altered; nothing can be vaster and more magnificent than the back
front; before it a very spacious terrace spreads itself, adorned with
two large basons; these are bordered and lined (as most of the others)
with white marble, with handsome statues of bronze reclined on their
edges. From hence you descend a huge flight of steps into a semi-circle
formed by woods, that are cut all around into niches, which are filled
with beautiful copies of all the famous antique statues in white
marble. Just in the midst is the bason of Latona; she and her children
are standing on the top of a rock in the middle, on the sides of which
are the peasants, some half, some totally changed into frogs, all which
throw out water at her in great plenty.
From this place runs on the great alley, which brings you into a
complete round, where is the bason of Apollo, the biggest in the
gardens. He is rising in his car out of the water, surrounded by nymphs
and tritons, all in bronze, and finely executed, and these, as they
play, raise a perfect storm about him; beyond this is the great canal,
a prodigious long piece of water, that terminates the whole. All this
you have at one coup d'oeil in entering the garden, which is truly
great.
I can not say as much of the general taste of the place: everything you
behold savors too much of art; all is forced, all is constrained about
you; statues and vases sowed everywhere without distinction; sugar
loaves and minced pies of yew; scrawl work of box, and little squirting
jets-d'eau, besides a great sameness in the walks, can not help
striking one at first sight, not to mention the silliest of labyrinths,
and all Aesop's fables in water; since these were designed "in usum
Delphini" only.
Here, then, we walk by moonlight, and hear the ladies and the
nightingales sing. Next morning, being Whitsunday, make ready to go to
the installation of nine Knights du Saint Esprit. Cambis is one: high
mass celebrated with music, great crowd, much incense, King, Queen,
Dauphin, Mesdames, Cardinals, and Court: Knights arrayed by his
Majesty; reverences before the altar, not bows, but curtsies; stiff
hams; much tittering among the ladies; trumpets, kettledrums, and fifes.
Fontainebleau
By Augustus J. C. Hare
[Footnote: From "Days Near Paris."]
The golden age of Fontainebleau came with the Renaissance and Francis
I., who wished to make Fontainebleau the most glorious palace in the
world. "The Escurial!" says Brantôme, "what of that? See how long it
was of building? Good workmen like to be quick finished. With our king
it was otherwise. Take Fontainebleau and Chambord. When they were
projected, when once the plumb-line, and the compass, and the square,
and the hammer were on the spot, then in a few years we saw the Court
in residence there."
Il Rosso was first (1531) employed to carry out the ideas of François
I. as to painting, and then Sebastian Serlio was summoned from Bologna
in 1541 to fill the place of "surintendant des bastiments et architecte
de Fontainebleau." Il Rosso-Giovambattista had been a Florentine pupil
of Michelangelo, but refused to follow any master, having, as Vasari
says, "a certain inkling of his own." François I. was delighted with
him at first, and made him head of all the Italian colony at
Fontainebleau, where he was known as "Maitre Roux." But in two years
the king was longing to patronize some other genius, and implored
Giulio Romano, then engaged on the Palazzo del Té at Mantua, to come to
him. The great master refused to come himself, but in his place sent
the Bolognese Primaticcio, who became known in France as Le Primatice.
The new-comer excited the furious jealousy of Il Rosso, whom he
supplanted in favor and popularity, and who, after growing daily more
morose, took poison in 1541. Then Primaticcio, who, to humor his rival
had been sent into honorable exile (on plea of collecting antiquities
at Rome), was summoned back, and destroyed most of Il Rosso's frescoes,
replacing them by his own. Those that remain are now painted over, and
no works of Il Rosso are still in existence (unless in engravings)
except some of his frescoes at Florence.
With the Italian style of buildings and decorations, the Italian system
of a Court adorned by ladies was first introduced here under François
I., and soon became a necessity.... Under François I., his beautiful
mistress, the Duchesse d'Étampes--"la plus belle des savantes, et la
plus savante des belles," directed all the fêtes. In this she was
succeeded, under Henry II., by Diane de Poitiers, whose monogram,
interwoven with that of the king, appears in all the buildings of this
time, and who is represented as a goddess (Diana) in the paintings of
Primaticcio.
