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Paris As It Was and As It Is

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Relying on your indulgence, you shall know the life I lead: I will,
as it were, take you by the arm, and, wherever I go, you shall be my
companion. Perhaps, by pursuing this plan, you will not, at the
expiration of three or four months, think your time unprofitably
spent. Aided by the experience acquired by having occasionally
resided here, for several months together, before the revolution, it
will be my endeavour to make you as well acquainted with Paris, as I
shall then hope to be myself. For this purpose, I will lay under
contribution every authority, both written and oral, worthy of being
consulted.



LETTER VI

_Paris, October 26, 1801._

From particular passages in your letter, I clearly perceive your
anxiety to be introduced among those valuable antiques which now
adorn the banks of the Seine. On that account, I determined to
postpone all other matters, and pay my first visit to the CENTRAL
MUSEUM OF THE ARTS, established in the

LOUVRE.

But, before, we enter the interior of this building, it may not be
amiss to give you some account of its construction, and describe to
you its exterior beauties.

The origin of this palace, as well as the etymology of its name, is
lost in the darkness of time. It is certain, however, that it
existed, under the appellation of _Louvre_, in the reign of Philip
Augustus, who surrounded it with ditches and towers, and made it a
fortress. The great tower of the _Louvre_, celebrated in history, was
insulated, and built in the middle of the court. All the great
feudatories of the crown derived their tenure from this tower, and
came hither to swear allegiance and pay homage. "It was," says St.
Foix, "a prison previously prepared for them, if they violated their
oaths."[1] Three Counts of Flanders were confined in it at different
periods.

The _Louvre_, far from being cheerful from its construction, received
also from this enormous tower a melancholy and terrifying aspect
which rendered it unworthy of being a royal residence. Charles V.
endeavoured to enliven and embellish this gloomy abode, and made it
tolerably commodious for those times. Several foreign monarchs
successively lodged in it; such as Manuel, emperor of Constantinople;
Sigismund, emperor of Germany; and the emperor Charles the Fifth.

This large tower of the _Louvre_, which had, at different periods,
served as a palace to the kings of France, as a prison to the great
lords, and as a treasury to the state, was at length taken down in
1528.

The _Tower of the Library_ was famous, among several others, because
it contained that of Charles V. the most considerable one of the
time, and in which the number of volumes amounted to nine hundred.

OLD LOUVRE

The part of this palace which, at the present day, is called the _Old
Louvre_, was begun under Francis I. from the plan of PIERRE LESCOT,
abbot of Clugny; and the sculpture was executed by JEAN GOUGEON,
whose minute correctness is particularly remarkable in the festoons
of the frieze of the second order, and in the devices emblematic of
the amours of Henry II. This edifice, though finished, was not
inhabited during the reign of that king, but it was by his son
Charles IX.

Under him, the _Louvre_ became the bloody theatre of treacheries and
massacres which time will never efface from the memory of mankind,
and which, till the merciless reign of Robespierre, were unexampled
in the history of this country. I mean the horrors of St.
Bartholemew's day.

While the alarmed citizens were swimming across the river to escape
from death, Charles IX. from a window of this palace, was firing at
them with his arquebuse. During that period of the revolution, when
all means were employed to excite and strengthen the enmity of the
people against their kings, this act of atrocity was called to their
mind by an inscription placed under the very window, which looks on
the _Quai du Louvre_.

Indeed, this instance of Charles's barbarity is fully corroborated by
historians. "When it was day-light," says Brantome, "the king peeped
out of his chamber-window, and seeing some people in the _Faubourg
St. Germain_ moving about and running away, he took a large arquebuse
which he had ready at hand, and, calling out incessantly: _Kill,
kill!_ fired a great many shots at them, but in vain; for the piece
did not carry so far."--This prince, according to Masson, piqued
himself on his dexterity in cutting off at a single blow the head of
the asses and pigs which he met with on his way. Lansac, one of his
favourites, having found him one day with his sword drawn and ready
to strike his mule, asked him seriously: "What quarrel has then
happened between His Most Christian Majesty and my mule?" Murad Bey
far surpassed this blood-thirsty monarch in address and strength. The
former, we are told by travellers in Egypt, has been known, when
riding past an ox, to cut off its head with one stroke of his
scimitar.

