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Paris As It Was and As It Is

F >> Francis W. Blagdon >> Paris As It Was and As It Is




While I was surveying this man of universal talent, my fancy was not
idle. First, I beheld him, flushed with ardour, directing the assault
of the _téte-de-pont_ at _Lodi_; next dictating a proclamation to the
Beys at _Cairo_, and styling himself the friend of the faithful; then
combating the ebullition of his rage on being foiled in the storming
of _Acre_ I afterwards imagined I saw him like another CROMWELL,
expelling the Council of Five Hundred at _St. Cloud_, and seizing on
the reins of government: when established in power, I viewed him,
like HANNIBAL, crossing the _Alps_, and forcing victory to yield to
him the hard-contested palm at _Marengo_; lastly, he appeared to my
imagination in the act of giving the fraternal embrace to Caprara,
the Pope's legate, and at the same time holding out to the see of
Rome the re-establishment of catholicism in France.

Voltaire says that "no man ever was a hero in the eyes of his
_valet-de-chambre_." I am curious to know whether the valet of the
First Consul be an exception to this maxim. As to BONAPARTE'S public
character, numerous, indeed, are the constructions put on it by the
voice of rumour: some ascribe to him one great man of antiquity as a
model; some, another; but many compare him, in certain respects, to
JULIUS CÆSAR, as imitators generally succeed better in copying the
failings than the good qualities of their archetypes, let us hope,
supposing this comparison to be a just one, that the Chief Consul
will, in one particular, never lose sight of the generous clemency of
that illustrious Roman--who, if any spoke bitterly against him,
deemed it sufficient to complain of the circumstance publicly, in
order to prevent them from persevering in the use of such language.
"_Acerbè loquentibus satis habuit pro concione denunciare, ne
perseverarent._"

"The character of a great man," says a French political writer, who
denies the justness of this comparison, "like the celebrated picture
of Zeuxis, can be formed only of a multitude of imitations, and it is
as little possible for the observer to find for him a single model in
history, as it was for the painter of Heraclea to discover in nature
that of the ideal beauty he was desirous of representing[1]."--"The
French revolution," observes the same author, a little farther on,
"has, perhaps, produced more than one CÆSAR, or one CROMWELL; but
they have disappeared before they have had it in their power to give
full scope to their ambition[2]." Time will decide on the truth and
impartiality of these observations of M. HAUTERIVE.

As at the last monthly parade, BONAPARTE was habited in the consular
dress, that is, a coat of scarlet velvet, embroidered with gold: he
wore jockey boots, carelessly drawn over white cotton pantaloons, and
held in his hand a cocked hat, with the national cockade only. I say
only, because all the generals wear hats trimmed with a splendid
lace, and decorated with a large, branching, tricoloured feather.

After the parade, the following, I understand, is the _étiquette_
usually observed in the palace. The Chief Consul first gives audience
to the general-officers, next to the field-officers, to those
belonging to the garrison, and to a few petitioners. He then returns
to the fourth apartment, where the counsellors of state assemble.
Being arrived there, notice is sent to the diplomatic corps, who meet
in a room on the ground-floor of the palace, called _La Salle des
Ambassadeurs_. They immediately repair to the levee-room, and, after
paying their personal respects to the First Consul, they each
introduce to him such persons, belonging to their respective nations,
as they may think proper. Several were this day presented by the
Imperial, Russian, and Danish ambassadors: the British minister, Mr.
Jackson, has not yet presented any of his countrymen nor will he, in
all probability, as he is merely a _locum tenens_. After the levee,
the Chief Consul generally gives a dinner of from one hundred and
fifty to two hundred covers, to which all those who have received
arms of honour, are invited.

Before I left the palace, I observed the lady above-mentioned, who
had presented the memorial, seated in one corner of the room, all in
tears, and betraying every mark of anxious grief: she was pale, and
with her hair dishevelled; but, though by no means handsome, her
distressed situation excited a lively interest in her favour. On
inquiry, I was informed that it was Madame Bourmont, the wife of a
Vendean chief, condemned to perpetual imprisonment for a breach of
the convention into which he had jointly entered with the agents of
the French government.

Having now accomplished my object, when the crowd was somewhat
dispersed, I retired to enjoy the fine weather by a walk in the

CHAMPS ELYSÉES.