Under François II., in 1560, by the advice of the queen-mother, an
assembly of notables was summoned at Fontainebleau; and here,
accompanied by her 150 beautiful maids of honor, Catherine de Medici
received the embassy of the Catholic sovereigns sent to demand the
execution of the articles of the Council of Trent, and calling for
fresh persecution of the reformers.
Much as his predecessors had accomplished, Henri IV. did more for the
embellishment of Fontainebleau, where the monogram of his mistress,
Gabrielle d'Estrées, is frequently seen mingled with that of his wife,
Marie de Medici. All the Bourbon kings had a passion for hunting, for
which Fontainebleau afforded especial facilities.
It was at Fontainebleau that Louis XIII. was born, and that the
Maréchal de Biron was arrested. Louis XIII. only lived here
occasionally. In the early reign of Louis XIV., the palace was lent to
Christina, of Sweden, who had abdicated her throne.
It was in one of the private apartments, occupying the site of the
ancient Galerie des Cerfs, now destroyed, that she ordered the
execution of her chief equerry, Monaldeschi, whom she had convicted of
treason. She listened patiently to his excuses, but was utterly unmoved
by them and his entreaties for mercy. She provided a priest to confess
him, after which he was slowly butchered by blows with a sword on the
head and face, as he dragged himself along the floor, his body being
defended by a coat of mail....
Even after the creation of the palaces of Versailles and Marly, Louis
XIV. continued to make an annual "voyage de Fontainebleau." He
compelled his whole court to follow him; if any of his family were ill,
and unable to travel by road, he made them come by water; for himself,
he slept on the way, either at the house of the Duc d'Antin (son of
Mme. de Montespan) or of the Maréchal de Villeroy.
It was here that the Grand Dauphin was born, in 1661. Here, also, it
was that Mme. de Maintenon first appeared at the councils, and that the
king publicly asked her advice as to whether he should accept the
throne of Spain for the Duc d' Anjou. Here, also, in 1685, he signed
the revocation of the edict of Nantes. The great Condé died in the
palace. Louis XV. was married here to Marie Leczinska in 1725; and here
the Dauphin, his son, died in 1765. Louis XIV. delighted in
Fontainebleau for its hunting facilities.
After the Revolution, Napoleon I. restored the château and prepared it
for Pius VII. who came to France to crown him, and was here (January
25, 1813) induced to sign the famous Concordat de Fontainebleau, by
which he abjured his temporal sovereignty. The chateau which witnessed
the abdication of the Pope, also saw that of Napoleon I., who made his
touching farewell to the soldiers of the Vielle-Garde in the Cour du
Cheval-Blanc, before setting off for Elba.... The Cour du Cheval-Blanc,
the largest of the five courts of the palace, took its name from a
plaster copy of the horse of Marcus Aurelius at Rome, destroyed 1626.
Recently it has been called the Cour des Adieux, on account of the
farewell of Napoleon I. in 1814. It was once surrounded by buildings on
all sides; one was removed in 1810, and replaced by a grille.
The principal façade is composed of five pavilions with high roofs,
united by buildings two stories high. The beautiful twisted staircase
in front of the central pavilion was executed by Lemercier for Louis
XIII., and replaces a staircase by Philbert Delorme. Facing this
pavilion, the mass of buildings on the right is the Aile Neuve of Louis
XV., built on the site of the Galerie d'Ulysse, to the destruction of
the precious works of Primaticcio and Niccolo dell' Abbate, with which
it was adorned. Below the last pavilion, near the grille, was the
Grotte du Jardin-des-pins, where James V. of Scotland, coming over to
marry Magdalen of France, daughter of François I., watched her bathing
with her ladies, by the aid of a mirror....
To the west of the Cour du Cheval-Blanc, and communicating with it, is
the Cour de la Fontaine, the main front of which is formed by the
Galerie de François I. This faces the great tank, into which Gaston d'
Orleans, at eight years old, caused one of the courtiers to be thrown,
whom he considered to have spoken to him disrespectfully. One side of
the Cour de la Fontaine, that toward the Jardin Anglais, is terminated
by a pavilion of the time of Louis XV.; the other, formerly decorated
with statues is attributed to Serlio. The fountain from which the court
takes its name has been often changed; a poor work by Petitot now
replaces the grand designs of the time of François I. and Henri IV.
