The little marble "Mercure" (1741) of Jean-Baptiste Pigalle is almost wholly Berninian, except in its intimacy and deliberate unpretentiousness; even in Pigalle's most ambitious undertakings, the relative scale of the figures is much reduced and the whole composition opened up, in contrast to Bernini's tombs.
THE ROOMS The new owners halved the number of standard rooms in the old Mercure to 78; now all have sofas and vestibules with expensive minibars.
It was a beautiful hotel, called the Mercure, with panoramic views of Aden harbor.
One of the first appearances of the term realism was in the Mercure français du XIXe siècle in 1826, in which the word is used to describe a doctrine based not upon imitating past artistic achievements but upon the truthful and accurate depiction of the models that nature and contemporary life offer the artist.
While Villeneuve escaped, British ships received the surrender of Heureux and Mercure, which had grounded shortly after the explosion of Orient, and forced the captain of the frigate Artémise to scuttle his vessel.
It made its way in Europe through the journal and publishing house of the Mercure de France, cofounded by Alfred Vallette and Remy de Gourmont.
He wrote criticism for and was editor of the Mercure de France, becoming respected, though often disliked, for his unsympathetic views.
The lighter type of magazine, or "periodical of amusement," may be dated from 1672, which saw the first appearance of Le Mercure Galant (renamed Mercure de France in 1714).
It looked to her more like a Mercure — the French equivalent of a midlevel Marriott — than a four-star hotel, she said.
Though a member of the Mercure chain, it was anything but bland and was a cut above the usual modestly priced French hotel.
When "Patrick Jouin: Design and Gesture" closes at the Museum of Arts and Design on Sunday, seven of the Mercure wall fixtures from the exhibition will be sold at half price through the museum (regularly $1,270, they will be $635 2 2 Columbus Circle (59th Street); (212) 212-7700.
