| Château de Meudon | |
| Location: | Meudon |
| Nearest City: | Paris, Versailles |
| Founded: | 14th century |
| Designation1: | monument historique |
| Designation1 Date: | 12 April 1972 |
Château de Meudon, also known as the Royal Castle of Meudon or Imperial Palace of Meudon, is a French castle in Meudon, Hauts-de-Seine. At the edge of a wooded plateau, the castle offers views of Paris and the Seine, as well as of the Chalais valley. Located between Paris and Versailles, in the heart of a hunting reserve, the castle has an ideal topography for large gardens. It had many successive owners from the Renaissance until the fall of the Second French Empire. It should not be confused with the Château de Bellevue, also located in Meudon.
Famous past residents include: Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly, Duchess of Étampes; the Cardinal of Lorraine, Abel Servien; François Michel Le Tellier, Marquis of Louvois and Louis, Grand Dauphin, also known as Monseigneur, who linked the Chaville Castle to Meudon Castle. The Château-Vieux (Old Castle) burned down in 1795 and was rebuilt as the Château-Neuf (New Castle), which in turn burned down in 1871. Demolition was considered, but most of the castle was preserved and became an observatory with an astronomical telescope in 1878, which was then attached to the Observatory of Paris in 1927.
The Château de Meudon has been classified as a historical monument since 12 April 1972. in the Chalais-Meudon park has been classified as an historical monument since 4 June 2000. It was the first storage facility for aerostats in the world and is one of the few still standing.
There is little information on the origin of the castle, but it was certainly a small castle with an unknown floor plan. Many records do, however, exist of 12th-century lords whose patronymic was "Meudon" as well as a mention of a "manor of the Meudon vale" in the 14th century.[1] Marie-Thérèse Herlédan published an account of this period in her book Meudon, Avant le Roy (Meudon Before the King). Many Meudons held positions at court, such as Robert de Meudon, the Grand Panetier of France under King Philip the Fair. His title was mentioned in a deed in 1305.
On 17 July 1413, Jean de Montrevel, known as the Hermit, lord of La Faye, chamberlain of the king and husband of Jeanne de Gaillonnel, holder of the castle's fief, sold the castle with his wife's consent to the wealthy Augustin Isbarre, banker and jeweller. In 1422, Isbarre, whose family had performed financial services for the royal family,[2] was appointed cupbearer to the king. He died in Paris on 27 August 1425[3] and was buried at the .
The fief of Meudon was bought in 1426 by for 2000 livres.[4] Sanguin was the valet of Charles VII and the treasurer of the Duke of Burgundy. He was previously associated with the former owner, Augustin Isbarre, a provost of the merchants of Paris from 1429 to 1431. It seems that he built a manor on the site of the old castle. He died in Paris on 14 February 1441.
Jean Sanguin, known as the "Bastard of Sanguin", inherited the seigniory of his father; he died in Paris on 13 November 1468. He had several children, including Antoine Sanguin de Meudon, who inherited the fief and became lord of Meudon. Antoine later married Marie Simon and died on 18 October 1500.
The manor was demolished in 1520 by Antoine Sanguin, known as the Cardinal de Meudon, who built a square corps de logis of brick and stone with a loft floor over a ground floor with ornamented skylights.[5] It was adorned in the Italian style with pilasters, bands and stone framing. The layout of the castle supposedly influenced that of the Château du Grand Jardin in Joinville, a property of the House of Guise.[6] Antoine Sanguin gave the castle to his niece Anne of Pisseleu, also called the Duchess of Étampes, on 5 September 1527. She had become the mistress of Francis I, and almost the de facto queen of France. To better accommodate his mistress, Francis financed an addition of two square pavilions on either side of the initial body and two wings that ended with identical pavilions. These extensions mirrored the style of the main building. In the style of the Château d'Écouen, corbelled corner turrets were also added to the pavilions. The structure was similar to the works undertaken at the château at Marchais, then owned by Nicolas de Longueval, Count of Bossut and Superintendent of Finances under Francis I. He was governor of Champagne and Brie and a member of the inner circle of the Duchess of Étampes. The same still-unknown architect likely also headed the expansion of Meudon and Marchais, as well as the neighbouring castle in Sissonne, which are all in the same style. A triumphal arch was also built into the center of the enclosure wall, serving as a majestic entrance to the courtyard.