Beyond this court we find, on the left, the Porte Dorée, which faces
the Chaussée de Maintenon, between the Etang and Parterre; it was built
under François I., and decorated by Primaticcio with paintings,
restored in 1835. It was by this entrance that Charles V. arrived at
the palace in 1539....
A staircase now leads to the first floor, and we enter the apartments
of Napoleon I., all furnished in the style of the First Empire. The
cabinet de l'Abdication is the place where he resigned his power. His
bedroom (containing the bed of Napoleon I., the cradle of the King of
Rome, and a cabinet of Marie Louise) leads to the Salle du Conseil,
which was the Salon de Famille under Louis Philippe. Its decorations
are by Boucher, and are the best of the period. It was in leaving this
room that the Maréchal de Biron was arrested under Henri IV., in a
cabinet which is now thrown into the adjoining Salle du Trône,
(previously the bedroom of the Bourbon kings), dating from Charles IV.,
but decorated under Louis XIII. A fine portrait by Phillipe de
Champaigne represents Louis XIII. It is accompanied by his device in
allusion to his vehemence in the extermination of heresy.
The adjoining boudoir de Marie Antoinette is a beautiful little room,
painted by Barthelemy. The metal work of the windows is said to have
been wrought by Louis XVI. himself, who had his workshop here, as at
Versailles. The richly decorated Chambre à Coucher de la Reine was
inhabited by Marie de Medici, Marie Thérese, Marie Antoinette, Marie
Louise, and Marie Amelie. The silk hangings were given by the town of
Lyons to Marie Antoinette on her marriage. The Salon de Musique was the
Salon du jeu de la Reine, under Marie Antoinette. The ancient Salon de
Clorinde, or des Dames d' Honneur, is named from its paintings by
Dubois and from the "Gerusalemme Liberata."
The Galerie de Diane, built by Napoleon I. and Louis XVIII., replaces
the famous frescoed gallery of Henri IV. It is now turned into a
library for the use of the town. In the center is a picture of Henri
IV. on horseback, by Mauzaise. The Salles des Chasses contain pictures
of hunting scenes under Louis XV. We now reach the glorious Galerie d'
Henri II. (or Salle des Fêtes), built by François I., and decorated by
Henri II. The walnut-wood ceiling and the paneling of the walls are of
marvelous richness. Over the chimney is a gigantic H, and the initials
of Henri II. are constantly seen interlaced with those of Diane de
Poitiers.... The sixty paintings on the walls, including eight large
compositions, were executed by Niccolo Dell' Abbate, and are probably
the finest decorations of the kind existing in France.
The rooms usually shown last are those formerly inhabited by Catherine
de Medici and Anne of Austria, and which, under the First Empire, were
used by Pius VII., under Louis Philippe, by the Duke and Duchess of
Orleans. The most interesting of these are the Chambre à Coucher, which
bears the oft-repeated A L (the chiffre of Louis XIII. and Anne of
Austria), and in which Pius VII. daily said mass, and the Salon, with
its fine tapestry after Giulio Romano. The Galerie des Assiettes,
adorned with Sévres china, only dates from Louis Philippe. Hence, by a
gallery in the Aile Neuve, hung with indifferent pictures, we may visit
the Salle du Theâtre, retaining its arrangements for the emperor,
empress, and court.
The Gardens, as seen now, are mostly as they were rearranged by Lenôtre
for Louis XIV. The most frequented garden is the Parterre, entered from
the Place du Cheval-Blanc. In the center of the Jardin Anglais (entered
through the Cour de la Fontaine) was the Fontaine Bleau, which is
supposed by some to have given a name to the palace. The Etang has a
pavilion in the center, where the Czar Peter got drunk. The carp in the
pool, overfed with bread by visitors, are said to be, some of them, of
immense age. John Evelyn mentions the carp of Fontainebleau, "that come
familiarly to hand." The Jardin de l' Orangerie, on the north of the
palace, called Jardin des Buis under Francois I., contains a good
renaissance portal. To the east of the parterre and the town is the
park, which has no beauty, but harmonizes well with the château.
