How do we move away from being a civilization that produces art that causes comments like, “my five year old could make this,” back to being one that creates beauty and inspires deep questions? We must reject modernity and embrace tradition. To embrace tradition, we must first learn about it.
Let’s study art history together.
Arc de Triomphe (Paris, France)
Type
Triumphal arch
Architectural style
Neoclassicism
Location
Place Charles de Gaulle (formerly Place de l’Étoile)
Coordinates
48°52′25.6″N 2°17′42.1″E
Construction started
15 August 1806
Inaugurated
28 July 1836
Height
Height
49.54 m (162.5 ft)
Dimensions
Other dimensions
Wide: 44.82 m (147.0 ft) Deep: 22.21 m (72.9 ft)
In recent months, the United States has announced its intention to build a triumphal arch in Washington D.C., in honor of the country’s 250th anniversary of existence. On the surface, and without context, this might seem somewhat odd. What is so special about a geometric shape. What did we triumph over? However, Triumphal Arches are a Western Tradition dating back to the ancient Romans. We don’t have to explain ourselves. We’re just doing what the Roman did, which makes it totally normal and okay. On the other hand, given that the United States’ Republic was modeled heavily on the Roman one, from two thousand years previous, perhaps we should consider it a significant change if the country begins to adopt an aesthetic more in line with the Roman Imperial period than the Republic which preceded it.
Symbolism matters.
Little is known about how the Romans themselves viewed triumphal arches. Pliny the Elder, writing in the first century AD, was the only ancient author to discuss them. He wrote that they were intended to “elevate above the ordinary world” an image of an honored person usually depicted in the form of a statue with a quadriga.
Though I cannot really explain why, they do seem to have this effect. Perhaps the arch reminds us of the sun, just as it peaks above the horizon. In that shape, we instinctively feel that we are at the beginning of good times. Does it matter that the setting sun also provides an arch shape? I suppose it does. At least as the symbolism goes, it’s up to the people who see it to determine whether triumphal arches mark a beginning or an ending.
Perhaps THE most famous triumphal arch of all time was commissioned during the Napoleonic Imperial period of France. The monument was intended to honor those who died in the French Revolution and during the Napoleonic Wars (which at the time of the commission had gone well for France.) That arch is featured here. As we all know, that French Imperial period under Napoleon lasted for ::checks notes:: less than the amount of time it took to actually complete the arch. Waterloo was in 1815 and the Arch was finished in 1836.
In any case, the monument is still extremely cool and surprisingly large when seen in person.
The Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile (UK: /ˌɑːrk də ˈtriːɒmf, – ˈtriːoʊmf/, US: /- triːˈoʊmf/, French: [aʁk də tʁijɔ̃f də letwal]ⓘ; “Triumphal Arch of the Star”), often simply called the Arc de Triomphe, is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France. It is located at the western end of the Champs-Élysées, at the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle—formerly known as the Place de l’Étoile—named for the star-shaped configuration formed by the convergence of twelve radiating avenues. The monument is situated at the intersection of three arrondissements: the 16th (to the south and west), the 17th (to the north), and the 8th (to the east). Commissioned to honor those who fought and died for France during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the Arc bears the names of French victories and generals engraved on its inner and outer surfaces. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I, marked by an eternal flame commemorating unidentified fallen soldiers.
The central cohesive element of the Axe historique (“historical axis”, a sequence of monuments and grand thoroughfares on a route running from the courtyard of the Louvre to the Grande Arche de la Défense), the Arc de Triomphe was designed by Jean-François Chalgrin in 1806; its iconographic programme depicts heroically nude warriors and set the tone for public monuments with triumphant patriotic messages. Inspired by the Arch of Titus in Rome, the Arc de Triomphe has an overall height of 49.54 m (162.5 ft), width of 44.82 m (147.0 ft) and depth of 22.21 m (72.9 ft), while its large vault is 29.19 m (95.8 ft) high and 14.62 m (48.0 ft) wide. The smaller transverse vaults are 18.68 m (61.3 ft) high and 8.44 m (27.7 ft) wide.
Paris’s Arc de Triomphe was the tallest triumphal arch until the completion of the Monumento a la Revolución in Mexico City in 1938, which is 67 m (220 ft) high. The Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang, completed in 1982, is modeled on the Arc de Triomphe and is slightly taller at 60 m (197 ft). The Grande Arche in La Défense near Paris is 110 m (361 ft) high, and, if considered to be a triumphal arch, is the world’s tallest.
