The following is (mostly) taken from a talk in the "Wednesday Lecture" series, given at Lunéville in May of this year by the director of the Musée du Château, Thierry Franz. His subject is embrace of "Nature" in the Court culture of 18th-century Lorraine, with particular reference to the lost ménageries at Lunéville and the country château of La Malgrange, which have recently been brought to life in virtual reconstructions. Rather than through ceremonial or lavish display, Thierry Franz argues, it was by their openness to nature that the Dukes of Lorraine showed themselves to be at the forefront of European élite culture.
The lecture focuses particularly on the contribution of the Duchess Élisabeth-Charlotte, who in 1700 chose to have herself depicted as Flora, the Roman goddess of gardens and flowers:
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| Portrait of the Duchess Élisabeth-Charlotte as Flora, c. 1700. Attributed to Claude Charles (1661-1747), "premier peintre" of the Court of Lorraine. Musée du Château de Lunéville. |
During her childhood at Versailles and Saint-Cloud, Élisabeth-Charlotte had acquired a taste for open-air pursuits. Like Duke Leopold, who was a keen huntsman and breeder of horses, she was an accomplished horsewoman. According to contemporaries, in her younger years she loved to ride at a gallop. The daily chronicles and archives of the palace are full of hunts and horse rides, but also of picnics in the woods - open air meals were very fashionable in general in the 18th century, but found particular favour with the ducal couple.
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| Attributed to Jean-Baptiste Martin, Equestrian portrait of the Duchess of Lorraine, Hofburg, Insbruck (Wikimedia) The pendant is a similar depiction of Leopold. |
The Duke and Duchess's preference for the countryside was also reflected in their building programme. They favoured country residences: Lunéville itself , "un palais aux champs"and, above all, Einville, the ancient ducal domain situated about eight kilometres to the north, in the valley of the river Sanon. It was here that the couple retired for the belle saison, surrounded by a select court. Beginning in 1701, the old château was progressively demolished and replaced by a modest residence. In 1704, a second phase of reconstruction saw the addition of new wings and two courtyards which preceded the corps de logis. In 1711 Boffrand also began work at La Malgrange, the small ducal estate just outside the gates of Nancy, which Leopold and Élisabeth-Charlotte appreciated for its clean air and waters, and for its views over the countryside.
THE MENAGERIES
The construction of "ménageries", small lodges or pleasure farms, on the outskirts of the official ducal residences, afforded spaces where "the exercise of country pursuits combined a certain philosophical vision with the enjoyment of everyday pleasures".
The ménagerie at La Malgrange
At La Malgrange, a ménagerie of sorts - a working garden or small farm rather than a "zoo" - had existed since the early 17th century when a small pavilion next to the old château had been given over to Catherine de Bourbon - wife of Duke Henry II and sister to Henri IV of France - and turned into a little agricultural domain with a few exotic animals. Élisabeth-Charlotte began renovations here as early a 1699.
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| Jacques Callot, The old castle or Ménagerie at La Malgrange, c. 1700. Devonshire Collection, Chatworth (on Bridgeman Art etc.) |
Thierry Franz emphasises that the Duchess was personally involved in the project. She already knew Boffrand, who had completed work for the Orléans family in Paris before being named as Leopold's premier architect in 1711. Moreover, she would have had in mind a particular model, that of the Ménagerie at Versailles, which in May 1698 had been given over by Louis XIV to her relative and friend, Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy, the Duchess of Burgundy.
The original purpose of the pavilion in Versailles, built in the 1660s, had been to house exotic animals, but its location, at the south extremity of the Grand Canal directly opposite the Trianon, made it a pleasant retreat for royal parties, who could be rowed there by gondola. The young Duchess had been very pleased to be offered the little château, which she had been busy renovating at the time of Élisabeth-Charlotte's marriage.