After traversing the garden of the _Tuileries_ and the _Place de la
Concorde_, from east to west, you arrive at this fashionable summer
promenade. It is planted with trees in quincunx; and although, in
particular points of view, this gives it a symmetrical air; yet, in
others, the hand of art is sufficiently concealed to deceive the eye
by a representation of the irregular beauties of nature. The French,
in general, admire the plan of the garden of the _Tuileries_, and
think the distribution tasteful; but, when the trees are in leaf, all
prefer the _Champs Elysées_, as being more rural and more inviting.
This spot, which is very extensive, as you may see by the Plan of
Paris, has frequently been chosen for the scene of national fêtes,
for which it is, in many respects, better calculated than the _Champ
de Mars_. However, from its proximity to the great road, the foliage
is imbrowned by the dust, and an idea of aridity intrudes itself on
the imagination from the total absence of water. The sight of that
refreshing element recreates the mind, and communicates a powerful
attraction even to a wilderness.

In fact, at this season of the year, the _Champs Elysées_ resemble a
desert; but, in summer, they present one of the most agreeable scenes
that can be imagined. In temporary buildings, of a tasteful
construction, you then find here _restaurateurs_, &c, where all sorts
of refreshments may be procured, and rooms where "the merry dance" is
kept up with no common spirit. Swings and roundabouts are also
erected, as well as different machines for exercising the address of
those who are fond of running at a ring, and other sports. Between
the road leading to _l'Étoile_, the _Bois de Boulogne_, &c, and that
which skirts the Seine, formerly called the _Cours de la Reine_, is a
large piece of turf, where, in fine weather, and especially on
Sundays, the Parisian youths amuse themselves at foot-ball,
prison-bars, and long tennis. Here, too, boys and girls assemble,
and improve their growth and vigour by dancing, and a variety of
healthful diversions; while their relations and friends, seated on
the grass, enjoy this interesting sight, and form around each group a
circle which is presently increased by numbers of admiring
spectators.

Under the shade of the trees, on the right hand, as you face the
west, an immense concourse of both sexes and all ages is at the same
time collected. Those who prefer sitting to walking occupy three long
rows of chairs, set out for hire, three deep on each side, and
forming a lane through which the great body of walkers parade. This
promenade may then be said to deserve the appellation of _Elysian
Fields_, from the number of handsome women who resort hither. The
variety of their dresses and figures, the satisfaction which they
express in seeing and being seen, their anxious desire to please,
which constitutes their happiness and that of our sex, the triumph
which animates the countenance of those who eclipse their rivals; all
this forms a diversified and amusing picture, which fixes attention,
and gives birth to a thousand ideas respecting the art and coquetry
of women, as well as what beauty loses or gains by adopting the
ever-varying caprices of fashion. Here, on a fine summer's evening,
are now to be seen, I am told, females displaying almost as much
luxury of dress as used to be exhibited in the days of the monarchy.
The essential difference is that the road in the centre is not now,
as in those times, covered with brilliant equipages; though every day
seems to produce an augmentation of the number of private carriages.
At the entrance of the _Champs Elysées_ are placed the famous groups
of Numidian horses, held in by their vigorous and masterly conductors,
two _chefs d'oeuvre_ of modern art, copied from the group of
_Monte-Cavallo_ at Rome. By order of the Directory, these statues were
brought from _Marly_, where they ornamented the terrace. They are
each of them cut out of a block of the most faultless Carrara marble.
On the pedestal on which they stood at that once-royal residence, was
engraved the name of COSTOU, 1745, without any Christian name: but,
as there were two brothers of that name, Nicolas and Guillaume,
natives of Lyons, and both excellent sculptors, it is become a matter
of doubt by which of them these master-pieces were executed; though
the one died in 1733, and the other in 1746. It is conjectured,
however, that fraternal friendship induced them to share the fame
arising from these capital productions, and that they worked at them
in common till death left the survivor the task of finishing their
joint labour.

To whichever of the two the merit of the execution may be due, it is
certain that the fiery, ungovernable spirit of the horses, as well as
the exertion of vigour, and the triumph of strength in their
conductors, is very happily expressed. The subject has frequently
afforded a comparison to politicians. "These statues," say some
observers, "appear to be the emblem of the French people, over whom
it is necessary to keep a tight hand."--"It is to be apprehended,"
add others, "that the reins, which the conductors hold with so
powerful an arm, are too weak to check these ungovernable animals."

