Paris, Choir of the Basilica of St. Geneviève (Panthéon) during the Second Empire
1852
Imagine standing in the Panthéon in 1852, right after Napoleon III decided to turn this secular temple back into a church. Jules Victor Génisson paints this massive space with incredible precision, focusing on the dark, carved wooden choir stalls that line the walls like a fortress of faith. In the center, a bishop and his acolytes perform a ceremony, bathed in the golden light streaming from the distant arches. It’s a beautiful record of a building that couldn't make up its mind—it’s been a church, a mausoleum for French heroes like Voltaire, and a church again, all within a century!
- Technique
- Oil painting