RIHA Journal 0099 | 4 December 2014 Monuments devoted to artists in public spaces around museums: A nineteenth-century strategy to enhance the urban space of art districts J. Pedro Lorente Editing and peer review managed by: Begoña Farré Torras, Ins ! u o "e H!st#r!a "a Ar e, FC%H, &n!'ersi"a"e (o'a "e )!sboa eviewers: Ra*uel Henr!*ues "a %!l'a, Fo e!n! +lachou Abstract Monuments to kings or military heroes have always been positioned in main squares and avenues, whilst those erected to famous cultural figures were a novelty introduced in the Enlightenment and Romanticism, placing busts or sitting monuments to writers or musicians in secluded gardens and in the surroundings of libraries, theatres, etc. During the nineteenth century, monuments to artists became also a common feature in many cities, where a most likely emplacement for them was in front of some art museum. In a way, they were a complement to the ornaments of such building, usually decorated with portraits and inscriptions glorifying great artists; but the monument to Murillo erected in !"#$ by public subscription in %eville&s 'laza del Museo was also an urban milestone, catching the attention of promenading public passing along a lateral street. )ater, the monuments erected in the piaz(as around the 'rado Museum in Madrid, or in gardens outside the )ouvre, became a popular prototype, emulated in many other cities up to the early *+th century. ,heir role as interfaces between public spaces and museum sites would thereafter be taken over by other kinds of artistic landmarks: not monuments to artists, but monumental artworks, often owned by the museum itself, thus bringing part of its collection outside, as a welcome starter to prospective cultural consumers. !ontents In ro"uct!on An ece"en s !n ,e cul ural con e- o. ,e /nl!g, enmen an" Roman !cism The monumen o 0ur!llo !n ,e museum square o. %e'!lle an" ! s !m1act %e !ng a ren"2 ,e .!rst monumen s o ar !sts !n 1ubl!c spaces aroun" ,e )ou're Fur ,er monumen s !n .ron o. ,e 3ra"o !n 0a"r!" an" o ,er !n erna !onal cases The a1e- o. a monumen al 'ogue !n 3ar!s an" ! s subse*uen "!sman l!ng $losing remarks: ,e 5an!ng o. a n!ne een ,6cen ury monumen al 1a ern Ackno5le"gemen s "ntroduction .!/ Museums and monuments have a lot in common- they emerged as affirmations of collective memory. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the edifices of art museums, both newly built or remodeled, were often decorated as &temples of art&, with allegories of the arts or with portraits of artists. 0et, while there is a growing bibliography regarding statues and murals dedicated to artists in art institutions,! very few ! Inscriptions, murals and sculpture decorations in academies or art schools, museums, galleries and other art1related buildings constitute an essential iconographic source for the study of the image of artists disseminated by official taste in the nineteenth century- cf. 2rancis 3askell, Rediscoveries in Art. Some Aspects of Taste, Fashion and Collecting in England and France, )ondon, 'haidon, !45# 'aul 3etherington, 6'antheons in the Mouseion. 7n aspect of the history of taste,6 in: Art History, vol !, no. * 8!45"9, *!:1**" ;atherine ;hevillot, 6)e d<cor sculpt< des mus<es- ornement ou symbole,6 in: ;hantal =eorgel 8dir.9, La jeunesse des mus!es. Les mus!es de France au "#"e si$cle, 'aris, Mus<e d&>rsay, !44:, !#51!"+. ,he favourite places inside these institutions were usually the lobby, stairs and main halls, such as the %rande %alerie of the Louvre, decorated from !"+* to !""" with busts of renowned artists from different periods and countries, License: The text of this article is provided under the terms o. the Creative Commons License CC-BY6NC-ND 3.0: RIHA Journal 0099 | 4 December 2014 publications focus on monuments of celebrated artists decorating squares and streets ad?oining museums. ,his is probably due to the fact that, save for a few e@ceptions such as the piaz(as in front of the Museo del 'rado in Madrid, the most prominent instances of that nineteenth1century usage have disappeared. Many were gradually replaced in the twentieth century by other art ornaments in museum neighbourhoods. It is now time we assert their historical relevance from the point of view of the interaction between museums and public spaces. %uch statues constituted fundamental milestones inasmuch as they were free1standing urban monuments detached from the walls of the institutions, usually uninvolved in their commission, which would originate from initiatives often paid by public subscription carried out by national or local authorities. ; o1< Antecedents in the cultural conte#t of the Enlightenment and omanticism .*/ Aoltaire had claimed that the true heroes deserving commemoration should no longer be the generals who anne@ed territories but people who e@celled in science and culture.