Renaissance Castles on the Loire -- Chenonceau, Château of the Ladies

The Château Chenonceau is a must-see because of its beauty and its placement right on the Cher River. The women who lived here though are the real story of this intriguing, shocking, and eye-opening drama in the "lives of the rich and famous" of the French Renaissance.

The estate of Chenonceau is first mentioned in writing in the 11th century although the current château was built in 1514–1522 on the foundations of an old mill, which was later extended to span the river. The château is an architectural mixture of late Gothic and early Renaissance and the second most-visited château in France with over 800,000 visitors per year. The first most-visited château is the Royal Palace of Versailles.

In the 13th century, the fief of Chenonceau belonged to the Marques family. The château was torched in 1412 to punish its owner, Jean Marques, for sedition. Afterward, he rebuilt a château and fortified mill on the same site in the 1430s. Jean's heir, Pierre Marques, found it necessary, however, to sell the château because the rebuilding had incurred heavy and unpayable debts.

Thomas Bohier, chamberlain to King Charles VIII of France, purchased the castle from Pierre Marques in 1513. Most of it was demolished and then rebuilt it 1515-1521 with the 15th-century keep still standing (pointed structure on the left). Bohier's wife, Katherine Briçonnet, oversaw most the work, and built it according to the plans of the Venetian Palazzo. She was the first of the "Ladies" of Chenonceau who played a major role in embellishing the château and its gardens. She especially delighted in hosting French nobility, including King Francis I on two occasions.

In 1535, King François I seized the château from the Bohiers' son for unpaid debts to the Crown. After François' death in 1547, the new king, Henry II, gifted the château to his favorite mistress, Diane de Poitiers. In 1555 she commissioned Philibert de l'Orme to build the arched bridge joining the château to its opposite bank, which made the architecture of Chenonceau unique in all the world. Diane then oversaw the planting of extensive flower and vegetable gardens and a variety of fruit trees. Set along the banks of the river, but buttressed from flooding by stone terraces, the exquisite gardens were laid out in 4 triangles.

Diane de Poitiers, who was renown for her beauty, intelligence, and sense of business, was the unquestioned mistress of the castle. Ownership remained with the crown until 1555 when years of delicate legal manœuvres finally yielded possession to her. 

photo by François Levalet
 

Nevertheless, after Henry II died in 1559, his strong-willed Italian-born widow and regent Catherine de Medici forced Diane out and made her agree to exchange Château Chenonceau for the Château Chaumont. Catherine then made Chenonceau her own favorite residence and spent a fortune adding a new series of magnificent gardens, raising the height of the gallery, adding rooms between the chapel and the library, and introducing Italian sumptuousness and glorious parties in order to establish the authority of her son, the young King François II. 

 

Louise of Lorraine married Henry III, Catherine de Medici's other son. In 1589, on the death of her husband, she withdrew to the château and went into mourning. Forgotten by all, she had trouble maintaining her queen-dowager lifestyle since she had devoted her time to reading, charity work, and prayer. Her death marked the end of a royal presence at Chenonceau. 

 

 

 

Henri IV obtained Chenonceau for his mistress Gabrielle d'Estrées by paying the debts of Catherine de Medici, which had been inherited by Louise. In return, Louise left the château to her niece Françoise de Lorraine, who at that time was six years old and betrothed to four-year-old César de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme, the natural son of Gabrielle d'Estrées and Henri IV. The château belonged to the Duc de Vendôme and his descendants for more than a hundred years. However, his descendants had little interest in the château. In 1720, the château was bought by the Duke of Bourbon who sold off all of the château's contents. Many of its fine statues ended up at Versailles.

 

In 1733 the estate was sold for 130,000 livres to a wealthy squire named Claude Dupin. His wife, Louise Dupin, was "an intelligent, beautiful, and highly cultivated woman who had the theatre in her blood." She was an exquisite representative of the 18th century Age of Enlightenment and gave renewed splendor to the château. She started an outstanding salon with the elite among writers, poets, playwrights, scientists, and philosophers such as Montesquieu, Voltaire and Rousseau. She managed to save the château during the French Revolution from destruction because "it was essential to travel and commerce, being the only bridge across the river for many miles." 

 

In 1864 Marguerite Pelouze, a rich heiress from the industrial bourgeoisie, acquired the château and restored it around 1875. The interior was almost completely renewed. However, the costs for these projects--not to mention the elaborate parties--depleted her finances, and the château was seized and sold to Cuban millionaire José-Emilio Terry in 1891. Terry then sold it in 1896 to a family member, Francisco Terry, who had it until 1913. Henri Menier, the family famous for its chocolates, acquired it. The family still owns it to this day. 

 

During World War I, Gaston Menier set up the gallery to be used as a hospital ward. Simonne Menier, the wife of Gaston's son, was in charge of a hospital installed in the château's two galleries, which were transformed and equipped at her family's expense. Over 2,000 wounded soldiers were treated here until 1918. Her bravery also led her to carry out numerous actions for the French Resistance during World War II.

Renaissance Castles on the Loire -- Villandry

Re-creating this Renaissance château turned out to be the modus operandi for Joachim Carvallo when he bought Villandry in 1906. Researching old documents, conducting archeological digs, and studying old architectural blueprints served as a scientific and logical means for bringing back the past in order to beautify the present as visitors to Villandry will attest. Not only do we see how the Renaissance château and its gardens looked, but we experience the utter delight that this labor of love provided its 20th century owner.

