The Picardy Museum
The Museum is installed in a spacious building erected in the middle of the 19th century at the expense of the Society of Antiquaries of Picardy, and afterwards handed over by it to the City. Most of the collections had fortunately been removed to a place of safety before the bombardment of 1918, which damaged the building. Three aerial torpedoes fell on the right wing of the rear façade (photo above), considerably damaging the collection of drawings by the brothers Duthoit.
The Museum will only be re-installed after the necessary repairs have been done, and as new classifications may then be made, the principal works of art are here dealt with according to category and date, instead of room by room.
A — Sculpture
I.—Greek and Gallo-Roman Antiquities.
Triple Hecate: Grecian marble, very finely executed, representing the three divinities of the lunar month: Diana, Artemicia, and Hecate.
Gallo-Roman funeral stele with galloping cavalier carved in demi-relief.
Carved tombstone representing the deceased, holding lamp and purse, between two relations.
II.—Middle Age and Renaissance Sculpture.
Quadrangular baptismal font in pure Roman style.
Very fine late 12th century capitals, taken from the ancient monastery of the Premonstrants of Dommartin (Pas-de-Calais).
Tomb of black Tournai stone, belonging to the first half of the 15th century, representing Knight Robert de Bouberch in armour.
Very fine late 15th century Virgin of wood, painted and gilded, taken from the ancient church of the Minimes d’Amiens.
A series of merry monks’ heads with caricatured features, carved in oak at the end of the 15th century; very curious; were formerly corbels supporting the framework of a house in Amiens.
III.—Modern Sculpture.
Puget, rough model in terra-cotta, used for the “Hercule gaulois” in the Louvre.
Coysevox, very fine marble bust of Regent Philip of Orléans. The wig is noteworthy, by reason of the exceeding delicacy of execution. Also bust of Chauvelin, intendant of Picardy.
Falguières, bronze bust of Gambetta, particularly expressive.
B — Painting
The museum of paintings includes:
I.—A series of decorative paintings by Puvis de Chavannes.
II.—Suite of early 16th century pictures of the Amiens School.
III.—Collections of the City (acquired and given by the State).
IV.—Collections of the brothers Lavalard, given in 1890 to the City and comprising 371 pictures, including several very fine works of the French, Spanish, and Flemish schools.
1 — Paintings by Puvis de Chavannes
These paintings decorate the walls of the grand staircase leading to the first floor, and the gallery on the first floor known as the Puvis de Chavannes Gallery.
1. Walls of the Grand Staircase:
Work and Repose.
Ave Picardia Nutrix (1865)—photos, p. 41.
Pro Patria Ludus (1882), one of the artist’s masterpieces painted while he was at his very best.
2. Puvis de Chavannes Gallery:
The Spinner, The Reaper, The Standard-Bearer, and Desolation are four long panels between the windows. The first two relate to Peace (Concordia) and the other two to War (Bellum).
The whole of the paintings by Puvis de Chavannes, having a surface measurement of more than two hundred square yards, were removed during a violent bombardment in the spring of 1918. Sappers belonging to the “camouflaging” section of the army, together with firemen from Paris, carefully detached the canvases with knives and rolled them up on cylinders.
Some of them adhered so tenaciously to the walls that it was found necessary to cut away a certain thickness of stone with chisels at the same time as the canvas.
The operation was entirely successful, all the paintings being intact, with the exception of a slight tear in the “War” panel caused by a shell splinter, prior to removal.
It is probably in the museum of Amiens that one best realises the evolution in the decorative art of Puvis de Chavannes, as nearly a quarter of a century separates the first paintings from the last.
In those of the gallery, which are among the earliest of his great decorative compositions, the landscapes are a mere background of sombre hue, designed to bring out the light foreground figures. The latter are individualized, the personality of each being revealed in the lines of the face and general attitude.
Conversely, in the latest works, and especially in Pro Patria Ludus, the landscape is of primary importance, enveloping as it does the whole composition in a clear, pure atmosphere.
On the other hand, individuality and detail are carefully suppressed; human beings are portrayed in their general aspect, with only the essential to characterize them.
