#chateau d'anet

[livesunique]

Chateau d'Anet, Anet, Eure-et-Loir, France

[dixt]

château d'anet, france ⋅ ph. stefan zitzmann 

[pagansphinx]

Benvenuto Cellini (Italian, 1500-1571) • The Nymph of Fontainebleau • c. 1543 • Bronze relief

Commissioned by Francis I, the Nymph of Fontainebleau is a larger-than-lifesize bronze plaque showing a reclining Diana from Greek/Roman mythology. Diana was a huntress and so an ideal subject for the French king who was a passionate hunter of forest game. The nude goddess has a massive stag with huge antlers looking over her shoulder while at the sides of the piece are deer, wild boars, and hunting dogs. The sculpture was originally meant to sit above the entrance gate of the Palace of Fontainebleau, hence its misleading name, but the king never got around to having it installed. When Henry II of France became king (r. 1547-1559 CE), he decided the sculpture was more suitable for a hunting lodge and so gave it to his mistress Diane de Poitiers (1499-1566 CE) for her home, the Chateau d'Anet, south of Paris. Today, the sculpture is in the Louvre museum in Paris.

[metmuseum]

Floorplan, Facade and Cross Section of one of the Chapels at Chateau d'Anet, from "Les plus excellents bastiments de France". 1607. Credit line: Bequest of Phyllis Massar, 2011 https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/399300

[chicot-premier]

Antoine Caron and studio of Master WF, Journey, Valois Tapestries, c1576, wool warp, silk, silver, and gilded silver thread, 389.5 x 533 cm. Gallerie degli Uffizi (viewed at Cleveland Museum of Art).

Which event this tapestry depicts is unclear. The Cleveland Museum of Art believes that this tapestry most likely depicts a 1566 procession related to the capture of the Château d'Anet following the death of Henri II's mistress Diane de Poitiers. There is also an older theory about it from The Valois Tapestries by Frances Yates, who argues that it most likely represents a later journey to the Netherlands years later in 1573, when the future Henri III (then Henri d'Anjou) and Catherine de' Medici met with Louis of Nassau at Blamont to renew France's alliance with the Dutch Protestants against the Spanish. (Catherine's youngest son François d'Alençon (later François d'Anjou) would eventually personally aid the Dutch in the early 1580s, which I will discuss some more in my entry on the tapestry Elephant.) This is probably therefore the most ambiguous of the tapestries, more so than Tournament (see my earlier post).

In the background of this tapestry, we see a procession of people on horseback, with the Château d'Anet in the background. In the center is Henri on a white horse, looking beautiful as always. A little further in the background is Catherine de' Medici in a litter. The identities of the people in the foreground are less clear. The Cleveland Museum of Art identifies the man with the wide-brimmed hat, red tights(!), and pompadour hairstyle as Charles, Duc de Mayenne, brother of the infamous Henri de Guise, but Yates disagrees, identifying him as Louis of Nassau, brother of William of Orange. Frankly, I don't think he resembles either one of them, but that's just my personal opinion. Could he perhaps be one of Henri III's mignons?

Sources: Elizabeth Cleland and Marjorie E. Wieseman, Renaissance Splendor: Catherine de' Medici's Valois Tapestries (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018). Tour of Renaissance Splendor exhibit, Cleveland Museum of Art (December 4, 2018). Yates, Frances. The Valois Tapestries. London: Warburg Institute, 1959. Reprinted by Routledge, 1999. Kindle ed.

Photos by chicot-premier.

[aic-design]

Exterior Detail of Chateau d'Anet, Anet, France, Travel Sketch, George Allen Hinds, 1977, Art Institute of Chicago: Architecture and Design

Gift of George Allen Hinds Size: 20.3 × 24.7 cm (8 × 9 3/4 in.) Medium: Ink and watercolor on cream paper

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/242716/

[amislouisxvi]

The chapel at the Chateau d'Anet.

[justtblue]

Stairway to heaven ... Chateau d'Anet built by Philibert d'Ormet for Dianne de Poitiers, mistress of Henry II of France 📸 Insta @condenastproperty

[bestofava]

La porte du château d #Anet avec plein de détails architecturaux avec le cerf dont les cornes se détachent bien à son sommet. #jeudiarchi #porte #lizmichellesummer2018 #architecture #chateau #histoire #cerf #style #entree #details #summer #ete #instadaily (à Château d'Anet) https://www.instagram.com/p/BmjMh_HgTMt/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1izj1isyy01ez

[livesunique]

Grand Staircase, Château d’Anet, Anet, Eure-et-Loir, France

[dixt]

grand staircase at château d'anet, france

[tomwaldek]

photographed by karolinemaria.com #karolinemaria #bnw #portrait #thisiskarolinemaria #tomwaldek #chateau #france #actor #beard #2016 #tomka #lookoflove #man #ancient #filmlocation #thunderball (hier: Château d'Anet)

[centuriesbehind]

Château d’Anet, source

[aic-design]

Exterior Detail of Chateau d'Anet, Anet, France, Travel Sketch, George Allen Hinds, 1977, Art Institute of Chicago: Architecture and Design

Gift of George Allen Hinds Size: 20.3 × 24.7 cm (8 × 9 3/4 in.) Medium: Ink and watercolor on cream paper

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/242716/

[whatluxuryis]