DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.23229#0177
CHOPIN AND THE VISUAL ARTS
middle of the river Cher. In the arcades on which the castle stands, there
are huge kitchens, so you can imagine what a structure it is. Francois I,
inheriting from this banker, lived in it, and many things remain from his
time. Later, Catherine de Medici lived there constantly (here they use
this castle in the decorations of the second act of the Huguenots; I think
Ludwika saw it); the wife of our Valois also spent her widowhood there.
All the rooms are kept with furniture of the period, which probably costs
a pretty penny every year to keep up. In the time of Louis XV, or perhaps
of the Regency, it fell after Vendome to M. Dupin (de Francueil), to whom
Rousseau was secretary. This M. Dupin was Mme S[and]'s grandfather,
the one whose portrait hangs over the fireplace in the big downstairs
room next to the dining-room at Nohant. Mme Dupin, his first wife, was
famous for her intellect and beauty; and in her day everything that the
last century had of brains foregathered in Chenonceaux; Voltaire, and
Mably, and so on, and so on. There are a lot of Montesquieu's manu-
scripts, too, Rousseau speaks of Mme de Francueil in his Confessions.
At Chenonceaux there are boxes of his correspondence with her; very
interesting, but probably they will never be published. Mme S[and] had
found several manuscripts by Mme Dupin, probably of great interest,
especially beautifully written. Also Rousseau's opera (Le Devin du vil-
lage), of which it is said that M. Francueil wrote the overture, was played
for the first time in the theatre of the chateau. You doubtless know that
Rousseau wrote poetry and music which had a great success 70 years
ago8.
Fig. 181. Paul Delaroche, The Hemicycle Rep- All these letters clearly show Chopin as a widely educated man, interest-
resenting Famous Painters ofVarious Periods, ed not only in music, but also in literature, history and even architecture.
Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris. He may have been somewhat influenced by George Sand and Delacroix
in this; however, another letter to the composer's family, namely the one
of 20th July 1845, demonstrates his own way of thinking about the visual
arts:
Speaking of monuments, the equestrian statue of the duke of Orleans
(who was killed, jumping out of his coach) will be finished in a few days.
It stands on the Louvre square, in Algerian bronze, probably with bas-
190
CHOPIN AMONG ARTISTS AND SCHOLARS
reliefs. It is the work of Marochetti, one of the most famous sculptors
here. Marochetti, for all his Italian name, is a Frenchman, and is a man
of very great talent; all the most important works are entrusted to him.
The statue faces the Tuileries. One bas-relief represents the taking of
Antwerp, the other some Algerian episode. A propos of statues: near
the government depository of marbles, by the Champ de Mars, where
loads of waste marble from various monuments are thrown (en dernier
lieu from the Madeleine), the heavy rains have washed out some of
the heaps, and one of the guardians noticed among them the arm of
some statue, raised above the other stones, as if in protest against its
fate. They finished what the water had begun, removed the accumu-
lated loads, and found a Greek statue of marble, an antique of very fine
workmanship, representing Hercules arretant la chevre d'Amalthee;
the goat is no longer there, only the horns. A very interesting subject,
because known only from a few small pierres gravees. A commission,
consisting of MM. Letronne, Le Bas (the one who raised the obelisk) Detail of Fig. 181.
etc., etc., decided to have it placed at once in the Palais des Beaux
Arts; there, where I left the Jedrzejewiczs last year, and came back to
find them in the room where there is that semi-circular fresco by Dela-
roche, representing all the famous painters of various periods; do you
remember?9
What story was behind the finding described in this letter, and whe-
ther the Greek marble statue indeed depicted Hercules arretant la chevre
d'Amalthee or rather some other animal held by the demi-god, is of less
importance than the fact that Chopin deftly referred to both ancient and
modern sculpture, the subject matter of the former, and to the pierres
gravees. His reference to Delaroche's hemicycle, to which he would return
in one more letter, is equally fascinating, especially considering his moving
question: "Do you remember?". The issue of why Chopin referred twice to
the painting in the Palais des Beaux Arts is indeed curious.
