The Churches of Paris Part 24

Many were the royal hearts placed in neat little golden and silver-gilt boxes, which formerly adorned the church. It was privileged to entertain these appendages of Bourbon bodies, but the Revolution made light of them, and carried off the casings. Poor hearts, alive or dead, they were not worth much, except for their settings.

LA CHAPELLE DU CHaTEAU DE VERSAILLES.

Consecrated in 1710, this chapel is, like the whole palace, an example of exquisite workmans.h.i.+p. Not a bolt or a hinge but is of the best bronze, exquisitely designed and gilt. We may not admire the style, but all Mansard's subordinates turned out the best work they could produce.

Can anything be more worthy of praise in this respect than the staircases of the palace, resplendent with different coloured marbles, or the magnificent Salle des Glaces? The same may be said of the chapel. As a church it may fail; it certainly inspires no feeling of religion; but as a building it is magnificent.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHAPEL OF THE CHaTEAU DE VERSAILLES.]

The Kings sat in the gallery, and in consequence of the holiness of S.

Louis, they were allowed a privilege only accorded to ecclesiastics--that of kissing the paten at ma.s.s; and when they received the Holy Sacrament, they were presented with as many wafers as there had been Kings in succession to Clovis--a custom which had come down from the time of Louis le Debonnaire, as a safe-guard against poison, Louis having been poisoned by a consecrated wafer.

LA CHAPELLE DU CHaTEAU DE VINCENNES.

The beautiful chapel attached to the castle of Vincennes was begun in 1379, by Charles V., but was only finished by Henri II., who adorned the interior, and especially the gla.s.s, with the interlaced H. and D., which figure upon everything of the period, without the slightest shame. The apse contains gla.s.s by Jean Cousin, an exquisite Last Judgment.

At once a royal residence and a prison, the Chateau de Vincennes has a long history to recount. It was much beloved by S. Louis; he lived there, and delivered his judgments sitting under an oak in the forest.

It was there also that he received those precious relics from the Emperor Baldwin, deposited for a time at the convent of the Minimes; and from Vincennes also the departure for those unhappy Crusades took place.

Louis X., Philippe V., Charles IV., and our own Henry V. died there; Charles IX. and Mazarin died there; and Henry IV. was imprisoned there.

So was Mirabeau, who pa.s.sed his time in composing _L'Essai sur les lettres de cachet et les prisons d'Etat_. Diderot was also a prisoner; and the Duc d'Enghien was shot within its precincts. Like the Bastille it had its _lettres de cachets_, and although less notorious, it was probably no less dark in its tales of legal and regal crimes. But for all that its woods were favourite hunting-grounds, a part having been enclosed by Philippe-Auguste to receive the stags and roebucks sent by Henry II. of England to his most Christian majesty.

Vincennes was also the birthplace of the Sevres porcelain manufactory, started by one Charles Adam in 1745: but this is guide-book information, with no bearing upon the Paris churches. Let no one, however, visit the Chapel at Vincennes without sauntering into the wood, which is quite the equal, if not prettier than the Bois de Boulogne. You may pick violets and enjoy a splendid view of the Seine and the Marne meandering among the valleys; but you will not enjoy _le monde_, which does not venture so far east of the Champs Elysees. If you require fas.h.i.+on, go not east of the Louvre.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CHAPEL OF THE CHaTEAU DE VINCENNES.]

SAINT-VINCENT DE PAUL.

Whether we consider this church from the architectural or the decorative point of view, it is quite worthy of its t.i.tular Saint, and is one of the grandest of modern churches to be seen anywhere. It is built on the plan of the early Roman basilicas. Begun by Lepere in 1824, it was finished from designs by Hittorf. The situation is fine, and the step and slopes leading up to it are at once grand and original. The subject in the tympanum is by Nanteuil, representing S. Vincent de Paul surrounded by Sisters of Charity and Angels.

S. Vincent de Paul was the founder of the picturesque grey Sisters we all know so well by their pretty flapping headgear, and of foundling hospitals in France. He was born in 1576 at Puy in Gascony, and being of a contemplative disposition, full of piety and sweetness, was fitted, his father thought, for the religious life; and so he was sent to a convent of the Cordeliers near by, and a.s.sumed the Franciscan frock at the age of twenty. For ten years he studied, and then an incident occurred which settled his destiny. Going to Ma.r.s.eilles to transact some business, and returning by sea, the bark was attacked by African pirates, and S. Vincent, with the others on board, was bound and sent into slavery at Tunis. Vincent spent two years in captivity, pa.s.sing from one owner to another, when, one day, being asked by his master's wife to sing to her, he burst into tears, chanting, "By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept," and "_Salve Regina_." But the songs or the preaching converted the woman, and then her husband; which being so, they all escaped and landed at Aiguesmortes. Vincent went to Rome, and then to Paris, where he pleaded the cause of the wretched galley-slaves of Ma.r.s.eilles. We all remember the grand picture by Bonnat, of S.

