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[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.]

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.