Delaroche's great picture, 27 metres long and located in the hemicy-
cle of the award theatre of the Ecole des Beaux Arts, was executed in
the years 1837-1841 (fig. 181)10. The painting represents seventy-five great
191
middle of the river Cher. In the arcades on which the castle stands, there
are huge kitchens, so you can imagine what a structure it is. Francois I,
inheriting from this banker, lived in it, and many things remain from his
time. Later, Catherine de Medici lived there constantly (here they use
this castle in the decorations of the second act of the Huguenots; I think
Ludwika saw it); the wife of our Valois also spent her widowhood there.
All the rooms are kept with furniture of the period, which probably costs
a pretty penny every year to keep up. In the time of Louis XV, or perhaps
of the Regency, it fell after Vendome to M. Dupin (de Francueil), to whom
Rousseau was secretary. This M. Dupin was Mme S[and]'s grandfather,
the one whose portrait hangs over the fireplace in the big downstairs
room next to the dining-room at Nohant. Mme Dupin, his first wife, was
famous for her intellect and beauty; and in her day everything that the
last century had of brains foregathered in Chenonceaux; Voltaire, and
Mably, and so on, and so on. There are a lot of Montesquieu's manu-
scripts, too, Rousseau speaks of Mme de Francueil in his Confessions.
At Chenonceaux there are boxes of his correspondence with her; very
interesting, but probably they will never be published. Mme S[and] had
found several manuscripts by Mme Dupin, probably of great interest,
especially beautifully written. Also Rousseau's opera (Le Devin du vil-
lage), of which it is said that M. Francueil wrote the overture, was played
for the first time in the theatre of the chateau. You doubtless know that
Rousseau wrote poetry and music which had a great success 70 years
ago8.
Fig. 181. Paul Delaroche, The Hemicycle Rep- All these letters clearly show Chopin as a widely educated man, interest-
resenting Famous Painters ofVarious Periods, ed not only in music, but also in literature, history and even architecture.
Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris. He may have been somewhat influenced by George Sand and Delacroix
in this; however, another letter to the composer's family, namely the one
of 20th July 1845, demonstrates his own way of thinking about the visual
arts:
Speaking of monuments, the equestrian statue of the duke of Orleans
(who was killed, jumping out of his coach) will be finished in a few days.
It stands on the Louvre square, in Algerian bronze, probably with bas-
190
CHOPIN AMONG ARTISTS AND SCHOLARS
reliefs. It is the work of Marochetti, one of the most famous sculptors
here. Marochetti, for all his Italian name, is a Frenchman, and is a man
of very great talent; all the most important works are entrusted to him.
The statue faces the Tuileries. One bas-relief represents the taking of
Antwerp, the other some Algerian episode. A propos of statues: near
the government depository of marbles, by the Champ de Mars, where
loads of waste marble from various monuments are thrown (en dernier
lieu from the Madeleine), the heavy rains have washed out some of
the heaps, and one of the guardians noticed among them the arm of
some statue, raised above the other stones, as if in protest against its
fate. They finished what the water had begun, removed the accumu-
lated loads, and found a Greek statue of marble, an antique of very fine
workmanship, representing Hercules arretant la chevre d'Amalthee;
the goat is no longer there, only the horns. A very interesting subject,
because known only from a few small pierres gravees. A commission,
consisting of MM. Letronne, Le Bas (the one who raised the obelisk) Detail of Fig. 181.
etc., etc., decided to have it placed at once in the Palais des Beaux
Arts; there, where I left the Jedrzejewiczs last year, and came back to
find them in the room where there is that semi-circular fresco by Dela-
roche, representing all the famous painters of various periods; do you
remember?9
What story was behind the finding described in this letter, and whe-
ther the Greek marble statue indeed depicted Hercules arretant la chevre
d'Amalthee or rather some other animal held by the demi-god, is of less
importance than the fact that Chopin deftly referred to both ancient and
modern sculpture, the subject matter of the former, and to the pierres
gravees. His reference to Delaroche's hemicycle, to which he would return
in one more letter, is equally fascinating, especially considering his moving
question: "Do you remember?". The issue of why Chopin referred twice to
the painting in the Palais des Beaux Arts is indeed curious.
Delaroche's great picture, 27 metres long and located in the hemicy-
cle of the award theatre of the Ecole des Beaux Arts, was executed in
the years 1837-1841 (fig. 181)10. The painting represents seventy-five great
191