The Place des Pyramides

In May 1871, in the last days of the Paris Commune, fire gutted the Tuileries palace and with it the Pavillon de Marsan, the wing that meets the rue de Rivoli. Four years later De Nittis set up in the place des Pyramides and painted the pavilion while it was being rebuilt, wrapped in a tall cage of timber scaffolding. Along its base runs a hoarding plastered with posters. An omnibus pushes through the crowd, a girl in a pale coat hurries across the wet paving, and a small brown dog trots alone in the open. On the square stands Emmanuel Frémiet's equestrian Joan of Arc, put up in 1874. De Nittis showed the picture at the Salon of 1876. He later bought it back from his dealer, Adolphe Goupil, so that he could give it to the French State.