The capital was dyed with the blood of Charles's murdered subjects.
Into this very _Louvre_, into the chamber of Marguerite de Valois,
the king's sister, and even to her bed, in which she was then lying,
did the fanatics pursue the officers belonging to the court itself,
as is circumstantially related by that princess in her Memoirs.

Let us draw the curtain on these scenes of horror, and pass rapidly
from this period of fanaticism and cruelty, when the _Louvre_ was
stained by so many crimes to times more happy, when this palace
became the quiet cradle of the arts and sciences, the school for
talents, the _arena_ for genius, and the asylum of artists and
literati.

The centre pavilion over the principal gate of the _Old Louvre_, was
erected under the reign of Lewis XIII. from the designs of LE
MERCIER, as well as the angle of the left part of the building,
parallel to that built by Henry II. The eight gigantic cariatides
which are there seen, were sculptured by SARRASIN.

The façade towards the _Jardin de l'Infante_, (as it is called), that
towards the _Place du Louvre_, and that over the little gate, towards
the river, which were constructed under the reigns of Charles IX. and
Henry III. in the midst of the civil wars of the League, partake of
the taste of the time, in regard to the multiplicity of the
ornaments; but the interior announces, by the majesty of its
decorations, the refined taste of Lewis XIV.

NEW LOUVRE.

The part of the _Louvre_, which, with the two sides of the old
building, forms the perfect square, three hundred and seventy-eight
feet[2] in extent, called the _New Louvre_, consists in two double
façades, which are still unfinished. LE VEAU, and after him D'ORBAY,
were the architects under whose direction this augmentation was made
by order of Lewis XIV.

That king at first resolved to continue the _Louvre_ on the plan
begun by Francis I.: for some time he caused it to be pursued, but
having conceived a more grand and magnificent design, he ordered the
foundation of the superb edifice now standing, to be laid on the 17th
of October 1665, under the administration of COLBERT.

Through a natural prejudice, Lewis XIV. thought that he could find no
where but in Italy an artist sufficiently skilful to execute his
projects of magnificence. He sent for the Cavaliere BERNINI from
Rome. This artist, whose reputation was established, was received in
France with all the pomp due to princes of the blood. The king
ordered that, in the towns through which he might pass, he should be
complimented and receive presents from the corporations, &c.

BERNINI was loaded with wealth and honours: notwithstanding the
prepossession of the court in favour of this Italian architect,
notwithstanding his talents, he did not succeed in his enterprise.
After having forwarded the foundation of this edifice, he made a
pretext of the impossibility of spending the winter in a climate
colder than that of Italy. "He was promised," says St. Foix, "three
thousand louis a year if he would stay; but," he said, "he would
positively go and die in his _own_ country." On the eve of his
departure, the king sent him three thousand louis, with the grant of
a pension of five hundred. He received the whole with great coolness.

Several celebrated architects now entered the lists to complete this
grand undertaking.--MANSARD presented his plans, with which COLBERT
was extremely pleased: the king also approved of them, and absolutely
insisted on their being executed without any alteration. MANSARD
replied that he would rather renounce the glory of building this
edifice than the liberty of correcting himself, and changing his
design when he thought he could improve it. Among the competitors was
CLAUDE PERRAULT, that physician so defamed by Boileau, the poet. His
plans were preferred, and merited the preference. Many pleasantries
were circulated at the expense of the new medical architect; and
PERRAULT replied to those sarcasms by producing the beautiful
colonnade of the _Louvre_, the master-piece of French architecture,
and the admiration of all Europe.

The façade of this colonnade, which is of the Corinthian order; is
five hundred and twenty-five feet in length: it is divided into two
peristyles and three avant-corps. The principal gate is in the centre
avant-corps, which is decorated with eight double columns, crowned by
a pediment, whose raking cornices are composed of two stones only,
each fifty-four feet in length by eight in breadth, though no more
than eighteen inches in thickness. They were taken from the quarries
of Meudon, and formed but one single block, which was sawed into two.
The other two avant-corps are ornamented by six pilasters, and two
columns of the same order, and disposed in the same manner. On the
top, in lieu of a ridged roof, is a terrace, bordered by a stone
balustrade, the pedestals of which are intended to bear trophies
intermixed with vases.

PERRAULT'S enemies disputed with him the invention of this
master-piece. They maintained that it belonged to LE VEAU, the
architect; but, since the discovery of the original manuscript and
drawings of PERRAULT, there no longer remains a doubt respecting
the real author of this beautiful production.

