, identified as St. John the Evangelist,
who has no function on a Parisian Cathedral.) This relief, closely
copied at the Ste. Chapelle, is itself imitated from one at St. Denis.
On the lintels the Wise (L) and Foolish (R) Virgins; L and R on jambs,
life-size figures of the Twelve Apostles, with their usual symbols.
Observe the beautiful ironwork of the hinges. The third or _southern_
portal, that of St. Anne—the =Mother of the Virgin=—contains older
work than the other two, replaced from the earlier church on the same
site. The style of the figures is therefore Romanesque, not Gothic; so
is the architecture represented in them. On the centre pier, St. Marcel,
Bishop of Paris. Above, tympanum, history of St. Anne; first tier,
centre, the meeting of Joachim and Anna at the Golden Gate; L, Marriage
of the Virgin; R, her Presentation by St. Anne in the Temple, etc.
Second tier, the Nativity, and the visit of the Magi to Herod; at the
summit, third tier, Madonna enthroned, with adoring angels, a king, and
a bishop—Church and State once more identified. The work on this
doorway much resembles that at St. Denis. Magnificent iron hinges,
brought from old St. Stephen’s.
Walk round the quay on the South side to examine =the body of the
church=. Notice the lofty Nave, and almost equally lofty Aisles, with
(later) side-chapels built out as far as the level of the Transept;
also, the flying buttresses. As in most French churches, the transepts
are short, and project but little from the aisles. The South Transept
has a good late _façade_ with two rose-windows. Its portal—ill
visible—is dedicated (in compensation) to the displaced St. Stephen,
and contains on the pier a figure of the saint, robed, as usual, as a
deacon; in the tympanum are reliefs of his preaching, martyrdom, death,
and glorification. Note, to the R, a small relief of St. Martin of Tours
dividing his cloak with the beggar.
Enter the little garden further east, which occupies the site of the
former archevêché, in order to observe the characteristic French form of
the =choir=—a lofty and narrow apse, with apsidal aisles and circular
chapels added below, the whole forming what is called a _chevet_. The
light flying buttresses which support the soaring and slender choir add
greatly to the beauty and picturesqueness of the building. Pretty modern
Gothic fountain. Quit the garden and continue round the Northern side of
the Cathedral. The first (small) door at which we arrive—the Porte
Rouge—admits the canons. It is a late addition, built in 1407 by Jean
sans Peur, Duke of Burgundy, in expiation of his murder of the Duke of
Orleans; the donor and his wife kneel on each side of the Coronation of
the Virgin in the tympanum. Notice here the gargoyles and the graceful
architecture of the supports to the buttresses. The second (larger)
door—the Portail du Cloître, so called from the cloisters long
demolished—in the North Transept contains a good statue of the Madonna
on the pier; above, in the tympanum, confused figures tell obscurely the
legend of the monk Theophilus, who sold his soul to the devil. Stand
opposite this door, on the far pavement, to observe the architecture of
the North Transept. The best point of view for the whole body of the
cathedral, as distinct from the _façade_, can be obtained from the Quai
de Montebello on the south side of the river.
To visit the =interior=, enter by the L, or northern door of the
_façade_—that of Our Lady. The lofty nave is flanked by double aisles,
all supported by powerful piers. Walk across the church and notice all
five vistas. Observe the height and the delicate arches of the
triforium, or pierced gallery of the second story, as well as the
windows of the clerestory above it—the part of the nave which rises
higher than the aisles, and opens freely to the exterior. Walk down the
outer R aisle. The side-chapels, each dedicated to a separate saint,
contain the altars and statues of their patrons. Notice the shortness of
the Transepts, with their great rose windows; observe also the vaulting
of the roof, especially at the intersection of the four main arms of the
building. The entrance to the =choir= and =ambulatory= is in the R or S
Transept. Close by, near the pillar, Notre-Dame de Paris, _the_
wonder-working mediæval statue of Our Lady. The double aisles are
continued round the choir, which is separated from them by a wall and
gateways. Approach the brass grills, in order to inspect the interior of
the choir, whose furniture was largely modernised and ruined by Louis
XIV, in accordance with a misguided vow of his father. Chapels surround
the ambulatory, many of them with good glass windows and tolerable
frescoes. The chapel at the end is that of Our Lady of the Seven
Sorrows.
By far the most interesting object in the interior, however, is the
series of =**high reliefs in stone=, gilt and painted (on the wall
between choir and ambulatory), executed early in the 14th century by
Jehan Ravy and his nephew, Jehan de Bouteillier, which, though inferior
in merit to those in the same position in Amiens cathedral, are
admirable examples of animated and vigorous French sculpture of their
period. The series begins on the N side of the choir, at the point most
remote from the grill which leads to the Transept. The remaining
subjects (for some, like the Annunciation, are destroyed) comprise the
Visitation; Adoration of the Shepherds; Nativity; Adoration of the Magi
(note the Three Kings, representing the three ages of man; the oldest,
as usual, has removed his crown, and is offering his gift); the Massacre
of the Innocents; the Flight into Egypt (where a grotesque little
temple, containing two odd small gods, quaintly represents the
prevalence of idolatry); the Presentation in the Temple; Christ among
the Doctors; the Baptism in Jordan (with attendant angel holding a
towel); the Miracle at Cana; the Entry into Jerusalem (with Zacchæus in
the tree, and the gate of the city); the Last Supper; the Washing of the
Apostles’ feet; and the Agony in the Garden. The tourist should
carefully examine all these subjects, the treatment of which strikes a
keynote. Similar scenes, almost identical in their figures, will be
found in abundance at Cluny and elsewhere. Note, for example, the
symbolical Jordan in the Baptism, with St. John pouring water from a
cup, and the attendant angel, all of which we shall often recognise
hereafter.
The series is continued on the other (S) side of the choir (a little
later in date, with names in Latin underneath; better modelled, but
neither so quaint nor so vigorous). The subjects begin by the grill of
the South Transept, with the “Noli me tangere” or Apparition to Mary
Magdalen (Christ as a gardener); the Apparition to the Marys; to Simon
Peter; to the Disciples at Emmaus (dressed as mediæval pilgrims); to the
Eleven Apostles; to the Ten and Thomas; to the Eleven by the sea of
Tiberias; to the Disciples in Galilee; and on the Mount of Olives. The
intervening and remaining subjects—Scourging, Crucifixion, Ascension,
etc.—were ruthlessly destroyed by Louis XIV, in order to carry out his
supposed improvements in accordance with the vow of his father, Louis
XIII. The woodwork of the choir-stalls, executed by his order, is
celebrated, and uninteresting. You may omit it. The Treasury contains
little of artistic value. The Crown of Thorns still figures in its
inventory.
Leave the Choir by the door by which you entered it, and seat yourself
for a while at the intersection of the Nave and Transepts, in order to
gain a good idea of the Apse, the Choir, and the general arrangement of
the shortly cruciform building. Observe the beautiful vaulting of the
roof, and the extent to which the church is born on its piers alone, the
intervening walls (pierced by windows and triforium-arches) being
intended merely for purposes of enclosure. Note also the fine ancient
glass of the rose windows. Quit the church by the North or Left Aisle,
and come back to it often.
Those who are not afraid of a spiral staircase, mostly well lighted,
should =ascend= the Left or =North Tower= (tickets fifty cents. each, at
the base of the tower). Stop near the top to inspect the gallery, with
the famous birds and demons. The view hence embraces from the front the
Tower of St. Jacques; behind it, the hill of Montmartre, with the white
turrets and cupolas of the church of the Sacré-Cœur; a little to the L,
St. Eustache; then the Tribunal de Commerce; St. Augustin; the Louvre;
the roof of the Ste. Chapelle; the Arc de Triomphe; the twin towers of
the Trocadéro; the Eiffel Tower; the gilded dome of the Invalides; St.
Sulpice, etc. The Île de la Cité is well seen hence as an island. Note
also the gigantic size of the open screen, which looked so small from
below. Ascend to the top. Good general panorama of the town and valley.
This is the best total view of Paris, far superior to that from the
Eiffel Tower, being so much more central.
Return by the Pont d’Arcole (whence you get a capital notion of the
bifurcation of the Seine around the Île St. Louis), and then pass the
modern Hôtel-de-Ville, with St. Gervais behind it, on your way home to
the Rue de Rivoli.
[Illustration: [Map of] HISTORIC PARIS]
MAP OF HISTORIC PARIS.
_This Map represents approximately the growth of Paris, outside the
island, at different epochs. Earlier buildings are printed in black;
later streets and edifices are shown by means of dotted lines. But the
Map does_ =not= _represent the aspect of Paris at any one time; it
merely illustrates this Guide: thus, the original Château of the Louvre
is marked in black; the later Palace is dotted; whereas the Madeleine, a
much more modern building than the Louvre of François I, is again
inserted in black, because it does not interfere with the site of any
more ancient building. In very early times the town spread south as far
only as Cluny, and north (just opposite the island) as far as the Rue de
Rivoli. The subsequent_ =walls= _are marked approximately on the Map,
with the chief edifices enclosed by them. The fortifications of Louis
XIII were demolished by Louis XIV, who substituted for them the broad
streets still known as the_ =Boulevards=. _This Map shows, roughly
speaking, the extent of Paris under Louis XIV; by comparing it with
Baedeker’s Map of Modern Paris, the small relative size of the
17th-century town will be at once appreciated. Nevertheless, the inner
nucleus here mapped out contains almost everything worthy of note in the
existing city._
II
THE LEFT OR SOUTH BANK
[THE earliest =overflow= of Paris was from the Île de la Cité
to the =Left= or =South Bank= (_Rive Gauche_).
The reason for this overflow is clear. The city was situated on
a small island, near the head of navigation; it guarded the
passage of the Seine by the double bridge. Naturally, however,
at a time when all civilization lay to the south, as the town
began to grow, it spread southward, towards Rome, Lyons,
Marseilles, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Arles, Nîmes, and the Roman
culture. To the north at that time lay nothing but comparative
barbarism—the Britons and the Germans; or later, the English,
the Normans, and the Teutonic hordes. Hence, from a very early
date, Paris first =ran southward= along the road to Rome.
Already in Roman times, here stood the palace of Constantius
Chlorus and Julian, now the Thermes—the fortress which formed
the _tête du pont_ for the city. Later, the southern suburb
became the seat of learning and law; it was known by the name
which it still in part retains of the Université, but is oftener
now called the _Quartier Latin_. At first, however, only a small
portion of the Left Bank was built over. But gradually the area
of the new town spread from the immediate neighbourhood of the
old Hôtel-Dieu, with its church or chapel of St.
Julien-le-Pauvre, to the modern limit of the Boulevard St.
Germain; and thence again, by the time of Louis Quatorze, to the
further Boulevards just south of the Luxembourg. It is
interesting to note, too, that all this southern side, long
known as the Université, still retains its position as the
learned district. Not only does it include the students’
region—the Quartier Latin—with many of the chief artistic
studios, but it embraces in particular the Sorbonne, or
University, the Institute of France, with its various branches
(Académie Française, Académie des Inscriptions et
Belles-Lettres, Académie des Sciences, des Beaux-Arts, etc.),
the École des Beaux-Arts, the École de Médicine, the Collège de
France, the Lycées St. Louis, Louis-le-Grand, and Henri IV, the
École Polytechnique, the École des Mines, the Bibliothèque Ste.
Geneviève, the Jardin des Plantes, and the Luxembourg Museum of
Modern Paintings. In short, the Left Bank represents literary,
scientific, artistic, and educational Paris—the students in
law, arts, and medicine, with their own subventioned theatre,
the Odéon, and their libraries, schools, laboratories, and
_cafés_. It is further noticeable that these institutions
cluster thickest round the older part of the southern suburb,
just opposite the Cité, while almost all of them lie within the
limits of the outer boulevards of Louis XIV.
The =Quartier Latin= surrounds the Sorbonne, and is traversed by
the modern Boulevard St. Michel. The =Faubourg St. Germain=,
immediately to the west of it (surrounding the old Abbey of St.
Germain-des-Prés) is of rather later date; it owes its origin in
large part to the Renaissance spirit, and especially to Marie de
Médicis’ palace of the Luxembourg. It is still the residence of
many of the old nobility, and is regarded as the distinctively
aristocratic quarter of Paris, in the restricted sense, while
the district lying around the Champs Élysées is rather
plutocratic and modern than noble in the older signification of
the word.
The visitor will therefore bear in mind distinctly that the
=South Side= is =the Paris of the Students=.]
A. THE ROMAN PALACE AND THE
MUSÉE DE CLUNY
[The primitive nucleus of the suburb on the South Side consists
of the =Roman fortress palace=, the _tête du pont_ of the Left
Bank, now known as the Thermes, owing to the fact that its
principal existing remains include only the ruins of the baths
or _thermæ_. This colossal building, probably erected by
Constantius Chlorus, the father of Constantine, covered an
enormous area south of the river. After the Frankish conquest,
it still remained the residence of the Merwing and Karling kings
on the rare occasions when they visited Paris; and it does not
seem to have fallen into utter decay till a comparatively late
date in the Middle Ages. With the Norman irruptions, however,
and the rise of the real French monarchs under Eudes and the
Capets, the new sovereigns found it safest to transfer their
seat to the Palace on the Island (now the Palais de Justice),
and the Roman fortress was gradually dismantled. In 1340 the
gigantic ruins came into the hands of the powerful Benedictine
Abbey of Cluny, near Mâcon, in Burgundy; and about 1480, the
abbots began to erect on the spot =a town mansion= for
themselves, which still bears the name of the =Hôtel de Cluny=.
The letter K, the mark of Charles VIII (1483–1498), occurs on
many parts of the existing building, and fixes its epoch. The
house was mostly built by Jacques d’Amboise, abbot, in 1490. The
style is late Gothic, with Renaissance features. The abbots,
however, seldom visited Paris, and they frequently placed their
town house accordingly at the disposition of the kings of
France. Mary of England, sister of Henry VIII, and widow of
Louis XII, occupied it thus in 1515, soon after its completion.
It was usual for the queens of France to wear white as mourning;
hence her apartment is still known as the _Chambre de la reine
blanche_.
At the Revolution, when the property of the monasteries was
confiscated, the Hôtel de Cluny was sold, and passed at last, in
1833, into the hands of M. du Sommerard, a zealous antiquary,
who began the priceless collection of works of art which it
contains. He died in 1842, and the Government then bought the
house and museum, and united it with the Roman ruin at its back
under the title of _Musée des Thermes et de l’Hôtel de Cluny_.
Since that time many further objects have been added to the
collection.
At Cluny the actual building forms one of the most interesting
parts of the sight, and is in itself a museum. It is a charming
specimen of a late mediæval French mansion; and the works of art
it contains are of the highest artistic value. I am able briefly
to describe only what seem to me the most important out of its
many thousands of beautiful exhibits. At least two whole days
should be devoted to Cluny—one to the lower and one to the
upper floor. Much more, if possible.]
[Illustration: MUSÉE DE CLUNY GROUND FLOOR]
Go to the Place du Châtelet; cross the bridge, and the Île de la Cité;
also, the Pont St. Michel to the South Side. Good view of Notre-Dame to
L. In front lies the modern Boulevard St. Michel, with the Fontaine St.
Michel in the foreground (statue by Duret). Continue along the Boulevard
till you reach the Boulevard St. Germain, another great modern
thoroughfare which cuts right through the streets of the old Faubourg
and the narrow alleys of the Latin Quarter. The Garden at the corner
contains all that remains of the Roman Palace. Notice its solid masonry
as you pass. Then, take the first turn to the L, the Rue du Sommerard,
which leads you at once to the door of the =Museum=.
Notice the late semi-Gothic =Gateway=, resembling that of an Oxford
college. Pass through the flat-arched gate into the handsome courtyard.
To the L is a late Gothic _loggia_, containing a few antiques. In front
stands the main building, with square windows and high dormers, bearing
the staff and pilgrim’s scallop, the symbol of St. James, with the
cardinal’s hat and scutcheons and devices of the family d’Amboise, thus
indicating the name of Jacques d’Amboise, the abbot who built it.
Entrance to the R. Open free, daily, 11 to 4 or 5, except Mondays.
The first suite of rooms which we enter form some of the apartments of
the original building. Observe the fine timbered =ceilings=.
Room I.—Panels, etc., in wood-carving.
Room II.—=*=Fine French chimney-piece, by Hugues Lallement, dated 1562,
representing Christ and the Woman of Samaria at the well, brought from a
house at Châlons-sur-Marne. R and L of entrance (=wall A= on plan),
wooden seats, with canopy, holding good Gothic wood-carvings. Notice L
of door, a Deposition in the Tomb; (801) Madonna and Child; then, Birth
of the Virgin, with St. Anne in a bed; and below, head of a Saint,
hollow, intended to contain her skull or relics. Near it (762),
decapitation of St. John Baptist, German, 16th century; and (789) Death
of the Virgin. R of doorway, three reliquary heads, and (783 and 784)
two groups of the Education of the Virgin. Above, several
representations of the Circumcision. =Wall B=, between the windows,
(745) quaint reliquary head of St. Mabile, one of St. Ursula’s 11,000
virgins, the hair gilt, Italian, 15th century; near it, Angel of the
Annunciation; Madonna and Child; and Flight into Egypt. Fine wooden
chests. In the =cases=, collections of =shoes=, uninteresting.