History
Construction and late 19th century
The Arc de Triomphe is located on the right bank of the Seine at the centre of a dodecagonal configuration of twelve radiating avenues.
Avenues radiate from the Arc de Triomphe at the Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly the Place de l’Étoile. Paving stones trace a stellar pattern on its surface, pointing toward the centre of each avenue.
It was commissioned in 1806, after the victory at Austerlitz by Emperor Napoleon at the peak of his fortunes. Laying the foundations alone took two years and, in 1810, when Napoleon entered Paris from the west with his new bride, Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria, he had a wooden mock-up of the completed arch constructed. The architect, Jean-François Chalgrin, died in 1811 and the work was taken over by Louis-Robert Goust.
Various designs were proposed to crown the monument with a monumental sculptural group, yet none was permanently realized. In 1838, Bernard Seurre submitted La France victorieuse (“Victorious France”), depicting a chariot drawn by six horses. In 1840, this proposal gave way to a temporary sculptural group representing Napoleon I, installed above the arch by the architect Guillaume-Abel Blouet for the return of the Emperor’s remains. In preparing this installation, Blouet returned to a scheme he had drafted in 1834, modifying it by substituting the originally intended allegorical figure of France with that of the Emperor.
From 1882 to 1886, a quadriga by Alexandre Falguière was erected above the arch. The work, entitled Triomphe de la Révolution (“The Triumph of the Revolution”), depicted a chariot drawn by horses advancing “to crush Anarchy and Despotism”. Executed in plaster, the group was hoisted to the summit of the monument in order to assess its visual effect. The result was judged unconvincing; although the sculpture remained in place for four years, its material deteriorated under exposure to the elements and it was ultimately removed. Following this episode, the proposal to crown the monument was ultimately abandoned.
The main sculptures are not integral friezes but are treated as independent trophies applied to the vast ashlar masonry masses, not unlike the gilt-bronze appliqués on Empire furniture. The four sculptural groups at the base of the Arc are The Triumph of 1810 (by Jean-Pierre Cortot), The Resistance of 1814 and The Peace of 1815 (both by Antoine Étex), and the most renowned of them all, The Departure of the Volunteers of 1792, commonly called La Marseillaise (by François Rude). The face of the allegorical representation of France calling forth her people on this last was used as the belt buckle for the honorary rank of Marshal of France. The sculptures representing Triumph, Resistance and Peace commemorate Napoleon‘s victories, the invasion of France in 1814, and the end of hostilities in 1815.
On the attic above the richly sculptured frieze of soldiers are 30 shields engraved with the names of major French victories in the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars. The inside walls of the monument list the names of 660 officers, among which are 558 French generals of the First French Empire; the names of those killed in battle are underlined. Also inscribed, on the shorter sides of the four supporting columns, are the names of the major French victories in the Napoleonic Wars. Battles that took place during the Hundred Days are not included.
Inside the monument, a permanent exhibition, conceived by artist Maurice Benayoun and architect Christophe Girault, opened in February 2007.
A ceremony is held at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier every 11 November on the anniversary of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 signed by the Entente Powers and Germany in 1918. It was originally decided on 12 November 1919 to bury the unknown soldier’s remains in the Panthéon, but a public letter-writing campaign led to the decision to bury him beneath the Arc de Triomphe. The coffin was put in the chapel on the first floor of the Arc on 10 November 1920, and put in its final resting place on 28 January 1921. The slab on top bears the inscription: Ici repose un soldat français mort pour la Patrie, 1914–1918 (“Here rests a French soldier who died for the Fatherland, 1914–1918”).
The four main sculptural groups on each of the Arc’s pillars are:
The Departure of the Volunteers of 1792, also called La Marseillaise, by François Rude (southern façade, right). This sculptural group celebrates the cause of the French First Republic during the Battle of Valmy. Above the volunteers is the winged personification of Liberty. The group served as a recruitment tool in the early months of World War I and encouraged the French to invest in war loans in 1915–1916.
The Resistance of 1814, by Antoine Étex (northern façade, right). This group commemorates the French Resistance to the Allied Armies during the War of the Sixth Coalition.
The Peace of 1815, by Antoine Étex (northern façade, left). This group commemorates the Treaty of Paris, concluded in that year.
To get a sense of the scale and beauty of the monument, I strongly encourage you to watch teh following virtual tour, which really helps to provide you with that sense.
48°52′25.6″N 2°17′42.1″E
.jpg)
