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Saturday, May 10, 2008

Interior of St. Etienne du Mont

Émile Antoine François Herson, 1805-1873
Interior of St. Etienne du Mont 1864
Watercolour and gum heightening with gouache highlights over graphite underdrawing on paper
Height: 18.1 cm, width: 25.5 cm
The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

1 comment:

  1. This is a very interesting watercolour because the church no longer features the statues of the two angels on bended knee to what must have been St. Genevieve.

    These statues have been replaced by the crucifix. Not sure when they were removed, possibly at the turn of the 29th Century.

    No doubt the Roman Church was continuing it's policy on putting Jesus front and centre, instead of parishioners praying to powerful female role models like St. Genevieve. This has also happened to powerful female saints like St. Brigid of Kildare.

    This is a phenominal piece.

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