The immortal love story
This sweet and romantic image of two lovers at a distance of a kiss from each other belongs to Amour and Psyche. Their love story that came out from under the pen of Lucius Apuleius in the 2nd century AD, was retold in poetry, drama, painting, and here, you see it in sculpture. This one is an interpretation of made in 1787-1793 by Antonio Canova and carefully kept in the museum of Louvre. It is my favorite. Every time I show it to the visitors during a tour I see the way their facial expression changes from admiration and fascination. We stay hypnotized and charmed quite long, even longer than with the other sculptures. The theme is very intimate and so important. It touches the hearts. The imagination. And it is extremely esthetic in the end!
This masterpiece is the fruit of the neoclassic period in Art. Welcome on board!
Neoclassicism comes in the early 18th century in France. It is mainly inspired by the reports of the archeological excavations at Pompeii in Italy.
The style in Art and culture began to slowly change from theatrical and exuberant Baroque and Rococo to less extravagant and more discreet classicism. Neoclassicism or “new classicism” gets back to the principles of simplicity and symmetry, so important virtues in the arts of Rome and Ancient Greece.
In architecture, which is easier to observe during a walking tour, we see sobriety, straight lines, and forms. In painting, it is represented by the images of heroism and sacrifice. In Sculpture - classical repose, idealized faces and bodies showing the heroes from ancient myths. The literature in its turn is dominated by rationalism and philosophy. Descartes, Moliere, Racine, Corneille become the heroes of the period.
Classicism appeared in architecture of Paris during the reign of Louis XIV. In 1667 the king had chosen for the new east facade of the Louvre, his residence, the classical style, not Baroque, proposed by Lorenzo Bernini. And that meant something!
In the last years of the reign of Louis XV and throughout the reign of Louis XVI, the new style continued living in the royal residences. It was particularly present in the salons and furnishings of Marie Antoinette, and Paris aristocracy.
After Napoleon Bonaparte came to power, neoclassicism got the second life under the new name “the Emperial style”. The most influential architects of the Emperor become Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine.
A change of style began to appear in the early 19th century. The starting point was the publication of le Génie du christianisme by one of the figures of French romanticism, François-René de Chateaubriand. He appealed for a return to the Gothic style, which he considered was the only truly great French style. The movement toward romanticism and gothic was accelerated by the publication of Victor Hugo novel Notre-Dame de Paris, which had a great success. Soon followed the restoration of French Gothic monuments followed led by Prosper Mérimée and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc .
This, along with the French Revolution of 1830, brought to a close the era of French neoclassicism.
But before we’ll cover it with the curtain of the past let me advice you some great neoclassical buildings to see in Paris during your walking tour:
1. Hôtel des Monnaies
2. Louvre Colonnade
3. Hotel de la Marineon in the the Place de la Concorde
4. The east facade of the Louvre by Louis Le Vau, Charles Le Brun, and Claude Perrault
5. The Hôtel de Salm, Paris, by Pierre Rousseau
6. The Pantheon by Jacques-Germain Soufflot
7. Church of the Madeleine facade by Pierre-Alexandre Vignon
8. Arc de Triompheby Jean Chalgrin
9. Arc de Triomphe du Carrouselby Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine
10. The facade of the Palais Bourbon
In the meanwhile, we’re getting closer to the modern days. Here too PARIS HAS MANY things to offer…about the very unusual one I’ll tell you in our next voyage through time s and epochs in Paris. See you soon!
