246 NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. II. The history of the sepulture of the kings and princes ; of the violation of their tombs ; of the exhumati6n of the remains of St. Denis ; indication and description of the tombs destroyed in 1793 ; removal of the figures to Paris and their restoration to St. Denis. III. Description of the monuments of the upper church. IV. The crypt, its vaults, chapels, and tombs. In the first part is contained also a short account of the recent restorations of the church, and its decoration with polychrome. The author is a member of the " Comite des Arts et Monumens," and was charged by the govern- ment with the study of these tombs in concert with the architect M. VioUet- Leduc, this summary of his researches may be considered as an authentic report of their proceedings. It must be observed that the whole of this valuable series of effigies was not originally at St. Denis. They were pre- served by the zealous efforts of Le Noir, during the destruction of the con- ventual churches in Paris and elsewhere, in the French revolution, and composed the interesting museum of the Petits xugustins, now the Palais des Beaux Arts, in Paris. Some of the most curious examples were then removed from the churches of the Jacobins and the Cordeliers, in that city. The collection was dispersed at the restoration, and all the memorials in any manner connected with the crown were removed to St. Denis : the catalogue of this museum was repeatedly published by Le Noir, and forms a valuable portion of his " Monumens Francais," and "Histoire des Arts en France." These vestiges of regal and aristocratic greatness had been rescued with the utmost difficulty and personal danger. We are assured that in the first arrangement of the tombs brought from that museum, when difficulties occurred in identifying the different figures, the architect charged at that time with the direction of the restorations was aided by accurate draw- ings made by the late Mr. Kerrich, librarian to the University of Cambridge, and now preserved in the British Museum. Mr. Kerrich executed also several beautiful etchings of these memorials, the more interesting as having given the impulse to the late Charles Stothard to undertake his incomparable work on monumental effigies. These etchings and the detailed notes from Mr. Kerrich's collections, taken in 1785, previously to the destruction of the churches in which many of the figures now at St. Denis had originally been placed, proved of material value as more distinct evidence for their identification than had been preserved in France^. When any of our readers happen to be in Paris, we need not urge them to visit St. Denis, but it may be a useful hint to them to go there on a Thursday in pre- ference, as M. Viollet-Leduc is usually there on that day every week, and his intelligence and urbanity will render the visit both more agreeable and more profitable ; permission should be asked to see the museum or col- lection of fragments which have been found and are preserved in a work-, shop adjoining to the church : many of these are very curious and interest- ing. We are glad to take this opportunity also of expressing our admiration f We believe that tlu'se evidences re- before the king of the French, who took a garding the tombs at St. Denis were col- very lively interest in the correct appro- lected and communicated to the architect, priation of these sepulchral memorials. Mons.Debret, by Mr. Albert Way, and laid
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