This church was formerly called _Saint-Vincent-sur-Rive_, because it was
situated on the bank of the river. The treasurers of Saint-Vincent had
the salt measures in their keeping, they were deposited in a small tower
at the entrance of the church, for that purpose. When the boats loaded
with salt passed by the church, they had to give a certain quantity to
the parish, which has been since replaced by an annual sum of 140
livres. Saint-Vincent, like most other catholic temples, was pillaged in
1562 by the calvinists.
Saint-Vincent is a handsome production of the _renaissance_. The
architecture of the interior is light and gracious, if we except the
ornaments, which are not in very good taste, and which have been
fastened on the pillars of the choir, in the middle of the last century,
after the designs of the architect De France.
The painted glases of this church are very remarkable. At the lower
extremity of the right aisle, in looking towards the choir, we perceive
a pane of glass, a part of which is done on pasteboard by Albert-Durer,
representing the virgin kneeling beside several of the apostles. The
draperies of the former are in admirable gothic style; the heads of the
others are also very fine.
In the northern aisle, that is to say, to the left on entering by the
great porch, opposite the choir, we remark a window representing the
history of saint John the baptist. The lower pannel represents the
_Decapitation_ of the saint, whose head they are carrying to Herod, who
is seated at table with Herodias. In the next window, in going towards
the eastern extremity, there is a view of the church of Saint-Ouen, but
it is unfortunately broken. We can only now distinguish its tower.
In the chapel to the left of the choir, there is a window representing
the miracle attributed to Ferdinand, better known under the name of
saint Anthony of Padua, and taken from the lives of the saints, by the
reverend father Francois Giry.
The interior of Saint-Vincent, and especially the southern aisle, still
offers some very fine painted windows which are unfortunately very much
injured.