Episode 113 - Behind Montmartre

Place Marcel Aymé Out of a stone wall climbs a man, his upper body, right arm, left hand, and right leg appear to be trapped within the wall.  From the pages of Marcel Aymé’s book  Le Passe-Muraille, The Man Who Walked Through Walls, the statue was created by celebrated French actor Jean Marais. Marais stared as the beast in the French fairy tale directed by Jean Cocteau, La Belle et la Bête in 1946, long before Disney would get their hands on it. In 1943, Marcel Aymé wrote the short story featuring Monsieur Dutilleul working for the Ministry of Registration who discovered he could pass through walls. Frightened by his new ability he visited a doctor who gave him two pills. The first to take immediately and the second within a year. Using his new ability for revenge on his boss and then a burglar where he easily evades the police. 

One day he sees a woman on the nearby Rue Lepic and falls in love with her even though she is married. Sneaking into her house through the walls night after night avoiding her husband until the day he has a splitting headache and reaches for an aspirin. However, the pill he would take would be the 2nd from his doctor and not an aspirin. After leaving his lover one night and passing through the wall, he would become stuck and remain in the wall for eternity. Installed on 25 February 1989, the bronze statue by Jean Marais sits at the end of the Place Marcel Aymé, just below where the author once lived. The bronze left hand of the statue is shiny from the many people that reach up to pull him out of the wall, give it a try. 

Square Suzanne Buisson Suzanne was born September 19, 1883, in Paris, and in 1940 she joined the Liberation and ran messages and people between the occupied and free zones of France. Arrested on April 1, 1944, she was sent to Auschwitz and killed on July 1, 1944. The park was renamed for this hero in 1951. 

Within the park, there is a statue of Saint Denis that marks the spot where the 3rd-century saint stopped to rinse off his head before he continued onto the town of Saint-Denis and finally fell to his death. 

Chateau des Brouillards, built-in 1772 for Legrand-Ducamjean and included a windmill and farm as well as two houses. The property was sold on the eve of the Revolution in what might have been the best timing ever. In 1850 the property became the home of Kees Van Dongen and Modigliani and later in  1889 Renoir and his family. The property was partially destroyed in 1929 leaving the one main building we see today down the small shaded path sitting just behind the international superstar. 

The Place Dalida was renamed in 1997 when a bust of the star was installed marking the tenth anniversary of her death. Artist Alain Aslan created the bronze bust that is often rubbed for good luck and also created the amazing statue on her tomb in the Montmartre cemetery.  Check out the episode of Paris History Avec a Hemingway for more on the life of Dalida. 

The street leading away from the Place Dalida, Rue Girardon is named after Francois Girardon who was a sculptor under Louis XIV who first worked for Nicolas Fouquet on Vaux le Vicomte. Girardon created the tomb of Cardinal Richelieu in the chapel of the Sorbonne and a statue of Louis XIV that once stood in the center of Place Louis Le Grand, now Place Vendome. A small version is all that remains in the Musée du Louvre. Also in the Louvre are a few of his sculptures on the ceiling of the Galerie d’Apollon and a tapestry portrait of him hangs on the wall with a bit of the tomb of Richelieu. 

Maison Rose was once owned by Germaine Pichot and her husband Ramon. The one-time dancer was the love interest of Carlos Casagemas, a close friend of Picasso. Carlos fell in love with her but the feeling wasn’t mutual. On February 17, 1901, Carlos walked into the Hippodrome Cafe in Pigalle where he was holding a dinner party, and attempted to shoot Germaine before he turned the gun on himself. This tragic event sparked Picasso’s prolific blue period where Carlos was the subject of many of the pieces. 

Rue Cortot, named for the French Neo-Classical artist Jean-Pierre Cortot. Many of his sculptures can be found in the Musée du Louvre as well as the Louis XIII statue in the center of Place des Vosges. 

One of the loveliest small museums in Paris is the Musée de Montmartre on the Rue Cortot. The 16th-century buildings are a few of the oldest on the hill of Montmartre and were once the homes of a few of the greatest French artists. The Hotel Demarne was once the home of Claude de la Rose, a great actor in the time of Moliere. Pere Tanguy, the wonderful and kind paint crusher lived here for a short time and supplied all the artists with their precious pigments.  

The Museum is made up of a few separate buildings, In the Hotel Bel Air, holds even more fantastic French history. It was here that Renoir set up his studio. In the lovely Jardin Renoir, you will find a few recognizable views including the tree swing that he painted in 1876. Jeanne Samary, his frequent model, stands on the swing that is still in the same spot today and is marked with a plaque. 

Make sure you go inside the museum and up to the former studios of Suzanne Valadon. You step right into the life of the model-turned artist that also had a fascinating life of ups and downs. She was the very first podcast episode we did and worth a listen if you want to know more about her.  

The Musée de Montmartre is open daily in the summer 10 am-7 pm (this normally changes in the fall and winter) 

Just outside the door at no 6 lived Erik Satie. The composer who wrote one of the most beautiful pieces in the world Gymnopédie no 1. Satie and Valdon were lovers from 1890 to 1898 and you can say he was obsessed with her. She decided to move on to one of his close friends Paul Mousis who she married but later left for her son's best friend.  Quite the small circle there Suzanne. 

At the top of the street, the Chateau d’Eau Montmartre crowns the back side of the hill inside the Square Claude Charpentier. Architect Charpentier was born in 1909 and dedicated his time to restoring and protecting historic structures in the Marais, Montmartre, and around the Sorbonne. 

Join us next week when taking you to the lower side of Montmartre and a bit of the Moulin Rouge, 

Episode 112 - Montmartre and the Artists

The hill of Montmartre has had many lives. One of the most famous was when it was the home of the artists that climbed the winding cobblestoned streets. The Bateau-Lavoir is one of the mythical places that many of the artists ateliers of the early 1900’s hid behind its facade. 

The former piano factory and ballroom was divided in 1889 into twenty small studios. Devoid of running water or heat they were pieced together with boards and wooden walkways that on a windy stormy day it creaked and rocked like a boat on the Seine. Poet Max Jacobs coined the term Bateau Lavoir for those stormy days. Picasso moved in for just 15 francs a month in 1903 after the death of Carlos Casagemas. It was here that he painted his blue & rose period. 

Besides being the home and studios of so many artists, the Bateau-Lavoir was also the site of an event that launched the recognition of Henri Rousseau. In 1908, Picasso held a party for the almost unknown painter. Having discovered Rousseau when he came upon a street merchant selling his paintings. Not to be used as art, but to be used for the canvas to be painted over. Fascinated by the painter, Picasso searched him out in hopes of meeting him.  Henri Julien Félix Rousseau discovered painting much later in life. Nicknamed Le Douanier, for his job as a toll and tax collector, painting in his spare time in his early forties. In 1893 at the age of 49, he quit his job to paint full time. In the post-impressionist period Rousseau was known as a Primitive and Naïve painter. 

Self-taught, Rousseau would gather attention; most of it was not very great. In 1886, he took part in the Salon des Indépendants alongside Matisse, where his painting drew the attention of Félix Vallotton. "His tiger surprising its prey ought not to be missed; it's the alpha and omega of painting."  Many of his paintings are of nature, portraits of people and a few buildings that were a reflection of his earlier life.   Picasso threw a banquet for Rousseau in the ramshackle Bateau-Lavoir; he invited most of the Paris artistic community. Many thought the party was a bit of a joke, Rousseau really wasn’t taken that seriously as a painter, even after more than 20 years. 

With Gertrude and Leo Stein, Apollinaire, Max Jacob and André Salmon in attendance it was “one of the most notable social events of the twentieth century”. It was half-serious and half-burlesque, with only rice to eat for the guests, but plenty of wine. The banquet would touch Rousseau and give him a bit more prestige in Paris. He would die less than two years later. On his tombstone Apollinaire would write “that you may spend your sacred leisure in the light and Truth of Painting”. His paintings stand out in the Musee de l’Orangerie, in a small room on the lower level. They are fascinating in their naïve way, and his use of color draws you in. 

The Bateau-Lavoir sits on the Place Émile-Goudeau, named for the poet and journalist who founded the Hydropathes Society that helped market the writers and poets of Paris. It was at this spot that Napoleon also tied up his horse (or someone most likely did for him) as he headed to the top of the hill. 

A few steps away is the start of Rue d’Orchampt, a short elbow bend of a street that was the atelier of Renoir and where he painted a few of his most notable works. In his trio of dance paintings, Dance in the City, Country and Bougival he intended to feature model and future artist Suzanne Valadon. However, Renoir’s partner Aline Charigot was a little tired of the lovely lady that took up all of his time and one day entered the studio and attacked the Country painting. Renoir was forced to redo it and use Aline as his model. Happy lover, happy life.  More on Suzanne who was the subject of our first episode. 

At the bend in the street, the corner is crowned with a lovely white home that once belonged to the International superstar Dalida. The Egyptian Italian beauty was born in 1933 and arrived in Paris in 1954 inspired by Rita Hayworth in Gilda. Purchasing the property in 1962, she lived in her home in her beloved Montmartre until May 3, 1987 when she took her own life. For more on Dalida check out the episode we did about her.  

The Moulin de la Galette sits at the corner of Rue Lepic and dates back to the 17th century when the sides of Montmartre were dotted with windmills. In 1809 the Debra family began making a brown bread known as a galette, giving the landmark its name. The artists began to gather and filled the back courtyard as depicted in Renoir’s Bal du Moulin de la Galette. 

Place Jean-Baptiste-Clément dates back to 1905 and is named for French singer, lyricists and journalist who was rather outspoken against Napoleon III which would end with him being tossed into Prison. Upon his release he was elected to the Council of Commerce and fought in the Bloody Week until he had to flee France where he was sentenced to death. Pardoned in 1880 he returned to Paris and led the socialist organization until he died in 1903. The Place was named for him in 1905.

Just across the street is an oddly shaped building. La Commanderie du Clos Montmartre was a former water tower and reservoir built in 1835 replacing a hunting lodge of Catherine de Medici. The Neoclassical structure was designed by Titeux de Frosny and once pumped up water from the Seine in Saint Ouen to serve the area.  The water pump was decommissioned in 1927 and the octagonal shaped building later became the office of the Commanderie du Clos Montmartre, the same organization that oversees the vineyard of Montmartre. 

At 22 rue Norvins, La Folie Sandrin was built by Antoine Sandrin in 1774 and christened it the Palais Bellevue. Sandrin had made his fortune making candles and candlesticks and wanted a property that would cover the side of the hill. Sold in 1795 to a wine merchant that passed it on in 1806 to Doctor Prost who purchased it to turn it into an asylum. Proust treated the many artists of the hill and for those who couldn’t afford his service he took care of them for free. In 1875 Emilie de Lavalettte, niece of Josephine purchased it to create a home for maidens and in 1950 it was a school for girls. Today it has been turned into apartments although some are convinced it's haunted. 

It is hard to find a corner of Montmartre that you haven't seen in a movie or in the picture books of Paris.  The cafe, Le Consulat is just such a facade, having Sacre Coeur towering behind helps as well to the dreamy image. The Consulat dates back to the 19th century but its neighbor La Bonne Franquette goes back to the 16th century. Rebuilt after the 1559 fire devastated most of Montmartre, the restaurant once had a small inn on the 1st floor and every artist you can name once hung out here. Van Gogh even captured it on the canvas and it can be seen in the Musée d’Orsay. 

Place du Tertre is as iconic as it gets on Montmartre and where you can still find the artists today. Artists have resided here since 1635 and there is currently a 10 year waiting list for one of the coveted spots. Three hundred artists share the 100 spots today. Some are stationed in the center and others roam through the streets. Each “spot” is shared by three artists and they rotate the days of the week they are here, but someone has to be there every single day, rain or shine. It costs 550€ a year split three ways. Many people, including my grandparents have purchased art here to bring home to remember their lovely time they had in Paris. 

On the Place in 1814 at La Mere Catherine during the Battle of Paris, Russian Cossak officers wanted their service to be a bit faster. They yelled out “Bystro, Bystro” which is Russian for quick and the legend of the “Bistro” was born. Now you know for a quick bite you should visit a Bistro. 

In the shadows of Sacre Coeur is the lovely little Église Saint Pierre de Montmartre. A church has been here since the 11th century and before that it was on the route of Saint Denis as he walked over the hill holding his head. In 1470 the church was restored and lasted until the fire of 1559. Portions of the church were destroyed and had to be rebuilt, the facade was updated in the 17th century and what we still see today. 

The doors of the church are stunning and were added in 1980. Italian artist Tommaso Gismondi designed the three doors that tell from left to right the story of Saint Denis, Saint Pierre in the center and Notre Dame, Our Lady on the right. On May 26, 1980, Pope John-Paul blessed the doors on a visit to Paris.  Just inside the church on the left and right are four white marble columns and capitals that date all the way back to the 7th century! 

Next to the church is the Calvaire Cemetery where the oldest tomb was placed in 1688 and the second oldest cemetery in Paris. During the Revolution it was mostly destroyed but thankfully restored in 1801. The second smallest cemetery in Paris is open just one day of the year, November 1, All Saints Day. Of the 85 tombs you can find the members of the Debray family and also artist Jean-Baptiste Pigalle. 

Head down towards the Paris skyline and turn into the small Square Nadar where you will see a statue of La Barre. Francois-Jean de la Barre was a young man who was accused of vandalizing a cross in 1765 on the bridge of Abbeville. It shocked the city and they wanted to find the culprit who would do such a thing. Barre and his two friends were also accused of disrespecting the church during the procession of Corpus Christi. He didn’t remove his hat and was also singing loudly as he passed and it was one step too far. On July 1, 1766 he was tortured, beheded and burned at the stake and his ashes were tossed into the Somme. 

The great Voltaire tried to defend him in his writings to no avail. Barre was just 19 years old but 28 years later he was pardoned and became the poster boy for free space. In 1906 the city of Paris decided to create a statue of the young man and placed it in front of the steps of Sacre Coeur. In 1926 the statue and base was moved to its current spot but the bronze monument would not survive WWII and the Vichy government. In 2001 the Paris city council commissioned a new statue, designed by Emmanuel Bull and added to the same base the original stood on. 

Listen to the newest episode out now, and take us with you when you visit Paris and Montmartre and take your own little walk. 

Episode 111 - Saint Georges

Musée de la Vie Romantique, 16 rue Chaptal 

Built in 1820 when much of this entire area was developed for a wealthy entrepreneur, Wormser. In 1830 Dutch artist Ary Scheffer moved into the house and had two glass topped pavilions created. For almost 30 years he lived and worked ther and trained many of the up and coming artists of the time including Marie de l’Orleans, daughter of Louis-Philippe. 

Scheffer was a master of the Romantic movement and every Friday his atelier would turn into the Salon of the artists, writers and composers of the period that lived in the streets surrounding. Delacroix, Chopin, George Sand, Balzac and Victor Hugo all talked over the matters of the day under the wisteria covered courtyard. 

