The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-12 00:00:00

THE PALAIS DE L'ELYEE.

The works at this palace are being at present
pushed on with extraordinary activity, in order to
make it a residence worthy of the Chief of the
State. The Hotel d'Estrees, as it was called at tha
time of its erection in 1718, has in fact become an .
imperial palace by unforeseen circumstances quite
unconnected wita its original destination. It has
now been thoroughly repaired. On the ground-
floor, excepting a ball-room of recent construc-
tion, the decoration of which is not quite finished,
all the saloons facing the garden are adorned with
their panels, restored to their primitive beauty,
charged with devices delicately carved and gilt,
and forming so many frames filled with paintings
by the hands of MM. Landelle and Chaplin, and
Gobelin's tapestry. The dining-room, vestibule,
and staircase had, under the first Empire, re-
ceived decorations characteristic of the period,
These have been preserved, and their severity is
tempered by an elegant group by the sculptor
Jouffroy, and some fine vases of Sevres porcelain.
On the first storey is a suite of rooms correspond-
ing to those of the ground floor. In the first room,
the eminent landscape painter, M. Gallier, has
added some of his finest pieces of Italian scenery
to the landscapes of Reuel, a gifted painter of the
last century ; thus forming a beautiful and inte-
resting ensemble. The following saloons, pro-
gressively increasing in richness and decoration,
are now awaiting the artistical tapestry executing
at the Gobelins, which is to fill their gorgeous
frames. From the central saloon of this storey,
three arcades afford a view of the charming scenery
of the garden, which is reflected like a well con-
ceived picture in the large mirrors covering the wall
opposite. All the panels are richly decorated with
arabesques and garlands on a gold ground, encom-
passing figures of women and children, symbolising
the four seasons. These subjeets, remarkable for
their graceful attitudes, purity of outline, and suavity
of colour and finish, are due to the gifted pencil
of M. Gariot, and testify to the pre-eminence of
the human figure in the midst of those delicate and
brilliant ornaments which serve but to enhance
its charming dignity. M. Gariot has surpassed
himself in the conscientious execution of this
work which he has just completed, fully justify-
ing the opinion that had been conceived of his
talent for the embellishment of this saloon, which
for the present appears the most important in the
palace. In the next saloon the same system of
arabesques has been continued, but softened down,
so that they may harmonise with the tapestry
which is to occupy the panels. This suite of
saloons is terminated by a toilet room, the wails
of which are covered with a continuity of mirrors,
on which M. Chaplin has executed various grace-
ful figures of goddesses disguised as shepherdesses,
as aerial as the ground on which they
are painted, and the light scroll work which
encircles them. We have also had occasion to
admire the taste and abundance of those decora-
tive paintings, due to M. Godon, and to compose
which he has explored the fruitful mines of the
antique and of nature herself, as used to be done so
successfully in the age of Louis XIV. Similar and
well-merited praise is due to M. Savreux's orna-
mental sculpture, which profusely decorates both
the exterior and interior of the edifice. M. Eugene
Lacroix, the architect under whose guidance the
palace has thus risen to new splendour, may be said
to have most successfully solved a most difficult
problem : that of having happily restored the old
works of art he found there, without thereby abdi-
cating that originality of composition for which ha
had full liberty, and yet giving each artist the
opportunity of developing his own unprompted
talents. M. Lacroix, in short, has so ingeniously
arranged the whole, that old and modern art har-
moniously display their rival merits.