Touring Chantilly: Visiting an
Art Treasure House outside Paris with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
After
a great visit to the Equestrian Museum in Saumur (Anjou Region), my husband
Laurent and I went to the Château at Chantilly (outside Paris and famous for
horse races) to visit the gardens, art museum, and fancy stables across the
street from the Château.
I
like Chantilly and foremost for its connections with my favorite historical
Renaissance man after Leonardo da Vinci, Anne de Montmorency. He lived in Chantilly, but not in the most
recent Château that occupies the spot.
Anne de Montmorency served six French kings from Louis XII to Charles
IX.
Anne
de Montmorency died at age 75 while fighting Protestants outside Paris in Saint
Denis, a northern suburb of Paris now.
His opponents needed five sword wounds to finally topple him.
The
current Château at Chantilly is the fifth one to occupy this spot and is built
in a Renaissance style. The Institut de
France now manages the Château, the art collection, and the invaluable books
treasures such as Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, which shows seasonal
work for maintaining the fields and vineyards.
The
18th century stables across the street were built by one of Anne de
Montmorency’s descendants, who believed in reincarnation.
Louis-Henri
de Bourbon believed he would come back to Earth as a horse and wanted to build
stables that were worthy of his rank.
They were more beautiful than the actual Château I thought.
We
walked back across the street to visit the gardens. I
thought I would like to own one of the homes that looked out over the Grand
Canal towards the Château that we could see from the gardens.
I
loved the painting collection, especially paintings such as Raphael’s Three
Graces and Piero de Cosimo’s Simonetta Vespucci. Simonetta wore jewels in her hair and had a
snake coiled around her neck.
We
visited the stables and discovered that you could book dinner parties there for
your business. I laughed, thinking that
might be a statement on the current affairs in France for booking a party here.
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
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