Francis I stayed at Meudon from 11 July to 5 August 1537 and many more times before his death in 1547.
Upon the death of Francis I, Anne de Pisseleu had to sell the Meudon estate in 1552 to Charles de Guise, Cardinal of Lorraine. This ended the Sanguins' presence at Meudon, which had lasted more than a century. The former favourite withdrew to the Château d'Heilly, where she died in September 1580.[7]
The cardinal then renovated the castle, drawing inspiration from the Italian architectural style, which he had discovered during his travels to Rome. A letter written on 28 December 1552, addressed to his sister-in-law Anna d'Este, says: "I have been at Meudon while I was in Paris... there are no more beautiful houses in this kingdom."
The cardinal had the wings on the courtyard side of the gallery surmounted by a terrace, based on drawings by Francesco Primaticcio. The interiors were decorated with scenes from the Council of Trent, in which the cardinal had actively participated, probably in the style being practised in Italy at that time by Taddeo and Federigo Zuccaro.
Terraced gardens and an orangerie were created around small buildings. These included a small fantasy palace dedicated to nymphs and muses, the famous "Grotto of Meudon," based on drawings by Primaticcio from between 1552 and 1560, and decorated with compositions by the artist. It forms a small palace under a platform of arcades, sheltered from view by a hill that visually separates it from the castle, as shown on a print by Israel Silvestre representing the grotto. It was made up of three pavilions backing onto the slope, blending Italian and French styles. The central pavilion, decorated with mosaics, shells, corals and maiolica, sheltered the grotto. Its prime contractor was Primaticcio himself. The first floor of the central pavilion displayed antiques in a large salon.
Historian Henri Sauval wrote that the Diana of Versailles had been brought from Italy and placed in the castle of Meudon, but recent research seems to prove otherwise.[8] This grotto enjoyed immediate success and was praised by Pierre de Ronsard in his "Chant pastoral sur les noces de Charles, duc de Lorraine et Madame Claude, fille du roi" (Pastoral Song on the Wedding of Charles, Duke of Lorraine and Madame Claude, Daughter of the King).[9]
In 1568, Giorgio Vasari wrote enthusiastically about the grotto, whose repute had reached Italy.[10] For the Cardinal of Lorraine, Primaticcio executed many decorations in his great palace called La Grotte (the grotto), of so extraordinary an amplitude that it recalled the baths of antiquity, because of the infinite number and size of its galleries, staircases, and public and private apartments. The construction of this cave was spread out over time, starting with the grotto itself and the two ramps of the staircase (circa 1552–1555), and then, in a second stage, the two pavilions (1559). The lower cryptoportico was then built in a third phase.[11]
At the death of the Cardinal of Lorraine in 1574, the castle remained the property of the House of Guise, who held it as one of their fiefs, along with the castle of Joinville, Haute-Marne.
Meudon was plundered during the French Wars of Religion. Henry I, Duke of Guise barely had the time to visit Meudon. It was at Meudon that the future Henry IV (Henry of Navarre) learned of the assassination of Henry III of France on 1 August 1589 by Jacques Clément. He went the very same day to see the wounded king in nearby Saint-Cloud. The king reassured him about his health. Henry went back to Meudon. Maximilien de Bethune, Duke of Sully, who accompanied him, lodged at "Sauvat", a house in the village. The next day, the king's condition worsened and he died at Saint-Cloud. Henry of Navarre became King of France, the first Bourbon king.
Meudon became one of the seats of the League. On July 24, 1605, the marriage of Francois de Bourbon, Prince of Conti (1558–1614) and Louise Marguerite de Lorraine took place in the chapel of the château.[12] In 1618, the Duke of Lorraine tasked his architect,, with modifying the castle and extending the gardens. Other work was carried out by Soulignac in 1623, with the construction of a terrace and a staircase near the grotto.