In front of this magnificent colonnade, a multitude of salesmen erect
their stalls, and there display quantities of old clothes, rags, &c.
This contrast, as Mercier justly remarks, still speaks to the eye of
the attentive observer. It is the image of all the rest, grandeur and
beggary, side by side.

However, it is not on the _outside_ of these walls only, that beggary
has been so nearly allied to grandeur. At least we have a solitary
instance of this truth of a very sinking nature.

Cardinal de Retz tells us, that going one morning to the _Louvre_ to
see the Queen of England, he found her in the chamber of her
daughter, aftenwards Dutchess of Orleans, and that she said to him:
"You see, I come to keep Henriette company: the poor girl could not
leave her bed to-day, for want of fuel."--It is true, he adds, that,
for six months past Cardinal Mazarin had not paid her pension; the
tradesmen, would no longer give her credit, and she had not a piece
of wood to warm her.

Like St. Paul's in London, the façade of the _Louvre_ cannot be seen
to the best advantage, on account of the proximity of the surrounding
buildings; and, like many other great undertakings too, will,
probably, never be completed, but remain a monument of the fickleness
of the nation.

Lewis XIV, after having for a long time made the _Louvre_ his
residence; abandoned it for _Versailles_: "Sire," said Dufreny once
to that prince, "I never look at the _New Louvre_, without
exclaiming, superb monument of the magnificence of our greatest
kings, you would have been finished, had you been given to one of the
begging orders of friars!" From that period, the _Louvre_ was wholly
consecrated to the sittings of different academies, and to the
accommodation of several men of science and artists, to whom free
apartments were allotted.

I much regret having, for this year at least, lost a sight here,
which I should have viewed with no inconsiderable degree of
attention. This is the

PUBLIC EXHIBITION OF THE PRODUCTIONS OF FRENCH INDUSTRY.

Under the directorial government, this exhibition was opened in the
_Champ de Mars_; but it now takes place, annually, in the square of
the _Louvre_, during the five complementary days of the republican
calendar; namely, from the 18th to the 22d of September, both
inclusive.

The exhibition not only includes manufactures of every sort, but also
every new discovery, invention, and improvement. For the purpose of
displaying these objects to advantage, temporary buildings are
erected along the four interior walls of this square, each of which
are subdivided into twenty-five porticoes; so that the whole square
of the _Louvre_, during that period, represents a fair with a hundred
booths. The resemblance, I am told, is rendered still more perfect by
the prodigious crowd; persons of all ranks being indiscriminately
admitted to view these productions. Precautions, however, are taken
to prevent the indiscreet part of the public from rushing into the
porticoes, and sentinels are posted at certain intervals to preserve
order.

This, undoubtedly, is a very laudable institution, and extremely well
calculated to excite emulation in the national manufactures,
specimens of which being sent from all the principal manufacturing
towns, the hundred porticoes may be said to comprise an epitome of
the present state of all the flourishing manufactures of France.
Indeed, none but new inventions and articles of finished workmanship,
the fabrication of which is known, are suffered to make part of the
exhibition. Even these are not admitted till after a previous
examination, and on the certificate of a private jury of five
members, appointed for that purpose by the prefect of each
department. A new jury, composed of fifteen members, nominated by the
Minister of the Interior, again examine the different articles
admitted; and agreeably to their decision, the government award
premiums and medals to those persons who have made the greatest
improvement in any particular fabric or branch of industry, or
produced any new discovery or invention. The successful candidates
are presented to the Chief Consul by the Minister of the Interior,
and have the honour of dining with him at his public monthly dinner.

From all that I can learn concerning this interesting exhibition, it
appears, that, though the useful arts, in general, cannot at present
be put in competition here with those of a similar description among
us, the object of the French government is to keep up a spirit of
rivalship, and encourage, by every possible means, the improvement of
those manufactures in which England is acknowledged to surpass other
countries.

I am reminded that it is time to prepare for going out to dinner. I
must therefore not leave this letter, like the _Louvre_, unfinished.
Fortunately, my good friend, the prevailing fashion here is to dine
very late, which leaves me a long morning; but for this, I know not
when I should have an opportunity of writing long letters. Restrain
then your impatience, and I promise that you shall very shortly be
ushered into the GALLERY OF ANTIQUES,

"Where the smooth chisel all its force has shewn,
And soften'd into flesh the rugged stone."