[Footnote 1: _De l'Etat de la France, à la fin de l'an VIII._ page
270.]

[Footnote 2: Ibid. page 274.]



LETTER XXX.

_Paris, Dccemler 8, 1801_.

You desire that I will favour you with a particular account of the
means employed to transfer from pannel to canvas those celebrated
pictures which I mentioned in my letter of the 13th ult°. Like many
other, things that appear simple on being known, so is this process;
but it is not, on that account, the less ingenious and difficult in
execution.

Such is the great disadvantage of the art of painting that, while
other productions of genius may survive the revolution of ages, the
creations of the pencil are intrusted to perishable wood or canvas.
From the effect of heat, humidity, various exhalations to which they
may be carelessly exposed, and even an unperceived neglect in the
priming of the pannel or cloth, master-pieces are in danger of
disappearing for ever. Happy, then, is it for the arts that this
invaluable discovery has been lately brought to so great a degree of
perfection, and that the restoration of several capital pictures
having been confided to men no less skilful than enlightened, they
have thus succeeded in rescuing them from approaching and inevitable
destruction.

Of all the fruits of the French conquests, not a painting was brought
from Lombardy, Rome, Florence, or Venice, that was not covered with
an accumulation of filth, occasioned by the smoke of the wax-tapers
and incense used in the ceremonies of the catholic religion. It was
therefore necessary to clean and repair them; for to bring them to
France, without rendering them fit to be exhibited, would have
answered no better purpose than to have left them in Italy. One of
those which particularly fixed the attention of the Administration of
the CENTRAL MUSEUM OF THE ARTS, was the famous picture by RAPHAEL,
taken from the _Chiesa delle Contesse_ at Foligno, and thence
distinguished by the appellation of

MADONNA DI FOLIGNO.

This _chef d'oeuvre_ was in such a lamentable state of decay, that
the French commissioners who selected it, wereunder the necessity of
pasting paper over it in order to prevent the scales, which curled up
on many parts of its surface, from falling off during its conveyance
to to Paris. In short, had not the saving hand of art interposed,
this, and other monuments of the transcendent powers of the Italian
school, marked by the corroding tooth of Time, would soon have
entirely perished.

As this picture could not be exhibited in its injured state, the
Administration of the Museum determined that it should be repaired.
They accordingly requested the Minister of the Interior to cause this
important operation to be attended by Commissioners chosen from the
National Institute. The Class of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
of that learned Society appointed to this task, GUYTON and
BERTHOLLET, chymists, and the Class of Literature and Fine Arts named
VINCENT and TAUNAY, painters.

These Commissioners, in concert with the Administration, having
ascertained the state of the picture, it was unanimously agreed that
the only mean of saving it would be to remove it from the worm-eaten
pannel on which it was painted. It was, besides, necessary to
ascertain the safety of the process, in order that, without, exciting
the apprehensions of the lovers of the arts, it might be applied to
other pictures which required it.

The Report of the four Commissioners before named, respecting the
restoration of the _Madonna di Foligno_, has been adopted by the
Classes to which they respectively belong, and is to be made to the
National Institute at their next public sitting on the 15th of Nivose
(5th of January, 1802).

In order to make you perfectly acquainted with the whole of the
process, I shall transcribe, for your satisfaction, that part of the
Report immediately connected with the art of restoring damaged or
decayed paintings. This labour, and the success by which it was
attended, are really a memorial of what the genius and industry of
the French can achieve. To all those who, like you, possess valuable
collections, such information cannot but be particularly interesting.

"The desire of repairing the outrages of time has unfortunately
accelerated the decay of several pictures by coarse repainting and
bad varnish, by which much of the original work has been covered.
Other motives, too, have conspired against the purity of the most
beautiful compositions: a prelate has been seen to cause a discordant
head of hair to conceal the charms of a Magdalen."

