Rodama: a blog of 18th-century & Revolutionary France: The Châteaux of King Stanislas

La Malgrange

André Joly, Château de La Malgrange, seen from des Goulottes, Musée Lorrain, Nancy. Wikimedia
The"Tableau Gillet" This picture, which is probably belonged to Stanislas, shows the building work as yet unfinished.

The Château at La Malgrange, today a suburb of Nancy, was an ancient possession of the Dukes of Lorraine. Leopold began its reconstruction but abandoned work in 1715, reputedly after the Elector of Bavaria complained that the palace was "too close to Nancy for a country house and too far away for a principal residence". Stanislas, however, took possession of the site with enthusiasm, determined to create a grand new château, large enough to accommodate his Court for the belle saison, and to provide a convenient stopover during his frequent visits to Nancy. Demolition of the existing buildings, left unfinished by Boffrand, began in June 1738, with the materials reused for the construction of the nearby church of Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours. By 1741, the new plans were broadly in place.

Contemporaries agreed that the La Malgrange created by Stanislas and Héré had nothing of the majesty of Boffrand's intended château; the words that came most often to visitors were "enchanting" or "charming"; according to one the place was a "trinket" ("colifichet").

Any idea of architectural unity was abandoned in favour of an idiosyncratic assemblage of buildings, without a clear axis of symmetry. The central corps-de-logis faced east towards the grand avenue leading off from the main Nancy to Lunéville road. This was the so-called "palais de faïence". Otherwise architecturally unimpressive, of low elevation with a flat roof, this building commanded attention by the fact that it was spectacularly covered with blue-and-white ceramic tiles in imitation of the "Trianon de porcelaine" at Versailles. (which Stanislas would have seen on his travels in France before its demolition in 1687). The tiles were probably Dutch in origin.

View of the chateau de faience after the Recueil of Héré.
19th century lithography by Louis Christophe.

A recent virtual reconstruction by freelance 3D modeller Hervé Grégoire (available on the Nancy-focus website/ YouTube) recreates the magic quality of this strange, glittering building:

An account of the visit by the King's granddaughters, Princesses Adélaïde and Victoire, in 1762 recalls the effect by torchlight:

The entire facade of the corps-de-logis and the pavilions is covered in faience tiles from Holland, in blue and white, of different designs......

When they came out from supper, Messdames were struck by the beauty of the lighting. They stopped particularly in the central alley opposite the château, because this was where the illuminations could best be appreciated as a whole. The facing of faience tiles greatly helped to multiply the rays of light; the areas without polished surfaces absorbed most of it, but the tiles reflected the light in its entirety, to such an extent that, at a certain distance, it was impossible to stand the sight.

Fillion de Charignieu, Relation du second voyage de Mesdames en Lorraine, Nancy 1762, p.13 and p.15.

Inside this main building was a grand vestibule, the central salon or "Salle de marbre" and, on the first floor, the King's bedchamber. One of the two avant-corps housed the royal chapel. Two colonnaded galleries led out to additional buildings: On one side was an orangery, transformed by Héré after 1741 into an elaborately decorated freestanding dining room. On the other was the Communs, a second substantial block which contained accommodation for Court officials, clergy and guests. This part of the ensemble, set perpendicular to the château de faïence, was orientated towards the adjoining park of Les Bosquet and boasted a total facade of 220 metres, with no less than 117 windows.

The illustrations in the Recueil of Héré give a glimpse of the lost interiors with their intricate stucco, glittering gilt and marble, and shimmering light; this is the dining room:

Outside, Stanislas extended and transformed Yves des Hours's original landscaping, draining the surrounding marshes as he had at Lunéville. Despite the absence of any river, elaborate water features were created. A new canal was dug, and hydraulic machines and reservoirs supplied the fountains and cascades.

Between the branches of the canal, was the so-called "Jardin des Goulottes" (ie. "little streams"), a maze of miniature hedges and jets of water. At the far end stood the "Volière", an elaborate garden feature based on Aesop's fable of the Owl and the Birds: metal birds would "sing" hydraulically from the top of a semi-circular trellis as they spouted water down on the hapless owl in its shell-work basin.

