The emphasis laid on the glorious artistic past of France under the restored monarchy is a notable feature of the French architectural writings of the 1840s. The most glorious period of French architecture was then identified as being the Middle Ages, climaxing in the thirteenth-century religious architecture, much disregarded in the eighteenth century as a time of barbarous feudality and despotism. The neglect into which the medieval religious monuments had fallen in the aftermath of the Revolution of 1789 when they had been confiscated from the Church appeared intolerable and the situation required urgent action, it was thought, not least in the highest political circles. F. Guizot, an influential politician and renowned historian, believed that studying the past could only benefit modern man, providing him with examples of ‘disinterestedness and moral energy which are the strength and the dignity of man in this world’, and would thus reinforce the ascent of the bourgeoisie in a country with a restored monarchy. The artistic ambition of Guizot had ranked only second to his political aims when, in 1830, he advised the King to appoint a General Inspector of Historical French Monuments. This initiative soon developed into the Commission for Historical Monuments, which was granted its definitive status in 1837, but which in effect had been in existence since 1830. Its aim was to sort out and classify the demands from local authorities for works of restoration to be undertaken on medieval buildings. It was composed of archaeologists and architects headed by an Inspector, first Ludovic Vitet, replaced in 1833 by Prosper Mérimée with E. Viollet-le-Duc as his assistant. Thus, the merits of medieval buildings, Gothic churches in particular, were brought to the forefront of public attention at a time when popular enthusiasm had been kindled by Victor Hugo’s romantic glorification of Gothic in Notre-Dame de Paris (1831), in whose preface the author had proclaimed that it was a duty to preserve ancient monuments until the times were ripe to build modern ones. Hugo’s glorification of Gothic architecture was emblematic of French Romanticism, coloured as it was by the democratic ideals that had triumphed with the 1789 Revolution. He saw the passage from the Romanesque architecture of the early Middle Ages to the Gothic architecture of the thirteenth century as reflecting the progress of society from its theocratic, Church-dominated feudal state to a more democratic state. Gothic architecture is thus seen by Hugo as the symbol of the people’s newly-acquired status and power. Speaking of Notre-Dame in Paris, which is not pure thirteenth-century Gothic, he wrote: It is impossible to place our cathedral in the category of churches which are soaring, lofty, rich in stained-glass windows and sculpture …; bold in their attitudes; popular and bourgeois as political symbols; free, fanciful, unrestrained as works of art.
This book is a richly documented study of the various responses of British writers as visitors to or residents in the French capital during the mid-nineteenth century, a period marked by major political events and a rich cultural life. The ambivalence of their responses and their sometimes radically different judgments offer a rich scope to reflect on British prejudices towards France and the duality of their reactions, caught between admiration and envy on one side, and jealousy and fear on the other. In her Introduction, Jay differentiates her methodological approach from that of previous studies on Britishness which have considered the formation of British identity to be unsettled, even estranged, by the visitor's confrontation with other modes of living when travelling abroad. She, on the contrary, considers the cultural impact of Paris on the specific category of British writers whatever their specialty, from fiction to journalism, and makes ample use of a vast range of primary sources, from diaries and private letters to essays, biographies, poetry and novel writing. Experiencing Paris is shown to have deeply influenced British writers and is explored along three major lines: the materiality of Paris as a city and the importance of its social life (Part I), Anglophone journalism in Paris (Part II) and the fictional formatting of Paris (Part III). Part I, aptly entitled 'Finding One's Bearings in Mid-Nineteenth Century Paris', allows the reader a full view of the topography of Paris, and how its rapidly changing image struck the then visitors. The major political events and regime changes of the period, notably the 1848 revolution and the bloody upheavals in 1871 that were followed by rule under the Commune government, entailed major social and cultural changes. Those changes are not viewed by Jay from the perspective of the mythical concept of progress but from the dynamic approach of the interaction between British writers and the capital in their various accounts of their Paris experience. Against the background of the urban changes carried out under Emperor Napoleon III's ambitious reign, Jay looks with particular interest at the project of redesigning Paris according to Baron Haussmann's plan, whose intent was to eradicate the undesirable, filthy, narrow streets and replace them with boulevards and avenues that would offer glamorous views in the 1850s and 1860s. She analyses the responses of the British residents to this new image, shown to be less enthusiastic than those of the French middle-class, who were far from indifferent to the prestige gained by the new Haussmannian capital. The fear of the prestige of London being overshadowed by Paris was very present.
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