There are so many mysteries, ambitions and fantasies in a castle. Take the one in Fontainebleau. How can we explain the complexity of its architecture and the variety of its decorations? The exhibition designed, within it, by Vincent Cochet does this. This chief curator has scoured the archives and collections of in-house graphic arts to select some 250 eloquent, beautiful or simply curious images from the field.
Plans, detailed or overall studies, as well as two large models showing missing or transformed buildings. But also, among these drawings, watercolors, gouaches and prints, largely fictional works. Where the castle is dreamed of, more or less openly magnified.
Also included are representations of major events in the French monarchy and the First and Second Empires: baptism of Louis XIII, ceremonies of the Order of the Holy Spirit, marriage of Louis XV, abdication of Napoleon I, and even princess receptions, hunts, fireworks, shows and even water games with gondolas and three-masted model boats on the grand canal. The images of these stagings have their own fantastical charge.
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Far from being rigorous reports, they were produced to dazzle at least as much as for memory. All these elements of different natures have been arranged like the chapters of a topographer’s dictionary. Indeed, the original oval courtyard, the offices, the large parterre, the fountain courtyard, the main courtyard, the queen’s garden as well as the small gardens are successively mentioned in their long history.
Together, documentary sheets and compositions aimed mainly at propaganda or delight form a dense journey but peppered with surprises and often charming beauties. Which demonstrates that more than a stone monument affirming the glory of the monarch, Fontainebleau is a living organism, already rich in eight centuries of metamorphoses. From the boards taken from the Most Excellent Bastiments of France by the architect Jacques I Androuet du Cerceau in 1579 to the first photographs or stereoscopic views, souvenirs and illustrations from a 19th century inventing modern tourism, the curious pass by plans sometimes relating to the management of the palace, sometimes of the land register.
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He discovers in detail the main modification or restoration projects, both in the state rooms and in more intimate rooms. And finally he admires the records of ornaments left by artists as different as Pierre Fontaine, Jean-Baptiste Isabey or Eugène Delacroix. Here are even atmospheres, poetry of places delicately watercolored by the romantic Antoine Laurent Castellan for example.
Having been connected to the capital by railway in 1849, Fontainebleau then proved more and more conducive to walks and less and less to processions, protocol and etiquette. Already under Louis-Philippe, and in the absence of the court, the palace was open to the public two days a week and on public holidays. Like today, everyone could have fun tracing the traces of the intrigues of the Valois court, the legend of Henry IV or the memory of Napoleon I. Finally, in 1927, the palace was completely museumized.
“Until then, it had been the oldest royal house preserved and occupied without discontinuity,” recalls the commissioner. In the Middle Ages, the legend of the fountain discovered by the dog Bliaud, giving birth to “Fontaine Belle Eau”, anchored Fontainebleau in its mythical dimension, that of the new Rome of the kings of France.” Consequently, over the course of the reigns, the treasures – marvels of art as well as feats of builders or gardeners – were concentrated there in layers. Some projects mentioned in the picture were only envisaged, others partially carried out, others still completed have completely disappeared.
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Thus, this Hercules, marble enhanced with gold by the young Michelangelo acquired by Francis I and which adorned the courtyard of the fountain. We lost track of this statue under Louis The fountain, originally with Primaticios caryatids, once provided water for the king’s table. She therefore found herself constantly guarded. However, no one seems to have testified to his deposition or his demolition.
Likewise, nothing would remain of the cast made by the Bolognese of Marcus Aurelius’ mount on the Capitol in Rome. This monumental plaster had been installed in the current main courtyard. Above all, how can we not regret the Ulysses gallery, another commission from François I, which disappeared in 1738? Located on the site of the current Louis XV wing, its length was twice that of the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles! It required nearly thirty years of work. Looking at the surviving drawings and the sometimes imaginative engravings, we can guess that they only very imperfectly convey the magnificence achieved.
Fortunately in Fontainebleau the masterpiece of Italian mannerism tempered in our latitudes partly survives: the extremely famous Francis I gallery by Rosso Fiorentino and Primaticcio. On site, under the scene known as the “Frustrated Venus”, we notice a framed piece of fresco. It represents the palace around 1536. It is its oldest image. Almost an icon, it has not been moved.
“Fontainebleau, portraits of a castle”, at the Château de Fontainebleau (77), until March 25, 2024. In fine catalog, 368 p., €49. Tel.: 01 60 71 50 60. www.chateaudefontainebleau.fr
