Semi-weekly herald., 1913-10-27
MISS LOUCHS ACCOUNT OF
; WEEKS SPENT IN PARIS
Continued from Page -


(Continued from Page ~
ways remembered empty spaces OH
the walls and empty niches and sent
hack priceless treasures, reluctantly
ssrrsndsrsd by the conquered cities.
sof coarse II was vandalism Of the
worst kind and after his exile great
deal was sent back, but after all 1t
was that kind of interest which has
made the Louvre what it is today.
In the "Grande Gallerie" my fav-
orite was Murillo's Immaculate Con
ception. 1t is simply perfect in COL
oring and in spiritual expression.
Some of Murillo's smaller pictures
were also delightful, one joyous lit
tie street beggar was exquisite. Some
Titan pictures were especially fine
and some rather disappointing. His
Laura and Dianti Ia girl with real
Titan hair and man of the typical
Venetian type very much in the back
ground) was perhaps the best and
certainly the most typical of his work.
Then there was wonderful st.
Michael and the Dragon by Raphael
and also his famous Madonna (La
Belle Jardiniere), Ruben's Christ
Crucified and also Ruben's series of
Marie de Medici pictures which were
very inferior. They are sort Of
historical allegories done to order and
made to measure, good neither from
a historical nor an artistic point Of
view.
And then in the next room some
wonderful Rembrandt pictures, one or
two of the smaller pictures being
very fine. And in other rooms Corot
landscapes which are altogether diff
ferent in coloring from those of any
other artist. He must have risen ear
ly to get the very peculiar effect on
q rainy morning.
1t is simply hopeless to try to de-
scribe the Louvre pictures. There are
so many and so much that is good.
Besides the long galleries there are
thirty-six different rooms filled with
paintings of all sizes and not much
that. is not good David's great his
torical painting of the coronation of
Josephine in Notre Dame is one OF
the largest, twenty by seventeen, !
think. Millet's Angelus and also his
little Shepherdess are very small but
simply perfect.
have not said anything about the
sculpture galleries, which are down
stairs. The pictures attracted me SO
much more that every time we went
to the Louvre found myself wand
ering off to some uncxplored room.
But ! did see a little of the Greek
sculpture and the Italian Renaissance.
The Venus de Milo was not disap-
pointing in the least. 1t is amazing
how much physical beauty can be ex-
prssssd in material so cold as marble
People say that the Venus is the acme
Of perfect physical and spiritual
beauty and one wonders If marble
can be SO expressive. The Venus and
Michael Angeles Bound Slave must
continue the most unbelievIng.
After the Louvre in interest came
the churches Of Paris and especially
Notre Dame. We went to Paris via
Bculogne and stopped for day and
q night at Amiens, in order to see
the Amiens cathedral. 1t was the
most beautiful church saw in France
and SO much finer than Notre Dame
that must confess at first l was
quite disappointed. Amiens has the
most gorgeous rose windows and a
wonderful vane which seems to reach
to point beyond the limit of vis-
ion. The outside has the most per
feet example of the flying buttress
in existence. In this building the
architects of the Fourteenth century
reached the very top limit as far as
GOHobuCdVe WuTA Ill 0OtihC dTCul-
lecture il concerned. In one or two
other churches they tried to go step
further and failed. The Amiens is
the most perfect in existence in
France or anywhere else.
Notre Dame seems heavy and
gloomy in comparison. Its rose win
dows however are amost but not quite
no fine and of course to me it was
very interesting as the scene of so
many historical events.
Another fascinating old church is
that of st. Denis in little town just
north of Paris. 1t was the older part
of that church. probably the crypt of
the later church built in the 18th CEN
tury. We went III the crypt and SO
were in that Oldest part of Charlie
magne's church. To-Day st. Denis is
like Westminster, the mnusoleum of
French kings, but it has been very
much more than that in the past.
Over the altar hangs the battle stand
ard of the French kings, the. Ori-
flamme. which was never used except
when French kings went in person
to lead the armies. The real Ori-