The Orleans Collection was a very important collection of over 500 paintings formed by Philippe II, Duke of Orléans , mostly acquired between about 1700 and his death in 1723. Apart from the great royal-become-national collections of Europe it is arguably the greatest private collection of Western art, especially Italian, ever assembled, and probably the most famous, helped by the fact that most of the collection has been accessible to the public since it was formed, whether in Paris, or subsequently in London, Edinburgh and elsewhere.
181-621: The core of the collection was formed by 123 paintings from the collection of Queen Christina of Sweden , which itself had a core assembled from the war booty of the sacks by Swedish troops of Munich in 1632 and Prague in 1648 during the Thirty Years War . During the French Revolution the collection was sold by Louis Philippe d'Orléans, Philippe Égalité , and most of it acquired by an aristocratic English consortium led by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater . Much of
362-631: A "Ballet de la Naissance de la Paix," performed on her birthday. On the day after, 19 December 1649, he probably started his private lessons for the queen. With Christina's strict schedule, he was invited to the cold and draughty castle at 5:00 am daily to discuss philosophy and religion. Soon, it became clear they did not like each other; she disapproved of his mechanical view, and he did not appreciate her interest in Ancient Greek . On 15 January Descartes wrote he had seen Christina only four or five times. On 1 February 1650, Descartes caught
543-654: A Chronological History of the Importation of Pictures of Great Masters into England by the Great Artists since the French Revolution , by William Buchanan, published in 1824, of which the first 200 pages of Volume I are devoted to the Orleans sales, listing the works and most prices and buyers. Buchanan was himself involved in the import of art from 1802 onwards, and had his information from the dealers involved. He presents his own "exertions", and those of others, in
724-728: A Dutch banker (distantly of Scottish extraction) sheltering in London from the Napoleonic Wars , who with his brother (of Hope Diamond fame) bought the two large Veronese allegories now in the Frick Collection , and works by "Michelangelo", "Velásquez" and Titian, John Julius Angerstein , a Russian-German banker whose collection later became the foundation of the National Gallery and John Bligh, 4th Earl of Darnley . An analysis by Gerard Reitlinger of "most" of
905-580: A balustrade and a view of the sky. The General Assembly chamber was first a chapel, then, under Price Napoleon, a gallery of paintings. It has been changed more than any of the other rooms in the Council. At one end is a long table, with a seat in the center for the Vice President of the Assembly, who chairs the meetings, and the six presidents of the sections of Council. The decoration of the room
1086-470: A book about Greek dance . Christina was interested in theatre, especially the plays of Pierre Corneille ; she was herself an amateur actress. From 1638 Oxenstierna employed a French ballet troupe under Antoine de Beaulieu , who also had to teach Christina to move around more elegantly. In 1647, the Italian architect Antonio Brunati was ordered to build a theatrical setting in one of the larger rooms of
1267-741: A bride. She sent letters recommending two of the Duke's daughters to Charles. Based on this recommendation, he married Hedwig Eleonora . On 10 July Christina arrived in Hamburg and stayed with Jacob Curiel at Krameramtsstuben . Christina visited Johann Friedrich Gronovius , and Anna Maria van Schurman in the Dutch Republic. In August, she arrived in the Southern Netherlands and settled down in Antwerp. For four months Christina
1448-575: A certain Gian Rinaldo Monaldeschi. The official entry into Rome took place on 20 December, in a sedan chair designed by Bernini through Porta Flaminia , which today is known as Porta del Popolo . Christina met Bernini on the next day, she invited him to her apartment the same evening and they became lifelong friends. "Two days afterwards she was conducted to the Vatican Basilica, where the pope gave her confirmation. It
1629-456: A cold. He died ten days later, early in the morning of 11 February 1650, and according to Chanut, the cause of his death was pneumonia . By the age of nine, Christina was already impressed by the Catholic religion and the merits of celibacy . She read a biography of the virgin queen Elizabeth I of England with interest. But Christina understood that she was expected to provide an heir to
1810-508: A day, and sold to various buyers. Philippe Égalité , as he had renamed himself, was arrested in April 1793 and was guillotined 6 November, but in the meantime sale negotiations for the Italian and French paintings were renewed, and they were sold for 750,000 livres to Édouard Walkiers, a banker of Brussels , who soon after sold them on, unpacked, to his cousin, Count François-Louis-Joseph de Laborde-Méréville, who had hoped to use them to add to
1991-425: A deposed brother ( Eric XIV of Sweden ) and a deposed nephew ( Sigismund III of Poland ). Gustav Adolf's legitimate younger brothers had died years earlier. The one legitimate female left, his half-sister Catharine , came to be excluded in 1615 when she married John Casimir, a non-Lutheran. Christina became the undisputed heir presumptive . From Christina's birth, King Gustav Adolph recognized her eligibility even as
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#17327731006192172-647: A female heir, and although she was called "queen," the official title the Riksdag gave at her coronation in February 1633 was "king". In June 1630, when Christina was three years old, Gustav Adolf left for Germany to defend Protestantism and became involved in the Thirty Years' War . He secured his daughter's right to inherit the throne, in case he never returned, and gave orders to Axel Gustafsson Banér, his marshal, that Christina should receive an education of
2353-591: A few exceptions, including Ebba Sparre , Lady Jane Ruthven and Louise van der Nooth , Christina did not show any interest in any of her female courtiers. She generally mentions them in her memoirs only to compare herself favorably toward them by referring to herself as more masculine than they. Christina was educated as a royal male would have been. The theologian Johannes Matthiae Gothus became her tutor; he gave her lessons in religion, philosophy, Greek and Latin . Chancellor Oxenstierna taught her politics and discussed Tacitus with her. Oxenstierna proudly wrote of
2534-605: A fire, but the Bridgewater/Sutherland group remain intact to a large degree. The London market in these years was flooded by both other collections from France itself, and those dislodged by the French invasions of the Low Countries and Italy —by 1802 including Rome itself. As is often the case with old collectors, their choices of what to keep and what to sell seem in many cases very strange today:
2715-636: A general site plan, showing the Palais-Royal before these alterations were made. When the Duke of Orléans died in 1701, his son became the head of the House of Orléans . The new Duke and Duchess of Orléans took up residence at the Palais-Royal. Two of their daughters, Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans , later the Duchess of Modena , and Louise Diane d'Orléans , later the Princess of Conti , were born there. At
2896-415: A guitarist. A Dutch theater troupe with Ariana Nozeman and Susanna van Lee visited her in 1653. Among the French artists she employed was Anne Chabanceau de La Barre , who was made court singer. In 1646, Christina's good friend, the French ambassador Pierre Chanut , met and corresponded with the philosopher René Descartes , asking him for a copy of his Meditations . Upon showing the queen some of
3077-651: A half-century later, it was regarded as by Velázquez. It then was one of the Castle Howard paintings, and was only correctly identified after the existence of Gentileschi's second version in the Prado became known in England. After a sale in 1995 it was on loan for nearly 20 years to the National Gallery until they bought it for £22 million in December 2019. Phillippe's father's first wife, Henrietta Anne Stuart ,
3258-500: A huge profit to the enlightened connoisseur Jean-Joseph de Laborde de Méréville , who set about adding a gallery to house it attached to his hôtel in rue d'Artois. Ruined by events, he was forced to sell it once more. The 147 German, Dutch and Flemish paintings were sold by Orléans to Thomas Moore Slade , a British dealer, in a syndicate with two London bankers and George Kinnaird, 7th Lord Kinnaird , for 350,000 livres in 1792, and taken to London for sale. There were protests from
3439-616: A knife one of the most famous works, Correggio's Leda and the Swan , now in Berlin, and ordered the painter Charles-Antoine Coypel to cut up all three of the great Correggio mythological works in the presence of his chaplain, which Coypel did, but saving and repairing the pieces. The Leda went to Frederick the Great of Prussia , the Danäe to Venice, where it was stolen and eventually sold to
3620-880: A member of the Royal Academy . Angerstein's paintings were on display on similar terms in his house in Pall Mall, which from 1824 became the first home of the National Gallery. On the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, the collection was moved from London to Scotland. Since 1946 26 paintings, sixteen from the Orleans Collection, known collectively as "the Bridgewater loan" or "the Sutherland Loan" have been on loan to
3801-611: A never-ending round of fireworks, jousts , mock duels, acrobatics, and operas. On 31 January Vita Humana an opera by Marco Marazzoli was performed. At the Palazzo Barberini , where she was welcomed on 28 February by a few hundred privileged spectators, she watched an amazing carousel in the courtyard. Christina had settled down in the Palazzo Farnese , which belonged to the Duke of Parma . Every Wednesday she held