Vincent taking the place of a slave and having the fetters put upon him.

I forget its exact name; it was exhibited, in London some years ago, and is now in one of the churches. The Saint began his good work by visiting the prisons or _depots_, whence the criminals were forwarded to the galleys. There he saw "des malheureux renfermes dans de profondes et obscures cavernes, manges de vermines, attenues de langueur et de pauvrete, et entierement negliges pour le corps et pour l'ame." S.

Vincent then took up the cause of the street girls, and finally he inst.i.tuted the Order of Sisters of Charity, nuns "qui n'ont point de monasteres que les maisons des malades, pour cellules qu'une chambre de louage, pour chapelle que l'eglise de leur paroisse, pour cloitre que les rues de la ville et les salles des hospitaux, pour cloture que l'obeissance, pour grille que la crainte de Dieu, et pour voile qu'une Sainte et exacte modestie, et cependant elles se preservent de la contagion du vice, elles font germer partout sur leurs pas la vertu."

Such was S. Vincent's idea when founding the Sisterhood, and such the Sisters are to this day, eminently practical, whether in their work or their quaint costume, which is short enough to clear the muddy street pavements, a model to most nurses in or out of hospital. They move with the world, but are not of it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL; FROM AN OLD ENGRAVING.]

S. Vincent is generally represented carrying one babe and holding another by the hand, typical of his founding la Maison des Enfants Trouves, which was the outcome of his first plan of gathering up children in the streets and placing them with his Sisters. Such an acc.u.mulation of little outcasts did he obtain that a special house had soon to be founded.

Nor was S. Vincent out of his element at Court, for he was friendly with Cardinal Richelieu, and attended Louis XIII. in his last moments. He died, in 1660, at S. Lazare, and was canonized in 1747; but, in the words of the people, he was "l'Intendant de la Providence et Pere des Pauvres." When the fine new church, dedicated to S. Vincent de Paul, was built, Hippolyte Flandrin was at the height of his reputation. He had decorated S. Germain-des-Pres with exquisite pictures, telling the whole story of the Redemption from the Old and New Testament; the churches of S. Paul at Nismes and S. Martin of Lyons were no less great successes.

But the frescoes of S. Vincent were to be the painter's crowning work.

The church has a feature in common with S. Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, namely, a long flat wall s.p.a.ce on each side of the nave and the west end, supported by pillars, and, in the case of the Paris church, forming a gallery. This it was that Flandrin was commissioned to cover with frescoes; and just as he had gone to the Roman catacombs for his inspiration for the Romanesque church at Lyons, so he looked to Ravenna for his designs for the Paris basilica. There is great similarity of idea in the two processions, and if S. Apollinare carries off the palm for its gorgeous mosaic, it must give way to S. Vincent in beauty of form and spirituality of design. Few, if any, churches can show pictures so full of beauty as this procession to Paradise (the "Christian Panathenaea" it has been called), a magnificent army of sufferers who have gained the crown. There they walk with stately steps, a hundred and fifty men and women, carrying their emblems and their palms; and yet there is no repet.i.tion; each one has his own individuality, his own idiosyncrasy.

M. Ingres was the first artist invited to undertake the work, then Delaroche; but happily, both of them declined, and Picot accepted the commission. The 1848 Revolution broke out and interrupted the work; then the new administration, struck with the beauty of the frescoes of S.

Germain, wished to give over the decoration of S. Vincent to Flandrin.

Naturally this great artist did not relish ousting a brother brush, and so a compromise was arranged; Picot chose the choir, and the frieze of the nave was left for Flandrin.

[Ill.u.s.tration: S. GREGORY AND S. LEO, BY FLANDRIN.]

The procession of men is on one side, that of women upon the other, both being marshalled into Paradise by Angels bearing crowns for the elect.