[Footnote 1: _Essais historiques sur Paris_.]

[Footnote 2: It may be necessary to observe that, throughout these
letters, we always speak of French feet. The English foot is to the
French as 12 to 12.789, or as 4 to 4.263.]



LETTER VII.

_Paris, October 28, 1801._

Having, in my last letter, described to you the outside of the
_Louvre_, (with the exception of the Great Gallery, of which I shall
speak more at length in another place), I shall now proceed to give
you an account of some of the principal national establishments
contained within its walls.

Before the revolution, the _Louvre_ was, as I have said, the seat of
different academies, such as the _French Academy_, the _Academy of
Sciences_, the _Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres_, the
_Academy of Painting and Sculpture_, and the _Academy of
Architecture_. All these are replaced by the _National Institute of
Arts and Sciences_, of which, however, I shall postpone further
mention till I conduct you to one of its public sittings.

At the period to which I revert, there existed in the _Louvre_ a
hall, called the _Salle des Antiques_, where, besides, some original
statues by French artists, were assembled models in plaster of the
most celebrated master-pieces of sculpture in Italy, together with a
small number of antiques. In another apartment, forming part of those
assigned to the Academy of Painting, and called the _Galérie
d'Apollon_, were seen several pictures, chiefly of the French school;
and it was intended that the Great Gallery should be formed into a
Museum, containing a collection of the finest pictures and statues at
the disposal of the crown.

This plan, which had partly been carried into execution under the old
_régime_, is now completed, but in a manner infinitely more
magnificent than could possibly have been effected without the
advantages of conquest. The _Great Gallery_ and _Saloon_ of the
_Louvre_ are solely appropriated to the exhibition of pictures of the
old masters of the Italian, Flemish, and French schools; and the
_Gallery of Apollo_ to that of their drawings; while a suite of lofty
apartments has been purposely fitted up in this palace for the
reception of original antiques, in lieu of those copies of them
before-mentioned. In other rooms, adjoining to the Great Gallery, are
exhibited, as formerly, that is during one month every year, the
productions of living painters, sculptors, architects, and
draughtsmen.

These different exhibitions are placed under the superintendance of a
board of management, or an administration, (as the French term it),
composed of a number of antiquaries, artists, and men of science,
inferior to none in Europe in skill, judgment, taste, or erudition.
The whole of this grand establishment bears the general title of

CENTRAL MUSEUM OF THE ARTS.

The treasures of painting and sculpture which the French nation have
acquired by the success of their arms, or by express conditions in
treaties of alliance or neutrality, are so immense as to enable them,
not only to render this CENTRAL MUSEUM the grandest collection of
master-pieces in the world, but also to establish fifteen
departmental Museums in fifteen of the principal towns of France.
This measure, evidently intended to favour the progress of the fine
arts, will case Paris of a great number of the pictures, statues, &c.
amassed here from different parts of France, Germany, Belgium,
Holland, Italy, Piedmont, Savoy, and the States of. Venice.

If you cast your eye on the annexed _Plan of Paris_, and suppose
yourself near the exterior south-west angle of the _Louvre_, or, as
it is more emphatically styled, the NATIONAL PALACE OF ARTS AND
SCIENCES, you will be in the right-hand corner of the _Place du Vieux
Louvre_, in which quarter is the present entrance to the CENTRAL
MUSEUM OF THE ARTS. Here, after passing through a court, you enter a
vestibule, on the left of which is the Hall of the Administration of
the Museum. On the ground-floor, facing the door of this vestibule,
is the entrance to the

GALLERY OF ANTIQUES.

In this gallery, which was, for the first time, opened to the public
on the 18th of Brumaire, year ix. of the French republic, (9th of
November 1800), are now distributed no less than one hundred and
forty-six statues, busts, and bas-reliefs. It consists of several
handsome apartments, bearing appropriate denominations, according to
the principal subjects which each contains. Six only are at present
completely arranged for public inspection: but many others are in a
state of preparation.

The greater part of the statues here exhibited, are the fruit of the
conquests of the army of Italy. Conformably to the treaty of
Tolentino, they were selected at Rome, from the Capitol and the
Vatican, by BARTHÉLEMY, BERTHOLET, MOITTE, MONGE, THOUIN, and TINET,
who were appointed, by the French government, commissioners for the
research of objects appertaining to the Arts and Sciences.