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#17327731006193982-492: A new church order, but it was voted down as this was interpreted as Crypto-Calvinism . Queen Christina defended him against the advice of Chancellor Oxenstierna, but three years later, the proposal had to be withdrawn. In 1647, the clergy wanted to introduce the Book of Concord ( Swedish : Konkordieboken ) – a book defining correct Lutheranism versus heresy, making some aspects of free theological thinking impossible. Matthiae
4163-474: A number of different routes. The collection is of central interest for the history of collecting, and of public access to art. It figured in two of the periods when art collections were most subject to disruption and dispersal: the mid-17th century and the period after the French Revolution. The paintings looted from Prague Castle had mostly been amassed by the obsessive collector Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor (1552–1612), whose own bulk purchases had included
4344-619: A pair to the British national galleries at £100 m (a third of their overall estimated market price) over a period. The National Gallery of Scotland and the National Gallery in London announced they would combine forces to raise the sum, initially in the form of £50 m to purchase Diana and Actaeon paid over three years in instalments and then £50 m for Diana and Callisto paid for similarly from 2013. The campaign gained press support, though it received some criticism for
4525-593: A policy. In 1649, Louis de Geer founded the Swedish Africa Company and in 1650, Christina hired Hendrik Carloff to improve trade on the Gold Coast . Her reign also saw the founding of the colony of New Sweden in 1638; it lasted until 1655. Christina has been described as the " Minerva of the North" due to her strong support of arts and academics. In 1645, Christina invited Hugo Grotius ,
4706-704: A second wife, the Princess Palatine , who preferred to live in the Château de Saint-Cloud . Saint-Cloud thus became the main residence of her eldest son and the heir to the House of Orléans , Philippe Charles d'Orléans known as the Duke of Chartres . The Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture occupied the Palais Brion from 1661 to 1691 and shared it with the Académie Royale d'Architecture from 1672. The royal collection of antiquities
4887-682: A ship before she abdicated. Christina greatly expanded her collection during her exile in Rome, for example adding the five small Raphael predella panels from the Colonna Altarpiece , including the Agony in the Garden now reunited with the main panel in New York, which were bought from a convent near Rome. She was apparently given Titian's Death of Actaeon by the greatest collector of
5068-453: A social highlight. In 1692, on the occasion of the marriage of the duke of Chartres to Françoise Marie de Bourbon , Mademoiselle de Blois , a legitimised daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, the King deeded the Palais-Royal to his brother. The new couple did not occupy the northeast wing, where Anne of Austria had originally lived, but instead chose to reside in the Palais Brion. For
5249-511: A university at will by the Peace of Westphalia . She is also remembered for her unconventional lifestyle and occasional adoption of masculine attire, which have been depicted frequently in media; gender and cultural identity are pivotal themes in many of her biographies. She succeeded her father Gustavus Adolphus upon his death at the Battle of Lützen at seven years old, but she began ruling
5430-467: A visitor in 1765 it was "impossible to imagine anything more richly furnished or decorated with more art and taste". Rearrangements had been made to accommodate the paintings; connoisseurs particularly praised the Galerie à la Lanterne , with its even, sunless top light diffused from the cupola overhead. For most of the 18th century it was easy to visit the collection, and very many people did so, helped by
5611-615: A wall of erotic and religious subjects was disapproved of by some visitors. The collection was most notable for Italian paintings of the High and Late Renaissance, especially Venetian works. The collection included no fewer than five of the poesies painted for Philip II of Spain , of which two are now shared between Edinburgh and London, two always in London ( Wallace Collection and National Gallery), and one in Boston . A series of four mythological allegories by Veronese are now divided between
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5792-565: A work bestowing doubt on all organized religion. In 1651, the kabbalist Menasseh ben Israel offered to become her agent or librarian for Hebrew books and manuscripts; they discussed his messianic ideas as he had recently spelled them out in his latest book, Hope of Israel . Other illustrious scholars who came to visit were Claude Saumaise , Johannes Schefferus , Olaus Rudbeck , Johann Heinrich Boeckler , Gabriel Naudé , Christian Ravis , Nicolaas Heinsius and Samuel Bochart , together with Pierre Daniel Huet and Marcus Meibomius , who wrote
5973-729: A work now only known from a replica (in the Galleria Borghese in Rome) and studies is Aeneas and his Family Fleeing Troy , the only secular history painting by Federico Barocci . The prime version was given in 1586 by Francesco Maria II , the last Duke of Urbino , to Rudolph II in Prague, and was later looted by the Swedes. It was taken to Rome by Queen Christina, passed to the Orleans collection, and finally sold at auction in London for 14 guineas in 1800 (the price probably reflecting
6154-500: Is another small square, Place André Malraux. The Council of State , created by Napoleon in 1799, inherited many of the functions of the earlier Royal Council , acting both as a consultant to the government and a kind of Supreme Court. It was installed in the Palais-Royal in 1875. The Conseil has its own courtyard, facing out onto the Place du Palais-Royal and the Rue de Rivoli. Inside is
6335-658: Is now the seat of the Ministry of Culture , the Conseil d'État and the Constitutional Council . The central Palais-Royal Garden (Jardin du Palais-Royal) serves as a public park; its arcade houses shops. Originally called the Palais-Cardinal, the palace was the personal residence of Cardinal Richelieu . The architect Jacques Lemercier began his design in 1629; Construction commenced in 1633 and
6516-656: Is one of the few women buried in the Vatican Grottoes . Christina was born in the royal castle Tre Kronor . Her parents were the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus and his German wife, Maria Eleonora . They had already had three children: two daughters (a stillborn princess in 1621, then the first Princess Christina, who was born in 1623 and died the following year) and a stillborn son in May 1625. Excited expectations surrounded Maria Eleonora's fourth pregnancy in 1626. When
6697-546: Is regarded as the first tourist to visit North Cape, Norway . Another Franciscan was the Swede Lars Skytte, who, under the name pater Laurentius, served as Christina's confessor for eight years. Twenty-nine-year-old Christina gave occasion to much gossip when socializing freely with men her own age. One of them was Cardinal Decio Azzolino , who had been a secretary to the ambassador in Spain, and responsible for
6878-533: Is said to have been almost ruined by her visit. Her departure was on 8 November. The southbound journey through Italy was planned in detail by the Vatican and included brilliant triumphs in Ferrara, Bologna, Faenza and Rimini. In Pesaro , Christina became acquainted with the handsome brothers Santinelli , who so impressed her with their poetry and adeptness of dancing that she took them into service, as well as
7059-795: Is still there. In 1786, a noon cannon was set up by a philosophical amateur, set on the Paris meridian , in which the sun's noon rays, passing through a lens, lit the cannon's fuse. The noon cannon is still fired at the Palais-Royal, though most of the ladies for sale have disappeared, those who inspired the Abbé Delille 's lines: Dans ce jardin on ne rencontre Ni prés, ni bois, ni fruits, ni fleurs. Et si l'on y dérègle ses mœurs, Au moins on y règle sa montre. ("In this garden one encounters neither meadows, nor woods, nor fruits, nor flowers. And, if one upsets one's morality, at least one may reset one's watch.") The Cirque du Palais-Royal, constructed in
7240-638: The Codex Argenteus and the Codex Gigas . In 1649, 760 paintings, 170 marble and 100 bronze statues, 33,000 coins and medallions, 600 pieces of crystal, 300 scientific instruments, manuscripts, and books (including the Sanctae Crucis laudibus by Rabanus Maurus ) were transported to Stockholm. The art, from Prague Castle , had belonged to Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor and had been captured by Hans Christoff von Königsmarck during
7421-459: The Battle of Prague and the negotiations of the Peace of Westphalia . By 1649–1650, "her desire to collect men of learning round her, as well as books and rare manuscripts, became almost a mania", Goldsmith wrote. To catalog her new collection she asked Isaac Vossius to come to Sweden and Heinsius to purchase more books on the market. Her ambitions naturally demanded a wide-ranging correspondence. Not infrequently, she sat and wrote far into
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7602-413: The Battle of Prague (1648) , when her armies looted Prague Castle , many of the treasures collected by Rudolph II were brought back to Stockholm. Thus, Christina acquired a number of valuable illustrated works and rare manuscripts for her library. The inventory drawn up at the time mentions 100 an allerhand Kunstbüchern ("a hundred art books of different kinds"), among them two world-famous manuscripts:
7783-529: The Duke of Guise gave up. Christina's goal was to become a mediator between France and Spain in their contest to control Naples. Her plan detailed that she would lead French troops to take Naples and rule until bequeathing the crown to France after her death. Christina sent home all her Spanish servants, including her confidant Pimentel and her confessor Guêmes. On 20 July 1656 Christina set sail from Civitavecchia for Marseille where she arrived nine days later. In early August, she traveled to Paris, accompanied by
7964-1046: The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, and the Frick Collection (with two, one illustrated above) and Metropolitan Museum in New York. Another Veronese series, the four Allegories of Love now in the National Gallery, hung as overdoors in the central salon, which also held the larger Veronese series, three of the Titian poesies and Correggios. The collection included (on the contemporary attributions) 28 Titians, most now regarded as workshop pieces but including several of his finest works, 12 Raphaels , 16 Guido Renis , 16 Veroneses, 12 Tintorettos , 25 paintings by Annibale Carracci and 7 by Lodovico Caracci , 3 major Correggios plus ten no longer accepted as by him, and 3 Caravaggios . Attributions no longer accepted, and probably regarded as dubious even then were 2 Michelangelos , and 3 Leonardos . There were few works from
8145-449: The Galerie des Cerfs , discussing the matter and letters with him. He insisted that betrayal should be punished with death. She was convinced that he had pronounced his own death sentence. After an hour or so Le Bel was to receive his confession. Both Le Bel and Monaldeschi entreated for mercy, but he was stabbed by her domestics – notably Ludovico Santinelli – in his stomach and in his neck. Wearing his coat of mail , which protected him, he
8326-538: The Marquis de Seignelay , and others from the dukes of Noailles , Gramont, Vendôme and other French collectors. The paintings were housed in two suites of large rooms running side by side down the west or library wing of the palace, with the smaller Dutch and Flemish works in smaller rooms. The gallery suites of rooms still retained much of their original furniture, porcelain and wall-decorations from their use by Phillippe's father as grand reception rooms and according to
8507-602: The National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh, though up to 2008 five from this group had been bought by the Gallery. The collection has passed by descent to Francis Egerton, 7th Duke of Sutherland , (most of whose wealth is contained in the paintings collection), but in late August 2008 the 7th Duke announced that he wished to sell some of the collection in order to diversify his assets. He at first offered Diana and Callisto and Diana and Acteon , two works by Titian as
8688-431: The Paris Opera at that time). The Opera's theatre was destroyed by fire in 1763, but was rebuilt to the designs of architect Pierre-Louis Moreau Desproux on a site slightly further to the east (where the rue de Valois is located today) and reopened in 1770. This second theatre continued to be used by the Opera until 1781, when it was also destroyed by fire, but this time it was not rebuilt. Moreau Desproux also designed
8869-431: The Swedish Empire when she reached the age of eighteen. During the Torstenson War in 1644, she initiated the issuance of copper in lumps to be used as currency . Her lavish spending habits pushed the state towards bankruptcy, sparking public unrest. Christina argued for peace to end the Thirty Years' War and received indemnity . Following scandals over her not marrying and converting to Catholicism, she relinquished
9050-455: The Théâtre des Variétés-Amusantes , formerly on the boulevard du Temple but since 1 January 1785 playing in a temporary theatre in the gardens of the Palais-Royal. This company changed its name to Théâtre du Palais-Royal on 15 December 1789, and later moved into the new theatre upon its completion, where they opened on 15 May 1790. On 25 April 1791 the anti-royalist faction of the Comédie-Française , led by Talma , left that company's theatre on
9231-706: The Wallace Collection and Metropolitan Museum of Art , and a Eustache Le Sueur which turned up in 1997 over a door in the Naval & Military Club and is now in the National Gallery. The Flemish works were dominated by Rubens with 19 paintings, including a group of 12 studies now widely dispersed, van Dyck with 10 works and David Teniers with 9. The Dutch paintings included 6 Rembrandts , 7 works by Caspar Netscher (one now Wallace Collection) and 3 by Frans van Mieris (one now National Gallery) that were more highly regarded then than they are now. There were 3 Gerrit Dous and 4 Wouwermans . Philippe's son Louis d'Orléans , religious and somewhat neurotic, attacked with
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#17327731006199412-414: The dukes of Richelieu to the Palais-Royal and London, had always been recognised for what it was, and was bought back for the Royal Collection by George IV in 1814. Another picture commissioned by Charles, The Finding of Moses by Gentileschi, painted for the Queen's House , Greenwich , was returned to Charles' widow Henrietta Maria in France in 1660. By the time it entered the Orleans Collection
9593-413: The putrefaction . They tried to persuade Maria not to visit the corpse so often. Axel Oxenstierna managed to have the corpse interred in Riddarholmen Church on 22 June 1634, but had to post guards after she tried to dig it up. Maria Eleanora had been indifferent to her daughter, but after Gustav Adolf's death, Christina became the center of her mother's attention. Gustav Adolf had decided that in
9774-505: The rue Saint-Honoré (on a site just to the west of what is now the rue de Valois ). It was built from 1637 to 1641 to designs by Lemercier and was initially known as the Great Hall of the Palais-Cardinal . This theatre was later used by the troupe of Molière beginning in 1660, by which time it had become known as the Théâtre du Palais-Royal. After Molière 's death in 1673 the theatre was taken over by Jean-Baptiste Lully , who used it for his Académie Royale de Musique (the official name of
9955-416: The 14-year-old girl that "she is not at all like a female" and had "a bright intelligence." Christina seemed happy to study ten hours a day. Besides Swedish and German , she learned at least six more languages: Dutch , Danish , French , Italian , Arabic and Hebrew . In 1644, at the age of 18, Christina was declared an adult, although the coronation was postponed because of the Torstenson War . She
10136-499: The 15th century, except for a Giovanni Bellini . The collection reflected the general contemporary confusion outside Spain as to what the works of the great Velázquez actually looked like; the works attributed to him were of high quality but by other artists such as Orazio Gentileschi . French works, of which the catalogued collection included relatively few, included a set of the Seven Sacraments and 5 other works by Poussin . There were paintings by Philippe de Champaigne now in
10317-420: The Council is the Hall of the Tribunal of Conflicts, a kind of courtroom installed in the former dining room of Duchess of Orleans, built by the architect Pierre Contant d'Ivry in 1753. It still preserves much of its original decoration, with pilasters and columns, and decorative medallions of putti representing the four seasons and the four elements. The ceiling has a trompe l'oeil painting from 1852 depicting
10498-410: The Cour d'Honneur and the Palais-Royal Garden. Following the July Revolution of 1830 when the Duke of Orléans ascended the throne as Louis-Phillipe I, the palace remained the principal residence of the new monarch. In the Revolution of 1848 , a Paris mob attacked and looted the royal residence Palais-Royal, particularly the art collection of King Louis-Philippe. During the Second French Republic ,
10679-435: The Duchess's maids and staff. Several of the women who later came to be favourites to King Louis XIV were from her household: Louise de La Vallière , who gave birth there to two sons of the King, in 1663 and 1665; Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan , who supplanted Louise; and Angélique de Fontanges , who was in service to the second Duchess of Orléans. The court gatherings at the Palais-Royal were famed all around
10860-441: The Duke of Guise. Mazarin gave her no official sponsorship but gave instructions that she be celebrated and entertained in every town on her way north. On 8 September she arrived in Paris and was shown around; ladies were shocked by her masculine appearance and demeanor and the unguarded freedom of her conversation. When visiting the ballet with la Grande Mademoiselle , she, as the latter recalls, "surprised me very much – applauding
11041-416: The Duke's father. Fontaine's most significant work included the western wing of the Cour d'Honneur, the Aile Montpensier, and with Charles Percier , what was probably the most famous of Paris's covered arcades, the Galerie d'Orléans, enclosing the Cour d'Honneur on its north side. Both were completed in 1830. The Galerie d'Orléans was demolished in the 1930s, but its flanking rows of columns still stand between
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#173277310061911222-649: The Duke's motives or (from John Tusa and Nigel Carrington of the University of the Arts ) for distracting from funding art students In 2009 it was announced that the first £50M for Diana and Actaeon had been raised - the painting will rotate every five years between Edinburgh (first) and London. The sale of Diana and Callisto for £45M was announced in 2012. Other works are in: Berlin, Vienna, Dresden, Malibu, Paris, Rome, Boston (Titian The Rape of Europa ), Tokyo, Kansas City, and many other cities. Christina of Sweden Christina ( Swedish : Kristina ; 18 December [ O.S. 8 December] 1626 – 19 April 1689)