The decorative art is here synthesized to the last degree.
II — Paintings of Our Lady of Puy
The Brotherhood of Our Lady of Puy was a religious, artistic and literary society founded in the Middle Ages at Amiens, and which continued down to the 18th century.
The Master, who was elected each year, was under the obligation of having a picture painted in honour of the Virgin.
Several of these paintings, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, still exist.
All are similar in composition.
In the centre, the Virgin surrounded by symbolical figures arrayed in sumptuous garments, and in the foreground, the donor with relations and friends.
Near by, a scroll inscribed with the device chosen by the Master for his term of office, and in the background, landscape of living waters and verdure.
The four oldest of these panels, the wood carving of whose frames is remarkable, are considered to be among the most interesting of the early 16th century French School.
The devices of these panels are as follows:
1. Painting (1518). No. 390 (1911 edition of catalogue): Au juste poix, véritable balance; fine Renaissance frame (photo above).
2. Painting (1519), No. 391: Pré ministrant pasture salutaire; Gothic-Flamboyant frame.
3. Painting (1520), No. 392: Palme eslute du Seigneur pour Victoire. In the fine landscape with river, which forms the background, the city of Amiens is seen with its cathedral.
4. Painting (1521), No. 393, greatly damaged: Le vray support de toute créature.
The other panels are more modern and do not offer the same interest.
Several other old paintings were formerly to be found in this room, especially the central panel of a triptych (end 15th century), No. 403, representing Christ blessing, surrounded by the donor and his family, with St. John the Baptist and St. Barbara.
III — Collections Belonging to the City of Amiens
1. French School
Boucher: Large composition; Vénus demandant à Vulcain des armes pour Enée (Venus asking Vulcan for arms for Aeneas), No. 46 of 1911 catalogue.
Boucher and Carle van Loo: Four exquisite hunting panels, originally designed for the apartments of the King at Versailles.
Boucher: Chasse au Crocodile (Crocodile Hunting), dated 1739 (No. 48). Chasse au Tigre (Tiger Hunting), No. 47.
Van Loo: Chasse à l’Ours (Bear Hunting), No. 356. Chasse à l’Autruche (Ostrich Hunting), No. 359.
Nattier: Portrait of Gresset (No. 266).
Bachelier: Two pictures forming pendants, Un Ours de Pologne attaqué par des chiens (Polish bear attacked by dogs) No. 9; Un lion d’Afrique attaqué par des dogues (African lion attacked by dogs), No. 10; and a very large composition (1761): Les Amusements de l’enfance (Childhood’s Amusements), No. 8.
Quentin de la Tour: His own portrait, the finest and most carefully finished of his portraits, painted about 1760 (No. 212) (photo below).
David: Countess de Dillon, lady of honour to Empress Marie-Louise, full length portrait, strictly academical (No. 108).
Regnault, contemporary of David and his school: La Mort de Priam (Death of Priamus) (No. 290).
J. Lefebvre: Several paintings, especially Portrait of Lady Godiva (No. 223).
2. Foreign Schools
Un buveur attablé (Drinker at table) (No. 427), attributed by the catalogue to the Flemish School of the middle of the 17th century, would seem from its powerful realism and general composition, to have come from the studio of the Brothers Le Nain.
Gérard de Lairesse, late 18th century, Dutch painter, now forgotten, but who enjoyed considerable notoriety in his day: Portrait of Duchesse Marie de Clèves (1671) (No. 206).
IV — Collections of the Brothers Lavalard
1. Dutch School
Brekelenkam (1623-1688): Le Savetier (The Cobbler) (No. 3 in 1911 catalogue).
Gerritz Cuyp (1594-1651): Portrait of a child. A Young Baron (No. 8).
Van Goyen (1596-1696): Le Port de Dordrecht (No. 12). Le Départ pour la pêche (Fishing Boats setting out) (No. 13). Un tour au bord d’une rivière (River-side scene) (No. 14, etc.).
Van Mieris (1635-1681): Liseuse (Reading) (No. 27).
