Wrapping up France with visits to...Notre Dame, Saint-Gervais & Saint-Protais, St Sulpice, Saint Sevrain and some Shops Fall 2018

Gentle Friends, for this last of the France Posts I thought I would gather together some of the most lovely churches in Paris... I have been to most of them before and have posted about them in past posts, but they are really wonderful and you can never have enough wonderful in your life!!

First up is Notre Dame, although I've been here a few times, it has been years since I last visited....  so on this trip when I came out of the Sainte Chappel, I mosied on over (both Sainte Chapel and Notre Dame are on the Ile de la Cite)  to see what the line looked like and low and behold, it was next to nothing so I hopped in the queue and in about 5 minutes I was inside...

... you can see that there were people in a tiny crowd but that's hardly any thing like it usually is...sometimes there could be 100's in line waiting to get in...it's kinda crazy... so lets go in...

... looking down the nave...

... one of the side aisles...

... the cathedral was begin during the reign of King Louis VII (reigned 1137-80) in 1160 and largely completed by 1260, though modified frequently over the following centuries.  In the 1790's Notre-Dame suffered quite a bit of desecration during the French Revolution when much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed...

... this is the chapel of the Our Lady of Guadeloupe...

... along the choir are these large bas-relief sculptures of the life of Christ...

... the north Rose Window, c. 1250 and is about 12.9 meters in diameter... It's main theme is the Old Testament, but the central medallion depicts the Virgin and Child...

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... after the cathedral  I walked on over to this great bookstore on the left bank...  fun to browse and the books are in English...

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... staying on the left bank I walked over to St Severin.  This church is dedicated to Severin of Paris.  he was a hermit who lived on the banks of the Seine during the first half of the fifth century.  The original small Romanesque church built on this site was built over his grave.  The "new" more imposing structure built to serve the growing community on the left bank was started at the beginning of the 13th century.  It is in the gothic style with a main nave and lateral aisles.  The church was seriously damaged during the 100 years war by a huge fire in 1448.  During the restoration, the church was rebuilt in the Late-Gothic style we see today.  At that time an aisle was added to the north and a semi-circular apse was added to the eastern end with an ambulatory complete with columns... including the unusual, "Palm Tree" central pillar...

... this is a snap of the twisted "Palm Tree" central column... it's really beautiful and doesn't photograph well... and you wonder at the time what was the inspiration for a "palm tree"?

... and here's a better snap of the nave looking towards that central colomn.... it really stands out !!

... looking back down the nave towards the front door and the grand organ loft...

... many of the windows have been replaced with modern windows...

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On to the next church...

... I also visited Saint Gervais/Saint Protais...  the current church was built between 1494 and 1657, on the site of two much earlier churches.  The facade was completed last and at the time was the first example in Paris of  what became French Baroque.

... the nave of the church (built c. 1600-20) is notable for its dramatic and soring ribbed vaulting - it's simple and the star shaped vaults are really lovely.  Also, notice how the lower level of the nave has a real Gothic feel while as you look up you can see the influence of the renaissance....

... in the north transept is a wooden organ and a wonderful painted alter piece of the Passion of Christ...

... painted by Noel Bellemare and his assistants c. 1546

... the High Alter ...

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... the chapel of the virgin at the back of the church behind the high alter is noted for its late Gothic ceiling and beautiful stained glass.

...these glass windows are some of the oldest  windows in the flamboyant Gothic style , made by Jean Chatellain in 1517, illustrating the life of the Virgin Mary...

... looking at the high alter with the Lady Chapel behind and the large stained glass windows that fill the church with tons of light...

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... I headed over to another church to revisit it's loveliness... Saint-Paul/Saint Louis... this church was constructed between 1627-41... the first stone was laid by Louis XIII in 1627... designed by Jesuit architect Etienne Derand...

... it's a big church and really just a lovely quiet space to be in and walk around...

... in one of the transept is this alter with the Virgin Mary ...

... the windows are plain glass and the place is full of light ...

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  I visited Ultramod Haberdashery looking for that replacement ribbon... it's actually two shops 

... ne shop is geared towards hats and millinery... and the other...

... is the ribbon, button and doo-dads.... that's where I headed...

... this place was a lots of fun and full of so much stuff!!!  It was quiet and just me and the saleslady, who was so helpful and found the ribbon I needed...

