I'm just back from the Saint Malo-Nantes stage of Le Tour de France (it was great, I'll tell you more about it later...) and on the way back from the Montparnasse train station, as the sun was going down on the city , I came across this scene. Gorgeous. This statue is the one of Henri the IVth, it's located on l'Ile de la Cité and it's a replica made in 1818 (the original was made in 1614 but was destroyed during the revolution). The funny part is that the guy who made it, François Lemot, was a Napoleon's supporter and therefore opposed to monarchy. Apparently he hid a few busts of Napoleon in the body of the statue, but there is no actual proof of that!
That sky is amazing -- almost looks as if you watercolored it onto the photo! Only in Paris have I seen I sky with colors so rich!
ReplyDeleteHow do you keep coming up with these great shots? That horse looks like it is ready to jump off that pedestal.
ReplyDeleteHow do you keep coming up with these great shots? That horse looks like it is ready to jump off that pedestal.
ReplyDeleteseen a sky**
ReplyDeleteI get GF for first duplicate on the day!!!!
ReplyDelete(Damn!)
Such a rarity for me, Cali, I assure you. Most days I am not home at this time, and even when I am, there's the fact that I can barely type to save my life. (Translation: I can hunt and peck at about 25 wpm.) Today the timing worked for me, and I felt a burst of inspiration upon seeing that sunset. ;)
ReplyDeleteThat sunset would inspire anyone, Parisian Heart. Congrats on GF. Wear your crown proudly.
ReplyDeleteAhhh le Pont Neuf, so much pic nics there... ;)
ReplyDeleteThe sunset is gorgeous,the sky is so nice. I love Paris in the summer time (summer,really?).
The story about the sculptor is quite fun, I call it artistic prostitution!
Check this out insecula, he would have hiden more things inside ! Very nice sunset on Paris, Eric (it finally stopped raining?), Loic http://brohardphotography.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteWell, Ma Reine, art is good in any form, n'est-ce pas? ;)
ReplyDeleteYes, this is near the Sq. du Vert Galant, right? And what is the place...Dauphine? Ah, oui.
Ooooh Eric -- sooo beautiful! I am swooning. Yes, how do you keep coming up with these fantabulous shots?! I don't care, I don't care, I don't care -- just keep doing it! This is one for Zazzle.
ReplyDeleteMerci.
It is already late here... I was reading through the interesting Wikipedia links: Henri the 4th (interesting back to French History) and Montparnasse station (so many details I didn't know about!)...
ReplyDeleteWow, this is such a sky, fabulous!
I like your title : after the cyclists you saw all the day yesterday riding their bike on the Tour de France, you've been tempted by Henri the 4th statue riding a horse through Paris!! lol
I heard from the news that yesterday stage from St Malo to Nantes was a good operation for the French(a french winner for this stage and a french holder of the famous Yellow shirt!!). Il devait y avoir de l'ambiance!
Eric, this is indeed beautiful. Do you ever take a bad photo?
ReplyDeletePurple and orange! My two favorite colors together. I guess that rain is good for something, because you got another gorgeous photo out of it.
ReplyDeleteGros bisous
Exquisite! It's good to be king! And the pigeons adore him too. These majestic statues always make me think of Oscar Wilde's "The Happy Prince", so instead of pigeons, I'll say "the swallows adore him."
ReplyDeleteBTW--Henry IV, the good king, was somewhat of a modern city planner as well. Indeed, he was a visionary with an eye on more than just French women...try the future of Paris. Baron von Hausmann had to have looked to Henry's methods of urbanization. Space was important to both these fellows. Henry's architectural style can be enjoyed whenever you step on over to the Place des Vosges or walk on le pont Neuf. I wonder if he was the man behind the 384 mascarons that adorn le pont?
Eric: Everyone has said it, but I must repeat -- oh la la, the Parisian sky. You are so good at capturing that special light.
ReplyDeleteGuille -- I once sent a model on an assignment in Russia, and she brought me back a gift of 10 pounds of caviar. What do you do with that much caviar? You tell all your friends to meet you in the Square du Vert Galant and bring a spoon, and you have a caviar-and-Champagne pique-nique. It's still one of my favorite Paris picnic spots.
Beautiful sky!
ReplyDelete(I think you could hide 2 or 3 full body size statues of Napoleon in this one, no? ;)
What a gorgeous photo! Well done!!
ReplyDeleteThis picture is so hauntingly beautiful. It reminds me somewhat of your picture of the de Gaulle statue--one of my favorites! But so is the picture of the stuffed rats,really! I got such joy at the discovery of it. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteSilhouette in the Sun...it's a lyric from a 50's rock song. Can't remember which song but this photo reminds of the song. A fine photograph indeed.