Room III.—Wood-carvings, more or less Gothic. =Wall A=, (788) Madonna
supporting the dead Christ, under a canopy, 16th century; (816) Holy
Women, with small figure of the donor, kneeling. (709) large carved
altar-piece, end of 15th century; in the centre, Crucifixion, with
quaintly brutal Roman soldiers, fainting Madonna, and Holy Women in
fantastic head-dresses of the period; below, Nativity, and Adoration of
the Magi; L side, above, Flagellation, with grotesquely cruel soldiers;
beneath it, angels displaying the napkin of St. Veronica; R side, above,
Deposition in the Tomb; beneath it, angels supporting the instruments of
the Passion—a splendid piece of Flemish carving. Above, two statues of
St. George. Further on (712), votive triptych against the plague,
Flemish, carved, with painted flaps on the doors; L, St. Sebastian, with
arrows of the pestilence; R, St. Roch exhibiting his plague-spot, with
angel who consoled him and dog who fed him (see the legend in Mrs.
Jameson); centre, Adoration of the Magi; the Three Kings represent (as
usual) the three ages of man, and also the three old continents, Europe,
Asia, Africa; hence the youngest king is represented as a Moor. Other
episodes (Flight into Egypt, Return of Magi, etc.), in the
background—late 15th century. =Wall B=, first window, stained glass,
German panes, 15th century, Annunciation, in two panels (1960 and 1957).
Beyond it (830), in woodwork, 16th century, Coronation of the Virgin by
Christ and God the Father—a somewhat unusual treatment. Above (758),
Stem of Jesse, representing the descent of Christ; notice David with his
harp and other kings of Israel; late 15th century. Second window (1958
and 1959), St. Hubert and St. Lambert, companions to the Annunciation;
(721) dainty little Crucifixion (16th century), in coloured German
wood-carving; (1686) Flemish painting, school of Van Eyck, Crucifixion.
=Wall D=, windows (1961 and 1962), St. Peter and St. George; (1963 and
1964) St. Hubert, and St. Antony Abbot (with his pig, staff, and bell).
=Wall C=, altar-piece, unnumbered; subjects much as opposite; centre,
Crucifixion; beneath it, Nativity, Adoration of Magi. L, Way to Calvary
(with grotesquely brutal soldiers); beneath it, Annunciation (notice the
_prie-dieu_, book, and bed in the background), and Visitation; R,
Descent from the Cross, with St. John and the Marys; beneath it,
Circumcision, and Presentation in the Temple. (710) Deposition from the
Cross, very good, with painted wings from the Passion. All the
wood-carvings in this room deserve careful attention. Inspect them all,
and, as far as possible, discover their subjects.
Room IV.—Fine Renaissance chimney-piece, by Hugues Lallement, 16th
century, representing Actæon transformed into a stag by Diana, whom he
has surprised in the act of bathing. (Subjects from the myth of Diana
are favourites with the French Renaissance artists, owing to the
influence of Diane de Poitiers.) From Châlons-sur-Marne, same house as
that in Room II. =Wall A= (1779 and 1778), Renaissance classical
paintings, part of a large series continued elsewhere; (1428) fine
Renaissance carved cabinet (Diana and Chimæras); contrast this and
neighbouring Renaissance work with the mediæval carvings in adjacent
rooms. =Wall B= (6329), quaint old Flemish tapestry, representing the
Angels appearing to the Shepherds; the Nativity; the Adoration of the
Magi; and the Agony in the Garden. Study the arrangement of all these
figures, which are conventional, and will reappear in many other
examples of various arts. =Wall C=, R and L of fireplace, good
Renaissance wood-carving. =Wall D=, fine cabinets. In the cases, medals.
Room V, to the side. =Debased Italian and Spanish work= of the 17th and
18th centuries. =Centre=, Adoration of the Magi, a meretricious
Neapolitan group of the 17th century, intended to place in a church as a
Christmas _berceau_. The costumes of the Three Kings, representing the
three continents, the ruined temple in which the action takes place, and
the antique statue in the background of the Madonna and St. Joseph,
should all be noticed. Contemptible as a work of art, this florid
composition of dolls is interesting and valuable for its spirited
arrangement, and for the light it casts on the conception of the
subject. The room also contains other similar church furniture of the
17th and 18th centuries. Observe their theatrical tinsel style and their
affected pietism, as contrasted with the simplicity, naïveté, and truth
of earlier periods. Take, as an extreme example of this tendency, the
relief of the Annunciation on =Wall D=, to the R of the entrance door,
and compare it with examples of the same subject in other rooms of the
collection. =Wall B=, facing the entrance, good case of miscellaneous
woodwork containing excellent Spanish art of this bad period—a Last
Supper, a St. Francis receiving the Stigmata, a Massacre of the
Innocents, the Faint of St. Catherine, St. Antony the Abbot, St. Antony
of Padua carrying the infant Christ, and other figures. A large gilt
tabernacle, on =Wall C=, also contains a debased figure of St. Anthony
of Padua, from an altar dedicated to the Saint. Identify as many of
these saints as possible, and remember their symbols.
We now quit the older suite of apartments, and enter a large central
glass-covered court—ROOM VI, entirely modern. The =Corridor= is
occupied by early altar paintings, for the most part of little value.
Notice on the L, by the staircase (1701), a Giottesque Madonna and
Child—Florentine, 15th century. Near it (1666), two oval panels,
representing the Annunciation, divided (as frequently happens with this
subject) into two distinct portions, and probably flanking a doorway in
their original position—Italian, 14th century. All the paintings on
this wall, mostly unsatisfactory as works of art, are valuable for their
symbolism and the light they throw on the evolution of their subjects.
For example: (1676), between the Annunciation pictures, represents the
distribution of holy wine which has touched the relics (I think) of St.
Hubert. Further on, we have a group of six Apostles; beginning from the
R, St. Peter with the keys, St. John Evangelist with the cup and
serpent, St. Andrew with his cross, St. Bartholomew with his knife, St.
James the Greater with the pilgrim’s staff and scallop, and St. James
the Less with a crosier and book. R of the staircase is a stone figure
of St. Denis bearing his head, French, 15th century; also, a good statue
of the Madonna, a little later. Above the doorway, R, are portions of a
large Spanish altar-piece; in the centre, the Crucifixion; extreme R,
Assumption of the Virgin, etc. Beyond it comes the continuation of the
tabernacle already noticed, containing the six remaining Apostles, with
the symbols of their martyrdom. Next, a fine Spanish altar-piece of the
15th century, from a church of St. Martin; in the centre, St. Martin
dividing his cloak with the beggar; round it various other subjects,
among them St. Antony with his pig, St. Stephen, in deacon’s robes, with
the stones of his martyrdom, St. Jerome in the desert beating his bosom
with a flint before the crucifix, St. Francis displaying the stigmata or
five wounds of Christ, St. Paul the hermit with his lion, etc. R,
towards the courtyard, a fine figure of Adam from St. Denis, a splendid
example of the best French nude sculpture of the 14th century.
We now enter the =covered courtyard= or ROOM VI proper, filled with fine
examples of French mediæval sculpture. Several of the objects bear
labels sufficiently descriptive. I will therefore only call attention to
a few among them. =Wall D=, two wooden Flemish statues (Our Lady and St.
John at Calvary), R and L of the doorway; (417) carved marble monument
of the 10th or 11th century; very fine workmanship, with distinct
reminiscences of the antique. =Wall A=, =*=Magnificent stone frieze or
reredos, originally gilt and coloured, representing the History of St.
Benedict, from St. Denis; in the centre, Baptism in Jordan (compare the
relief of the same subject in Notre-Dame); R and L, preaching and
miracles of St. Benedict (overthrow of idols, cure of a dying woman).
Middle of wall (6328), fine Italian tapestry, 16th century, representing
the Adoration of the Magi; observe the attitude of the kings, together
with the ox and ass in the background, invariable concomitants of the
Nativity in art. Beneath (728), early wooden Madonna (13th century,
Auvergne), with Byzantine aspect. Beautiful Romanesque
capitals—Creation of Eve, etc. =Wall B*=(237), exquisite stone frieze
or reredos from the church of St. Germer, about 1259, much-mutilated,
but originally one of the most perfect specimens of French 13th century
carving; it still betrays traces of colour. In the centre, Crucifixion,
with Virgin and St. John: on either side (as at Notre-Dame), the Church,
with cross and chalice, and the Synagogue, with eyes blinded: then, R
and L of cross, St. Peter and St. Paul: beyond them, Annunciation and
Visitation: finally, L, St. Ouen, uncle of St. Germer, cures a wounded
warrior; R, St. Germer asks leave of King Dagobert to found the Abbey
from which this came. Above it (509), exquisitely grotesque relief of
the Resurrection with sleeping Roman soldiers, one of a set in
alabaster, French 14th century (500 to 512), all of which deserve to be
inspected; meanings of all are obvious except (501) St. Ursula. Still
higher, fragment of the original Last Judgment on the central west door
of Notre-Dame, Paris, before the restoration—interesting as showing the
grounds on which Viollet-le-Duc proceeded; (6322), tapestry, Arras, 15th
century, various scriptural subjects, confused, but decipherable.
Beneath it, L, =*=beautiful stone relief (reredos) of the legend of St.
Eustace, from the church of St. Denis—a fine French work of the 14th
century. In the centre, Crucifixion; extreme L, St. Eustace, hunting, is
converted by the apparition of the Christ between the horns of the stag
he is pursuing; further R, his baptism, nude, in a font, as in all early
representations; still further R, his trials and history; while he
crosses a river with one of his children, a wolf seizes one, while a
lion devours the other; last of all, reunited miraculously with his
family, he and they are burned alive as martyrs by the Emperor Trajan,
in a brazen bull. Observe naïf boy with bellows. The whole most
delicately and gracefully sculptured. Next, coloured stone relief of the
Passion—French 14th century; subjects, from R to L: the kiss of Judas
(observe Peter drawing the sword); Flagellation; Bearing of the Cross,
with Simon of Cyrene; Deposition in the Tomb; Resurrection; and Christ
in Hades, delivering Adam and Eve from the jaws of death, realistically
represented here and elsewhere as the mouth of a monster; notice in this
work the colour and the Gothic architecture and decoration of the
background, which help one to understand features that are missing in
many other of these reredoses. Then, stone relief of the Annunciation,
Visitation, and Nativity, very simply treated: notice the usual ox and
ass in the manger. Above it, =*=(4763), good mosaic of the Madonna and
Child with adoring angels, by Davide Ghirlandajo, of Florence, placed by
the President Jean de Ganay (as the inscription attests) in the church
of St. Merri at Paris. =Wall C= (513–518), interesting alabaster reliefs
of the Passion, French, 14th century. Between them, Coronation of the
Virgin, French, 15th century. (725) Good wooden figure of St. Louis,
covered with fleur-de-lis in gold, from the Sainte Chapelle. [Here is
the door which leads to the Musée des Thermes. Pass it by for the
present.] Beyond it, continuation of the alabaster reliefs (514 and
517), etc.: examine them closely. Between them (435), Circumcision, in
marble, early 15th century, French, full of character. Beneath it (429,
etc.), admirable figures of mourners, from the tomb of Philippe le
Hardi, at Dijon, 14th century. =Wall D=, again (1291), terra-cotta,
coloured: Madonna and St. Joseph, with angels, adoring the Child (child
missing), ox and ass in background; R, Adoration of Magi; notice once
more the conventional arrangement: L, Marriage of the Virgin, a high
priest joining her hand to Joseph’s, all under Gothic canopies, 15th
century, from the chapel of St. Éloy, near Bernay, Eure. I omit many
works of high merit.
The =centre= of this room is occupied by several good statues. Examine
each; the descriptive labels are usually sufficient. (A noble =*=St.
Catherine; St. Barbara with her tower; St. Sebastian, pierced with the
holes where the arrows have been; a beautiful long-haired wooden
Madonna; a fine [Pisan] Angel of the Annunciation, in wood, etc.) Also,
several excellent figures of Our Lady. The large part played by the
Madonna in this Room, indeed, is typical of her importance in France,
and especially in Paris, from the 13th century onward. The church of
Notre-Dame is partly a result, partly a cause, of this special cult of
the Blessed Virgin.
Room VII (beyond the corridor, a modern covered courtyard).—=Tapestries
and textile fabrics=, interesting chiefly to ladies. On =Wall A=, and
others, Flemish tapestry, representing the History of Bathsheba, much
admired and very ugly; compare it with the tapestry of the Lady and the
Unicorn, to be visited later in ROOM III, upstairs, contrasting them as
models of what such work should and should not be. =Wall B=, admirable
Renaissance relief of the Cardinal Virtues. Above it, a good Madonna,
and figures of Grammar and Astronomy. =Wall C=, Caryatid of inferior
art, French, 16th century. =**=(448), Admirable group of the Three
Fates, attributed to Germain Pilon, the great French sculptor of the
16th century, whom we shall meet again at the Louvre—a fine specimen of
the plastic art of the Renaissance, said to represent Diane de Poitiers
and her daughters. Below =**=(447), exquisite Renaissance bas-relief of
the huntress Diana, of the School of Jean Goujon, again in allusion to
Diane de Poitiers. (478) Good mask of the same epoch. (251) Virgin and
Child, meretricious; in the decadent style of the 16th century; very
French in type, foreshadowing the Louis XV spirit—the Madonna resembles
a little-reputable court lady. =Wall D= (463, etc.), Judgment of
Solomon, Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, Annunciation, and other reliefs
in the florid and least pleasing French style of the 16th and 17th
centuries. Table by the doorway =**=(449), exquisite small marble statue
of the Deserted Ariadne (perhaps Diane de Poitiers), in the best
Renaissance manner, probably by Germain Pilon: found in the Loire, near
Diane’s _château_ of Chaumont. Beside it, three sleeping Venuses, one of
which is also said to be Diane de Poitiers, the goddess of the
Renaissance in Paris. L of doorway (457), singular marble relief of
Christ and the Magdalen after the Resurrection (Noli me tangere); the
Saviour strangely represented (as often) in a gardener’s hat and with a
spade; in the background, angels by the empty sepulchre; Flemish, florid
style of the 16th century. Beside it (467 and 468), two exquisite
Renaissance reliefs of Venus. In front of it, on the table =*=(479),
Entombment, with the body of Christ placed in the sarcophagus by Joseph
of Arimathea and Nicodemus—portraits, I think, of the donors.
ROOM VIII—Textile fabrics and ecclesiastical robes. =Wall B=, L of door
(487), pretty but meretricious little group of Venus and Cupids, with
grapes, French style of the 17th century; the national taste still more
distinctly showing itself. R of door (459), in two separate figures, a
quaint Annunciation—French, 16th century, frankly anachronistic. Close
by (464), the Judgment of Solomon, same school and period. Above (563),
clever small alabaster group of the Rape of the Sabines, after Giovanni
da Bologna. These all stand on a handsome French carved chest of the
16th century. =Wall C=, greatly worn altar-relief of the Adoration of
the Magi, from the chapel of the Château d’Anet, French Renaissance,
16th century. Above it (446), Mary Magdalen, kneeling, with long hair
and the alabaster box of ointment—her symbol in art—15th century,
curious. At the back, gilt and painted figures of the Holy Trinity, from
the demolished church of St. Marcel at Paris, 17th century. Similar
representations of the Trinity, showing the three Persons thus, are
common in Italian art. Further on (493), good figure of a shepherd,
French, 16th century. =Wall A= (266), curious altar back, Herod ordering
the Massacre of the Innocents. (267) St. Eustace crossing the river (see
Room VI) with the lion and the wolf seizing his children. A very
different treatment from the previous one. (291) A lintel of a chimney,
Flemish, dated 1555; centre, a river-god; L and R, pelican and eagle;
between the figures, Faith, Hope, Charity and Prudence. (273) Madonna
and Child (Notre-Dame de l’Espérance, throned on an anchor). On the
wall, far L, interesting piece of French 14th century tapestry, with a
legend of St. Marcel and St. John Evangelist, most naïvely represented.
ROOM IX.—State coaches and Sedan chairs of the 17th century, as ugly as
can be imagined. They need not detain you.
* * * * *
[Illustration: MUSÉE DE CLUNY FIRST FLOOR]
The =staircase= to the FIRST FLOOR is in the Corridor to Room VI.
Observe the staircase itself, in carved wood, bearing the arms of France
and Navarre, and also the crowned initials of Henri IV and Marie de
Médicis. It was formerly in the old Chambre des Comptes of Paris, and
was re-erected here at the installation of the Museum.
