FLASHBACK – The Notre-Dame Cathedral in Art (1460–1921)

BY THE PUBLIC DOMAIN REVIEW

“Its architecture… possesses something so singular, so bold, and at the same time so delicate, that it has ever been esteemed one of the handsomest structures.”
– (From vol. 18 of the 1810 Encyclopaedia Londinensis)
“Notre-Dame Cathedral is the very soul of Paris but so much more—it is a touchstone for all that is the best about the world, and a monument to the highest aspirations of artistic achievement that transcends religion and time. It has survived so much—from the French Revolution to Nazi occupation—to watch its devastation is excruciating.”
– Barbara Drake Boehm, Paul and Jill Ruddock, Senior Curator for The Met Cloisters. ⠀

Like many around the world, we were so sad and shocked to see the Notre-Dame burning on Monday — to witness such history in flames. But also relieved to learn now that so much was saved, including the main structure and many of its stunning stained-glass windows. We spent the day yesterday picking out highlights from the many centuries of artworks to feature the iconic building — from its illuminated punctuation of medieval skylines to grainy detailed studies at the birth of photography. We are presenting them here in rough chronological order, which we hope gives a sense of how this magnificent building — more than eight centuries old — has inspired and outlasted so many epochs and lives and, thanks to the dedication of another generation of craftspeople, will continue to do so.

notre dame — The Right Hand of God Protecting the Faithful against the Demons, from the “Hours of Étienne Chevalier”, by Jean Fouquet, ca. 1460 — Source.

notre dame — Arrival to Paris of the young duke Louis II d’Anjouand his mother Marie de Blois. Miniature from Chroniques de Jean Froissart, Bruges, ca. 1475 — Source.

notre dame — Notre-Dame-de-Paris, dans Pontifical romain aux armes de Jean II de Mauléon, évêque de Saint-Bertrand-de Comminges, BnF, Ms. Latin 1226-2, by Noël Bellemare, ca. 1525 — Source.

notre dame — Portrait of Queen Marie Thérèse of France, as patron of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, by Charles Beaubrun and Henri Beaubrun the younger, ca. 1670 — Source.

notre dame — Vüe de l’intérieur de l’Eglise Cathédrale de notre Dame de Paris, artist unknown, 1670 — Source.

notre dame — Funeral of the Grand Condé, a drawing by Jean Berain Frenc, ca. 1687 — Source.

notre dame — Plan of the choir, by Pierre Lepautre, 1715 — Source.

notre dame — Coronation of Emperor Napoleon I and Coronation of the Empress Josephine in Notre-Dame de Paris, December 2, 1804, a painting by Jacques-Louis David and Georges Rouget, 1805–7 — Source.

notre dame — Rose Window on the southern façade (the original, before it was reworked 20 years later by Viollet-le-Duc) , a photograph by Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey, 1841 — Source.

notre dame — The Portal of the Virgin, a photograph by Joseph Philibert Girault de Prangey, 1841 — Source.

notre dame — Plan for the Renovation of a Chapel in the Nave of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, by Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus, 1843 — Source.

notre dame — Saint-Ãtienne portal, a photography by Hippolyte Bayard, 1847 — Source.

notre dame — Regarding One of the Gargoyles of Nôtre-Dame de Paris, a drawing by Charles Méryon, 1853 — Source.

notre dame — The Vampire, an etching by Charles Méryon, 1853 — Source.

notre dame — Notre-Dame, a waxed paper negative and salted paper print by Charles Nègre, ca. 1853 — Source.

notre dame — The Vampire, a photograph by Charles Nègre, 1853 — Source.

notre dame — Saint-Michel bridge, a photograph by Auguste-Hippolyte Collard, 1857 — Source.

notre dame — View of spire, roof with statuary, and cityscape beyond, photograph by Charles Marville, ca. 1860 — Source.

notre dame — Notre-Dame, photograph by Édouard Baldus, 1860 — Source.

notre dame — Nôtre Dame, a painting by Félix_Bracquemond, 1870 — Source.

