Some paintings in the homes of two courtiers of Versailles

If the Palace of Versailles is in itself a complete work of art, keeping within it the most beautiful royal collections, we do not know that certain courtiers of the 17th and 18th centuries, enlightened amateurs, also kept very great masterpieces. work which today sits in national and international museums.

By Mathieu da Vinha, scientific director of the Palace of Versailles Research Center

Versailles, as we know, was not primarily intended to welcome all courtiers.

After the hunting lodge of Louis XIII, its status evolved according to the desires of his son Louis former palaces of the monarchy, the lodgings of the courtiers, except those of the princes and princesses of the royal family, nevertheless remained relatively small compared to the private mansions which the holders of important commensal responsibilities generally occupied. It is therefore not in these “reduced” spaces, not always very appropriate, that one would expect to find works of art, generally exhibited in their hotel or residence in Paris (we think of the gardener André Le Nôtre, to the Count of Caylus, etc.), even real artistic cabinets that certain courtiers had been able to set up. Our purpose in this article is only a first sketch through two examples, but a precise analysis of the inventories drawn up among the courtiers at Versailles should not fail to reveal discoveries regarding paintings and other objects of art. owned by the inhabitants of the castle.

Denis Moreau

First of all, we think of the collection of Denis Moreau (ca. 1630-1707), undoubtedly one of the most emblematic of the reign of Louis XIV (1), but ultimately quite little known to the extent that only the Duchess of Orléans also mentions it explicitly in his Correspondence in March 1702. The king's sister-in-law mentions in a letter to her aunt the Duchess of Hanover that she went up, out of curiosity, to see the "four small rooms" occupied by Moreau. It is the Marquis de Dangeau who informs us about this space when he wrote in his Journal on November 17, 1701: “The Duke of Gesvres, whose health hardly allows him to come here and even less, when he there, going up to his apartment, which is very high, returned it to the king before we went to Fontainebleau; the king gave it to Moreau, first valet of the Duke of Burgundy. » Despite its “height”, this accommodation (bearing no. 68 according to the nomenclature of the Ancien Régime) was very well located since it occupied exactly the attic space above the antechamber of the Grand Couvert de the Queen, and it had three windows opening onto the South parterre. It had a surface area of approximately 135 m2, not counting the mezzanine rooms... The visit of the Duchess of Orléans, the Palatine, was not in vain (see box), and she was struck by the quality of the rooms that 'she discovered. Beyond the masterpieces, part of the collection seemed to want to tell the history of France – from the reign of François I to that of Louis XIV – by bringing together everything that concerned the kings and their families, military heroes as well as portraits of different artists and men of letters, like what Louis-Philippe did later, certainly on a much larger scale, with his museum dedicated “to all the glories of France”.

Although Madame Palatine seemed very impressed by these artistic pieces, she unfortunately did not inform us about the constitution of the collection. To outline it, we can refer to the correspondence that Moreau maintained with the historiographer and collector François Roger de Gaignières (2) where we can glean some scraps of information. The latter played the role of advisor, as can be seen in a letter simply dated “Wednesday, March 23 [1695]”; “Today there were a large number of illustrious prelates dining at my house who were only occupied with my little portraits. I told them that I was fully obliged to you and when they knew that the originals were either yours or approved by you, they looked at my copies with complete confidence.” Like the King of the French, Moreau directly placed orders to complete the characters he lacked: “I am having Marshal de Bassompierre dressed in fashionable clothing of his time” (letter of May 29, 1695). Several letters mention above all loans of paintings by Gaignières to Moreau so that he could have copies reproduced.