The =corridor= above contains arms and armour. At the head of the
staircase (742), very quaint Magdalen in wood with the box of ointment;
German in style, 15th century; observe her long hair, here twisted and
plaited with German neatness. (1466 and 1468) Renaissance cabinets in
ebony.
ROOM I.—Gallery, looking down on the courtyard of Room VI, below. =Wall
D=, by which you enter; tiles, French Renaissance. =Wall C=: first case,
blue Flemish stoneware. Fine wrought-iron gates, gilt. In front of them,
female Satyr, French, 18th century, very characteristic of the national
taste; opposite it, male Satyr, the same. Second case: Palissy ware,
French 16th and 17th centuries. This fine ware is full of Renaissance
feeling. Notice particularly (3140), a Sacrifice of Abraham; (3145) the
Baptism in Jordan, conventional treatment; (3139) Judith and Holofernes,
with several other scriptural scenes in the older spirit; intermingled
with these are classical and mythological scenes, displaying the growing
love for the nude; observe particularly (3119), a Venus with Cupids; and
another dish below it, unnumbered, same subject; also, a Creation of
Eve; (3131) Susanna and the Elders, and other scenes of similar
character. Observe that while the early work is purely scriptural or
sacred, the Renaissance introduces classical subjects. Note too the
frequent scenes of the Baptism in the same connection. Centre (3102),
beautiful vase with lid, of the period of Henri II. Study all the
Palissy ware. =Wall B=, French pottery of the 18th century, exhibiting
the rapid decline in taste under Louis XIV and XV, especially as regards
colour. The most satisfactory pieces are the blue and white dishes with
royal monograms, arms, etc. Second case: Rouen ware of the 18th century,
far superior in style and tone to the preceding. Good nude figure of
Venus. =Wall A=, Nevers pottery, delicate blue and white; (3338) figure
of a page, to support a lamp. Last case: Dutch pottery, Delft, 18th
century, exhibiting the strong domestic Dutch tendency.
ROOM II.—Also galleries, surrounding a courtyard. Exquisite Italian
Renaissance pottery. =Wall B=, R of entrance, beautiful Italian
specimens of Faenza ware, 15th and 16th centuries (whence the word
_faïence_); these should be closely studied in detail. (2811) Quaint
dish with Diana as archer; beside it, portraits. (2824 and 2825)
Decorative plaques with heads of women. (3949) St. George and the Dragon
in green pottery. Behind it, plate with admirable portrait. In the same
case, Judith receiving the head of Holofernes; (3024) Hercules playing
the lyre to entice Auge. =Wall C=, first case, Deruta and Chaffagiolo
ware of the 16th century. Exquisite decorative dishes and plaques;
(2814) Actæon changed to a stag by Diana. (2849) Susanna and the Elders.
(2887) St. Jerome in the desert, with his lion. (2895) The doubting
Thomas. (2823) Another Actæon. Observe frequent repetition of certain
scenes. Fine plates with arms of Medici Popes, etc. Second case: Deruta
ware, still more splendid specimens, many of them with remarkable
lustre. (2894) Madonna and Child, with infant St. John of Florence.
Other plates with Mercury, a sphinx, a lion, the huntress Diana, a
Moor’s head, portraits and decorative designs. Examine in detail. =Wall
D=, first case, Casteldurante and Gubbio ware, 16th century (3007)
Manius Curtius leaping into the Forum. (3015) Crucifixion, with the sun
and the moon darkened. (3004) Dædalus and the Minotaur. (3008) Fine
conventional design. Other plates have heads of St. Paul and
mythological persons. (2802) a quaint Temptation of St. Antony. (2818)
Leda and the Swan, etc. Second case: Urbino ware, 17th century. Head of
Raphael, and delicate Raphaelesque scenes, instinct with the later
Renaissance feeling. (2961) Perseus and Andromeda. (3064) Expulsion from
Paradise; on either side, Temptation, and Adam eating the fruit. (2872)
a Baptism in Jordan. Notice again the mixture of religious and
mythological scenes, with a preference for those where the nude is
permissible—Judith and Holofernes, Orpheus, etc. =Wall A=, fine
Florentine terra-cotta bust of the young St. John, patron saint of the
city. More Urbino ware, to be carefully examined. The greater part of
this wall, however, is occupied by =**Della Robbia= ware, glazed
Florentine majolica of the 15th and 16th centuries. (2794) Fine figure
of St. Michael. (2799) Martyrdom of St. Catherine, the wheels of her
torture broken by angels. Above it, Madonna adoring the Child; observe
in this and many other cases the beautiful setting of fruit and flowers,
characteristic of the Delia Robbias. Beneath, no number, the Beheading
of St. Catherine; in the background, angels conveying her soul to
Heaven. (2795) The Infant St. John, patron Saint of Florence. (2793)
Temperance, with flagon and patera. Then, more Urbino ware, very fine
examples of the end of the 16th century; above them, touching Madonna
and Child, Della Robbia. =Wall B=, again, Castello ware, and Venetian
pottery, 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. Apothecary’s jars, plaques,
etc., extremely beautiful.
ROOM III.—A long corridor. =Wall A=, is entirely occupied by the
=**=magnificent suite of six early French tapestries, known as “The Lady
and the Unicorn” (symbol of chastity), the finest work of its sort ever
executed. They come from the Château de Boussac, and belong to the
second half of the 15th century. The Lady is represented engaged in
various domestic pursuits of a woman of rank of her time, always
accompanied by the beast of chastity. The colour is inexpressibly
lovely. Above it, similar tapestry representing the History of St.
Stephen, and the Discovery of his Relics. Along =Wall A=, R of entrance
door (774), crowned wooden figure of St. Catherine, holding the sword of
her martyrdom, her broken wheel at her feet, and trampling upon the
tyrant, Maximian. L of door, good early Madonna and Child; another St.
Catherine; and (760) Magdalen, described (erroneously, I think) as
Pandora. =Wall B= is mostly occupied by a handsome French Renaissance
chimney-piece (16th century), brought here from a house at Rouen, and
representing the history of the Casa Santa at Loreto,—its transport
over the sea by angels, its reception by the Faithful, and worship in
front of it. The ceiling above also comes from the same room. =Wall C=,
small stained-glass windows of various ages. Examine them separately.
=Wall D=, large enamelled plaques brought from François Premier’s
Château of Madrid, in the Bois de Boulogne, stated to be the largest
enamels in existence. Beneath them, fine wooden statue of the Virgin and
infant Christ, German 15th century, very characteristic in its flat
features, as well as in the dress, and treatment of the hair, of the
German style of the period. Compare it with French Madonnas below. The
=screens= towards =Wall A= contain specimens of fine Renaissance
wood-carving. Contrast the finish and style of these with their Gothic
predecessors. Notice, near the chimney-piece (828), an Annunciation,
with God the Father, wearing a triple crown (like the Pope), and the
Holy Spirit descending upon the Madonna. Next screen, various classical
scenes in the taste of the Renaissance—Judgment of Paris, Venuses and
Cupids, etc. Much fine nude Renaissance detail. =Centre case=, old
glass; notice, in particular (4763), fine 13th century Arab mosque-lamp.
Further on, more Renaissance wood-carving—Leda and the Swan in very
high relief: low reliefs of classical subjects and decorative panels.
All these works should be closely studied as typically illustrative of
Renaissance feeling. =Cases by the window (wall C)=, Limoges and other
enamels, too numerous to treat in full detail, but many of them, at
least, should be closely inspected and comprehended by the visitor. Case
=next= the chimney-piece, old raised enamels (12th and 13th centuries),
enamelled gold reliquaries for containing bones of Saints; fine
crucifix, etc. Notice on 4497, the Flight into Egypt, Peter walking on
the Sea, the Adoration of the Magi, and the Presentation in the Temple;
on 4498, the Crucifixion, and the Twelve Apostles; beneath, 4514,
enamelled book-cover; near it, Crucifixion, Adoration of the Magi, and
other figures. Identify as many of these as possible, and observe their
archaic striving after effects too high for the artist. Second case:
Limoges enamels, more modern in type (15th century): Madonna holding the
dead Christ, Crucifixion, Bearing of the Cross, and other scenes. Notice
particularly (4575), little triptych with a Nativity, Adoration of the
Magi, and Circumcision, in all of which observe the conventional
treatment. Third case: Limoges enamels of the High Renaissance (16th and
17th centuries), Raphaelesque in spirit, better in execution, but far
less interesting; good portraits in frames; a fine Flagellation, and
other scenes from the Passion; above, delicate Tazzas. Observe in
particular (4628), the Descent into Hell, Christ rescuing Adam and Eve
and the other dead from Hades, typically Renaissance. On the far side of
the case, remote from window, a good series of the Gospel
history,—Marriage of the Virgin, Annunciation, Birth of the Virgin
(incorrectly labelled Nativity), etc. Last cases: more recent enamels.
Among the best are, in the last case of all, the Expulsion from
Paradise, and a series of the Gospel History; observe particularly
(4650), Christ and the Magdalen, with the usual curious disguise as a
gardener. I recommend to those who can spare the time, most attentive
detailed study of the subjects and treatment in all these enamels, many
of which throw much light on similar themes treated by other arts in the
same collection. Several hours should, if possible, be devoted to them.
ROOM IV contains various =**Mohammedan potteries=, exquisitely
decorative, but (owing to the general absence of figure subjects,
prohibited by Islam) requiring comparatively little explanation.
Occasional animal forms, however, occur in the midst of the usually
decorative arabesque patterns. =Wall C=, L of entrance, charming Rhodian
pottery (made by Persian workmen), in prevailing tones of blue and
green, with the wonderful Persian feeling for colour. =Wall B=,
Hispano-Moorish lustre ware, the most exquisitely beautiful ever
manufactured. The second case contains several lovely specimens. =Wall
A=, Rhodian ware again. =Wall D=, Persian. The reader must examine these
minutely for himself. It is impossible to do more than point out their
beauty.
ROOM V.—=Jewish= works of art of the Middle Ages, interesting as
showing the wealth and artistic taste of the mediæeval
Hebrews—phylacteries, seven-branched candlesticks, goldsmiths’ work,
etc. (188) Chimney-piece (Christian) from an old house at Le Mans. The
groups represent the three ages of life: right and left, the two
sexes—man, armed; woman, with a ball of wool.
ROOM VI.—=Wall C=, opposite windows, carved chest (1360), French, 17th
century, with figures in high relief of the Twelve Apostles. The
paintings above it (1704, 1707, 1714), etc., are the fronts of similar
chests, Florentine, 15th century. Such boxes were commonly given to a
bride to contain her trousseau and household linen. For instance, one
(1710) contains the mythical history of a betrothal and wedding (Æneas
and Lavinia). The others have in many cases similar appropriate subjects
from classical story. (1455) Florentine mosaic cabinet, in the worst
taste. Beyond it, other cabinets and fronts of wedding chests. This room
also contains musical instruments, interesting as illustrating the
evolution of modern forms. Also, florid Italian inlaid tables, in the
bad expensive taste of the 17th century. In the windows, stained glass.
ROOM VII.—Carved oak cabinets. (1435) Good Flemish work of the 17th
century.
ROOM VIII.—(189) Carved chimney-piece, similar to that in the Jewish
room, and from the same house; marriage scene, allegorical. Carved
wooden cabinets and portals, all interesting, but requiring little
description. (1431) Again the favourite Renaissance device of Actæon and
Diana. Carved oak bed, of age of François I^{er}, with hangings of the
same period. (1509) Good panel of a chair, with the Presentation of the
Virgin in the Temple by Saints Joachim and Anna; above, Nativity; then
Adoration of the Magi, and Flight into Egypt; on the front, patron
saints of the owners.
=Room IX.=—=**=Magnificent collection of ivories and ebonies, all of
which the spectator should examine in detail. Nothing in this museum is
more interesting. Notice, for example, the beautiful triptych=**=(1081)
in the centre of the =first case= by the window of =Wall D=; lower tier,
Annunciation; Shepherds; Joseph and the Madonna, with the babe in the
manger; and Adoration of the Magi; upper tier, Kiss of Judas,
Crucifixion, and Christ and the Magdalen in the Garden; beautiful
Italian work of the 14th century. L of it =**=(1088), exquisite coloured
triptych with Madonna and Child; L, St. Paul (with his sword) and St.
Catherine; R, St. Peter and the Magdalen; notice their symbols. Several
small ivories in the same case should be observed carefully. Below the
large triptych, for example, are scenes from the Passion (_not_
chronologically arranged in their existing order), namely, from L to R,
Crown of Thorns, Scourging, Resurrection, Ascension, Disciples at
Emmaus, Apparition to the three Marys, Peter on the Sea, and Christ with
the Magdalen; very naïve French work of the 15th century. (718)
Exquisite little wood-carving of the Crucifixion, with scenes from the
Passion; Spanish, 16th century. Above it (7227), comb, with Adoration of
the Magi; 14th century, very curious. The =next case= contains still
earlier and more interesting work. In the centre, a triptych; lower
tier, Adoration of the Magi, Madonna with angels, Presentation in the
Temple; upper tier, Bearing the Cross, Crucifixion, and Descent from the
Cross; exquisite French work, in high relief, of the 14th century. L of
it (1082), Scenes from the Passion, Last Supper, Agony in the Garden,
Kiss of Judas (with Peter cutting off Malchus’s ear), Flagellation, etc.
Each compartment here consists of two subjects, which identify; charming
French work of the 14th century. Above it (1085 and 1086), secular
scenes, life in a garden—14th century. R of the triptych (1065, 1063,
1066, 1064), legends of saints; St. Denis beheaded and bearing his head;
Flagellation of an unknown Martyr, who takes it most comfortably; St.
Peter, crucified, head downward; and other episodes—charming French
14th century work. Examine all the pieces in this case carefully. In the
first case, towards the =centre of the room=, early ivory-carvings, a
=*=consular diptych of the 5th or 6th century, very interesting; and
other works still displaying classical influence. (1035) Byzantine,
Christ and Saints. (1049) Death of the Virgin; fine work showing
Byzantine influence; 12th century. (1054) Extremely rude Northern 11th
century ivory, representing scriptural scenes, mingled with decorative
animals treated in withy-band fashion. (1038) Fine Italo-Byzantine
plaque with Crucifixion and Saints, the name of each inscribed beside
him. =Central case:= Ivory statuettes, all deserving close attention.
(1032) Antique Roman goddess. (1037) Fine early French Madonna; 10th
century. Behind her (1052), beautiful ivory reliquary, French, 12th
century, with figures of Saints; L, the personages of the Adoration
(_i.e._, the Three Kings) bearing their gifts, and with their names
inscribed above them; R, the personages of the Presentation—Madonna,
Joseph, Simeon. Further side (1060), beautiful coloured ivory coffer,
14th century, with numerous scriptural scenes, easily recognisable;
identify them. Inspect also the =ebony cabinets=, of which 1458, time of
Henri IV. with classical scenes, is a magnificent Renaissance example.
By =Wall A=, more =ebony cabinets= and carvings, and exquisite ivory
statuettes, of later date, among which notice particularly (1141) a
Portuguese Madonna; (1163) a Spanish St. Peter; (1164) Spanish St.
Antony of Padua; and (1167) a very curious Peruvian Good Shepherd,
showing distinct traces of native art, influenced by introduced Spanish
feeling. Further to the R, good classical figures of the later
Renaissance. I have only indicated a few of the most interesting among
these exquisite carvings; but many hours may be devoted to this room, by
those who can afford the time, with great advantage.
ROOM X.—Bronzes and Renaissance metal work, mostly self-explanatory.
(193) Chimney-piece from a house in Troyes—French, 16th century;
Plenty, surrounded by Fauns and trophies. Good collection of keys,
knives, etc.
ROOM XI.—=Goldsmith’s work= and objects in the precious metals. =Wall
A= (4988), gold altar-piece of the Emperor Henry II, of Germany, with
Christ, and figures of Saints, bearing their names above them, given by
the Emperor to Bâle Cathedral in the beginning of the 11th century.
Central case, =the Guerrazar find=: votive offerings of crowns of the
early Gothic kings of Spain, the largest one being that of Reccesvinthus
(died 672), discovered near Toledo. The crowns are rude Byzantine work
of the 7th century, inlaid with precious stones. The names inscribed
below them were probably added when they were made into votive
offerings. Uninteresting as works of art, these curious relics possess
great value as specimens of the decadent workmanship of their period.
Most of the other objects in this room derive their importance more from
the material of which they are composed than from artistic beauty, or
even relative antiquarian importance. Of these (4994), in the case near
=Wall D=, represents the Last Supper, with the fish which in very early
Christian work is a symbol of Christ. Near it, quaint figures of the
four Evangelists, writing, with their symbols. Other symbols of the
Evangelists in the same case. Quaint Nuremberg figure of St. Anne,
holding on her knee the crowned Madonna, and a little box to contain a
relic. (5008) Reliquary foot of a Saint, to enclose his bones; it bears
his name—Alard. (4995) Curious figure of the Madonna, Limoges work,
very Byzantine in aspect. Other cases contain crucifixes, monstrances,
and similar articles of church furniture in the precious metals, mostly
of early date. The case by =Wall B= has Gallic torques and Merovingian
jewellery.
