Chantilly in History and Art — A Closer Reading

as that all. When at the end of the day the Museum doors were closed I could walk in the vast park of the Château along its shady avenues and watch the swans gliding on the silent waters, whilst the autumn leaves were the sport of the varying breezes. In that unbroken solitude Time, now long past, brought before me once more kings and queens, courtiers and warriors, ladies of beauty and fame: and amid my reveries I seemed to recognise the well-known faces whose representations I had just left in the galleries within. For was it not here, in these woods and on these lakes, that they had lived and feasted in the manner recorded in the chronicles of their time?

Thus, irresistibly attracted by degrees, I conceived the idea of writing about the history and the art at Chantilly: and I undertook a task which grew gradually in my hands to dimensions that at first I had not anticipated.

My chief study, as mentioned above, was intended to be on the French fifteenth-and sixteenth-century artists which the Duc d'Aumale so successfully collected. To the Italian and the Northern Schools and the later French periods at the Musée Condé I have purposely given but a passing mention, since they are equally well or better represented in other galleries.

The Bibliography which I have appended shows that much has been written on early French Art in France, especially during the last fifteen years; and I feel greatly indebted to authors such as Comte Leopold Delisle, Comte Paul Durrieu, MM. George Lafenestre, Anatol Gruyer, Louis Dimier, Gustave Macon, Moreau Nelaton, Sir Claude Phillips, Mr. Roger Fry and others, by whose works I have greatly profited, as also by my husband's expert knowledge. But no book exactly covering this ground has as yet been written in the English language.

More than special acknowledgment and thanks are due to Mr. Robert H. Hobart Cust for his help and valuable suggestions. In the arduous task of revising the proofs of this book he was assisted by my son Mr. F. J. P. Richter. I have also great pleasure in expressing my deep gratitude to my dear friend Mrs. Ludwig Mond, whose constant encouragement was of inestimable value to me.

I am indebted to Mr. Murray for the personal interest he has so kindly shown in the many details which this work entails.

_London, October 1913._

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.....xxv

_CHANTILLY AND ITS HISTORY_

CHANTILLY AND ITS OWNERS: THE MONTMORENCYS

The Origin of Chantilly; the Gallo-Roman Cantillius; the Seigneurs of Senlis; the Orgemonts; the Montmorencys; the Great Constable of France; he builds the Petit-Château; the architects Jean Bullant and Pierre des Iles; the fair Charlotte de Montmorency; Henri IV madly in love with her; the last Montmorency condemned to the scaffold by Richelieu; Chantilly becomes the property of the French Crown.....3

CHANTILLY AND THE CONDÉS

The origin of the Condés; their adherence to the Protestant Faith; Eléonore de Roy, Princesse de Condé, a staunch Huguenot; the two brothers, Antoine de Navarre and Louis I de Bourbon Condé; Catherine de Medicis sides with Condé in order to counterbalance the ascendancy of the Guises; she succeeds in estranging him from his wife; severe censure of Calvin; premature death of the Prince de Condé; his son Henri de Bourbon succeeds to the title; he sends all his family jewels to Queen Elizabeth to help the Huguenot cause; Charlotte de la Trémoille his second wife; his death; his son Henri II is heir to the Crown until the birth of Louis XIII; he is imprisoned for political reasons by Richelieu; his release; Louis XIII on his deathbed gives back Chantilly to its rightful owners.....16

The Duc d'Enghien; his _mariage de convenance_ with Claire-Clemence; his attachment to Marthe de Vigeau; Richelieu appoints him General of the French army; the Hero of Rocroy; after his father's death he assumes his title but is styled the Grand Condé; his victories at Fribourg, Nördlingen, and Lens; he puts down the Fronde and brings the boy-king Louis XIV back to Paris.....33

CLAIRE-CLEMENCE, PRINCESSE DE CONDÉ

The enmity between Mazarin and Condé; the latter and his brother Conti are arrested; the courageous efforts made by Claire-Clemence to liberate her husband; her flight from Chantilly; Turenne escorts her to Bordeaux where she is received with great enthusiasm; Paris clamours for the release of Condé; the Queen is obliged to send Mazarin with an unconditional order for this purpose; his entry into Paris; he expresses his gratitude to the Princess his wife; new difficulties arise; Condé's alliance with Spain; he leaves France and goes over to the enemy.....47

CONDÉ'S ALLIANCE WITH SPAIN