ReplyDeleteI check your blog every day and have never left a comment. I just love your photos - it makes me feel like I am in Paris (one day, I hope I will be).
ReplyDeleteThank you for the BEAUTIFUL photographs!! I just love your blog!
I am usually a day behind if and when I comment but not tonight. That's a spectacular image. Perfect silhouette and an amzing sky. Only in nature do the most opposing colours blend perfectly. Now I must bid you goodnight and dream of Parisian Landscapes, sipping the strongest black coffee to the sounds of Jacques Brel.
ReplyDeleteEric, Very romantic ending to a beautiful day. Sounds like you had a wonderful time -- (I read between the lines). Merci for the lovely photo and history about the statue.
ReplyDeleteAlexa, Love the caviar story -- thanks for sharing it :)
phx, I thought you were joking about the packing. hahahaha
Coltrane, Thanks for more details about Henry IV. He is one of France's most beloved kings.
Hello! I LOVE your pictures. I went to Paris when I was 16 and fell in love and have never been back since. Since you take requests, could you take a picture of the city on top of this department store, I think it's called Le Sandmartin or something like it. They have a cafe on top of this huge building that you can overlook the city. I remember at sunset, it was just beautiful! I remain a faithful viewer!
ReplyDelete-Melissa from Maryland
the barrick times -- it's called La Samaritaine, and I love that view too. Unfortunately, it's been closed for a while. Go to Eric's archives and see his post from June 23, 2006.
ReplyDeletebtw, keep coming here every day, and I bet you'll go back to Paris!
i come by time to time. enjoy the pictures. would love to see more of daily photographs of people walking in the streets, the fashion, the day to day wear, shops, perhaps even the view from outside your residence and just how simple people live on a daily basis. i am always curious what daily life is like for other countries. like here in the US, you know there' a line outside the starbucks drive thru- sad but true and i'm not one of them thankfully.
ReplyDeletebut even school children walking, maybe the ethnic communities and their places of worship, like a mosque in the middle of a neighborhood kinda thing. just throwing it out there. i love to see the homes, like what do homes look like? maybe even from the inside bc i do enjoy architecture.
Nice picture and wonderful sky !
ReplyDeleteIt is "un mal pour un bien", sorry I can't say it in English.
Meaning that when the weather hasn't been so nice during the day, with clouds and rain, the sunsets are just gorgeous ! Perhaps just a way to apologize, LOL.
Eric,
ReplyDeleteI started the first Daily Photo site for Costa Rica about a month ago and want to acknowledge my gratitude and respect for your creativity in Paris Daily Photo and in launching the Daily Photo sites.
To try to parallel your photo today of a silhouette of a royal statue against the Parisian sky, I have today posted a photo of my son silhouetted against a fiery Costa Rican sunset, with the waves crashing at his feet. (It was the most analogous photo I could post, as we do not have any equestrian statues, or statues of any kind, for that matter, in Tamarindo, Costa Rica.
By the way, I have loved your site for a long time, as I have visited Paris four times, including my honeymoon.
Does the universe open for you when you pass by with your camera?
ReplyDeleteConsider yourself served with an a blog award. Drop by to collect on my Tuesdays post. It's just a bit of fun.
ReplyDeleteA bit of recognition for your hard work.
Hey David Good luck with your blog :).
ReplyDeleteColtrane_lives
What I love most about Henry IV was his attitude to religion. Even in a time where people were extremely narrow mind about such matters he had the guts to say no to the extremists.
Alexa
Maybe you will make it for the next picnic. Or the one after! Don't forget the caviar!
Ahhh..le Vert Galant...comme moi! ;-) Merci, Eric...looks like another beautiful day in Paradise!
ReplyDeleteWe have a similar statue in Mumbai of Chatrapati Shivaji. I am going to email it to you.
ReplyDeleteWhatever it's history, you've given Henri the IVth a proud heritage with this photo Eric. I'm very fond of silhouettes.
ReplyDeleteSuch a peaceful looking sky.
ReplyDeleteAnd such a juicy tidbit—of course, no one will every know, unless they break the statue to find out. ;)
Rose...you make an excellent point. Too bad he was assassinated by a religious fanatic, Francois Ravaillac. Ol' Francois claimed he had a vision, and in it he was instructed to persuade the good king to convert the Huguenots to Catholicism. When he thought Henry was going to declare war against the Pope, he decided to murder him with his trusty dagger. Ravaillac himself was put to death by torture...drawn and quartered, scalded with hot sulphur, lead, and oils, and flesh ripped in a barbaric fashion. Eeks! Ah, thank god for the Age of Enlightenment and Reason. Henry's life is one that I've always found extremely fascinating [I'm sure you can tell].