However, nothing in their correspondence concerns the purchase or the mode of acquisition of the masterpieces. To better understand the works of Poussin, Mignard, Carracci, etc., it is appropriate to refer to the Louis de Nyert collection, for which we have the inventory in 1736. Indeed, upon his death in 1707 and to the detriment of his family, Moreau had preferred to designate as universal legatee – by his will signed at Versailles on December 4, 1707 – his faithful friend François-Louis de Nyert (ca. 1647-1719), first valet of the king. If we are to believe the Marquis de Dangeau, the legacy was far from negligible. In his Journal, dated December 7, 1707, he noted: “It is believed that he [Moreau] left him [in Nyert] the value of 100,000 écus [i.e. 300,000 livres] which were the property of acquisition. He left to his parents the property he had received from his family,” which was confirmed by the Marquis de Sourches on the same date, however minimizing the acquisitions to 250,000 pounds. From then on, an important legal battle began between Nyert and the Moreau family, from which the first valet emerged victorious, subject however to some concessions and transfers of annuities... Despite the mention of an "inventory made after the death of the said sir Moreau by Monsieur de Novion, lieutenant general of the provost of the hotel and grand provost of France, and Mr. Chéron his clerk on the twelfth and other days of December one thousand seven hundred and seven” (3), this precious document, despite our research, was unfortunately found neither in the Departmental Archives of Yvelines nor in the National Archives…

François-Louis de Nyert died in turn in 1719. It was then not considered necessary to draw up an inventory since he left only one heir, for whom there was an inventory in 1736. This is the reason why, even if the two collections should not be confused (the Nyerts also acquired numerous works), we can nevertheless clearly identify some pieces mentioned by Moreau. The Duchess of Orléans mentioned three paintings by Poussin, of which only Moses Saved from the Waters and The Funeral of Phocion (mentioned by the dancer and choreographer Beauchamps in 1687) is reputed to be original while the Landscape with the Ashes of Phocion collected by his widow is mentioned in 1736 as being a copy. The first two paintings are now kept in the National Gallery in London and the National Museum in Cardiff. A good part of the 1707 collection passed to François-Louis de Nyert then to his son Louis in 1719, and remained in the hands of the latter's widow in 1736. Marie-Anne Marsollier did not die until 1771 and the collection Nyert was then sold during a public sale which took place on March 30, 1772.

Dominique-Guillaume Le Bel

Moreau was not the only one to have important works of art in his apartment in Versailles. And it is in that of another king's pet that we are surprised to find certain pieces. This is the accommodation occupied by Dominique-Guillaume Le Bel (1696-1768) (4), the first valet of Louis XV. In addition to this commensal role, Le Bel was also the concierge of the Château de Versailles and governor of the Château du Louvre. As such, he had an apartment in each of the royal residences and it did not seem necessary to him to acquire or rent a private residence on a personal basis, preferring to live permanently with his master. It was in his Versailles concierge apartment, located at the eastern end of the Government wing – now destroyed and corresponding to the Gabriel wing and pavilion – that several unnamed paintings were prized upon his death in 1768. negligible. His accommodation was far from ridiculous since it was distributed between the chapel courtyard and the main courtyard, both in the pavilion and the Government wing itself. It had six rooms on the ground floor, three of which had fireplaces, and eight on the mezzanine floor, five of which had fireplaces. It was considered decent enough to accommodate Countess Du Barry in 1769 while the new favorite was fitted out with her attic apartment, directly above the private apartment of her august lover.

Le Bel died in Compiègne on August 16, 1768, and his inventory after death was drawn up on the following September 10. The notaries logically started with his main place of residence, namely his home in Versailles. To identify the different works (the subject represented, the artist, or sometimes both), it is appropriate to compare both the inventory after death, which remains quite summary in the description of the items, and the will from the valet, dated June 17, 1766, which more precisely designated the donations he wished to make. This is how we note “At the entrance to the vestibule”, “a painting on canvas approximately three and a half feet wide [approximately 114 cm] by two and a half [approximately 81 cm] high representing a dog and a cat in its border of carved gilded wood valued at 96 pounds", or "In the company room", "three paintings above painted in fresco and put back on canvas by [Roger] Picault representing different subjects in their border of gilded wood valued at 240 livres", paintings which should be compared to the testamentary mention "I give to Mr. de Fontanieu the Chevalier de Fontanieu [sic], intendant and general controller of the furniture of the Crown, a large painting painted by Desportes, representing a large dog and a cat, and three paintings painted by Mignard taken from above plaster and put on canvas by Picaud.

