Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects and Curiosities of Art (Vol. 3 of 3) by S. Spooner (pdf to ebook reader .TXT) 📕

property of other nations, I reckoned the number of pictures which then

remained to it, and found that the total left to the French nation, of

the fifteen hundred pictures which constituted their magnificent

collection, was _two hundred and seventy-four_! The Italian division

comprehended about eighty-five specimens; these were now dwindled to

_twelve_: in this small number, however, there are some very exquisite

pictures by Raffaelle, and other great masters. Their Titians are much

reduced, but they keep the Entombment, as belonging to the King of

France's old collection, which is one of the finest by that artist. A

melancholy air of utter ruin mantled over the walls of this superb

gallery: the floor was covered with empty frames: a Frenchman, in the

midst of his sorrow, had his joke, in saying, 'Well, we should not have

left to _them_ even these!' In walking down this exhausted place, I

observed a person, wearing the insignia of the legion of honor, suddenly

stop short, and heard him exclaim, '_Ah, my God--and the Paul Potter,

too!_' This referred to the famous painting of a bull by that master,

which is the largest of his pictures, and is very highly valued. It

belonged to the Netherlands, and has been returned to them. It was said

that the emperor Alexander offered fifteen thousand pounds for it.

"The removal of the statues was later in commencing, and took up more

time; they were still packing these up when I quitted Paris. I saw the

Venus, the Apollo, and the Laocoön removed: these may be deemed the

presiding deities of the collection. The solemn antique look of these

halls fled forever, when the workmen came in with their straw and

Plaster of Paris, to pack up. The French could not, for some time, allow

themselves to believe that their enemies would dare to deprive them of

these sacred works; it appeared to them impossible that they should be

separated from France--from _la France_--the country of the Louvre and

the Institute; it seemed a contingency beyond the limits of human

reverses. But it happened, nevertheless: they were all removed. One

afternoon, before quitting the place, I accidentally stopped longer than

usual, to gaze on the Venus, and I never saw so clearly her superiority

over the Apollo, the impositions of whose style, even more than the

great beauties with which they are mingled, have gained for it an

inordinate and indiscriminating admiration. On this day, very few, if

any of the statues had been taken away--and many said that France would

retain them, although she was losing the pictures. On the following

morning I returned, and the pedestal on which the Venus had stood for so

many years, the pride of Paris, and the delight of every observer, was

vacant! It seemed as if a soul had taken its flight from a body."

REMOVAL OF THE VENETIAN HORSES FROM PARIS.

"The removal of the well known horses taken from the church of St. Mark

in Venice, was a bitter mortification to the people of Paris. These had

been peculiarly the objects of popular pride and admiration. Being

exposed to the public view, in one of the most frequented situations of

Paris, this was esteemed the noblest trophy belonging to the capital;

and there was not a Parisian vender of a pail-full of water who did not

look like a hero when the Venetian horses were spoken of.

"'Have you heard what has been determined about the horses?' was every

foreigner's question. 'Oh! they cannot mean to take the horses away,'

was every Frenchman's answer. On the morning of Thursday, the 26th of

September, 1815, however it was whispered that they had been at work all

night in loosening them from their fastening. It was soon confirmed

that this was true--and the French then had nothing left for it, but to

vow, that if the allies were to attempt to touch them in the _daylight_,

Paris would rise at once, exterminate its enemies, and rescue its honor.

On Friday morning I walked through the square; it was clear that some

considerable change had taken place; the forms of the horses appeared

finer than I had ever before witnessed. When looking to discover what

had been done, a private of the British staff corps came up, 'You see,

sir, we took away the harness last night,' said he. 'You have made a

great improvement by so doing,' I replied; 'but are the British employed

on this work?' The man said that the Austrians had requested the

assistance of our staff corps, for it included better workmen than any

they had in their service. I heard that an angry French mob had given

some trouble to the people employed on the Thursday night, but that a

body of Parisian gendarmerie had dispersed the assemblage. The Frenchmen

continued their sneers against the allies for working in the dark: fear

and shame were the causes assigned. 'If you take them at all, why not

take them in the face of day? But you are too wise to drag upon

yourselves the irresistible popular fury, which such a sight would

excite against you!'

"On the night of Friday, the order of proceeding was entirely changed.

It had been found proper to call out a strong guard of Austrians, horse

and foot. The mob had been charged by the cavalry, and it was said that

several had their limbs broken. I expected to find the place on Saturday

morning quiet and open as usual; but when I reached its entrance, what

an impressive scene presented itself! The delicate plan--for such in

truth it was--of working by night, was now over. The Austrians had

wished to spare the feelings of the king the pain of seeing his capital

dismantled before his palace windows, where he passed in his carriage

when he went out for his daily exercise. But the acute feelings of the

people rendered severer measures necessary. My companion and myself were

stopped from entering the place by Austrian dragoons: a large mob of

Frenchmen were collected here, standing on tip-toe to catch the arch in

the distance, on the top of which the ominous sight of numbers of

workmen, busy about the horses, was plainly to be distinguished. We

advanced again to the soldiers: some of the French, by whom we were

surrounded, said, 'Whoever you are, you will not be allowed to pass.' I

confess I was for retiring--for the whole assemblage, citizens and

soldiers, seemed to wear an angry and alarming aspect. But my companion

was eager for admittance. He was put back again by an Austrian

hussar:--'_What, not the English!_' he exclaimed in his own language.