11403-463: The English consul at Livorno , and Jupiter and Io went to the Imperial collection in Vienna. Some of the Flemish paintings were sold at auction in Paris, June 1727. Beginning in 1785, a series of 352 engravings of the paintings were published on a subscription basis, until the series was abandoned during the Terror , by which time the paintings themselves had been sold. It was finally published in book form in 1806. These prints have greatly reduced
11584-411: The French artists and public, and from the Duke's creditors, and Slade found it prudent to tell the French the pictures were going overland to Calais . In fact he had them moved onto a barge by night, and shipped them down the Seine to Le Havre . These paintings were exhibited for sale in the West End of London in April 1793 at 125 Pall Mall , where admissions at 1 shilling each reached two thousand
11765-411: The French doctor Pierre Bourdelot arrived in Stockholm. Unlike most doctors of that time, he held no faith in blood-letting ; instead, he ordered sufficient sleep, warm baths, and healthy meals, in contrast to Christina's hitherto ascetic way of life. She was only twenty-five; and advising that she should take more pleasure in life, Bourdelot asked her to stop studying and working so hard and to remove
11946-453: The French national collection. After the start of the Reign of Terror , and the execution of his father as well as the Duke of Orléans, Laborde-Méréville saw he had to escape France, and brought the collection to London in early 1793. The French and Italian paintings then spent five years in London with Laborde-Méréville, the subject of some complicated financial manoeuvres, including the failure of an attempt supported by King George III and
12127-430: The Grande Galerie along the rue de Richelieu (1719–20; visible on the 1739 Turgot map of Paris ). All of this work was lost, when the Palais Brion was demolished in 1784 for the construction of the Salle Richelieu , now hosting the Comédie-Française . After the Regency, the social life of the palace became much more subdued. Louis XV moved the court back to Versailles and Paris was again ignored. The same happened with
12308-424: The Great of Russia, and in 1788 he was in serious negotiations with a syndicate organized by James Christie , founder of Christie's , the London auctioneer, for the sale of the paintings. Christie got as far as arranging that the collection should be made over to him upon the deposit of 100,000 guineas in the Bank of England , before the negotiations collapsed when the Prince of Wales having subscribed his name in
12489-408: The Ministry of Culture and Communication. The two wings of the building have triangular fronts filled with sculpture, inspired by classical architecture and typical of the Louis XIV style . On the west side of the Council building is Place Colette , and the Salle Richelieu of the Comédie Française . Behind that are the offices of the Constitutional Council. On the left side of the Salle Richelieu
12670-438: The National Gallery in 1859. Other paintings in the same series were recovered for the Royal Collection in 1660; Charles II was able to exert pressure on most English buyers of his father's collection, but those gone abroad were beyond his reach. One important Rubens of Charles', the Landscape with St George and the Dragon (of 1630 - St George has Charles's features, the rescued princess those of his Queen), which passed via
12851-438: The North Sea and was no longer encircled by Denmark–Norway . Chancellor Oxenstierna soon discovered that her political views differed from his own. In 1645, he sent his son, Johan Oxenstierna , to the Peace Congress in the Westphalian city of Osnabrück , to argue against peace with the Holy Roman Empire . Christina, however, wanted peace at any cost and sent her own delegate, Johan Adler Salvius . The Peace of Westphalia
13032-526: The Orleans Collection, while more were bought by French collectors in the London "Sale of the Late King's Goods" in 1650, and later found their way to the Palais-Royal. For example, an Infancy of Jupiter by Giulio Romano , bought from Mantua, left Charles' collection for France, passed to the Orleans Collection and the London sales, and after a spell back in France returned to England and was later bought by
13213-469: The Palais-Royal as their main Paris residence. The following year the new duchess gave birth to a daughter, Marie Louise d'Orléans , inside the palace. She created the ornamental gardens of the palace, which were said to be among the most beautiful in Paris. Under the new ducal couple, the Palais-Royal would become the social center of the capital. The palace was redecorated and new apartments were created for
13394-425: The Palais-Royal became one of the first of the new style of shopping arcades and became a popular venue for the wealthy to congregate, socialise and enjoy their leisure time. The redesigned palace complex became one of the most important marketplaces in Paris. It was frequented by the aristocracy, the middle classes, and the lower orders. It had a reputation as being a site of sophisticated conversation (revolving around
13575-629: The Palais-Royal face south to the Place du Palais-Royal and the Louvre across the Rue de Rivoli . The central part of the palace is occupied by the Conseil-d'État, or State Council. It has three floors, and is topped by a low cupola and a rounded pediment filled with sculpture. Two arched passages under the central building lead to the Courtyard of Honor behind. In the east wing, to the right, are offices of
13756-538: The Palais-Royal. Louis d'Orléans succeeded his father as the new duke of Orléans in 1723. He and his son Louis Philippe lived at the other family residence in Saint-Cloud, which had been empty since the death of the Princess Palatine in 1722. Claude Desgots redesigned the gardens of the Palais-Royal in 1729. In 1752 Louis Philippe I succeeded his father as the duke of Orléans. The Palais-Royal
13937-529: The Papal army, at which point it contained 275 paintings, 140 of them Italian. The year after Odescalchi's death in 1713, his heirs began protracted negotiations with the great French connoisseur and collector Pierre Crozat , acting as intermediary for Philippe, duc d'Orléans. The sale was finally concluded and the paintings delivered in 1721. The French experts complained that Christina had cut down several paintings to fit her ceilings, and had over-restored some of
14118-532: The Place du Palais-Royal, opposite the Louvre . Originally called the Palais-Cardinal , it was built for Cardinal Richelieu from about 1633 to 1639 by architect Jacques Lemercier . Richelieu bequeathed it to Louis XIII , before Louis XIV gave it to his younger brother, Philippe I, Duke of Orléans . As the succeeding Dukes of Orléans made such extensive alterations over the years, almost nothing remains of Lemercier's original design. The Palais-Royal
14299-604: The Prime Minister Pitt the Younger to buy them for the nation. They were finally bought in 1798 by a syndicate of the canal and coal-magnate Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater , his nephew and heir, Earl Gower , later 1st Duke of Sutherland , and the Earl of Carlisle . Gower, who was perhaps the prime mover and must have known the collection well from his time as British ambassador in Paris, contributed 1/8 of
14480-559: The Royal Council decided to split the office of head lady-in-waiting (responsible for the queen's female courtiers) and the office royal governess (or foster-mother) in four, with two women appointed to share each office. Accordingly, Ebba Leijonhufvud and Christina Natt och Dag were appointed to share the position of royal governess and foster mother with the title Upptuktelse-Förestånderska ('Castigation Mistress'), while Beata Oxenstierna and Ebba Ryning were appointed to share
14661-525: The Swedish throne. Her first cousin Charles was infatuated with her, and they became secretly engaged before he left in 1642 to serve in the Swedish army in Germany for three years. Christina revealed in her autobiography that she felt "an insurmountable distaste for marriage" and "for all the things that females talked about and did." She once stated, "It takes more courage to marry than to go to war." As she
14842-962: The Vatican's correspondence with European courts. He was also the leader of the Squadrone Volante , the free-thinking "Flying Squad" movement within the Catholic Church. Christina and Azzolino were so close that the pope asked him to shorten his visits to her palace, but they remained lifelong friends. In a letter on 26 January 1676 to Azzolino Christina writes (in French) that she would never offend God or give Azzolino reason to take offense, but this "does not prevent me from loving you until death, and since piety relieves you from being my lover, then I relieve you from being my servant, for I shall live and die as your slave." As he had promised to remain celibate, his replies were more reserved. In
15023-492: The abdication ceremony at Uppsala Castle , Christina wore her regalia , which were ceremonially removed from her, one by one. Per Brahe , who was supposed to remove the crown, did not move, so she had to take the crown off herself. Dressed in a simple white taffeta dress, she gave her farewell speech with a faltering voice, thanked everyone, and left the throne to Charles X Gustav, who was dressed in black. Per Brahe felt that she "stood there as pretty as an angel." Charles Gustav
15204-613: The activities of Bourdelot and tried to convince her to change her attitude towards him; Bourdelot returned to France in 1653 "laden in riches and curses". The Queen had long conversations about Copernicus , Tycho Brahe , Francis Bacon , and Kepler with Antonio Macedo, secretary and interpreter for Portugal's ambassador. Macedo was a Jesuit , and in August 1651, smuggled on his person a letter from Christina to his general in Rome. In reply, Paolo Casati and Francesco Malines, trained in both natural sciences and theology, came to Sweden in