Unlike Denis Moreau, however, we are here rather faced with pieces collected by opportunism and at random from the functions occupied by Le Bel, whether it be his role as concierge, first valet, or even a notorious “pimp” and provider. young girls for Louis XV. We thus note, in the wardrobe of the bedroom "a painting painted in pastel representing the portrait of Madame Giambone under mirror in its border of carved gilded wood valued at 24 pounds" that the purveyor of young girls of Louis XV had the courtesy of returning to his model through his will: “I give to Madame de Giambone my little secretary garnished with gilded bronze with ground gold, and that of my equation clocks made by Chevallier, watchmaker to the King, which pleases her best. I want the portrait that she kindly gave me to be returned to her. » Could this be the portrait mentioned by Charles Vatel in his monumental biography of Mme Du Barry in 1883? “Marie-Louise de Marny, known to have been to Parc-aux-Cerfs. […] She was a very pretty person, with a cute, childish face, her pastel portrait has been preserved and still exists in a private collection, she wears a rose in her hair, a necklace of large pearls, and a black mantle. We thus have a specimen of the kind of beauty that pleased Louis XV. Marie-Louise de Marny became a mother. She was made to marry an Italian banker, Octave-Marie-Pie Giamboni. » Among the other portraits, we also note that of Dominique-Guillaume Le Bel himself, not prized as being a family portrait (“About three paintings […], the third representing the said late sir Le Bel also in hunter"), and that he "gives to Mr. Cahoüet formerly first war clerk [his] portrait by the sieur [Claude Pougin] of Saint-Aubin and retouched by the sieur de La Roche [nephew of The Beautiful]; [that he] prays to accept it to remember from time to time that he had in [him] a good and faithful friend.”

But the most important works were nevertheless kept in Paris, at the captaincy of the Louvre, where Le Bel stayed during his stays in the capital. It is in a living room overlooking the garden that we note “four paintings painted on canvas representing different historical subjects in their border of plain gilded wood valued at 24 pounds”. The mention seems innocuous, but it concerns nothing more and nothing less than considerable works for the history of the Palace of Versailles. Indeed, in his will, Le Bel dictated to the notary: “I give to Mr. de La Martinière, the first surgeon to the King, my former friend, four sketch paintings by Le Brun which were used to make the four large paintings of the The staircase previously known as the Ambassadors which is destroyed today. » He undoubtedly got these sketches directly from his grandfather Michel Le Bel, the concierge of Versailles from around 1661 to 1695, and who had perhaps received them from Le Brun himself during the construction of the staircase at the turn. 1670s-1680s. Since 1920, the castle has had two of these sketches of the different nations of the world, probably copies after the painter: Europe (under inventory number MV5778) and Asia (under number MV5779). Until now, they were said to come from the Marigny collection. On the other hand, the castle has just acquired two of these small, original paintings in 2020, again with Asia (V2020.30.1) and Africa (V2020.30.1). We like to believe that these are those mentioned in 1768 at Le Bel, bequeathed to La Martinière, and which were still found in the surgeon's inventory in 1783 among several objects in the gallery of his castle of Bièvres (“four paintings sketches by Le Brun subject of the grand staircase of Versailles”), which were sold during a public sale in March 1784, as mentioned at the end of his inventory.

And what about the most sulfurous work, exhibited “in a room following the said bedroom serving as a second anteroom when entering from the courtyard”, “a painting painted in pastel representing a naked woman in its gilded wood border prized 48 pounds? It is once again the will that reveals the identification: “I give to Mr. Bouvart, a doctor whom I love as much as I respect the lights of his state, a pastel painting painted by Boucher, first painter of the King, representing a young woman lying on a chaise longue. » There is every reason to believe that this is a variation of the blonde Odalisque, in other words, the little mistress of Louis XV, Marie-Louise O'Murphy, when she was only fourteen or fifteen years old around 1751-1752, and of which there are two versions, one at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich and the other at the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne.