* ,his enlightened idea prompted not only a new &cultural history& which gradually replaced traditional military and court chronicles, but also the appearance of new protagonists honoured in the public space. Bhile statues formerly erected in squares and streets used to e@alt monarchs, war heroes and saints, consonant with traditional moral hierarchies, little by little scientists and artists were also honoured by means of stone or bron(e effigies placed in some public areas. Even Aoltaire, Montesquieu, Cewton, =oethe and many other intellectuals at the time were immediately put forward for monument e@altation as &public men&.$ ,hese initiatives, however, often remained nothing more than pro?ects or, after debate and changes of mind about where they ought to be best placed, the statues were located in semi1public spaces or inside buildings linked to the cultural legacy of the man in question. .$/ 7 social, urban and iconographic hierarchy somehow lived on. %quares and principal avenues continued to be the preferred stage for leaders to display images of themselves just as large libraries were habitually decorated with the busts of sages from various historical and geographical backgrounds- cf. ;hristopher Drew 7mstrong, 6Des &3ommes illustres& aux &7rtistes c<lDbres&. La =rande =alerie du )ouvre au EIEe siDcle- une histoire parlante de l&art,6 in: ,homas B. =aehtgens and =regor Bedekind 8eds.9, Le culte des grands hommes, &'()*&+(), 'aris, Éditions de la Maison des %ciences de l&3omme, *++4, G+G1G$:. >utdoors, this iconography served to decorate access steps, main entrances and to crown façades, a topic with abundant bibliography reviewed in Iesús1'edro Lorente, 6'intura y escultura de 3istoria: Los grandes artistas a las puertas de los museos,6 in: M.; Lacarra and ;. =im<ne( 8coords9, Historia y pol,tica a trav!s de la escultura p-.lica, &+/)*&0/), Karago(a, InstituciLn 2ernando el ;atLlico, *++$, !:G1!5: see also the references quoted by 7rnaud Mertinet, 6Le d<cor sculpt< des mus<es français- Nuelques figures d&artistes,6 in: 7lain Monnet 8ed.9, L'artiste en r!presentation: #mages des artistes dans l1art du "#"e si$cle, )yon, 2age editions, *+!*, !5$1!55. 3ere, however, I do not take into account these sort of considerations and this article will focus instead on monuments to artists erected in streets or squares in front of museums. * ;f. 2rancis 3askell, History and #ts #mages. Art and the #nterpretation of the 3ast, Cew 3aven- )ondon, 0ale Oniv. 'ress, !44$, *+!1*+#. $ 2or these and other e@amples see the relevant chapters in =aehtgens and Bedekind 8eds.9, Le c lte des grands hommes, &'()*&+(). License: The text of this article is provided under the terms o. the Creative Commons License CC-BY6NC-ND 3.0: RIHA Journal 0099 | 4 December 2014 in grandiloquent poses before present or future citi(ens and visitors. ,he portraits of eminent men from the world of culture, however, usually showed greater restraint and sobriety even in the locations chosen to place them, usually in areas of less public prominence or in semi1public (ones. ,he busts of distinguished characters were in fact a recurring adornment in private gardens open to visitors and served as the inspiration for sculptures to be placed in some &amusement parks' which enlivened large cities throughout Europe. >ne of the earlier instances was Aau@hall 'ark in )ondon. It was a private enclosure where paying visitors could en?oy all sorts of recreational activities, especially dances and music concerts. 7s 3andel&s music was particularly popular, the sculptor 2rançois Roubiliac received a commission to erect a seated statue of the musician in !5$".: ,his was not an isolated case, though it certainly was one of the most successful, and perhaps this was the type of sculpture ;hristian ;ay )oren( 3irschfeld had in mind when, in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, he published an essay on art within gardens. 7ccording to him, private gardens open to the public were the most appropriate settings for monuments to philosophers, writers and artists; a protocol often complemented by a second rule of decorum, according to which busts were more appropriate for philosophers, writers or artists P whose minds had produced outstanding achievements P while equestrian or upright statues ought to be reserved for portraying kings, military heroes, religious persons, orators or any other person who had played a leading role through the force of his arms and his entire body, as philosopher 7rthur %chopenhauer argued in a te@t written in !"$5.G .:/ 3owever, there is an e@ception to every rule and some monumental pro?ects in the eighteenth century seem to contradict these two protocols. ,his was the case of the renowned sculpture 3arnasse françois, created by )ouis =arnier in !5+"1!" under commission from ,iton du ,illet to immortali(e )ouis EIV as 7pollo surrounded by his principal poets and musicians.