ReplyDeleteOne more interesting note on King Henry (this mainly goes to the American bloggers)...American President Herbert Hoover's 1928 campaign promise "to put a chicken in every pot" can actually be traced back to Henry IV who wished that "each peasant would have a chicken in his pot every Sunday." Ah, "plus c'est la meme chose, plus ca change!" ;-)
ReplyDeleteSo much awesome history! Oh I'm going to melt in a puddle of goo for both the beauty and the education!
ReplyDeletelydia-I think you're right, the universe simply must open the most perfect opportunities for eric and his camera when he's out and about.
coltrane-Are you a history teacher? Nice new photo! ;o)
Oh hey eric, I wanted to get your thought on this. Just read an article that says polls find the French to be almost the worst tourists in the world both abroad and at home! I don't believe it, personally. The French just have high standards (and rightly so), right?
Let's not forget that the slaughter of the Protestants was orchestrated by Henry's queen, Marie de Medici, on St. Bartholemew's Day in 1572. Or is my history funky?
ReplyDeleteI love history and these details have always fascinated me.
ReplyDeleteNice pic :)
Jeff
ReplyDeleteHenri's queen was Marguerite de Valois. Catherine de Medici was his mother-in-law. With a few other Catholic leaders she used the wedding day to lure the protestants into Paris and kill them all.
Ah, yes, thank you Rose. Upon further research, I accept my error. We colonists are not good at tracking royal lineages, as we have not had formal blood lines of royalty.
ReplyDelete(We just have wealthy people who assume they are monarchs and act as if their wishes are law.)
Marylène, I wonder if the loose English translation of the phrase "un mal pour un bien" would be "taking the bad with the good."
ReplyDeleteSoosha...No, I'm not a history teacher, but I do love history. I teach English (Writing Composition and American literature). Also, like you and others on this blog, I LOVE to READ...in my case, anything really. I give my parents a lot of credit for taking me to the library ALL the time when I was a geeky kid. Thinking back on my youth, I think my parents were just being frugal (they figured why buy the kid a book when he can easily borrow it from the library). Yes, you've guessed it, I admit it, I was the nerdy kid in the chess club!
ReplyDeleteBTW...thanks for noticing the new profile shot. That's actually a photo of a photo of me standing next to one of my favorite French poets in the Musee D'Orsay. Can you guess his name? (clue...he is well known by just one name starting with "M" and he too taught English, though not very well.)
Coltrane, would he (your poet) have been able to write it:
ReplyDelete"Le temple enseveli divulgue par la bouche
Sépulcrale d'égout bavant boue et rubis
Abominablement quelque idole Anubis
Tout le museau flambé comme un aboi farouche
Ou que le gaz récent torde la mèche louche
Essuyeuse on le sait des opprobres subis
Il allume hagard un immortel pubis
Dont le vol selon le réverbère découche
Quel feuillage séché dans les cités sans soir
Votif pourra bénir comme elle se rasseoir
Contre le marbre vainement de Baudelaire
Au voile qui la ceint absente avec frissons
Celle son Ombre même un poison tutélaire
Toujours à respirer si nous en périssons. " ?
If his name is Etienne OR Stéphane, I know who is it.;)
Nice picture btw.
Guille...Bravo, you have made my day! I would like to say that I was named after him, but that is not the case! Thanks for resurrecting him. Mallarme lives! BTW...the painting of him was done by E.Manet. I'm sure you've heard of him too. ;-)
ReplyDeleteGuille...also MERCI for including the poem "Le Tombeau de Charles Baudelaire." I have always loved the third stanza (translated here by Henry Weinfield into English):
ReplyDelete"What wreaths dried out in cities without prayer
Of night could bless like that which settles down
Vainly against the marble of Baudelaire". I've also got a photo of moi standing next to Baudelaire's statue in Jardin du Luxembourg. Am I a nerd or what?
Coltrane, no merit, I study art history and Manet is just INESCAPABLE. I recognized the painting/painter more than the portrait to be honest... :) What's more, they were few to speak English!
ReplyDeleteAbout the poem, it put it because I'm fan of Baudelaire.
Yes, you're a nerd. LOL but an interesting one!!
And thx for the English translation!
Coltrane bis, hmm well I notice that when one cliks on your picture, it's written "Steve and Mallarme", I swear I didn't see that before!!
ReplyDeleteGuille...Geez! I'm not so smart! I didn't even consider that!