15385-413: The adjacent surviving entrance façades of the Palais-Royal. At the request of Louis Philippe II two new theatres were constructed in the Palais-Royal complex shortly after the fire. Both of these new theatres were designed by Victor Louis , the architect who also designed the shopping galleries facing the garden (see below). The first theatre, which opened on 23 October 1784, was a small puppet theatre in
15566-529: The age, Archduke Leopold William of Austria , Viceroy in Brussels - she received many such gifts from Catholic royalty after her conversion, and gave some generous gifts herself, notably Albrecht Dürer 's panels of Adam and Eve to Philip IV of Spain (now in the Prado ). On her death she left her collection to Cardinal Decio Azzolino , who himself died within a year, leaving the collection to his nephew, who sold it to Don Livio Odescalchi , commander of
15747-691: The apartments of the Duchess on the ground floor in 1716 and to decorate the Grand Appartement of the Palais Brion in the light and lively style Régence that foreshadowed the Rococo , as well as the Regent's more intimate petits appartements . Oppenord also made changes to the Grande Galerie of the Palais Brion and created a distinctive Salon d'Angle, which connected the Grand Appartement to
15928-508: The archduke invited her to his Brussels palace on Coudenberg . On 24 December 1654, she converted to the Catholic faith in the archduke's chapel in the presence of the Dominican Juan Guêmes, Raimondo Montecuccoli and Pimentel. Baptized as Kristina Augusta, she adopted the name Christina Alexandra. She did not declare her conversion in public, in case the Swedish council might refuse to pay her alimony. In addition, Sweden
16109-696: The area in a thoroughly patriotic light, by implication as a part of the great national struggle with the French. Nicholas Penny notes the "somewhat comic" disparity between Buchanan's "sonorous words" on the subject and the "coarse and mercenary business letters" he reprints—many by himself. On Bridgewater's death five years after the purchase, he bequeathed his collection to Gower, who put it and his own paintings on at least semi-public display in Bridgewater House, Westminster ; it has been on public display ever since. The collection contained over 300 paintings, including about 50 Orleans paintings, and
16290-604: The arrangement between her and Louis XIV was ready. He would recommend Christina as queen to the Kingdom of Naples and serve as guarantor against Spanish aggression. As Queen of Naples, she would be financially independent of the Swedish king, and also capable of negotiating peace between France and Spain. On her way back Christina visited French courtesan and author Ninon de l'Enclos in the convent at Lagny-sur-Marne . In early October, she left France and arrived in Torino . During
16471-458: The art owned by the dukes, but recorded only that part kept together in the Palais-Royal for public viewing. He also inherited small but high quality collections from Henrietta Anne Stuart , his father's first wife, in 1701 and his father's lover, the Chevalier de Lorraine in 1702. According to Reitlinger, his most active phase of collecting began in about 1715, the year he became Regent on
16652-443: The auction stage. The current location of many of the pictures can no longer be traced, and many are now attributed to lesser artists or copyists. Overall the prices realized for the better pictures were high, and in some cases their level would not be reached again for a century or longer. As an extreme case, a Ludovico Carracci valued at 60gn in 1798 was auctioned by the 5th Duke of Sutherland in 1913 raising 2gn. An example of
16833-557: The author of Mare Liberum , to become her librarian, but he died on his way in Rostock . That same year she founded Ordinari Post Tijdender ("Regular Mail Times"), the oldest currently published newspaper in the world. In 1647, Johann Freinsheim was appointed as her librarian. During the Thirty Years' War, Swedish troops looted books from conquered territories and dispatched them to Sweden to win favour with Christina. After
17014-439: The baby was born, it was first thought to be a boy. It was "hairy" and screamed "with a strong, hoarse voice." She later wrote in her autobiography that "Deep embarrassment spread among the women when they discovered their mistake." The king, though, was very happy, saying, "She'll be clever, she has made fools of us all!" Gustav Adolf was closely attached to his daughter, whereas her mother remained aloof in her disappointment at
17195-476: The beheading of Arnold Johan Messenius , together with his 17-year-old son, who had accused her of serious misbehavior and of being a " Jezebel ". According to them "Christina was bringing everything to ruin, and that she cared for nothing but sport and pleasure." In 1653, she founded the Amaranten order . Antonio Pimentel was appointed as its first knight; all members had to promise not to marry (again). In
17376-534: The best works, especially the Correggios , implicating Carlo Maratta . The Orleans collection was housed in the magnificent setting of the Palais-Royal , the Paris seat of the dukes of Orléans. Only 15 paintings in the printed catalogue of 1727 had been inherited by Philippe II from his father, Philippe de France, Duke of Orléans, Monsieur (1640–1701); the "collection" as catalogued was by no means all
17557-489: The blame due to a brawl among courtiers, but she insisted that she alone was responsible for the act. She wrote to Louis XIV who two weeks later paid her a friendly visit without mentioning it. In Rome, people felt differently; Monaldeschi had been an Italian nobleman, murdered by a foreign barbarian with Santinelli as one of her executioners. The letters proving his guilt are gone; Christina left them with Le Bel and only he confirmed that they existed. Christina never revealed what
17738-413: The book for 7,000 guineas, and his brothers the dukes of York and Clarence for 5,000 each, no further subscribers were to be found. It was Dawson Turner 's opinion that the failure was owing to the general sense that at the division of the spoils the lion's share would go to the royals. In 1792 Philippe Égalité impulsively sold the collection en bloc to a banker of Brussels who immediately sold it at
17919-487: The books from her apartments. For years, Christina knew by heart all the poems from the Ars Amatoria and was keen on the works by Martial and Petronius . The physician showed her the 16 erotic sonnets of Pietro Aretino , which he kept secretly in his luggage. By subtle means, Bourdelot undermined her principles. Having been Stoic , she now became an Epicurean . Her mother and de la Gardie were very much against
18100-488: The booty remained in Sweden after Christina's departure for exile: she only took about 70 to 80 paintings with her, including about 25 portraits of her friends and family, and some 50 paintings, mostly Italian, from the Prague loot, as well as statues, jewels, 72 tapestries, and various other works of art. She was concerned that the royal collections would be claimed by her successor, and prudently sent them ahead to Antwerp in
18281-572: The buyers (of the Italian and French pictures) divides them as follows: - a breakdown he describes as "quite unlike anything in Europe and grotesquely unlike pre-revolutionary France", where the main collectors were the tax farmers. Many of the same figures appear in the similar list of buyers of the Northern paintings. Much of our information about the sales comes from the Memoirs of Painting, with
18462-515: The capital as well as all of France. It was at these parties that the crème de la crème of French society came to see and be seen. Guests included the main members of the royal family like the Queen Mother, Anne of Austria ; Anne, Duchess of Montpensier , the Princes of Condé and of Conti . Philippe's favourites were also frequent visitors. After Henrietta Anne died in 1670 the Duke took
18643-429: The castle. Fountains at the marketplace splashed out wine for three days, a whole roast ox was served, and illuminations sparkled, followed by a themed parade ( The Illustrious Splendors of Felicity ) on 24 October. Her tutor, Johannes Matthiae, influenced by John Dury and Comenius , who since 1638 had been working on a new Swedish school system, represented a gentler attitude than most Lutherans. In 1644, he suggested
18824-456: The center of the garden, has been described as "a huge half-subterranean spectacle space of food, entertainments, boutiques, and gaming that ran the length of the park and was the talk of the capital." It was destroyed by fire on 15 December 1798. Inspired by the souks of Arabia, the Galerie de Bois, a series of wooden shops linking the ends of the Palais-Royal and enclosing the south end of
19005-489: The chaos that characterised the noisy, dirty streets; a warm, dry space away from the elements; and a safe-haven where people could socialise and spend their leisure time. Promenading in the arcades became a popular eighteenth century pastime for the emerging middle classes. From the 1780s to 1837, the palace was once again the centre of Parisian political and social intrigue and the site of the most popular cafés. The historic restaurant " Le Grand Véfour ", which opened in 1784,
19186-549: The child being a girl. In the year after Christina's birth, Maria Eleonora was described as being in a state of hysteria owing to her husband's absences. She showed little affection for her daughter and was not allowed any influence in Christina's upbringing. He was worried that her instability might pass on to their daughter. The Crown of Sweden was hereditary in the House of Vasa , but from King Charles IX 's time onward (reigned 1604–11), it excluded Vasa princes descended from