If these two examples of Moreau and Le Bel are quite different, they nevertheless allow us to see that art, apart from the superb royal and princely collections (notably those of the Dauphin, son of Louis XIV, or the Regent, nephew of the same king ), was far from being absent from these Versailles apartments that some in the 19th century called a rat’s nest…

1• See Antoine Schnapper, Curieux du Grand Siècle. Collections and collectors in 17th-century France, Paris, Flammarion, coll. “Fields”, 2005, p. 393-394. See also Géraldine Bavion, The collection of paintings and bronzes of Louis de Nyert, first valet of the king (1686-1736), École du Louvre, study dissertation (1st year of 2nd cycle) under the direction of Mathieu da Vinha, 2014.

2• BnF: ms. Fr. 24,989.

3• Arch. nat. : MC/ET/CXII/438/B (notary Marquis Desnotz) – May 25, 1708, the transaction between François de Nyert, Anne Cornu, Claude Guillebon, and Marie Cornu.

4• On the character, see the chapter which is devoted to his family in our work In the service of the king: The professions at the court of Versailles, Paris, Tallandier, coll. “Texto”, 2020, p. 223-247.

The Duchess of Orléans at Denis Moreau

“Yesterday I had the curiosity to go see the apartment of Mr. Moreau, the first valet of the Duke of Burgundy. He arranged it himself, and I had heard a lot about it. So I went there instead of going to the church. It’s small, but very clean and very curious. It has four small rooms decorated with portraits and paintings. First, magnificent paintings by Poussin; the king has none more beautiful. There are three big ones. One represents the death of Phocion; in the other, we collect his ashes, and the third shows us Moses saved from the waters by the daughter of the king of Egypt. There is also a Carracci, a Mignard, a Van Dyck, a Bassan, and other paintings by painters whose names I have forgotten. They all have gilded and shaped frames, and around the large paintings, there are small ones representing all the kings of France from Francis I to our king. Below each king, we see all the great men, scholars, and warriors, who lived during his time. Moreau has portraits of all the poets from the same period to the present day. Malherbe has a terrible beard. He also has the mistresses of all the kings and queens. In a separate cabinet are Mme de Montespan, Mme de La Vallière, Mme de Fontange, Mme de Ludre. It also has Madame de Maintenon, dressed like a saint, and the entire royal family, as well as all those who have won battles, arranged in chronological order; we see among them Monsieur le Prince, the Duke of Harcourt, M. de Turenne, and M. de Luxembourg. He placed under Cardinal Richelieu all those he put to death, such as M. de Montmorency, Marshal d'Ancre, M. de Cinq-Mars, Marshal de Marillac, and M. de Bassompierre. Under the portrait of Henry III are all the guillards and everything that played a role during the time of the League. But it would take too long to tell you everything I saw. Moreau still has beautiful expensive porcelain and bronze figures, the portraits of Mr. Le Brun, of Mignard, of Mr. Le Nostre, very similar, of Racine, of Corneille, of La Fontaine, very similar too, well all of them the Jansenists and Mme Guion. I advised him to place this lady between M. de Cambray and M. de Meaux. He told me that he had thought about it, but that he had not dared to do it. He also has the portrait of Rabelais, who has a very comical physiognomy. All this is very pretty to see; I stayed for a whole hour examining everything. How times have changed! Except for Madame de Maintenon, who is dressed like a Saint Frances, all the others are in their natural costume, and these costumes hardly resemble ours. The brave Chivry is singularly dressed; he has a gray linen doublet all cut and lined with blue; but I fear I will bore you with all these details…” (letter from Madame, Duchess of Orléans, to the Duchess of Hanover, March 23, 1702).