The Churches of Paris Part 23

_Bonnes gens qui p cy pa.s.ses_ _Pries Dieu pour les trespa.s.ses._

The last word has been mutilated.

The interior consists of a nave and double aisles. The triforium is very similar to that of Westminster Abbey church; but at the commencement of the apse, the 13th century arches were filled in with round-headed ones, Cupid-like Cherubs being placed between the two to "ornament" the intervening s.p.a.ce, and the pillars converted into marbled pilasters.

[Ill.u.s.tration: INTERIOR OF SAINT-SeVERIN.]

Some of the capitals and corbels of the south aisle are most droll--prophets, flying Angels, and divers kinds of animals, all more or less grotesque, after the manner of the _miserere_ seats at Wells cathedral. During the reign of Henri IV. Sibyls, and Prophets, Patriarchs and Apostles, were painted by one Jacques Bunel on a gold ground above the arches of the nave; but happily they have disappeared.

It was Mlle. de Montpensier who caused the marbling of the choir to be undertaken in 1684, and who also bore the expense of the baldachino of the altar, employing the sculptor Tubi to carry out the designs of Lebrun.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SAINT-SeVERIN.]

In the side aisle, on the south, is a little door leading through a garden, formerly the graveyard, to the _presbytere_. This, in summer, forms a charming little picture. In one of the side chapels (Notre-Dame de l'Esperance) is a 15th century wall-painting of _The Resurrection of the Dead_; and in the chapel of the chevet a _Preaching of John the Baptist_, also in fresco. In the apse are a series of fluted and spiral columns. The bosses are many of them ornamented with figures--the Annunciation, S. Anne and S. Joachim at the golden gate, a Holy Face, and a chalice surmounted by the host.

A number of distinguished persons were buried at S. Severin: etienne Pasquier, an eloquent _Avocat-General_ under Henri III. who was mainly instrumental in causing the exclusion of the Jesuits from the University, and who died in 1615; the brothers Saint-Martre, celebrated men of letters living at the beginning of the 17th century; and Moreri, the author of the _Dictionnaire Historique_, who died in 1680.

There are only three ancient epitaphs remaining--that of Nicolas de Bomont, who died in 1540; Guillaume Fusee, president of the Parliament of Paris, and of his wife, Jeanne Desportes, who made several pious foundations in 1521; and Jean Baptiste Altin, _conseilleur au Chatelet_, who died in 1640. The first, Nicolas Bomont, his wife, and fifteen children, are represented as pigmy personages praying at the foot of the Crucified. The emblems upon the Altin slab have been borrowed from the Roman catacombs; and the epitaph is as follows:

ALTINI PECCATORIS OSSA HIC JACENT, PIE JESU MISERERE EIUS TU VIATOR PRECARE PRO EO VIX [Symbol] AN [Symbol] PLU [Symbol] JUNIVS A [Symbol] C [Symbol] DIONYSIANO MDCXL [Symbol]

SENATOR FOIT IN CASTELL [Symbol] PAR [Symbol]

PNE QUADRAGEN [Symbol]

VALE VIATOR ET VALERE MANES IOBE

A modern tablet states that the first confraternity established in France under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception was founded at S. Severin in 1311, but the chapels used by the a.s.sociation have disappeared.

The church contains no furniture of any value artistically, except perhaps, the organ and wrought-iron gallery, erected in 1747 to replace an earlier instrument of 1512; the original organ, given in 1358 by Maitre Regnaud de Douy, the master of the parish schools, is described as _une bones orgues et bien ordenees_.

A good deal of the stained gla.s.s is of the 15th and 16th centuries, and bears the figures and arms of the donors (some of whom appear by their long robes to have been magistrates), accompanied by their wives and families. The subjects are the usual ones taken from the New Testament, or from the lives of the Saints; but a few are somewhat out of the beaten track, as for instance: Two families of numerous members accompanied by, or superintended by S. Peter and S. Andrew; S. Michael clad as a warrior bearing a shield upon which are emblazoned the arms of France; S. Genevieve holding her demon-extinguished taper which an Angel relights; S. Anthony with his staff and bell, and holy fire under his feet, which is in dangerous proximity to his faithful porkling; and lastly, S. Thomas of Canterbury celebrating ma.s.s, while his murderers fall upon him with their swords. One of the chapels of S. Severin was dedicated to the memory of the martyred archbishop.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Several modern artists have decorated the side-chapels--Alexandre Hesse, Cornu and Flandrin; but the student of the latter painter must go to S.

Vincent-de-Paul and S. Germain-des-Pres to fully appreciate this great master of religious art.

