Art and decoration
The dome of the choir displays the painting The Eternal Father, Christ and the Virgin, by Abel de Pujol (1787–1861). Pujol was a student Jacques-Louis David and received the Prize of Rome in 1811. He participated in the decoration of the Louvre, the Palais Brongniart and the Château de Fontainebleau.
The decoration of the choir includes a trompe-l'oeil painting imitating a sculptured frieze depicting Saint Denys preaching to the Gauls, also by Pujol. Pujol expressed his admiration for Michelangelo and the Italian Renaissance in the large, expressive figures and their costumes. [6] The altar of the church is a modern work (1995) by sculptor Marc Couturier. [7]
The Chapel of Sainte-Genevieve, to the left of the entrance, displays the most famous work in the church, The Pieta or Deposition from the Cross by Eugene Delacroix, showing the suffering of the Virgin Mary as she holds the body of Christ on her knees. Delacroix wrote later that he preferred to paint the work in the church on Sundays: "The music of the mass greatly exalted me." Delacroix also avoided idealizing the subjects, showing their humanity. The poet and essayist Charles Baudelaire wrote about the painting, "This masterpiece left in my spirit a profound trench of melancholy". [8]
Stained-glass windows
The 19th-century stained-glass windows have a large amount of white glass, to increase the amount of light in the church. The colors change with the light throughout the day.
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