Once again, we are profoundly grateful to Mrs Sharon Kabel for sharing one of her wonderful research projects with NLM. This time, she has made a collection of historical images of the high altar and choir of the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, enough that we can make two posts of them. In its long history, as she rightly notes, “The high altar and the choir of Notre Dame have gone through several drastic changes, all of which drew strong and mixed reactions when they happened, and in ensuing decades.” I am sure that a good number of our readers will agree with me that the new arrangement installed by King Louis XIV (1699-1714) would have been worthy in and of itself for a new church of its era, but that in Notre-Dame, was not an improvement over the medieval arrangement. But I am equally sure that any of the arrangements we see here would be an improvement over the truly awful new liturgical furnishings which the archdiocese of Paris recently revealed, so hopefully, these images will also provide inspiration for a future dewreckovation.
This first part covers images up to the beginning of the Revolution; the second will cover the period from 1790 to April, 2019.The altar in the 1200s, from Viollet-le-Duc, E. (1875). Dictionnaire raisonné de l'architecture française du XIe au XVIe siècle. Paris: A. Morel. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000776217/Home
The choir in the same period. (Viollet-le-Duc, Eugène-Emmanuel, 1814-79, and Edgar Quinet. Les églises De Paris: Le Panthéon Par E. Quinet. Paris: C. Marpon et E. Flammarion, 1883. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100345704)
The main altars of Notre-Dame de Paris (fig. 1) and the cathedral of Arras (fig. 2), both with altar curtains (tetravela). Illustration in Franz Bock's 1871 Geschichte der liturgischen Gewänder des Mittelalters.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bock1871bd3_0259.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bock1871bd3_0259.jpg
Fortuné Louis Méaulle. [Notre-Dame de Paris, Livre troisième.] Le Grand-Autel. 1877. Maison de Victor Hugo - Hauteville House. Numéro d’inventaire: 2017.0.1322.3.
https://www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/maison-de-victor-hugo/oeuvres/notre-dame-de-paris-livre-troisieme-le-grand-autel-1#infos-principales
https://www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/maison-de-victor-hugo/oeuvres/notre-dame-de-paris-livre-troisieme-le-grand-autel-1#infos-principales
The choir in 1669. (Choeur de N-D de Paris lors du Te Deum donné en 1669, gravure de Jean Marot (1619-79), musée Notre-Dame.)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Choeur_de_ND_de_Paris_1669.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Choeur_de_ND_de_Paris_1669.jpg
This coin minted in 1699 shows the plans for the renovation of the sanctuary in the style of the era, planned by Louis XIV in fulfillment of a vow made by his father. (Jerome Roussel. Voeu de Louis XIII. 1699. Petit Palais, musée des Beaux-arts de la Ville de Paris. https://www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/petit-palais/oeuvres/voeu-de-louis-xiii-0#infos-principales)
The high altar in 1703. (Pierre Lepautre and Robert de Cotte. Paris, cathédrale Notre-Dame: élévation du maître-autel de laditte église, tel qu’il est présentement, esquisse pour le projet définitif et variantes. 1703. Bibliothèque nationale de France. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b6937339r/f1.item)
A Mass at the high altar in 1709 (Jean-Baptiste Jouvenet (1644-1717). 1709. Mass Said by the Canon de La Porte, or the High Altar of Notre-Dame de Paris. painting. Place: Musée du Louvre, Paris, France.
In 1725. (General Research Division, The New York Public Library. “Grand Autel de Notre Dame” New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 30, 2023. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/898d048d-d14d-5dce-e040-e00a18062ceb)
The funeral of the Queen of Sardinia in 1735. (Charles-Nicolas Cochin and Rene de Bonneval. Pompe funèbre de Polixène de Hesse-Rhinfels, reine de Sardaigne, en l’Eglise de Notre Dame de Paris, le XXIVe mars MDCCXXXV. 1735. Bibliothèque de l’Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art, collections Jacques Doucet. https://bibliotheque-numerique.inha.fr/idurl/1/25828)
A funeral Mass for King Philip V of Spain, the second son of King Louis XIV’s eldest son, in 1746. (Pompe funèbre de Philipe de France, Roy d’Espagne et des Indes, V. du nom, en l’église de Notre Dame de Paris, le XV décembre M.D.CCXLVI (Funeral of Philip V of Spain in the church of Notre Dame, Paris, December 15, 1746); Designed by Sébastien-Antoine Slodtz (French, 1695-1754), Paul-Ambroise Slodtz (French, 1702-58); Engraved by Charles Nicolas Cochin the younger (1715-90); Published by Menus-Plaisirs du Roi; France; etching and engraving on paper; Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council; 1921-6-205-11. http://cprhw.tt/o/2Bowv/)
The interior in 1758 (Jacques-Gabriel Huquier. Vue de l’interieur de l’Eglise Cathedrale de Notre Dame de Paris. Bibliothèque de l’Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art, collections Jacques Doucet. https://bibliotheque-numerique.inha.fr/idurl/1/68853)
Three others from 1759. (Louis-Joseph Mondhare. Vue interieur de l’Eglise Cathédrale de Notre Dame de Paris. Vers 1759-84. Bibliothèque de l’Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art, collections Jacques Doucet. https://bibliotheque-numerique.inha.fr/idurl/1/68864)
From 1780. (Interieur. Francois Nicholas Martinet. Intérieur de l’Eglise Notre Dame, vu de la principale porte. https://onb.digital/result/10C39185)
1782, from Charles Hiatt, Notre Dame de Paris; a short history & description of the cathedral, with some account of the churches which preceded it. 1902, London: Bell. https://archive.org/details/notredamedeparis00hiatiala/
From 1784 (Jean-Francois Janinet. Vue de l’intérieur de l’église de Notre-Dame à Paris. 1784-93? Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris.
A Mass in 1787 (Jacques-Simon Chéreau. Messe solennelle celebrée par M.gr l’archevesque au m.tre autel de l’eglise de Notre Dame de Paris. Inventé par B. Picard. Between 1787 and 1805. Collections numérisées de la bibliothèque de l’INHA.
https://bibliotheque-numerique.inha.fr/idurl/1/68850)
Benediction in 1789. (Berthault, Pierre Gabriel, Etcher, and François Louis Prieur. Bénédiction des drapeaux de la Garde Nationale Parisienne a Notre Dame, le 27 Septembre/ Prieur inv. & del.; Berthault sculp. Paris France, 1804. [Paris: Chez Auber] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2015646561/)