Visitors should not fail to drive in the Forest, 80 kilometers in
circuit, and, if they return late, may look out for its black
huntsman--"le grand veneur." ... The forest was a favorite
hunting-ground of the kings of France to a late period. It was here
that the Marquis de Tourzel, Grand Provost of France, husband of the
governess of the royal children, fractured his skull, his horse bolting
against a tree, when hunting with Louis XVI., in November, 1786. The
forest is the especial land of French artists, who overrun and possess
it in the summer. There are innumerable direction-posts, in which all
the red marks--put up by Napoleon III., because so few peasants could
read--point to town.
St. Denis
By Grant Allen
[Footnote: From "Paris."]
About six miles north of the original Paris stands the great Basilica
of St. Denis--the only church in Paris, and I think in France, called
by that ancient name, which carries us back at once to the days of the
Roman Empire, and in itself bears evidence to the antiquity of the spot
as a place of worship. Around it, a squalid modern industrial town has
slowly grown up; but the nucleus of the whole place, as the name itself
shows, is the body and shrine of the martyred bishop, St. Denis. Among
the numerous variants of his legend, the most accepted is that in which
the apostle of Paris carries his head to this spot from Montmartre.
Others say he was beheaded in Paris and walked to Montmartre, his body
being afterward translated to the Abbey; while there are some who see
in this legend a survival of the Dionysiac festival and sacrifice of
the vine-growers round Paris--Denis--Dionysius--Dionysus.
However that may be, a chapel was erected in 275 above the grave of St.
Denis, on the spot now occupied by the great Basilica; and later, Ste.
Geneviève was instrumental in restoring it. Dagobert I., one of the few
Frankish kings who lived much in Paris, built a "basilica" in place of
the chapel (630), and instituted by its side a Benedictine Abbey. The
church and monastery which possest the actual body of the first bishop
and great martyr of Paris formed naturally the holiest site in the
neighborhood of the city; and even before Paris became the capital of a
kingdom, the abbots were persons of great importance in the Frankish
state.
The desire to repose close to the grave of a saint was habitual in
early times, and even (with the obvious alteration of words) ante-dated
Christianity--every wealthy Egyptian desiring in the same way to "sleep
with Osiris." Dagobert himself was buried in the church he founded,
beside the holy martyr; and in later times this very sacred spot became
for the same reason the recognized burial place of the French kings.
Dagobert's fane was actually consecrated by the Redeemer Himself, who
descended for the purpose by night, with a great multitude of saints
and angels.
The existing Basilica, tho of far later date, is the oldest church of
any importance in the neighborhood of Paris. It was begun by Suger,
abbot of the monastery, and sagacious minister of Louis VI. and VII.,
in 1121. As yet, Paris itself had no great church, Notre-Dame having
been commenced some 50 years later. The earliest part of Suger's
building is in the Romanesque style; it still retains the round Roman
arch and many other Roman constructive features. During the course of
the 50 years occupied in building the Basilica, however, the Gothic
style was developed; the existing church therefore exhibits both
Romanesque and Gothic work, with transitional features between the two,
which add to its interest. Architecturally, then, bear in mind, it is
in part Romanesque, passing into Gothic. The interior is mostly pure
Early Gothic.
The neighborhood to Paris, the supremacy of the great saint, and the
fact that St. Denis was especially the Royal Abbey, all combined to
give it great importance. Under Suger's influence, Louis VI. adopted
the oriflamme or standard of St. Denis as the royal banner of France.
The Merovingian and Carlovingian kings, to be sure--Germans rather than
French--had naturally been buried elsewhere, as at Aix-la-Chapelle,
Rheims, and Soissons (tho even of them a few were interred beside the
great bishop martyr). But as soon as the Parisian dynasty of the Capets
came to the throne, they were almost without exception buried at St.
Denis. Hence the abbey came to be regarded at last mainly as the
mausoleum of French royalty, and is still too often so regarded by
tourists.
But tho the exquisite Renaissance tombs of the House of Valois would
well deserve a visit on their own account, they are, at St. Denis, but
accessories to the great Basilica. Besides the actual tombs, too, many
monuments were erected here, in the 13th century (by St. Louis) and
afterward, to earlier kings buried elsewhere, some relic of whom,
however, the abbey possest and thus honored. Hence several of the
existing tombs are of far later date than the kings they commemorate;
those of the Valois almost alone are truly contemporary.
At the Revolution, the Basilica suffered irreparable losses. The very
sacred reliquary containing the severed head of St. Denis was
destroyed, and the remains of the martyr and his companions desecrated.
