Palace of Fontainebleau ( , ; ), located southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. It served as a hunting lodge and autumn residence for many of the French monarchs, including Louis VII, Francis I, Henry II, Louis-Philippe, Napoleon I, and Napoleon III. Though the monarchs only resided there for a few months of the year, they gradually transformed it into a genuine palace, filled with art and decoration.Hebert, Jean-Francois and Sarmant, Thierry, "Fontainebleau - Mille and d'histoire de France", Editions Talendier (2020) It became a national museum in 1927 and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981 for its unique architecture and historical importance.
History Name
"Fontainebleau" took its name from the "Fontaine Belle-Eau", a natural fresh water spring located in the English garden not far from the château. In 1622 Henry Peacham wrote it “is the purest and fairest fountaine esteemed in the world, wherefore it was called Belle eauë.” In the 19th century the spring was rebuilt with an octagonal stone basin, as it appears today.History Plaque on the Fountain in January, 2024 Hunting Lodge and castle (12th century) The earliest reference to a royal residence at Fontainebleau dates to 1137 under King Louis VII the Younger, but it had probably been built earlier, during the reign of Philip I of France (1060 to 1108), when the Gâtinais region was annexed from the Duchy of Burgundy. It became a favorite autumn residence and hunting lodge of the kings of France because of the abundant game and many springs in the surrounding forest.
The first chateau was a square "donjon" or keep, a fortified tower surrounded by a wall. It was three stories high, and occupied an area of about fifty square meters. The lower walls were three meters wide while the upper walls were a meter wide, made of stone, had windows facing north and south and were topped by a wooden palisade. The King resided on the middle level. The original tower, rebuilt to fit the later styles, is still part of the Oval Court.Hebert and Sarmant, "Fontainebleau- Milles anes d'histoire de France", p. 22 (2020)
Louis VII built a chapel which was consecrated in 1169 by Thomas Becket, the English priest in exile in France because of his disagreements with King Henry II of England. He also sponsored the construction of a monastery of the Trinitarians, a mendicant order of monks, close to the castle Hebert and Sarmant, "Fontainebleau- Milles anes d'histoire de France"
Francis I and The first School of Fontainbleau (1528–1547) The modest medieval castle remained until the reign of Francis I of France (1494–1547). The King commissioned the architect Gilles Le Breton to build a new palace in the Renaissance style. Le Breton created the Cour Ovale, or oval courtyard, He preserved the original medieval keep on one side, but added a monumental new building, the Porte Dorée or Golden Gate, in the Italian Renaissance style, as the main entry of the palace. On the north side he built another building with a Renaissance stairway, the Portique de Serlio, which gave access the royal apartments.Salmon, Xavier, "Fountainebleau, True Abode of Kings and Palace of the Ages", p. 7
Beginning in about 1528, Francis constructed the , which allowed him to pass directly from his apartments to the chapel of the Trinitarians. He brought the architect Sebastiano Serlio from Italy, and the Florentine painter Giovanni Battista di Jacopo, known as Rosso Fiorentino, to decorate the new gallery. Between 1533 and 1539 Rosso Fiorentino filled the gallery with murals glorifying the king, framed in stucco ornament in high relief, and lambris sculpted by the furniture maker Francesco Scibec da Carpi. Another Italian painter, Francesco Primaticcio from Bologna ("Primatice" to the French), joined later in the decoration of the gallery. Their elaborate mixture of painting and sculpture became known as the first School of Fontainebleau, which helped launch the French Renaissance. The emblem of Francis I, a salamander surrounded by flames, is found alongside each painting he commissioned in the Grand Gallery.Hebert and Sarmant p. 43
In about 1540, Francis began another major addition to the château. Using land on the east side of the château purchased from the order of the Trinitarians, he began to build a new square of buildings around a large courtyard. It was enclosed on the north by the wing of the Ministers, on the east by the wing of Ferrare, and on the south by a wing containing the new gallery of Ulysses. The château was surrounded by a new park in the style of the Italian Renaissance garden, with pavilions and the first grotto in France. Francesco Primaticcio created more monumental murals for the gallery of Ulysses.
Henry II and Catherine de Medici (1547–1570)
Following the death of Francis I, King Henry II continued to expand the chateau. The King and his wife, Catherine de' Medici, chose the architects Philibert de l'Orme and Jean Bullant to do the work. They extended the east wing of the lower court and decorated it with a horseshoe-shaped staircase, which was later enlarged, and became a symbol of the château.
Their major project was the Oval Court, which was designed to be the entrance to the new royal apartments. They transformed the loggia originally planned by Francis I into a Salle des Fêtes, or grand ballroom, with a coffered ceiling. Facing the courtyard of the fountain and the fish pond.
The decoration of the new ballroom featured murals by Francesco Primaticcio, surrounded by elaborate stucco sculpture. A new generation of artists joined the work, including the Mannerists painters Primaticcio and Niccolò dell'Abbate. It was also the birthplace of Francis II, Henry II's firstborn son.
