Arc de Triomphe

Porthos · Arc de Triomphe

The monument was designed by Jean Chalgrin in 1806, and its iconographic program pitted heroically nude French youths against bearded Germanic warriors in chain mail and set the tone for public monuments, with triumphant nationalistic messages, until World War I.

I've tried to see a close up picture of the engravings on the Arc, but I can't fight a good shot on image searches. What are the nude French youths supposed to symoblize? It depicts nude French youths battling Germanic warriors. Is this supposed to represent the Gallic fight against the Germanic peoples, as a symbol of France's history, or what? I know Napoleon was obsessed with re-creating the Roman Empire and uniting the Latin peoples under France, so was this representative of that ambition?

Uriel

Seen it, didn't pay much attention to it. But here's what this travel site has to say on the subject:

http://www.discoverfrance.net/Fra...ges/Headers/hdr_spacer_336699.gif

History

The modern-day Arc de Triomphe, surrounded by a vortex of madcap French drivers. Pedestrians cross at their peril! (Much better to use the underground passage.)

The Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile {ahrk duh tree-ohmf' duh lay-twahl'}, the world's largest triumphal arch, forms the backdrop for an impressive urban ensemble in Paris. The monument surmounts the hill of Chaillot at the center of a star-shaped configuration of 12 radiating avenues. It is the climax of a vista seen the length of the Champs Elysées from the smaller Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel in the Tuileries gardens, and from the Obélisque de Luxor in the place de la Concorde.

In 1806, Napoleon I conceived of a triumphal arch patterned after those of ancient Rome and dedicated to the glory of his imperial armies. The structure was designed by Jean François Thérèse Chalgrin (1739-1811) and completed in 1836 during the reign of Louis Philippe. Its deceptively simple design and immense size, 49.5 m (162 ft) in height, mark it unmistakably as a product of late 18th-century romantic neoclassicism. The arch also serves as a reminder that Chalgrin was a pupil of Etienne Louis Boullée, the father of visionary architecture. The most famous of its sculptural reliefs is La Marseillaise (1833-36) of François Rude. Specific historic associations notwithstanding, the arch has become an emblem of French patriotism.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier commemorates the dead of the two world wars.

Since 1920, the tomb of France's Unknown Soldier has been sheltered underneath the arch. Its eternal flame commemorates the dead of the two world wars, and is rekindled every evening at 6:30. Here, on every Armistice Day (November 11), the President of the Republic lays a ceremonial wreath. On July 14, the French National Day (also known as Bastille Day), a military parade starts at the arch and proceeds down the Champs Elysées. For important occasions of state, and on national holidays, a huge French tricolor is unfurled and hung from the vaulted ceiling inside of the Arch. The last leg of the Tour de France bicycle race also culminates here on the third or fourth Sunday in July.

Physical Description
At the bases of the Arc's pillars are four huge relief sculptures, commemorating The Triumph of 1810 (by Cortot); Resistance, and Peace (both by Etex); and The Departure of the Volunteers, more commonly known as La Marseillaise (by François Rude). On the day the Battle of Verdun started (1916), the sword carried by the figure representing the Republic broke off from La Marseillaise. The relief was immediately hidden to conceal the accident, so that it would not be interpreted as a bad omen.

Engraved around the top of the Arch are the names of major victories won during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods. The names of less important victories, as well as those of 558 generals, can be found on the inside walls. (Generals whose names are underlined died in action.)

I know that previous to the French Revolution, the fussy, ornate, and somewhat effeminate style called Rococo (I call it Baroque Lite) was the favored style of the French court and aristocracy. The masters of the French Revolution went to great pains to use art as a propaganda tool, and one of their tactics was to favor the strong, cleaner and more masculine lines of Neoclassical art, which was very much based on Classical Greek and especially Roman art styles, and was visually the antithesis of Rococo. Didn't hurt that artist Jacques-Louis David was one of the major figures int he Revolution. I think that taste for that style, plus its natural ability to translate well into grand monuments like those of Classical Rome, lived on for some time.

The US did much the same thing after our revolution, by the way -- architecture in Washington, DC was deliberately Neoclassical, to distance the new capital's look from the pointy Gothic architecture favored in London.

Canada, in contrast, deliberately kept the Gothic look for their official architecture as a mark of their loyalty to the Crown.

The feathery, curvilinear Rococo style (The Swing, by Fragonard):

The strong, straight lines and stark, bold lighting of the Neoclassical (Death of Marat, by David):

However, the French fondness for Roman art and for Roman-inspired triumphal arches predates the Revolution as well -- there are several other similar arches that date from the 1600's and are direct influences on this one.

Julian

The Arc de Triomphe

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Left column - The Triumph of Napoleon

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Right column - The Departure of the Volunteers of 1792 (La Marseillaise)

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Left column bas relief - The capture of Alexandria

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Right column bas relief - The crossing of the Arcole Bridge

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Vault

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Porthos

All that's great info, but what about the French youths vs. Germanic warriors? What's that all about?

greg in noord-frankrijk

Ce fameux haut-relief n'est pas composé d'hommes "nus" puisqu'un seul d'entre eux, le plus jeune, ne porte aucun vêtement (le doute est permis pour celui qui courbe le dos).