"Nevertheless, efficacious means of restoration have been discovered:
a painting, the convass of which is decayed, or the pannel
worm-eaten, is transferred to a fresh cloth; the profane touches
of a foreign pencil are made to disappear; the effaced strokes are
reinserted with scrupulous nicety; and life is restored to a picture
which was disfigured, or drawing near to its end. This art has made
great progress, especially in Paris, and experienced recent
improvement under the superintendance of the Administration of the
Museum; but it is only with a religious respect that any one can
venture on an operation which may always give rise to a fear of some
change in the drawing or colouring, above all when the question is to
restore a picture by RAPHAEL."[1]

"The restoration may be divided into two parts; the one, which is
composed of mechanical operations, whose object is to detach the
painting from the ground on which it is fixed, in order to transfer
it to a fresh one; the other, which consists in cleaning the surface
of the painting from every thing that can tarnish it, in restoring
the true colour of the picture, and in repairing the parts destroyed,
by tints skilfully blended with the primitive touches. Thence the
distinctive division of the mechanical operations, and of the art of
painting, which will be the object of the two parts of this Report.
The former particularly engaged the attention of the Commissioners of
the _Class of Sciences_; and the latter, which required the habit of
handling a scientific pencil, fell to the share of the Commissioners
of the _Class of Fine Arts_"

FIRST PART.

"Although the mechanical labour is subdivided into several
operations, it was wholly intrusted to Citizen HACQUINS, on whose
intelligence, address, and skill, it is our duty to bestow every
commendation."

"The picture represents the Virgin Mary, the infant Jesus, St. John,
and several other figures of different sizes. It was painted on a
pannel of 1-1/2 inches in thickness: a crack extended from its
circumference to the left foot of the infant Jesus: it was 4-1/2
lines wide at its upper part, and diminished progressively to the
under: from this crack to the right hand border, the surface formed a
curve whose greatest bend was 2 inches 5-1/2 lines, and from the
crack to the other border, another curve bending 2 inches. The
picture was scaling off in several places, and a great number of
scales had already detached themselves; the painting was, besides,
worm-eaten in many parts."

"It was first necessary to render the surface even: to effect this, a
gauze was pasted on the painting, and the picture was turned on its
face. After that, Citizen HACQUINS made, in the thickness of the
wood, several grooves at some distance from each other, and extending
from the upper extremity of the bend to the place where the pannel
presented a more level surface. Into these grooves he introduced
little wooden wedges; he then covered the whole surface with wet
cloths, which he took care to remoisten. The action of the wedges,
which swelled by the moisture against the softened pannel, compelled
the latter to resume its primitive form: both edges of the crack
before-mentioned being brought together, the artist had recourse to
glue, in order to unite the two separated parts. During the
desiccation, he laid oak bars across the picture, for the purpose of
keeping the pannel in the form which he wished it to assume."

"The desiccation being effected slowly, the artist applied a second
gauze on the first, then successively two thicknesses of grey
blotting paper."

"This preparation (which the French artists call _cartonnage_) being
dry, he laid the picture with its face downward on a table, to which
he carefully confined it; he next proceeded to the separation of the
wood on which the painting was fixed."

"The first operation was executed by means of two saws, one of which
acted perpendicularly; and the other, horizontally: the work of the
two saws being terminated, the pannel was found to be reduced to the
thickness of 4-1/2 lines. The artist then made use of a plane of a
convex form on its breadth: with this instrument he planed the pannel
in an oblique direction, in order to take off very short shavings,
and to avoid the grain of the wood: by these means he reduced the
pannel to 2/3 of a line in thickness. He then took a flat plane with
a toothed iron, whose effect is much like that of a rasp which
reduces wood into dust: in this manner he contrived to leave the
pannel no thicker than a sheet of paper."

"In that state, the wood was successively moistened with clear water,
in small compartments, which disposed it to detach itself: then the
artist separated it with the rounded point of a knife-blade."

"The picture, thus deprived of all the wood, presented to the eye
every symptom of the injury which it had sustained. It had formerly
been repaired; and, in order to fasten again the parts which
threatened to fall off, recourse had been had to oils and varnishes.
But those ingredients passing through the intervals left by such
parts of the picture as were reduced to curling scales, had been
extended in the impression to the paste, on which the painting
rested, and had rendered the real restoration more difficult, without
producing the advantageous effect which had thence been expected."