Return to Room VIII, and enter ROOM XII to the R. It contains bed
furniture and book-bindings. (782) Fine Renaissance Flagellation, after
Sebastiano del Piombo.
From this room we enter
The Chapel,
a small apartment, with roof sustained by a single pillar. Good niches,
now destitute of their saints; church furniture of the Middle Ages, much
of which deserves close attention. (708) Fine wooden altar-piece,
Flemish, 15th century: centre, the Mass of St. Gregory, with Christ
appearing bodily in the Holy Sacrament; beneath it, adoring angels; L
wing, Abraham and Melchisedek, frankly mediæval; R wing, the Last
Supper; an excellent specimen. Other objects are: (726) Stiff early
wooden Madonna. (723) Crucifix, Auvergne, 12th century. (727) St. John.
End wall, Annunciation, with the Madonna separated, as often, from the
Angel Gabriel by a vase of lilies.
The staircase in the corner leads out to the =Garden=, where are several
fragments of stone decoration. Pass through the door, and traverse Room
VI; the opposite door leads to
Les Thermes,
the remains of the old Roman palace. The scanty remnant, as its name
indicates, consists entirely of the baths attached to the building. The
masonry is massive. Fragments of Roman altars and other remains found in
Paris are arranged round the room. The descriptive labels are sufficient
for purposes of identification.
If this brief survey of Cluny has succeeded in interesting you in
mediæval art, buy the official catalogue, come here often, and study it
in detail.
B. THE HILL OF STE. GENEVIÈVE
(PANTHÉON, ST. ÉTIENNE-DU-MONT.)
[“High places” are always the first cemeteries and holy
sites—as at Montmartre and elsewhere. But the nearest rising
ground to Old Paris is the slight elevation just S. of Cluny,
now crowned by the colossal dome of the Panthéon. In Frankish
times, this hill lay quite outside the city; but on its summit
(just behind his Palace of Les Thermes), Clovis, after his
conversion by Ste. Geneviève, is said to have erected a church
to St. Peter and St. Paul. Here =Ste. Geneviève= herself was
buried in 512; and the chapel raised over her tomb grew into a
church—the favourite place of pilgrimage for the inhabitants of
Paris. The actual body of the patron saint was enclosed, in 550,
in a magnificent shrine, executed by St. Éloy, the holy
blacksmith. Throughout the Middle Ages this church and tomb of
Ste. Geneviève, which occupied the site of the existing
Panthéon, nearby, were the objects of the greatest devotion. St.
Denis was the saint of the kings and nobles; but Ste. Geneviève
was, and still remains, the saint of the people, and especially
of the women. Miracles were constantly performed at her shrine,
and her aid was implored at all moments of national danger or
misfortune. A great (Augustin) abbey grew up in time behind the
church, and was dedicated in honour of the holy shepherdess. The
wall of Philippe Auguste bent abruptly southward in order to
include her shrine and this powerful abbey.
In the twelfth century, when the old church of St. Stephen (in
French, St. Étienne), on the site of Notre-Dame, was pulled down
in order to make room for the existing cathedral, the relics of
St. Stephen contained in it were transferred to a new
edifice—=St. Étienne-du-Mont=—which was erected by the monks,
close to the Abbey of Ste. Geneviève, as a parish church for
their servants and dependents. In the sixteenth century this
second church of St. Stephen was pulled down, with the exception
of its tower, which is still standing. The existing church of
St. Étienne was then begun on the same site in the Gothic style,
and slowly completed with extensive Rennaissance alterations.
Later still, the mediæval church of Ste. Geneviève, hard by,
having fallen into decay in the middle of the eighteenth
century, Louis XV determined to replace it by a sumptuous domed
edifice in the style of the period. This building, designed by
Soufflot, was not completed till the Revolution, when it was
immediately secularised as the =Panthéon=, under circumstances
to be mentioned later. The remains of Ste. Geneviève, which had
lain temporarily meanwhile in a sumptuous chapel at St.
Étienne-du-Mont (the subsidiary church of the monastery) were
then taken out by the Revolutionists; the mediæval shrine, or
reliquary (which replaced St. Éloy’s), was ruthlessly broken up;
and the body of the patroness and preserver of Paris was
publicly burned in the Place de Grève. This, however, strange to
say, was not quite the end of Ste. Geneviève. A few of her
relics were said to have been preserved: some bones, together
with a lock of the holy shepherdess’s hair, were afterwards
recovered, and replaced in the sarcophagus they had once
occupied. Such at least is the official story; and these relics,
now once more enclosed in a costly shrine, still attract
thousands of votaries to the chapel of the saint in St.
Étienne-du-Mont.
The Panthéon, standing in front of the original church, is now a
secular burial-place for the great men of France. The remains of
Ste. Geneviève still repose at St. Étienne. Thus it is
impossible to dissociate the two buildings, which should be
visited together; and thus too it happens that the patroness of
Paris has now no church in her own city. Local saints are always
the most important; this hill and Montmartre are still the
holiest places in Paris.]
* * * * *
Proceed, as far as the garden of the Thermes, as on the excursion to
Cluny. Then continue straight up the Boulevard St. Michel. The large
edifice visible on the R of the Rue des Écoles to your L, is the new
building of the Sorbonne, or University. Further up, at the Place du
Sorbonne, the domed church of the same name stands before you. It is the
University church, and is noticeable as the earliest true dome erected
in Paris. The next corner shows one, R, the Luxembourg garden, and L,
the Rue Soufflot, leading up to the =Panthéon=.
The colossal domed temple which replaces the ancient church of Ste.
Geneviève was begun by Soufflot, under Louis XV, in imitation of St.
Peter’s, at Rome. Like all architects of his time, Soufflot sought
merely to produce an effect of pagan or “classical” grandeur, peculiarly
out of place in the shrine of the shepherdess of Nanterre. Secularised
almost immediately on its completion, during the Revolution, the
building was destined as the national monument to the great men of
France, and the inscription, “Aux Grands Hommes la Patrie
Reconnaissante,” which it still bears, was then first placed under the
sculptures of the pediment. Restored to worship by the Restoration, it
was again secularised under the Third Republic in order to admit of the
burial of Victor Hugo. The building itself, a vast bare barn of the
pseudo-classical type, very cold and formal, is worthy of notice merely
on account of its immense size and its historic position; but it may be
visited to this day with pleasure, not only for some noble modern
paintings, but also for the sake of the reminiscences of Ste. Geneviève
which it still contains. Open daily, free, from 10 to 4, Mondays
excepted.
The =tympanum= has a group by David d’Angers, representing France
distributing wreaths to soldiers, politicians, men of letters, men of
science, and artists.
The =interior= is in the shape of a Greek cross (with equal arms).
Follow round the walls, beginning from the R. In the R Aisle are
paintings (modern) looking like frescoes, and representing the preaching
of St. Denis, by Galand; and =*=the history of Ste. Geneviève—her
childhood, recognition by St. Germain l’Auxerrois, miracles, etc.,
delicate and elusive works, by Puvis de Chavannes. The paintings of the
South Transept represent episodes in the early history of France.
Chronologically speaking, they begin from the E. central corner. Choir,
Death of Ste. Geneviève, by Laurens, and Miracles before her Shrine.
Apse of the tribune, fine modern (archaic) mosaic, by Hébert,
representing Christ with the Guardian Angel of France, the Madonna,
Jeanne d’Arc, and Ste. Geneviève. Stand under the dome to observe the
proportions of the huge, bare, unimpressive building. L, or Northern
Transept, E side, the history of Jeanne d’Arc; she hears the voices;
leads the assault at Orleans; assists at the coronation of Charles VII
at Rheims; and is burnt at Rouen. W. side, St. Louis as a child
instructed by Blanche of Castille; administering justice in the Palace;
and a captive among the Saracens. N. aisle, history of Ste. Geneviève
and St. Denis (suite). The building is thus at once the apotheosis of
patriotism, and the lasting memorial of the part borne by Christianity
in French, and especially Parisian, history.
As you descend the steps of the Panthéon, the building that faces you to
the L is the Mairie of the 5th Arrondissement; that to the R, the École
de Droit. Turn to the R, along the N side of the Panthéon. The long, low
building which faces you is the Bibliothèque Ste. Geneviève. Nothing now
remains of the Abbey of Ste. Geneviève except the tall early Gothic
tower seen to the R, near the end of the Panthéon, and rising above the
modern buildings of the Lycée Henri IV. The singularly picturesque and
strangely-mingled church across the little square is =St.
Étienne-du-Mont=, which we now proceed to visit.
Stand in the left-hand corner of the Place to examine the _façade_. The
church was begun (1517) as late Gothic; but before it was finished, the
Renaissance style had come into fashion, and the architects accordingly
jumbled the two in the most charming manner. The incongruity here only
adds to the beauty. The quaintly original Renaissance portal bears a
dedication to St. Stephen the Protomartyr, beneath which is a relief of
his martyrdom, with a Latin inscription, “Stone destroyed the temple of
the Lord,” _i.e._, Stephen, “Stone rebuilds it.” R and L of the portal
are statues of Sts. Stephen and Geneviève, whose monograms also appear
on the doors. In the pediment is the usual representation of the
Resurrection and Last Judgment. Above it, the rose window, on either
side of which, in accordance with Italian rather than with French custom
(showing Italian Renaissance influence) are the Angel of the
Annunciation and the Madonna receiving his message. In the third story,
a gable-end. Singular tower to the L, with an additional round turret, a
relic of the earlier Gothic building. The whole _façade_ (17th century),
represents rather late Renaissance than transitional architecture.
The =interior= is the most singular, and in some ways the most
picturesque, in Paris—a Gothic church, tricked out in Renaissance
finery. The nave is flanked by aisles, which are divided from it by
round pillars, capped by a singular balustrade or gallery with low, flat
arches, simulating a triforium. The upper arches are round, and the
decorations Renaissance; but the vaulting, both of nave and aisles, with
its pendant keystones, recalls the Gothic style, as do also most of the
windows. Stand near the entrance, in the centre of the nave, and look up
the church. The most striking feature is the beautiful Renaissance
_jubé_ or =**rood-loft= (the only one now left in Paris) which divides
the Choir from the body of the building. This rood-loft still bears a
crucifix, for the reception of which it was originally intended. On the
arch below are two charmingly sculptured Renaissance angels. The
rood-loft is flanked by two spiral staircases, which are wholly unique
architectural features. Notice also the exquisite pendentive of the roof
at the point of intersection of the nave and short false transepts.
Now walk up the Right Aisle. The first chapel is the Baptistery,
containing the font and a modern statue of the boy Baptist. Third
chapel, St. Antony of Padua. The fourth chapel contains a curious Holy
Sepulchre, with quaint life-size terra-cotta figures of the 16th
century. Fifth chapel, a gilt _châsse_. Notice the transepts, reduced to
short arms, scarcely, if at all, projecting beyond the chapels. From
this point examine the exquisite Renaissance tracery of the rood-screen
and staircases. Then pass under the fine Renaissance door, with lovely
decorative work, into the =ambulatory=. The Choir is in large part
Gothic, with late flamboyant tracery. The apparent triforium is
continued round the ambulatory. The splendid gilded shrine in the second
choir-chapel contains the =remains of Ste. Geneviève=, or what is left
of them. Candles burn perpetually around it. Hundreds of votaries here
pay their devotions daily to the Patroness of Paris. The shrine,
containing what is alleged to be the original sarcophagus of the Saint
(more probably of the 13th century) stands under a richly-gilt Gothic
tabernacle, adorned with figures legibly named on their pedestals. The
stained-glass window behind it has a representation of a processional
function with the body of the Saint, showing this church, together with
a view of the original church of Ste. Geneviève, the remaining tower,
and adjacent houses, historically most interesting. The window beyond
the shrine also contains the history of Ste. Geneviève—her childhood,
first communion, miracles, distribution of bread during the siege of
Paris, conversion of Clovis, death, etc. Indeed the long sojourn of the
body of Ste. Geneviève in this church has almost overshadowed its
dedication to St. Stephen, several memorials of whom may, however, be
recognised by the attentive visitor—amongst them, a picture of his
martyrdom (by Abel de Pujol) near the entrance to the choir. The
Protomartyr also stands, with his deacon’s robe and palm, in a niche
near the door of the sacristy, where L and R are frescoes of his
Disputation with the Doctors, and his Martyrdom. The chapel immediately
behind the high altar is, as usual, the Lady Chapel. The next contains a
good modern window of the Marriage of the Virgin. Examine in detail all
the windows; one of the mystic wine-press is very interesting. Votive
offerings of the city of Paris to Ste. Geneviève also exist in the
ambulatory. Curious frescoes of the martyrdom of the 10,000 Christians
on Mount Ararat on the N side. The best view of the choir is obtained
from the N side of the ambulatory, opposite the shrine of Ste.
Geneviève. In the north aisle notice St. Louis with the Crown of Thorns.
Stand again in the centre of the nave, near the entrance, and observe
the curious inclination of the choir and high altar to one side—here
particularly noticeable, and said in every case to represent the droop
of the Redeemer’s head on the cross.
Go out again. As you emerge from the door, observe the cold and bare
side of the Panthéon, contrasted with the internal richness of St.
Étienne. Curious view of the late Gothic portion of the church from the
little Place on the N side. Return by the Rue Cujas and Rue St. Jacques,
passing the Lycée Ste. Barbe, Lycée Louis-le-Grand, University, and
other scholastic buildings, which give a good idea of the character of
the quarter.
III
RENAISSANCE PARIS (THE LOUVRE)
[PARIS, which spread rapidly Southward at first, was somewhat
slower in its =Northward= development. Nevertheless, by the time
of Philippe Auguste, the Town =La Ville=—the commercial portion
N of the river—more than equalled the learned district on the S
side. This central northern region, however, containing the
Hôtel de Ville, St. Eustache, and some other important
buildings, I purposely postpone to the consideration of =the
Louvre= and its neighbourhood, which, though later in date, form
the heart and core of Renaissance Paris—the Paris of François
I^{er} and his splendour-loving successors.
Most of the buildings we have hitherto considered are mediæval
and Gothic. The Louvre introduces us at once to a new world—the
world of the =Renaissance=. The transition is abrupt. In Italy,
and especially in Florence, the Renaissance was _a natural
growth_; in France it was A FASHION. It came in, full-fledged,
without history or antecedents. To trace its evolution, one must
follow it out in detail in Florence and Venice. There, it grows
of itself, organically, by gradual stages. But in France, Gothic
churches and mediæval _châteaux_ give place at once, with a
bound, to developed Renaissance temples and palaces. The reason
for this fact is, that the French kings, from Charles VIII
onward to Henri IV, were thoroughly Italianate. They fought,
travelled, and married in Italy, to parts of which they laid
claim; and being closely allied with the Medici and other
Italian families,—husbands of Medici wives, sons of Medici
mothers,—they introduced at once into France the developed
products of the Italian Renaissance. At the same time the
increased and centralized power of the Crown enabled them to
build magnificent palaces, like the Louvre and Fontainebleau;
and to this artificial impulse is mainly due the sudden outburst
of art in France under François I^{er} and his immediate
successors.
It is impossible to characterize the =Renaissance= in a few
short sentences. In one aspect, it was a return from =Gothicism=
to =Classical usage=, somewhat altered by the new conditions of
life. At first you will probably only notice that in
architecture it substituted round arches for pointed, and
introduced square doors and windows; while in other arts it
replaced sacred and Christian subjects and treatment by
mythological and secular. But, in contrast with mediævalism, it
will reveal itself to you by degrees as essentially =the dawn of
the modern spirit=.
The =Louvre= is the noblest monument of the =French
Renaissance=. From the time of St. Louis onward, the French
kings began to live more and more in the northern suburb, the
town of the merchants, which now assumed the name of La Ville,
in contradistinction to the Cité and the Université. Two of
their chief residences here were the Bastille and the Hôtel St.
Paul, both now demolished—one, on the Place so called, the
other, between the Rue St. Antoine and the Quai des Célestins.
But from a very early period they also possessed a _château_ on
the site of the Louvre, and known by the same name, which
guarded the point where the wall of Philippe Auguste abutted on
the river. François I^{er} decided to pull down this picturesque
turreted mediæval castle, erected by Philippe Auguste and
altered by Charles V. He began the construction in its place of
a magnificent Renaissance palace, which has ever since been in
course of erection. Its subsequent growth, however, is best
explained opposite the building itself, where attention can be
duly called to the succession of its salient features. But a
visit to the exterior fabric of the Louvre should be preceded by
one to =St. Germain l’Auxerrois=, the parish church, and
practically the chapel, of the old Louvre, to which it stood in
somewhat the same relation as the Ste. Chapelle to the home of
St. Louis. Note, however, that the church was situated just
within the ancient wall, while the _château_ lay outside it. The
visitor will doubtless be tolerably familiar by this time with
some parts at least of the exterior of the Louvre; but he will
do well to visit it now =systematically=, in the order here
suggested, so as to gain a clear general idea of its history and
meaning.]