19367-495: The collection has been dispersed, but significant groups remain intact, having passed by inheritance. One such group is the Sutherland Loan or Bridgewater Loan , including sixteen works from the Orleans Collection, in the National Gallery of Scotland , and another is at Castle Howard , Yorkshire. There are twenty-five paintings formerly in the collection now in the National Gallery, London , which have arrived there by
19548-571: The convenience of the bride, new apartments were built and furnished in the wing facing east on the rue de Richelieu . It was at this time that Philippe commissioned a Grande Galerie along the rue de Richelieu for his famous Orleans Collection of paintings, which was easily accessible to the public. Designed by the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart , it was constructed around 1698–1700 and painted with Virgilian subjects by Coypel . The cost of this reconstruction totaled about 400,000 livres . Hardouin-Mansart's assistant, François d'Orbay , prepared
19729-469: The death of Louis XIV in 1715, his five-year-old great-grandson succeeded him. The Duke of Orléans became Regent for the young Louis XV , setting up the country's government at the Palais-Royal, while the young king lived at the nearby Tuileries Palace . The Palais-Royal housed the magnificent Orleans Collection of some 500 paintings, which was arranged for public viewing until it was sold abroad in 1791. He commissioned Gilles-Marie Oppenord to redesign
19910-475: The death of Louise Henriette, her husband secretly married his mistress, the witty marquise de Montesson , and the couple lived at the Château de Sainte-Assise where he died in 1785. Just before his death, he completed the sale of the Château de Saint-Cloud to Queen Marie Antoinette . Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans was born at Saint-Cloud and later moved to the Palais-Royal and lived there with his wife,
20091-543: The death of his uncle Louis XIV , after which he no doubt acquired an extra edge in negotiations. He also began to be presented with many paintings, most notably the three of Titian's poesies , now in Boston and shared by Edinburgh and London, which were given by Philip V of Spain to the French ambassador, the Duc de Gramont , who in turn presented them to the Regent. Christina's collection only joined Philippe's shortly before
20272-538: The diplomat Antonio Pimentel de Prado to Stockholm in August. On 26 February 1649, Christina announced that she had decided not to marry and instead wanted her first cousin Charles Gustav to be heir to the throne. While the nobility objected to this, the three other estates – clergy, burghers, and peasants – accepted it. She agreed to stay on the condition the councils never again asked her to marry. In 1651, Christina lost much of her popularity after
20453-418: The embalmed body of her husband. The 7-year-old Queen Christina came in solemn procession to Nyköping to receive her mother. Maria Eleonora declared that the burial should not take place during her lifetime - she often spoke of shortening her life - or at least should be postponed as long as possible. She also demanded that the coffin be kept open and went to see it regularly, patting it and taking no notice of
20634-712: The end of his life and most of the other works were bought in France, like the Sebastiano del Piombo Raising of Lazarus , with some from the Netherlands or Italy, like the Nicolas Poussin set of the Seven Sacraments , bought from a Dutch collection by Cardinal Guillaume Dubois in 1716. Other sources included the heirs of Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin , and Cardinal Dubois, with an especially important group from Jean-Baptiste Colbert 's heir
20815-513: The event of his death, his daughter should be cared for by his half-sister, Catherine of Sweden and half-brother Carl Gyllenhielm as regent. This solution did not suit Maria Eleonora, who had her sister-in-law banned from the castle. In 1634, the Instrument of Government , a new constitution, was introduced by Oxenstierna. The constitution stipulated that the "King" must have a Privy Council , which Oxenstierna himself headed. Maria Eleonora
20996-462: The execution of marchese Gian Rinaldo Monaldeschi , her master of the horse and formerly leader of the French party in Rome. For two months she had suspected Monaldeschi of disloyalty; she secretly seized his correspondence, which revealed that he had betrayed her interests. Christina gave three packages of letters to Le Bel, a priest, to keep them for her in custody. Three days later, at one o'clock on Saturday afternoon, she summoned Monaldeschi into
21177-565: The famous collection of Emperor Charles V 's leading minister Cardinal Granvelle (1517–86), which he had forced Granvelle's nephew and heir to sell to him. Granvelle had been the "greatest private collector of his time, the friend and patron of Titian and Leoni and many other artists", including his protégé Antonis Mor . The Swedes only skimmed the cream of the Habsburg collection, as the works now in Vienna, Madrid and Prague show. Most of
21358-563: The garden, was first opened in 1786. For Parisians, who lived in the virtual absence of pavements, the streets were dangerous and dirty; the arcade was a welcome addition to the streetscape as it afforded a safe place where Parisians could window shop and socialise. Thus, the Palais-Royal began what architectural historian Bertrand Lemoine [ fr ] describes as "l’Ère des passages couverts" (the Arcade Era), which transformed European shopping habits between 1786 and 1935. During
21539-520: The garden: the rue de Montpensier on the west, rue de Beaujolais to the north, and rue de Valois on the east. He commercialised the new complex by letting out the area under the colonnades to retailers and service-providers and in 1784 the shopping and entertainment complex opened to the public. Over a decade or so, sections of the Palais were transformed into shopping arcades that became the centre of 18th-century Parisian economic and social life. Though
21720-464: The grand horseshoe stairway of honor, which curves upward along the walls to the landing on the first floor. It is decorated with theatrical effects, including ionic columns, and blind arches giving the illusion of bays. A trompe-l'oeil painting in an archway appears to give a view of a classical statue, above which putti hold wreathes around a bust of Cardinal Richelieu . The stairway was made by Pierre Contant d'Ivry in 1765. The most lavish room of
21901-430: The heirs of Cardinal Richelieu. Louis had it connected to the Palais-Royal. It was at the Palais Brion that Louis had his mistress Louise de La Vallière stay while his affair with Madame de Montespan was still an official secret. Henrietta Anne was married to Louis' younger brother, Philippe I, Duke of Orléans in the palace chapel on 31 March 1661. After their marriage, Louis XIV allowed his brother and wife to use
22082-511: The help of her uncle, John Casimir , Christina tried to reduce the influence of Oxenstierna when she declared her cousin Charles Gustav as her heir presumptive. The following year, Christina resisted demands from the other estates (clergy, burghers, and peasants) in the Riksdag of the Estates for the reduction of the number of noble landholdings that were tax-exempt. She never implemented such
22263-440: The last time on 28 October 1632 at Erfurt . The very next day, Gustav Adolf broke camp and left. On 3 November, Maria wrote to Axel Oxenstierna: "without H.R.M. 's presence, I am worth nothing, not even my life." Her mother, of the House of Hohenzollern , was said to be the most beautiful queen in Europe, but she was also considered hysterical, unstable and overly emotional. It is suggested that she inherited madness, from both
22444-586: The left bank (at that time known as the Théâtre de la Nation, but today as the Odéon ), and joined the company on the rue de Richelieu, which promptly changed its name to Théâtre Français de la rue de Richelieu. With the founding of the French Republic in September 1792 the theatre's name was changed again, to Théâtre de la République. In 1799 the players of the split company reunited at the Palais-Royal, and
22625-459: The letters, Christina became interested in beginning a correspondence with Descartes. She invited him to Sweden, but Descartes was reluctant until she asked him to organize a scientific academy. Christina sent a ship to pick up the philosopher and 2,000 books. Descartes arrived on 4 October 1649. He resided with Chanut and finished his Passions of the Soul . It is highly unlikely Descartes wrote
22806-521: The librarian Lucas Holstenius , himself a convert, waited for her in Innsbruck . On 3 November 1655, Christina announced her conversion to Catholicism in the Hofkirche and wrote to Pope Alexander VII and her cousin Charles X about it. To celebrate her official conversion, L'Argia , an opera by Antonio Cesti , was performed. Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria , already in financial trouble,
22987-472: The main part of the palace ( corps de logis ) remained the private Orléans seat, the arcades surrounding its public gardens had 145 boutiques, cafés, salons, hair salons, bookshops, museums, and countless refreshment kiosks. These retail outlets sold luxury goods such as fine jewelry, furs, paintings and furniture to the wealthy elite. Stores were fitted with long glass windows which allowed the emerging middle-classes to window shop and indulge in fantasies. Thus,
23168-606: The meantime Christina learned that the Swedes had confiscated all her revenue as the princess had become a Catholic. King Philip IV of Spain ruled the Duchy of Milan and the Kingdom of Naples . The French politician Mazarin , an Italian himself, had attempted to liberate Naples from Spanish rule, against which the locals had fought before the Neapolitan Republic was created. A second expedition in 1654 had failed and