Ary Scheffer died in 1858 and his daughter Cornelia and her husband purchased the property and kept it in the family. In 1956 his niece sold it to the State and in 1982 the City of Paris took it over. It originally served as an annex to the Musée Carnavalet and in 1987 it opened its doors as the Musée de la Vie Romantique. Fans of George Sand can find a few rooms dedicated to her and holding many of her items. 

Opened Tuesday-Sunday 10am-6pm. Permanent collection is free, but special exhibits have a small ticket price. 

Let’s head out onto the street. Just across the entrance at no 17 Rue Chaptal lived Nina de Villard de Callias who held popular Salons attended by the artists and authors. In 1874, Manet captured her in Lady with Fans that is now in the Musée d’Orsay.

At no 11 Rue Chaptal Serge Gainsbourg lived as a child and attended the school across the street. 

Look up to the top of no 10 which was once the SACEM, the Society of Artists, Composers, Editors and Musicians, At the top a bas-relief of their coat of arms is surrounded by angels with a harp and violin, but look closer just below at the sculpture of Beethovan wearing a crown of laurels. 

No 9 Adolphe Goupel who was a 19th century art collector, merchant and publisher had this beautiful building built in 1857 and lived and held his office.  Later Romanian composer and architect Iaannis Xenakis lived until his death in 2001. 

Right onto Rue Notre-Dame-de-Laurette  the street is named after the beautiful church at the base of the hill.  At no 58 from 1844-1857 Eugene Delacroix lived before moving to the Place de Furstenberg in Saint Germain. 

No 56 Paul Gauguin was born here in 1848 

No 54 Heloise and Abelard and memorialized in the busts at the top of the  bas reliefs 

No 49 Pissaro lived and the small balcony is held up by sculpted pelicans. 

Further down the street is the Square Alex Biscarre that takes part of the garden of the Dosne-Thiers house located at no 27 Place Saint George.  In 1832 Alexis Dosne had a neoclassical home built for his family. His wife Euridyce Dosne was having an affair with businessman and politician Adolphe Thiers. To keep him close she advised him to marry her daughter Elisa in 1840. When her father died in 1849, the two inherited the house. 

In 1871 during the Commune the home was looted and destroyed, Thiers went on to become the President of the Republic for 20 months after Napoleon III was ousted. The building was rebuilt in 1873 based on the original plans. In 1877 when he died his funeral was held down the street at the Eglise Notre Dame de Lorette. His casket traveled from Lorette to Pere Lachaise where 20,000 people followed and another million lined the streets.  

After the death of his wife a large amount of his objets d’art collection was donated to the Louvre which you can see just before going into the apartments of Napoleon III. Their home was given to the Institut de France and now holds an amazing research library opened to serious researchers and was also where Dan Brown did a lot of research for the Da Vinci Code. 

In the center of Place St George is the Monument to Gavarin by Denys Puech who was an lithographer, artist and cartoonist. He lived nearby from 1837-1846 and this monument replaces the former water trough serving the tired horses going up and down the hill. Denys also did the stunning l’Aurore in the Orsay that is almost translucent in the right light. (she is located on the upper northern terrace. 

No 28 us the real show stopper of the Place Saint George. Built in 1840 it was given to the Marquise de Paiva, a Russian courtesan by her first husband Albino Francisco de Arauho de Paiva. The marriage barely lasted past the altar when she said it was over and she had no use for him. The facade is gorgeous in its Gothic Revival and Neo-Renaissance style and topped with allegorical statues of abundance and temperance.  However Paiva had bigger plans in mind. In 1852, a year later her next wealthy gentleman caller built her a new very lavish hotel particulier on the Champs Elysées. 

At the other corner is the Theatre Saint George, opened in 1829. Heading down the street we take a left on Rue Laferriere a once rogue street that the neighbors created and the city chose to ignore for a few decades. It's the perfectly quiet little street that backs the large houses on the Place Saint George. Poet Stephane Mallarmé was born on this street on March 18, 1842. He would play a large role in the life of Julie Manet, daughter of Berthe Morisot after she lost her mother serving as a guardian. 

Rue Henri Monnier, named after the cartoonist, actor and playwright.  Impressionist Eva Gonzalez lived with her parents at no 15 and then at no 2 over the pharmacy with husband Henri Guérard.  A quick right onto the Rue Clauzel and the Place Gustave Toudouze, journalist that lived just above. On the corner over the Cafe Pere Tanguy at no 24 lived Henri-Francois Riesner and his wife Anne-Louis who was the cousin of Eugene Delacroix. Henri and his son Louis Antoine Léon Riesner were both artists and Delacroix even captured the hunky Louis in a beautiful portrait in the Louvre. 

Guy de Maupassant lived at no 17, clearly out of the view of the Eiffel tower he despised so much. 

No 14 is one of my favorites Pere Tanguy. A man that had ties to some of the greatest artists of the 19th century.  Julien Francois Tanguy was born on June 28, 1825 in Brittany where he would spend the beginning of his life, working as a pork butcher until he married and moved to Paris. The friend to the artists first worked for the Western Railway until 1865 when he began working as a color crusher that led him to become a merchant. 

Père Tanguy as he was known to the artists opened his shop at 14 Rue Clauzel in the Saint Georges New Athens neighborhood. The streets where Toulouse-Lautrec and Van Gogh roamed and found their way through his door. Tanguy was well known as a happy fellow who loved to help the artists. When some of them couldn’t afford paint, he let them pay with paintings. Pissarro, Monet, Renoir, Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec and Doctor Paul Gachet were his many customers that also gifted  him paintings. Post-Impressionist artist Emile Bernard said a visit to his store was like walking into a museum.

There was one artist that was especially touched by Tanguy, Vincent Van Gogh. Theo and Vincent Van Gogh met Tanguy in March 1886 when they lived one street over and instantly had a bond. His tiny shop would be the first one to have a Van Gogh painting for sale. In letters between the brothers while Vincent was in the south he was constantly asking how Tanguy was doing. Some artists said his paint wasn’t the best, but he was such a wonderful man that would even give food to a starving artist they always bought from him. Upon his death in 1894, the artists banded together and held an auction of their paintings to help support his family. 

As for Vincent, he painted three portraits of his friend. The first is rather dull in color, but the third is one of my favorites. With Tanguy sitting in the center, his hands crossed with a hat on, he is surrounded by Van Gogh’s beloved collection of Japanese prints. It stayed in Tanguy’s personal collection until his death, when his daughter sold it to Rodin. Rodin and Van Gogh shared a love for Japanese prints as well as knowing the paint merchant. Today it can be seen in the Musée Rodin. 

No 9, Pere Tanguy moved his shop to this larger location for the final two years of his life from 1892-1894. 

No 8, historical painter Eugene Laurent Jules Lagier lived. 

No 2, Prosper Marilhat, orientalist painter died at just 36. 

Left for a short walk down rue des Martyrs, no 49 artist Théodore Géricault had his studio and died here in 1824 at just 32 years old after a horse accident and long illness. Scheffer had captured the moment he laid on his deathbed and also now hangs in the Louvre.   Géricault lived just down the street at no 23. 

Left onto Rue Victor Masse named for the composer. No 9 Paul Delaroche lived in this gorgeous building recently restored. 

No 12, was the 2nd location of Le Chat Noir and was also the atelier of Alfred Stevens on the first floor. 

No 13, Degas lived, one of his many within a few blocks and at no 19 Mary Cassatt lived in the 1870’s. 

At no 25, was once the gallery of Berthe Weill, the first woman to own a gallery in Paris in 1901. She had a keen eye for new artists including Picasso and was his first supporter when he arrived in Paris. She also supported the women artists like Susanne Valadon and Jacqueline Marval. Weill held the first and only exhibition of Modigliani and as she staged his paintings the full length nude in the window with pubic hair shocked the neighbors and the police shut it down. Giving in after she was arrested she agreed to move the painting from view and could reopen. The bad publicity was great for traffic but not a single painting was sold and shortly after Modigliani died. She was an amazing woman, check out the episode we did about her life on Paris History Avec a Hemingway on La Vie Creative podcast. 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/la-vie-creative/id1504938636?i=1000513949720

And if no 25 wasn’t historic enough Theo van Gogh was living there in 1886 when his brother Vincent crashed the party in Paris and moved in. They stayed in the very tiny room for just two months from February to April 1886 before moving to Rue Lepic. 

Back to Rue Henri Monnier at the very end at no 34 Théodore Chassériau had his atelier, he also moved around a lot in this area. 

Rue Frochot leads to Place Pigalle and where Degas lived at no 4 in 1870 and also had his atelier on the first floor. His neighbor at no 6, Desire Dihau was a bassoonist in the orchestra and friends with Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec and he sat for each of them a few times.  

Across the street at no 5, Toulouse-Lautrec had his second to last atelier and another at no 15 (which the number no longer exists) 

Up in Place Pigalle at no 3 was the former Le Rat Mort, the dead rat. And it got that name, you guessed it, the hard way. The day it opened a dead rat was discovered floating in the beer pump that had been there for days leading to a horrid smell. A patron walked in and said “it smells like a dead rat”, thus the name. 

At no 7 once lived the beautiful Apollonie Sabatier who was a model for Auguste Clésinger for his Woman Stung by a Serpent statue that shocked the Salon as they thought it was woman in the throws of passion. She had been the bell of the artists and author set and first met Baudelaire at the Hotel Lauzon where they both had a room. She inspired him to write a few poems in the Flowers of Evil. Many other artists painted or captured her essence in marble and clay but she just might be all over Paris as well. 

In 1860 she was the lover of Richard Wallace, the wealthy Englishman that decided to use his wealth to combat the public drunkenness of Paris. Inspired by the monument for the heart of Henri II in the Louvre he worked with sculptor Charles-Auguste Lebourg to create the beloved fountains that still quench the thirst of Parisians. Take a closer look at the face of the statue compared to a few images of Apollonie. I haven’t found any info saying it is her but you be the judge of it. I think there is an uncanny resemblance. 

And lastly at no 9 there once stood the Cafe de la Nouvelle Athène where all the artists and writers hung out. Degas found his way here many days and had an idea for a painting of a coupe and a glass of absinthe. Unable to find anyone fitting his vision he had two friends sit for him. She looks destitute and stares off into the distance. It is both beautiful and heartbreaking and hangs in the Musée d’Orsay. The cafe was open from 1855 to 1903 and in 1920 became the Sphynx and was the spot for many of the American expats, the Lost Generation. The building was destroyed in a fire in 2004 and sadly none of it remains. 

Episode 110 - Statue of Liberty

Frédéric Bartholdi in 1855 visited Egypt with a group of artists and fell in love with the large pyramids, Sphinx and the Colossus of Rhodes. Returning to Paris he was inspired to create a large statue of his own. In 1869 he returned to Egypt with a proposal of his own. Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia was to be an immense lady in a grecian draped dress holding a torch and placed at the entrance to the Suez Canal. Isma'il Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, declined the idea and then the Franco Prussian began putting his dream to rest, for a bit. 

In 1865 at a dinner with friend Edouard Laboulaye, shortly after the assasination of Abraham Lincoln the idea would resurface, inspired by his widow. The French paper   Le Phare de la Loire wanted to give a medal to the widow, Mary Todd Lincoln in remembrance of her husband and what he accomplished. “Dedicated to French democracy to Lincoln, an honest man who abolished slavery, restored the union, saved the Republic without veiling the statue of liberty”. It was those last three words that reminded Bartholdi of his monumental idea. 

Laboulaye was a lawyer and president of the Franco-American union and had an idea to give something to the US in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Bartholdi had just completed a bust of the lawyer and knew of his interest in creating a memorable sculpture. 

As fundraising began in France and in the US,Bartholdi adopted the idea that he had for the Suez Canal and tapped Viollet-le-Duc to help design the head and arm of the beauty. Pierre-Eugene Secrétan donated 64 tons of copper plates and the Gaget-Gauther began shaping each plate in their factory a few blocks from Parc Monceau and next to the studio of Éiffel. Viollet-le-Duc died before the first copper model could be completed and another guy pretty good with iron stepped in, Gustave Éiffel. 

The coal to have the statue completed was July 4, 1876 but only a small fraction and the torch was completed. Two years later the bust of Liberty was displayed in the Champ de Mars, and for a few centimes visitors could walk up into her crown. Slowly overtime she was pieced together and could be seen towering over the neighborhood before finally being sent to New York in 1886. In October of 1886 she was inaugurated and placed on her island ten years later than expected. 

It has long been speculated who the face is modeled from and many stories exist. Bartholdi most likely used his mother Charlotte as the model, although other stories include it being a prostitute of Pigall, or Isabella Eugenie Boyer Singer, of the sewing machine fame. We may not know who she is but she holds a lot of symbolism. Her crown of seven spikes evokes the seven continents or oceans and the tablet she holds the law. Her torch that once acted as a lighthouse the enlightenment and at her feet a broken chain. 

The tablet of the one in Paris we see today reads Juillet IV 1776 - Juillet XIV 1789

When the one on the Ile aux Cygnes was installed in June 1889 for the Universal Exhibition, the same year the Eiffel Tower.  She faced the Eiffel Tower and the Elysees palace and her back to the US and her big sister which Bartoldi strongly opposed. It wasn’t until 1937 that she was turned around and looking east and greeting those floating down the Seine into Paris. 

Ile aux Cygnes

The original  Island of Swans was farther upstream and closer to the Pont Alexandre III in the 17th century. In 1676 Louis XIV had forty swans from Denmark dropped onto a small strip of land. Residents couldn’t keep up with all the eggs being laid and the swans to be protected by the court. Later the strip was absorbed into the quai and we can hope the swans we see today are descendants of the royal swans of the Seine. 

The current island was created in 1825 on a narrow dike that was created from the construction of the Pont de Grenelle. On May 1, 1827 the bridge was opened and charged a few cents for each carriage and pedestrian that walked over it. Even the cows, sheep and pigs had to pay a toll.  

The island is crossed by three bridges, the Grenelle, Rouelle and Bir Hakeim. In the center is the Pont Rouelle, named for French chemist Guillaume-François Rouelle of the 18th century. Created for the trains to travel over, it would later be used for the expanding metro and RER that still use it today. 

The island itself in 1937 expanded to four times its current size for the “center of colonies” of the 1937 Universal Exhibition. The island was covered with temporary buildings which were all destroyed after the exhibition was over. 

Episode 109 - Palais Royal

The Palais Royal was a place I discovered on my first trip to Paris. I was staying on the Rue de Richelieu and one warm fall afternoon I walked through a short passage and found a lovely little oasis in the center of Paris. 

The Palais Royal was once known as the Palais Cardinal and built by the powerful Cardinal Richelieu.  Richelieu loved to collect art and needed a large space to show it off. Purchasing the Hotel de Rambouillet just across from the Louvre in 1624 he would have it torn down and his own Palais Cardinal built. It was the ideal location keeping him close to the court of Louis XIII in the Palais du Louvre. Architect Jacques Lemercier designed the palace that would include a gallery for the Cardinal’s statues and lavish rooms fit for the very wealthy Richelieu.  