... it's on a side street and out of the way, but with a little persistence it is so worth a visit!!

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The last church I visited  was Saint Sulpice...

...this church is 113 meters long, 58 meters in width and 34 meters tall, which is only slightly smaller than Notre Dame, which makes it the second largest church in the City.  It is dedicated to Sulpitius the Pious.  Construction of the present building replaced and earlier Romanesque church and was begun in 1646.

... the Baroque interior of the Lady Chapel, rebuilt in 1729 was rebuilt again in 1774 after a fire in the neighborhood which destroyed the chapel and other structures nearby.  The fire happened in 1764, and the Chapel was completed in 1774.  The dome is lit by hidden widows that let in natural light.  The fresco is by Francois LeMoyne and depicts the Assumption of the Virgin and dates from 1734....

In the Chaple of the Holy Angels, the two murals depicted are by Eugene Delacroix... each of the murals are more than 23 feet high, and the one on the ceiling is more than 16 feet across...

... this most famous of the pair is of  "Jacob Wrestling with the Angel"...

... and the second painting, facing the "Jacob" mural... is of "Helidorus Driven from the Temple"...

... and the very last picture from my trip will be the ceiling of the Angels Chapel... it is of "Saint Michael Vanquishing the Demon."  The mural program to decorate the chapel was completed in 1861.  The next day I took my flight back to SF.....

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It was a super trip and I had many memoriable expeirences... 

but as one little girl said long ago.." there's no place like home..."

There you go sports fans, my Fall trip to France.  I do hope you enjoyed it, I always enjoy writing about and reliving the trip.  Thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Shopping Fall 2018

Gentle Friends, I thought today's post should show the few things I did buy while on vacation.  I'm really not a shopper, and unless it's an antique shop, thrift shop or estate sale I really can't do the "browsing" thing.  Clothes, shoes and stuff like that I have been buying online for years...so when I travel I usually don't buy much...but I did pick up a few things this trip...

 ... one thing was this sweet little Oil/Board painting at a Brocante (outside flea/antique market) that we visited in Droue (Pronounced Druay).  I passed it a couple of times but kept being drawn back to it.  The third time passing I just stopped...and the dealer cut me a good price...so I wrapped it up and hauled this sucker on the train to Paris then on the plane back to SF!!

Here are the few things I did buy or saw and then bought.... let's start with the book.  I saw this book in the bookshop at Versailles and fell in love with the photography, such intimate images from the chateau of things that were picked to be included... but when I picked it up and hefted its weight I had to stand and there debating whether I wanted to carry around a 10-pound book - or not... I decided to take a picture of the cover.  When I got back to SF I bought it on Amazon and let the USPS tote it to me!!  When I stopped buy Sajou I picked up my scissors, another thread winder and a great little chart from the Bayeux tapestry  "The Battle of Hastings"...  the little bronze double frame I picked up at the Brocante in Chinon... it's a super little frame and came with those photos. The jacquard ribbon I bought at the oldest haberdashery in Paris.  It'll be in the next post... I bought it to replace some old and torn ribbon on a luggage rack that came from my grandmother's house.

... I almost forgot to add this book, which I picked up in Paris, at Shakespeare & Company, a great bookshop on the left bank... 

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Over the weekend I picked up some really super candlesticks... they're old silverplate probably dating to the first quarter of the 19th century and are in really great condition for being almost 200 years old...the original removable sockets are still intact...this is what they looked like when I bought them, pretty grungy...

 ... and after a little elbow grease and silver polish...

...sparkling... they are really heavy and impressive, a super find if there ever was one!

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There you go sports fans, thanks again for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

Paris has some of the Most Beautiful Places!! Fall 2018

Gentle Friends, my title today is a bit grandiose, but this particular Post is about a place I've visited every time I come to Paris... and a new place to me, a lovely smallish Mansion/House Museum full of sumptuousness!! The first place is a gem of medieval and spiritual art on a scale that's hard to imagine from my snaps, but I'll try...
it's called the Sainte-Chapelle...

... once the chapel of Palais de la Cite, home of the French monarchs from the 6th to the 14th century, the Sainte Chapel and the Conciergerie are the only vestiges of this Palace left on the Ile de la Cite... the rest of the buildings surrounding the chapel are from the 19th century and house the French Palais de Justice and are closed to the public... but, we can visit the Chapel and the Concerergire... I've been to the Conciergerie before, and there's no need to go back, but for the Chapel, it's a space I love and would visit anytime and make time for every time...