In 1639, Jacques Dubreuil boasted of Meudon's stairs and turrets: "The garden is moderately large, made of flower beds, borders, open alleyways, surrounded by alleys covered with beautiful trees, with balusters." In 1641, the painter Nicolas Poussin visited Meudon, no doubt attracted by the famous decorations of Primaticcio. Above all, 18 May 1643, the union of Gaston, Duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIII with Marguerite of Lorraine, was renewed in the chapel of the castle, with the blessing of the Archbishop of Paris, Jean-François de Gondi.
The domain was plundered under the Fronde, since the Lorraine princes who owned Meudon had taken the side of the rebellion against royal authority. Thus, beginning in 1649, the Grand Condé, at the head of the Royal Army, seized Charenton, Saint-Denis, Saint-Cloud and Meudon.
Meudon, in poor condition, was bought on 12 September 1654 by Abel Servien, Superintendent of Finances, who took the title of Baron de Meudon. As soon as the purchase was made, Servien had extensive renovation work done by the architect Louis Le Vau. He was at the peak of his career, and felt that Meudon should reflect this power. In Paris, Servien lived at the Hôtel de la Roche-Guyon near the Palais-Royal at least from 1651 to 1659. The castle was richly furnished and decorated. The central section was replaced by an octagonal pavilion, surmounted by a high roof shaped like a truncated pyramid. In the center of the pavilion was a large double spiral staircase. A large staircase, adorned with twelve columns of marble monoliths, precedes it. The first floor housed a large cupolaed salon, opening onto the gardens, similar to the one built at the time by Nicholas Fouquet at the château of Vaux-le-Vicomte. Servien had a large terrace built in the forecourt in order to clear the view of the castle, thereby engulfing nearly a third of the village of Meudon, which he moved elsewhere.
On the garden side, he built a monumental orangerie, still preserved today. He enlarged the park, which had existed since at least the Duchesse d'Étampes. Through many land purchases, he managed to put through a "Grande Perspective" south of the castle, featuring basins and ponds, including those of Chalais. Letters patent dated 31 August 1657 bear "permission to extend the park of Meudon, enclose it in walls, even though the acquired inheritances are in the neighborhood of the pleasures of His Majesty," or in other words, of the neighboring Palace of Versailles.
When Queen Christine of Sweden came to France, she offered Servien a bronze by Adrian de Vries, Mercury Abducting Psyche, now in the Louvre.[13] Servien had this bronze placed at the end of the flowerbed, just above his new orangery.
Servien died on 17 February 1659 at Meudon itself in his apartment on the ground floor, after having spent a true fortune on Meudon, which was still under construction. His son,, marquess of Sablé and protector of Jean de La Fontaine, kept the estate for twenty years. On 2 August 1665, Gian Lorenzo Bernini visited Meudon.
Financial constraints finally forced Louis-Francois Servien to sell Meudon to François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois in 1679. Already, a year earlier in 1678, members of the Académie Royale d'Architecture visited Meudon, and found that "what was renovated on the garden side of the castle in the days of M. Servien is very ruined, particularly the cornice of the central pavilion," (P.V.I. 193).
For the powerful minister, who called himself "M. de Chaville" in his youth, the site of Meudon was ideal. It was near both Versailles and the Château of Chaville, where the family property was located. It was rebuilt by his father, Michel Le Tellier. Louvois obtained the superintendence for the buildings in 1683, then embarked on a series of grandiose rearrangements. He enriched the façade of the château with busts and balconies on columns of gray marble. He sumptuously redecorated the whole interior. He had woodwork installed in 1684.
Above the doors were floral paintings in the style of Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer. A cabinet displayed miniatures of the groves of Versailles painted by Jean Cotelle the elder, doubtless a gift from Louis XIV in 1688 to thank his minister for the perfect completion of the marble Trianon de porcelaine. The large gallery, which occupies the entire right wing on the first floor, is adorned with twelve paintings by Adam Frans van der Meulen on the great battles of the reign.