A. THE FABRIC
Go along the Rue de Rivoli, past the Palais Royal, till you reach the
Rue du Louvre. Turn down it, with the Louvre on your right. To your left
stands a curious composite building, with a detached belfry in the
centre, and two wings, as it seems, one on either side. The southernmost
wing is the old =church of St. Germain l’Auxerrois=, the sole remnant of
the earliest Louvre; the northernmost wing is the modern Mairie of the
1st Arrondissement, unhappily intended to “harmonize” with it. The real
result is, that the modern building kills the old one. The belfry was
designed to fill up the gap between the two. Its effect is disastrous.
The church is older than the oldest Louvre. St. Germanus, Bishop of
Auxerre (A.D. 430), was almost one of the first generation of Gallic
saints, celebrated for his visit to Britain, where he assisted in
gaining the Hallelujah victory over the heathen invaders. A church on
this site is said to have been erected in his honour as early as the
days of Chilperic. Sacked by the Normans, it was re-erected in something
like its present form in the 12th century, but received many subsequent
additions.
The beautiful =porch=, which we first examine, is of much later date,
having been added in 1431 by Jean Gaussel, at a time when the old
_château_ of the Louvre had become one of the principal residences of
the French kings, in order to give greater dignity, and to afford a
covered approach for the royal worshippers to what was practically their
own chapel. It therefore contains (restored) statues, in niches,
relating especially to the =royal and local Saints of Paris=, whose
names are beneath them:—St. Cloud, the Princess Ste. Clotilde, Ste.
Radégonde of France, St. Denis, St. Marcel, St. Germain himself, St.
Landry, Ste. Isabelle, Ste. Bathilde, St. Jean de Valois, and others.
The saints of the royal house are distinguished by crowns or coronets.
Two of these statues are old: St. Francis, at the south end, and St.
Mary of Egypt, nude, with her long hair, and the three loaves which
sustained her in the desert, on the second north pillar. The modern
frescoes, destroyed, are by Mottez.
Observe the congruity of all these saints to the church and the
_château_. St. Landry or Landeric, an early Frankish bishop of Paris,
was buried within, and his shrine was a place of pilgrimage. St. Marcel
was also a bishop of Paris. St. Cloud was a holy anchorite whose cell
was in the wood which occupied the site of the palace (now destroyed)
that bears his name. All these saints are therefore closely bound up
with the town of Paris and the royal family. You must never forget this
near alliance in France between the church and the crown: it colours all
the architecture of the early period.
Within the porch, we come to the =main façade=, of the 13th century. R
and L, two sainted bishops of Auxerre, successors of St. Germain.
Central portal, a queen, a king (probably Childebert and Ultrogothe, the
original Frankish founders), St. Vincent; then St. Germain himself, and
Ste. Geneviève, with the usual devil and candle, and her attendant
angel, etc. On the pier, Madonna and Child, under a canopy. The tympanum
had formerly the usual relief of the Last Judgment, now destroyed, and
replaced by a fresco. Reminiscences of its subject still remain in the
quaint figures to R and L on the arch, at its base, representing
respectively, with childish realism, the Jaws of Hell and Abraham’s
Bosom, to which the wicked and the just were consigned in the centre.
In this church, and in that of St. Germain-des-Prés (see later), =St.
Vincent= ranks as a local Parisian saint, because his tunic was
preserved in the great abbey church of the other St. Germain beyond the
river. He bears a martyr’s palm and is habited as a deacon; whence he is
often hard to distinguish from his brother deacon, St. Stephen: both are
often put together in Parisian churches. It is probable that St. Germain
of Paris consecrated this church to his older namesake and =St.
Vincent=—for his connection with whom you had better wait till you
visit St. Germain-des-Prés.
The =interior= is low, but impressive. The R aisle is entirely railed
off as a separate church or Lady Chapel. It contains an interesting
14th-century Root of Jesse, seldom accessible. Pretty modern font, by
Jouffroy, after Mme. de Lamartine, in the South Transept. Walk round the
Ambulatory (behind the Choir), and observe the stained glass and other
details, which the reader may now be trusted to discover unaided. A mass
of the detail is well worthy of notice. The Gothic pillars of the Choir
were converted in the 18th century into fluted columns. Over the
Sacristy, in the South Ambulatory, is a modern fresco of St. Germain and
St. Vincent. Note many other memorials of the latter. When you leave,
walk to the south side of the church to inspect the exterior and the
=square tower=, from which, as parish church of the Louvre, the bell
rang for the massacre of St. Bartholomew, to be answered by that in the
Palace on the island.
On emerging from the church, contrast its Gothic quaintness and richness
of detail with the cold, classical _façade_ of that part of the =Louvre=
which fronts you. This _façade_, known as Perrault’s Colonnade, with its
classical pediment and Corinthian columns, was erected by Claude
Perrault for Louis XIV, whose LL and crown appear on every part of it.
Nothing could better illustrate the profound difference between Gothic
and Classical architecture than this abrupt contrast.
The portion of the palace that faces you is the real =front door= of the
Louvre. Notice the smaller barred windows on the ground floor, and the
upper story converted into a _loggia_. Now pass in through the
=gateway=, under the Chariot of the Sun—an Apotheosis of Louis—into
the First Court, known distinctively as the =Cour du Louvre=. For all
that follows, consult the excellent coloured map in Baedeker, page 86. I
advise you to cut it out, and carry it round in your hand during this
excursion.
Begin by understanding distinctly that this court (le vieux Louvre) is
the real and =original Louvre=: the rest is mere excrescence, intended
to unite the main building with the Tuileries, which lay some hundreds
of yards to the west of it. Notice, first, that the Palace as a whole,
seen from the point where you now stand, is constructed on the old
principle of relatively blank external walls, like a castle, with an
interior courtyard, on which all the apartments open, and almost all the
decoration is lavished. Reminiscences of defence lurk about the Louvre.
It can best be understood by comparison with such ornate, yet
fortress-like, Italian palaces as the Strozzi at Florence. Notice the
four opposite portals, facing the cardinal points, which can be readily
shut by means of great doors; while the actual doorways of the various
suites of apartments open only into the protected courtyard. This is the
origin of the familiar French _porte-cochère_.
Again, the portion of the building that =directly faces you= as you
enter the court from St. Germain is the =oldest part=, and represents
the early Renaissance spirit. It is the most primitive Louvre. Note in
particular the central elevated portion, known as a _Pavillon_, and
graced with elegant Caryatides. These _Pavillons_ are lingering
reminiscences of the mediæval towers. You will find them in the corners
and centres of other blocks in the Louvre. They form a peculiarly French
Renaissance characteristic. The Palace is here growing out of the
Castle. The other three sides of the square are, on the whole, more
classical and later.
Now cross the square directly to the =Pavillon de l’Horloge=, as it is
called, from the clock which adorns it. To your L, on the floor of the
court, are two circular =white lines=, enclosed in a square. These mark
the site of the original _Château_ of the Louvre, with its Keep, or
_donjon_. François I^{er}, who began the existing building, originally
intended that his palace should cover the same area. It was he who
erected the L wing, which now faces you, marked by the crowned H on its
central round gable, placed there by his successor, Henri II, under whom
it was completed. To the same king are also due the monograms of H and D
(for Diane de Poitiers, his mistress), between the columns of the ground
floor. The whole of the Pavillon de l’Horloge, and of this west wing,
should be =carefully examined in detail= as the finest remaining
specimen of highly decorated French Renaissance architecture. (But the
upper story of the Pavillon, with the Caryatides, is an age later.)
Observe even the decoration lavished on the beautiful chimneys. Pierre
Lescot was the architect of this earliest wing; the exquisite sculpture
is by Jean Goujon, a Frenchman, and the Italian, Paolo Ponzio. Examine
much of it. The crossed K’s of certain panels stand for Catherine de
Médicis.
The R wing, beyond the _Pavillon_, was added, in the same style, under
Louis XIII, who decided to double the plan of his predecessors, and form
the existing Cour du Louvre.
The other three sides, in a more classic style, with pediments replacing
the Pavillons, and square porticoes instead of rounded gables, are for
the most part later. The S side, however, as far as the central door, is
also by Pierre Lescot. It forms one of the two fronts of the original
square first contemplated. The attic story of these three sides was
added under Louis XIV, to whom in the main is due this Cour du Louvre. A
considerable part of Louis XIV’s decorations bear reference to his
representation as _le roi soleil_.
Now, pass through the Pavillon de l’Horloge (called on its W side
Pavillon Sully) into the =second= of the three courts of the Louvre. To
understand this portion of the building, again, you must remember that
shortly after the erection of the Old Louvre, Catherine de Médicis began
to build her palace of the =Tuileries=, now destroyed, to the W of it.
She (and subsequent rulers) designed to unite the Old Louvre with the
Tuileries by a =gallery= which should run along the bank of the river.
Of that gallery, Catherine de Médicis herself erected a considerable
portion, to be described later, and Henri IV almost completed it. Later
on, Napoleon I conceived the idea of extending a similar gallery along
his new Rue de Rivoli, on the N side, so as to enclose the whole space
between the Louvre and the Tuileries in one gigantic double courtyard.
Napoleon III carried out his idea. The =second court= in which you now
stand is entirely flanked by buildings of this epoch—the Second Empire.
Examine it cursorily as far as the modern statue of Gambetta.
Stand or take a seat by the railing of the garden opposite the Pavillon
Sully. The part that now faces you forms a portion of the building of
François I^{er} and Louis XIII, re-decorated in part by Napoleon I. The
portions to your R and L (consult Baedeker’s map) are entirely of the
age of Napoleon III, built so as to conceal the want of parallelism of
the outer portions. Observe their characteristic Pavillons, each bearing
its own name inscribed upon it. This recent square, though quite modern
in the character of its sculpture and decoration, is Renaissance in its
general architecture, and, when looked back upon from the gardens of the
Tuileries, affords a most excellent idea of that stately style, as
developed in France under François I^{er}. The whole of this splendid
plan, however, has been rendered futile by the destruction of the
Tuileries, without which the enclosure becomes wholly meaningless.
Now, continue =westward,= pass the Monument of Gambetta, and take a seat
on the steps at the base, near the fine nude figure of Truth. In front
of you opens the =third square= of the Louvre, known as the =Place du
Carrousel=, and formerly enclosed on its W side by the Palace of the
Tuileries, which was unfortunately burnt down in 1871, during the
conflict between the Municipal and National authorities. Its place is
now occupied by a garden terrace, the view from which in all directions
is magnificent. Fronting you, as you sit, is the =Arc de Triomphe du
Carrousel=, erected under Napoleon I, by Percier and Fontaine, in
imitation of the Arch of Septimius Severus at Rome, and once crowned by
the famous bronze Roman horses from St. Mark’s at Venice. The arch,
designed as an approach to the Tuileries during the period of the
classical mania, is too small for its present surroundings, since the
removal of the Palace. The =N. wing=, visible to your R, is purely
modern, of the age of the First and Second Empire and the Third
Republic. The meretricious character of the reliefs in its extreme W.
portion, erected under the Emperor Napoleon III, and restored after the
Commune, is redolent of the spirit of that gaudy period. The =S. wing=,
to your L, forms part of the =connecting gallery= erected by Henri IV,
but its architecture is largely obscured by considerable alterations
under Napoleon III. Its W pavillon—known as the Pavillon de Flore—is
well worth notice.
Having thus gained a first idea of the =courtyard fronts= of the
building, continue your walk, still westward, along the S wing as far as
the Pavillon de Flore, a remaining portion of the corner edifice which
ran into one line with the Palace of the Tuileries (again consult
Baedeker’s map). Turn round the corner of the Pavillon to examine the S,
or =River Front= of the connecting gallery—one of the finest parts of
the whole building, but far less known to ordinary visitors than the
cold and uninteresting Northern line along the Rue de Rivoli. The first
portion, as far as the gateways, belongs originally to the age of Henri
IV; but it was entirely reconstructed under Napoleon III, whose
obtrusive N appears in many places on the gateways and elsewhere.
Nevertheless, it still preserves, on the whole, some reminiscence of its
graceful Renaissance architecture. Beyond the main gateway (with modern
bronze Charioteer of the Sun), flanked by the Pavillons de la Trémoille
and de Lesdiguières, we come upon the long =Southern Gallery= erected by
Catherine de Médicis, which still preserves almost intact its splendid
early French Renaissance decoration. This is one of the noblest portions
of the entire building. The N here gives place to H’s, and the
Renaissance scroll-work and reliefs almost equal those in that portion
of the old Louvre which was erected under François I^{er}. Sit on a seat
on the Quay and examine the sculpture. Notice particularly the splendid
Porte Jean Goujon, conspicuous from afar by its gilded balcony. Its
crowned H’s and coats-of-arms are specially interesting examples of the
decorative work of the period. Note also the skill with which this
almost flat range is relieved by sculpture and decoration so as to make
us oblivious of the want of that variety usually given by jutting
portions. The end of this long gallery is formed by two handsome windows
with balconies. We there come to the connecting =Galerie d’Apollon=, of
which these windows are the termination, and finally reach once more a
portion of Perrault’s façade, with its double LL’s, erected under Louis
XIV, and closely resembling the interior _façade_ of the Cour du Louvre.
(The N side you can examine any day as you pass along the Rue de Rivoli.
You will now have no difficulty in distinguishing its various
factors—first, on the E, a part of Perrault’s _façade_ of the Old
Louvre; then, where it begins to bend outward, a portion of Napoleon the
Third’s connecting link; finally, beyond the main carriage way,
westward, a part reconstructed under the Third Republic.)
Sit awhile on the adjacent Pont des Arts to gain a general conception of
the relations of the Louvre, the Île de la Cité, the Hôtel de Ville and
other surrounding buildings.
This first rough idea of the Louvre should be filled in later by
detailed study. The Renaissance portions, in particular, you should look
at again and again, every time you enter piecing out your conceptions at
a later stage by visiting the Renaissance Sculpture Gallery in the Cour
du Louvre, and comparing the works inside it and outside it. Thus only
can you gain a connected idea of Renaissance Paris, to be further
supplemented by frequent visits to St. Étienne-du-Mont, St. Eustache,
and Fontainebleau.
B. THE COLLECTIONS
[The Collections in the Louvre have no such necessary organic
connection with Paris itself as Notre-Dame and the
Sainte-Chapelle, or even those in the rooms at Cluny. They may,
therefore, be examined by the visitor at _any_ period of his
visit that he chooses. I would advise him, however, whenever he
takes them up, to begin with the paintings, _in the order here
enumerated_, and then to go on to the Classical and Renaissance
Sculpture. The last-named, at least, he should only examine in
connection with the rest of Renaissance Paris. Also, while it is
unimportant whether he takes first Painting or Sculpture, it is
very important that he should take each separately in the
=chronological order= here enumerated. He should not skip from
room to room, hap-hazard, but see what he sees systematically.
At least =six days=—far more, if possible—should be devoted to
the Louvre Collections—by far the most important objects to be
seen in Paris. Of these, =four= should be assigned to the
Paintings, and one each to the Classical and Renaissance
Sculpture. If this is impossible, do not try to see all; see a
=little thoroughly=. Confine yourself, for Painting, to the
Salon Carré and the Salle des Primitifs, and for Sculpture, to a
hasty walk through the Classical Gallery and to the three
Western rooms of the Renaissance collection.
The object of the hints which follow is _not to describe_ the
Collections in the Louvre; it is to put the reader =on the right
track= for understanding and enjoying them. It is impossible to
make people admire beautiful things; but if you begin by trying
to comprehend them, you will find admiration and sympathy grow
with comprehension. =Religious symbolism is the native language
of early art=, and you cannot expect to understand the art if
you do not take the trouble to learn the language in which it is
written. Therefore, do not walk listlessly through the
galleries, with a glance, right or left, at what happens to
catch your eye; begin at the beginning, work systematically
through what parts you choose, and endeavour to grasp the
sequence and evolution of each group separately. Stand or sit
long before every work, till you feel you know it; and return
frequently. Remember, too, that I do not point out always what
is most worthy of notice, but rather suggest a mode of arriving
at facts which might otherwise escape you. Many beautiful
objects explain themselves, or fall so naturally into their
proper place in a series that you will readily discover their
meaning and importance without external aid. With others, you
may need a little help, to suggest a point of view, and that is
all that these brief notes aim at. Do not be surprised if I pass
by many beautiful and interesting things; if you find them out
for yourself, there is no need to enlarge upon them. Should
these hints succeed in interesting you in the succession and
development of art, get Mrs. Jameson and Kugler, and read up at
leisure in your rooms all questions suggested to you by your
visits to the galleries. My notes are intended to be looked at
=before the objects themselves=, and merely to open a door to
their right comprehension.
