The Château de Beauregard is a Renaissance château in the Loire Valley in France. It is located on the territory of the commune of Cellettes, a little south of the city of Blois and a few miles from other famous Loire châteaux such as Cheverny. Although still inhabited, it can be visited by tourists. The château is renowned for its gallery of portraits decorated in the 17th century with 327 portraits of famous people.

History

Most of the château was built around 1545, when it was bought by Jean du Thiers, Lord of Menars, and Secretary of State to Henri II. The commissioned interior included frescoes on the fireplace of the royal chamber, which have survived. In the Great Gallery there is a fireplace in Italian style from this period. However its main feature was commissioned by Paul Ardier, Comptroller of Wars and Treasurer, who bought the château in 1617. He added further interior decorations over the next few decades, including a gallery of portraits.

The château is built on the edge of the Russy Forest.

The ruins of a chapel, prior to the fifteenth century, are still visible in the park. It shows, in stone, shell of the pilgrims of Saint Jacques de Compostela and the motto of the crusaders "God wills it."

The original manor house was built in the late fifteenth century by the family Doulcet. Jean Doulcet, Master of the House of Coins of Charles, Duke of Orléans. In 1495, Charles' son Louis of Orleans (future Louis XII), erected in the land of Beauregard lordship, was authorized by Edict build a dovecote.

The son of John Doulcet Francis, Master of the House of Deniers of Louis XII, was dismissed for defrauding the Crown during the Italian campaigns, and Beauregard then confiscated and incorporated into the royal domain.

In 1521, Francis I, who used until the château as a hunting rendezvous, offered it to his uncle René de Savoie, who died at the Battle of Pavia in 1525, and the area fell to his widow.

In 1545, at a price of 2000 gold crowns, the estate was purchased by John Thier, Secretary of State for Finance for Henry II and a great humanist, protector of poets Joachim du Bellay and Pierre de Ronsard.

Jean Thier was the real builder of the château. He incorporated the old house into the new building, built in the Renaissance style, the central gallery that connected the two residential building body. The architect is unknown. From 1553, Jean du Thier appealed to many foreign artists who were working for King Henry II to undertake the interior decoration. The painter Niccolò dell'Abbate decorated with frescoes in the destruction of the north wing of the 19th century.

Joiner King Francisque Scibec Carpi carved woodwork of the study, the Cabinet of Bells. At the foot of the windows of the south wing, Jean du Thier created a typical Renaissance garden, strictly scheduled. He presented collections of rare plants meet the owner of the botanical tastes.

The château was designed and described in the book of Androuet Hoop, The most excellent buildings of France (Second Volume, 1579).

Florimond Robertet took over Beauregard in 1566. On the death of Jean Thier in 1559, Catherine de' Medici appointed Robertet as Secretary of State for Finance. He undertook no developments to Beauregard, then being absorbed by the construction of his castle of Bury.

The heirs of Florimond Robertet gave way to Paul Beauregard Ardier in 1617. The new owner of the château had to withdraw from the service of Louis XIII after 55 years spent with the kings Henry III, Henry IV, and Louis XIII.

Controller General of War, Grand Treasurer of the savings, he was 72 years old when he devoted himself to embellish his new domain. He destroyed the old house to surround the central gallery of modern two symmetrical wings. It also gave the public their current appearance. The major work of Paul Ardier was the setting for the Portrait Gallery which also occupied the next two generations. His son, Paul Ardier, President of the Chamber of Accounts and the husband of his granddaughter, Gaspard de Fieubet, Chancellor of the Queen Mother Anne of Austria, continued his work. The land of Beauregard was built by Viscount Louis XIV.

The domain of Beauregard left the Ardier wealth in 1816 to be sold to the Viscount of Préval.

The Comtesse de Sainte Aldegonde, born Adelaide Josephine Bourlon Chavagne, widow of the Duke of Castiglione, succeeded him to the château.

On 8 October 1839, his daughter, Marie-Josephine Valentine (1820-1891), married to Alexandre-Edmond de Talleyrand-Périgord castle, Duke of Dino and son of the Duke of Talleyrand; she became the mistress of wealthy Russian subject Anatole Demidoff, made Prince of San Donato in 1840 by ducal decree and ephemeral husband of Mathilde-Laetizia Bonaparte, daughter of Jerome prince and cousin of Napoleon III.

In 1837 Virginia St. Aldegonde, Duchess of Mortemart, inherited from Tourzel Henriette, Duchess of Charost Castle Meillant (Cher), she was restored from 1842.

In 1850, Jules, Comte de Cholet (1798-1884), new owner, entrusted the restoration of the château at the Jules Morandière, and in 1864 it was classified a historic monument by Prosper Mérimée and remained in his family for seventy-two years.

In 1912, Louis Thillier launched a major modernization and restoration.

The domain belongs since 1925 to the family of Gosselin from which the Count Guy of Cheyron Pavilion, which today continues the restoration of the château and the gallery of portraits with his wife.