The symbols upon the slab mentioned above are very similar to those found in the cemetery of S. Marcel which occupied the site of the abbey of S. Genevieve. In the Breviary of Paris we read, in the office for the Translation of S. Marcel, that his body was put in a chapel, _aedicula_, named after S. Clement, and from which the Saint had driven out an enormous serpent. Coming from a neighbouring wood the monster had seized upon the remains of a rich woman who had been a great sinner, and was regaling himself therewith, when Marcel came to the rescue, and chasing him away three miles, forbade him ever to return. This miracle was popular upon the churches of Paris, and is still to be seen on the centre pier of the Porte S. Anne of Notre-Dame and in the _voussure_ of the Porte Rouge.

On the slab at S. Severin are the doves with olive branches and the sacred monogram. Below, the Lamb is standing upon the earth, from which flow the rivers of Paradise, Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Euphrates, typical, according to S. Ambrose, of the Cardinal Virtues, Prudence, Strength, Courage, and Temperance. The epitaph is written between the doves and the Lamb.

LA SORBONNE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TOMB OF CARDINAL RICHELIEU.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE OLD SORBONNE.]

Another inst.i.tution which owes its initiative to S. Louis is the Sorbonne, actually founded in 1250 by Robert de Sorbon, a canon of Paris, for sixteen poor students in theology. The present church is a fine example of 17th century Cla.s.sicism, such as the world of that day affected. Jacques Lemercier was the architect, and the great Cardinal the pay-master, and between them they certainly turned out a very respectable piece of work with a certain sense of grandeur, and a very fine dome, the first that figured in Paris. It was built between 1635 and 1659. Within, is the marble tomb of Richelieu, the work of Girardon (1694) from the design of Lebrun. The great man reclines gracefully upon a couch supported by a figure of Religion, and a weeping lady of Science at his feet. It has not the feeling of the Renaissance sculpture, and although Religion forms a princ.i.p.al part of the composition, it is purely and simply a secular design. It might be the memorial of a Pagan, and it would be just as appropriate in a town hall, a garden, or a theatre; but that perhaps gives it the more fitness as the monument of so singular a churchman and so farcical a Christian. The wary Cardinal turns up his face and piously gazes at Heaven as if that were his only thought; he appears overwhelmed with holiness and sanct.i.ty, a veritable Pecksniff arrayed in the gorgeous robes of a prince of the holy Roman Church. But artistically, the composition is fine, far finer than many of the works of the 17th century; and one feels that could the figure rise, it would move about with the same grace as that portrayed in the n.o.ble portrait of the great statesman by Philippe de Champaigne in the Louvre. As posthumous retribution for his crimes and vices, Richelieu's head was chopped off into three pieces in 1793, and remained fragmentary until 1861, when they were patched together. The church also contains a painting by Hesse of little value, _Robert de Sorbon presentant a S. Louis de jeunes eleves en theologie_, and some statues by Romy and Bure.

SAINT-SULPICE.

"Yonder majestic portico forms the west front of the church called S.

Sulpice.... It is at once airy and grand. There are two tiers of pillars, of which this front is composed; the lower is Doric, the upper Ionic; and each row, as I am told, is nearly forty French feet in height, exclusively of their entablatures, each of ten feet. We have nothing like this, certainly, as the front of a parish church, in London. When I except S. Paul's, such exception is made in reference to the most majestic piece of architectural composition which, to my eye, the wit of man hath yet ever devised. The architect of the magnificent front of S. Sulpice was Servandoni; and a street hard by (in which Dom Brial, the father of French history, resides) takes its name from the architect. There are two towers--one at each end of this front, about two hundred and twenty feet in height from the pavement; harmonising well with the general style of architecture, but of which that to the South (to the best of my recollection) is left in an unaccountably if not shamefully unfinished state. These towers are said to be about one toise higher than those of Notre-Dame. The interior of this church is hardly less imposing than its exterior. The vaulted roofs are exceedingly lofty; but, for the length of the nave, and more especially the choir, the transepts are disproportionally short, nor are there sufficiently prominent ornaments to give relief to the ma.s.sive appearance of the sides. These sides are decorated by fluted pilasters of the Corinthian order, which for so large and lofty a building have a tame effect. There is nothing like the huge, single, insulated column, or the cl.u.s.tered slim pilasters, that separate the nave from the side aisles of the Gothic churches of the early and middle ages.