Completed just 3 years before his death, it would pass into the hands of the king as stated in his will. Louis XIII died a year after and the young Louis XIV and mother Anne d’Autriche moved in and changed the name to the Palais Royal. On April 6, 1673 a fire destroyed most of the Palais; only the Galerie des Proues on the eastern side of the black and white colonnes de Buren remained. 

Philippe Égalité created the garden and galleries that run around the entire center and would become the place to be. Parisian society would stroll through the colonnade and frequent the gambling halls. And with the gambling came the oldest profession in the world. It was the ladies of the night that ruled the area, occupying the upper floors in maisons closes, mingling through the arches looking for their willing prey. Today it is the perfect spot in the middle of the busy city to catch your breath. 

Dating back to 1784 it is one of the oldest restaurants in Paris, and layered in history. Napoleon proposed to Josephine here (he also lost his virginity in this Palais) and the  plaques marking the seats reserved for them.  Many notable Parisians could be found here and the seats are still marked with  their names, Victor Hugo, Jean-Paul Sartre, George Sand and Honoré  de Balzac. Another red banquette holds the name of the French author that lived in the Palais just above the restaurant. Julia Child and her husband Paul would dine here and "first laid eyes on the Grande Dame Colette" where she would be carried  through the restaurant to her saved corner seat and would "avoid our eyes but observe what was on every plate”.

On my first visit to Paris, a trip to this historic restaurant was at the top of my list. The day I walked in and was greeted by the famed chef Guy Martin and was taken through the restaurant I gasped as I took my seat and looked at the brass plaque, it had just one name,  Colette.  Colette, the famed French author that was forced to write under her husband's name Willy for years. Her most famous works were Gigi and a series of books, aptly titled the Claudine series, including Claudine in Paris. At a very early age Colette helped me love my name that was and still is so different from anyone else. 

Julia Child's book My Life in France is one of my favorites and it's amazing how these stories are all intertwined and a part of my life. I don't think there is a better way to capture how I feel about Paris than how Julia wrote about it. From the sheer joy she had eating her first meal in France of Sole Meunière and the absolute perfection that it was and the happiness she had in that simple moment.  Julia’s book is also our La Vie Creative book club book of the month, I’m sure you will love it and Julia as much as I do. 

Another favorite restaurant near the Palais Royal is WIlli’s Wine Bar.  Willi’s Wine Bar has been in Paris for over FORTY years, opening in 1980 it has been a staple of the first arrondissement and all those that have fallen in love with it. 

Mark Williamson has put his heart and soul into making it a relaxed bistro with exceptional food and bringing one of the first wine bars to Paris. I have enjoyed Willi’s many times and it is a place I never miss and always pass on to travelers and clients  looking for a wonderful meal. The menu changes seasonally but you will no doubt find something delicious and don’t forget the wine. Mark and his staff curate the wine list with exceptional wines that may be new to you but ones you will always remember. 

In 1983, Willi’s began making a yearly poster with local artists that are inspired by wine and all the beauty that comes from a bottle. Past artists include one of my favorites Jean Charles de Castelbajac in 2005, Cathy Millet in 1986, Jacques de Loustal in 2004, Petronille in 2018 and MH Jeeves in 2016. You can purchase all of these wonderful posters at their website. 

A few years back Mark released a book dedicated to the first 40 years of Wili’s. Immoveable Feast, 40 Years of Feeding the French covers the tales from the bar, recipes and many of the images from the posters. Mark graciously gave me a copy and it is fantastic. 

On a recent visit I had the fantastic Tartarre de Haddock Fumé Maison, Avocat en Guacamole and it was delicious. So fresh and  flavorful and paired with a favorite Vouvray Sec. For an entree the Rôti de Cabillaud aux Citrons, Câpres et Croutons, the Cabillaud proportion changes seasonally and is always cooked to perfection.

Just steps away from the Musée du Louvre and also one of my favorite cafés, Le Nemours you will find this beautiful Metro entrance. Sitting many mornings having a café crème and the best petit dejeuner in the city before I spend a day in the Louvre, it is always a topic of conversation from many tourists. Located in the Place Colette, named for the famed French writer that lived the last years of her life at the Palais Royale. In 1966 her daughter requested the Minister of Culture that the place be named for her mother near a place she loved so dearly. 

The metro stop kiosk dates back to 2000 and was created for the millennium by artist Jean-Michel Othoniel. Kiosque des Noctambules, (kiosk of the night owls) is created by colorful Murano glass beads  in shades of blue, purple, yellow, and red.  Constructed of six columns and two separate “domes” that are each topped with a glass figure.  Its two separate themed arches, the cool tones of blue, purple, yellow and clear meaning night and the warm colors red, yellow and clear signifying the day. A little clue to the one time life of nearby Palais Royale long before.  

Episode 108 - Place des Vosges

In 1388 the Hotel des Tournelles was built in this spot under Pierre d’Orgemont who served as the chancellor of France under Charles VI. Few kings lived here but a few died. Louis XII died here on January 1, 1515 and his son in-law Francois I took the throne. It was his son Henri II that also died here and saw the end of the Hotel. 

On June 29, 1559 a grand celebration was held of the joint marriage of  his daughter Elisabeth de France to Philip II of Spain and the king’s sister Marguerite de France to the duc de Savoie. Henri II, being the macho guy that he was and showing off for his longtime mistress Diane de Poitiers, decided to have one more jousting match. 

Gabriel de Montgomery was his opponent and as he charged towards the king his horse reared up and the joust broke. As he lunged towards the king whose visor was up the lance struck his eye. The king stumbled away from his horse to the Hotel des Tournelles where he suffered in pain for 12 days before dying on July 10, 1559. On his deathbed he forgave Gabriel but his widow Catherine de Medici did not. 

Listen to the podcast episode we did all about Catherine 

Gabriel served as the lieutenant general for the army of Jeanne d'Albret, queen of Navare and mother of Henri III (future king Henri IV). He was on the side of the Protestants during Catherine’s  Saint Bartholomew day massacre and escaped with his life but she would finally get her revenge.  Once Gabriel had taken slides with the illegitimate brother of king Charles IX he was public enemy number one. 

In 1574 at Domfront where his army was overtaken, Gabriel was captured and returned to Paris. At the Conciergerie he was charged with lèse-majesté, an attack on the sovereign and on June 26, 1574 he was tortured and beheded at the Place de Greve as Catherine watched. 

After Henri’s death Catherine wanted nothing to do with the Tournelles and had the Palais des Tuileries built near the Palais du Louvre. The Tournelles served as a horse market for a period until 1603 when Henri IV decided he wanted a silk market created to rival Lyon and Milan. The former Tournelles that was now destroyed would become the factory to the north and housing to the south. Strict building codes were put into place and many couldn’t afford to match them. Much of the property fell to the elite and members of the king's inner circle which we will discover as we stroll around. 

The center of Place des Vosges is marked with the Square Louis XIII that harkens back to the inauguration of the Place Royale as it was originally called. The first royal square in Paris was inaugurated in April 1612 at the announcement of the engagement of Louis XIII and Anne d’Autriche. In the center is a slightly unusual monument of Louis XIII. It replaces the original by Jean Pierre Cortot who also created the four fountains. Much of the square was destroyed during the Revolution and the original bronze statue was melted down. On November 4, 1829 the current statue was inaugurated and created by Charles Dupaty after the original design of Cortot. What is odd about this monument is the funny little tree stump under the horse's belly.  As his belly began to collapse a “crutch” was added, holding it up and designed to look like a tree stump. 

The Place des Vosges has gone through many name changes, starting with Place Royale. During the Revolution it was changed to Place des Fédérés. In 1800 Lucien Bonapartre, minister of the interior under his brother Napoleon, suggested it be changed to Place des Vosges.Vosges was the first department to pay taxes to the new French Republic and that deserved something special apparently.  It went back and forth from Royale in 1814, Vosges in 1830, Republic in 1848, back to Royale in 1852 and finally to the Place des Vosges in 1871 until today. 

From the outset they look to be a collection of 36 identical pavillons with two exceptions. The south side was built first and in the center it is, of course the Pavillon de Roi and is higher than any of the other roof lines, bien sûr. Construction began in 1605 with master mason Jonas Robelin and carpenter Gilles Le Redde adding the extra elements to the facade and decor but the king would never stay there. It wasn’t completed until 1612 and Henri IV died in 1610. In fact not a single royal lived in this royal square. 

The buildings are laid out with odd numbers to the west and even to the east starting at the Pavillon de Roi and ending at the Pavillon de Reine which also towers over the other building on the opposite side, but not quite as tall as the kings. 

No 1 Pavillon de Roi 

The bust of Henri IV looks down on you from the upper facade. The king never lived there but dentist Francois Leroy did. The teeth business was good back in the 18th century. 

No 1 bis & 3 Hotel Coulanges

Philip I de Coulanges and his wife Marie de Beze were the grandparents of the future Marquise de Sévigné and it was here that she was born. The beloved Sévigné wrote letters to her daughter describing what was going on in Paris and at Versailles and they became a hit across France and were later published. There are entire pieces of French history we know today because of the Marquise.  

Listen to her entire store on Paris History Avec a Hemingway 

Later it was Paris Singer, one of the 24 children of billionaire sewing machine titan Isaac Singer. He had a short relationship with dancer Isador Duncan and a child and all lived her for a short period. 

No 5 Hotel de Rochechouart 

Raised and rebuilt by Jules Cousin who had a large collection of books that he donated to the Musée Carnavalet that he also served as the first curator. 

No 7 an entrance into the Hotel de Sully garden

No 9 Hotel Fugeu d’Escures 

Henri IV gave his advisor Pierre Fougueux d’Escures numbers 9 through 13 but he kept only number 9. In 1850 beloved French stage actress Rachel moved in while she was also the mistress of the Bonapart’s. First it was Napoleon III, then his son Prince Napoleon as well as the illegitimate son of Napoleon I, the Count Walewski. At just 36 she died in Le Cannet and her body returned to Paris to her home in the Place des Vosges. Everyone who was anyone came to pay their respects.  Podcast episode of her life coming soon. 

No 11, has one of my very fast secret little finds. 

The pavilion itself was at one time the home of Maria de Lorme, the courtesan that inspired a Victor Hugo play. But it's on the outer pilar that you can find something very special. Half way down you see the etching of 1764 Nicolas. It is the oldest known graffiti in Paris and has been there for 258 years. Nicola Restif de La Bretonne was a printmaker and at night he would roam the streets leaving his mark everywhere he went. Nicknamed Le Griffon, the scribbler, he came long before JR or Banksy and still tells the tale. 

No 13 Grand Hotel de Rohan

Architect Louis Le Vau redid the interior for Antoine d’Aurnot.

No 15 

Painter Auguste Laurent Boulard lived her in the 18th century and in 1875 it became the Center for Decorative Arts. 

No 17 Hotel Chabannes  

Bishop of Meaux Jacques-Beigne Bossuet lived here and is the only pavilion to still have all of its original beams and interior decor. 

No 19 Hotel Montbrun 

Once called the Maison du Grand Henri and had a bust of the king but wouldn’t survive the Revolution. The cafe Ma Bourgogne is below and a restaurant has been in this location since 1827. It is quite good and a perfect place to sit on a sunny afternoon 

No 21 Hotel Cardinal Richelieu

Although the illustrious cardinal never lived here. His great-grand nephew did and also bought the neighborgin pavilion that was owned by the Prince de Guise who would be his future father in-law. 

No 23 Hotel Bassompierre 

Marie Touchet, mistress to Charles X and before that Marie Charlotte, mistress to Marshal Francois de Bassompierre. 

No 25 the Hotel de Gobelin du Quesnoy 

Pierre Gobelin du Quesnoy and his two sons lived here during the 17th century. His son Thomas had a little thing for the future Madame de Montespan and on March 4, 1680 he sent the pavillon a blaze to prove his love for her. It also partially destroyed his neighbors which is the Pavillon de Reine. 

Madame de Montespan would go on to become one of Louis XIV’s favorite mistresses and mother of a few children, However, when her role in the Affair of the Poisons was uncovered she was swiftly moved out of Versailles. Listen to her entire story in this episode of Paris History Avec A Hemingway. 

No 28, the Pavillon de Reine 

Taller than the neighbors but not as tall as the king, it is topped with a few Fleur de Lys, marking its lovely distinction. Nicolas Jeannin de Castille, a treasurer under Nicolas Fouquet lived here until he was caught up in Louis XIV’s vendetta against Fouquet and was also stripped of his home and sent to prison. 

No 26 Hotel Tresmes 

Charles de Vaolis lived here from 1611 to be close to his mother at no. 23 

No 24 Hotel Vitry 

Claude Nicolas Ledoux designed a stunning staircase here that has since been destroyed. Artist Madeline Denis, daughter of artist Maurice Denis lived and held her atelier here. 

No 22 Hotel Laffemas 

Comptroller general of commerce Laffemas was given the property by Sully and had his own home built 

No 20 Nicolas d’Angennes, Marquis de Ramboullet 

No 18 Nicolas Chevalier

No 16 Hotel Asfeldt 

No 14 Hotel Ribault 

Charles Le Brun painted elaborate ceilings and decor here of mythological figures and allegories. The bedroom ceiling held the history of Psyché who is the subject of the newest episode of Paris History Avec a Hemingway. Much of the decor was saved and is now in the Musée Carnavalet. 

No 12 Hotel de Castille 

Pierre de Castille, comptroller de France In 1634 Jérôme de Nouveau superintendant of the post has Eustache Le Sueur and Charles Le Brun paint the ceilings and salons of the home. Weekly salons were held and the Paris elite jostled for a spot each Friday night. The city of Paris took over the building in 1852 and destroyed the interior, putting a girls school in its place. 

No 10 Hotel de Chastillon 

Claude Chastillon in 1605 was the engineer and geographer for Henri IV. Louis XIII would often visit to see his mechanical creations that fascinated him. 

No 8 Hotel de Fourcy 

Superintendent of the kings buildings under Henri IV Jean de Fourcy had it built in 1605 then gave it to Antoine Le Redde, master carpenter. 

Poet, author and art critic Theophile Gautier was born here and then moved back from 1828-1834 living for a period with his family. He once said “I then lived with my parents at no 8 Place Royale in the corner of the row of arcades where the town hall was. If I note this detail is not to indicate in the future one of my residences, I am not one of those whose posterity will mark the house with a bust or a marble plaque”  It now has a marble plaque. 

His neighbor Victor Hugo was  a close friend and the two would lean out the windows chatting. After he moved he took up with Erneste Grisi and had two daughter Judith Gautier would later become the mistress for his old pals Victor Hugo and Baudelaire. Baudelaire dedicated Les Fleurs du Mal to Theophile and the two were quite close as founding members of the Hushichins Club. More on that next week. 