Opposite was the entrance to Les Bosquets, a vast park of 50 hectares, based partly on the design of Des Hours, which Stanislas developed into a public park. Alleys and avenues criss-crossed, the groves adorned with statues. In September 1739 the new Jesuit Mission founded by Stanislas led a procession of penitents from Nancy and a Missionary Cross was erected. Stanislas subsequently observed a regular processional pilgrimage, both as part of his personal calendar and as a public feast. Gradually the shrine was embellished. The cross was placed under a baldachin with a scaly roof and surrounded by twelve Stations of the Cross, each with a life-sized polychrome figure in a shrine, adorned with jets of water. A little convent of capuchins was set up nearby in 1742.

Fonbonne, The Missionary Cross at La Malgrange.
Engraving of 1742. Bibliothèque municipale, Nancy

What remains?

After Stanislas's death La Malgrange was given over to the commandants of the new French Province. The maréchal de Stainville demolished the entire château except for the North wing of the Communs which, according to Durival, he transformed into "a very fine country house". However, he resided there only infrequently and the gardens were neglected. His successor, the marquis de Choiseul-Labaume was similarly uninterested and in July 1798, the estate was sold off as a bien national. The park was gradually despoiled, the trees cut down and the land given over to cultivation.

In 1817, the house finally acquired a more careful custodian. The new owner, M. Gillet, carried out essential repairs, preserved the surviving marquetry floors and installed a fanciful "chambre de faience"(now vanished) to display the last of Stanislas's ceramic tiles.

A few tiles in the Musée lorrain are all that now exist of the once splendid Palais de faience - see Claire Aptel (1993)

After some time as a sanatorium, the Château was sold on 20th May 1839 to the abbé Mirguet and a syndicate of buyers to a provide the premises for a private school, the forerunner of the present-day Lycée de La Malgrange which still occupies the site.

Stanislas's estate corresponds roughly to the grounds of the Lycée and the adjacent parking lot for the Parc Expo Nancy - a space described by Thierry Franz as "triste et morne". It is still possible to see the remains of the canal ditch running along the side of the school buildings. The foundations of the palais de faïence were rediscovered in 1877.

At the entrance to the school the original ornate iron gate designed by Jean Lamour, with the interlaced initials of Stanislas, is still in place. Photos of the grounds show scattered remnants of old stone and ironwork: rusty railings, part of a fountain with a stone lion mask; a stray pot-à-feu (The ornate sculpted arms on the facade are those of the bishop of Nancy, added in the 19th century.)

The buildings incorporate part of Stanislas's vast Communs, including the apartments of the state officials. Inside it is still possible to get some sense of the original configuration. There is a staircase with the remains of two ornamental iron banisters, also a salon with an original mantle piece and wood panelling. The most important survivals are the two very rare parquet floors, probably by the cabinet maker Sébastien Doron, one of which has a splendid central rose:

Floor of the Salon Stanislas, Lycée de La Malgrange
https://pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/memoire/AP07L04828

In addition, a number of pieces of garden statuary from La Malgrange - among them seven "amours" - can be seen in the grounds of the nearby Château de Montaigu (below). Now celebrated as the home of the pioneer industrialist Édouard Salin, the house was owned in the 18th century by Bon Prévost, receveur-général-des-Fermes under Stanislas. The Château is now the joint property of the Musée Lorrain and the Lorraine Historical Society and the park is open to the public at weekends.

Finally, the " Volière" was among the pieces acquired after Stanislas's death for the Schwetzingen Palace in Bavaria. It has been lovingly reconstructed and now adorns the Badhausgarten:

From the Schwetzingen website
https://www.schloss-schwetzingen.de/erlebnis-schloss-garten/verborgene-schaetze/bassin-der-wasserspeienden-voegel

The missionary cross

According to the Lunéville municipal website, in March 2023 an association of local American car enthusiasts devoted a morning to clearing the site of a calvary by the side of the road from Einville. This cross is identified as the successor to one erected in 1742 at the "carrefour de la Belle-Croix" just outside Jolivet; having been removed during the Revolution, it was restored in 1804 (as marked on the plinth). According to the 19th-century historian Albert Jacquot, however, this first cross was later replaced by the Missionary Cross from La Malgrange with its sculpted Christ, which had been preserved in the Church of Bonsecours (this in fact being the original "Belle-Croix"). The calvary was moved to its present location in 1901 when the tramway station at Jolivet was constructed - and, sadly, the La Malgrange cross has long since been replaced by a simple modern one.