It seems that Louis XIV had originally intended to repeat his generous gesture by paying for the work at La Malgrange. During his brief stay in Lorraine in 1700 Mansard drew up the plans; surviving drawings show annotations, probably in the Duchess's own hand. In the event, under the direction of Pierre Bourdict, the existing structure was retained but extensively modernised. The result exemplified the height of fashionable French style. The unpretentious classical exterior concealed an "absolutely extraordinary" interior echoing the pavilion at Versailles, with large mirrors over the mantle-pieces and sets of small pictures arranged around the walls.
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| From the 3D reconstruction of the Versailles menagerie by Hubert Naudeix (2007) - on YouTube. A second reconstruction, created this year as part of the VERSPERA project at Versailles, shows clearly the arrangement of mirrors. |
In the domain Élisabeth-Charlotte resumed agricultural production, with cattle and a courtyard for hens and rare breeds: Polish and Egyptian pigeons, for example, were bought at great expense from a dealer in Waterloo. She herself would work in the dairy, reflecting the fashion of the time for gifts of one's own making like jam, cheese and butter.
In 1711 Leopold began construction of a new château at La Malgrange but after 1715 the palace was seldom used and the menagerie neglected. Under King Stanislas it became the property of his mistress, the marquise de Boufflers.
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| Plan of the old château and Ménagerie at La Malgrange in 1714-15.[On Gallica] |
The Ménagerie at Lunéville
At the Palace of Lunéville itself the Duchess is known to have kept a kitchen garden from as early as 1700. It occupied a narrow space, ten metres or so wide, on the site of the present chapel, adjacent to Élisabeth-Charlotte's private apartments. Here she could personally supervise the cultivation of cabbages, asparagus, melons and strawberries. She also kept chickens. Elisabeth-Charlotte was a pioneer of cooking as an aristocratic pastime, a fashion which developed in France from about 1750. In 1707 a small pavilion was constructed at one end which contained a little kitchen and a private dining room.
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| Reconstruction of the jardin potager by Vincent Hertz Still from the 2017 video "Métamorphoses: Le chantier du chateau de Lunéville en images, 1698-1737". Available on YouTube. |
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| Approximate site of the Lunéville ménagerie |
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| Pillar at 23 Rue du Rempart, the last vestige of the Lunéville Ménagerie - on Google maps (love me, love my wheelie-bins!) |
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| Detail of canvas destroyed in 2003 (L'Est Républicain) |
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| The mairie at Ville-Issey (Wikipedia) |
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| Still from the 2017 video "Métamorphoses: Le chantier du chateau de Lunéville en images, 1698-1737". Available on YouTube. |
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"Following the fire of January 2003, archaeological investigations were conducted to gain a better understanding of the history and evolution of the park, seconded by significant archival research. Twenty-four test pits were dug across the gardens between October and December 2009, which uncovered traces of the canal, its banks and several fountains. At the foot of the small wing of the Château were discovered vestiges of a small circular water feature which would have been directly visible from the Duchess's private apartments.
The private parterre of the Duchess Élisabeth-Charlotte was designed at the beginning of 2019 by a team of the Château's gardeners. They took their inspiration from the archives and plans of the era, but the project was also a practical experiment, using 18th-century methods of planting. Flowers were more spaced out to allow them to be fully appreciated. The association of annuals and perennials; and the presence of shrubs also conforms to the practice of the time. As today, the soil was covered with a mulch to conserve moisture and reduce the need for watering. The threat of diseases and parasites was combated by the use of hardy shrubs such as Ilex crenata (Japanese holly)"
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| Plan of the Château c.1720, showing details of the Duchess's private parterre (in green). Bibl.de Nancy, fonds Piroux. |
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| Pierre Gobert, Francis of Lorraine in 1713. Musée du Château de Lunéville |
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| Franz Walter, Charles-Alexander of Lorraine and his sister,c.1770 Ink drawing. Bildarchive der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek. Image from Au temps de Marie Antoinette Facebook page (where it is said to show Francis of Lorraine and the Empress Maria-Theresa). |
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| Charles Bour, The domaine de l'Oasis, 1861. Musée du Château de Lunéville |
https://marie-antoinette.forumactif.org/t4711-restitution-du-jardin-prive-d-elisabeth-charlotte-d-orleans-a-luneville
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