It will run through the beginning of the Capetian dynasty to nowadays and will focus on everything related to France and its history.
Feel free to submit!
Loterie des enfants trouvés, 1674 - the theme of a swaddled Jesus to remember the life of the population was common in religious and artistic circles who offered charity in Paris in the middle of the 17th century. It is opposed to the sensual depiction of Jesus as a child in the more official classical art, inspired by the Renaissance.
Bibliothèque royale de Bruxelles, Belgique
In 1633 Vincent de Paul founded in Paris the Companie des Filles de la Charité, whose nuns dedicated themselves to the poors and lost children. In 1640 they received the royal charge to take care of any child found in the streets of Paris. Each year, 500 children were abandoned
Nécessaire de voyage de la maréchale BessièresMartin Guillaume Biennais (1764-1843), tabletier ébéniste orfèvre
Marie-Joseph-Gabriel Genu (17XX-18XX), orfèvre
Paris, 1798-1809
Argent, vermeil, cristal, ivoire, nacre, corne, porcelaine dure
Coffret en acajou, cuivre doré et maroquin vert gaufré et doré
Legs baron Marie Jacques Ferdinand Bessières, 1911
Inv. 15687
© Les Arts Décoratifs
Ce nécessaire de 62 pièces comprend un service à thé et à café, des couverts pour deux personnes, un nécessaire de toilette, un nécessaire à couture et un nécessaire à écrire.
This kit is composed of 62 pieces; among them : a tea and coffee set, cutlery for two persons, a washbag, a sewing kit and a writing set
The Card Players by Paul Cezanne ca. 1892
As a later work, The Card Players is more indicative of Cezanne’s earlier impressionism. It does have the thick lines and bright colors of the impressionist school, but also the fragmented quality that Cezanne used to separate the shapes and forms within his paintings. This painting was created in Cezanne’s mature period, in Provence, where he stabilized his family residence and completed many of his later paintings. It was at this time that Cezanne employed the use of his wife, son, local peasants, children, and art dealers as his models and subjects. You can almost image Cezanne sitting across from these two players in a local tavern, as he was inspired by them, returning to his estate to paint them.
Des policiers, membres des CRS, manient la matraque rue Saint-Jacques à Paris lors des heurts entre les manifestants appelés par l’Unef et les forces de l’ordre qui bouclaient le Quartier Latin le 6 mai 1968.
On the 6th of May 1968, CRS (Republican Security Companies, riot control forces) using the baton on street Saint Jean in Paris during fights between the Student Union UNEF and the police in the Quartier Latin. @credits
Le roi de FranceRecueil : “Grand Armorial équestre de la Toison d’or”. Vers 1431-1435. Auteur : Jean Lefèvre de Saint-Rémy
Le Grand Armorial équestre de la Toison d’or, est le plus célèbre de tous les armoriaux et un des plus beaux manuscrits de la fin du Moyen Âge. Il s’agit d’un codex sur papier d’assez petit format (29 x 21 cm environ), incomplet et comportant dans son état actuel 167 feuillets. On dénombre en effet dans le recueil : d’une part, 79 portraits équestres en pleine page de différents personnages (souverains, princes et feudataires de plusieurs pays d’Europe membres de l’ordre de la chevalerie de la Toison d’Or) représentés en grande tenue héraldique et en position de combat pour la joute ; de l’autre, un armorial européen de 942 écus. Le dessin sobre et vigoureux est rehaussé d’un trait épais d’encre noire qui accentue le caractère stylisé des figures. La mise en couleur est faite à la gouache ayant gardé une étonnante fraicheur.
The Great Equestrian Armorial of the Golden Fleece is the most famous of all the rolls of arms and one of the most beautiful manuscripts of the Late Middle Ages. This armorial (roll of arms) is a codex on paper in quite a small format (approximately 29 x 21 cm), incomplete and in its current state contains 167 sheets. The collection contains: on the one hand, 79 full-page equestrian portraits of various sovereigns, princes and vassals of several European countries that were members of the chivalric Order of the Golden Fleece, represented in full heraldic dress and in combat position for jousting; and, on the other hand, a European roll of arms consisting of 942 shields. The sober, vigorous drawing is highlighted with thick black ink strokes, which emphasize the stylised character of the figures. It was coloured using gouache paint, which to this day has remained amazingly fresh.
