Paris, a view of the Seine looking West, the equestrian statue of Henri IV and the Pont Neuf in the foreground; and Paris, a view of the Seine looking East, the Pont Rouge in the foreground

Although the artist of the present views of Paris remains a mystery, their specificity allows them to be dated with relative accuracy, with a certain terminus ante quem of 1684, and more likely dating to the second half of the 1670s.

The equestrian statue of Henri IV of France, taken from the Pont Neuf, was erected in 1618, commissioned by Henri’s widow, Marie de’ Medici, and completed by the Tuscan sculptor Pietro Tacca. The bridge itself, as one of the central arteries of the city, was one that teemed with life, and here conveys the bustle and variety of people and activities that centered around it. Work on the distinctive dome of the Collège des Nations (today the Institute de France), seen in the left background of the composition, began in 1662, following designs by Louis le Vau (1612-1670), and was largely completed by the mid-1670s.
While Louis XIV catered increasingly to his political power base at Versailles from 1669, the court remained in Paris until 1682, with the Louvre as the primary royal residence. In 1667, Le Vau, alongside Charles Le Brun and Claude Perrault, had been tasked with the construction of the classicizing east façade of the palace. In the present work, we see the contiguous works at the Cour Carrée (Square Court), also overseen by Le Vau. In 1668, Louis XIV had decided to double the width of the south, river-facing wing of the court and work was begun. Construction was halted in the late 1670s when the king abandoned the Louvre project in order to devote his attention (and money) to Versailles. The appearance of the still-active building works in the view with the equestrian statue of Henri IV and the Pont Neuf suggests that it was taken before circa 1678, when construction had largely ceased.

In the foreground of the view of the Seine looking West with the Pont Rouge can be seen the Pont Barbier, a bridge that once crossed the Seine as an extension of the rue de Beaune in Paris. It was given numerous different appellations, referred to as the Pont Barbier, after its builder, Louis le Barbier (d. 1641); the Pont Sainte-Anne, in honor of the patron saint of the queen, Anne of Austria; and the Pont Rouge because of its distinctive red color which came from the layer of minium (red-lead) that covered the timbers of the structure. The bridge project was initiated in 1632 after the king, Louis XIII, witnessed a ferry accident on the river. That same year, he commissioned Pierre Pidou, Secretary of the King’s Chamber, to employ Louis le Barbier to construct a wooden toll bridge across the Seine, with construction completed only a few years later. The work created a major new crossing of the river in a central position in the city, and at either end, toll booths were erected to collect money from travelers. The popularity of the structure, however, saw it rapidly in need of repairs. By February 1649, for example, several arches of the bridge had broken and seven years later, in 1656, it was damaged by fire. Finally, on 20 February 1684, the Pont Barbier collapsed in an ice-drift, during a series of severe frosts that impacted the city. The following year, Louis XIV commissioned a new bridge to be constructed on the site of the Pont Barbier and in June 1689 the Pont Royal (this time made of stone) was opened.

To the right, in the background, the west towers of Notre Dame cathedral can be seen, beside the soaring spire of the Sainte Chapelle. At right, stretched along the Quai des Tuileries, a long procession of ornate carriages and riders can be seen. The foremost carriage is drawn by four white horses, surrounded by a company of liveried men in blue coats, embellished with red, the colors of which appear to indicate the king’s livery, with the monarch himself inside the gilded carriage that heads the procession. To emphasize Louis’ presence, the royal yacht, floating in the middle of the Seine, fires a salute to the king as he is driven past.

The views recall a number of similar works produced during the mid-seventeenth century, seemingly relying, in some aspects, on the Dutch landscape painter Hendrick Mommers (1620-1693). At least three paintings by Mommers of Paris from the Pont Neuf are known (Musée du Louvre, Paris; Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle; and Musée Carnavalet, Paris), all of which present a very similar view to the present works. Each places the statue of Henri IV in the center of the composition and depicts the banks of the Seine to the left and right. Likewise, Mommers populated the foreground of these works with lively groups of people, yet typically presented closer to the picture plane so that they appear much larger than those in the present pair. Additionally, the paintings given to Mommers take a far less panoramic view of the surrounding landscape and therefore capture less of the city itself. A comparable work, with a similar perspective and vantage point as the View of the Seine looking West, and similarly diminutive figures, was sold at Christie’s, New York 29 January 1998, lot 83, attributed to another Dutch painter and engraver, Theodor Matham (c. 1605-1676), who painted the same view around thirty years prior to this work. The Seine proved to be a popular subject in the period, perhaps disseminated through prints by artists like Stefano della Bella beginning in the 1640s.