1845 Arnout View of La Madeleine, Paris, France

This is a c. 1845 Jean-Baptiste Arnout view of the église de la Madeleine in Paris, France. A beautiful piece, the Madeleine, situated on the Place de la Madeleine in Paris's 8th arrondissement, is illustrated from a slightly off-center perspective, allowing for a lovely illustration of Corinthian columns along the side. Parisians in carriages, on horseback, and on foot traverse the Place de la Madeleine and numerous individuals climb the steps into the church. The history of the Madeleine is one that encapsulates the many political changes in France during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

L'Église de la Madeleine

A church has stood in the neighborhood where the Madeleine now stands since 1238, when the settlement it served was not yet part of Paris, rather a village under the control of the bishop of Paris. After the city annexed this village in 1722, the government made the decision to build a grand new church to serve the neighborhood. Construction began on what became the Madeleine on August 3, 1763, when King Louis XV placed the first stone. Construction was halted due to the French Revolution, when the National Assembly officially stopped construction. During the revolutionary years, the cellar was leased to a wine seller, artisans, and other businesses. There was even a push to install the Bibliothèque nationale or the Opera there. In February 1896, the government tried to lease the building to the Banque de France, but they determined it too far from the business district. Ten months later, in December, the question of what to do with the abandoned church was finally settled by Napoleon: who converted into a temple glorifying the French army. In 1812, nonetheless, Napoleon returned to the original plan of a church. With the Bourbon Restoration after Napoleon's defeat in 1815, Louis XVIII declared that the church would become a monument to Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, and Madame Élisabeth. Then, following the Revolution of 1830, King Louis Philippe, made the building Paris's first train station. This idea was short-lived, with Louis Philippe, like others before him, returning building to its original intended use. The church was consecrated on October 9, 1845.

Publication History and Census

This view was drawn by Jean-Baptiste Arnout, printed by Rose-Joseph Lemercier, and published by Henri Jeannin. We note only one other instance when the present view was offered on the private market and that example was uncolored. We have not located any verifiable cataloged examples in institutional collections.