II
THE LEFT OR SOUTH BANK

[THE earliest overflow of Paris was from the Île de la Cité to the Left or South Bank (Rive Gauche).

The reason for this overflow is clear. The city was situated on a small island, near the head of navigation; it guarded the passage of the Seine by the double bridge. Naturally, however, at a time when all civilization lay to the south, as the town began to grow, it spread southward, towards Rome, Lyons, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Arles, Nîmes, and the Roman culture. To the north at that time lay nothing but comparative barbarism – the Britons and the Germans; or later, the English, the Normans, and the Teutonic hordes. Hence, from a very early date, Paris first ran southward along the road to Rome. Already in Roman times, here stood the palace of Constantius Chlorus and Julian, now the Thermes – the fortress which formed the tête du pont for the city. Later, the southern suburb became the seat of learning and law; it was known by the name which it still in part retains of the Université, but is oftener now called the Quartier Latin. At first, however, only a small portion of the Left Bank was built over. But gradually the area of the new town spread from the immediate neighbourhood of the old Hôtel-Dieu, with its church or chapel of St. Julien-le-Pauvre, to the modern limit of the Boulevard St. Germain; and thence again, by the time of Louis Quatorze, to the further Boulevards just south of the Luxembourg. It is interesting to note, too, that all this southern side, long known as the Université, still retains its position as the learned district. Not only does it include the students’ region – the Quartier Latin – with many of the chief artistic studios, but it embraces in particular the Sorbonne, or University, the Institute of France, with its various branches (Académie Française, Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Académie des Sciences, des Beaux-Arts, etc.), the École des Beaux-Arts, the École de Médicine, the Collège de France, the Lycées St. Louis, Louis-le-Grand, and Henri IV, the École Polytechnique, the École des Mines, the Bibliothèque Ste. Geneviève, the Jardin des Plantes, and the Luxembourg Museum of Modern Paintings. In short, the Left Bank represents literary, scientific, artistic, and educational Paris – the students in law, arts, and medicine, with their own subventioned theatre, the Odéon, and their libraries, schools, laboratories, and cafés. It is further noticeable that these institutions cluster thickest round the older part of the southern suburb, just opposite the Cité, while almost all of them lie within the limits of the outer boulevards of Louis XIV.

The Quartier Latin surrounds the Sorbonne, and is traversed by the modern Boulevard St. Michel. The Faubourg St. Germain, immediately to the west of it (surrounding the old Abbey of St. Germain-des-Prés) is of rather later date; it owes its origin in large part to the Renaissance spirit, and especially to Marie de Médicis’ palace of the Luxembourg. It is still the residence of many of the old nobility, and is regarded as the distinctively aristocratic quarter of Paris, in the restricted sense, while the district lying around the Champs Élysées is rather plutocratic and modern than noble in the older signification of the word.

The visitor will therefore bear in mind distinctly that the South Side is the Paris of the Students.]

A. THE ROMAN PALACE AND THE
MUSÉE DE CLUNY

[The primitive nucleus of the suburb on the South Side consists of the Roman fortress palace, the tête du pont of the Left Bank, now known as the Thermes, owing to the fact that its principal existing remains include only the ruins of the baths or thermæ. This colossal building, probably erected by Constantius Chlorus, the father of Constantine, covered an enormous area south of the river. After the Frankish conquest, it still remained the residence of the Merwing and Karling kings on the rare occasions when they visited Paris; and it does not seem to have fallen into utter decay till a comparatively late date in the Middle Ages. With the Norman irruptions, however, and the rise of the real French monarchs under Eudes and the Capets, the new sovereigns found it safest to transfer their seat to the Palace on the Island (now the Palais de Justice), and the Roman fortress was gradually dismantled. In 1340 the gigantic ruins came into the hands of the powerful Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, near Mâcon, in Burgundy; and about 1480, the abbots began to erect on the spot a town mansion for themselves, which still bears the name of the Hôtel de Cluny. The letter K, the mark of Charles VIII (1483–1498), occurs on many parts of the existing building, and fixes its epoch. The house was mostly built by Jacques d’Amboise, abbot, in 1490. The style is late Gothic, with Renaissance features. The abbots, however, seldom visited Paris, and they frequently placed their town house accordingly at the disposition of the kings of France. Mary of England, sister of Henry VIII, and widow of Louis XII, occupied it thus in 1515, soon after its completion. It was usual for the queens of France to wear white as mourning; hence her apartment is still known as the Chambre de la reine blanche.