notre dame — Wall paintings of the chapels of Notre-Dame de Paris: executed on the boards of E. Viollet-Le-Duc recorded by Maurice Ouradou, 1870 — Source.

notre dame — Wall paintings of the chapels of Notre-Dame de Paris: executed on the boards of E. Viollet-Le-Duc recorded by Maurice Ouradou, 1870 — Source.

notre dame — Gargoyle at Notre Dame, unknown photographer, ca. 1870 — Source.

notre dame — Access portal of Notre Dame, unknown photographer, ca. 1870 — Source.

notre dame — Unknown photographer, ca. 1870 — Source.

notre dame — Gargoyles, Notre Dame, a photograph by Adolphe Giraudon, ca. 1875 — Source.

notre dame — The comet Donati over Paris on 4th October 1858, from “Le ciel” by Amédée Guillemin, 1877 — Source.

notre dame — Notre-Dame de Paris, a painting by Luc-Olivier Merson, ca. 1881 — Source.

notre dame — Door portal of Notre Dame, unknown photographer, ca. 1875-1900 — Source.

notre dame — Gargolyes, unknown photographer, ca. 1875-1900 — Source.

notre dame — The Bohemian, a painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1890 — Source.

notre dame — Notre Dame, and St. Michael bridge, ca. 1890 — Source.

notre dame — Notre Dame, interior, coloured photograph, ca. 1895 — Source.

notre dame — Notre-Dame de Paris, by W. T. Horton and featured in his A Book of Images, 1898 — Source.

notre dame — Notre Dame at twilight, a painting by Charles Guilloux, ca. 1898 — Source.

notre dame — Discovery of the Lutèce enclosure, update of the surrounding wall. Photo taken from the minutes of the Municipal Commission of Old Paris, January 28, 1898 — Source.

notre dame — Stones from the restoration executed at Notre-Dame church by Viollet-le-Duc, by Commission Municipale du Vieux Paris, 1898 — Source.

notre dame — Notre Dame, an etching by Donald Shaw MacLaughlan, 1900 — Source.

notre dame — Unknown photographer, ca. 1900 — Source.

notre dame — The Quai Saint-Michel and Notre-Dame, a painting by
Maximilien Luce, 1901 — Source.

notre dame — A Glimpse of Notre Dame in the Late Afternoon, a painting by Henri Matisse, 1902 — Source.

notre dame — Interior, a photograph by William Henry Goodyear, 1903 — Source.

notre dame — Detail from the Last Judgement portal, a photograph by Eugène Atget, ca. 1905 — Source.

notre dame — Notre Dame, a painting by Sylvius D. Paoletti, 1907 — Source.

notre dame — Notre-Dame Floods, a painting by Albert_Marquet, 1910 — Source.

notre dame — Notre Dame, a painting by Paul Signac, 1910 — Source.

notre dame — Unknown photographer, ca. 1910 — Source.

notre dame — Unknown photographer, ca. 1915 — Source.

notre dame — Notre Dame, a painting by Jean-Pierre Beckius, 1921 — Source.

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Founded in 2011, The Public Domain Review is an online journal and not-for-profit project dedicated to the exploration of curious and compelling works from the history of art, literature, and ideas. In particular, as our name suggests, the focus is on works which have now fallen into the public domain, that vast commons of out-of-copyright material that everyone is free to enjoy, share, and build upon without restriction. Our aim is to promote and celebrate the public domain in all its abundance and variety, and help our readers explore its rich terrain – like a small exhibition gallery at the entrance to an immense network of archives and storage rooms that lie beyond. With a focus on the surprising, the strange, and the beautiful, we hope to provide an ever-growing cabinet of curiosities for the digital age, a kind of hyperlinked Wunderkammer – an archive of content which truly celebrates the breadth and diversity of our shared cultural commons and the minds that have made it. NOTE: This article was originally published in The Public Domain Review under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0. If you wish to reuse it, please see Using Material From Our Site.

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