Paris as It Was and as It Is: A Sketch Of The French Capital, Illustrative Of The Effects Of The RevolutionBlagdon, Francis William
History
Paris as It Was and as It Is: A Sketch Of The French Capital, Illustrative Of The Effects Of The Revolution
Blagdon, Francis William
Paris (France) -- Description and travel
Here, too, we find a statue, as large as life, representing Christ
leaning on a pillar, executed by MICHAEL ANGELO STODTZ. I notice
this statue merely to observe, that the original, from which it is
taken, is to be seen at Rome, in the _Chiesa della Minerva_ where it
is held in such extraordinary veneration, that the great toe-nail of
the right foot having been entirely worn away by the repeated kisses
of the faithful, one of silver had been substituted. At length this
second nail having been likewise worn away, a third was placed, of
copper, which is already somewhat worn. It was sculptured by MICHAEL
ANGELO BUONAROTI.
We experience an emotion of regret at the aspect of the handsome
monument by MICHALLON, on learning that it was erected to the memory
of young DROUAIS, a skilful and amiable artist, stopped by death, in
1788, during his brilliant career, at the early age of 24. He has
left behind him three historical pictures, which are so many
master-pieces.
The beautiful statue of the youthful Cyparissus, by CHAUDET, the most
eminent French sculptor, reminds us of the full and elegant form of
the fine Greek Bacchus, which decorates the peristyle of the
antichamber or Hall of Introduction.
Thus the amateur and the student will find, in this Museum, an
uninterrupted chronology of monuments, both antique and modern,
beginning by those of ancient Greece, whose date goes back to two
thousand five hundred years before our era, to examine those of the
Romans, of the Lower Empire, of the Gauls, and thence pass to the
first epoch of the French monarchy, and at length follow all the
gradations through which the art has passed from its cradle to its
decrepitude. The whole of this grand establishment is terminated by a
spacious garden, which is converted into an
ELYSIUM.
There, on a verdant lawn, amid firs, cypresses, poplars, and weeping
willows, repose the ashes of the illustrious poets, MOLIÈRE, LA
FONTAINE, BOILEAU, &c.; of the learned DESCARTES, MABILLON,
MONTFAUCON, &c., inclosed in sarcophagi; there, they still receive
the homage which mankind owe to talents and virtue.
But hold! mark the sepulchre of the learned and tender HÉLOÏSE. Her
remains, though formerly conjoined to those of her lover, were
subsequently separated, and after a lapse of three hundred years,
they are now reassembled.
Here one kind grave unites their hapless name,
And grafts her love immortal on his fame.
With a smile seated on her lips, HÉLOÏSE seems to be sighing for the
object of her glowing affection: while the unfortunate ABÉLARD,
coldly reclined, is still commenting on the Trinity. The _Paraclete_,
having been sold and demolished, LENOIR, with all the sensibility of
an admirer of genius, withdrew the bones of ABÉLARD and HÉLOÏSE from
that monastery, and placed them here in a sepulchral chapel, partly
constructed from the remains of their ancient habitation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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