"The princ.i.p.al altar between the nave and the choir is admired for its size and grandeur of effect, but it is certainly ill-placed; it is perhaps too ornamental, looking like a detached piece which does not harmonise with the surrounding objects. Indeed, most of the altars in French churches want simplicity and appropriate effect, and the whole of the interior of the choir is (to my fastidious eye only, you may add) dest.i.tute of that quiet solemn character which ought always to belong to places of worship. Rich, minute and elaborate as are many of the Gothic choirs of our own country, they are yet in harmony and equally free from a frivolous and unappropriate effect. Behind the choir is the chapel of Our Lady, which is certainly most splendid and imposing. Upon the ceiling is represented the a.s.sumption of the Virgin, and the walls are covered with a profusion of gilt ornament which, upon the whole, has a very striking effect. In a recess above the altar is a sculptured representation of the Virgin and Infant Christ in white marble, of a remarkably high polish; nor are the countenances of the mother and child divested of sweetness of expression. They are represented upon a large globe, or with the world at their feet; upon the top of which, slightly coiled, lies the "bruised" or dead serpent. The light in front of the spectator, from a concealed window (a contrivance to which the French seem partial), produces a sort of magical effect. I should add that this is the largest parochial church in Paris, and that its organ has been p.r.o.nounced to be matchless.

"This magnificent church is the production of several periods and of several artists. Anne of Austria laid the foundation stone in 1636, under the superintendence of Levau. Levau died shortly afterwards, and was succeeded by Gittard and Oppenard. The finish was received by Servandoni, who, in the West front, or portico, left all his predecessors far behind him. The church was dedicated about the middle of the last century. The towers are the joint performances of Maclaurin and Chalgrin; but the latter has the credit of having rectified the blunders of the former. He began his labours in 1777; but both the South tower, and the _Place_, immediately before the West front, want their finishing decorations."

[Ill.u.s.tration: A PROCESSION IN SAINT-SULPICE.]

I have quoted this long dissertation by Dibden because I do not think a better description of the church could be given; but the writer is wrong in some of his details. The church was commenced in 1646, not '36, the first architect being Christophe Gamart. The finishing stroke was put by Jean Servandoni, the funds being provided by means of a lottery started by the energetic _cure_ Languet de Gergy. I cannot endorse Dibden's praise of the chapel of the Virgin by De Wailly, the surrounding paintings by Vanloo, and the Slodtz brothers' decorations. It is all very splendid with gold and marbles, and the statue by Pajou is looked upon as a _chef-d'uvre_. The cupola, with an a.s.sumption painted by Lemoine, is graceful; but the effect of light is theatrical to the last degree, and the whole chapel is wanting in dignity and the religious feeling without which a building fails as a Christian church. Another statue of the Virgin, a Notre-Dame des Douleurs, by Bouchardon, a great tomb of the _cure_ Languet de Gregy, by Michel-Ange Slodtz, and the pulpit given in 1788 by the Marechal de Richelieu, are all very grandiose, but fail utterly to impress one; whereas the two sh.e.l.ls serving as holy-water stoops, given to Francois I. by the Republic of Venice, are charming examples of pure Renaissance sculpture. The general effect of the church, by its enormous size alone, is exceedingly grand; but, being entirely of stone, it is cold and colourless. An Italian edifice wants Italian materials, which is the reason that the Brompton Oratory is so highly satisfactory, and perhaps the most magnificent example of Italian architecture on this side of the Alps. The details of gla.s.s, furniture, pulpit, &c., in S. Sulpice are utterly uninteresting, with the exception of the mural paintings by Delacroix in the chapel of the Holy Angels, which are splendid examples of the great artist's work.

The subjects are: _Saint Michel triomphant de Lucifer_; _Heliodore terra.s.se et battu de verges_; and _La lutte de Jacob et l' Ange dans le desert_. In the west chapel, dedicated to the souls in Purgatory, are pictures by Heim; and in the other chapels, works by Abel de Pujol, Vichon, Lafon, A. Hesse, Drolling, and Guillemot. In the crypt, used as a chapel for catechising, are the statues of S. Paul and S. John Evangelist, by Pradier.

The organ is an enormous instrument by Cavaille-Coll. It possesses 118 stops, 5 manuals, 20 composition pedals, and some 7,000 pipes.

Exquisitely played by M. Widor, one is carried away from the unsympathetic surroundings, particularly when the Seminarists form in procession and pour out the solemn old Gregorian tones, the beauty of which no one can understand unless they have been heard by a ma.s.s of men's voices and accompanied by an organist who understands harmonizing with taste. The organ here, as at all the Paris churches, is at the west end of the nave, and is only used for voluntaries and solo performances, never to accompany voices, for which purpose a small instrument is always placed close to the choir, either at the side or behind the altar. This is a much better arrangement than our modern one of having a huge organ in the chancel thundering away and drowning the voices. Of course it necessitates two organists, but the gain in refinement is worth the outlay; and there is no reason why the choirmaster, who would accompany the singers, should necessarily be a first-rate player.

