Wall nearest the entrance, several inscriptions, among which notice the frequency of the Labarum, with the two birds pecking at it,—a common Early Christian Symbol. Below them, good early sarcophagus. On its end, remote from window, Daniel in the Lions’ Den, a traditional representation, of which an extremely rude barbaric degradation may be noticed, high up, near the door which leads into the Della Robbia room, adjacent. In Early Christian art certain subjects from the Old and New Testaments became conventionalised, and were repeated on numerous works; of which this scene of Daniel is an example. Observe here that Old Testament subjects are frequent; while Madonnas are rare, and saints almost unknown. Further on, on the ground, sarcophagus representing Christ with the Twelve Apostles. The treatment here, in spite of slight Oriental tendencies (compare the Mithra reliefs) is on the whole purely classical. Now, the great interest in this room is to watch the way in which classical styles and figures passed slowly from pagan types into Christian, and again from the debased classical types of the later Empire into those of Romanesque or Gothic barbarity. As an example of this surviving pagan element, see, on the wall to the R of this sarcophagus, Elijah taken up to Heaven in a chariot of fire, and leaving his mantle to Elisha. Here, the Jordan is represented, in truly pagan style, by a river-god reclining on an urn and holding water-weeds. Such river-gods were the conventional classical way of representing a river (see the Tiber here, and the Nile of the Vatican, reproduced in the Vestibule): and Christian artists at first so represented the Jordan, as in the Baptism of Christ (in mosaic) in the Baptistery of the Orthodox at Ravenna.
Above the sarcophagus of Christ and the Twelve Apostles is an extremely beautiful altar-front from the abbey of St. Denis (read label) with a cross and palm trees, the True Vine interlacing it, and the characteristic wave-pattern, which you may note on many other works in this room. This is the most beautiful piece of early Romanesque or intermediate Christian carving in this collection.
In the centre of the Elijah wall, below, a sarcophagus with a very Oriental figure of the Good Shepherd—a frequent early Christian device. Compare this figure with the plaster cast of a similar statue from Rome, near the Della Robbia doorway. Compare the marked Orientalism of face, form, and foot-gear, with the Mithra reliefs. Above it, Scenes from the Life of Christ:—Blessing the Children, Christ and Peter, the Woman of Samaria, etc.; treatment quite classical. Still higher, sarcophagus-front of Christ and the Twelve Apostles; workmanship becoming decadent; architecture, classical in the centre, passing at the sides into early Romanesque or Constantinian and Diocletianesque, as in some of the other examples in this room. L of it, Abraham’s Sacrifice of Isaac, with rather late architecture.
All the other objects in this room should be carefully examined, and their place of origin noted. The symbols and the frequent Oriental tinge should also be observed. Likewise, the absence of several ideas and symbols which come in later. Note that there are no crucifixions, sufferings, or martyrdoms; the tone is joyous. Many of the minor objects have their own value. Thus, the fish, by the entrance door, is a common Early Christian symbol, because the Greek word ΙΧΘΥΣ [Greek: ICHTHYS] formed the initials of the sentence, “Jesus Christ, Son of God, the Saviour”; and its sacred significance is here still further emphasised by the superimposed cross—a symbol, however, which does not belong to the very earliest ages of Christendom. So, on the opposite wall of the window, notice the little Daniel in the Den of Lions, and the youthful beardless Christ with a halo. The longer you study these interesting remains, the more will you see in them.
Those who have had their interest aroused in Early Christian art from the examination of this room will find the subject best pursued at Rome (Catacombs and Lateran) and Ravenna, where we can trace the long decline from classical freedom to Byzantine stiffness and Gothic barbarism, as well as the slow upward movement from the depths of the early Romanesque style to the precursors of the Renaissance. For the chronological pursuit of this enticing subject the best order of visiting is Rome, Ravenna, Bologna, Pisa, Siena, Florence. For a list of the extensive literature of the subject, see Dean Farrar’s Christ in Art.
IV
THE NORTH BANK (RIVE DROITE)
[PARIS, north of the river,—which is for most purposes the practical Paris of business and pleasure (and of the ordinary tourist) at the present day—has grown by slow degrees from small beginnings. The various rings of its growth are roughly marked on the Map of Historical Paris. The wall of Philippe Auguste started from near the easternmost end of the existing Louvre, and, after bending inland so as just to enclose the Halles Centrales, reached the river again near the upper end of the Île St. Louis. It thus encircled the district immediately opposite the primitive islands: and this innermost region, the Core of the Right Bank, still contains most of the older buildings and places of interest N. of the river. Étienne Marcel’s walls took a slightly wider sweep, as shown on the Map; and by the time of Louis XIII. the town had reached the limit of the Great Boulevards, which, with their southern prolongation, still enclose almost everything of historical or artistic interest in modern Paris. The fact that the kings had all their palaces in this northern district was partly a cause, partly perhaps an effect, of its rapid predominance. The town was now spreading mainly northward.
The increase of the royal power brought about by Richelieu, and the consequent stability and internal peace of the kingdom, combined with the complete change in methods of defence which culminated in Vauban, enabled Louis XIV to pull down the walls of Paris altogether, and to lay out the space covered by his predecessor’s fortifications in that series of broad curved avenues which still bears from this circumstance the name of Boulevards (“bulwarks” or ramparts). The original line so named, from the Bastille to the Madeleine, is ordinarily spoken of to this day simply as “the Boulevard.” All the others called by the same have borrowed the title, mostly at a very recent date, from this older girdle. Gradually, the Faubourgs which gathered beyond the line of the inner city, as well as beyond the artificial southern prolongation of the Boulevards by which Louis continued his circle, with true French thoroughness of system, on the southern bank, have entirely coalesced with the central town, and at last enormously outgrown it. Nevertheless, to the end, the Paris of Louis XIV continues to enclose almost all that is vital in the existing city. Especially is Paris within the Great Boulevards to this day the Paris of business and finance: it includes the Bourse, the Banque de France, the Bourse de Commerce, the chief markets, the Post Office, the Ministries of Finance, Marine, and Justice, the Hôtel de Ville, numerous Government Offices, the principal wholesale warehouses, financial firms, and agencies, and almost all the best shops, hotels, banks, and business houses.
Even the inner circle itself, again, within the Boulevards, has been largely transformed by modern alterations, especially in that extensive reorganisation of the city inaugurated under Napoleon III by Baron Haussmann. In the brief itinerary which follows, and in which I have endeavoured to give the reader in two short walks or drives some general idea of the development of the Right Bank, with its chief points of interest, I shall indicate roughly the various ages of the great thoroughfares, and note with needful conciseness the causes which at various times led to their construction.]