Chris's World: Château de Chantilly

Le Château de Chantilly, est un château historique, situé dans la ville de Chantilly, en France. Il comprend deux bâtiments annexes, le château Grand, détruit pendant la Révolution française et reconstruit dans les années 1870, et le Petit Château qui a été construit vers 1560 pour Anne de Montmorency. Possédé par l'Institut de France, le château abrite le musée Condé, qui est l'une des plus belles galeries d'art en France et est ouvert au public.

ENGLISH: The Château de Chantilly (pronounced: [ʃɑ.to də ʃɑ̃.ti.ji]) is a historic château located in the town of Chantilly, France. It comprises two attached buildings; the Grand Château, destroyed during the French Revolution and rebuilt in the 1870s, and the Petit Château which was built around 1560 for Anne de Montmorency. Owned by the Institut de France, the château houses the Musée Condé, which is one of the finest art galleries in France and is open to the public.

The estate's connection with the Montmorency family began in 1484. The first mansion (no longer extant, now replaced by the Grand Château) was built in 1528–1531 for the Constable Anne de Montmorency by Pierre Chambiges. The Petit Château was also built for him, around 1560, probably by Jean Bullant. In 1632, after the death of Henri II, it passed to the Grand Condé who inherited it through his mother, a Montmorency.

Several interesting pieces of history are associated with the château during the 17th century. Molière's play, Les Précieuses ridicules, received its first performance here in 1659. Madame de Sévigné relates in her memoirs that when Louis XIV visited in 1671, François Vatel, the maître d'hôtel to the Grand Condé, committed suicide when he feared the fish would be served late.

The original mansion was destroyed in the French Revolution. It was repaired in a modest way by the last Condé, but the entire property was confiscated from the Orléans family between the years 1853 and 1872, during which interval it was owned by Coutts, an English bank. Chantilly was entirely rebuilt in 1875–1881 by Henri d'Orléans, duc d'Aumale (1822–1897) to the designs of Honore Daumet. The new château met with mixed reviews. Boni de Castellane summed up one line of thought: "What is today styled a marvel is one of the saddest specimens of the architecture of our era — one enters at the second floor and descends to the salons". In the end, the Duc d'Aumale bequeathed the property to the Institut de France upon his death in 1897.

Musée Condé

Works in the art gallery (many of them are in the Tribune Room) include

The Mystic Marriage of St. Francis is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Sassetta, currently housed in the Musée Condé of Chantilly, France.

Botticelli's Autumn

Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci is the title some individuals have given to a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Piero di Cosimo. Dating from circa 1490, it may portray Genoese noblewoman Simonetta Vespucci (as Cleopatra with an asp around her neck). Yet how closely this resembles the living woman is uncertain, partly because if this is indeed a rendering of her form and spirit it is a posthumous portrait created about fourteen years after her death. Worth noting as well is the fact that Piero di Cosimo was only fourteen years old in the year of Ms. Vespucci's death. The museum that currently houses this painting questions the very identity of its subject by titling it "Portrait of a woman, said to be of Simonetta Vespucci", and stating that the inscription of her name at the bottom of the painting may have been added at a later date.

The Three Graces is an oil painting by Italian painter Raphael, housed in the Musée Condé of Chantilly, France. The date of origin has not been positively determined, though it seems to have been painted at some point after his arrival to study with Pietro Perugino in about 1500, possibly 1503-1505. According to James Patrick in 2007's Renaissance and Reformation, the painting represents the first time that Raphael had depicted the nude female form in front and back views

The Madonna of Loreto is a painting finished around 1508-1509 by the Italian High Renaissance painter Raphael. It is housed in the Musée Condé of Chantilly, France.

For centuries the painting kept company with the Portrait of Pope Julius II, first at the Santa Maria del Popolo, then in private collections, and for a time their location was unknown. Their ownership, or provenance, has been difficult to unravel because of the number of copies of both paintings, the unclear ownership chain, misinformation and delay of publication of vital information.
For instance, this painting received its name from a copy at the Basilica della Santa Casa in Loreto which was at one time thought to be the original. Now is it certain that the painting at Loreto was a copy - and therefore the painting name is a misnomer.
Even so, the well-copied painting has been a beloved and critically acclaimed painting for centuries.

Guercino's Pietà

Pierre Mignard's Portrait of Molière

as well as four of Antoine Watteau's paintings and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot's Le concert champêtre. Other paintings in the collection include works by Fra Angelico, Filippino Lippi, Hans Memling, 260 paintings and drawings by François and Jean Clouet, Veronese, Barocci, Annibale Carracci, Domenichino, Salvator Rosa, Nicolas Poussin, Philippe de Champaigne, Van Dyck, Guido Reni, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Joshua Reynolds, Eugène Delacroix, Ingres, Géricault.

The library of the Petit Château contains over 1300 manuscripts and 12,500 printed volumes, including a Gutenberg Bible that is part of the collection of over 700 incunabula), and some 200 medieval manuscripts, including one page of the Registrum Gregorii (c. 983), the Les très riches heures du Duc de Berry, the Ingeborg Psalter and 40 miniatures from Jean Fouquet's Book of Hours of Etienne Chevalier.

The name of chateau of Chantilly origins from the ancient Roman name Cantilius - the person built a villa in this area during the times of the conquest of Gaul by the Romans.
The founder of the present castle was Duke of Montmorency (1493 - 1567), an influential figure in the court of the King Francis I, in 1522 he was made Marshal of France. In 1528 Duke of Montmorency built a palace in Renaissance style on the site of an old castle.

Later came the Bourbon Condé family, cousins of the kings of France. Le Grand Condé, the most famous of them, organized parties and balls with fireworks in this charming place. He entrusted to lay out of the grounds to the royal architect Le Nôtre, who created a magnificent complex of fountains and ponds.