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                               CHANTILLY

[Illustration: _Mary Stuart at the age of nine years from the drawing in
the Musée Condé at Chantilly._]




                               CHANTILLY

                           IN HISTORY AND ART

                          BY LOUISE M. RICHTER

                          (MRS. J. P. RICHTER)

                    WITH PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

                                 LONDON

                   JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.

                                  1913


                          ALL RIGHTS RESERVED


                           TO MY DEAR FRIEND
                            MRS. LUDWIG MOND
                         THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED




PREFACE


My first visit to Chantilly was in April 1904, when the Exhibition of
the French Primitives at the Pavillon Marsan, following close on that at
Bruges, raised interest and comment far outside the boundaries of
France. I visited the Musée Condé with the intention of studying some
more examples of the French fifteenth-and sixteenth-century art which
had so much attracted me in Paris.

The high expectations I had conceived were not disappointed, and the
result was that my studies in that marvellous collection were prolonged.
Weeks grew into months. The Limbourgs, Jean Fouquet, and the Clouets
held me in their spell; the Château of Chantilly, with the history of
its famous owners, aroused my interest more and more.

Through the great courtesy of the late M. Anatol Gruyer and of M.
Gustave Macon, Directors of the Musée Condé, I was given access to all
the art-treasures within its walls and I was allowed to while away my
time with the famous miniatures and drawings and with the pictures in
which I was so much interested. Tranquil and undisturbed, often quite
alone, meeting now and then only the furtive glance of one or other of
the Museum attendants, who were always ready at hand to be of service,
I was enabled to pursue my studies without interruption, owing to the
great kindness of my friend M. Macon. The excellent Library, too, was at
my disposal, as well as the manuscripts in the Cabinet des Livres.

Nor was 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.

LOUISE M. RICHTER.

_London, October 1913._




CONTENTS


PAGE

PREFACE.....vii

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.....xxv


FIRST PART

_CHANTILLY AND ITS HISTORY_

CHAPTER I

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

CHAPTER II

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

CHAPTER III

THE GRAND CONDÉ

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

CHAPTER IV

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