The Villandry was built in 1536 by Jean Le Breton, minister of finance for François I. In 1754 the Marquis de Castellane, who came from a noble Provencal family,        purchased the château and had it redesigned to meet 18th century standards of comfort. The keep is the oldest part of the château and the only part retained from the original 12th century château. On July 4, 1189, the Treaty of Colombières was signed here between King Henry II of England, and King Philip Augustus of France. (Colombières was the name of Villandry before it was change in 1639.)

Joachim Carvallo, bought the château in 1906. His dream was to create 16th century gardens that were in perfect harmony with the architecture of the château. Each room enjoys its own unique view, particularly of the gardens. Carvallo was also a pioneer in opening private monuments to the public. The first exhibit included his collections of ancient Spanish art in 1908 and the second were of his garden in 1920. Anticipating the rise of cultural tourism, Carvallo worked to make Villandry an instrument for the promotion and preservation of French heritage and its artistic wealth to the tune of 350,000 visitors a year.

After a career in advanced research on the physiology of digestion at the Faculty of Medicine in Paris, Joachim Carvallo devoted all his energy and fortune to restoring Villandry to its original state. Over time, the gardens underwent drastic changes in appearance. Carvallo re-created the garden by synthesizing the medieval style, the Renaissance style, and the French style.

 

He pursued this dream by assembling a series of archeological and literary clues to the château and the gardens. From the layout to the choice of vegetables, everything was conceived in terms of a return to the origins of the Renaissance formal garden.

 

The Vegetable Garden has nine squares of equal size with different geometric patterns. These squares are planted with vegetables of alternating colors to look like a chessboard. Such an arrangement goes back to the Middle Ages when monks layed out their vegetables in geometric shapes, particularly the cross. The garden's ornamental features (arbors, fountains) were influenced by  Italy while the French gardeners of the 16th century combined the monastic and the Italian styles with roses and vegetables from the Americas. This type of garden is called a "decorative kitchen garden". 

 

 The Ornamental Garden has sculpted patterns of box hedges in the form of the Maltese cross and the fleurs-de-lys. 

 

The Love Garden  features 4 different squares, each with a theme.

 

"Tender love"                                                                           "Passionate love"

 

 

   "Flighty love"                                                                          "Tragic love" 

 

 

The Water Garden is centered around a large pond in the form of a Louis XIV mirror, like at Versailles. It is enclosed by lime trees (background), which create a perfect place for rest and meditation.

                                            ChrisnSue photo -- https://chrisnsue.wordpress.com

 

The Sun Garden is made up of three green areas. The cloud chamber in blue and white shrubs and perennials; the sun chamber, with its oranges and yellows; and the children's chamber in the shade of the apple trees.

The Maze symbolizes our path on Earth. Of Christian inspiration and unlike the Greek labyrinth, it has no dead ends. The aim is not to find an exit but to raise up oneself humanly and spiritually by reaching the hut in the center.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Herb Garden is a traditional Middle Ages garden devoted to aromatic, cooking, and medicinal herbs.

 

 

 

These gardens require constant care. Each winter for three months, a team of four gardeners prune 1,015 lime trees. Over 115,000 flowers and vegetables are planted with 50% prepared in the estate's greenhouses. Since 2009, the gardeners have used organic methods, namely: digging and hoeing, reducing the need for chemical plant treatments by introducing certain insects. An automatic underground watering system was also installed.

 

The Château

The entrance exhibits symmetry and ornate decoration that complements the gardens.

The château has 15 rooms, including dining room, kitchen, study and bedrooms with views of the gardens. Below are just a few examples of the more interesting rooms.

 

 

 

 

 

The warmth of the dining room with close-up of a table setting--and a lot of wine glasses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The oriental drawing room was built in Mudejar style by Moorish craftsmen for their Spanish patrons. The ceiling combines decorative elements from Christian and Moorish art. It comes from the Maqueda ducal palace built in the 15th century in Toledo. When the palace was dismantled in 1905, Carvallo brought back one of the ceilings to Villandry. It took a full year to reassemble the 3,600 separate pieces.

Here is a close-up of the scallop shell corners of the ceiling and the tracery of knotted vines below it. 

Carvallo's bedroom is rather simple and even austere, but his focus was more on the outside of the château rather than the inside. From his room he had views of the ornamental garden to the south and the vegetable garden to the west. Carvallo was also a religious man, as the paintings in his room attest. Here's a close-up of the crowning of the Blessed Mother in Heaven.

 His study was his preferred work area where he would draw up plans for the vegetable garden. It is surrounded by Spanish paintings and a magnificent tapestry (below with our guide, Carol).

 

 

Carvallo's wife, Ann Coleman, slept here. The paintings picture three of the couple's six children.

 

 

  

 One of the children's room with some of their toys.

 

Other interesting items in the château

 

 

 

 

 

 Carvallo's heraldry collection was quite large and on display in one of the halls. 

Here are a few samples that are in keeping with the Renaissance theme.

 

Carvello's work on Villandry was a labor of love and careful research and attention to detail. As a result, we are able to get a glimpse into the life of Renaissance France and the beginning of the splendor of French culture and society.

Resources

https://www.chateauvillandry.fr/useful-information/?lang=en