References

Pierre Boyé, "Les châteaux du roi Stanislas - III. La Malgrange" , Revue Lorraine illustrée, vol. 3 (1908): p.97-112.
https://archive.org/details/revuelorraineill03unse/page/n143/mode/2up?view=theater

Gérard Voreaux, Les châteaux de La Malgrange, Le Pays lorrain, January 1995, p.1-22.
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9601011c/f5.item

Olivier Petit, "Jarville-La-Malgrange - Château (XVIIIe-XIXe siècles)", Patrimoine de Lorraine [blog], post of 19.03.2019.
http://patrimoine-de-lorraine.blogspot.com/2019/03/jarville-la-malgrange-54-chateau-xviiie.html

Claire Aptel, "Les carreaux du chateau de la Malgrange", Le Pays lorrain, July 1993, p.167-168.
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9600896x/f31.item

Pascale Debert, "Les rescapés de la Malgrange # Château de Montaigu" Couleur XVIII [blog], post of 06.05.2015.
http://www.histoiresgalantes.fr/blog/2015/05/06/les-rescapes-de-la-malgrange/

Ville de Lunéville [municipal website] : "Histoire de la croix de mission"

https://luneville.fr/histoire-de-la-croix-de-mission/

Commercy

View of the Château de Commercy from the gardens, c. 1750
Nancy, Musée lorrain [Wikimedia]

Stanislas took possession of the Château at Commercy, about 90 kilometres to the West of Lunéville, after the death of the Dowager Duchess in 1744. He stayed there for the first time in Autumn 1747 and henceforth it became his favourite residence.

Stanislas retained the existing château, which reverted to its original function as a pavillon de chasse. The building, described as "inachevé and fruste", was enlivened with rococo embellishments, the balustrades on the roof crowded with acroteria, pots-à-feu and trophies. Héré was commissioned to construct two wings to house new stables, which formed a horseshoe-shaped cour d'honneur aligned with the town. The entrance to the palace was completed by decorative ironwork railings and gates, today meticulously reconstructed, and, outside the gates, the place du Fer à Cheval was adorned with two splendid decorative fountains.

View of the Château de Commercy from the town. [Wikimedia]
Below: as seen today

A long central avenue, bordered by lime trees, ran from the Place du Fer à cheval right through the town to the extensive forest lands to the west. The domain, which covered over of 7000 hectares, was known as "Les Plaisirs Royaux de Commercy".The so-called Royal Fountain, which was already in existence at the time of Stanislas, became a meeting place and point of departure for the hunt.

In the town itself a splendid Hôtel de Ville was constructed between 1758 and 1760, and a new market hall between 1767 and 1769.

Franck Devedjian, Virtual reconstruction of the garden at Commercy viewed from the terrace showing the pièce de Neptune and the Pavillon d'eau, 2019 [Wikimedia]

The true wonder of Stanislas's Commercy, as elsewhere, lay in the gardens. Between 1747 and 1754 the grounds were extended into the valley to the east as far as the River Meuse and major hydraulic works undertaken. The Canal des Moulins brought water up to the palace and a miniature of the machine de Marly, fed by the Royal Fountain, supplied the numerous fountains and water features. Directly behind the rear terrace was an immense artificial lake, la pièce de Neptune, from which branched the Grand canal, 500 metres long and 30 metres wide. Around the axes formed by the two canals, were organised extensive ornamental gardens and an array of "fabriques" and fantastical architectural novelties (Kiosk, Pavillon d'eau, Hydraulic bridge, orangeries, ice house, grotto).

This plan from Héré (orientated to the east) shows the main features:

The Grotto. A double staircase led down from the terrace to the "grotto of Cerberus", where the statue of a three-headed dog spewed out water between a lion and a tiger. The presence of a suitably bad-tempered costumed guardian further contributed to the illusion of Hades.