"The same process would not serve for separating the parts of the
impression which had been indurated by varnishes, and those where the
paste had remained unmixed: it was necessary to moisten the former
for some time in small compartments: when they were become
sufficiently softened, the artist separated them with the blade of
his knife: the others were more easily separated by moistening them
with a flannel, and rubbing them slightly. It required all the
address and patience of Citizen HACQUINS to leave nothing foreign to
the work of the original painter: at length the outline of RAPHAEL
was wholly exposed to view, and left by itself."

"In order to restore a little suppleness to the painting, which was
too much dried, it was rubbed all over with carded cotton imbibed
with oil, and wiped with old muslin: then white lead, ground with
oil, was substituted in the room of the impression made by paste, and
fixed by means of a soft brush."

"After being left to dry for three months, a gauze was glued on the
impression made by oil; and on the latter, a fine canvas."

"When this canvas was dry, the picture was detached from the table,
and turned, in order to remove the _cartonnage_ from it with water;
this operation being effected, the next proceeding was to get rid of
the appearance of the inequalities of the surface arising from the
curling up of its parts: for that purpose, the artist successively
applied on the inequalities, flour-paste diluted. Then having put a
greasy paper on the moistened part, he laid a hot iron on the parts
curled up, which became level: but it was not till after he had
employed the most unequivocal signs to ascertan the suitable degree
of heat, that he ventured to come near the painting with the iron."

"It has been seen that the painting, disengaged from its impression
made by paste and from every foreign substance, had been fixed on an
impression made by oil, and that a level form had been given to the
uneven parts of its surface. This master-piece was still to be
solidly applied on a new ground: for that, it was necessary to paste
paper over it again, detach it from the temporary gauze which had
been put on the impression, add a new coat of oxyde of lead and oil,
apply to it a gauze rendered very supple, and on the latter, in like
manner done over with a preparation of lead, a raw cloth, woven all
in one piece, and impregnated, on its exterior surface, with a
resinous substance, which was to confine it to a similar canvass
fixed on the stretching-frame. This last operation required that the
body of the picture, disengaged from its _cartonnage_, or paper
facing, and furnished with a new ground, should be exactly applied to
the cloth done over with resinous substances, at the same time
avoiding every thing that might hurt it by a too strong or unequal
extension, and yet compelling every part of its vast extent to adhere
to the cloth strained on the stretching-frame. It is by all these
proceedings that the picture has been incorporated with a ground more
durable than the original one, and guarded against the accidents
which had produced the injuries. It was then subjected to
restoration, which is the object of the second part of this Report."

"We have been obliged to confine ourselves to pointing out the
successive operations, the numerous details of which we have
attended; we have endeavoured to give an idea of this interesting
art, by which the productions of the pencil may be indefinitely
perpetuated, in order only to state the grounds of the confidence
that it has appeared to us to merit."

SECOND PART.

"After having given an account of the mechanical operations, employed
with so much success in the first part of the restoration of the
picture by RAPHAEL, it remains for us to speak of the second, the
restoration of the painting, termed by the French artists
_restauration pittoresque_. This part is no less interesting than the
former. We are indebted to it for the reparation of the ravages of
time and of the ignorance of men, who, from their unskilfulness, had
still added to the injury which this master-piece had already
suffered.

"This essential part of the restoration of works of painting,
requires, in those who are charged with it, a very delicate eye, in
order to know how to accord the new tints with the old, a profound
knowledge of the proceedings employed by masters, and a long
experience, in order to foresee, in the choice and use of colours,
what changes time may effect in the new tints, and consequently
prevent the discordance which would be the result of those changes.

"The art of restoring paintings likewise requires the most scrupulous
nicety to cover no other than the damaged parts, and an extraordinary
address to match the work of the restoration with that of the master,
and, as it were, replace the first priming in all its integrity,
concealing the work to such a degree that even unexperienced eye
cannot distinguish what comes from the hand of the artist from what
belongs to that of the master.

"It is, above all, in a work of the importance of that of which we
are speaking, that the friends of the arts have a right to require,
in its restoration, all the care of prudence and the exertion of the
first talents. We feel a real satisfaction in acquainting you with
the happy result of the discriminating wisdom of the Administration
of the CENTRAL MUSEUM OF THE ARTS; who, after having directed and
superintended the first part of the restoration, employed in the
second, that of the painting (which we call _pittoresque_) Citizen
ROESER, whose abilities in this line were long known to them, and
whose repeated success had justified their confidence."

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