The first stop was the Musée d'École in the Villa Majorelle. Its
interior was crammed with Art Nouveau furniture, paintings, and other
objects.
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Portrait de M. et Mme Corbin by Victor Prouvé painted in 1906
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This eyecatcher is an example of the Nancy School. The painting depicts
the wealthy class, with a newspaper-reading husband and Madame striking
a pose. The background is filled with decorative glass art, an Art
Nüoveau rose window.
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An Art Nouveau vestibule
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Marcel Corrette: Le goûter sur la terrasse 1938
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And here are Mr. and Mrs. Corbin again, shortly before World War II, having
a snack on the terrace.
Rich people lived in style and sat on a canapé whose back was decorated
with a hard-working Lorraine miner.
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Victor Prouvé: Portrait des Demoiselles Moulins, 1903
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And again, Victor Prouvé: He painted the granddaughters of the orchestra director at the Nancy Opera, all of
whom, of course, play the piano.
Then we went up a flight of stairs to the first floor, where we met ...
... a cluttered bedroom ...
... a bathing paradise (?) ...
... and a contemporary stained-glass window.
It was hot, and those saturated with Art Nouveau gathered in the shade in
front of the museum before the scheduled departure time. Our bus took us
next downtown to Square Stanislas.
We had to walk a few meters and passed the Prefecture of the Department of
Meurthe-et-Moselle.
And there it was in all its splendor, Square Stanislas. For its history, you
may wish to consult the
information (in German) that
Professor Asch sent
to the participants as an email attachment before the excursion.
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To Stanislas, the Benefactor, from a Grateful Lorraine, 1831
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In the background, the rather grand city hall.
The corners of the square are richly decorated with golden arches and
fountains.
In the distance, a slender, pointed, tall church tower could be seen. I
left Square Stanislas, walking down along a street lined with magnificent
buildings and through a triumphal arch, heading in the direction.
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Saint Épvre (©Krzysztof Golik/Wikipedia)
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Suddenly, I found myself standing in front of a Neo-Gothic church. Built in
the 19th century, the cathedral is dedicated to Saint Épvre and is a
landmark of Nancy.
Épvre comes from the Latin
aper, which
literally means "boar."
Saint Épvre was a bishop of Toul in the 5th century.
He is regarded as a particularly compassionate pastor and is said to have
been especially dedicated to helping the poor and the sick.
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Unusual depiction of the Holy Trinity in the Typanon of St. Épvre
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After lunch, the Museum of Fine Arts, located on Square Stanislas, was the
penultimate stop on our excursion. I took many photos, and while looking
through them, I realized that I could use them to illustrate the story of
salvation. Here we go:
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Frans II Pourbus (1569-1622): Annonciation, 1619
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Anonyme flamand XVIe siècle: Adoration des bergers
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Gerard Seghers (1591-1651): Le Christ après la Flagellation,
1525.
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With the pillar of scourging in the background, Jesus bends down to pick up
his clothes.
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Giampietrino (1508-1549): Christ au roseau
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As King of the Jews, Jesus wears a crown of thorns and a reed. Is he
contemplating a second Gethsemane: "Father, must this be?"
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Scene of crucifixion in St. Épvre
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Wilhelm Stetter (1487-1552):
Apparition du Christ à Marie-Madeleine, 1523
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The risen, triumphant Christ.
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Luca Giordano (1634-1705): Conversion de Saint Paul, 1685
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The spread of Christianity began with Saul's conversion near Damascus.
Here are some other painting highlights.
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Paolo Girolamo Piola (1666-1724): Susanne et les veillards,
1700.
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Lecherous old men are much older than in the Old Testament, but here, two of
them try to
seduce Susanna in the bath.
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Georges de La Tour (1593-1652): La femme à la puce, 1638
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Here, you are possibly wrong. The girl isn't unbuttoning her bodice; she's
crushing a flea between her thumbnails.
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Lorraine clearly is the "missing link" between Charles' territories
in Flanders and Burgundy.
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Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, was nicknamed "The Turk of the East"
because of his drive for territorial expansion. In his quest, Charles fought
three decisive battles (
Read more in German).
On March 2, 1476, at the Battle of Grandson against the Swiss Confederates,
he lost his (
Hut) hat.
On June 22 of the same year, at Morat against the allied Swiss,
Lorraine, and Further Austrian troops, he lost his (
Gut) estate.
The following year, the duke, in a final desperate effort,
staked everything on a single gamble. On January 5, 1477, in the Battle of
Nancy against the allied forces, he lost his (
Blut) blood and with it
all his possessions.
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Auguste Feyen-Perrin (1826-1888): Charles le Téméraire, 1865
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The duke was found naked on the battlefield. Why hadn't the looters also
taken the ring from him - the one that a servant is holding out to the
approaching victors as a sign of identification?
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The church rises majestically above the village
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Our last stop was the basilica, St. Nicolas in St. Nicolas de Port.
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St. Nicolas' altar
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As early as 1093, the first church was built to house a finger from
Saint Nicolas' blessing hand, which the crusader Aubert de Varangéville had brought
from Bari in 1090. Due to the large influx of pilgrims, a second,
larger church was built beginning in 1193. It is said that
Joan of Arc
prayed there in 1429 before she saved France.
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A breathtaking view toward the high altar
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The present-day late-Gothic basilica was built starting in 1481 on behalf of
the Duke of Lorraine,
René II, and consecrated in 1560. It is said that the duke was thereby fulfilling
a vow he had made in prayer in 1477, should he defeat the enemy Burgundians
- which he did with the help of his friends in the battle of Nancy.
Only a glance at the floor plan reveals that the church building has a
slight bend. According to ChatGPT, the most likely explanation for the bend is
a combination of structural factors and the lengthy construction period. The
interpretation of it as a symbol of Christ's bowed head is widespread and
theologically appealing, but there is no historical evidence to support this
interpretation for this basilica.
Storks perched on a distant corner of a roof clattered their "
Que Dieu vous
protège."
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