Contemporary painting showing the terrace and the entrance to the grotto
On display in the salle des mariages of the restored Château [Wikimedia]

The Kiosk and its gardens on the north parterre. This small Turkish-inspired pavilion featured windows over which curtains of water flowed.

The Pont d'eau / Colonnade hydraulique. The terrace was linked the pièce de Neptune by a "bridge of water" across the Canal des Moulins. The bridge was flanked on each side by a colonnade where water flowed continuously, pumped into the wooden entablature, then released into hollowed piers and columns of wrought iron trellis work.

The Royal Pavilion / Salon d'Eau. Situated at the far end of the Grand Canal was a pleasure pavilion used for summer dining, entertainments and as a destination for garden promenades. It could be approached by gondola. The facade was concealed behind of pyramidal cascades and columns of water which "appeared to be columns of crystal".

It is not entirely certain whether there was a coherent imaginative theme to the layout. Visitors were perhaps intended to progress from the grotto of Hades through the garden of Eden, to the Royal Pavilion as a pre-figuration of Paradise. Or maybe Stanislas simply cast himself as Neptune presiding over his watery kingdom.

More views of Commercy. These contemporary engravings are reproduced as the frontispiece to Dumont, Histoire de la ville et des seigneurs de Commercy, vol. 3 (1843). Image from proantic.com/.

What remains?

Commercy escaped total destruction on Stanislas's death, though most of the fine interior furnishings, metalwork and vast numbers of trees and plants from the gardens were mercilessly sold off. In the 1850s the grounds were completely truncated by the railway. The former château, later known as quartier Bercheny, became a barracks where regiments of cavalry, hussards and dragoons succeeded one another. During the 1870 War it was a Prussian garrison and in 1940 it was occupied by the Wehrmacht. We read that the military presence determined the rhythm of economic life in the town until as late as June 2013 when the 8th Regiment of Artillery, stationed at Commercy, was finally dissolved.

In 1944 what remained of the buildings were further damaged by fire following an explosion. However, in 1957 the municipality of Commercy acquired the ruins and began a thoroughgoing restoration, finally completed in 1977. Known today the "Château Stanislas", the complex now houses the town hall and library, plus a wedding and events venue.

Although the gardens are gone, the Château, with its horseshoe-shaped courtyard, is still fronted by the handsome place du Fer à Cheval and the Avenue Stanislas stretches impressively into the distance, tracing the old route to the Royal Fountain. The reconstruction of the facade is meticulous: The wrought iron gates feature the monograms of both Élisabeth-Charlotte and Stanislas. The wings designed by Héré, which once housed the stables, boast all their elaborate decorative trophies.( The Forum Marie-Antoinette's contributor "Gouverneur Morris" posts some excellent photos - see refs. He reports that the interior conserves only the bare outline of the once beautiful central "salon à l'italienne", though he managed to find an odd original balcony rail, and some interesting historical paintings.)

Another echo of the world of Stanislas in modern Commercy is the Museum of Ivory and Ceramics, originally a public bathhouse, built in 1934 in imitation of Héré's Pavillon d'eau:

Museum of Ivory and Ceramics, Commercy [Wikimedia]

The Royal Fountain

In 1806 the town diverted the sources of the Fountain to provide a reservoir and supply the public fountains. The old basin was again briefly pressed into service in 1823, but swiftly abandoned as inadequate. By the mid-19th century the site was entirely forgotten, tumbledown and dry. It was not until 1994 that the basin/artificial lake was restored. It now forms the centrepiece of a public park accessible from the Avenue Stanislas / allée des Tilleuls; the sorry vestiges of the once-splendid Fountain can be seen next to the playground.

Image from Ville de Commercy - Facebook post

Finally, a far-flung relic -

The World Trade Center in Montreal is adorned by a statue of Amphitrite, the wife of Poseidon, by Guibal which once graced the Pavillon d'eau at Commercy. After Stanislas's death, the sculpture was moved to a fountain in nearby Saint-Mihiel. It resurfaced in the catalogue of a Parisian antiquary in 1990, when it was bought by Paul Desmarais, director of the Power Corporation of Canada and so found it's way to the New World. I am sure Stanislas would have appreciated the glorious setting!