Construction on the chapel began around 1238 and was consecrated on April 26, 1248.  It is considered among the highest achievements of the "rayonnant" period of Gothic architecture.  Commisioned by King Louis IX to house his collection of "Passion Relics" including, Christ's Crown of Thorns.  The Crown of Thorns was one of the most important relics of medieval Christendom now housed in Notre Dame Cathedral. 

Tres Riches Heures de Duc de Berry "June"

Although there are only two medieval buildings left from the City Palace, you can get an idea of what the complex looked like from an image in the Tres Riches Heures de Duc de Berry... it's from the page for June and you can see the Chapel on the far right of the picture...

... this snaperoo shows the narrow buttresses and the wonderful windows to come... it's these windows that one comes to see as this collection is the most extensive and cohesive collection of 13th century stained glass in the world.  There are 15 huge windows filling the nave and apse, while a large rose window with flamboyant tracery (added to the upper chapel c.1490) dominates the western wall.

... it was a bright sunny day, perfect for visiting the Chapel, but bad for getting good shots...

... the windows display a clear iconographical programme.  In the eastern apse, the windows illustrated the New Testament and the windows in the nave illustrate scenes from the Old Testament...

... this is the restored area that once held the "Grand Chasse" or silver chest that held the Relics...  the chest was melted down in the revolution and the relics dispersed...

... under the western Rose Window and along all the walls are frescoed with images of Kings and Queens from the Bible...

... and the ceiling is a dark blue with golden stars... emulating the sky...

... after I left and was walking across Pont Notre-Dame I took this snap of the Concerigerie...

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The next place on my list was a museum... so I headed over to the Musee Nissim de Camondo... located at the edge of the Parc Monceau at 63 rue de Monceau...

... you walk in through this gateway from the street into the courtyard...

... and this is the front of the mansion...  built in 1911 by the Comte Moise de Camondo, a very wealthy banker, to set off his extensive collection of 18th-century French furniture and art objects.  The house was patterned after the Petit Trianon at Versailles, though with modern conveniences.  Both the house and collections were bequeathed to Les Arts Decoratives in honor of his son, Nissim de Camondo, who had been killed in WWI.  It opened as a museum in 1936.   In 1943, during the occupation of Paris by the German Army in WWII, Moise' only surviving child a daughter named Fanny, who had converted to Catholicism, her ex-husband Leon Reinach, and their children Fanny and Bertrand, were arrested n Paris, with the full cooperation of the Vichy government, working in step with the Nazis.  The family was detained and sent to Auschwitz to perish in the death camp, thus ending the Moise Camondo family lineage.

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The Mansion is maintained as if it were still a private home preserved in its original condition.  Three floors are open to visitors... and so worth a visit.  You walk through the rooms at your own pace and can read the didactic information given.  I found the place lovely and quiet, with very few other visitors...  there is a restaurant on the grounds and that was packed with locals, but the house was quiet and I had really wonderful visit!!

... the Grand Bureau on the ground floor...

... this lovely painting by Elisabeth Vigee -Lebrun in the Grand Bureau... 

is of Genevieve-Sophie le Coulteux du Molay, 1788.  It was painted at Chateaux Malmaison, the Coulteux family owned the Chateau prior to the Revolution and sold the house to Josephine Bonaparte in 1799.

... the living room...

... on the floor is this super rug, notice the center circle repairs where there was three Royal Fleur de Lis... they were removed during the revolution...

... the dining room... just off this room is a small breakfast room that has walls full of the most beautiful china...

... a coffee/tea service...

... part of a dessert service...

... the library...

... an alcove bed in one of the bedchambers...

... this is the back stair that leads up to the bedroom level...I would highly recommend visiting this museum.  It's a super house and just chock a bloc full of the most spectacular 18th-century decorative arts!!!

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After the museum, I headed across town to make a visit to a small shop called Sajou...

... I actually had a mission as I wanted a pair of scissors to match my thread winders...I spent some time there talking to the shop owner, so nice, and just shopping around this fun, packed shop...

... I also picked up a chart...

... one of the many completed pieces that are all over the shop, I thought it was really pretty!!

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There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,
edgar