23349-476: The night lingered, and smart gambling casinos were lodged in second-floor quarters. The Marquis de Sade referred to the grounds in front of the palace in his Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795) as a place where progressive pamphlets were sold. Upon the execution of the Duke, the palace's ownership lapsed to the state, whence it was called Palais du Tribunat. The Comédie-Française , the state theatre company,
23530-602: The night while the servants came and went with new wax candles. The " Semiramis from the North" corresponded with Pierre Gassendi , her favorite author. Blaise Pascal offered her a copy of his pascaline . She had a firm grasp of classical history and philosophy. Christina studied Neostoicism , the Church Fathers , and Islam ; she systematically looked for a copy of the Treatise of the Three Impostors ,
23711-532: The northwest corner of the gardens at the intersection of the Galerie de Montpensier and the Galerie de Beaujolais . Initially it was known as the Théâtre des Beaujolais, then as the Théâtre Montansier, after which Victor Louis enlarged it for the performance of plays and operas. Later, beginning with the political turmoil of the Revolution , this theatre was known by a variety of other names. It
23892-473: The palace open to visitors from the higher classes who kept themselves busy with poetry and intellectual discussions. Christina opened an academy in the palace on 24 January 1656, called Academy of Arcadia , where the participants enjoyed music, theater, and literature. The poet Reyer Anslo was presented to her. Belonging to the Arcadia-circle was also Francesco Negri , a Franciscan from Ravenna who
24073-704: The palace was briefly renamed the "Palais-National". During the Second French Empire of Napoleon III , the Palais-Royal became home to the cadet branch of the Bonaparte family, represented by Prince Napoléon-Jérôme Bonaparte , Napoleon III's cousin. A lavish dining room was constructed in the Second Empire style , and is now known as the Salle Napoleon of the Council of State. During the final days of Paris Commune , on May 24, 1871,
24254-482: The palace was the residence of the exiled Henrietta Maria and Henrietta Anne Stuart , wife and daughter of the deposed King Charles I of England . The two had escaped England in the midst of the English Civil War and were sheltered by Henrietta Maria's nephew, King Louis XIV. The Palais Brion, a separate section near the rue de Richelieu to the west of the Palais-Royal, was purchased by Louis XIV from
24435-483: The palace, seen as a symbol of aristocracy, was set afire by the Communards, but suffered less damage than other government buildings. As a result, it became the temporary (and later permanent) home of several state institutions, including the Conseil d'Etat , or State Council. Today, the Palais-Royal is the home of the Conseil d'État , the Constitutional Council , and the Ministry of Culture . The buildings of
24616-529: The palace. In 1648, she commissioned 35 paintings from Jacob Jordaens for a ceiling in Uppsala Castle . The court poet Georg Stiernhielm wrote several plays in the Swedish language, such as Den fångne Cupido eller Laviancu de Diane , performed with Christina taking the main part of the goddess Diana . She invited foreign companies to play at Bollhuset . An Italian opera troupe visited in 1652 with Vincenzo Albrici and Angelo Michele Bartolotti ,
24797-505: The parts which pleased her, taking God to witness, throwing herself back in her chair, crossing her legs, resting them on the arms of her chair, and assuming other postures, such as I had never seen taken but by Travelin and Jodelet, two famous buffoons... She was in all respects a most extraordinary creature". Christina was treated with respect by the young Louis XIV and his mother, Anne of Austria , in Compiègne . On 22 September 1656,
24978-477: The paternal and maternal lines. However, this image of the hysterical, depressive and profligate queen dowager, which has become part of historiography , has been put into perspective in more recent research, first in the 1980s by the archivist Åke Kromnov, among others, and more recently in the monograph "Drottningen som sa nej" by Moa Matthis , published in 2010. After the king died on the battlefield on 6 November 1632, Maria Eleonora returned to Sweden with
25159-403: The poor condition some sources mention), since when its whereabouts are unknown. The Rome version was painted in 1598, presumably for Cardinal Scipio Borghese . The paintings of both portions of the collection were bought by a wide range of wealthy collectors, the great majority English, as the wars with France made travelling to London difficult for others. Major buyers included Thomas Hope ,
25340-415: The position of head lady-in-waiting, all four with the formal rank and title of Hovmästarinna . The Royal Council's method of giving Queen Christina several foster mothers to avoid her forming an attachment to a single person appears to have been effective, as Christina did not mention her foster mothers directly in her memoirs and did not seem to have formed an attachment to any of them; in fact, with only
25521-426: The printed catalogue of 1727, republished in 1737, Description des Tableaux du Palais Royal . This contained 495 paintings, though some continued to be added, and a few disposed of. Paintings were hung, not by 'schools' or by subject but in order to maximise their effects in juxtaposition, in the 'mixed school' manner espoused by Pierre Crozat for his grand private collection in his Parisian hôtel . The mixture on
25702-488: The respective diets ( Kreistage ) of three Imperial Circles : the Upper Saxon Circle , Lower Saxon Circle , and Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle ; the city of Bremen was disputed. Shortly before the conclusion of the peace settlement, she admitted Salvius into the council, against Oxenstierna's wishes. Salvius was no aristocrat, but Christina wanted the opposition to the aristocracy present. In 1649, with
25883-421: The revolutionary period, Philippe d'Orléans became known as Philippe Égalité and ruled at the Palais de l'Égalité, as it was known during the more radical phase of the Revolution . He had made himself popular in Paris when he opened the gardens of the palace to all Parisians. In one of the shops around the garden Charlotte Corday bought the knife she used to stab Jean-Paul Marat . Along the galeries , ladies of
26064-437: The salons, cafés, and bookshops), shameless debauchery (it was a favorite haunt of local prostitutes), as well as a hotbed of Freemasonic activity . Designed to attract the genteel middle class, the Palais-Royal sold luxury goods at relatively high prices. However, prices were never a deterrent, as these new arcades came to be the place to shop and to be seen. Arcades offered shoppers the promise of an enclosed space away from
26245-523: The same style when writing to women she had never met but whose writings she admired. Christina's coronation took place on 22 October 1650. Christina went to the castle of Jacobsdal , where she boarded a coronation carriage draped in black velvet embroidered in gold and pulled by three white horses. The procession to Storkyrkan was so long that when the first carriages arrived, the last ones had not yet left Jacobsdal (a distance of roughly 10.5 km or 6.5 miles). All four estates were invited to dine at
26426-426: The same year, she ordered Vossius (and Heinsius) to make a list of about 6,000 books and manuscripts to be packed and shipped to Antwerp. In February 1654, she plainly told the Council of her plans to abdicate . Oxenstierna told her she would regret her decision within a few months. In May, the Riksdag discussed her proposals. She had asked for 200,000 rikstalers a year but received dominions instead. Financially she
26607-466: The spring of 1652. She had more conversations with them, being interested in Catholic views on sin, the immortality of the soul , rationality, and free will . The two scholars revealed her plans to Cardinal Fabio Chigi . Around May 1652 Christina, raised in the Lutheran Church of Sweden , decided to become Catholic . She sent Matthias Palbitzki to Madrid and King Philip IV of Spain sent
26788-504: The subsequent years, Christina thrived in the company of her aunt Catherine and her family. In 1638, after the death of her aunt and foster mother, the Royal Regency Council under Axel Oxenstierna saw the need to appoint a new foster mother to the underage monarch, which resulted in a reorganization of the queen's household. To prevent the young queen from being dependent upon a single individual and favorite mother figure,
26969-430: The ten years of her reign, the number of noble families increased from 300 to about 600, rewarding people such as Lennart Torstenson , Louis De Geer and Johan Palmstruch for their efforts. These donations took place with such haste that they were not always registered, and on some occasions, the same piece of land was given away twice. Christina abdicated her throne on 6 June 1654 in favor of Charles Gustav. During
27150-560: The theatre officially became the Comédie-Française, also commonly known as the Théâtre-Français, names which it retains to this day. Louis Philippe II also had Victor Louis build six-story apartment buildings with ground-floor colonnades facing the three sides of the palace garden between 1781 and 1784. On the outside of these wings three new streets were constructed in front of the houses that had formerly overlooked
27331-548: The throne to her cousin Charles X Gustav and settled in Rome. Pope Alexander VII described Christina as "a queen without a realm, a Christian without faith, and a woman without shame." She played a leading part in the theatrical and musical communities and protected many Baroque artists, composers, and musicians. Christina, who was the guest of five consecutive popes and a symbol of the Counter-Reformation ,