The galleries are open, free, daily, except Mondays. Painting
from 9, Sculpture from 11. For details, see Baedeker.]
I. PAINTINGS.
Take Baedeker’s Plan of the Galleries (1st Floor) with you. Enter by the
door in the Pavillon Denon. (Sticks and umbrellas left here; tip
optional.) Turn to L and traverse long hall with reproductions of famous
antiques in bronze (Laocoon, Medici Venus, Apollo Belvedere, etc.),
which those who do not intend to visit Rome and Florence will do well to
examine. Observe, in passing, in the centre of the hall, a fine antique
sarcophagus, with figures in high relief, representing the story of
Achilles. Begin on the furthest side of the sarcophagus: (1) Achilles,
disguised as a woman, among the daughters of Lycomedes, in order to
avoid the Trojan war; (2) is discovered by Ulysses as a pedlar, through
his choice of arms instead of trinkets; (3) arming himself for the
combat; and (4, modern) Priam redeeming the body of Hector. (The work
originally stood against a wall, and had therefore three decorative
sides only.) Further on, fine sarcophagus from Salonica, Roman period,
with Combat of Amazons, representing on the lid husband and wife,
couched, somewhat after the Etruscan fashion.
Mount the staircase (Escalier Daru). Near the top is the famous Nikè of
Samothrace, a much-mutilated winged figure of Victory, standing like a
figure-head on the prow of a trireme. It was erected by Demetrius
Poliorcetes, in commemoration of a naval engagement in B.C. 305.
Attitude and drapery stamp the work as one of the finest products of
Hellenic art. Victory alights on the vessel of the conqueror.
Turn to your L just before reaching the last flight, and pass several
Etruscan sarcophagi and sarcophagus-shaped funereal urns, many with the
deceased and his wife on the lid, accompanied in some cases by
protecting genii. The early Etruscans buried; the later often burned
their dead, but continued to enclose the ashes in miniature sarcophagi.
At the top, on the L, a fresco by _Fra Angelico_, the Dominican painter,
St. Dominic embracing the Cross, with the Madonna and St. John
Evangelist: not a first-rate example of the master. End wall, R of door,
a fresco by _Botticelli_, Giovanni Tornabuoni receiving the Muses.
Opposite it, L of door, another by the same, Giovanna his wife receiving
the Graces, and accompanied by Cupid. These two frescoes stood in the
hall of the owner’s villa, and gracefully typify the husband
entertaining Literature, Science, and Art, while the wife extends
hospitality to Love, Youth, and Beauty. Descend one flight of staircase
again, passing yet other Etruscan sarcophagi (which examine), and,
mounting opposite stairs, pass the Nikè and turn to your R. Traverse the
photograph-room and the Salle Duchâtel beyond it, as well as the Salon
Carré. Enter the Long Gallery, and, taking the first door to your R, you
arrive at once in Room I (Baedeker’s VII), the
Salle des Primitifs.
The pictures in this room consist for the most part of those by early
followers of Giotto, and by members of the schools which sprang from
him, till the moment of the Renaissance. As these earliest pictures
strike the key-note of types, continued and developed later, it is
absolutely necessary to examine them _all_ very closely. In most cases,
subject and treatment were rigorously prescribed by custom; scenes recur
again and again, almost identically. Where saints are grouped round the
Madonna, they were _ordered_ by the purchaser, and oftenest represent
his own patrons. In order to obtain a chronological view, begin at the
centre of the end wall. Most of these pictures are altar-pieces. I
follow the =small numbers below=, the only ones for which a detailed
catalogue is yet published.
=*=153. _Cimabue_ (the point of departure for Tuscan art); Madonna and
Child with six angels. Almost a replica of the great picture in Santa
Maria Novella at Florence; gold ground; the Madonna’s face still
strongly Byzantine in type, with almond-shaped eyes; the Child, draped,
after the earlier fashion. Later, he is represented nude. Observe,
however, the greater artistic freedom in the treatment of the attendant
angels, where Cimabue was slightly less hampered by conventional
precedents. Do not despise this picture because of its stiffness and its
archaic style. It is an immense advance upon the extremely wooden
Byzantine models which preceded it: and in the angels it really
approaches correctness of drawing.
225. (Skied) _Don Lorenzo Monaco._ A Tabernacle for an altar of St.
Lawrence; centre, St. Lawrence, enthroned on his gridiron; L, St. Agnes
with her lamb; R, St. Margaret with her dragon, all on gold grounds. A
poor example. This Saint is usually represented in deacon’s robes. The
other saints are probably those who shared the chapel with him. See the
much later St. Margaret by Raphael as an example of Renaissance
treatment of the same figure.
=*=192. _Giotto._ St. Francis receiving the Stigmata. A genuine picture,
painted for the saint’s own church of San Francesco at Pisa; one of the
earliest representations of this subject, often afterwards copied.
Christ, as a six-winged seraph, red-feathered, appears in heaven to the
Saint; rays proceed from his five wounds to the hands, feet, and side of
St. Francis, which they impress with similar marks. A mountain
represents La Vernia; two tiny buildings, the monastery. Compare with
this subject two smaller treatments in the same room, both on the lowest
tier: one, to the L as you go towards the door, 431, of the school of
Perugino, where an attendant Brother (Leo) is seen astonished at the
vision; the second on the R, 287, attributed to Pesello, and closely
similar in treatment. Careful comparison of these pictures will serve to
show the close way in which early painters imitated, or almost copied
one another. The base (or predella) of the Giotto also contains three
other subjects: Innocent III, asleep, is shown by St. Peter the falling
church sustained by St. Francis; he confirms the Franciscan order; St.
Francis preaches to the birds. All very spirited. Notice these little
pictures for comparison later with others painted in the Dominican
interest by Fra Angelico.
Continuing along L wall are some small pictures of the Sienese school,
which should be carefully examined. (Do not suppose that because I do
not call attention to a picture it is necessarily unworthy of notice.)
Most of these little works breathe the pure piety and ecstatic feeling
of the School of Siena.
=**=426. _Perugino._ Tondo, or round picture; the Madonna Enthroned; L,
St. Rose with her roses; R, St. Catherine with her palm of martyrdom;
behind, adoring angels. An exquisite example of the affected tenderness,
delicate grace, and brilliant colouring of the Umbrian master, from
whose school Raphael proceeded. An early specimen. Observe the dainty
painting of the feet and hands, which is highly characteristic.
Beneath it, 1701, _Gentile da Fabriano_. Presentation in the Temple.
Look closely into it. A delicate little example of the Umbrian rival of
Fra Angelico. The arrangement will explain many later ones. Every one of
the figures and their attitudes are conventional.
427. _Perugino._ Madonna and Child, with St. John Baptist and St.
Catherine. The introduction of St. John shows the picture to have been
probably painted for a Florentine patron. Not a pleasing example.
Beneath it, _Vittore Pisano_, characteristic portrait of an Este
princess, in the hard, dry, accurate manner of this Veronese medallist,
who borrowed from his earlier art the habit of painting profiles in
strong low relief, with a plastic effect.
_Perugino._ St. Sebastian. One of the loveliest examples of the Umbrian
master’s later manner. Contrasted with the Madonna and St. Rose it shows
the distance covered by art during the painter’s lifetime. Observe its
greater freedom and knowledge of anatomy. St. Sebastian, bound as usual
to a pillar in a ruined temple, is pierced through with arrows. Face,
figure, and expression are unusually fine for Perugino. Sebastian was
the great saint for protection against the plague, and pictures
containing him are almost always votive offerings under fear of that
pestilence. Many in this gallery. The face here is finer than in any
other presentation I know, except Sodoma’s in the Uffizi at Florence.
258. _Lombard or Piedmontese School._ Annunciation. An unusual
treatment; the Madonna, as always, kneels at a _prie-dieu_, and starts
away, alarmed and timid, at the apparition of the angel Gabriel. The
action, as usual, takes place in a _loggia_, but the angel is
represented as descending _in flight_ through the air, an extremely
uncommon mode of depicting him. He bears the white lily of the
Annunciation. The other details are conventional. Contrast with this
subsequent Annunciations in this Gallery. L, are St. Augustin and St.
Jerome; R, St. Stephen, bearing on his head, as often, the stones of his
martyrdom, accompanied by St. Peter Martyr the Dominican, with the knife
in his head. Both saints carry palms of martyrdom. A good picture in a
hard, dry, local manner.
Now cross over to the =opposite side= of the room, beginning at the
bottom, in order to preserve the chronological sequence.
196. _School of Giotto._ Madonna in Glory, with angels. Compare this
treatment carefully with Cimabue’s great picture close by, in order to
notice the advance in art made in the interval. The subject and general
arrangement are the same, but observe the irregularity in the placing of
the angels, and the increased knowledge of anatomy and expression.
Close by are several other =Giottesque pictures=, all of which should be
closely examined; especially 425, _Vanni_, the same subject, for
comparison. The little Giottesque Death of St. Bernard, in particular,
is a characteristic example or type of a group which deals in the same
manner with saintly obsequies. All of them will suggest explanations of
later pictures. In all these cases, the saint lies on a bier in the
foreground, surrounded by mourning monks and ecclesiastics. The key-note
was struck by Giotto’s fresco of the Death of St. Francis at Santa Croce
in Florence.
187. _Agnolo Gaddi._ Annunciation; a characteristic example. Note the
loggia, and the angel with the lily; the introduction of a second angel,
however, is a rare variation from the type. In the corner is the Father
despatching the Holy Spirit. Attitude of the Madonna characteristic;
study carefully. No subject sheds more light on the methods of early art
than the Annunciation. It always takes place in an arcade: the Madonna
is almost always to the right of the picture: and _prie-dieu_, book, and
bed are frequent accessories.
666. Quaint little Florentine picture of St. Nicolas, throwing three
purses of gold as a dowry inside the house of a poor and starving
nobleman.
Next to it, unnumbered, Gregory the Great sees the Angel of the Plague
sheathing his sword on the Castle of St. Angelo, so called from this
vision.
494. St. Jerome in the Desert; lion, skull, crucifix, rocks, cardinal’s
hat, all characteristic of the subject. In the foreground, a Florentine
lily; in the background, Christ and the infant Baptist, patron of
Florence; background L, St. Augustine and the angel who tries to empty
the sea into a hole made with a bucket—a well-known allegory of the
attempt of the finite to comprehend the Infinite. Look out elsewhere for
such minor episodes.
_Fra Angelico._ Martyrdom of Sts. Cosmo and Damian, the holy physicians
and (therefore) patron saints of the Medici family; a characteristic
example of the saintly friar’s colouring in small subjects. These two
Medici saints are naturally frequent in Florentine art.
662. _Fra Angelico._ Story of the death of St. John Baptist. Three
successive episodes represented in the same picture. The lithe figure of
the daughter of Herodias, dancing, is very characteristic.
166. Battle scene, by _Paolo Uccello_. Showing vigorous efforts at
mastery of perspective and foreshortening, as yet but partially
successful. The wooden character of the horses is conspicuous. Paolo
Uccello was one of the group of early scientific artists, who
endeavoured to improve their knowledge of optics and of the sciences
ancillary to painting.
199. _Benozzo Gozzoli._ Glory of St. Thomas Aquinas, the great
=Dominican= teacher. This is an apotheosis of scholasticism, in the
person of its chief representative. R and L stand Aristotle and Plato,
the heathen philosophers, in deferential attitudes, recognising their
master. Beneath his feet is Guillaume de St. Amour, a vanquished
heretic. Below, the entire Church—pope, cardinals, doctors—receiving
instruction from St. Thomas. Above, the Eternal Father signifying His
approval in a Latin inscription, surrounded by the Evangelists with
their symbols—angel, winged lion, bull, eagle. The inscription imports,
“Thomas has well spoken of Me.” The style is archaic: the council is
supposed to be that of Agnani, presided over by Pope Alexander IV. Among
the celestial personages, notice St. Paul, Moses, and others. Pictures
of this double sort, embracing scenes in heaven and on earth, are common
in Italy.
Beneath it (287), part 2. _Pesello._ St. Cosmo and St. Damian affixing
the leg of a dead Moor to a wounded Christian, on whom they have been
compelled to practise amputation. The costumes are the conventional ones
for these saints. Remember them. This astounding miracle is often
represented at Florence: the dead man’s leg grew on the living one.
=**=182. _Fra Angelico._ A Coronation of the Virgin, painted for a
=Dominican= church at Fiesole. In the foreground, St. Louis of France,
with a crown of fleur-de-lis; St. Zenobius, Bishop of Florence, with the
lamb of the Baptist on his crosier (indicating his see); St. Mary
Magdalen, in red, with long yellow hair (so almost always), and (her
symbol) the box of ointment; St. Catherine with her wheel; St. Agnes
with her lamb, and others. Above St. Louis stands St. Dominic, founder
of Fra Angelico’s order, recognisable by his robes, with his red star
and white lily (the usual attributes); beneath him, a little to the R,
St. Thomas Aquinas, with a book sending forth rays of light, to signify
his teaching function. Near him, St. Francis. Other Saints, such as St.
Lawrence with his gridiron, and St. Peter Martyr, the Dominican, with
his wounded head, must be left to the spectator. In the background,
choirs of angels. Beneath, in the =predella=, the history of =St.
Dominic= (marked by a red star); Pope Innocent in a dream sees him
sustaining the falling Church (a Dominican variant of the story of St.
Francis in the Giotto, at the end): he receives his commission from St.
Peter and St. Paul; he restores to life the young man Napoleon, killed
by a fall from a horse (seen to left); he converts heretics and burns
their books; he is fed with his brethren by angels in his convent at
Rome; and his death and apotheosis. This picture deserves most careful
study—say two hours. It is one of Fra Angelico’s finest easel paintings
(his best are frescoes), and it is full of interest for its
glorification of the Dominicans. Compare the St. Thomas Aquinas with
Benozzo Gozzoli’s: and remember in studying the predella that St.
Dominic founded the Inquisition. The tender painting of this lovely work
needs no commendation.
222. _School of Filippo Lippi._ Madonna and angels, characteristic of
the type of this painter and his followers.
Above it, _Neri di Bicci_. Madonna, very wooden. He was a belated
Giottesque, who turned out such antiquated types by hundreds in the 15th
century.
_School of Benozzo Gozzoli._ Madonna and Child. L, St. Cosmo and St.
Damian, with pens and surgeons’ boxes; St. Jerome, with stone, lion, and
cardinal’s hat; his pen and book denote him as translator of the
Vulgate. R, St. John Baptist (representing Florence); St. Francis with
the Stigmata; St. Lawrence. The combination of Saints shows the picture
to have been painted in compliment to Lorenzo de’ Medici. Minor subjects
around it are worthy of study.
Now =cross over the room= again. You come at once upon four pictures of
nearly the same size, painted for the Court of the Gonzaga family at
Mantua. Allegorical subjects, intended for the decoration of a hall or
boudoir. Most of those pictures we have hitherto examined have been
sacred: we now get an indication of the nascent Renaissance taste for
myth and allegory.
429. _Perugino._ Combat of Love and Chastity. A frequent subject for
such situations, showing Perugino at his worst. Compare it with the
other three of the series.
253. _Mantegna._ Wisdom conquering the Vices. A characteristic but
unpleasing example of this great Paduan painter. Admirable in anatomy,
drawing, and perspective: poor in effect. Observe the festoons in the
background, which are favourites with the artist and his school.
=*=252. _Mantegna._ The amours of Mars and Venus discovered by (her
husband) Vulcan. A beautiful composition. The guilty pair, with a couch,
stand on a mountain, representing Parnassus, accompanied by Cupid.
Below, exquisite group of the Nine Muses dancing (afterwards imitated by
Guido). To the L, Apollo with his lyre, as musician. R, Mercury and
Pegasus. In the background, the injured Vulcan discovering the lovers.
This splendid specimen of early Renaissance art is one of Mantegna’s
finest. Study it in detail, and compare with the other three which it
accompanies. Observe the life and movement in the dancing Muses: also,
the growing Renaissance love for the nude, exemplified in the Venus.
154. _Costa._ The Court of Isabella d’Este. The meaning of the figures
is now undecipherable, but the general character indicates peace, and
devotion to literature, science and art. A fine example of the Ferrarese
master.
Between these four, =**=_Mantegna_; (251), Madonna della Vittoria, a
most characteristic picture, painted for Giovanni Francesco Gonzaga,
Marquis of Mantua, to commemorate his victory over Charles VIII of
France. The Madonna is enthroned under a most characteristic canopy of
fruit and flowers, with pendents of coral and other decorative adjuncts.
L, Gonzaga himself, kneeling in gratitude—a ruffianly face,
well-painted. R, St. Elizabeth, mother of the Baptist, with St. John
Baptist himself, representing the Marquis’s wife. Behind, the patron
Saints of Mantua, who assisted in the victory: St. Michael the Archangel
(the warrior saint—a most noble figure), St. Andrew (Mantegna’s
name-Saint), St. Longinus, who pierced the side of Christ, and St.