Salomon Ruysdael (1600-1670): Soleil couchant (Sunset) (No. 38), and several other landscapes (Nos. 39 to 46).
2. Flemish School
Franz Hals (1581-1666): Several portraits (Nos. 94 to 96).
Brouwer (1605-1638), pupil of Franz Hals: Un buveur (A Drinker) (No. 77).
Jordaens (1593-1678): La Marchande de Volailles (Woman selling fowls) (No. 99).
Gonzalès Coques (1614-1684): Exécution de Charles I. sur la place de White-Hall en 1649 (Execution of Charles I, Whitehall, 1649) (No. 81).
3. French School
Louis Boily: Un jeune Savoyard (Young Savoyard) (No. 125).
Boucher: Esquisse pour le Triomphe d’Amphitrite (rough sketch of Amphitrite’s Triumph) (No. 129). Diane au bain (Diana taking bath) (No. 130).
Chardin: Lapins de garenne (Wild rabbits) (No. 137), and several still-life studies (Nos. 138-140).
Fragonard: Several small paintings (Nos. 142-147), especially No. 144: Les Lavandières (Washer-Women).
Lépicié, pupil of Carle van Loo: Portrait de femme âgée (Portrait of Old Woman) (No. 167). Studies of children’s heads (No. 168).
Nattier: Portrait de jeune femme (Portrait of a young woman) (No. 177).
Hubert-Robert: Colin-Maillard (Blindman’s Buff) (No. 188).
4. Italian School
Luca Giordano (1632-1705): Musicien accordant sa guitare (Musician tuning his Guitar) (No. 211).
5. Spanish School
Le Greco (1548-1625): Very fine portrait of a man, the finest of this artist’s paintings in France (No. 212) (photo p. 43).
Ribera (1588-1656): La Messe du Pape Grégoire le Grand (Celebration of Mass by Pope Gregory the Great); very finely executed; one of this artist’s greatest masterpieces; signed: Joseph de Ribera, Naples, 1654 (No. 239).
The museum also contains interesting drawings by Puvis de Chavannes and a fine collection of drawings by the Brothers Duthoit of Amiens (1820-1870). In these latter drawings, more than 5,000 in number, are portrayed the towns and villages of Picardy, as they appeared before the disappearance of the local traditions and customs. This collection was seriously damaged by bombardment.
Several old houses of Amiens, saved from ruin by the Antiquarian Society of Picardy, have been rebuilt in the Museum grounds, viz.:
Late 15th century house with visible timber-work in left-hand corner.
Early 17th century (1619) façade, in right-hand corner. Note the fine decorative frieze of lions’ muzzles.
Late 18th century façade, with entrance-door surmounted by a fine caryatid of bearded man supporting a graceful, wrought-iron balcony on his shoulders, against the right-hand lateral wall.
Opposite the Museum is the Prefecture.
The Prefecture consists of two contiguous buildings. One, modern, is fitted up as offices. The other, which is the Prefect’s residence, was formerly the headquarters of the Intendant of Picardy.
The latter building was erected in 1773-1774 from plans prepared by the Parisian architect Montigny. It was considerably damaged, both outside and inside, by bombardment (photo opposite).
Separated from the Museum by the Rue Puvis de Chavannes is the City Library.
The Library is a modern building containing nearly 100,000 books and about 1,000 manuscripts, including several of great value. (To visit apply to the curator). The colonnaded building in the rear was partly destroyed by bombardment.
On leaving the Rue de la République, take on the right the Rue Puvis de Chavannes (continued by the Rue des Louvets) as far as the Rue de Beauvais (photo below). Turn to the right. At the corner of the Rue de Beauvais and the Rue Frédéric-Petit is the Lycée.
The Lycée is located in the partly rebuilt structure which was formerly the Abbey of St. John of the Order of Premonstrants (17th century); fine cloister.
The façade of the modern portion, looking on the Rue Frédéric-Petit, was grazed by shell splinters.
Follow the Rue de Beauvais, continued by the Rue Alphonse Leuillier, as far as the Hôtel de Ville (H on detailed plan); 18th century façade, finished in the 19th century.