The Roofs of Saint Séverin Church

High up in the winding stairwell of an apartment building in the Rue St. Jacques, a mostly concealed adult urges a child to keep climbing. Is the child upset? (And why aren’t there safer grates on that opening?) The view reveals the Gothic splendor of Saint Séverin, but the child, with mouth and eyes wide open, probably takes little notice. Such drama is unusual in the work of Auguste Lepère, and thus would have been all the more jarring to his audience.