Sitting a relaxed guard with its front paws uncharacteristically crossed and sporting a rather original coif of turrets is one of two sphinges at the sumptuous baroque 17th-century Parisian mansion, l'Hôtel Salé. The word sphinge is the French way to indicate the female gender of a sphinx. This sphinge and her twin were among the first to set the lavish trend in Paris, which was borrowed from Italy by François I at Fontainebleau, of sphinxes being used as ornamental sculptures. The Hôtel Salé houses the national Picasso museum and is located in the Marais at 5 rue de Thorigny.
Vocabulary
une tourelle: a turret, a castle tower
©2016 P.B. Lecron
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