In the vestibule, for the moderate price of fifteen _sous_, is sold a
catalogue, which is not merely a barren index, but a perspicuous and
satisfactory explanation of the different objects that strike the eye
of the admiring spectator as he traverses the GALLERY OF ANTIQUES. It
is by no means my intention to transcribe this catalogue, or to
mention every statue; but, assisted by the valuable observations with
which I was favoured by the learned antiquary, VISCONTI, long
distinguished for his profound knowledge of the fine arts, I shall
describe the most remarkable only, and such as would fix the
attention of the connoisseur.

On entering the gallery, you might, perhaps, be tempted to stop in
the first hall; but we will visit them all in regular succession, and
proceed to that which is now the furthest on the left hand. The
ceiling of this apartment, painted by ROMANELLI, represents the four
seasons; whence it is called the

HALL OF THE SEASONS.

In consequence, among other antiques, here are placed the statues of
the rustic divinities, and those relating to the Seasons. Of the
whole, I shall distinguish the following:

N° 210. DIANA.

Diana, habited as a huntress, in a short tunic without sleeves, is
holding her bow in one hand; while, with the other, she is drawing an
arrow from her quiver, which is suspended at her shoulder. Her legs
are bare, and her feet are adorned with rich sandals. The goddess,
with a look expressive of indignation, appears to be defending the
fabulous hind from the pursuit of Hercules, who, in obedience to the
oracle of Apollo, was pursuing it, in order to carry it alive to
Eurystheus; a task imposed on him by the latter as one of his twelve
labours.

To say that, in the opinion of the first-rate connoisseurs, this
statue might serve as a companion to the _Apollo of Belvedere_, is
sufficient to convey an idea of its perfection; and, in fact, it is
reckoned the finest representation of Diana in existence. It is of
Parian marble, and, according to historians, has been in France ever
since the reign of Henry IV. It was the most perfect of the antiques
which adorned the Gallery of Versailles. The parts wanting have been
recently restored with such skill as to claim particular admiration.

214. ROME.

In this bust, the city of Rome is personified as an Amazon. The
helmet of the female warrior is adorned with a representation of the
she-wolf, suckling the children of Mars.

This antique, of Parian marble, is of a perfect Greek style, and in
admirable preservation. It formerly belonged to the Gallery of
Richelieu-Castle.

51. ADOLESCENS SPINAM AVELLENS.

This bronze figure represents a young man seated, who seems employed
in extracting a thorn from his left foot.

It is a production of the flourishing period of the art, but,
according to appearance, anterior to the reign of Alexander the
Great. It partakes a little of the meagre style of the old Greek
school; but, at the same time, is finished with astonishing truth,
and exhibits a graceful simplicity of expression. In what place it
was originally discovered is not known. It was taken from the
Capitol, where it was seen in the _Palazzo dei Conservatori_.

50. A FAUN, _in a resting posture_.

This young faun, with no other covering than a deer's skin thrown
over his shoulders, is standing with his legs crossed, and leaning on
the trunk of a tree, as if resting himself.

The grace and finished execution that reign throughout this figure,
as well as the immense number of copies still existing of it, and all
antiques, occasion it to be considered as the copy of the Faun in
bronze, (or Satyr as it is termed by the Greeks), of Praxiteles. That
statue was so celebrated, that the epithet of [Greek: perizoætos], or
the famous, became its distinctive appellation throughout Greece.

This Faun is of Pentelic marble: it was found in 1701, near _Civita
Lavinia_, and placed in the Capitol by Benedict XIV.

59. ARIADNE, _known by the name of_ CLEOPATRA.

In this beautiful figure, Ariadne is represented asleep on a rock in
the Isle of Naxos, abandoned by the faithless Theseus, and at the
moment when Bacchus became enamoured of her, as described by several
ancient poets.

It is astonishing how the expression of sleep could be mistaken for
that of death, and cause this figure to be called _Cleopatra_. The
serpent on the upper part of the left arm is evidently a bracelet, of
that figure which the Greek women called [Greek: opidion], or the
little serpent.

For three successive centuries, this statue of Parian marble
constituted one of the principal ornaments of the Belvedere of the
Vatican, where it was placed by Julius II.

190. AUGUSTUS.

This head of Augustus, adorned with the civic crown of oak leaves, is
one of the fine portraits of that emperor. It is executed in Parian
marble, and comes from Verona, where it was admired in the
_Bevilacqua_ cabinet.

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