At the Revolution, when the property of the monasteries was confiscated, the Hôtel de Cluny was sold, and passed at last, in 1833, into the hands of M. du Sommerard, a zealous antiquary, who began the priceless collection of works of art which it contains. He died in 1842, and the Government then bought the house and museum, and united it with the Roman ruin at its back under the title of Musée des Thermes et de l’Hôtel de Cluny. Since that time many further objects have been added to the collection.

At Cluny the actual building forms one of the most interesting parts of the sight, and is in itself a museum. It is a charming specimen of a late mediæval French mansion; and the works of art it contains are of the highest artistic value. I am able briefly to describe only what seem to me the most important out of its many thousands of beautiful exhibits. At least two whole days should be devoted to Cluny – one to the lower and one to the upper floor. Much more, if possible.]

MUSÉE DE CLUNY GROUND FLOOR

Go to the Place du Châtelet; cross the bridge, and the Île de la Cité; also, the Pont St. Michel to the South Side. Good view of Notre-Dame to L. In front lies the modern Boulevard St. Michel, with the Fontaine St. Michel in the foreground (statue by Duret). Continue along the Boulevard till you reach the Boulevard St. Germain, another great modern thoroughfare which cuts right through the streets of the old Faubourg and the narrow alleys of the Latin Quarter. The Garden at the corner contains all that remains of the Roman Palace. Notice its solid masonry as you pass. Then, take the first turn to the L, the Rue du Sommerard, which leads you at once to the door of the Museum.

Notice the late semi-Gothic Gateway, resembling that of an Oxford college. Pass through the flat-arched gate into the handsome courtyard. To the L is a late Gothic loggia, containing a few antiques. In front stands the main building, with square windows and high dormers, bearing the staff and pilgrim’s scallop, the symbol of St. James, with the cardinal’s hat and scutcheons and devices of the family d’Amboise, thus indicating the name of Jacques d’Amboise, the abbot who built it. Entrance to the R. Open free, daily, 11 to 4 or 5, except Mondays.

The first suite of rooms which we enter form some of the apartments of the original building. Observe the fine timbered ceilings.

Room I. – Panels, etc., in wood-carving.

Room II. —*Fine French chimney-piece, by Hugues Lallement, dated 1562, representing Christ and the Woman of Samaria at the well, brought from a house at Châlons-sur-Marne. R and L of entrance (wall A on plan), wooden seats, with canopy, holding good Gothic wood-carvings. Notice L of door, a Deposition in the Tomb; (801) Madonna and Child; then, Birth of the Virgin, with St. Anne in a bed; and below, head of a Saint, hollow, intended to contain her skull or relics. Near it (762), decapitation of St. John Baptist, German, 16th century; and (789) Death of the Virgin. R of doorway, three reliquary heads, and (783 and 784) two groups of the Education of the Virgin. Above, several representations of the Circumcision. Wall B, between the windows, (745) quaint reliquary head of St. Mabile, one of St. Ursula’s 11,000 virgins, the hair gilt, Italian, 15th century; near it, Angel of the Annunciation; Madonna and Child; and Flight into Egypt. Fine wooden chests. In the cases, collections of shoes, uninteresting.

