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Lot Essay
The dimensions of the present painting correspond precisely to those of entry no. 27 in the Salon of 1787, which Demachy exhibited along with two other works of the same subject, nos. 25 and 26.
L'Eglise des Saints Innocents (Church of the Innocent Saints) was situated in the cemetery of the same name on the rue Saint-Denis. In 1786 a Parliamentary public health order decreed that both church and cemetery be destroyed to make way for a marketplace. The church itself was finally razed to the ground the following year.
Like Hubert Robert, Demachy was almost obsessively fastidious about recording the rapid architectural alterations occuring in the city of Paris during the final years of the Ancien Rgime and the first years of the Revolution. He produced numerous drawings of l'Eglise des Saints Innocents both before and during its destruction (see H. Cauzy, L'Eglise des Saints Innocents Paris, Bulletin Monumental, 1972, p. 181, fig. 2, p. 285, fig. 7 and p. 288, fig. 11), as well as another painting of its demolition now in the Muse Carnavalet, Paris. More than once Demachy received praise for the accuracy of his representations of the church (see Lanlaire, loc. cit., and L'Ami des Artistes au Salon, loc. cit.), and his works constitute an important source for historical reconstructions of the building.
L'Eglise des Saints Innocents (Church of the Innocent Saints) was situated in the cemetery of the same name on the rue Saint-Denis. In 1786 a Parliamentary public health order decreed that both church and cemetery be destroyed to make way for a marketplace. The church itself was finally razed to the ground the following year.
Like Hubert Robert, Demachy was almost obsessively fastidious about recording the rapid architectural alterations occuring in the city of Paris during the final years of the Ancien Rgime and the first years of the Revolution. He produced numerous drawings of l'Eglise des Saints Innocents both before and during its destruction (see H. Cauzy, L'Eglise des Saints Innocents Paris, Bulletin Monumental, 1972, p. 181, fig. 2, p. 285, fig. 7 and p. 288, fig. 11), as well as another painting of its demolition now in the Muse Carnavalet, Paris. More than once Demachy received praise for the accuracy of his representations of the church (see Lanlaire, loc. cit., and L'Ami des Artistes au Salon, loc. cit.), and his works constitute an important source for historical reconstructions of the building.