La figure principale, au corps de femme, est Le génie de la Patrie dont voici une tête.

Cette figure martiale domine la multitude composée de citoyens-soldats qui vont à la mort pour sauver la Patrie des griffes de l'ennemi : le pays est assiégé de toutes parts → par la contre-révolution intérieure (radicalisation des conflits politiques juste avant l'avènement de la Terreur et la proclamation de la République) et par la contre-révolution extérieure (les monarchies étrangères qui fomentent l'invasion de la France pour en extirper le ferment révolutionnaire menaçant de se propager ailleurs en Europe).

Comme Julian le disait, cette œuvre s'appelle « Le Départ des Volontaires de 1792 » ou plus simplement « La Marseillaise ». Elle ne figure pas un combat contre des hordes de barbares "germaniques" mais bien la lutte livrée à la contre-révolution et la défense de la patrie naissante. L'œuvre aborde une époque où la France traversait une période de grands bouleversements, intérieurs et extérieurs.

Porthos

greg in noord-frankrijk

Mon opinion est que l'artiste s'attache à restituer une vision tragico-épique liée aux événements de 1792, quand le mot d'ordre qui circulait alors était « La Patrie en danger ». La fine fleur de la noblesse militaire avait gagné l'étranger (poussant la "perfidie" jusqu'à choisir l'Angleterre, pour certains) alors que l'Autriche et la Prusse se préparaient à envahir la France par le nord-est. Les désertions se comptaient par dizaines de milliers. Le futur Louis XVIII (le frère de Louis XVI) œuvrait pour soulever des régions entières (à l'ouest et au sud) contre la Révolution. La situation semblait désespérée et le combat perdu d'avance car, sur le papier, l'armée française n'était plus que l'ombre d'elle-même face à une conjuration d'ennemis nombreux, puissants, déterminés et redoutables. Mais le contraire se produisit : l'ennemi fut défait. Je pense que c'est l'élan, le sursaut à l'origine de la victoire qui est représenté sur « La Marseillaise » de l'Arc. Ce que résume bien le mot de Danton : « Pour les vaincre, il nous faut de l'audace, encore de l'audace, toujours de l'audace, et la France sera sauvée !». Et l'audace, à cette époque, c'était de parvenir à mobiliser un ensemble de peuples (à peine une Nation) traumatisés par les bouleversements et le danger pour les fédérer contre un ennemi commun.

Pour en revenir au « Départ des Volontaires », il me semble que tous les personnages, glabres ou bien hirsutes et barbus, d'âge mûr ou bien s'apprêtant à livrer leur premier combat, sont tous réunis sous l'égide de la figure féminine ailée qui lance un appel et de son glaive indique la voie de la victoire → à replacer dans son contexte : un monument classicisant destiné à célébrer un triomphe autoproclamé.

Mais d'autres interprétations sont certainement possibles.

fab

Wanderin

Very intresting information. Moscow arc de triumphe was built after victory over Napoleon, it's funny to see that Paris monument depicts his greatness.

Arc de triumphe in Moscow:

Bas relief telling us about the battle near Kremlin wall.

Another pics:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poklonnaya_Hill

Since 1936, the area has been part of Moscow. In the 1960s, they decided to make it the open-air museum dedicated to the Russian victory over Napoleon. The Moscow triumphal arch, erected in wood in 1814 and in marble in 1827 to a design by Osip Bove, was relocated and reconstructed here in 1968. A loghouse, where Kutuzov presided over the Fili conference which decided to surrender Moscow to the enemy, was designated a national monument. The huge panorama "Battle of Borodino" by Franz Roubaud (1910-12) was installed here in 1962.

Wanderin

And I forgot about triumphal arch in St. petersburg, yes, it's devoted to victory over Napoleon as well

The Narva Triumphal Gate (Russian: На́рвские триумфа́льные воро́та) was erected in the vast Narva Square (known as the Stachek Square in Soviet years), Saint Petersburg, in 1814 to commemorate the Russian victory over Napoleon. The wooden structure was constructed on the Narva highway with the purpose of greeting the soldiers who were returning from abroad after their victory over Napoleon. The architect of the original Narva Gate was Giacomo Quarenghi. The program was meant to respond to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, originally erected to celebrate Napoleon's victory over the Allies at Austerlitz

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narva_Triumphal_Gate

fab

outside of roman period, many cities have their arcs, the most famous:

Montpellier;

Marseille (1837);

Nancy, place stanislas, 1751-55;

some other in Paris;

Carousel's; the real napoleonian arc, 1806

less touristically famous, the porte de Saint Denis, 1672.

all are smaller than Etoile's, exepted this last one:

whose architecte is not french, but Danish...

Elaine

What pretty arches. Although, that last one I'm not so wild about. Sadly, the only triumphal arch in my corner of the world is the one in Vegas, which doesn't hold a candle to the ones in Europe.