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Lot Essay
The Muse des Monuments Franais was created during the revolution by Doyen as a warehouse to the sculptures and tombs in danger of being destroyed by the French revolutionaries. In 1791 Doyen left Paris for Russia and the warehouse was put in charge of his assistant Alexandre Lenoir. The collection, housed in the Abbey of the Petits-Augustin, was lated transformed by Lenoir to a Museum of French art and history. Lenoir organized the museum by each room being devoted to a century.
After the return of the Bourbon family period the sculpture and tombs were returned to their original location. In a last attempt to save his Museum, Lenoir wrote a book on the museum with views of the Rooms: Vues pittoresques et Perspectives des salles du muse des monuments francois. The illustrations were done by Vauzelle. This view is described in the book as '..les figures d'aptres, sculptes en pierre et de grandeur naturelle, proviennent de la Sainte-Chapelle, elles sont trs remarquables sous les doubles rapports de l'art et du costume..on admire la navet de leur expression et le simplicit de leur xcution'.
The museum was to prove very influential in the evolution of French Art at the beginning of the 19th Century. Lenoir's organization of the museum, his choice of works of art and their display, evoked for many artists a romantic feeling of the Middle-Ages, following the fashion for Troubadour painting. Many artists visited the museum to find inspiration for their costumes and monuments. Lenoir himself created some 'Middle-Age' monuments from disparate fragments, such as the tomb of Helose and Ablard.
After the return of the Bourbon family period the sculpture and tombs were returned to their original location. In a last attempt to save his Museum, Lenoir wrote a book on the museum with views of the Rooms: Vues pittoresques et Perspectives des salles du muse des monuments francois. The illustrations were done by Vauzelle. This view is described in the book as '..les figures d'aptres, sculptes en pierre et de grandeur naturelle, proviennent de la Sainte-Chapelle, elles sont trs remarquables sous les doubles rapports de l'art et du costume..on admire la navet de leur expression et le simplicit de leur xcution'.
The museum was to prove very influential in the evolution of French Art at the beginning of the 19th Century. Lenoir's organization of the museum, his choice of works of art and their display, evoked for many artists a romantic feeling of the Middle-Ages, following the fashion for Troubadour painting. Many artists visited the museum to find inspiration for their costumes and monuments. Lenoir himself created some 'Middle-Age' monuments from disparate fragments, such as the tomb of Helose and Ablard.