No 6 Hotel de Rohan-Guéménée, Maison Victor Hugo. 

Hugo signed the lease on July 12, 1832 and lived here until 1848. His mistress Juliette Drouet lived nearby and also served as his secretary. His wife was busy with a lover of her own. It was quite the time. 
The museum was opened in 1902, inaugurated on June 30, 1903 and Louis Koch, nephew of Julliet Drouet was the first curator.  Listen to her life story on this episode of Paris History Avec a Hemingway. 

The museum is open Tuesday-Sunday 10am-6pm and is free to the public. Special exhibits have a small ticket price. 

No 4 Hotel Regnaouart 

No 2 Hotel du Genou 

Jean Coin, a master mason, lived here while he worked at the Palais du Louvre Grande Galerie.

Episode 107 - Île de la Cité

Pont de l'Archeveche was built in 1828 and named for the former palais de archdiocese that once stood between the bridge and Notre Dame. On February 14 & 15, 1831 an anti-Bourbon riot broke out on the eleventh anniversary of the murder of the Duc de Berry in front of the Eglise Saint Germain l’Auxerrois. The angry bunch set their rage onto the archdiocese and attacked and looted the palace ending in its destruction. 

In 1837 it was replaced with a park and in 1970 it was named for Pope Jean XXIII. Today it is filled with the offices of the amazing people restoring Notre Dame de Paris. 

Just at the very end of the Ile de la Cité is a somber site all should visit. The Memorial des Martyrs de la Deportation was dedicated on April 12, 1962. It is free to visit and open everyday 10am-5pm from October - March 15 and 10am-7pm the rest of the year.

Quai aux Fleurs, originally the Quai Napoléon and renamed for the flower market at the end of the quai

No 9 & 11 is where the former home of Canon Fulbert lived with his niece Heloise. 

Uncle Fulbert served as a canon at the Hotel Dieu de Paris on the Ile de la Cité where he also lived. His house on the Quai aux Fleurs looking at ile Saint Louis was large and had room for a few renters so he offered a room to Abelard. Abelard was a schoolmaster for the Cloister Catholic School and was known all over Paris for his handsome looks and charismatic personality. 

Abelard and Heloise were taken with each other immediately and to spend more time together he took her on as his personal student. The two began a very hot and steamy affair that they kept from Fulbert. That is until she became pregnant. Abelard took her to Brittany to stay with his sister Dionysis. In the fall of 1116 Astrolab was born. 

Returning to Paris, Heloise and Abelard tried to smooth things over with Fulbert. Abelard proposed they get married, complete against the wishes of Heloise who thought marriage was a form of prostitution and would also hurt his career. 

They wed early in the morning at the Chapel of Saint Christophe which once stood on the parve of Notre Dame. Fulbert was briefly happy with the arraignment, until he decided he wasn’t. In the dark of night he sent a few goons to the house of Abelard and the men castrated him. 

Heloise left Paris for the convent of Saint Marie d’Argenteuil where she would become a nun. Even that couldn’t keep the lovers apart and he would climb a wall for some sexy meetings. Abelard would eventually leave Paris to set up his own convent and chapel and the two would keep in touch through their letters. 

Listen to the story of their entire life in this episode of Paris History Avec a Hemingway on La Vie Creative Podcast. 

Rue des Ursins

The street itself was once the same level as the Seine and was called the Port de Saint Laundry until 1321 and was just outside the wall of the city. 

No 4 Fernand Pouillon “medieval” house built in 1958. Architect Fernand Pouillon designed and rebuilt this home loosely based on the former medieval version even using a few of its former windows. He didn’t live there long, he was sent to prison for a short time for falsifying invoices, then Georges Pompidou cleared him of that and François Mitterand gave him the Legion d’Honneur. It is said to be quite grand on the inside and has amazing views. I’ve yet to see anyone looking out the window or inviting me in for a glass of wine. 

No 19 former Saint-Aignan chapel built in 1116. Heloise attended the church as well as a visit from Saint Bernard. It served as a chapel until 1791 and was one of the 23 chapels that filled the end of the island. 

Inside the building now parts of the old chapel are still found. Eight columns dating back to the 12th century remain as well as a small statue. The brick building with the ND tiles is part of Notre Dame and the Catholic Seminary. This is also where the beloved Virgin and Child statue that stood to the right of the altar was found. A smaller copy is up on the facade. Sadly we can’t get in to see the chapel. 

Rue de la Colombe 

The original building at number 4 was built in 1228, at the same time as Notre Dame and was the home of one of the builders. One day the house collapsed and two doves were trapped inside. The male dove was able to get out and everyday he would bring back food and water for the lady dove still trapped inside. Neighbors noticed this and help dig the sweet little dove out and free them both. The two are still immortalized on the facade of the building as well as the name of the street, Colombe means Dove. So sweet. 

A few steps away is a reminder of where the original edge of Paris once was. In the street there is a clear marking of cobblestones that date back to the wall that was built in 276 by the Romans. It was discovered in 1898. Think about the size of Paris now versus then. Amazing 

A left on Rue Chanoinesse and at number 26 behind the red door hides a few more secrets. At the end you could find the door to the chapel of Saint Aignan but it's down at your feet that is pretty cool. The stones are actually old medieval tombstones with Gothic lettering. It is unknown from where they were found but we can imagine it was from the many chapels that once covered the island. 

No 24, Au Vieux Paris d’Arcole. Built in 1512 and once the home of the canons of the church. In the spring it is one of the prettiest spots in Paris as the entire facade is dripping with wisteria. 

No 22/24 was the home of a grim tale. There once stood a building that had a barber shop and a bakery. The barber had daily visits from the students of the Cloister of Notre Dame but every once in a while, one never made it out. A trap door below would send the freshly coiffed victim to his death where he was chopped up and then the baker made pate, beef pies and sausage. They were a hit with everyone including the king. 

One day a German student named Alaric went to get his haircut and brought his beloved dog. The dog sat outside for two days waiting for his master and began barking alert neighbors and Alaric’s friends. The police arrived and after searching the building found out exactly what had been going on. The two were later held in metal cages and burned alive on the Place de Greve. Today it is the police garage for the motorcycles and the stone where they cut them up is said to still be there. 

No 17 Former home of Archbishop of Paris Cardinal de Retz from 1654-1662 who arrived in Paris with Catherine de Medicis.  Once he took up sides against Cardinal Mazarin he was ousted from Paris. 

No 12 Hotel du Grand Chantre built in the 17th century, the facade remains while they had redone the interior 

No 8 The red brick facade dates back to 1853 but with medieval details and was a fire station until 1868 and now the school of the Magistrate. 

This entire area was once covered with the cloister of Notre Dame that once was gated off and the women were not allowed to enter.

Coming up on the north side of Notre Dame that is now walled off and covered with scaffolding. All three of the rose windows survived and the north and south are now covered and protected and with very little damage thanks to the decades of dust protecting them from the lead dust. 

On the right coming to the front of the church is the Hotel Dieu, the oldest hospital in Europe and originally built in 651 by the Bishop of Paris Saint Landry. In 1165 Bishop Maurice de Sully used much of his own money to build Notre Dame and decided to rebuild the hospital at the same time. Patients slept 3 to a bed and everyone that came was treated. The current hospital was built in 1866 but the interior was updated in the 1950’s. It is due to go through another large renovation soon. 

The parvais of Notre Dame stretching out from in front of the church was once covered with chapels and homes. It was all removed over time and under Haussmann and in 1965 they were  going to build a car park beneath it. Instead they discovered the Gallo-Roman remains and the foundations of the former chapels. It is now the Archeological Crypt and can be visited once again. It is very interesting and worth a visit. 

Episode 106 - Ile Saint Louis South

Quai d’Orleans 

The end has four restaurants, two are great, the Cafe St Regis and Le Flore en l’Ile. (the others are ok for drinks but food isn’t great) 

No 20 & 18 the gorgeous cathedral windows built in 1640 by Jacques Rohault. At the top of no 18 there are pieces of flying buttresses and other cathedral features that I will someday find the story of! 

No 16 built in 1640 for finance manager of Louis XIV.. Later film director  Roger Vadim lived here with when married to Jane Fonda. 

No 10 is a newer building built in 1920 

No 8 built in 1645. In 1911 Jean de la Ville de Mirmont lived here until 1914. When he arrived in Paris he worked with the elderly until WWI broke out and he enlisted immediately. For three years he lived here writing poetry then on November 28, 1914 was killed by a landmine. 

No 6 The polish library opened in 1853 and also holds the Chopin historical items and also the Adam Mickiewicz museum. 

Pont de la Tournelle, first bridge built in 1620, the current bridge dates to 1928. Paul Landowski was commissioned for the wonderful Sainte Genevieve on the south side the same year. 

Quai de Béthune, originally the Quai de Balcons and created by guess who, Louis Le Vau. Named for Maximillien de Bethune, the Duc de Sully who also got a bridge. 

No 36 Hotel de Pierre Violle. Pierre Violle got a bit too involved in the Fronde and was exiled by Louis XIV.  In 1661 Voille’s family sold it to  Pierre Forest, first valet to Louis XIV lived here and then passed through other close members of Louis’s inner circle. 

In the 19th century Jules Jaluzot, owner of Printemps purchased it.

Marie Curie arrived in 1912,  six years after the death of her husband Pierre and lived until her death in 1934. Anther Nobel Prize winner René Cassin lived hear as well. 

No 34 Hotel de Gontaur-Biron. Built in 1640 for Simon Huguet. In the 18th century Louis-Antoine de Gontaut, duc de Biron owned it. The Marshal of France under Louis XV who bought the Hotel Biron as well in 1753, now known as the Musée Rodin 

No 32 Louis Le Vau, built for Philippe Guyn, general of finance. 

No 30 Hotel Potard, Louis Le Vau 1641 for Louis Potard, commissioner of war under Louis XIII

No 28 Hotel Aubert-Perrot Louis Le Vau for Claude Aubert, controller of  city hall. In 1770 Pierre Perrot, president of the court of auditors restored the building and added the allegoricals reliefs on the 1st floor.

No 26 Hotel Sainctot, Louis Le Vau for Nicolas Sainctot, the kings butler 

No 24 Hotel Hasselion, this area was once covered with the gardens that stretched to the church. Le Vau built if fort Denys Hasselin in 1640, steward of the kings pleasures (good lord that must have been a job). He died after swallowing 294 walnut kernels in a bet. (ok, not so bright either).  

In 1935 Helene Rubenstein had the building demolished, only the door remains. She rebuilt t in the Art Deco style with a lovely rooftop garden by Louis Seu. During WWII the Germans occupied it and shot at the furniture that she kept. 

Georges Pompidou rented it while president in 1970 and died here on April 2, 1974 while in office. 

No 22  Hotel Lefêvre de la Barre. Louis Le Vau for Antoine Lefêvre de la Barre Councillor of Parliament. Baudeliere lived here from March 1842 until June 1843.

20 Hotel Lefêvre de  la Mauison, Antoine’s brother lived here and they were built at the same time 

No 18 Hotel de Comans d’Astry Richelieu. 1644 for d’Astry, butler to the king. Nephew of Richelieu lived here in the late 17th century.  

Rue de Bretonvilliers Named for Claude Le Ragois de Bretonville, secretary to Louis XIII on what was then the Ile Notre Dame. Six hotels and a huge garden was built on the property. All of it but the arcade was destroyed in 1874. 

Rue Ile Saint Louis en l’Ile 

No 3 to 9, the remnants of the Hotel de Brentonville. 

No 12 Philippe Lebon. Born in 1767 he created the first hydrogen gas lighting in Paris. On September 21, 1799 it was installed in the Hotel de Seignelay in the 7e. The gas was heated by a wood oven moving the gas through the pipes. Lebon died the day before Napoleons coronation. A legend is told that he was stabbed 13 times while walking down the Champs Elysees, he in fact died here in his home at 37 years old. 

The intersection here at Rue Poulletier is where the two islands were once joined. The western side being the Ile aux Vaches (cows) as it was a cow pasture where Saint Louis came to pray. 

Most of the item was created under Louis XIII and Marie de Medicis but the incorporation began under Henri IV. The first homes appeared on the north side between 1620 and 1650. The early buildings put all the focus on the inner courtyards and not as much on the facades. 

No 54 former Jeu de Paume, built in 1634 for Louis XIII 

No 51 Hotel de Cherizot. In 1791 Jean François de Chenizot bought the building and added the balcony and updated the facade adding the dragons that make it a stunner on the street. Inside there are two courtyards and monday-friday the door is normally left open, pop on in and see. 

Episode 105 - Ile Saint Louis North

Starting at the eastern end of Ile Saint Louis in the Square Barye created in 1938 and named for animal sculpture Antoine-Louis Barye. The Célestins convent once stood here and stretched across to the right bank. Built in 1254 it was once the home to the tombs of the monarchy and other illustrious people in French history. A closer to the city version of the Basilique Saint Denis.  It was closed in 1778, before the Revolution which would have surely destroyed it. 

In 1848 the chapel was torn down and the tombs moved to Saint Denis, Versailles and the Musée du Louvre. 

Antoine-Louis Barye, a 19th century sculptor was first a goldsmith and commissioned to design a deer for a soup tureen. He decided to go to the Jardin des Plantes and study the deer so he could get it as close to accurate as possible. His first piece at the 1831 Salon got everyone's attention including Eugene Delacroix. Delacroix and Barye visited the zoo together and sat and sketched the animals for hours. 

The monument to Barye her in the square Barye was designed by Laurent Marqueste after the death of the artist in 1894. Commissioned by his beloved fans and sat here before the square was created. The spot was chosen as Barye had lived just across the bridge on the Quai Célestins that was once connected with a pedestrian bridge from the square. 

The top of the monument are copies of Barye’s Theseus fighting the Centaur in bronze. The lower pedestal with La Force and L’Ordre and Lion & Snake on the lowest portion. In 1942 the Vichy government melted down the original and in 2011 it was finally replaced with a new shiny version. 

From the end of the square at the tip of the eastern end of Ile Saint Louis the Tino Rossi park and it’s outdoor sculptures can be seen as well as the Jardin des Plantes. 

Pont Sully, named for Maximilien de Béthune Duc de Sully and longtime friend and minister to Henri IV. The Pont Sully replaces the Passerelle Damiette and Constantine that was in place from 1838 to 1848. The current pont was built in 1867 under Haussmann. 

Quai d’Anjou

No 1 by Louis Le Vau and was built for Jean-Baptiste Lambert de Thodigny in 1640. He tapped some of the best artists of the time to create the decor and ceilings including Charle Le Brun, Eustache Le Seur and François Perrier. The small Cabinet de l’Amour was an alcove with a canopy bed that the lady of the house would welcome her visitors. The walls and ceilings were decorated with the panels by Le Seur dedicated to the story of L’Amour, Cupid. Today the sketches and a few of the originals are in the Louvre, on the 2nd floor of the Sully wing. Le Sueur also did the Cabinet of Muse’s that had you guessed it, paintings of the muses and are also in the same room of the Louvre. 

