Touring Château de
Chantilly: Exploring one of France’s Art
Treasure Palaces with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
One
of the main reasons my husband Laurent and I visited the Château at Chantilly
was to view the manuscript called Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry
illustrated by the de Limbourg Brothers – Paul, Hermann, and Jean.
This
manuscript shows what happens in each month to assure a successful harvest for
food and wine. There are astrological
symbols associated with each month, which allows sky watchers to know what month
they are in.
This
manuscript was created for use by a nobleman.
It is decorated with gold, the blue in it resembles lapis lazuli, and
the brilliant yellows might have been the inspiration for the poisonous arsenic
pages in library books that Umberto Eco wrote about in his book The Name of the
Rose that was later made into a movie by the same name.
The
library at the Château de Chantilly houses the Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de
Barry manuscript. Our tour guide told us
that you had to apply to the Institut de France to see it and would have to
wear a surgical mask over your mouth and gloves to handle it.
The
Château has facsimiles for reference. I
bought a miniature Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry as a souvenir.
Another
artwork housed in the museum at Chantilly that I like is the Renaissance
portrait of Simonetta Vespucci by Piero de Cosimo (1462 – 1521), who is
portrayed with a snake necklace.
Italians
still know that beautiful jewelry is wonderful and like to collect it. However, if they need food, clothing, and
shelter for their families, jewelry sometimes will be sold or pawned, if they
have run out of vases to sell.
We
went on a guided tour on this visit to see the private rooms and galleries.
We
began our tour in the library, which shows the monogram of Henri d’Orléans on
the ceiling. His coat of arms shows that
he is from the younger branch of the Bourbon family (Left top to right bottom
red slash). Our guide told us that the Institut de France owned the Chantilly
Château.
One
of the Institut de France’s key provisions is that a member of the Bourbon
family must always be in charge of Chantilly.
Basically, the Château collects, restores, cleans, and guards antique
furniture, books, decorative arts, and paintings that were owned by various
members of the Bourbon family and left to the Institut in wills.
The
books displayed in the library always change our guide told us. On the day that we visited, there were
several books on display with Apocalyptic Beasts and Christ on the covers. A medieval “Roman de la Rose” by Jean de
Meung was on display as well.
My
favorite room after the library was the “singerie” or “monkey room” decorated
with monkeys in Chinese pavilions. This
was the Bourbon family’s classroom.
The
Bourbon children began their studies at age four or five. Children studied mythology, Latin, Greek, the
Bible, and mathematics as preschool students.
The
children studied for twelve hours a day with one hour for recreation. Children married in their teen years.
After
that, the boys went off to war at the age of sixteen or seventeen. The young men often died at the age of 25.
Our
guide explained the language of equestrian sculptures to us. The best way to do was to die fighting in
battle, which meant the horse was portrayed with the right leg lifted.
The
visit to the Château’s chapel was interesting.
The hearts of the Bourbons are kept there in jars similar to Egyptian
canopic jars. The hearts are examined
for poisoning.
After
the tour, we went outside to take photographs of the Château, using the views
of it that appeared in the James Bond movie A View to a Kill.
Laurent
and I both had fun exploring Chantilly and walking around this very photogenic
town.
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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