Following the death of Henry II in a jousting accident, his widow, Catherine de' Medici, took over the project, which she carried out through the reigns of her three sons, Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III. She named Primaticcio as the new superintendent of royal public works. He designed the section known today as the wing of the Belle Cheminée, noted for its elaborate chimneys and its two opposing stairways. In 1565, as a security measure due to the Wars of Religion, she also had a moat dug around the château to protect it against attack.
Henry IV (1570–1610) King Henry IV made more additions to the château than any king since Francis I. He extended the oval court toward the west by building two pavilions, called Tiber and Luxembourg. Between 1601 and 1606, he remade all the façades around the courtyard, including that of the chapel of Saint-Saturnin, to give the architecture greater harmony. On the east side, he built a new monumental domed gateway, the Porte du Baptistère. Between 1606 and 1609, he built a new courtyard, the Cour des Offices or Quartier Henry IV, to provide a place for the kitchens and residences for court officials. Two new galleries, the Gallery of Diana and the Gallery of Deer, were built to enclose the old garden of Diana. He also added a large jeu de paume, or indoor tennis court, the largest such court existing in the world.
A second School of Fontainebleau group of painters and decorators went to work on the interiors. The architect Martin Fréminet created the ornate chapel of the Trinity, while the painters Ambroise Dubois and Toussaint Dubreuil created a series of heroic paintings for the salons. A new wing, named for its central building, La Belle Cheminée, was built next to the large fish pond.
Henry IV also devoted great attention to the park and gardens around the chateau. The garden of the Queen or garden of Diana, created by Catherine de' Medici, with the fountain of Diane in the center, was located on the north side of the palace. Henry IV's gardener, Claude Mollet, trained at Château d'Anet, created a large parterre of flower beds, decorated with ancient statues and separated by paths into large squares. The fountain of Diana and the grotto were made by Tommaso Francini, who may also have designed the Medici Fountain in the Luxembourg Garden for Marie de' Medici. On the south side, Henry created a park, planted with pines, elms and fruit trees, and laid out a grand canal 1200 meters long, sixty years before Louis XIV built his own grand canal at Versailles.
Louis XIII to Louis XVI (17th-18th century)
King Louis XIII, who had been born and baptized in the château, continued the works begun by his father. He completed the decoration of the chapel of the Trinity, and assigned the court architect Jean Androuet du Cerceau to reconstruct the horseshoe stairway earlier designed by Philibert Delorme on the courtyard that had become known as the Cour de Cheval Blanc. After his death, his widow, Anne of Austria, redecorated the apartments within the Wing of the Queen Mothers (Aile des Reines Mères) next to the Court of the Fountain, designed by Primatrice.
King Louis XIV spent more days at Fontainebleau than any other monarch; he liked to hunt there every year at the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. He made few changes to the exterior of the château, but did build a new apartment for his companion Madame de Maintenon, furnished it with some major works of André-Charles Boulle and demolished the old apartments of the baths under the Gallery of Francis I to create new apartments for the royal princes, and he made some modifications to the apartments of the King. The architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart built a new wing alongside the Gallery of Deer and the Gallery of Diana to provide more living space for the Court. He did make major changes in the park and gardens; he commissioned André Le Nôtre and Louis Le Vau to redesign the large parterre into a French formal garden. He removed the hanging garden which Henry IV had built next to the large fish pond, and instead built a pavilion, designed by Le Vau, on a small island in the center of the pond.
Louis XIV welcomed many foreign guests there, including the former Queen Christina of Sweden, who had just abdicated her crown. While a guest in the château on 10 November 1657, Christina suspected her Master of the Horse and reputed lover, the Marchese , of betraying her secrets to her enemies. Her servants chased him through the halls of the château and stabbed him to death. Louis XIV came to see her at the château, did not mention the murder, and allowed her to continue her travels.
On May 19–20, 1717, during the Regency following the death of Louis XIV, the Russian Tsar Peter the Great was a guest at Fontainebleau. A hunt for stags was organized for him, and a banquet. Officially the visit was a great success, but in the memoirs published later by members of the delegation, it appears that Peter disliked the French style of hunting, and that he found the château too small, compared with the other royal French residences. The routine of Fontainebleau also did not suit his tastes; he preferred beer to wine (and brought his own supply with him) and he liked to get up early, unlike the French Court.Мезин С.А. Взгляд из Европы: французские авторы XVIII века о Петре I. Саратов, 2003. (In Russian).Buvat J. Journal de la régence. T. 1. P. 269–270; Майков Л. Н. Современные рассказы... // Русский архив. 1881. Кн. 1, № 1. С. 12–13. (In Russian).
The renovation projects of Louis XV were more ambitious than those of Louis XIV. To create more lodging for his enormous number of courtiers, in 1737–38 the King built a new courtyard, called the Cour de la Conciergerie or the Cour des Princes, to the east of the Gallery of Deer. On the Cour du Cheval Blanc, the wing of the Gallery of Ulysses was torn down and gradually replaced by a new brick and stone building, built in stages in 1738–1741 and 1773–74, extending west toward the Pavilion and grotto of the pines.