Exhibition in Paris: Cluny looks at medieval Toulouse
It’s pretty sharp! But in today’s cultural world, which takes things easy in terms of exhibitions, finally chooses it reassuringly. It’s not just for the all-comers, supposed to bring everyone. Reopened last May after years of work, the Cluny Museum thus escapes the prevailing madness. The Louvre or Orsay (but not Beaubourg!) have indeed found their crowds of 2019 this fall. Suffice to say that the public pays dearly for it. By part timeouts. Then by the narrowness of the field of vision. There is always someone to come and butcher it for you!
Long renovation
Or else, the Cluny Museum is today offering the first temporary manifestation of its new version. It will take place as before in the frigidarium of the old thermal baths of Lutèce. In other words, the vaults are Roman. The subject, given the location, could only turn out to be medieval. This is the fourteenth century in Toulouse. The collection of works is partly made possible by the prolonged closure of the Musée des Augustins in the “Pink City”, which has finally undertaken renovation work. It must be said that it is in a monstrous state of dilapidation. A previous campaign had however refurbished it in the 1970s. How could the place have deteriorated so quickly?
The 14th century formed a fairly rapid period for Toulouse despite the plague epidemics, violent as everywhere between 1348 and 1350, then endemic. The pandemic (there, the word is needed!) has hit hard. The city contained about 35,000 inhabitants in 1330, which was a lot for the time. Around 1400, there were only 22,000 left. The fall was partly also the result of the Hundred Years’ War. Commissioners also report impoverishment. Half the population was no longer able to pay taxes. That said, I fear that things are going differently in France today. A France of which Toulouse had been a part since the death of Jeanne de Toulouse in 1271. Married to a brother of Saint Louis, the Countess had no children, at least living ones. Toulouse could indeed legally “fall into a distaff”, which in reality only ever means “pass into female hands”… Jeanne’s estate therefore passed into the hands of her nephew, King Philippe III, known as “the Bold “.
Episcopal patronage
Miraculously preserved when her tomb was dismembered during the Revolution, Jeanne’s somewhat conventional face opens the exhibition, which is modest in size. This includes goldsmithery, manuscripts (more than 150 illuminated manuscripts remain in Toulouse), sculptures and even a few rare paintings. Pamplona, which is in Spain, thus lent a marvelous “Crucifixion” with a gold background from the years 1310-1320. There are also beautiful statues there, saved at the time of the destruction of medieval monuments suffered by the city under the Empire and the restoration (1). Many come from the patronage of Bishop Jean Tissandier, who died in 1348. They combine elegance and expressiveness. Among the precious metal objects, it should be noted, attributed by the Louvre, one of the two reliquary angels that ended up in the royal treasury via Brittany, attributed in point by his Duchess Anne around 1500. Excellent provenance!
An important part of the exhibition, put together by Charlotte Riou and Béatrice de Chancel-Baudelot, appears to be of a literary nature. In 1323, the Consistory of Gay Knowledge was founded in Toulouse to support poetic creation in Occitan. First competition in 1324. We know the posterity that these games will have, even if they will not take place in Occitan since the end of the 17th century. Louis XIV wanted French after transforming the Consistory into an Academy. Centralism has begun. One king, one faith, one law. A unique language too…
(1) The Revolution is still incriminated. Fake ! The worst of the sacking took place between 1800 and 1840, hence the establishment of historical monuments in 1840, with a first list.
Practice
“Toulouse 1300-1400, The brilliance of a southern Gothic”, Cluny Museum, 28, rue du Sommerard, Paris, until January 22, 2023. Tel. 00331 53 73 78 00, website www.musee-moyenage.fr (a disaster) Open Tuesday to Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 6:15 p.m.
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– Cluny takes a look at medieval Toulouse
The Middle Ages Museum looks to the city in the 14th century for its first temporary proposal after it reopens in May. It’s pretty sharp!