Nicodemus Tessin the Younger noted the following during his visit to the castle in 1687.[14]
"The most remarkable in the house was the ceiling painted in oils directly on the vault by M. de La Fosse. At the four corners of the composition, simulating stucco, two seated figures and two standing figures were painted: in the corners and between the statues, the ceiling was painted in oils directly on the vault by Charles de La Fosse. In the corners and between the statues, there was something like an oeil-de-boeuf, through which the sky could be seen. Beside the figures and to make them stand out all the better, rich rugs of different colors, and between the first and the other corner, large ovals, in the center of which was depicted Pandora. Beside them, Mercury was particularly well painted. The vault stretched over the upper cornice, and the shadow below made a very good effect. The large stucco listels all around were completely gilded. The adjoining room must also have been painted by M. de La Fosse. Above, in the oval room, the mirrors made a very good impression. They were arranged circularly and were as tall as the five windows. There was only a woodwork halfway up the wall. In each panel were placed three ice sheets, about 6 qv. High and, when you were in the center of the panel, you could see each other in the three windows at once. The gallery was nicely decorated with a number of tables of jasper, busts, etc., and all the King's actions were to be painted by Van der Meulen; Two were already completed. At one end of the gallery there was a drawing-room, in which the table and the whole panel between the two windows were lined with mirror glass, and the opening of the doors was so great that, from afar, one could almost see the whole gallery. There is, moreover, a profusion of very large and beautiful mirrors. The furniture was very fine, but not of a peculiar taste. Every winter they were removed because of soil moisture. Beneath, in M. de Louvois's own room, there were three pipes of copper that permitted heat to pass at will. This heat came from a copper stove placed in the chimney of the neighboring room. A ventilation pipe passing under the vestibule arrived at this chimney, and then distributed the heat, when the window of this chamber was opened (like the "heat-making machine" at Versailles).
Borne to one of the sides of the stable by pillars of stones or buttresses, the house is externally in very bad condition. The site is rugged to the possible but nevertheless very pleasant. The central aisle below in the garden in front of the terraces, is covered with turf and 70 yards wide.Then, in the middle of an alley of sand of eight yards wide, are spruces and other trees; Then, on two sides, a new lawn of nine yards, and again a sandy alley with trees eight yards wide. The parterre of M. Le Nostre, in the middle, in front of the cave that I have drawn, is very nice, so the two "embroidery" in the center in front of the house, with two marble vases and marble statues around the oval basin, hand-built as tiles did not do a bad effect. I also drew the boxes of the orange trees there, taking them separately. This garden is surrounded, as well as the park, by a wall at least seven miles in circumference. At the bottom of the garden was another large pleasure-house, which M. de Louvois had bought for life for M. Honoré Courtin Courtin."
Outside, Louvois had extensive hydraulic works to power the waterways of the park, and allow the spectacular water jets. The upper park was developed, while Le Nôtre worked on the gardens continually throughout the 1680s and created practically all of the lower gardens, invented new groves and parterres, including the one in front of the Grotto. Louvois also arranged a large vegetable garden along the avenue of the castle. In short, he built everything at Meudon that Louis XIV did, in a more spectacular way still, at Versailles at the same time. And he asked Israel Silvestre, drawing master of Louis de France, to engrave the entire estate, which Silvestre carried out with several very spectacular prints, among the most careful of his work."
In July 1681, the Queen of France, Maria Theresa of Spain, came to visit Meudon, where "Mr. de Louvoy had the honor of serving her" [15] On August 17, 1684, Louvois had a great feast prepared for Meudon in honor of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans (1640–1701). On July 2, 1685, Louis XIV, the Dauphin Louis de France, the Dauphine Maria Anna, Monsieur (Orléans) and Madame (Elizabeth Charlotte, Madame Palatine), "accompany the greater part of the Princes and Lords of the Court," come to Meudon, where Louvois treated the King and the whole Court was given a magnificent collation, during which the violins and oboes of the Opera played melodies by Jean-Baptiste Lully "(...)" But M. de Louvo was sorry to see that he was pleased the whole time the king was with him." In 1686, a reception was still given at Meudon, in honor of the Siam ambassadors, who discovered both the gardens and the castle. Louvois was not present to receive them since he was with Madame de Maintenon and the King, to follow the work on the Canal de l'Eure. On August 25, 1689, Louvois again received Philip of Orléans (1640–1701) at dinner in Meudon. On the 29th of June, 1691, two weeks before the sudden death of Louvois, "Monseigneur went to Meudon with Madame Princesse de Conti; they made a snack at the château, and walked for a long time in the park and in the gardens "(Dangeau).