ReplyDeleteBrat
ReplyDeleteYou are too clever for us! :) x
Hooray for nerds! I never would have guessed your poet, much as I try I've never been able to get into poetry very much. One of my biggest flaws, imho (mainly because my goal of reading everything ever written can't be accomplished because of it)!
ReplyDeleteAhhhhhh Paris.... Is it only a dream? You are such a blessing sharing your photographs, Thank you :)
ReplyDeleteI did try, but did not recognize the Manet in Coltrane's photo. Good job, Reine Guille.
ReplyDeleteBtw, I was in the museum here and we have a small exhibit of lithographs. Several Art Nouveau gems as well as some Toulouse-Latrec posters. Yes, the famous ones of Aristide Bruant. Quite fun to see. Reminded me of being back in the Musee d'Orsay. (I may digress, but always bring you back to the topic that started it all.)
> Parisian heart. No, I did not add more color!
ReplyDelete> Guille "I love Paris in the summer time (summer,really?)." Yeah, really???
> Loïc "(it finally stopped raining?" No... Now it's COLD and RAINY!
> Corinne "after the cyclists you saw all the day yesterday riding their bike on the Tour de France, you've been tempted by Henri the 4th statue riding a horse through Paris!! lol" LOL! I did not think of that, but who knows, maybe ;)
> Kelly "Do you ever take a bad photo?" Oh yes! I can show you many ;)
> Alexa "What do you do with that much caviar? You tell all your friends to meet you in the Square du Vert Galant and bring a spoon, and you have a caviar-and-Champagne pique-nique." Now, that's an idea!
> PHX-CDG "It reminds me somewhat of your picture of the de Gaulle statue--one of my favorites! But so is the picture of the stuffed rats,really! I". That is what I call having eclectic tastes!
> Disneypal "Thank you for the BEAUTIFUL photographs!! I just love your blog!" Well, thank YOU!
> The Barrick Times "Since you take requests, could you take a picture of the city on top of this department store, I think it's called Le Sandmartin or something like it." Well, no, I'm sorry, I can't because the Sandmartin (or rather, La Samaritaine) is closed now as Alexa pointed it out. Thank you for retrieving the post Alexa ;)
> MM. I have taken several street scenes, but I'm always reluctant to take people because the French law is pretty strict when it comes to showing people from the front.
> David. Well I've never been to Costa Rica, but your photo really makes me feel like I should visit it right away ;) you have no statues in Tamarindo?? Really.
> Lydia "Does the universe open for you when you pass by with your camera?" How cute is that comment?!
> Brett. Merci. I just collected it on 365to42 ! unfortunately I cannot participate myself as I only post "one photo a day about Paris with a 6 line caption". Those are the rules and they are strict LOL!
> Rose "Alexa
Maybe you will make it for the next picnic. Or the one after! Don't forget the caviar!" LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!
> Tonton "Ahhh..le Vert Galant...comme moi! ;-)" What part is you? "toujours vert" (which means always in good shape in French) or Galant (which means "behave like a real a gentleman with the ladies" ?
> Myah. Thank you, I just posted it here, so that everyone can see it
> Coltrane "President Herbert Hoover's 1928 campaign promise "to put a chicken in every pot" can actually be traced back to Henry IV who wished that "each peasant would have a chicken in his pot every Sunday." Ah, "plus c'est la meme chose, plus ca change!" ;-)"I did not know about Herbert Hoover, but of course, I knew about Henri Iv. You learn this at school when you are very young in France (imagine, a piece of history linked to food LOL).
> Soosha "Oh hey Eric, I wanted to get your thought on this. Just read an article that says polls find the French to be almost the worst tourists in the world both abroad and at home! I don't believe it, personally. The French just have high standards (and rightly so), right?" I know, Vicky Hugo sent it to me, but I wanted to keep it quiet LOL. I don't know actually. I think the French have many flaws, but I would not put "bad tourist" as the first one!
> Coltrane "Yes, you've guessed it, I admit it, I was the nerdy kid in the chess club!" LOL.
Wow, what a beautiful photo. The sky is very fitting for this photo and the statue.
ReplyDeleteI read about Henri (in fact the very wiki link you have) just on the 7th, when the wiki home page offered up the Treaty of Nemours as one of the "events" of that day in history. In fact, I even wondered to myself if you'd ever done a picture of his statue!! Weird coincidence.
ReplyDeleteSuzy, thank you for the translation, I think it is indeed a perfect one.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photo, as usual, Eric. Someday I long to see these places for myself!
ReplyDeleteOops! So sorry, eric!
ReplyDeleteEric - I am still waiting to see the photos from Le Tour de France. I am avidly watching from home, but would love to see your photos from the St. Malo - Nantes stage.
ReplyDelete