The royal bones and bodies were also disinterred and flung into
trenches indiscriminately. The tombs of the kings were condemned to
destruction, and many (chiefly in metal) were destroyed or melted down,
but not a few were saved with difficulty by the exertions of
antiquaries, and were placed in the Museum of Monuments at Paris (now
the École des Beaux-Arts), of which Alexandre Lenoir was curator. Here,
they were greatly hacked about and mutilated, in order to fit them to
their new situations.
At the Restoration, however, they were sent back to St. Denis, together
with many other monuments which had no real place there; but, being
housed in the crypt, they were further clipt to suit their fresh
surroundings. Finally, when the Basilica was restored under
Viollet-le-Duc, the tombs were replaced as nearly as possible in their
old positions; but several intruders from elsewhere are still
interspersed among them. Louis XVIII. brought back the mingled bones of
his ancestors from the common trench and interred them in the crypt. As
regards the tombs, again, bear in mind these facts. All the oldest have
perished; there are none here that go back much further than the age of
St. Louis, tho they often represent personages of earlier periods or
dynasties. The best are those of the Renaissance period. These are
greatly influenced by the magnificent tomb of Giangaleazzo Visconti at
the Certosa di Pavia, near Milan. Especially is this the case with the
noble monument of Louis XII., which closely imitates the Italian work.
Now, you must remember that Charles VIII. and Louis XII. fought much in
Italy, and were masters of Milan; hence this tomb was familiar to them;
and their Italian experiences had much to do with the French
Renaissance. The Cardinal d'Amboise, Louis's minister, built the
Château de Gaillon, and much of the artistic impulse of the time was
due to these two. Henceforth recollect that tho François I. is the
prince of the Renaissance, Louis XII. and his minister were no mean
forerunners....
The interior is most beautiful. The first portion of the church which
we enter is a vestibule or Galilee under the side towers and end of the
Nave. Compare Durham. It is of the age of Abbot Suger, but already
exhibits pointed arches in the upper part. The architecture is solid
and massive, but somewhat gloomy.
Descend a few steps into the Nave, which is surrounded by single
aisles, whose vaulting should be noticed. The architecture of this
part, now pure Early Gothic, is extremely lovely. The triforium is
delicate and graceful. The windows in the clerestory above it,
representing kings and queens, are almost all modern. Notice the great
height of the Nave, and the unusual extent to which the triforium and
clerestory project above the noble vaulting of the aisles. Note that
the triforium itself opens directly to the air, and is supplied with
stained-glass windows, seen through its arches. Sit awhile in this
light and lofty Nave, in order to take in the beautiful view up the
church toward the choir and chevet. Then walk up to the Barrier near
the Transepts, where sit again, in order to observe the Choir and
Transepts with the staircase which leads to the raised Ambulatory.
Observe that the transepts are simple. The ugly stained glass in the
windows of their clerestory contains illustrations of the reign of
Louis Philippe, with extremely unpicturesque costumes of the period.
The architecture of the Nave and Choir, with its light and airy arches
and pillars, is of the later 13th century.
The reason for this is that Suger's building was thoroughly restored
from 1230 onward, in the pure pointed style of that best period. The
upper part of the Choir, and the whole of the Nave and Transepts was
then rebuilt--which accounts for the gracefulness and airiness of its
architecture when contrasted with the dark and heavy vestibule of the
age of Suger.
Note from this point the arrangement of the Choir, which, to those who
do not know Italy, will be quite unfamiliar. As at San Zeno in Verona,
San Miniato in Florence, and many other Romanesque churches, the Choir
is raised by some steps above the Nave and Transepts; while the Crypt
is slightly deprest beneath them. In the Crypt, in such cases, are the
actual bodies of the saints buried there; while the Altar stands
directly over their tombs in the Choir above it.
Marly-Le-Roi
By Augustus J. C. Hare
[Footnote: From "Days Near Paris."]
The tram stops close to the Abreuvoir, a large artificial tank,
surrounded by masonry for receiving the surplus water from the
fountains in the palace gardens, of which it is now the only remnant.
Ascending the avenue on the right, we shall find a road at the top
which will lead us, to the left, through delightful woods to the site
of the palace. Nothing remains but the walls supporting the wooded
terrace.