The Musée de Cluny garden

This view of the museum garden, dating from 1882, is an oil on canvas by the painter François Henri Alexandre Lafond.

It depicts the northern gable of the chapel of the mediaeval private residence of the abbots of Cluny and touches some of the stone elements that adorned the public garden behind the museum. Choosing to depict it at the end of the winter season highlights the architecture, which is no longer hidden by tree foliage.

François Henri Alexandre Lafond (1815-1901), a student of Ingres from 1830 to 1838, was the director of the Limoges école des Beaux-arts until 1873, when he moved back to Paris. While he primarily painted portraits, the Musée de Cluny served as a continual source of inspiration for him. In 1880, he painted the eastern passage between the remains of the baths and the mediaeval residence (Cl. 23654).

The view of the garden chosen for this painting is unique in more than one way. Lafond has framed the north gable of the chapel, newly created by Albert Lenoir in 1861, from a north-west viewpoint.

The presence of stone elements serves as a reminder that the garden, created around twenty years earlier, resonates with the collections displayed indoors. The tombstone of Jean de Mallet (Cl. 18819) is in the foreground, accompanied by one of the apostles of the Holy Chapel. This is the only evidence that these sculptures were displayed outdoors, as suggested by the black layer that covered them.

The painting also provides the only view of the condition of this part of the remains before they were modified in 1884.