These stand on each side of the sanctuary, symbolic of Heaven: "_Beati misericordis, Beati qui persecutionem patientur propter just.i.tiam._"

Beginning with the Apostles, we see SS. Peter and Paul as the pillars of the Church and the two great preachers of Christianity. S. Matthew and S. John follow, accompanied by the rest of the twelve. Then come the Holy Martyrs, beginning with S. Stephen looking up at the "Son of Man seated on the right hand of G.o.d." S. Pothinus and S. Eustace lead the group of soldier martyrs, ended by S. Christopher bearing the Infant Christ upon his shoulders. Then follow the doctors of the Church: S.

John Chrysostom, "the golden mouthed"; S. Jerome; S. Augustin, of Hippo; and S. Leo, said to be a portrait of M. Ingres. Of these I give slight sketches, as they seem to be peculiarly fine in expression.

The Bishops and Confessors follow, a notable figure for refinement and dignity being S. Nicholas with his three little chubby boys; S. Joseph bears the carpenter's rule instead of the palm, and a lily, emblem of chast.i.ty. Charlemagne, sainted, and S. Clodoald, his kingly robes being covered by the monk's habit, are followed by S. Roch, S. Francis of a.s.sisi, S. Dominic, and a crowd of others it is impossible to mention.

[Ill.u.s.tration: S. NICOLAS, BY FLANDRIN.]

Turning round we see first the Virgin-Martyrs, S. Cecilia bearing her harp, S. Ursula and her friends, S. Agnes, S. Genevieve, and S. Zita bearing her pitcher, one of the most beautiful of Flandrin's women.

Interspersed, after the manner of the Ravenna mosaic, are palm trees dividing the groups. After the Virgins the Holy Women march along: S.

Felicitas with her six little children is a charming group; S. Anne, old and feeble, walks with S. Elizabeth leaning on the boy S. John Baptist; S. Monica is alone, her son being amongst the doctors; S. Helena rests upon the cross, and is followed by the gentle Elizabeth of Hungary carrying bread, and S. Clotilde resting upon the shoulder of the young S. Clodoald.

The penitents follow: S. Mary Magdalen leading the group, S. Mary of Egypt, S. Thais burning her rich garments, and S. Pelagia trampling upon her worldly goods. The Holy Households follow: S. Eustache, S. Julian, and other heads of families who were converted by their wives, and whose children they dedicated to G.o.d.

Below the organ is the "Mission of the Church." S. Peter and S. Paul are teaching the nations. In the centre is an altar with the sacred monogram and a nimbed cross; S. Peter is on the left, holding the keys and preaching to the Western nations. A father and mother kneel at his feet and present their children that they, too, may be converted.

On the right is S. Paul, clasping his sword and announcing the glad tidings to the Eastern nations: Jews, Persians, Greeks, Arabians, and an African bearing his war arrows.

For beauty of form, purity of sentiment and spirituality, untainted by the least spark of sentimentality, which is the bane of most modern religious painting, this work of Flandrin's may be cla.s.sed as the finest of our time. It is treated in the conventional manner; there is no intense realism such as we find in the work of Laurens, Lhermitte or Hitchc.o.c.k, but neither is it inane, effeminate, or affected, as are the pictures of Ary Scheffer, Hesse, and a crowd of disciples of Overbeck and Cornelius. The latter called the frieze an example of a true Renaissance, and M. Ingres, who had helped his favourite pupil in a.n.a.lysing the details, looked upon it as a revival of true religious art, a vivification of the Old Masters. "Do you suppose it is to make copyists of you that I send you to copy the great masters? I wish you to get the juice of the plant and to plunder the bee." This Flandrin did.

He studied the art of Memlinc and Van Eyck, of Fra Angelico and of Raffaello, but the feeling was his own. He went on his way calmly, thoughtfully working out his ideas in faith and prayer, scorning the world and indifferent to its inhabitants, and thus his painting is as instinct in religious sentiment as that of Angelico, while his mastery of drapery and his management of its folds are not surpa.s.sed by the Greeks themselves; indeed, he united Greek beauty of form with Mediaeval purity of sentiment.

Flandrin's only weak point was his colour, but in the frieze it is sufficiently harmonious, owing to the flat gold backgrounds. In drawing he was perfect, never hesitating, never altering; beginning as he meant to finish, without any experiments, or changes in the designs he had sketched out.

Nor must Picot's part in the decoration of S. Vincent de Paul be overlooked. His _Christ sur un trone_, with the patron Saint at His feet adoring, is quite in keeping with the frieze, by the younger painter.

The wood-work of the church is finely carved, and, indeed, all the details of the building are magnificent, making it a glorious example of the perfect unity of the allied arts--architecture, painting, and sculpture; an example that is almost unique in modern times.