Freemasonry and the Visual Arts From the Eighteenth Century Forward by Reva Wolf;Alisa Luxenberg;

Author:Reva Wolf;Alisa Luxenberg; [Luxenberg, Reva Wolf and Alisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781501337970
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Published: 2019-09-19T00:00:00+00:00

Figure 6.1 Louis Atthalin, La grande Maison des Andelys, c. 1824, lithograph, in Charles Nodier, Justin Taylor, and Alphonse de Cailleux, Voyages pittoresques et romantiques dans l’ancienne France: Ancienne Normandie, v. 2, 1825, pl. 191. Photo: Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.

As Roger Chartier contends, scholars have often overlooked the meanings that are produced from the gaps between “the text itself, the object that conveys the text, and the act that grasps it.”41 In its folio size, numerous volumes, and dense texts, the Voyages pittoresques was analogous to the act of building; it looked like a “monument,” as Taylor and Nodier frequently referred to their publication.42 So did their friend Victor Hugo, son of a Mason, and another advocate for preserving historical architecture.43 “If things continue at this rate,” Hugo wrote, “soon France will no longer retain any national monument other than Voyages pittoresques et romantiques.”44

A fundamental aspect of Voyages pittoresques that resonates with Freemasonry is travel. The publication’s title and content evoke touring, and Taylor and his collaborators frequently journeyed to the sites to draw on the spot. As if to recall this practice, many of the illustrations include a figure drawing the scene (Figs. 6.2–6.4). One biographer characterized travel as an integral part of the book’s difficult and worthy aim:

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