On the way back from the Paris Dog Cemetery in Asnières the other day, I took a detour on the way home via Saint Denis, where inside the Basilica an astonishing array of French royalty are interred. This was my third trip there ; the first occurred in 1970 when I was just a wee lad, but a trip which no doubt influenced my later life, the second time in January 1992 with my not as yet but soon to be wife, la Grenouille. It is a sobering place, an incredible sense of peace and quiet reigns inside those walls. . .
.
Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI have a side alcove pretty much to themselves. I was very naughty taking this picture with my flash, but there just wasn't enough light otherwise. . .
. 
This sculpted pair of royal feet seemed more than real to me . . .
.
..
Posts
6 comments:
Wow, these feet are amazing!
Whoa! Those are disturbingly real looking.
Oh my, those feet really look like they'll get up and walk, how amazing to get feet that lifelike in those days eh? I think that those feet look even nicer than mine!
Superbes photos dont... les pieds... Mais un peu triste à mon goût !
Ce n'est pas le genre d'endroit que je fréquente régulièrement ! ! !
Bonne journée Owen !
Amitiés !
That last pair of feet is just stupendous. I thought you'd gotten one of your party to lie down to pose for this photo.
Like Jeff, churches aren't places I visit regularly. Although they are often awe inspiring, there's something dead about many of them - or perhaps mortiferous is the word I'm looking for. Perhaps it's the sense of guilt and original sin that the Catholic church tries to impose on us that I feel uncomfortable with.
I was raised a Protestant and consider myself an atheist now even though I'm highly sensitive to questions of religion and spirituality.
Hi Nat, I quite agree with you that many churches have a sort of "dead" feel around them, but I love to look around for the history, and every now and then one stumbles on works of art and/architecture which astonish. But I'm not interested in the organized religion aspect of them either... like you I'm not comfortable with guilt trips.
Jeff, je comprends, mais de mon point de vue, je ne vois pas de la tristesse là, mais plutôt des questions philosophiques qui m'interpellent... même les rois et les reines se terminent un beau jour sur une pierre froide... et tu dirais sans doute que je suis un peu iconoclast, voire blasphematoire, mais j'avais envie de chatouiller ces pieds avec une plume... bien que je les trouvais fabuleux sur un plan purement artistique... ;-D
Gigi, Sagi, et Di, many thanks !
Post a Comment