Valentine's Day: a Visit to the Museum of Romantic Life by Marlène Pegliasco

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#Valentine's Day: A visit to the Museum of Romantic Life by Marlène Pegliasco

#PARIS An atypical place in a teeming Paris. Nestled at the end of a dead end, surrounded by modern buildings, the Museum of Romantic Life is a haven of peace, a bubble of air but also a timeless place that takes us back to the literary and artistic life of the 19th century. This singular museum is first and foremost a villa and studio of the Dutch-born painter Ary Scheffer (1795-1858). On the death of the painter, his daughter Cornélia Marjolin-Scheffer bought the property and bequeathed it to her grand- cousin, Noémie Renan, daughter of Ary Scheffer's niece Cornélie Scheffer-Renan and the historian and writer Ernest Renan. Eager to transform this place into a cultural institution, Noémie Renan's daughter, Corrie Psichari-Siohan, and her husband, the composer Robert Siohan, sold the property to the State for a symbolic amount. In 1987, the Scheffer-Renan Museum became the Museum of Romantic Life, dedicated to the history of its occupants but also to the evocation of the artistic and literary life of the first half of the 19th century.

The house was built in 1830 at the request of Ary Scheffer, a Dutch painter who arrived in France in 1811, in the heart of the new district of New Athens where many artists settled. This house also has two artists' studios located at the entrance gate. The studio-lounge is where he received while the large studio is where he painted. At the time, the artist was at the heart of a global artistic and literary society, marked by the Romantic movement. Ary Scheffer held a salon every Friday evening between 1831 and 1858 and received a large part of the society of the time: Alfred de Musset, Eugène Delacroix, Théodore Géricault, Frédéric Chopin, Georges Sand.... The Moulding of Chopin's hand by Auguste Clésinger, who was Georges Sand's son-in-law, bears witness to the concerts that were given there. The workshop-lounge is thus a gateway to understanding the diffusion and interpenetration of the fields that make up Romanticism.

Consisting of the typical glass canopy in the north, the piece plunges us into the world of Ary Scheffer: studio stage paintings, Ary Schaeffer's palette and evocation of academic teaching (bust in the antique style or pose according to the live model). The academic and milky portraits of the royal family of Orléans recall the ties that the painter had with power since he was the drawing teacher of the children of the future King Louis-Philippe. Thus, the hanging shows a very broad and global vision of Romanticism and Ary Scheffer's work.

Romanticism is composed of several sub-currents: orientalism, fantasy, and history. Moreover, it is characterized by the brotherhood of the arts with an interest in medieval literature and music. It is a European current that is influenced by many influences. We often find austere portraits, in tension between the world of shadows and that of light. A black and fantastic vein, typical of Romanticism, turns to sadness and exacerbation of feelings. Another, colder path tends towards a certain spirituality with the renewal of religious scenes. Death is also a theme dear to the Romantics. Ary Scheffer seized on this by painting the death of the painter Théodore Géricault, whom he had known while the two painters were attending Pierre-Narcisse Guérin's studio together.

A small room adjacent to the workshop-lounge devotes its theme to the figure of Satan, made famous by the writings of Wolfgang von Goethe. Goethe, German novelist and statesman, is a major figure of European Romanticism. As a curator and collector, he will spread his ideas about art throughout Europe. Thus, this piece restores Romanticism in a broader European context, since the museum's vocation is to capture this current in all its cultural and societal diversity. The figure of Faust, who makes a pact with the devil, is an ancient myth, but Goethe's play dating from 1808 (as well as the posthumous suite from 1832) will have a great impact.

Ary Scheffer will take a passion for the story of Faust and will use it as inspiration to make a literal transcription of this diabolical love in his paintings. The bronze of Fauchère, an important 19th century sculptor who created the reliefs of the Arc de Triomphe or the Place de la Concorde, shows us a Satan in the grip of doubt, huddled in a theme of the fallen angel, a typical image of black romanticism.

Although small bronzes have existed since the Renaissance, they were revived in the early Romantic period. The workshop- living room is separated from the house by a small paved courtyard and a flourishing garden. On the ground floor of the house is the antechamber with paintings dedicated to Ary Scheffer. Then three rooms exhibit objects that belonged to the writer Georges Sand and come from his house in Nohant in Berry. These memorabilia were bequeathed in 1923 by his granddaughter to the City of Paris and testify to his taste for the arts. Georges Sand, who probably frequented Ary Scheffer's salon but did not live there, lived not far away, in Square d'Orléans, a suburb that became urbanized in the 1820s and where artists, painters and writers settled.

The writer is represented with a bust of Auguste Clésinger and a lightly painted three-quarter portrait of Auguste Charpentier, more daring with his hair loose and accessorized with flowers. Georges Sand, known for her love affair with Musset and Chopin, is an important woman in French literature. The dummy lounge designed by the decorator Jacques Garcia in 1987 invites us into his sensitive world but also shows his taste for artistic practice. On the walls hang dendrites, landscapes that she painted herself using a singular technique. His son would crush the watercolour sticks between two sheets of paper and the result would create abstract sinuous lines. His works were highly appreciated by the Surrealists because they left room for chance. These sinuous lines are similar to geological forms where the veins of the rock can be guessed and the landscapes are inspired by his childhood in Berry as well as those discovered during his travels. On the first floor of the house, several rooms are dedicated to Ary Scheffer's entourage. One room shows portraits of women such as her friend Pauline Viardot, depicted as Saint Cecilia with a background inspired by Italian primitive painting, or a delicate oval-shaped portrait of her daughter Cornelia Marjolin-Scheffer. We also find an evocation of the Orleans family to whom he was close since Ary Scheffer was a drawing teacher for the children of King Louis-Philippe and led the artistic practice of the young Marie d'Orléans.

The small figure of Joan of Arc recalls the House of Orleans but also evokes the Romantic taste for heroes of the medieval period. Ary Scheffer's cabinet unveils paintings inspired by the literary works of his contemporaries (Goethe's Faust, Byron's Giaour), couples trapped in their love (Dante's Paolo and Francesca) but also works by artists he has collected. Finally, one piece evokes the religious inspirations of Ernest Renan, a man of letters who was admitted to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 1856 and who became the master of the place when he married Ary Scheffer's niece.

The Museum of Romantic Life wants to keep the spirit of this particular period by working on all the references of Romanticism: painting, sculpture, literature and music. His wish is to broaden this current in a broader way by continuing to put the figure of the painter Ary Scheffer at the centre of the scenographic journey.

14 Feb 2020 #Peinture #Patisserie #Thé #Jardin #Hotel particulier

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