Although there are no remains of an earlier building, there was a parish church upon the same site as S. Sulpice as early as the 12th century; this was enlarged under Louis XII. and Francois Ier.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SAINT-SULPICE FROM THE LUXEMBOURG GARDEN.]

A bra.s.s slab incrusted in the pavement of the south transept indicates the meridian in a direct line towards the north--an obelisk. When the weather is fine, the midday sun shines through a little opening in the window of the south transept, and strikes the middle of the _plaque_ in Summer, and the top of the obelisk in the Winter solstice. This meridian was established in 1743 by Henri Sully and Lemonnier, to fix the Spring equinox and Easter Day.

SAINT-THOMAS D'AQUIN.

This is another church for the smart people, but not the _nouveaux riches_, rather the old _n.o.blesse_ of the Faubourg S. Germain--tall, lean old gentlemen, with fine aquiline noses and _distingue_ figures; and old ladies in sober black, much lace and old-fashioned grey curls.

There was a story told in one of the newspapers of a lady wanting an anniversary ma.s.s said at S. Thomas, but, the price being 10 fr., she could not afford it. "Eh bien, madame, vous pouvez en avoir a S. Pierre du Gros-Caillou pour 7 frs. 50 c." I cannot vouch for the truth of the tale; but it is well-known that ma.s.ses for the dead could not possibly be said in sufficient number in the city churches except by uniting many heterogeneous souls, which would not be pleasant to those who wish to spare no expense, and to run no chances of failure as regards the future of their dear relatives and friends; and so commemorative and anniversary ma.s.ses are farmed out, like the poor babies, to country priests; which has the double advantage of aiding the departed souls and of augmenting the miserable stipends of the unfortunate provincial _cures_, who have to be "pa.s.sing rich" literally upon forty pounds a year--_and fees_, which are no small items in certain places. The system of stretching out an income by fees is terrible. So much for weddings and burials at the High Altar; so much less at a side one; a little more at the altar of the Blessed Virgin than at that of S. Holobellou, and so on; by which means the _cures_ of the rich churches, the Madeleine, S.

Augustin, La Trinite, S. Thomas, S. Philippe and the like, multiply their incomes to an enormous extent. This is not the only country where equalization of the incomes of the clergy is desirable.

S. Thomas formerly belonged to the Jacobins; the conventual buildings are now used for the museum of artillery. The church was commenced in 1683, but only finished in 1740. The portal was designed by brother Claude, a religious of the monastery; the ceiling of the choir was painted in 1724 by Lemoine, and represents the Transfiguration.

L'ANCIEN ABBAYE DU VAL DE GRaCE.

When Hannah of old obtained her desire, she dedicated her son to G.o.d's service in the Temple; but Anne d'Autriche, under the same circ.u.mstances, went further, and built the church and founded the monastery of Val de Grace, in the Rue S. Jacques. It it not often that the grat.i.tude of sovereigns takes so magnificent a form. The Benedictine nuns of the monastery of Val Profond, which had been established near Bievre le Chatel since the 13th century had been removed by the Queen to the Hotel du Pet.i.t-Bourbon some years previously; but she did not commence the new buildings until she became regent. The little King laid the first stone of the church in 1645, Francois Mansard being the first architect; Jacques Lemercier continued the work, and Pierre Lemuet, Gabriel Leduc, and Duval finished it. The abbey is now a military hospital.

The decoration of the church points to the Birth of Christ as symbolising the birth of Louis XIV., in future years, known as the "Roi Soleil." In the great courtyard is a statue in bronze of Larrey, Napoleon's great army surgeon, by David d'Angers, the celebrated sculptor. The dome is exceedingly elegant, but the church below is, like the Invalides, too small as a bas.e.m.e.nt. Both buildings give the impression of an elongated dome, and nothing else; hence they look far better from a point which hides the lower part of the buildings. The pavement is laid with rich marbles, and the baldachino, supported by six twisted columns, recalls that of S. Peter's. "If you wish to see the prettiest fresco painting in all Paris, you must go in here, and look up at the dome; the chapels, too, are full of virgins, and dirty little Angels." Why dirty, I know not; but the praise of the painting in the dome is not exaggerated. It is a ma.s.s of figures, a whole hierarchy of Saints adoring the Trinity, and Anne d'Autriche, introduced by S. Louis, presenting the model of her church. Like all Mignard's work, it is grandiose rather than grand, with exaggerated att.i.tudes and hurricane-blown garments. In the chapel of the Communion are some works by Philippe de Champaigne.