Voltaire and the Marquis du Chateelet, his lover, used it from time to time and held a popular salon. From 1732 to 1739 Claude and Louise-Marie Dupin, great grandparents of George Sand purchased and lived here. One of its highest points was in 1843 when Prince Adam Jerry Czartoryski, a Polish prince bought the large property that saw many of the Romantic artists and writers including Delacroix. Balzac, George Sand and Chopin. Oriental and Polish themed balls were held and Chopin even wrote a few of his most popular pieces for the events. 

Guy and Marie-Helene de Rothschild owned it from 1975 to 2007 at his death when it was sold to the current owner, the brother of the Emir de Qatar. At $111 million it was one of the most expensive at the time. The Emir wanted to do a massive renovation that would destroy much of the original interior and the city was up in arms. The city put a stop to it and the Ministry of Culture sued the owner to stop them. After three years a deal was reached that required an official from the city be involved every step of the way,  In 2013 while under construction a fire broke out on the roof and damaged or destroyed much of the Le Seuer and Le Brun paintings.

No 3 Hotel Le Vau built by architect Louis Le Vau for his own residence. 

No 5 Hotel de Marigny, built in 1640 and home to the inventor of the Marly machine that brought water to the fountains of Versailles. 

No 7 The Hotel Lambert once stretched all the way to number 7. It now holds the Bakery Guild of Paris. 

No 9. In the 19th century Lithographer and painter Honoré Daumier lived here. From 1846-1863 he also did political cartoons and sculpteurs. 

No 11 The man that we can thank for much of the beauty of Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle lived here. Adolph Geoffrey-Dechaume worked with Viollet Le Duc on both churches and designed the 16 statues that once  lined the roof and the rooster at the top of the spire. All the statues escaped a dismal fate when they just happen to be removed 4 days prior to the fire. Today you can see all 16 beauties in Paris up close at the Cite de l'Architecture. Listen to the story of each of them in the past episode of Paris History Avec A Hemingway 

No 13, once a part of its neighbor at number 11 it was separated and physicist Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceaus lived here. 

No 15 The ivy on framing the windows are wonderful. Louis Le Vau also built this one in 1645 that was part of the Hotel Lambert. Paul Cézanne lived here and for a few short months in 1843 Charles Beaudelaire did until he moved one door down.

No 17, the Hotel Lauzun, one of the addresses I desperately want to see inside of. It was built in 1657 by Charles Chamois for Charles Gruyn, a wealthy French banker. In 1682 it was purchased by its namesake the Duc de Lauzun and three years later the niece of Cardinal Mazarin, Hortense Mazarin and her husband the nephew of Cardinal RIchelieu, Charles de la Porte. Hortense was fourteen years younger then Charles and he had a mean, jealous streak and was very controlling. The home was filled with the statues that once belonged to Cardinal Richelieu. One night when she was out he went into a rage and started to attack the marble statues, knocking off the naughty bits of male statues. Luckily they were later repaired and now are in the Musée du Louvre. 

Baudelaire moved in from next door in 1843 and lived there for two years. Paranoid and on drugs much of the time he covered the windows with paper so he was always in the dark. 

The inside  interior has amazing carved woodwork and decorations by Charles Le Brun and Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer. Don’t miss the dolphin drain spout on the facade as well.

No 19 built in 1642 is now a kindergarten

No 23 & 25 Once was much larger and divided into four separate residences. The field marshal of Louis XIV once lived here.

No 29 William Bird’s Three Mountain Press was opened in 1922 and in 1924 a young Hemingway had his first In Our Time published. Just 170 copies 

No 33 Au Rendezvous de Mariniers where Picasso, Hemingway and John dos Passo would hang out 

No 37 Hemingway’s friend John Dos Passo moved in here in 1921

No 39 the Theatre Ile Saint Louis, which we happily saw today is open and doing shows and concerts. 

We cross over to the Quai de Bourbon and past the Rue des Deux-Ponts named for the two bridges it leads to, the Pont de la Tournelle and Pont Marie. 

Quai Bourbon 

No 11 the former home of painter Philippe de Champaigne in 1643. The official painter to Richelieu was born in Belgium and stopped in Paris on his way to Rome. Marie de Medicis asked him to paint a few frescos in the Palais du Luxembourg when he would also meet Richelieu. His stunning painting of Richelieu in full Cardinal dress is in the Louvre. 

No 17 & 19 Hotel de Jaussaud. Built in 1642 for Nicolas de Jassaud, advisor to Louis XIII and it stayed with his heirs until 1768. Artist Francois Mouchet lived here while he was storming the Tuileries on June 20, 1792 that quickly marked the end of Louis XVI. 

The most famous resident at no 19 was the wonderful Camille Claudel who moved here in 1899 the same year she ended her relationship with Rodin. In a ground floor apartment and studio she hid herself away, rarely leaving. Commissions for private pieces kept her going but eventually her mental health started to crumble. Alone in her apartment she was convinced Rodin was out to get her. With paranoia too much to handle she never walked out her door and began to destroy many of her sculptures. 

In 1910, her apartment at the tip of Ile Saint Louis was flooded followed by her taking a sledgehammer and destroying all her plaster molds.

On March 2, 1913 her father,  Louis Prosper Claudel died. Paul, Louise and their mother decided not to tell Camille of his passing or his funeral. Paul took action and had Camille committed and convinced their mother to sign the papers placing her in an asylum. On March 7, 1913 she was diagnosed with dementia, malnutrition, alcoholism and paranoia. Placed in the Ville Evrard asylum in Seine St Denis, Paul told the doctors that no one was allowed to visit and letters were never to be given to her. Back at her studio on Ile Saint Louis, her family destroyed what was left of it. Nothing was spared. 

For thirty years Camille was locked up and alone and at two in the morning on October 19, 1943 she died alone of a stroke brought on by malnutrition at the age of 78. For thirty years she rarely had a visitor including her family. When she died, Paul declined to pay for a tomb or marker and the beautiful artist was buried in the cemetery at the asylum with only a few staff in attendance. 

Listen to her entire heartbreaking story about the woman that left us beautiful and emotional art we can love for generations. 

Side street Rue le Regrattier has a fun little treat up above on the corner. The street before was known as the Rue de la Femme Sans Tette. You can still see the former name carved into the building. On the corner is what remains of the former statue of Saint Nicolas added by Nicolas de Jaussaud. During the Revolution this poor guy lost his entire upper body. 

Down the street a bit at number 6 is where Beaudilaire put up his mistress Jeanne Duval, keeping her close by to his multiple addresses. Listen to the story of her life from episode 117 of Paris History Avec A Hemingway. 

No 21 Hotel de Jaussaud d’Arquivillers. Sculptor Auguste Préault lived in mid 19th century and where he did the statue of Clèmence Isaure that is one of the 20 Illustrious Women in the Jardin du Luxembourg. You can also find his work in the Cour Napoleon of the Louvre on the facade. Listen to the 2 part episodes about the 20 ladies. You can even take it with you for a custom tour anytime you want. Part 1 and Part 2. 

No 25 Hotel de Nevres, former Hotel Henri III built after he had died. Cardinal Richelieu’s nephew lived for a short period. 

No 29 Hotel d’Arcelot built in 1750 for the Marquis d’Arcelot member of the grand counsel of Louis XIV. In 1893 landscape painter Emmanuel Lansyer. 

No 31 Theophraste Renaudot, physician of Louis XIII and later the first Paris pawn shop owner 

No 43 Hotel de Tolzon, named for Charles Tolzon, husband of Anne Le Vau, Louis La Vau’s sister. Notice the masonic symbol between the first floor windows 

No 45 Built by another Le Vau, Francois, the younger brother of Louis in 1659. In the 18th century the bas reliefs of Hercules attacking Nessus were added.

Episode 100- Rachel Felix

Before there was Catherine Deneuve or Bridget Bardot there was Rachel Felix. Mademoiselle Rachel, as she was known, was the first international star. Born on February 21, 1821 in Switzerland into a family of peddlers they all headed to Paris in 1830.  Rachel started taking acting lessons upon her arrival from Alexandre Etienne Choron, director of the Paris opera. 

In January 1837 she took the stage for the first time at the Theater du Gymnase and the next year in Pierre Corneille’s Horace. It was after the fall of Napoleon and the people of France were trying to move away from anything that was of the period and the old French playwrights Napoleon adored were falling out of fashion. However Rachel loved the tragedies of Moliere and Corneille and she continued to perform them and kept them alive.

The public couldn’t get enough of her and as much as they loved her the news of her personal life would take its toll. Rachel had very dark exotic looks which was popular at the time as Europe was becoming obsessed with anything from Egypt or Greece and her dark features attracted all admires. Those admirers would include Emperor Napoleon III, his son Price Napoleon and also the illegitimate son of Napoleon Bonaparte, Alexandre Colonna-Walewski. 

The list of men is long and she had a large collection of rings gifted from her lovers. She strung the, on two bracelets that were so heavy she could only wear one at a time. Alfred de Musset, also lover of George Sand can be counted in the mix and Arthur Bertrand who she also had a son with. Gabriel-Victor was born from her relationship with Arthur and her first son was with Walewski, who would be the grandson of Napoleon. 

Rachel would go on to perform on the stages of Russia, Cuba, all over Europe, Canada and in the US in Boston, Philadelphia, South Carolina and New York. She was known throughout the world by only one name, long before there was ever a Madonna or Cher. 

In 1858, after suffering from tuberculosis she died in her beloved Le Cannet at just 36 years old. Returning to Paris to her apartment at Place des Vosges a multi day vigil was held before 100,000 people followed her procession to Pere Lachaise.

Episode 99 - 100 episodes of fascinating ladies and museums of Paris

100 episodes of Paris History Avec a Hemingway on La Vie Creative!!! We can’t even believe it! In the last two years we have shared the stories of the amazing women that were inspired by Paris and many of the places, stories and art that we love. 

Numerous stories of the talented artists, authors, actors, singers and dancers. The trailblazing women that built champagne houses, forged a path at 50 years old and the courtesans who bucked all traditions. We have shared the life at the court of Marie Antoinette and the many women that lived there and  survived the Revolution. 

I put together a handy guide of the first 100 episodes by theme that you can spend a day listening to the artists or whichever subject that fascinates you. All episode numbers correlate with the overall podcast episodes. 

Artists: 

Episode 8 Suzanne Valadon, the model of Toulouse-Lautrec and Renoir who became a painter herself. Be sure to visit the Musée du Montmartre and see her former studio. 

Episode 20 Victorine Meurent also was a model whose image is one of the most famous in the world. As the face of Manet’s most controversial paintings she is never forgotten. Victorine also became an artist but very little sadly remains. 

Episode 36 Berthe Morisot from an early age trained to be an artist. In the Louvre alongside her sister she met Manet and he instantly wanted to paint her. Morisot is the subject of a few of my favorite Manet paintings but she also became the leading lady of the Impressionist. 

Episode 51 Camille Claudel. She is known as the muse and lover of Renoir but that doesn’t give her enough credit for the amazing artist she also was. After her fathers death her brother and mother chose to toss her into an asylum where she spent the last 30 years of her life. Much of her art was destroyed but luckily her niece still fights to the day to share her art. 

Episode 55 Elisabeth Vigee le Brun the 18th century painter was the darling of the court of Versailles and became the personal painter of Marie Antoinette. During the Revolution she was able to flee France and today her paintings hang on the walls of the Louvre. 

Episode 67 Mary Cassatt The American that broke into the French  Impressionists.

Episode 77 Marie Bracquemand Another of the female Impressionists and part of the “trois grandames” with Morisot and Cassatt. 

Episode 89 Eva Gonzales the only student of Manet, also modeled for him. Her own paintings were so close to Manet’s style, you would think they were his.

Episode 91 Rosa Bonheur From the time she was a child she loved to draw animals. Her paintings would be popular with the Queen of England and for wealthy Americans. She was able to go where few female artists were ever able to go.

Episode 95 Berthe Weill  The first woman to own a gallery supported many of the female artists of the early 1900’s and the first to hold Picasso paintings. 

Episode 115 Nélie Jacquemart An accomplished artist it's her vast art collection that she is mostly known for. Leaving her collection to the State, the former home of Jacquemart and her husband André became the Musée Jacquemart André. 

Episode 125 Dora Maar We love to share more of these ladies' lives than what we think they are known for. Dora was the love and muse of Picasso but she was a well established artist before Picasso came along. 

Episode 127 Ladies of Manet A deeper dive into the paintings of Manet and the women he captured. 

Episode 143 Ladies of Monet Not about the ladies he painted, although he did paint each of his wives Camille and Alice. This is about the love triangle he created and the heartless thing his second wife Alice did as soon as Camille died. 

Episode 157 Finding many of our ladies in the Paris museums. So many of these wonderful artists don’t have a museum dedicated to them but can be found hanging on the walls of Paris. 

Episode 161 Marie Benoist she trained under Vigee le Brun but it is her stunning Portrait of Madeleine that is jaw dropping. One of the very first paintings of a black model. It hangs in the Louvre and is gorgeous. 

Episode 167 Marie Laurencin A painter of the avant-garde known for her images of Tout-Paris and of her lover Apollinaire and friends including Picasso. Her paintings in pastel colors stand out in any gallery. 

Episode 171 Sonia Delaunay The Ukrainian artist came to Paris and met Robert and the two paved a way with their very own style of art. She branched out and created textiles, clothing and decor. 

Episode 175 Masters in the Churches Charles le Brun, Eustache Le Seuer, Delacroix and many more can be found hanging in the first museums, the churches of Paris. A free visit to see the masters. 

Episode 185 Vivian Maier  a photographer that’s amazing photos were almost lost in a storage unit. Many of her 100,000 photos were never developed until after her death and then became an internet sensation. 

Episode 193 The Romantic Era One of my favorite periods in the history of France, the Romantic Era was ruled by Delacroix, Chasserieau and Barye. 

More next week, as I decided to write too much about each and every one of these great episodes.

Episode 98 - Musée Charles X

Charles X, the second to last king of France wanted to leave his mark on the Louvre like all the kings before him. A lover of Roman and Egyptian antiquities, he sent Jean-Francois Champollian to Egypt to purchase the collection of Henri Salt. Salt’s collection of  more than 4,000 pieces was just the beginning. Adding the Edme-Antoine Durand collection of more than 2500 Roman, Egyptian and medieval items and also the collection of Drovetti. Champollian would become the first curator of the antiquities department, after he deciphered the Rosetta Stone, of course.

These rooms once served as the winter apartments of Anne d’Autriche and were renovated under Napoleon Bonaparte by Pierrre Francois Fontaine. From 1819 to 1826 it was the salon and studios of many of the greatest living  artists at the time. In 1826 it would become the shrine for the antiquities collected under Charles X. The first four rooms of the Musée Charles X opened on December 15, 1827 showcasing Homer, Pompeii and Herculaneum on the ceilings. 

