Paris: With Pen and Pencil: Its People and Literature, Its Life and BusinessBartlett, D. W. (David W.)
History
Paris: With Pen and Pencil: Its People and Literature, Its Life and Business
Bartlett, D. W. (David W.)
Paris (France) -- Description and travel; Paris (France) -- Social life and customs
There was a large fresco painting of Christ upon the cross, which
particularly arrested my attention. You saw in it every feature of the
man, united with the holiness and majesty of the Divine. The face
expressed every shade of sweetness and agony; yet it was only a fresco
painting. Another represents Christ preaching on the Mount of Olives,
with his disciples and the people gathered about him. I was struck with
a series of frescoes which were executed to illustrate the most
important precepts of Christ. One is that of a warrior, sheathing his
sword in the presence of his deadly enemy. It would well grace the walls
of a non-resistant, but not those of a French church, which ever
reverberate to the music of the drum. The church has generally
illustrated that precept of Christ by pictures, not by works. Another of
the frescoes represents two brothers embracing each other. Still
another, a beautiful young woman giving alms in secret to a poor old
blind man. A painting to the right represents Christ issuing the
command, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature." The Magdalen kneels below, in devout admiration, and still
lower is the Virgin surrounded by a group of pious women.
On the keystone of one of the vaults, "The Last Supper" is sculptured in
solid stone; on another, "The Ordination of the Shepherd." Within the
church there are several chapels. The first in the southern aisle
contains a magnificent fresco by M. Duval, representing Christ crowning
the Virgin. Not far from it there is a fine fresco by Guichard,
representing the descent from the cross. The windows upon this side are
magnificently decorated with figures of saints and stained glass.
In the center of one transept there is a marble basin for holy water,
surmounted by a finely sculptured group of three children supporting a
cross. The design is by the donor--the wife of Alphonso de Lamartine,
the poet. I noticed in one compartment some admirable traceries in solid
oak, and before the high altar an elaborate gilt-bronze lamp--the gift
of the wife of Louis Phillippe; but the most brilliant portion of the
ulterior is the fresco painting.
As we walked slowly from chapel to chapel, and transept to transept, I
could see men and women--principally the latter--with great apparent
devotion kneeling before the altar, or at the confessional. It was not
Sunday, yet many people were constantly passing in and out. I might
perhaps infer from this fact, that the French possess much religious
feeling--but I cannot believe it. Art and literature swallow up
religion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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