The wonders of the world

by John Loraine Abbott

THE PALACE OF ST. CLOUD.

“This splendid palace is close upon the Seine, at a point where that river takes a graceful curve, and, in the course of several miles, is crossed by numerous bridges of stone, elegantly arched, and of the most solid construction. The landscape is here very rich and picturesque. Barracks of superior construction, and other handsome buildings, rise on the slope of a hill from the river, and the palace crowns the summit. The palace of St. Cloud was founded in 1572, by a rich financier. In 1658, it was purchased by Louis XIV. for his brother, the Duke of Orleans, who adorned it expensively. In 1782, Louis XVI. bought it for his queen, Marie Antoinette. It was a favorite place with her, as it was subsequently with Napoleon and Josephine. The principal front is one hundred and forty feet long and seventy feet high. Important events have happened here. In this palace Henry III. was assassinated by Jacques Clement, in 1589, and our guide assured us, that a place in the long room, which he indicated, was the very spot where the deed was done. Henrietta, the queen of Charles I. of England, died here. Here Napoleon, November tenth, 1799, completed the subjugation of the then existing government, dispersed the members of the council of ancients, whom he had adjourned to this place from Paris, and assumed the reins himself. In this place, the capitulation of Paris was signed in 1815. Here Charles X., in 1830, was informed of the explosion of the revolution; and here Louis Philippe rested a short time, during his flight from Paris in 1848.

“We have seen nothing in Europe so delightful as this palace. Its situation is splendid; being elevated high upon the side of a hill rising from the Seine, it overlooks Paris, and all the populous and most beautiful country around; the Seine winds gracefully along through the meadows, and appears wider than at Paris, where it is narrowed by the quays and other structures of the city. The views into the park are very fine on all sides of the palace; in the interior the ground rises, and vistas open up the green slope, with a long avenue of statues standing in the open air in one direction, and a tower in the distance in another, while a noble park of old and lofty forest trees, stretches over the flat ground in front, quite to the river. In the interior of the palace, everything is in the best taste. The furniture of the rooms remains as it was left by Josephine, Maria Louisa, and the family of Louis Philippe. The Duchess of Orleans, daughter-in-law of the late king, passed much time here with her children, and their beds, as well as that of Louis Philippe and his queen, remain undisturbed, with their rich silk curtains and covers.

“The pictures at St. Cloud are very numerous, and are lovely exhibitions of that almost creative art. They are all drawn from quiet scenes, such as must ever remain grateful to the human mind. Among the hundreds of pictures by the first masters that adorn these walls, there is not a single battle-piece. In this respect, St. Cloud presents a striking and very agreeable contrast with the carnage that crimsons the long galleries of Versailles. Louis Philippe sought, in that palace, to gratify the national avidity for glory, by multiplying battle-scenes in which the arms of France had been triumphant, and by depicting the persons of her heroes, until the tired eye that gazes on them is satiated with gorgeous costume, and the mind afflicted with human suffering. At St. Cloud a more amiable feeling was cherished, as appears by the charming pictures of rural scenery, of mild and splendid landscapes, of peaceful buildings, abodes of happy domestic life, scenes living and real, and ever grateful. As the private rooms in which the successive royal families lived, are rich in elegant simplicity, in a style of chaste beauty, they are in strong contrast with the rooms of state, which are extremely magnificent, and adorned by a profusion of princely decorations. Their domes are all alive with the imaginary beings of fabulous antiquity. Gods and goddesses, and muses and nymphs, and a multitude of creations of poetic fancy and records of old legends, decorate the ceilings. A principal ornament of the public rooms is the Gobelin tapestry, manufactured and hung by order of Louis Philippe. All that I had seen before at Windsor castle, or at Blenheim palace, fades in comparison with the rich decorations of the Gobelin looms, which adorn the public halls of St. Cloud. These textile pictures are perfectly beautiful, and from their magnitude and the august personages of the historical dramas which they present so impressively to the eye, they are sublime. No one viewing them from the distance across the room, would even suspect that they are anything else than the most perfect productions of the pencil, and even when the observer approaches them, it is not easy to convince himself that the splendid illusion is produced by the interweaving of colored woolen and silken threads. Five of the scenes here depicted in Gobelin tapestry are copied from original paintings still existing in the Louvre, executed by Rubens, for Marie de Medicis. The first is the duke of Anjou, declared king of Spain (Philip V.) The second of these pictures, which is not less than twenty-five feet square, is the birth of Marie de Medicis; the third is the presentation of her picture to Henry V.; the fourth, his marriage with her; the fifth represents his departure from his capital, and the committing of the government to the care of the queen. We saw also most magnificent vases of Sèvres porcelain: one of them was presented to Maria Antoinette; it must have been, I believe, five feet high without the pedestal, and of the capacity of a barrel or two. We have nothing in America that can convey a full impression of these superb productions of the plastic art. They are modeled after the forms of the most beautiful Etruscan vases; the most perfect purity of the porcelain material is contrasted with the finest efforts of the pencil, in the pictures, which being incorporated by the fire, are indissolubly wedded to the basis on which they are delineated, and they are resplendent with gold and blue enamel of cobalt. One is at a loss which most to admire, the productions of the Gobelin looms or those of the Sèvres furnaces.

“The floors of the palace, according to the general custom in French houses, are made of pieces of boards. They rarely exceed six inches in width, and are tastefully disposed in various geometrical figures. All the floors that we have seen in Paris, except some that are covered by carpets, are kept waxed; the waxing is renewed daily, and they are so smooth as to appear hazardous to those unaccustomed to walk upon them. The floors of the palace of St. Cloud have been, heretofore, covered by Gobelin carpets, which, at the time of our visit, were rolled and put away for safe keeping. We saw the council table of Napoleon and Louis Philippe, memorable for the deliberations which have been held over its boards. St. Cloud was the favorite place of consultation on matters of peace and war; here Napoleon planned some of his campaigns; here Louis Philippe passed much time with his family, and his daughter-in-law, the Duchess of Orleans, found a quiet retreat with her little son, the Count de Paris, whom she in person presented in the legislative hall during the revolution of 1848. Her husband, the Duke of Orleans, presumptive heir to the throne, having been killed by a mysterious providence, she naturally hoped that the legislature would acknowledge the claims of her son, founded on both those of his father and his grandfather Louis Philippe; but all the world knows that she was disappointed, and was fain to retreat and seek protection for her child and herself. There was a deep feeling of pensiveness connected with our visit to St. Cloud; closed now as it is and quite solitary, without a single individual remaining of those who formerly figured there; it was to us an instructive memento of the vanity of human glory. The splendid apartments remain, with all their furniture and decorations in perfect order. The solitary chapel, chastely elegant, although grave in its architecture, seemed all ready and waiting for the arrival of worshipers; and the entire palace, with its beautiful grounds, impresses one almost with the belief, that kings and queens, and courtiers and nobles, and guests of renown, will soon return and give life and joy to those vacant scenes; but alas, except some few members of the family of Louis Philippe and of Napoleon, all are gone to the tomb. The dreaded conqueror of nations found his second prison and his grave on a bleak rock, in the ocean, and his final tomb among those invalids whom, in their youth, he led to fields of battle and victory. Josephine, once an ornament of St. Cloud, as she was of every scene in which she presided, went with a broken heart from Malmaison to her grave. An old man, our guide through the palace, said to us, ‘I have been thirty years here, and I have seen three monarchs expelled from this palace and from their thrones.’ I have omitted to mention the large library of Louis Philippe, which still remains at St. Cloud, undisturbed and in perfect order. It is my impression that the number of volumes was stated at twelve thousand.”