The rooms are located in the Sully wing, on the first floor on the southern side closest to the Seine. To reach the rooms, enter the Denon Wing and head towards the Winged Victory of Samothrace. Please stop and enjoy this beautiful treasure and when finished head up the few steps to the left of her and then right. You will pass through a few rooms before you reach the rooms of the Musée Charles X. On the Louvre map you can pick up under the pyramid; it is  on the 1st floor and in rooms 649 to 641. 

Premier Salle 

Ceiling by Jean-Aguste Dominique Ingres 

L’Apothéose d’ Homère, painted from 1826 to 1827. Ingres was given one hour to come up with his idea for the painting. He based it on Raphael’s painting Parnassas, but with a bit of a stiffer look. Homer is seen in the center being crowned by Victory and at his feet the allegories of his two biggest works. Odyssey in green holding an oar and Iliad in red holding a sword. 

The painting shows many of the greats including Raphael being led by an allegory in blue, Dante and Virgil and Aesop. On the lower part of the painting the more modern artists of the time of Louis XIV include Jean de la Fontaine, Mozart, Shakespear, Poussin, Moliere, Racine and Cornelle. In 1855 the painting was replaced with a copy by the Balze brothers. The original can be seen in the Salle Daru, the beautiful red room in the Denon wing. 

In the arches the muses and allegories of the seven cities that claim the birth of Homer and Apollo against the red background. And in the grisailles Nicolas Gosse and August Vichon are eight scenes from Homer’s epic tales. 

Deuxieme Salle 

Ceiling by Francois-Joseph Heim

Vesuve Recevant de Jupiter le feu qui doit consumer Herculanum

Vesuvius receives fire from Jupiter which is to consume the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae. Vesuvius is seen rising from a crater as he is given the destructive fire from Jupiter. In the lower left three women representing the three cities destroyed by the eruption. Minerva in her signature helmet tries to interfere and stop the exchange. 

In the arches Heim painted six scenes, four of which show the destruction by the eruption and the other two of Piny the Elder’s death and Piny the Younger writing his letters. The medallions show the genies with works of art by Nicolas Goss and Auguste Vinchon. 

Troisieme Salle 

Ceiling by Charles Meyner 

Les Nymphes de Parthénope emportant leurs penates sur les bords de la Seine. 

Nymphes of Naples, the ancient Parthenope brought Pompeiian objects to Paris. 

The pediment of the Percier Colonnade Perrault, the eastern edge of the Louvre can be seen near the bottom of the painting. 

The arches are also by Meyner depict the life in Pompeii before the eruption, a little more PG rated then some of the original views.  Nicolas Gosse and Auguste Vinchon painted the grisailles below of ancient life in Pompeii.

Quatrieme Salle

Ceiling by Francois-Edouard Picot 

Cybèle protege contre le Vesuve les villes de Stabies, Herculanum and Resina. 

Cybèle protects against Vesuvius the cities of Stabies, Herculaneum and Resina. This painting replaced the original ceiling that was dedicated to Francois I accepting the gifts of Italy which was moved to the Gallery Campana on the other side of the Musée Charles X. Picot’s painting is rather dark and gives a sense of dread. Picot also painted the arches of the cities destroyed by the eruption. 

The grisailles by Alexandre-Evariste Fragonard represent the genies of science, industruty, arts, history and arms. 

Salle des Colonnes 

Separating the first and second part of the Musée Charles X is the beautiful room first created by Louis Le Vau under Louis XIV. It was the Sun King's addition to the Palais du Louvre that he would begin but never finish. Completed under Napoleon and given an update it would briefly serve as the Exposition of Industrial Products before it was turned into a makeshift chapel for the son of Charles X. The Duc de Berry was killed just outside of the Opera Garnier and from February 17 to 22, 1820 it became the site for devotion to his beloved son. 

In 1824 work continued and in 1826 Antoine-Jean Gros painted this beautiful ceiling. Made up of three separate sections on the ceiling, in the center is La Veritable Gloire, based on virtue and is surrounded by a garland with the names of many of the great military leaders, artists and writers on the ribbon. On the left is Mars Listening to Moderation and on the right, Time Elevates Truth to the Throne of Reason. 

Surrounding the room is also six rectangles of the illustrious patrons. Each of the busts can be seen with scrolls and the names of their biggest artists and writers of their period.  Augustus with Virgil and Horace; Leon X with Raphael and Michelangelo; Pericles with Homere, Socratice and Artistole. Francois I with De Vinci and Montaigne; Louis XIV with Le Brun, Molier, Le Sueur and Fontaine and last but not least Charles X with Malesherbes and Delille. 

Sixeme Salle

Ceiling by Edouard Picot 

L’Etude et le Génie devoilent l’antique Egypte à la Grèce. 

Study and Genius unveil ancient Egypt to Greece.  Egypt is seen seated and surrounded by antiquities as Mercury/Hermes guides the genie. 

Picot painted the arches as well with the beautiful garland again the Pompeii red background inspired by the Villa Albani Torolina in Rome. The grisailles by Gosse and Vinchon represent the birth of the arts. 

Septieme Salle

Ceiling by Alexandre-Denis Abel de Pujol

L’Egypt sauvée par Joseph, Egypt saved by Joseph. 

Joseph had saved the people of Egypt many times by providing food and even saving them from slavery to the Pharoh. 

The arches are trompe l’oeil imitation bronzes of the life of Joseph each separated by the depictions of the Nile flood and couples with garland. The grisailles by Pujol of the daily life of Egyptians 

Huitieme Salle 

Ceiling by Horace Vernet 

Jules II ordonnant les travaux du Vatican et de Saint Pierre, entourne de Bramante, Michel-Ange et Raphael

Jules II ordering the works of the Vatican and Saint Peter, surrounded by Bramante, Michelangelo and Raphae

Michelangelo later altered the plan going with the Greek cross form for the Baroque Renaissance design. Below are medallions of each of the Vatican proposed artists and 

Abel de Pujol painted the grisailles with fourteen artists and writers of the Renaissance. 

Neuvieme Salle 

Ceiling by Antoine-Jean Gros 

Le Genie de la France anime les arts protege l’Humanite

The genie of France animated the arts protecting humanity

France is seated on a throne with the horns of plenty at her feet while genies fly above representing the arts. A genie in the sky with his bleu, blanc, rouge plumes holds the shield of Louis-Philippe and Victory is coming out of the clouds with a laurel wreath.  This painting replaces a previous work depicting Charles X giving the gift of the museum. The painting is now at Versailles. 

Episode 97 - Women of the Resistance

On this week's new episode of Paris History Avec a Hemingway on La Vie Creative Podcast we share the stories of a few of the bravest women in French history. During WWII many women stood up to fight for France in any way they could and for many years they were left far from the pages of history. 

Marie Madeleine Fourcade was born on November 8, 1919 and at 20 years old was married and quickly fled to Paris. As a young journalists she did a radio show with Colette and became more and more outspoken against the fascisms  that was quickly spreading across Europe.   

At 27 she met Georges Loustaunau-Lacau who she met through her brother in law and who went by the code name Navarre and served in the Resistance.  Marie served as his chief as staff and when he was arrested in 1941 she took his place heading up the “Noah’s Ark” network.

Marie went by Hedgehog and recruited over 1000 people to serve in the network as pilots, curriers and radio operators. She was fearless and faced death every day. When the Germans figured how who she was and found her in a chateau and arrived to arrest her, she convinced them she needed to take a bath first. When the officers went outside to smoke she slipped out the door and made her way to Lyon. 

She had two children with her first husband she rarely saw. During the war she had an affair with Leo Faye, a French Air Force pilot and became pregnant. Marie never stopped, she still kept up her role in the resistance and eventually made her way to London and to Charles de Gaulle. 

Following the war in 1947 she married Hubert Fourcade a fellow Resistance leader and had three children. She slopped away to raise her children and in 1968 wrote her story in “Noah’s Ark” 

Fourcade died on July 20, 1989 at 79 years old at the Val de Grace and is buried at Pere Lachaise.

Cécile-Rol-Tanguy and her husband Henri met when she was a “godmother of war’ and sent hum letters during WWI. The two met and on April 19, 1919 the two married. A move to Paris followed and the two began working underground for the Resistance. She stroll through checkpoints with her baby stroller that could be filled with guns, money and grenades. Changing her name and paper she was always one step ahead of the Germans. 
When the war ended and de Gaulle arrived in Paris and marched down the Champs Élysées he held a reception in the Hotel de Ville. Cécile was the only woman in attendance and was only because of her husband. After WWII she was a Friend of the Fighting Spanish and when Francois Holland wanted to award her she declined, at first. 

Eventually she decided she would accept it but only on behalf of all of the women that had fought in the resistance. Henri died in 2002 and Cécile lived to be 101 years old on March 8, 2020. She should be in the Pantheon. 

Simone Segouin is a bit of the poster child of the ladies of the Resistance. Born on October 3. 1945 she was raised on her families farm in  Thivars. Her father worked in the Resistance as well in the local government. When the Germans came to town and took over the nearest chateau they wanted all the young girls to come and work there. They asked her father for a full list of all the girls and he listed Simone but that she was already a seamstress. 

Simone was able avoid working for them but when one day a knock on the door led to the officers dropping off a pile of items to be mended. Simone had no idea what to do so she fled to Chartres. Her first mission was to steal a German bicycle and then used to deliver her own messages. 

She was just 16 years old and had the courage to blow up bridges, damage German villages and laid traps for them. On August 23, 1944 she took part in the Liberation of Chartres and two days later arrived in Paris for the big fight, the Liberation of Paris. It was on the streets of Paris that her most famous image was shot. A young girl standing against a wall holding a large gun.

In 1946 she was given the distinguished cross and went onto medical school and became a nurse. Never one to stick to the roles she was supposed to have she had 6 children and never married. 

Helene Studler at 18 entered the Sisters of Saint Vincent of Paris. In 1939 she transported the wounded in her white truck and as an authorized driver to the prison camps was able to sneak hundreds of prisoners out. Her network helped transport over 2000 men and women to the Free Zone. She even saved further president Francois Mitterand. 

The Germans caught onto her and in February 1941 arrested Helen. She was frail and in poor health so they released her. That didn’t stop her for the next year to continued with her network of saving the French. 

Helen died 2 years later in November 1944 at 53 years old. 

Episode 96 - The Romantic Authors

In episode 193, we shared the stories of the artists of the  Romantic period. The period covered more than just art, it stretched to music and some of the most beloved pieces in French literature. 

The king and father of French Romantic literature has to be Victor Hugo. On June 5, 1832 he was sitting in the Tuileries when he suddenly heard gunfire. Heading towards it on his way home he had to hide on Rue Saint Sauveur behind a pillar for hours. The moment would then be used 30 years later when wrote Les Miserables. 

Hugo’s most famous novel, Notre Dame de Paris was inspired by the once glorious cathedral that was now falling into ruin. He took his time much to his publishers dismay but once the book was released in March 1831. As soon as it was published the public fell in love, not just with his book but also with the cathedral and in the end saving it. 

Another author of the time that did more to inspire the romantic artists and writers was François-René de Chateaubriand. Born in 1768, Chateaubriand wrote a lot about nature in his passionate ways that in turn inspired Balzac and Hugo. His story Atala, was depicted in the beautiful painting by Anne-Louis Girodet that we also talked about in the Love in the Louvre episode. 

Honoré de Balzac is a name many know from his La Comédie Humaine multi-volume tale. A combined 135 finished and unfinished pieces in many volumes was one of the first novels with recurring characters. They are fascinating to read. 

Alfred de Musset, is well known for his volatile relationship with George Sand but the man himself was a brilliant writer and also quite the ladies' man. After their relationship ended he wrote a novel about it, La Confession d’un Enfant du Siècle in 1836. It’s a real page turner and has been translated into english as well as into movies a few times. 

Episode 95 - Widows of Champagne

Veuve Clicquot may be the most famous of the widows of Champagne but she isn’t the only one. Lily Bollinger, Louis Pommery, Mathilde Emile Laurent-Perrier and Marie-Louise de Nonancourt each forged their own path and helped create a legacy that lives long past them in that lovely glass of perfect champagne. 

For a very long period in France, a woman was not allowed to head a company or even own one unless she was a widow. A few women he chose not to remarry after their husbands died because they had more rights as a widow. Veuve Clicquot paved the way and even inspired these other trailblazers. 

Lily Bollinger was born October 2, 1899 and in 1923 married Jacques Bollinger. Jacques was the grandson of Jacques Joseph who built Bollinger with Paul Renaudin and Athanase de Villermont  in 1829. Jacques Joseph married Charlotte de Villermont, daughter of his partner. In 1918 his grandson Jacques took over the winery and with Lily modernized and expanded shipping to Russia and England. 

Lily took over Bollinger when her husband suddenly died in 1941. It was during WWII and her caves were used to tend to the injured and hide families while she kept sending the Germans champagne to keep them away. 

Just a few decades after the winery originally started the Phylloxera aphid arrived in France. Around 1858-1863 more than half the vineyards in France were destroyed. With a stroke of luck or divine guidance one of the Bollinger vineyards was left untouched. It is to this day one of the only vineyards and wines you can buy that his from the original old vines. A bottle labeled “Old Vines Francaise” will set you back a few thousand euros and is still bottled today. 

Lily also revolutionized champagne by resting the wine four times longer on the lees than anyone else, giving champagne that “brioche” flavor we now love so much. She was also the first to add discorging dates onto the bottles. 

For most of her life she could be found riding her bike through the vineyards and town until she died in 1977 at 77 years old. 

Louise Pommery born in 1819 was inspired by Clicquot and after her husband’s death focused only on champagne production. Louis married Alexandre Louis Pommery in 1856. He was a wealthy wool trader and after their first son was born he decided to retire. 

Seventeen years later Louise became pregnant again and he thought he better get back to work. Louis bought into the champagne business in 1857. The next year he died and Louise took the helm of the company. 

As a school girl in London she noticed how everyone loved dry cider. Pommery created the first brut champagne in 1874. Before that champagne was very sweet. Today most of the champagne sold in the world is brut. On March 18, 1890 she died at her chateau in Chigny-les-Roses near Reims. The Champagne house stayed in the Pommery-Polignac family until 1979. 

Mathilde Emile Laurent-Perrier born in 1852 and in 1871 married Eugene Laurent on November 11, 1871. Eugene worked at the champagne house of Alphonse Pierlot as a cellar master and when Alphonse died without an heir he left the champagne house to Eugene. 

In 1887, Eugene died in a freak accident as a result of the newly installed freight elevator. Mathilde was now the head of the winery she renamed Veuve Laurent-Perrier et Cie. Exporting to Belgium, Germany and England where they couldn’t get enough of it.  The Laurent-Perrier Grand Vin Sans Sucre, inspired by Pommery, was very dry and debuted at the Brébant restaurant on the Eiffel Tower. After her death in 1925 her daughter Eugenie-Hortense Laurent took over until she sold it to Marie-Louise de Nonancourt. 