George. The whole is exquisitely beautiful. The detail deserves long and
attentive study. The reliefs on the pedestal are characteristic. From
the church of the same name, erected in commemoration of the victory (of
the Taro). I will return hereafter at greater length to this lovely
picture.
Above, to the L (=*=418), _Cosimo Tura_. Pietà, or body of Christ wept
over by the Madonna and angels. In drawing and colouring, a
characteristic example of this harsh, but very original and powerful,
Ferrarese master. You will come hereafter on many Pietàs. Compare them
all, and note the attitude and functions of the angels.
=Cross over again= to the opposite side. (183), _Botticelli_. Round
Madonna and angels, very characteristic as to the drawing, but inferior
in technique to most of his works.
221. _Filippo Lippi._ Madonna in Glory, with angels. The roundness of
the faces, especially in the child angels, is very characteristic. At
her feet, two Florentine patron saints. The absence of symbols makes
them difficult to identify, but I think they represent St. Zenobius and
St. Antonine. Very fine.
184. _Botticelli._ Madonna and Child, with St. John of Florence. The
wistful expressions strike the key-note of this painter. Compare with
nameless Florentine Madonna of the same school above it.
220. _Fra Filippo Lippi._ Nativity. Worthy of careful study, especially
for the accessories: St. Joseph, the stall and bottle, the saddle, ox
and ass, and wattles, ruined temple, etc., which reappear in many
similar pictures. Not a favourable example of the master. Beneath it,
little fragments with St. Peter Martyr, Visitation, Christ and Magdalen,
meeting of Francis and Dominic, and St. Paul the Hermit. An odd
conglomeration, whose meaning cannot now be deciphered. The ruined
temple, frequently seen in Nativities and Adorations of the Magi,
typifies the downfall of Paganism before the advance of Christianity.
Beside it, _Ghirlandajo_. Portrait of bottle-nosed man and child.
Admirable and characteristic.
=**=202. _Ghirlandajo._ Visitation. Probably the master’s finest easel
picture. Splendid colour. Attitudes of the Madonna and St. Elizabeth
characteristic of the type. The scene habitually takes place in front of
a portal, as here, with the heads of the main actors more or less
silhouetted against the arch in the background. At the sides, Mary
Salome, and “the other Mary.” Such saints are introduced merely as
spectators: they need not even be contemporary: they are included in
purely ideal groupings. At Florence, in a similar scene, the as yet
unborn St. John the Baptist stands by as an assessor.
185. Venus and Cupid, of the school of _Botticelli_. Very pleasing.
347. _Cosimo Rosselli._ Madonna in an almond-shaped glory (Mandorla) of
red and blue cherubs. L, the Magdalen; R, St. Bernard, to whom she
appeared, writing down his vision; about, adoring angels. A
characteristic example of this harsh Florentine painter.
156. We come at once upon the High Renaissance in _Lorenzo di Credi’s_
beautiful Virgin and Child, flanked by St. Julian and St. Nicholas.
Observe the three balls of gold in the corner by the latter’s feet,
representative of the three purses thrown to the nobleman’s daughters.
Notice also the Renaissance architecture and decorations. In pictures of
this class, the saints to accompany the Madonna were _ordered_ by the
person giving the commission; the artist could only exercise his
discretion as to the grouping. Notice how this varies with the advance
of the Renaissance: at first stiffly placed in pairs, the saints finally
form a group with characteristic action. The execution of this lovely
work shows Lorenzo as one of the finest artists of his period.
70. _Bianchi_, a rare Ferrarese master. Madonna enthroned, with Saints.
The angel on the step is characteristically Ferrarese, as are also the
reliefs and architecture.
467. Ascetic figure of San Giovanni di Capistrano.
435. _School of Perugino._ Little Madonna, in an almond-shaped glory of
cherubs. The shape belongs to Christ, or saints, ascending into glory.
Next it, front of a chest, containing the story of Europa and the Bull.
Several episodes are combined in a single picture. To the extreme L, the
transformed lover, like the prince in a fairy tale. Most gracefully
treated.
61. _Bellini._ Madonna and Child, between St. Peter and St. Sebastian; a
plague picture. These half-length Madonnas are very characteristic of
Venetian art of the period. The Madonna’s face and strong neck also very
Venetian. Observe them as the type on which Titian’s are modelled. Look
long at this soft and melting picture. The gentle noble face, the dainty
dress, the beautiful painting of the nude in the St. Sebastian, are all
redolent of the finest age of Venetian painting.
Above it, a good _Tura_. Compare with previous one.
60. _School of Gentile Bellini._ Venetian ambassador received at Cairo.
Oriental tinge frequent at Venice. This gate can still be recognised at
Cairo. The figures are all portraits, and the painter probably
accompanied the ambassador, Domenico Trevisano.
Beneath it (59), two fine portraits by _Gentile Bellini_.
664. Characteristic little _Montagna_; angels at the base of a Madonna
now destroyed. Compare the Bianchi almost opposite. Such angels are
frequent in the school of Bellini.
152. Attributed to _Cima_. Madonna Enthroned, with St. John Baptist and
the Magdalen. These lofty thrones and landscape backgrounds of the
Friuli country are frequent with Cima and Venetian painters of his
period.
113. _Carpaccio._ Preaching of St. Stephen. One of a series of the Life
of St. Stephen, now scattered. The saint is in deacon’s robes, as usual;
oriental costumes mark the intercourse of Venice with the East. Observe
the architecture, a graceful compound of Venetian and oriental.
Over the doorway, Fresco of God the Father, in an almond-shaped glory,
from the Villa Magliana. Purchased as a Raphael, probably by _Lo
Spagna_.
Return frequently to this room, and study it deeply. It will give you
the key to all the others.
Now traverse the Salon Carré and enter the
Salle Duchâtel.
On the R wall are two exquisite frescoes by _Luini_, removed entire from
walls in Milan. To the L, the Adoration of the Magi, exquisitely tender
and graceful; study it closely as an example both of painter and
subject, noting the ages and attitudes of the Three Kings, the youngest
(as usual) a Moor, and the exquisite face and form of the Madonna. To
the R, a Nativity, equally characteristic. Look long at them. Between,
Christ blessing, not quite so beautiful; and Genii with grapes, an
antique motive. Above are three other frescoes of the school of Luini,
not so fine. Centre, Annunciation, the Madonna separated (as often) from
the angel by a lily. The Madonna never approaches the angel, and is
usually divided by a wall or barrier.
On the screen by door, good portraits by _Antonio Moro_.
Other side of door (680), Madonna and Child, with the donors of the
picture, by _Hans Memling_. This beautiful =Flemish= picture well
represents the characteristics of Flemish as opposed to Italian art.
Notice the want of ideality in the Virgin and Child, contrasted with the
admirable portraiture of the donors, the chief of whom is introduced by
his namesake, St. James, recognisable by his staff and scallop-shell.
The female donors, several of whom are Dominican nuns, are similarly
introduced by their founder, St. Dominic, whose black-and-white robes
and star-like halo serve to identify him. Observe the exquisite finish
of the hair and all the details. Study this work for the Flemish spirit.
At the far end of the room are two pictures by _Ingres_, marking the
interval covered by French art during the lifetime of that great
painter. L, Œdipus and the Sphinx, produced in the classical period of
the master’s youth, while he was still under the malign influence of
David. R, La Source, perhaps the most exquisitely virginal delineation
of the nude ever achieved in painting.
After having traversed these two rooms the spectator will probably be
able to attack the
Salon Carré,
which contains what are considered by the authorities as the gems of the
collection, irrespective of period or country (a very regrettable
jumble). Almost all of them, therefore, deserve attention. I shall
direct notice here chiefly to those which require some =explanation=.
Begin to the L of the door which leads from the Salle Duchâtel.
Close to the door, Apollo and Marsyas: a delicate little _Perugino_,
attributed to Raphael. Good treatment of the nude, and painted like a
miniature. Renaissance feeling. Compare it with the St. Sebastian in the
Salle des Primitifs.
Above it, _Jehan de Paris_. Madonna and Child, with the donors; a
characteristic and exceptionally beautiful example of the =early French
school=. Contrast its character with the Italian and Flemish. Extremely
regal and fond of tinsel ornament.
20. _Correggio._ Jupiter and Antiope, a good example of his
Correggiosity and marvellous arrangement of light and shade. Very late
Renaissance. Perfection of art; very little feeling.
=*=446. _Titian._ Entombment. A fine but faded example of the colour and
treatment of the prince of the Venetian Renaissance.
231. _Luini._ Virgin and Child. Not a pleasing example.
=*=419 and =**=417. Two admirable portraits by _Rembrandt_.
=**=250. _Mantegna._ Crucifixion, predella or base of the great picture
in San Zeno at Verona. Notice the admirable antique character of the
soldiers casting lots for Christ’s raiment. The rocks are very
Mantegnesque in treatment. One of the artist’s finest pictures. Spend
some time before it. We will return again to this fine painting.
381. _Andrea del Sarto._ Holy Family. Showing well the character of this
master’s tender and melting colour: also, the altered Renaissance
treatment of the subject.
Beyond the doorway, two dainty little _Memlings_. Marriage of St.
Catherine (the Alexandrian princess) to the Infant Christ; and, the
Donor with St. John Baptist and his lamb. When a saint places his hand
on a votary’s shoulder, it usually indicates the patron whose name the
votary bears.
Near it, graceful little St. Sebastian of the Umbrian school. Compare
with others. This plague-saint is one of the few to whom mediæval piety
permitted nudity.
=*=370. _Raphael._ The great St. Michael, painted for François I^{er}.
Admirable in its instantaneous dramatic action. This picture may be
taken, in its spirit and vigour, as marking the culminating point of the
Italian Renaissance as here represented.
Near it, _Titian_. The Man with the Glove: a fine portrait.
=**=19. _Correggio._ The Marriage of St. Catherine. This is a
characteristic treatment, by the great painter of Parma, of this
mystical subject. St. Catherine is treated as an Italian princess of his
own time, on whose finger the infant Christ playfully places a ring. The
action has absolutely no mystic solemnity. Behind, stands St. Sebastian,
with his arrows to mark him (without them you would not know him from a
classical figure), looking on with amused attention. His smile is
lovely. In the background, episodes of the martyrdom of St. Sebastian,
proving this to be probably a plague picture. But the whole work, though
admirable as art, has in it nothing of religion, and may be aptly
compared as to tone with the Education of Cupid by the same artist in
the National Gallery. Nothing could surpass the beauty of the light and
shade, and the exquisite colouring. Study it as a type of the last word
of the humanist Renaissance against mediæval spirituality. Compare it
with the Memling close by: and, if you have been at Milan, with the
exquisitely dainty Luini in the Poldi-Pezzoli Museum.
Above it, a Holy Family by _Murillo_. Spanish and theatrical.
The greater part of this wall is taken up by an enormous canvas (95), by
_Paolo Veronese_, representing the Marriage at Cana of Galilee, from the
refectory (or dining-hall) of San Giorgio Maggiore at Venice. Pictures
of this subject, or of the Last Supper, or of the Feast in the House of
Levi, were constantly placed as appropriate decorations to fill the end
wall of monastic refectories (like the famous Leonardo at Milan), and
were often therefore gigantic in size. This monstrous and very effective
composition (proudly pointed out by the guides as “the largest
oil-painting in the world”) contains nothing of sacred, and merely
reflects with admirable skill the lordly character of the Italian
Renaissance. In the centre of the table, one barely notices the figures
of the Christ and the Madonna. Attention is distracted both from them
and from the miracle of the wine by the splendid architecture of the
background, the loggias, the accessories, and the gorgeous guests, many
of them representing contemporary sovereigns (among them François
I^{er}, Eleanor of Austria, Charles V, and Sultan Soliman). The group of
musicians in the centre foreground is also composed of portraits—this
time of contemporary painters (Titian, Tintoretto, etc.). As a whole, a
most characteristic picture both of the painter and his epoch, worth
some study, and full of good detail.
=**=39. _Giorgione._ Pastoral scene, with nude figures. One of the few
undoubted pictures by this master, whose genuineness is admitted by
Morelli, though much repainted. Should be studied as an example of the
full flush of the Venetian Renaissance, and of the great master who so
deeply affected it. Notice the admirable painting of the nude, and the
fine landscape in the background. Contrast with the Bellinis in the
Salle des Primitifs, in order to mark time and show the advance in
technique and spirit. Giorgione set a fashion, followed later by Titian
and others. Compare this work with Titian’s Jupiter and Antiope in the
Long Gallery.
Above it (=*=427) _Rubens_. Adoration of the Magi. A splendid picture.
Interesting also as showing how far Rubens transformed the conceptions
of the earlier masters. Compare it with the Luini in the Salle Duchâtel,
and other Adorations in this gallery. Full of gorgeousness, dash, and
certainty of execution.
37. _Antonello da Messina._ Characteristic hard-faced portrait by this
excellent Sicilian artist.
=**=459. _Leonardo._ St. Anne and the Virgin. This great artist can be
better studied in the Louvre than anywhere else in the world. This
picture, not perhaps entirely by his own hand, is noticeable for the
beautiful and very Leonardesque face of St. Anne, the playful figure of
the infant Christ, and the admirable blue-toned landscape in the
background. The smiles are also thoroughly Leonardesque. Notice the
excellent drawing of the feet. The curious composition—the Virgin
sitting on St. Anne’s lap—is traditional. Two or three examples of it
occur in the National Gallery. Leonardo transformed it. He is the great
scientific artist of the Florentine Renaissance.
208. _Hans Holbein_, the younger. Admirable portrait of Erasmus. Full of
character. Note carefully. The hands alone are worth much study. How
soft they are, and how absolutely the hands of a scholar immersed in his
reading and writing.
108. _Clouet._ Elizabeth of Austria. A fine example of the early French
school, marking well its hard manner and literal accuracy. It shows the
style in vogue in Paris before the School of Fontainebleau (Italian
artists introduced by François I^{er}) had brought in Renaissance
methods.
=**=162. _Van Eyck._ Madonna and Child, with the Chancellor Rollin in
adoration. Perhaps Van Eyck’s masterpiece. Notice the comparatively
wooden Flemish Madonna and Child, contrasted with the indubitable
vitality and character in the face of the Chancellor. This picture is a
splendid example of the highest evolution of that type in which a votary
is exhibited adoring the Madonna—the primitive form of portrait: “paint
me in the corner, as giving the picture.” Every detail of this finished
work deserves long and close inspection. Notice the elaboration of the
ornaments, and the delicious glimpse of landscape through the arcade in
the background. Compare with the Memlings; also, with contemporary
Italian work in the Salle des Primitifs.
=**=362. _Raphael._ Madonna and Child, with infant St. John, known as
_La Belle Jardinière_. To the familiar group of the Madonna and Child,
Florentine painters and sculptors early added the infant Baptist, as
patron of their city, thus forming a graceful pyramidal composition.
This exquisite picture, by far the most beautiful Raphael in the Louvre,
belongs to the great painter’s Florentine period. It should be compared
with the very similar Madonna del Cardellino in the Uffizi at Florence.
For simplicity of treatment and beauty of colouring this seems to me the
loveliest of Raphael’s Madonnas, with the exception of the Granduca.
Look at it long, for colour, design, and tender feeling. Then go back to
the St. Michael, and see how, as Raphael gains in dramatic vigour, he
loses in charm.
407. _Rembrandt._ Christ and the Disciples at Emmaus. A fine study in
light and shade, and full of art, but not a sacred picture. Compare with
other pictures of the scene in this gallery. The feeling is merely
domestic.
433. _Rubens._ Tomyris, Queen of the Scythians, with the head of Cyrus.
A fine, vigorous painting, with the action frankly transferred to the
court of Henri IV. Dash and colour and all the Rubens attributes.
365. _Raphael._ Small Holy Family.
364. _Raphael._ Holy Family, known as the “Sainte Famille de François
I^{er}”: Joseph, Madonna, infant Christ, St. Elizabeth and the Baptist,
and adoring angels. Belongs to Raphael’s Roman period, and already
vaguely heralds the decadence. Admirable in composition and painting,
but lacking the simplicity and delicacy of colour of his earlier work.
Compare it with the Belle Jardinière. It marks the distance traversed in
art during his lifetime. The knowledge is far greater, the feeling less.
=**=142. _Van Dyck._ Charles I. A famous and splendid portrait, with all
the courtly grace of this stately painter.
=**=462. _Leonardo._ Portrait of Mona Lisa. Most undoubted work of the
master in existence. Has lost much of its flesh tints by darkening, but
is still subtly beautiful. Compare with any of the portraits in the
Salle des Primitifs, in order to understand the increase in science
which made Leonardo the prince and leader of the Renaissance. The sweet
and sphinx-like smile is particularly characteristic. Observe the
exquisite modelling of the hands, and the dainty landscape background.
Do not hurry away from it.
363. _Raphael._ Madonna with the infant St. John, known as “La Vierge au
Voile.” A work of his early Roman period, intermediate in style between
the Belle Jardinière and the François I^{er}. Compare them carefully.
