19th century FRENCH SCHOOL The abbot Tournus... Lot 29

19th century FRENCH SCHOOL The abbot Tournus with the deacon Pâris on the way to Port Royal, or "The pilgrimage of piety". After Jean RESTOUT (Rouen 1692- Paris 1768) Oil on canvas, lined 104,5 x 135 cm Abbot Louis-Firmin Tournus (1672-1733), former parish priest of the diocese of Lyon, was the companion and spiritual guide of the young deacon François Pâris (1690-1727), who became an important figure of Jansenism. He was also the confessor of Louis-Basile Carré de Montgeron (1686-1754), a French writer and magistrate, defender of Jansenism and of the convulsionaries. These three characters are linked to the Jansenist movement which developed in France following the promulgation in 1713 of the Unigenitus Dei Filius bull and of which Jean Restout was one of the representatives. The edifying life of the deacon Pâris impressed people, and after his death it was rumoured that miracles were performed on his tomb in the Saint Médard cemetery. The cemetery then became the scene of ecstasies and collective convulsions which led the authorities to close the cemetery in 1732.