Marie Louise de Nonancourt had champagne in her blood. Her father was Henri Lanson and was from a wealthy champagne family. On January 25, 1918 she married Charles de Nonancourt who led the 102nd infantry in WWI and died just a few years later in 1922. 

She had been leading her family vineyard, Delamotte, that her father had given her in 1930. Marie bought Mathilde’s winery in 1939 and brought it under the umbrella of her Lanson Champagne family.  During WWII Marie outsmarted the Nazis by hiding her champagne behind a wall and sealing them away. A strategically placed Virgin Mary watched over them. Her son would later take over the company elevating both labels.  Her sons would later lead the company until Maurice was captured during WWII for his work wit the resistance and killed. Bernard remained at the helm in 1948 after Marie made him work in every single job and aspect of the wine making process. Bernard was one of the few to ever do that and made him beloved by his employees until his death. 

Listen to the story of each of these amazing women that forged a path for all those that came after them. Next time you are at a wine bar in Paris ask the story of the winemaker of each wine you try. Every bottle has a family and a story behind it filled with love and passion. 

Out now on La Vie Creative - Pari History Avec a Hemingway 

#podcast #paris #champagne

Episode 94 - Comtesse de Ségur

In France children since the 19th century grew up with the stories of Comtesse de Ségur. The tales of Sophie the impish little girl always getting into trouble and trying to learn from her mistakes still shape generations.

Comtesse de Ségur was born as Sophie Rostpchine in St Petersburg on August 1, 1799. Her family was of Russian nobility that dated back to Genghis Kahn. Her father, Count Fiodor Rostopchine was a lieutenant in the army and later the mayor of Moscow. In 1812 Napoleon and his Imperial army had Russia in his sights and when the Count heard he decided to evacuate the city and set fire to all of Moscow. When Napoleon arrived the city was in flames. More than 11,000 homes and businesses were destroyed and as the residents returned the Count and family were public enemy number one. 

The Rostopchine family fled to Poland, Germany, Italy and finally France in 1817. Young Sophie found a community of other expats and her future husband. Éugene de Segur who came from a long line of French military. The two married on July 13, 1819 and it had a few good years and then he returned to his old ways with the ladies. They had to have had a few good moments because the marriage resulted in eight children. 

Living at the Chateau des Nouettes in Normandy, a gift from her father as her children grew up and left to have their own families. In 1849, at 50 years old Sophie began to write stories for her grandchildren. Each of the stories had a moral and were not always filled with rainbows and butterflies. She used the names of her children and grandchildren in the stories but her most popular was based on her life and shared her name.

Growing up her mother was horrible. She was often locked in a room for days at a time without any food or water. In public she would be hit and ridiculed and all of that stayed with her and came out on the pages of her stories. 

At first they were just for her family but they were quickly shared with others. Her husband was not the president of the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer de l’Est rail company. Friends with Louis Hachette who also started the very first publishing company in France, he read the stories and wanted to publish them.  Hachette also had a big idea of setting up a newsstand in the Gare de Lyon, the first of its kind in 1852. That little newsstand turned into Relay which is found on four continents and over 1600 train & metro stations, hospitals and airports. 

Hachette published her “new fairy tales” as she named them and sold them in his series of the Pink Library for children ages 6 to 12 that are still published today.  Sophie’s deal with Hachette named her as the author and allowed her the copyright and royalties from all sales, unheard of for a woman at the time and in the following decades. 

In 1863 Éugene died and in the following years Sophie became a Franciscan nun, Sister Marie-François, but continued to write fairy tales. When the sales of her books declined she was forced to sell her chateau and moved to 27 Rue Casimi-Perier in the 7e near Sainte-Clotilde.  She would die here on February 1, 1874 at 74 years old.

Her stories are still popular today and have been reproduced many times and also made into movies and tv shows. Ségur’s most popular was based on her own childhood and at times is quite disturbing. In the Sophie series the young girl lashes out, often playing horrible tricks on her cousin Paul and neighbor girls, giving them tea scooped from the dirty dog water and sugar cubes of chalk. Her mother’s beloved goldfish were chopped up to be fed to her doll, leaving her mother and the staff at their wits' end. A trip to America would change the entire family when a ship caused the disappearance and death of her mother at sea. Little Sophie and her father survived and he quickly remarried and after a short illness passed away. 

Now Sophie was left with her stepmother who was based on the real mother of the Comtesse. A hard and brutal woman that yelled at her and beat her. Returning to France and her former home she was thankfully reunited with friends whose parents took Sophie under their wing and showed her what a loving family should be.

As recently as 2016, the story of Sophie hit the big screen in France and can be found online. The children of the Comtesse went on to keep her memory alive as well as write their own stories. 

Today you can find a bust of the Comtesses de Ségur in the western corner of the Jardin du Luxembourg. Created by Jean Boucher, it was inaugurated in this spot in 1910. 

Episode 93 - Romanticism

In this week’s new episode of La Vie Creative - Paris History Avec a Hemingway we share a slice of French art history known as Romanticism.  

Maybe a few of these are your very favorite artists or paintings and know when you put it all together you realize you love the Romanticism era as much as I do. Charles Baudelaire said in 1846 that “The period could not be defined by its subject but by the way the artist feels”.  
Through color, intimacy, spirituality, fluid forms and visible brushstrokes the paintings of Delacroix, Géricault and Chassereau come alive and defy the period. The period begins  at the end of the Revolution and charging their path far away from Neoclassicism with its porcelain skin and void of any sign of the artist in brushstrokes. 

Jacques Louis David’s students Jean-Auguste Ingres and Antoine Jean Gros tiptoed over the line when they brought a bit more emotion into their pieces. In 1804 Gros jumped head first into the Napoleon propaganda machine when commissioned by the man himself to rewrite the narrative of his time in Jaffa. Gros painted Napoleon Visiting the Plague Victims of JaffaI. An episode that happened on March 21, 1799 but the visit in truth was the poisoning and killing of over 50 people. That is not what is in the painting, bien sûr, instead Gros paints the Emperor reaching out and touching an infected victim.  

This stance was a well used biblical scene, Christ healing the sick, and gives the feeling that Napoleon could heal the sick and that he was immune to any disease making him god-like. In the right corner men are dead or dying and others reach out for help. When he returned to Paris and word began to spread of what really happened Gros was brought in for damage control. 

Jean Auguste-Dominique Ingres born August 29. 1780 was just 11 when he enrolled in the art academy in Toulouse and at 16 was in the atelier of David. His most gifted student quickly moved away from the master. In 1827 Ingres was commissioned to do a ceiling in the Musee Charles X inside the Louvre and inspired by Raphael’s Vatican fresco he gathered the great artists and authors in European history including Raphael, Michelangelo, Poisson and Dante. It was also his way of letting these young up and coming artists that were beginning to blur the edges of art to remember where it came from.

Théodore Géricault born in 1791 studied under Pierre-Narcisse Guérin who trained many of the Romantic greats including Ary Scheffer and where Géricault met Delacroix. As with many artists in the 19th and 20th century they also would learn at the feet of the masters within the walls of the Louvre. Copying the paintings of Titian, Rembrandt and the artist that influenced the period Ruebens. 

Géricault’s masterpiece Raft of the Medusa stretching across the wall twenty-three feet was painted when he was just 27 years old. So large he needed to rent a larger atelier and to get the bodies just right he built a lifesize model and even brought body parts from the morgue to study as they rotted. Based on the actual shipwreck and rescue of the crew it was a huge political and controversial episode in French history. Géricault brought in all the emotions of the scene. In the top it shows a man waving a rag to alert the ship on the horizon but in the foreground of the piece a father holds his son that is dead from sliding into the water. 

As the men died, the others used them to survive as they floated out at sea. Close to 150 men crowded on a large raft and only 15 survived the two week ordeal. So devoted to the theme Géricault even interviewed the survivors to get every horrific detail correct.

For the models, he used one of his favorites, a gorgeous Haitian named Joseph. It’s Joseph we see waving the rag at the top of the raft. A few years ago the Musée d’Orsay held an amazing exhibit dedicated to the black model in art and giving them a name, as well as sharing other sketches and paintings. It was fantastic. You can find more HERE. 

Another model was a young artist that was so moved when he saw the painting in his atelier that he ran through the streets screaming. Éugene Delacroix was just 19 and couldn’t believe what he saw. Many people incorrectly attribute the man in the top hat in Delacroix’s Liberty to either being the artist himself or Géricault. It is actually in the Raft that we find Delacroix. The man lying on his stomach reaching out his hand to the board is the young Delacroix who would become the leader of the entire period. 

Just 5 short years later Géricault died at 32 years old, but left behind one of the most amazing pieces of the period and can be seen in the Louvre not far from his friend Delacroix. 

Walk over to Liberty Leading the People and notice the bodies in the lower left side and see if they remind you of the Raft and a nod to their great friendship. 

Delacroix wasn’t going to be an artist, he was going to be a writer but at 17 he could be found in the Louvre copying the masters hoping that one day his name would be mentioned in the same category. The romantic words of Lord Byron, Shakespeare and Greek dramas came to life on his canvas with the master touch of color.

In January 1832 he went to Morocco and was given special permission to visit a harem and sketch the women. In 1834 it became the Women of Algers that has recently been restored and return to the Louvre on January 12, ninety years after he first sketched it. The stunning restoration removed the yellowed varnish and restored the colors. A temporary banner shows you an up close before and after. The same painting inspired Picasso to reimagine the same scene in his own Picasso way.

Delacroix died on August 13, 1863 and Baudelaire also said that with the death of Delacroix so was the death of Romanticism. His works still hang in the churches and government buildings and of course the Louvre and Musée Delacroix and inspire artists even today. 

A young Manet would visit the Louvre and copy the same masters that taught those that came before him. He would later also copy Delacroix.

Join us as we walk through a few of the artists of the period and what end up being some of the most popular paintings in the Musée du Louvre. And in a few weeks check back as we explore the authors of the period who not only wrote some of the most loved pieces in French literature but also saved a beloved monument.

Episode 92 - Love in the Orsay

The Musée d’Orsay is the beacon of Impressionist light sitting on the edge of the Rive Gauche. Of course it is known for those amazing paintings of Monet and Renoir but it also holds a fw other treasures and some of the most lovely sculptures in Paris. On this month of LOVE we will take a look at a few others that have their own little take on love.

The relationship between Camille Claudel and Rodin was one of inspiration, love and eventually anger. As his muse and lover, Camille wanted to marry the famous artist but he was still with his longtime partner Rose. In 1892 she ended the relationship but her feelings for Rodin were still there. In 1895 the French government commissioned Camille to create a sculpture for the State. Her striking, beautiful and heart breaking sculpture L’Age Mur was her answer. 

It depicts an older woman leading an older man away while his arm reaches back to a young woman on her knees pleading with him to stay. Believing that the older woman was Rose leading Rodin away as Camille reaches out while on her knees.  Many including Roden thought this was a message to their relationship and were outraged. The French government canceled the commission when they saw the subject and how it offended Rodin. Camille would still complete it and it would be exhibited in 1899, much to the chagrin of Rodin.  Up until this point Rodin supported her financially but that ended with L’Age Mur and her final break from the sculptor. He would later do all he could to help save her from the fate her brother put her in, but sadly it wouldn’t work. 

For more on Camille, listen to our podcast episode about her tragic life

Painted in 1865  by Gustave Moreau, Orphée tells the story of Orphée  or Oprheus  from  the poem Metamorphoses by Ovid written in 8 AD, complete with more than 250 stories of Greek mythology.  Orpheus was the son of Apollo and the Muse Calliope and was a talented musician and poet who could charm anybody including the wildest of beasts. But it was a follower of Dionysus, the Maenads who ripped his body to shreds after the death of his wife, Eurydice. In the painting by Moreau his head is seen laying on his lyre being held in the arms of a young girl who looks at him lovingly. Set against the landscape reminiscent of a da Vinci painting, it is beautiful and serene in the face of such a barbaric act. Exhibited at the Salon of 1866 it was purchased by the state for the Musée  du Luxembourg, where the art of living artists was displayed until it eventually moved to the Louvre and finally landed at the Orsay. 

Now look closer at the face of Orpheus. Does it look familiar at all? The face Moreau used is that of the Dying Slave by Michelangelo.  The two unfinished statues that were created for the tomb of Pope Julius II but never came to fruition. Instead he gave 2 of the 6 statues to Roberto Strozzy who would then give them to King Francois I of France and would eventually end up in their final home, the Musée du Louvre.  The Dying Slave appears to be young and handsome and thought to be asleep. He looks rather sensual and at peace, more so then his friend the Rebellious Slave next to him. 

Claude Monet was enamored with Camille Doncleux, he would use her for the model of every woman in Les Femmes au jardin et Le Dejeuner. Look closely at each of the women, they are all Camille. She would also sit for Renoir and Manet, Manet even painted the couple and family a few times. In 1870 the two would finally marry and in 1878 they would have their second son Michel. Camille would develop cancer shortly after and a year later she would be gone. 

As Monet watched his beloved wife Camille slip away he said “I caught myself watching her tragic temples almost mechanically searching for the sequence of changing shades which death was imposing upon her rigid face. Blue, yellow, grey. My reflexes compelled me to the unconscious action in spite of myself”, he picked up a canvas and painted her. Everything about this painting, even as heartbreaking as it is, is beautiful and shows how the painter tried to hold onto her until the very last possible second.

Listen to the story of his three way love affair and the horrible second wife that destroyed Camille’s memory.

The sculpture Oedipe á Colone by Jean Baptiste Hughes found on the upper terrace tells the story of love between a child and parent. Created in 1885, Hughes pulled the theme from Homer and created it out of marble. “Here we are under the olive trees of Colones in the first scene. Set me on a rock, said Oedipe and look after your blind father”. Beautifully sculpted, the older Oedipe shows his age while his daughter Antigone sits next to him with her head on his shoulder looking up adoringly at him. It’s amazing how much emotion can come through in a chunk of stone.

Thomas Couture’s Les Romains de la Décadence was shown at the Salon of 1847 and left a very memorable impression. The history painter wanted to remind the quickly changing Paris heading into the Industrial Revolution that French painting was rooted in Greek and Renaissance style. Following the Romantic movement of color, emotion and movement Couture wanted to bring back the academic style. 

The center of the painting is pure debauchery with half naked drunk men and women. The lower left has a sad gentleman at the base of a statue looking down and on the right two fully clothed men look on in judgment. They all are framed by the very classic columns and marble statues reminding you of the past. What Couture was also doing was making a statement on the current climate in France. The excess and moral decay of the July Monarchy and to tell us not to forget our values deeply set in culture. 