Description The main building has two floors of the gallery: the ground floor is a covered porch gallery with seven arches and the first floor is a gallery. In the 16th century, the galleries were designed to connect the two residential buildings. On the south of it, at the right angles, there are advanced wings with two floors and a chimney that's tall and narrow decorated with stale inclusions. You would have to imagine the other side of the court, another wing, probably the body of the primitive home of the 15th century, including Jean du Thier during the constructing duration of the château. This wing, visible on the plans of Androuet du Cerceau, was destroyed in the seventeenth century to make way for a more modern building that has disappeared in the 19th century. The rear facade overlooking the park was changed in the 19th century. It was abolished by the court of the tennis court to double the central building. Thus, the residential wings are no longer front and the back cover is decidedly more massive.

The gallery of portraits

The gallery of portraits (Galeries des Illustres in French), the largest in Europe to have survived to our days, is the masterpiece of the château : built during the first half of the 17th century at the request of Paul Ardier, it is 26 meters long, its pavement is entirely made of 5 500 Delftware tiles and its walls are decorated with 327 portraits of famous people having lived between 1328 (date of the beginning of the reign of Philippe VI) and 1643 (death of Louis XIII). The French kings are depicted accompanied by portraits of their queens, ministers, marshals, diplomats, etc. Apart from French personalities, other important historical people of 25 nationalities are represented. Marie Ardier, daughter of Paul Ardier, committed the decoration of the ceiling to the painter Jean Mosnier and its family. The blue color which dominates has been obtained by the use of lapis lazuli, one of the most precious and expensive mineral stones in the 17th century. Paul Ardier, owner of Beauregard in 1617, realized in the whole gallery of his château, a historian dream tell through a collection of portraits 315 years of history of France. 3 generations of his family have run for 60 years to design this exceptional piece.

Presentation Located on the "noble floor", the gallery is 26 meters long by 6 meters wide. The collection, which is right around the room, includes 327 portraits on 3 levels in 12 panels.

Each portrait painted on the canvas measures on average 55 cm by 45 cm. The characteristics are represented by 2 exceptions and . The large equestrian portrait of Henri IV de France is placed on the fireplace dated in the 16th century.

The portraits of the 14 characters that surround it are significantly smaller than the entire collection.

The ceremonial portrait of covers three levels of portraits.

The number of portraits was variable depending on the king which they are associated. For example, the reign of Philippe IV has six portraits. Charles VIII has 21 portraits and Louis XIII has 40 portraits. The dates of the reigns concerned as well as the emblem and motto of King are painted on wood located between the ground and portraits.

Portrait Galleries, an Italian inspiration The first collections of historical portraits appeared in Italy in the 17th century. Through the intellectual current of humanism revived the ancient interest to men who played a dominant role in the course of history. Many people who fascinated by the life and actions and also by the characteristics of the illustrious we tried to reflect closely as possible.

The most famous Italian collection was that of Paul Jove bishop of Nocera gathers in his villa by Lake Como, set consisting of 240 paintings of political and artistic personalities who enjoyed a considerable impact in Europe. A copy of this collection, commissioned by the Medici, is now visible at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

In the late sixteenth century, the taste for portrait galleries spread in France. These collections have been dispersed or permanently lost the galleries such as Henry IV ordered the Louvre Richelieu in his Cardinal's palace (Palais Royal) . Both collections gathered political figures and announced the theme which was chosen for the Hall of Beauregard Illustrious.

Beauregard Gallery is by no means an isolated initiative, it must be understood within a mode.

However, since the seventeenth century, this collection was distinguished by his contemporaries: we find an admiring mention in the memoirs of the Grande Mademoiselle when he came to the château in 1655. The excess of the project and the care taken in the realization of the book rendered the famous gallery since its creation, which remains today the largest collection of historical portraits of characters known in Europe .

Visiting the Chateau de Richelieu (1630-1642) in early September 1663, Jean de La Fontaine noticed there a place he said

"Lined with portraits For most about major / Like toilet mirrors; / If we had had more time / Less haste, another interpreter, I would tell you what people . You can judge that it is not ye of little stuff : Richelieu Cardinal, Duke ( his nephew Armand -Jean Vignerot ) who inherited his name; Admiral fire Breze (...) . The rest is full of kings and queens, lords, the great figures of France, then that is the history of the nation that cabinet. One guard had to forget all the people who have triumphed over kings; it is the Mona Lisas, beautiful Agnes and those illustrious conquerors without Henri fourth that would have been invincible prince."

- Jean de La Fontaine

Another collection of portraits are visible in France, but its theme and scale are very different; this is that which was gathered in the seventeenth century, the castle of Bussy- Rabutin in Burgund.

Ernest de Ganay tells the Neuville castle in Gambais in 1939 a "curious royal portrait gallery", some attributed to students Clouet; consists of 192 leading figures in the history of France from François I to the 1789 Revolution, it would have been created in the eighteenth century by Francis Nyert.