PUSH OPEN THIS DOOR TO GLIMPSE THEIR WORLD
(FACING PONT DU CARROUSEL)
The Louvre palace is reflected in the window.
F. Baulme Fine Arts
The sumptuous yet quiet décor evokes a society whose traces remain.
Still Life with Flowers, Grenadines and Figs by Francesca Volo Sniller, end 17th century / Franck Baulme - Baulme Fine Arts
"The armchair comes from Fouquet's château," the owner may say, "but he never sat in it because he was jailed decades before it was made."
A chair from the ground-breaking château of Vaux-le-Vicomte
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| Gilbert Cordier |
That château, built on the site of three villages in the 1650's.
Brilliant, cultivated and naive, Nicolas Fouquet, Minister of Finance to very young Louis XIV, hoped to become Prime Minister. To that end he invited him and 600 members of the court to a fete in his château, which by upstaging the king it strengthened his awareness of Fouquet's corruption and stoked his jealousy.
He jailed him for life.
That event...
- Marked the start of unprecedented authority.
- Led to cracking down on a corruption so widespread that it would have made the glory of the reign impossible.
-- The Parisiens of the 17th Century by Oreste Ranum, fr.ed. 1973
The fête inspired the Louis's extraordinary festivities
and the château, Versailles itself.
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Portraits too evoke those times:
- A Knight of Saint Louis in armor
By Robert le Vrac Tournières, 1735
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Institution of the Military Order of Saint Louis in 1693 by François Marot, 1710, acquired by Louis-Philippe for the chateau of Versailles / zoom.
Louis XIV created the Order of Saint Louis to celebrate outstanding military service. It prefigures the modern Legion of Honor.
- An unknown gentleman
By Jacob Ferdinand Voet, Flemish, end of the 17th century
This serious young man resembles members of the French middle class ennobled for their service to the State. They were less prestigious than the feudal nobility, but often more educated, intellectual, and sober in character.
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| The Municipal Councilors of Paris by Philippe de Champaigne, 1648, Louvre / zoom |
Their simplicity contrasts with the elaborate garb of the courtiers in the painting above, but the sumptuous red mantels indicate power.
- The Marquise d'Harcourt née Charlotte de Maillard de Haneffe d'Iches
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By Louis Tocque, toward 1740 |
She might have been part of the society that made French culture famous and have attended this dinner with cousins of the king.
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| Supper of the Prince of Conti at the Temple by Michel Barthelemy Ollivier, 1776, Chateau de Versailles / zoom |
"The Temple" was the 13th-century fortress of the Knights Templar, whose tower became the prison of the royal family.
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"Would you like to go downstairs?" the owner may ask, turning on the lights...
...to leave you with more works for as long as you like.
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He serves art as his forefathers served the king...
A restoration
Visiting his gallery gives a sense of them.
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Next,
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