When it appeared at the Salon critics thought it was a blend of Classicalism as well as Romanticism which didn’t please Couture. The female bodies were inspired by the paintings of Ingres which you will see more of next week. 

Couture might be remembered more for his students including Manet and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes as well as Berthe Morisot.

No one captured motherhood like Berthe Morisot and in 1872 she painted what could be her most popular painting, Le Berceau, The Cradle. The subject is her sister Edme who also started out as a painter and her new daughter Blanche who is sleeping in the cradle. She lovingly looks down on her and we see her little face through the sheer fabric hanging over her cradle. 

It was Berthe’s first painting of motherhood and when she gave birth to her own daughter in 1878 she would become her favorite model. The Cradle stayed with the family and to Blancehe Pontillau who was the baby until 1930 when it was given to the Louvre and eventually to the Orsay.

Learn more about Berthe Morisot’s life and the legacy she left behind in an early episode of the podcast.

Pierre Bonnard was a founding member of Les Nabis inspired by Gauguin and the Japanese woodcut prints. His painting Man and Woman around 1900 is of his wife Marthe and himself. He stands nude in the foreground and she sits back on the bed. The two seem very separate and apart and could be because of their real life story. 

Marthe Boursin Bonnard was born in 1869 and moved to Paris to work in a flower making shop. Shortly after she met Pierre and told him her name was Marthe de Méligny and of Italian royalty. She told him the truth after they were married but their entire marriage was filled with jealousy, anxiety and bouts of madness that sometimes separated them. She was his model for the first years of their life together then disappeared from the canvases all together. 

A stunning sculpture of marble created by Auguste Clésinger appeared at the Salon of 1847 at the same time as Coutures Roman Decadence, which is widely known as the Roman Orgy.  Clésinger was commissioned by rich industrialist Alfred Mosselman to create a sculpture of his mistress Apollonie Sabatier. She was known as La Presidente for her popular salons and also as the muse of artists and poets. Baudelaire was so inspired by her he wrote a few poems in Les Fleur des Mal about her. 

She lays with her back arched in what appears to be ecstasy. The title of the piece is Woman Stung by a Snake and if you look closely you can find the small snake wrapped around her wrist. Theophile Gautier said of the piece “Pure orgasmix delirium, the disheveled Maeriad tumbles at the feet of Bacchus, father of liberty and joy. A powerful spasm of happiness” 

However that is not what freaked people out. It appeared to be created from her actual body. In the 19th century there was a controversial technique known as body sculpting that was natural molding of the body. Look closely at the back of her upper thighs, the dimples of cellulite set off an alarm with everyone that saw her. 

To plead his case he recreated a slightly larger version now in the Petit Palais. Rodin was also accused of this in 1840 for his Age of Bronze lifesize figure of a man. 

Renoir was commissioned in 1883 to create three paintings with the theme of dance by Paul Durand-Ruel. He used his favorite model Suzanne Valadon who he had worked with for five years. The young model soaked up everything she saw and at night painted her own canvases hidden away from everyone. Visiting his studio on the Rue d’Orchampt she stood for hours with his friend Paul Lhôte posed into the three separate themes. 

Renoir lived with his future wife Aline Charigot and one day she had enough and was tired of Suzanne and thought Renoir was having an affair with her. She entered the studio and scratched up the face of Suzanne on the Dance in the Country. Renoir relented and repainted the model to be of Aline instead of Valadon. 

Two of the three are in the Orsay. Dance in the City with Valadon and Lhôte in a very beautiful dress and with all the very stiff and proper etiquette of a society ball. 

Dance in the Country with Aline is more relaxed and under a chestnut tree and two small faces can be seen watching the couple from below the terrace. 

The third, now in the Boston FIne Arts museum is of Suzanne. The Dance at Bougival took place just outside of Paris and popular with the Impressionist. Behind the dancers are cafe goers enjoying an afternoon while the couple enjoy a moment of their own. 

Listen to the tale of Suzanne Valadon in the very first episode we did of Paris History Avec A Hemingway.

Episode 91 - Love in the Louvre

To celebrate this lovely Valentine’s Day we are exploring more of the art of the Musée du Louvre and all the definitions of love that they convey. Last week we shared Psyché and Cupid, and today we uncovered a few more. 

From Catherine de Medici and her monument to her husband’s heart that inspired a beloved Paris monument you all know today to the father’s love and appreciation for saving his daughter. Along with the painting of a king's beloved that always arises a few giggles and the throws of passion that are surrounded by suggestive hints. Each of these and more that we cover in episode 92 are filled with beauty and can be found in my favorite valentine, the Louvre. 

You can even take this episode with you on your next visit to the Louvre and discover them on your own.

German Pilon 

Monument to the Heart of Henri II 

Richelieu Rez-de-chaussée salle 214 

In 1561 Catherine de Medici commissioned this monument to be created to hold the heart of her husband Henri II and later hers. Pilon was inspired by Hecate, the ancient Greek goddess and the Three Graces. Capturing each of these women in a moment of dancing, each in a different pose. Pilon inspired one of the most beloved fixtures of Paris, the Wallace Fountains. Sir Richard Wallace saw this monument and inspired him in his creation of the fountains that would appear across Paris to help combat public drunkenness. 

Steps away is Jean Goujon’s Diane d’Anet created for Henri II’s actual great love Diane de Poitiers 

Podcast episode about Catherine de Medicis 

Podcast episode about Diane

Peter Paul Rubens 

Presentation of the Portrait of Marie de Medicis 

Richelieu 2nd floor Salle de Medicis 

Marie asked Rubens to create two grand paintings on moments of her life for her Palais du Luxembourg. Before they were finished she loved them so much she asked him to create 19 more. Painted in just four years, the monumental paintings depict pivotal moments of her life, with a bit of creative license taking on the retelling.  

In this painting Henri IV appears to look adoringly at his soon to be second wife who would bring him the long awaited heir to the throne. The two would marry by proxy October 5, 1600 and finally meet in person on December 12, 1600

Podcast episode about Marie de Medicis 

Ecole de Fontainebleau

Gabrielle d’Estrée and Her Sister 

The favorite mistress and love of Henri IV is depicted with her sister. Her sister is pinching her niple, a symbol of pregnancy. In her left hand she holds the coronation ring of Henri IV, a pledge of his love for her. She is thought to be pregnant with their son, the future Duc de Vendom. Henri went to Pope Clement VIII in March 1599  requesting the annulment of his first marriage to Marguerite de Valois which he would eventually allow but not in time. Gabrielle would die of eclampsia before Henri could return. He would marry Marie de Medici by the end of the year. 

Listen to the episode of the life of Gabrielle d’Estrée

Philippe de Champaigne 

Ex Voto 1662 ou Ex Voto Mother Catherine Agnés Arnauld and Sister Catherine Sainte-Suzanne de Champaigne. 

The painter's daughter, shown sitting in October 1600 developed a horrible fever that lasted 14 months that caused her arms and legs to become paralyzed. Living at the Convent Port-Royale, Mother Superior prayed by her side, shown in the painting for 9 days and nights. The painting shows the moment that the miracle happens with the beam of light flooding her face and hands. 

Jean-Antoine Watteau

The Voyage to Cythera 

Sully 2nd floor salle 917 

Painted in 1717 it depicts one of the many Fête Galantes inspired by the Sun King, Louis XIV. Watteau captures a group of people but when you look closer starting from right to left it shows the many stages of courtship under the watchful eye of the bust of Venus. Cythera is thought to be the island where the Goddess of Love was born Claude Debussy visited this painting many times and inspired him to write L’Isle Joyeuse in 1904. 

Take a listen https://youtu.be/9xNfmsN_8hQ

Jean-Honoré Fragonard 

The Bolt 

Sully 2nd floor Salle 929 

Up to much interpretation the painting is filled with erotic symbolism. Is she in the throws of passion or is she being held against her will. Fragonard also added the single apple to the table to give an idea of Eve giving into her temptations. 

Anne-Louis Girodet de Boussy-Trioson 

The Entombment of Atala 

Denon 1st floor Salle 75

Based on Chateaubriand’s Atala ou The Love of Two Savages in the Wilderness

The young Atala in 17th century America meets and falls in love with the Indian Chacta. She had pledged her life to God and to remain a Virgin, a promise she also made to her mother. Falling in love with Chacta she couldn’t give into her passion and killed herself. Chacta and Father Aubry dug her a grace in a cave as he clings to her legs. On the walls the artists added Chateaubriand’s words inspired by the Book of Jobs. “I have faded like a flower, I have withered like the grass in the field”

Ary Scheffer 

The shades of Francesca da Remini and Paola Malatesta appear before Dante and Virgil 

Denon 1st floor room 77

Francesca fell in love with her husbands brother Paola. Her husband, Giovanni came across them in an embrace and killed them. From Dante’s Divine Comedy the lovers are in the 2nd level of hel reserved for the lustful as Dante and Virgil look on. Roden aslo captured the couple just before their death in La Baiser. 

For even more, check out the live chat I did in 2021 with many of these pieces as well as a few of last weeks Psyché et l’Amour

Episode 90 - The History of Psyché and L'Amour

As you walk through the Musée du Louvre you may come across a few figures over and over captured in the paintings and statues and wonder who they are. In this week's newest episode of Paris History Avec a Hemingway on La Vie Creative Podcast we share a little more about one of the most popular, Psyché et l’Amour.

Pysché was the beautiful daughter of a Greek king and had two sisters. Her sisters were joined in marriage to other royalty but Psyché was so beautiful that the men only wanted to look at her and not ask for her hand. Her father was distraught and went to the Temple of Apollo to talk to the Oracle of Delphi who told him Psyché was destined to be married to a beast that even the gods would fear. 

There was only one thing to do. She was to dress in funeral attire and go to the highest peak in the area and meet her fate. Psyché and her father did just that and as they waited nothing happened. To end her pain she decided to jump to her death. As she fell Zephyr, the god of the West Wind arrived and carried her off to a meadow. When she awoke she wandered into a house of golden columns and cupboards filled with gold. 

Heri-Joseph Rutxhiel 

Zephyr enlevet Psyché

Richelieu Ground floor Salle 225 

That first major moment of her story was captured in marble. Look closely at his hair, so amazing.

Drawn to the bedroom she lays down and an invisible being makes love to her. Night after night this man that she can not see comes to her. When she tells her sister about her nightly visitor they tell her that she needs to see who she is and make sure it is not the beast the Oracle had promised. One night while her mysterious love slept she crawled from bed and picked up an oil lamp and held it close to the face of Cupid. As she leaned over to take a closer look she was stunned at how beautiful the god of love was. Backing away suddenly she pierced herself with one of his arrows, the oil dripped on the handsome god and he was awoken. 

Francois Nicolas Delaistre 

Cupid et Psyché 

Richelieu Ground Floor Ministers Staircase 

This is one of my favorites and captures the moment of her betrayal. He lays back asleep and over his head she holds the lamp. It is one you need to see from all sides. On the base it also has a relief of Jupiter listening to the pleas of Venus, the departure of Mercury to take her to the gods and Psyché begging for cupid as he leaves her.

Cupid suddenly flees and is stunned by her betrayal. Psyché, abandoned and distraught, goes to the temple of Ceres and asks for help to find her love. However, she is a mortal and the gods could not assist her, but Venus might be able to. Venus was the mother of Cupid and she was already well aware of the beautiful mortal that was stealing the heart of her son. 

Venus was known as the most beautiful woman in the world and wasn’t happy that her title was being threatened. She told Psyché she needed to complete four tasks and if she did that she would consider helping her, but these tasks were impossible and Venus figured she would be rid of her once and for all. 

Augustine Pajou 

Psyché Abandonée 

Richelieu Ground Floor Salle 221 

As she sits distraught after she lost her love Cupid due to her betrayal she hangs her head in shame. On the base it says “Psyché loses love by wanting to know it”

The first task was to separate a large pile of grains and beans. Psyché decided the task was too difficult and instead went to  a wedding.  That night when she returned drunk she was amazed to see the task was complete. The insects were drawn to her beauty and separated the grains and beans for her. 

Task number two was to return to Venus the golden wool of the sheep of Helios. These sheep were very violent and as she tried to get close they would run her off. Suddenly a strong wind came through and their golden wool was blown off and caught on the briars which she could easily gather. Venus couldn’t believe she completed each of these tasks. 

The third was to collect the black water from the river Styx that fell from the high rocks guarded by dragons. Jupiter saw the young girl struggling and sent his eagle to combat the dragons and to gather the water. 

Adriaen de Vries 

L’Enlevement de Psyché 

Denon Ground Floor Salle 403 

This bronze statue will stop you in your tracks. It captures the moment Mercury takes her and the vial to the heavens. Make sure to walk all the way around and catch every gorgeous detail.

The final task must be harder, she needed to put an end to this girl that was charming the gods and creatures. Her last task must  be impossible. Psyché must bring back the drops from Proserpina, the queen of the underworld that would promise every lasting beauty. Psyché felt there wasn’t any way she could survive this and climbed to a tall peak where she was going to end her life. Suddenly she heard a voice that told her what she needed to do to pass the tests of the  underworld. She must remain silent, bring cakes for the three headed dog Cerberus and two coins for Charon the ferryman and she would succeed. 

Antonio Canova

Psyché Ranimeé par le baiser de l’Amour 

Denon Rez-de-chaussée Salle 403, Galerie Michel-Ange 

One of the most beautiful sculptures in the Louvre. Canova captures the moment when Cupid comes across Psyché after her curiosity got the best of her and opened the vial that Venus asked her to obtain from the underworld. She fell into a deep sleep and Cupid discovered her and picked her up in his arms and gave her a kiss. Canova created this in 1787 it would end up in the hands of Joachim Murat, brother in law to Napoleon who later gave it to the Louvre.

She did just that and obtained the vial and was instructed not to open it and began her return to Venus. Mercury takes her in flight to Venus but when she arrived her curiosity got the best of her and she opened the vial. With one whiff she fell into a deep sleep. In a lovely meadow of flowers Cupid discovered her and thought she had died. He picked her up and placed a kiss on her lips and she awakened. Knowing his mother was going to be a problem he took Psyché to Zeus and asked for his help and that he could marry her. He gathered the gods and they all agreed. Psyché was given a vial of Ambrosia to drink that would transform her to the Goddess of the Soul and Venus would have to accept her.

Francois-Edouard Picot 

L’Amour et Psyché ou Psyché abandoned by Cupid 

Denon 1st floor Salle 702 

Cupid leaves their bed as he reaches for his arrows. Psyché reaches out to where is was beside her while she stays in her peaceful slumber

Francois Gérard 

Psyché et Cupid 

Sully 2nd floor Salle 934 

Painted for the Salon of 1798. Cupid visits Psyché, but she doesn’t see him. He has fallen in love with her after his mother Venus sends him off to find the young beauty and to shoot with one of his arrows so she would fall in love with a hideous beast and fade away so Venus can keep her crown of the most beautiful. Above her head is a butterfly, her future symbol as the goddess of the soul.