He has lost six of his claws and could be appalled. But he still has a proud eye and a haughty bearing. The golden eagle is the guardian of one of Nancy’s most beautiful monuments. But also one of the least visible: the tomb of Catherine Opalinska, mourned wife of Duke Stanislas. A mausoleum erected in 1749 by Nicolas Sébastien Adam, one of the members of the prolific family of Nancy sculptors.
More than a work, it is a momentum. The elevation of a soul-woman in prayer, gaze turned towards the heavens, whom an angel already in suspense invites to accompany her. Eden awaits him.
The farandole of the drapes, the finely serrated bustier, the wings of an almost palpable sensuality, the energetic diagonal of the staircase composition (the deceased still on the ground, the angel already perched on the nebula), everything contributes to magnetize the gaze of the visitor as if in a hurry to fly away. Subjugated.
A church-tomb
“But when they arrive, notes the caretaker, it’s systematic: visitors first ask me where Stanislas’ tomb is. Answer: directly opposite.
If not its masterpiece, it is the duke’s mausoleum that is the star of the scene. The very reason that prompted the City to exceptionally open the doors of the Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours church for a few hours a week in the summer.
“Here he is at last, from time. Florence, an art historian, did not want to take her train back to Paris without having been able to contemplate the famous tomb. “It’s not for lack of knowing him, at least on paper. But it was well worth making the trip to see it live. »
Unmissable, indeed, the work of Claude-Louis Vassé, even if the sculptor took refuge in a classicism of good quality compared to the lyricism of Mr. Adam. But the ducal mausoleum alone justifies the existence of this church housed on the borders of Nancy and Jarville: Stanislas had it built for one day to rest there. A church-tomb, whose construction (1737-1741) was entrusted to its architect Emmanuel Héré.
Anyone who trusts only the facade could be mistaken. A little austere to the eye, narrow, not to say skimpy, it hides a real little baroque gem with some frankly rococo inlays.
Art is on display from floor to ceiling! Strings of polychrome statues of saints on the walls, trompe-l’oeil fresco and stucco under the vault, false draperies, pulpit crafted with a thousand and one details of great finesse or even pale and delicate stained glass windows on the sides.
The human race under his mantle
In the choir, on the contrary, the color sets the light ablaze. And on its shelves, the highlight of the show: Notre Dame de Bonsecours herself. A sculpture signed Mansuy Gauvin in 1505. This protective virgin now housed at the back of the apse once sat enthroned in “the Burgundian chapel”, erected here in the time of René II to celebrate the victory over Charles the Bold.
And in the folds of his cloak, found refuge – humble, tearful figurines – nothing less than the human race! To admire it is a little to contemplate ourselves…
Open every Sunday (2 p.m. to 6 p.m.) and Thursdays (2 p.m. to 5 p.m.) until September 24, free admission.
Stone heart
In addition to the tombs of Stanislas and his wife Catherine Opalinska, two smaller mausoleums also appear in the choir, including that of François-Maximilien Ossolinski, cousin of the Duke, who also benefited from the talent of Nicolas-Sébastien Adam. There is especially that of Marie Leszczynska, Queen of France, wife of Louis XV but also daughter of Duke Stanislas. Originally from Lorraine, she had expressed the wish to return a bit of herself post-mortem to her native land. If his body lies today in the Saint-Denis basilica, his heart rests in the Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours church, in a small monument signed Claude-Louis Vassé (like that of his father), where two cherubs sit enthroned, one of which brandishes a heart of marble in his palms.
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