THE GODDESS'S DESCENDANTS

 

THE NEWLY RICH OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION COPY THE NOBLES' CODE

 

Politically and economically victorious but socially insecure, they model their culture on that of the prestigious vanquished. That art gives...

• Gravitas to monuments.

Zoom

Paris's place de la République, 1883

 New York Bay, Statue of Liberty web site

New York's Statue of Liberty, 1889

• Dignity and elegance to daily life.

At the "Alma Marceau" bus stop in the upscale 8th.

# # #

Many of these figures adorn buildings in the former working-class neighborhoods, torn down after the insurrections of 1848...

 Zoom

 The insurrection of February 1848. That of June 1848 was much more terrifying.

Corner of rue Saint-Denis and rue de Turbigo, 2nd

Or that burned down at the end of La Commune:

• The nude at the summit of the rebuilt Law Court, set ablaze on May 24, 1871.

      

Zoom

 

• The Gobelins manufactory  

 Fires during the Commune, lithograph, 1871 / zoom

• Across the street:

The majestic or gracious figures

help explain why the city's insurrectionary past 

is so hard to imagine.  

End of this section.

*    *    *

Next section,

II.7.

What Opéra tours won't say:

Observation and the usual story clash