Room III. – Wood-carvings, more or less Gothic. Wall A, (788) Madonna supporting the dead Christ, under a canopy, 16th century; (816) Holy Women, with small figure of the donor, kneeling. (709) large carved altar-piece, end of 15th century; in the centre, Crucifixion, with quaintly brutal Roman soldiers, fainting Madonna, and Holy Women in fantastic head-dresses of the period; below, Nativity, and Adoration of the Magi; L side, above, Flagellation, with grotesquely cruel soldiers; beneath it, angels displaying the napkin of St. Veronica; R side, above, Deposition in the Tomb; beneath it, angels supporting the instruments of the Passion – a splendid piece of Flemish carving. Above, two statues of St. George. Further on (712), votive triptych against the plague, Flemish, carved, with painted flaps on the doors; L, St. Sebastian, with arrows of the pestilence; R, St. Roch exhibiting his plague-spot, with angel who consoled him and dog who fed him (see the legend in Mrs. Jameson); centre, Adoration of the Magi; the Three Kings represent (as usual) the three ages of man, and also the three old continents, Europe, Asia, Africa; hence the youngest king is represented as a Moor. Other episodes (Flight into Egypt, Return of Magi, etc.), in the background – late 15th century. Wall B, first window, stained glass, German panes, 15th century, Annunciation, in two panels (1960 and 1957). Beyond it (830), in woodwork, 16th century, Coronation of the Virgin by Christ and God the Father – a somewhat unusual treatment. Above (758), Stem of Jesse, representing the descent of Christ; notice David with his harp and other kings of Israel; late 15th century. Second window (1958 and 1959), St. Hubert and St. Lambert, companions to the Annunciation; (721) dainty little Crucifixion (16th century), in coloured German wood-carving; (1686) Flemish painting, school of Van Eyck, Crucifixion. Wall D, windows (1961 and 1962), St. Peter and St. George; (1963 and 1964) St. Hubert, and St. Antony Abbot (with his pig, staff, and bell). Wall C, altar-piece, unnumbered; subjects much as opposite; centre, Crucifixion; beneath it, Nativity, Adoration of Magi. L, Way to Calvary (with grotesquely brutal soldiers); beneath it, Annunciation (notice the prie-dieu, book, and bed in the background), and Visitation; R, Descent from the Cross, with St. John and the Marys; beneath it, Circumcision, and Presentation in the Temple. (710) Deposition from the Cross, very good, with painted wings from the Passion. All the wood-carvings in this room deserve careful attention. Inspect them all, and, as far as possible, discover their subjects.

Room IV. – Fine Renaissance chimney-piece, by Hugues Lallement, 16th century, representing Actæon transformed into a stag by Diana, whom he has surprised in the act of bathing. (Subjects from the myth of Diana are favourites with the French Renaissance artists, owing to the influence of Diane de Poitiers.) From Châlons-sur-Marne, same house as that in Room II. Wall A (1779 and 1778), Renaissance classical paintings, part of a large series continued elsewhere; (1428) fine Renaissance carved cabinet (Diana and Chimæras); contrast this and neighbouring Renaissance work with the mediæval carvings in adjacent rooms. Wall B (6329), quaint old Flemish tapestry, representing the Angels appearing to the Shepherds; the Nativity; the Adoration of the Magi; and the Agony in the Garden. Study the arrangement of all these figures, which are conventional, and will reappear in many other examples of various arts. Wall C, R and L of fireplace, good Renaissance wood-carving. Wall D, fine cabinets. In the cases, medals.

Room V, to the side. Debased Italian and Spanish work of the 17th and 18th centuries. Centre, Adoration of the Magi, a meretricious Neapolitan group of the 17th century, intended to place in a church as a Christmas berceau. The costumes of the Three Kings, representing the three continents, the ruined temple in which the action takes place, and the antique statue in the background of the Madonna and St. Joseph, should all be noticed. Contemptible as a work of art, this florid composition of dolls is interesting and valuable for its spirited arrangement, and for the light it casts on the conception of the subject. The room also contains other similar church furniture of the 17th and 18th centuries. Observe their theatrical tinsel style and their affected pietism, as contrasted with the simplicity, naïveté, and truth of earlier periods. Take, as an extreme example of this tendency, the relief of the Annunciation on Wall D, to the R of the entrance door, and compare it with examples of the same subject in other rooms of the collection. Wall B, facing the entrance, good case of miscellaneous woodwork containing excellent Spanish art of this bad period – a Last Supper, a St. Francis receiving the Stigmata, a Massacre of the Innocents, the Faint of St. Catherine, St. Antony the Abbot, St. Antony of Padua carrying the infant Christ, and other figures. A large gilt tabernacle, on Wall C, also contains a debased figure of St. Anthony of Padua, from an altar dedicated to the Saint. Identify as many of these saints as possible, and remember their symbols.

We now quit the older suite of apartments, and enter a large central glass-covered court – Room VI, entirely modern. The Corridor