Above it (379) _Andrea del Sarto_. Charity. A fine example of Andrea’s
soft and tender colouring.
=*=523. Portrait of a young man. Long attributed to Raphael. More
probably _Franciabigio_. Pensive and dignified.
452. _Titian._ Alphonso of Ferrara and his Mistress. A fine portrait,
with its colour largely faded.
Above it, 154. Good portrait by _Van Dyck_.
539. _Murillo._ The Immaculate Conception. Luminous and pretty, in an
affected showy Spanish manner. Foreshadows the modern religious art of
the people. An immense favourite with the inartistic public.
=**=121. _Gerard Dou._ The Dropsical Woman. A triumph of Dutch painting
of light and shade and detail. Faces like miniatures. The lamp and
curtain like nature. Illuminated on the darkest day. Examine it
attentively.
293. _Metsu._ Officer and Lady. Another masterpiece of Dutch minuteness,
but far less fine in execution.
526. _Ter Borch._ Similar subject treated with coarse directness.
=**=551. _Velasquez._ The Infanta Marguerite—a famous portrait.
A little above it (229), _Sebastiano del Piombo_. Visitation. Compare
with the Ghirlandajo in the Salle des Primitifs. A very favourable
example of this Venetian master, painted in rivalry with Raphael. It
well exhibits the height often attained, even by minor masters, at the
culminating point of the Renaissance.
Above, occupying a large part of the wall, =*=_Paolo Veronese_. Christ
and the Magdalen, at the supper in the house of Levi. Another refectory
picture, treated in Veronese’s large and brilliant manner, essentially
as a scene of lordly Venetian life. The Pharisee facing Christ is a fine
figure. Notice the intrusion of animals and casual spectators, habitual
with this artist. The sense of air and space is fine. The whole picture
is instinct with Venetian feeling of the period; scenic, not sacred. A
lordly treatment. Earlier painters set their scene in smaller buildings:
the Venetians of this gorgeous age chose rather the Piazza of some
mighty Renaissance Italian city. Here, the architecture recalls the
style of Sansovino.
This room also contains many good works of the 17th century, justly
skied. Examine them by contrast with the paintings of the best ages of
art beneath them. Return to them later, after you have examined the
works of the French artists in later rooms of this Gallery.
Now proceed into the
Long Gallery
which contains in its =First Compartment= works of the High Renaissance
masters, transitional from the conventionality of the 15th, to the
freedom of the 16th, and the theatrical tendency of the 17th centuries.
Begin on the L, and follow that wall as far as the =first archway=.
_Francia._ Crucifixion, with Madonna and St. John, and Job extended at
the feet of the cross, probably indicating a votive plague offering. A
tolerable example of the great Bolognese painter, from the church of San
Giobbe, patriarch and plague-saint, at Bologna.
_Ansuino_(?) Adoration of the Magi. Note coincidences with others.
308. _Francia._ Madonna. A fair example.
168. _Dosso._ St. Jerome in the Desert. Interesting as showing a later
treatment of this familiar subject.
230. _Luini._ Holy Family. A good specimen of Luini’s easel work.
Compare with the frescoes in the Salle Duchâtel. The hair is
characteristic, also the oval face and cast of features.
Near it, two works by _Marco da Oggiono_, a pupil of Leonardo. His work
and Luini’s should be compared with that of the founder of the school.
The differences and agreements should be observed. Notice also the
survivals from earlier treatment.
354. _Sacchi._ The Four Doctors of the Church, attended by the Symbols
of the Four Evangelists. This is a composition which frequently recurs
in early art. L, St. Augustine, holding his book “De Civitate Dei,” with
the Eagle of St. John. Next, St. Gregory, inspired by the Holy Spirit as
a dove, and accompanied by the Bull of St. Luke. Then, St. Jerome, in
his Cardinal’s hat, with the Angel of St. Matthew. Lastly, St. Ambrose
with his scourge (alluding to his action in closing the doors of the
church at Milan on the Emperor Theodosius after the massacre of
Thessalonica), accompanied by the winged Lion of St. Mark. An
interesting symbolical composition, deserving close study.
232. _Luini._ The daughter of Herodias with the head of St. John
Baptist. A favourite subject with the artist, who often repeated it.
Compare it with his other works in this gallery, till you feel you begin
to understand Luini.
Above it, _Borgognone_. Presentation in the Temple. In the pallid
colouring peculiar to this charming Lombard master. Observe the
positions of the High Priest and other personages.
85. _Borgognone._ St. Peter Martyr introducing or commending a Lady
Donor to the Madonna. One panel of a triptych; the rest of it is
wanting. Look out for similar figures of saints introducing votaries.
St. Peter Martyr has usually a wound or a knife in his head, to indicate
the mode of his martyrdom.
Beneath, a quaint little Leonardesque Annunciation.
_Solario._ Calvary, characteristic of the School of Leonardo.
Beneath it, 394, =*=_Solario_. Madonna with the Green Cushion. His
masterpiece, a graceful and tender work, exhibiting the growing taste of
the Renaissance.
458. Attributed to _Leonardo_. The young St. John Baptist. Hair, smile
and treatment characteristic; but possibly a copy. You will meet with
many similar St. Johns in Florentine sculpture below hereafter.
465. School of _Leonardo_. Holy Family. St. Michael the Archangel oddly
introduced in order to permit the Child Christ to play with the scales
in which he weighs souls—a curious Renaissance conception, wholly out
of keeping with earlier reverential feeling.
=*=460. _Leonardo._ “La Vierge aux Rochers.” A replica of the picture in
the National Gallery in London. Much faded, but probably genuine.
Examine closely the rocks, the Madonna, and the Angel.
395. _Solario._ Good portrait of Charles d’Amboise, a member of the
great French family who will frequently crop up in connection with the
Renaissance.
461. Attributed to _Leonardo_, more probably _Bernardino de’ Conti_.
Portrait of a Lady. Compare with the Mona Lisa, as exhibiting well the
real advance in portraiture made by Leonardo.
463. Attributed to _Leonardo_, but probably spurious; Bacchus, a fine
youthful figure, begun as a St. John Baptist, and afterwards altered.
Compare with the other St. John Baptist near it.
=*=_Beltraffio._ The Madonna of the Casio family. A characteristic
Leonardesque virgin, attended by St. John Baptist and the bleeding St.
Sebastian. (A votive picture.) By her side kneel two members of the
Casio family, one the poet of that name, crowned with laurel.
Intermediate Renaissance treatment of the Madonna and donors.
78 and 79. Good Franciscan saints, by _Moretto_.
Between them, 298. Charming _Girolamo dai Libri_.
We now come upon a magnificent series of works by =Titian=, in whom the
Venetian School, ill-represented in its origin in the Salle des
Primitifs, finds its culminating point.
=**=440. _Titian._ The Madonna with the Rabbit. This is one of a group
of Titian’s Madonnas (several examples here) in which he endeavours to
transform Bellini’s type (see the specimen in the Salle des Primitifs)
into an ideal of the 16th century. The Madonna is here attended by St.
Catherine of Alexandria, marked as a princess by her coronet and pearls.
The child, bursting from her arms, plays with the rabbit. Once more a
notion far-removed from primitive piety. Notice the background of
Titian’s own country. =Landscape= is now beginning to struggle for
recognition. Earlier art was all figures, first sacred, then also
mythological.
445. _Titian._ The Crown of Thorns. A powerful but very painful
painting. The artist is chiefly occupied with anatomy and the
presentation of writhing emotion. The spiritual is lost in muscular
action.
=**=443. _Titian._ The Disciples at Emmaus. Treated in the contemporary
Venetian manner. This is again a subject whose variations can be well
traced in this gallery.
451. _Titian._ Allegory of a husband who leaves for a campaign,
commending his wife to Love and Chastity. Finely painted.
450. _Titian._ Portrait of François I^{er}. Famous as having been
painted without a sitting—the artist had never even seen the king. He
took the face from a medal.
448. _Titian._ Council of Trent. Very much to order.
Above it, =*=_Titian_. Jupiter and Antiope. Charming Giorgionesque
treatment of the pastoral nude. Compare with the Giorgione in the Salon
Carré, in order to understand how deeply that great painter influenced
his contemporaries.
453. _Titian._ Fine portrait.
439. _Titian._ Madonna with St. Stephen, St. Ambrose, and St. Maurice
the soldier. Observe the divergence from the older method of painting
the accompanying saints. Originally grouped on either side the Madonna,
they are here transformed into the natural group called in Italian, a
“santa conversazione.” Look at the stages of this process in the Salle
des Primitifs and this Long Gallery.
442. _Titian._ Another Holy Family. Interesting from the free mode of
its treatment, in contrast with Bellini and earlier artists.
=**=455. _Titian._ Magnificent portrait.
Above these are several excellent Bassanos, worthy of study. Compare
together all these Venetian works (Bonifazio etc.), lordly products of a
great aristocratic mercantile community; and with them, the Veroneses of
the Salon Carré, where the type attains a characteristic development.
Now return to the door by the Salon Carré and examine the =R Wall=.
Poor _Pinturicchio_, and two inferior _Peruginos_.
403. _Lo Spagna._ Nativity. Characteristic example of this scholar of
Perugino and fellow-pupil of Raphael. Notice its Peruginesque treatment.
Examine in detail and compare with the two other painters. As a
Nativity, it is full of the conventional elements.
189. _Raffaellino del Garbo._ Coronation of the Virgin, beheld from
below by four attendant saints of, or connected with, the Vallombrosan
order—St. Benedict, Saint Salvi, San Giovanni Gualberto, and San
Bernardo degli Uberti. These were the patrons of Vallombrosa; and the
picture comes from the Church of St. Salvi, at Florence.
246. _Manni._ Baptism in Jordan. Observe, as usual, the attendant
angels, though the simplicity of early treatment has wholly disappeared.
The head-dresses are characteristic of the School of Perugino. Compare
with Lo Spagna’s Nativity.
Above it (496) Florentine Madonna, with St. Augustine, St. John Baptist,
St. Antony and St. Francis. Observe their symbols. I do not always now
call attention to these; but the more you observe them, the better you
will understand each picture as you come to it.
390. _Luca Signorelli._ Adoration of the Magi. A fine example of the
mode of treatment of this excellent anatomical painter, the forerunner
of Michael Angelo. It needs long looking into.
289. _Piero di Cosimo._ Coronation of the Virgin, with St. Jerome, St.
Francis, St. Louis of Toulouse and St. Bonaventura. Compare with
Raffaelino del Garbo, close by, for the double scene, on earth and in
heaven. Notice the crown which Louis refused, in order to embrace the
monastic profession. This is a Franciscan picture; you will find it
casts much light on assemblages of saints if you know for what order
each picture was painted. The grouping _always_ means _something_.
16. _Albertinelli._ Madonna on a pedestal, with St. Jerome and St.
Zenobius. Scenes from their legends in the background. A characteristic
example of the Florentine Renaissance. The grouping is in the style then
fast becoming fashionable. Compare with Lorenzo di Credi in the Salle
des Primitifs.
144. _Pontormo._ Visitation. Showing the older Renaissance tendencies.
Compare with the Ghirlandajo, and note persistence of the arch in the
background.
=*=57. _Fra Bartolommeo._ Marriage of St. Catherine of Siena. This is a
variant on the legend of the other St. Catherine—of Alexandria. The
infant Christ is placing a ring on the holy nun’s finger. Around are
attendant saints—Peter, Vincent, Stephen, etc. The composition is
highly characteristic of the painter and his school.
380. _Andrea del Sarto._ Holy Family. Exquisitely soft in outline and
colour.
372. Doubtful. Attributed to _Raphael_. Charming portrait of a young
man.
Beyond it,=*= two most delicate little pictures of St. George (a man)
and St. Michael (an angel, winged) of _Raphael’s_ very early period.
Note the princess in the St. George; you will come upon her again.
Simple and charming. Trace Raphael’s progress in this gallery, by means
of Kugler.
Beyond them, again, two portraits by _Raphael_, of which 373 is of
doubtful authenticity.
=*=366. _Raphael._ The Young St. John: a noble figure.
=**=367. _Raphael._ St. Margaret: issuing triumphant from the dragon
which has swallowed her. A figure full of feeling and movement, and
instinct with his later science. It was painted for François I^{er}, out
of compliment to his sister, Queen Margaret of Navarre.
All these Raphaels should be carefully studied. The great painter began
with a certain Peruginesque stiffness, through which nevertheless his
own native grace makes itself felt at once; he progressed rapidly in
knowledge and skill at Florence and Rome, but showed a tendency in his
last works towards the incipient faults of the later Renaissance. By
following him here, in conjunction with Florence and Rome, you can gain
an idea of the course of his development.
The =Second Compartment= of the Long Gallery, which we now enter, though
containing several works by Titian and other masters of the best period,
is mainly devoted to painters of the later 16th and 17th century, when
the decline in taste was rapid and progressive. Notice throughout the
substitution of rhetorical gesture and affected composition for the
simplicity of the early masters, or the dignity and truth of the High
Renaissance. Begin again on the L wall, containing finer pictures than
that opposite.
441. _Titian._ Another Holy Family, with St. Catherine. Both women here
are Venetian ladies of high rank and of his own period. Observe,
however, the persistence of the Madonna’s white head-covering. Also, the
playfulness introduced in the treatment of St. Catherine’s palm of
martyrdom, and the childish St. John with his lamb. These attributes
would have been treated by earlier painters with reverence and
solemnity. Titian transfers them into mere pretty accessories.
Characteristic landscape background. (The female saint in this work is
usually described as St. Agnes, because of the lamb: I think
erroneously. The lamb is St. John’s, and the St. Catherine merely plays
with it.)
88. _Calcar._ Fine portrait of a young man.
38. Attributed (very doubtfully) to _Giorgione_. Holy Family, with St.
Sebastian, St. Catherine, and the donor, kneeling. A good example of the
intermediate treatment of saints in groups of this character.
Above it (92) _Paolo Veronese_. Esther and Ahasuerus. Treated in the
lordly fashion of a Venetian pageant. Try now to understand this
Venetian ideal in style and colour.
91. _Paolo Veronese._ Similar treatment of Susanna and the Elders, a
traditional religious theme, here distorted into a mere excuse for the
nude, in which the Renaissance delighted.
=**=274. _Palma Vecchio._ Adoration of the Shepherds. A noble example of
this great Venetian painter. Observe how he transforms the traditional
accessories in the background, and employs them in the thorough Venetian
spirit.
Beyond it, several small Venetian pictures. Self-explanatory, but worthy
of close attention; especially 94, a delicate _Paolo Veronese_, on a
most unusual scale—a Venetian Dominican nun presented by her patroness,
St. Catherine, and St. Joseph to the Madonna. Also, 93, by the same
artist, St. George and St. Catherine presenting a Venetian gentleman to
the Madonna and Child. These two saints were the male and female patrons
of the Venetian territory; hence their frequency in Venetian pictures.
99. The Disciples at Emmaus. Another characteristic transformation by
_Veronese_ of a traditional scene. The pretence of sacredness is very
thin.
98. _Paolo Veronese._ Calvary. Similarly treated.
=*=335. _Tintoretto._ Susanna at the Bath. Admirable example of this
artist’s bold and effective method. In him the Venetian School attains
its last possible point before the decadence.
Beneath it, two good Venetian portraits.
336. _Tintoretto._ A characteristic Paradise (sketch for the great
picture in the Doge’s Palace at Venice), whose various circles of saints
and angels should be carefully studied. Gloomy glory.
Above it, 17. A Venetian gentleman introduced to the Madonna by St.
Francis and a sainted bishop, with St. Sebastian in the background.
Doubtless, a votive picture in gratitude for the noble donor’s escape
from the plague.
Beyond these, we come chiefly upon Venetian pictures of the Decadence,
among which the most noticeable are the Venetian views by Canaletto and
Guardi, showing familiar aspects of the Salute, the Doge’s Palace, San
Zaccaria, and other buildings.
Further on, this compartment contains =Spanish pictures=,—an artificial
arrangement not without some real justification, since in the 16th and
17th centuries, Spain, enriched by her American possessions, became, for
a short period, the material and artistic inheritor of Italy, and
accepted in full the mature fruits of the Italian Renaissance. At the
same time, she imbued the developed arts she received from Italy with
Spanish showiness and love of mere display, to the exclusion of deeper
spiritual feeling. The most famous among the few Spanish pictures of the
Louvre are:—
552. =**=_Velasquez._ Philip IV of Spain.
Beneath it, =*=_Murillo_. One of his favourite Boy Beggars, killing
fleas. A curious subject, excellently rendered.
548. _Ribera._ Adoration of the Shepherds.
540. _Murillo._ Birth of the Virgin, where the transformation of the
traditional element is even more marked than in the Italian Renaissance.
The colouring splendid. St. Anne is always seen in bed; other points you
could notice in the enamels at Cluny. With Murillo, they
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