On July 16, 1691, Louvois died suddenly at Versailles. He had reached the point of honors, and the splendor of Meudon symbolized this power materially.
On the proposal of Louis XIV, the widow of Louvois, Anne of Souvré and his son Barbézieux agreed to exchange Meudon for the Château de Choisy and a balance. In the memoirs of the Marquis de Dangeau, on Wednesday, June 1, 1695: "In the morning, the king proposed to M. de Barbezieux the exchange of Choisy with Meudon; He asked her how much Madame de Louvois had taken Meudon in her share; M. de Barbezieux told him that she had taken him for a unit of 500,000 francs; The King told him that he would give him 400,000 of his return, and Choisy, whom he counted for 100,000 francs, if that were agreeable to Madame de Louvois; That he charged him to go and learn of her, but that he did not ask her for any complacency; That he wished that she should treat with him as with a private person, and should think only of his interests. M. de Barbezieux went to Paris to find his mother, who is pleased with the king's offer, and to whom the exchange is well suited. The contract will be signed on the first day; We started talking about business only in the morning, and it was finished in the evening." The castle, valued at 500,000 livres, and already considerably embellished by succeeding owners, came into its most brilliant period, passing to Louis, Grand Dauphin.
The Louis, Grand Dauphin did extensive work at Meudon and turned it into his special showplace, spending a sum of one million one hundred forty thousand French livres, although the king his father had put it among the royal residences and in the charge of the Bâtiments du Roi.[16] Over sixteen years, at least three million livres were spent embellishing and maintaining the estate, a colossal sum. The prince redecorated the apartments to his liking. The Dauphin allowed Meudon to express his own artistic conceptions, breaking with the sometimes compassed aspect of the Louis XIV style. Although not for the first time, Meudon systematically used "Capucine" woodwork, carved and varnished strips of wood with gilt accents.
Regency style partially manifested at Meudon. The Dauphin gathered there his rich collections, which attempted to compete with those of the King: agate vases, Indian fabrics, Gobelin tapestries, Chinese porcelain, paintings by great masters and especially his collection of gems. He did not hesitate to redecorate some rooms several times, removing for example the ceiling painted by Charles de La Fosse to give expression to the light style of Claude Audran. His main apartment was located the length of the ground floor in the east wing of the Château-Vieux. He also had the parade apartment in the Château-Neuf, as well as a "small fresh apartment" in the chestnut tree wing.
The Dauphin liked to surround himself at Meudon with his family, his friends and courtisans, in particular Marie-Adelaide of Savoy the Duchess of Burgundy, Marie-Anne of Bourbon (1666- 1739), his daughter-in-law, the Princess of Conti, and Louise Francoise de Bourbon, Duchess of Bourbon, (1673–1743), her two half-sisters, Louis-Antoine de Pardaillan de Gondrin D'Antin son of Madame de Montespan. He also lodged there his mistress, Marie-Émilie de Joly de Choin. Like his father at the Château de Marly, the Dauphin liked to find a relaxed and warm atmosphere in Meudon with chosen companions. To accommodate this large entourage, the Dauphin undertook extensive additions. In 1702, space at the Château-Vieux soon proved inadequate. He had the chestnut tree wing, the former courtyard of the offices, rearranged so as to connect it to the château by a hanging gallery. He arranged a large reception hall on the ground floor. He also built a new commons, which is still visible. He entrusted to Jules Hardouin-Mansart, the architect of all these works, the construction of a chapel. Antoine Coypel, one of the favorite painters of the Dauphin, painted the altar painting, the "Resurrection", a monumental painting, and the "Annunciation", much smaller in size. The sculptures were realized by Noël Jouvenet, François Lespingola and Jean Hardy.
In 1705, space still lacked to accommodate all the courtiers, who were