The Churches of Paris, from Clovis to Charles X

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Beale Sophia. The Churches of Paris, from Clovis to Charles X

PREFACE

SAINT-ANTOINE DES QUINZE-VINGTS

LES CARMES DÉCHAUSSÉES

LA SAINTE-CHAPELLE

SAINT-DENIS

SAINTE-ELIZABETH

SAINT-ÉTIENNE DU MONT

SAINT-EUSTACHE

SAINT-FRANÇOIS XAVIER

SAINTE-GENEVIÈVE (LE PANTHÉON)

SAINT-GERMAIN L'AUXERROIS

SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE

SAINT-GERMAIN DES PRÉS

SAINT-GERVAIS-SAINT-PROTAIS

LA TOUR SAINT-JACQUES

SAINT-JACQUES DU HAUT-PAS

SAINT-JEAN-SAINT-FRANÇOIS

SAINT-JULIEN LE PAUVRE

SAINT-LAURENT

SAINT-LEU-SAINT-GILLES

SAINT-LOUIS D'ANTIN

SAINT LOUIS EN L'ILE

SAINT-LOUIS DES INVALIDES

LA SAINTE-MADELEINE

SAINTE-MARGUERITE

SAINT-MARTIN DES CHAMPS

SAINT-MÉDARD

SAINT-MERRI

SAINT-NICOLAS DES CHAMPS

SAINT-NICOLAS DU CHARDONNET

NOTRE-DAME

NOTRE-DAME DE L'ASSOMPTION

NOTRE-DAME DE L'ABBAYE AUX BOIS

NOTRE-DAME DES BLANCS-MANTEAUX

NOTRE-DAME DES CHAMPS

NOTRE-DAME DE LORETTE

NOTRE-DAME DES VICTOIRES

L'ORATOIRE

SAINT-PAUL-SAINT-LOUIS

SAINT-PHILIPPE DU ROULE

SAINT-PIERRE DE CHAILLOT

SAINT-PIERRE DE MONTMARTRE

SAINT-ROCH

SAINT-SÉVERIN

LA SORBONNE

SAINT-SULPICE

SAINT-THOMAS D'AQUIN

L'ANCIEN ABBAYE DU VAL DE GRÂCE

LA CHAPELLE DU CHÂTEAU DE VERSAILLES

LA CHAPELLE DU CHÂTEAU DE VINCENNES

SAINT-VINCENT DE PAUL

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IN a book of this kind, it is difficult to prevent oneself becoming a guide, more or less complete. Dates and facts, architectural details and descriptions, all savour of the handbook; but having determined to keep to the historical and archaeological, rather than the architectural side of the churches, I have tried to rake up quaint and legendary lore, and so add to the interest of an ordinary guide book. I would also pray my readers to bear in mind that, as the work is not intended to be an architectural treatise, I have simply walked in the paths of Viollet-le-Duc and Guilhermy, whenever I have been compelled to describe the technical details of the churches.

My thanks are due to the Editor of the American Architect, for his courtesy in allowing me to build these ecclesiastical monographs upon the foundation of some articles which have appeared from time to time in a condensed form in the Boston (U. S. A.) paper; and also to the Editor of the Magazine of Art, for a similar kindness.

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The monument of Charles VIII. was of gilt copper. The king's effigy, praying, was upon the platform, with little Angels at the corners also kneeling and holding shields. Charles VIII. died of apoplexy, at Amboise, praying, "Mon Dieu et la glorieuse Vierge, Monseigneur saint Claude, et Monseigneur saint Blaise me soient en ayde." He was a pious king and had been holding "quelques discours spirituels avec la reyne et autres assistans," when he was struck down, being only twenty-eight years of age. His tomb was said to be the finest in the choir. He was regretted by all his subjects "spécialement de ses domestiques," for he was generous, magnanimous, and decorated with all kingly virtues. The queen was much afflicted, and thought she would die of grief, "demeurant deux jours et deux nuicts sans reposer ny prendre aucun aliment." Thus Dom Millet. Philippe de Commynes says the chamberlains "le feirent ensevelir fort richement, et sur l'heure luy commencea le service, qui jamais ne failloit ne jour ne nuict." For a whole month the chamberlains and others watched the corpse, the entire expense amounting to "quarante-cinq mil francs." The tomb was the work of Paganini of Modena, no doubt one of the "ouvriers excellens en plusieurs ouvraiges comme tailleurs et painctres" whom the king brought from Naples,28 together with a large collection of works of art, for the carriage of which, and for "la nourriture de XXII. hommes de mestier, de XXXIII. jours à la raison de XL. sous par jour," the king had to pay his tapissier ordinaire 1594 livres; the collection weighing 87,000 livres.

Many marble tombs were also destroyed, some canopied, some resting upon columns, others recumbent, the fragments of which were built up into a pedestal for a figure of Liberty in the Place d'armes opposite the church, a barbarous proceeding, surely; but forget not that the slabs and broken tombs in our old burial grounds are treated much in the same fashion, and piled up into pyramids to ornament the gardens. The transportation of what was saved from the wreck to Paris was no mean work. Think of the huge monument of François I., and about eighty statues! The Convention had no cash to spend upon art; with its fourteen armies defending the frontiers, it had enough expense without paying for the carriage of monuments and such like. And so Lenoir conceived the idea of stopping the military as they returned with empty waggons. Arrived in Paris the difficulties did not end. Statues were chopped about to enable them to fill certain spaces in the museum of the Petits-Augustins, recumbent figures found themselves standing upright; fragments of one tomb were taken to decorate another. But taking it all in all, the museum arranged by Lenoir must have been very imposing. The magnificent tomb of François I. stood in a chapel of the church, now occupied by casts of the works of Michael-Angelo. Louis XII. had a place of honour in another salle. But no sooner was all arranged, indeed before the huge Henri II. monument had been set up, a royal decree of 16th December, 1816, ordered the museum to be closed, the building to be turned into the École des Beaux-Arts, and all the kings and queens to be marched back to S. Denis and the other churches whence they came. So swiftly was the order carried out, that the poor old sovereigns became still more mutilated; some were stowed away in the cellars, others were re-erected upon principles of the greatest economy. If the revolutionists tore down the monuments, the restored monarchists did not take the trouble to set them up again; and those who went to study art in the new schools were enabled to see the respect with which Mediæval art was treated. Statues, canopies, columns, were tossed about anywhere; until Louis XVIII. decided that they should be reinstated at S. Denis. Then strange things occurred. The effigies were matched indiscriminately, and every king was placed by the side of a queen, whether his own or another's. Hence "singuliers incestes de pierre, et des adultères de marbre de la pire espèce. On n'imaginerait jamais ce qui se commit d'immoralités archéologiques sous les voutes obscures de Saint-Denis."29 The monuments were all arranged, museum fashion, in the crypt until our own day, when they were once again removed, and replaced in their old positions in the church, to be left, let us hope, at last in peace.

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