The mob laughed loudly, when they heard the foreign soldier so

addressed; but the triumph was ours; way was instantly made for us--and

an officer on duty, close by, touched his helmet as we passed.

"The king and princes had left the Tuilleries, to be out of the view of

so mortifying a business The court of the palace, which used to be gay

with young _gardes du corps_ and equipages, was now silent, deserted,

and shut up. Not a soul moved in it. The top of the arch was filled with

people, and the horses, though as yet all there, might be seen to begin

to move. The carriages that were to take them away were in waiting

below, and a tackle of ropes was already affixed to one. The small door

leading to the top was protected by a strong guard: every one was

striving to obtain permission to gratify his curiosity, by visiting the

horses for the last time that they could be visited in this situation.

Permission, however, could necessarily be granted but to few. I was of

the fortunate number. In a minute I had climbed the narrow dark stair,

ascended a small ladder, and was out on the top, with the most

picturesque view before me that can be imagined. An English lady asked

me to assist her into Napoleon's car of victory: his own statue was to

have been placed in it, _when he came back a conqueror from his Russian

expedition!_ I followed the lady and her husband into the car, and we

found a Prussian officer there before us. He looked at us, and, with a

good humored smile, said, 'The emperor kept the English out of France,

but the English have now got where he could not! '_Ah, pauvre,

Napoleon!_'

"The cry of the French now was, that it was abominable, execrable, to

insult the king in his palace--to insult him in the face of his own

subjects by removing the horses in the face of day! I adjourned with a

friend to dine at a _restaurateur's_, near the garden of the Tuilleries,

after witnessing what I have described. Between seven and eight in the

evening we heard the rolling of wheels, the clatter of cavalry, and the

tramp of infantry. A number of British were in the room; they all rose

and rushed to the door without hats, and carrying in their haste their

white table napkins in their hands. The horses were going past in

military procession, lying on their sides, in separate cars. First came

cavalry, then infantry, then a car; then more cavalry, more infantry,

then another car; and so on till all four passed. The drums were

beating, and the standards went waving by. This was the only appearance

of parade that attended any of the removals. Three Frenchmen, seeing the

group of English, came up to us, and began a conversation. They appealed

to us if this was not shameful. A gentleman observed, that the horses

were only going back to the place from whence the French had taken them:

if there was a right in power for France, there must also be one for

other states but the better way to consider these events was as

terminating the times of robbery and discord. Two of them seemed much

inclined to come instantly round to our opinion: but one was much more

consistent. He appeared an officer, and was advanced beyond the middle

age of life. He kept silence for a moment; and then, with strong

emphasis, said--'You have left me nothing for my children but hatred

against England; this shall be my legacy to them.'"--_Scott._

REMOVAL OF THE STATUE OF NAPOLEON FROM THE PLACE VENDOME.

"What will posterity think of the madness of the French government and

the exasperation of public feeling in a nation like the French, so

uniformly proud of military glory, when very shortly after the first

arrival of their new monarch, Louis XVIII., an order was issued for

leveling with the dust that proud monument of their victories, the

famous column and statue of Napoleon in the Place Vendôme cast from

those cannon which their frequent victories over the Austrians had

placed at their disposal? The ropes attached to the neck of the colossal

brazen figure of the Emperor, wherewith the pillar was crowned, extended

to the very iron gratings of the Tuillerie gardens; thousands essayed to

move it, but all attempts were vain--the statue singly defied their

malice; upon which a second expedient was resorted to, and the carriage

horses, etc., from the royal stables were impressed into this service,

and affixed to the ropes, thus uniting their powerful force to that of

the _bipeds_: but even this proved abortive; the statue and column

braved the united shocks of man and beast, and both remained

immoveable." The statue was afterwards quietly dislodged from its

station by the regular labors of the experienced artisan. It was not

replaced till after the Revolution in 1830.--_Ireland._

THE MUSEE FRANCAIS AND THE MUSEE ROYAL.

When the Allies entered Paris in 1815, they found in the gallery of the

Louvre about two thousand works of art--the gems of the world in

painting and antique sculpture--mostly the spoils of war, deposited

there by the Emperor Napoleon. The selection of these works was

entrusted to a commission, at the head of whom was the Baron Denon, who

accompanied the Emperor in all his expeditions for this purpose. The

Louvre, at this time, was the acknowledged emporium of the fine arts.

The grand determination of Napoleon to place France highest in art among

the nations, did not rest here. The design of combining in one single

series, five hundred and twenty-two line engravings from the finest

paintings and antique statues in the world, was a conception worthy of

his genius and foresight, and by its execution he conferred a lasting

favor not only on the artistic, but the civilized world, for the

originals were subsequently restored by the Allies to their rightful

owners and only about three hundred and fifty pieces remained of that

splendid collection. "These works" (the Musée Français, and the Musée

Royal), says a distinguished connoisseur, "are unquestionably the

greatest production of modern times. They exhibit a series of exquisite

engravings by the most distinguished artists, of such a magnificent

collection of