Henri IV and Marie de Médicis
Medal
Paris, France (made)
1605 (made)
Dupré, Guillaume, born 1569 - died 1642 (medallist)
Cast bronze mounted in a silver rim
This medal celebrates the birth of an heir to the throne of France and the establishment of the Bourbon dynasty. On one side it shows Henri IV, who after a long period of civil war had established his legitimacy as King of France, and his new wife, Marie de Medici. On the other they are shown as Mars and Minerva with their little son, the future Louis XIII, between them. An eagle holds a crown over his head and he is trying on Mars’ helmet.
This large medallion derives from a smaller version made two years earlier which so pleased Henri IV that he gave Dupré the right to cast and sell as many variants as he liked and forbade others to copy his work.
Statue de Marie Fouré - Péronne
Catherine de Poix (or Marie Fouré) is an hero from the town of Péronne who defended the city when it was besieged by Charles V in 1536.
The legend says that during the siege, Marie Fouré saw a Spanish soldier trying to walk inside the city. He was wearing the enemy flag, and meant to hammer it into the ground to symbolise the surrender of Péronne.
So she went on the rampart and pushed him into the void, keeping his flag. She then walked to the town center with the flag, where she was acclaimed by the population
Manière dont combattent les Nègres, entre les buissons.
Eau forte. Gravure de Tardieu.
Extrait de la traduction française Voyage à Surinam et dans l’intérieur de la Guyane… par le capitaine J. G. Stedman, parue à paris, chez F. Buisson, an VII -1798-1799. Pl. 31.
In 1809, a former slave who became “maroon” for more than fifty years, Simon Frossard, managed to create a small community of fugitives, increased by the arrival of farmers escaping from the re-establishment of slavery in French Guiana in 1802. Having learnt how to survive in the Amazon forest by imitating the Natives, sometimes robbing and plundering plantations, two hundreds of people followed a rude discipline to keep their existence a secret.
With experimented leaders, they managed to create villages around 50 kms from the littoral, such as Jolie Terre commandé par Simon ; Couleuvre, commandé par Charlemagne, Berthier et Léveillé-Terrasson ; Sainte-Elisabeth, commandé par Georges « créole des Bois » et Paulin, commandé par ce même Paulin…
But the milicia of Cayenne, supervising the repression of marooning and counting 80 armed men was searching for them. Sévère Hérault, enrolled in the milicia, described the campaign: destroyed villages, burnt houses, maroons chased and killed in the woods, until the capture of Simon Frossard, whose head was brought back to Cayenne and exposed on the public place.
Sévère Hérault was impressed by the maroon’s fighting technics, really effective in the abrupt landscape and in the forest:
“Knowing all about the forest and the rivers, Simon Frossard never lost his way and always assured himself to meet us in tight pathways, nearly impracticable: it is where we took high risks and we got much everytime one of them touched or killed as they shot at us. As soon as they were done, they ran away screaming from joy. We replied, but against whom? We saw no one. Twenty feet away, they were hiding behind the bushes and welcomed us as usual. That was their way to wage war. Despair for the one who fell into their hands, he would be slaughtered without any doubt.”
Ouverture des États généraux à Versailles, 5 mai 1789,Auguste Couder, 1839, Musée de l’Histoire de France (Versailles).
The Estates-General (or States-General) of 1789 (French: Les États-Généraux de 1789) was the first meeting since 1614 of the French Estates-General, a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the clergy (First Estate), the nobles (Second Estate), and the common people (Third Estate). Summoned by King Louis XVI to propose solutions to his government’s financial problems, the Estates-General sat for several weeks in May and June 1789 but came to an impasse as the three estates clashed over their respective powers. It was brought to an end when many members of the Third Estate formed themselves into a National Assembly, signalling the outbreak of the French Revolution.
@credits
Pied de Croix de Saint-Bertin, vers 1180 ©Musées de Saint-Omer
Cuivre doré, fondu, ciselé, gravé, émaux champlevés
Hauteur en cm 31.5, Diamètre de la base en cm. 22.5, Diamètre maximal en cm 29.5
Objet d’art
This foot cross comes from the former abbey of Saint Bertin, and until recently it was considered as a smaller copy of the cross Saint Suger ordered for Saint Denis. The foot should have been used for a huge cross.
The base is round, ornated around a disk by vegetal patterns, upon which the four evangelists are sitting and who are used to support the cross. You can recognise the evangelists by their symbols, placed above them, between the base and the squared column. Saint Luke is under a winged bull, writing over his desk. Saint Matthew stops writing and turns to face the angel coming towards him. Saint John is turning as well.