27512-580: The time his collection of paintings was seized and sold after his execution in 1649 by the English Commonwealth it was one of the finest outside Italy. Meanwhile, three years after the sale to Charles, Mantua was sacked by Imperial troops, who added much of what was left there to the Imperial collection in Prague, where they rejoined the diplomatic gifts of a century earlier. Some Mantuan paintings therefore passed from Prague via Christina to
27693-435: The two "Michelangelos" were only sold in the auctions, and for only 90 and 52 guineas . Many Titians were sold, but many Bolognese Baroque works, as well as most of the later (but not the earlier) Raphaels, were retained. The single Watteau went for only 11 gn, while one Carracci was valued at £4,000 for the galley sale, where all 33 Carraccis were sold, while works attributed to Giovanni Bellini and Caravaggio remained at
27874-553: The type normally only afforded to boys. When Gustav Adolf did not come home as expected after the summer campaign of 1630, Maria wrote to John Casimir, her brother-in-law that she could not stand it; she wanted to die. She begged him to try to persuade the king to come home. It was decided that Maria would travel to Germany the following spring. She arrived on 10 July 1631, to Wolgast in Pomerania. On 11 January 1632, she met with her spouse near Hanau . The couple were spotted for
28055-809: The uncertainty that accompanies the identity of works in most dispersed former collections. There had already been many prints of the collection; the Seven Sacraments were especially popular among the middle classes of Paris in the 1720s. Another famous collection whose history was entwined with the Orleans Collection was that assembled by the Gonzagas of Mantua , especially Francesco II (1466–1519) and his son Federico II (1500–1540). Their court artists included Mantegna and Giulio Romano , and they commissioned work directly from Titian, Raphael, Correggio and other artists, some of which were given as gifts to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor , to whom Mantua
28236-480: The valuations placed on the whole portion bought by the syndicate. Even at the often low prices realized, the sales to others, and entry receipts to the exhibitions, realized a total of £42,500, so even allowing for the expenses of the exhibitions and auctions, the syndicate got their works very cheaply. Castle Howard , home of the Earls of Carlisle, originally had fifteen works, now much reduced by sales, donations, and
28417-400: The wealthy Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon whom he had married in 1769. The duke controlled the Palais-Royal from 1780 onward. The couple's eldest son, Louis-Philippe III d'Orléans , was born there in 1773. Louis Philippe II succeeded his father as the head of the House of Orléans in 1785. The Palais-Royal had contained one of the most important public theatres in Paris, in the east wing on
28598-477: The winter Christina lived in the apostolic palace in Pesaro, probably to flee the plague which infested several regions including Naples. During the Naples Plague (1656) almost half of the population died within two years. In July 1657, she returned to France, either being impatient or not so anxious to become queen of Naples. On 15 October 1657 apartments were assigned to her at the Palace of Fontainebleau , where she committed an action that stained her memory:
28779-405: The £43,500 price, Carlisle a quarter, and Bridgewater the remaining 5/8s. The pictures were put on exhibition for seven months in 1798, with a view to selling at a least a part of them, in Bryan's Gallery in Pall Mall, with the larger ones at the Lyceum in the Strand ; admission was 2/6d rather than the 1s. usual for such events. On first seeing the collection there, William Hazlitt wrote "I
28960-439: Was Charles I's daughter, and her small but select collection had been mostly given to her by her brother Charles II from the reclaimed royal collection on her marriage in 1661. On her death forty years later this was left to Phillippe. In 1787 Louis Philippe d'Orléans , the Regent's great-grandson, whose huge income could not keep pace with his gambling habit, had sold his equally famous collection of engraved gems to Catherine
29141-416: Was a member of the House of Vasa and the Queen of Sweden in her own right from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. Her conversion to Catholicism and refusal to marry led her to relinquish her throne and move to Rome. The Swedish queen is remembered as one of the most erudite women of the 17th century, wanting Stockholm to become the "Athens of the North" and was given the special right to establish
29322-650: Was chased around in an adjacent room before they finally succeeded in dealing him a fatal wound in his throat. "In the end, he died, confessing his infamy and admitting [Santinelli's] innocence, protesting that he had invented the whole fantastic story in order to ruin [him]." Father Le Bel was told to have him buried inside the church, and Christina, seemingly unfazed, paid an abbey to say a number of Masses for his soul. She "was sorry that she had been forced to undertake this execution, but claimed that justice had been carried out for his crime and betrayal. Mazarin , who had sent her old friend Chanut, advised Christina to place
29503-510: Was chiefly occupied with her studies, she slept three to four hours a night, forgot to comb her hair, donned her clothes in a hurry and wore men's shoes for the sake of convenience. (In fact, her permanent bed-head became her trademark look in paintings. ) When Christina left Sweden, she continued to write passionate letters to her intimate friend Ebba Sparre, in which she told her that she would always love her. However, such emotional letters were relatively common at that time, and Christina would use
29684-523: Was completed in 1639. The gardens were begun in 1629 by Jean Le Nôtre (father of André Le Nôtre ), Simon Bouchard, and Pierre I Desgots , to a design created by Jacques Boyceau . Upon Richelieu's death in 1642 the palace became the property of the King and acquired the new name Palais-Royal . After Louis XIII died the following year, it became the home of the Queen Mother Anne of Austria and her young sons Louis XIV and Philippe, duke of Anjou , along with her advisor Cardinal Mazarin . From 1649,
29865-433: Was considered very difficult, and in 1636 she lost her parental rights to her daughter. The Riksråd justified its decision by asserting that she neglected Christina and her upbringing and that she had a bad influence on her daughter ... Chancellor Oxenstierna saw no other solution than to exile the widow to Gripsholm castle, while the governing regency council would decide when she was allowed to see her daughter. For
30046-405: Was converted to a café with shows in 1812, but reopened as a theatre in 1831, when it acquired the name Théâtre du Palais-Royal , by which it is still known today. Louis Philippe II's second theatre was larger and located near the southwest corner of the complex, on the rue de Richelieu . He originally intended it for the Opera, but that company refused to move into it. Instead he offered it to
30227-642: Was crowned later on that day. Christina left the country within a few days. In the summer of 1654, Christina left Sweden in men's clothing with the help of Bernardino de Rebolledo and rode as Count Dohna through Denmark. Relations between the two countries were still so tense that a former Swedish queen could not have traveled safely in Denmark. Christina had already packed and shipped abroad valuable books, paintings, statues, and tapestries from her Stockholm castle, leaving its treasures severely depleted. Christina visited Frederick III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and, while there, thought that her successor should have
30408-504: Was effectively a client state. The most important of these gifts were the mythological works by Correggio, later to be mutilated in Paris. By the early 17th century the dynasty was in terminal decline, and the bulk of their portable art collection was bought by the keen collector Charles I of England in 1625–27. Charles's other notable purchases included the Raphael Cartoons and volumes of drawings by Leonardo da Vinci , and his own most notable commissions were from Rubens and van Dyck. By
30589-423: Was in the letters, but according to Le Bel, it is supposed to have dealt with her "amours", either with Monaldeschi or another person. She herself wrote her version of the story for circulation in Europe. Palais-Royal The Palais-Royal ( French: [pa.lɛ ʁwa.jal] ) is a former French royal palace located on Rue Saint-Honoré in the 1st arrondissement of Paris . The screened entrance court faces
30770-408: Was installed there under the care of the art critic and official court historian André Félibien , who was appointed in 1673. About 1674 the Duke of Orléans had André Le Nôtre redesign the gardens of the Palais-Royal. After the dismissal of Madame de Montespan and the arrival of her successor, Madame de Maintenon , who forbade any lavish entertainment at Versailles , the Palais-Royal was again
30951-427: Was known as the "Stafford Gallery" in Cleveland House until the house was rebuilt and renamed as Bridgewater House in 1854, and then as the "Bridgewater Gallery". It was opened in 1803, and could be visited on Wednesday afternoons over four, later three, months in the summer by "acquaintances" of a member of the family (in practice tickets could mostly be obtained by writing and asking for them), or artists recommended by
31132-502: Was lodged in the mansion of a Jewish merchant. She was visited by Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria ; the Prince de Condé , the ambassador Pierre Chanut , as well as the former governor of Norway, Hannibal Sehested . In the afternoons, she went for a ride, and each evening, parties were held; there was always a play to watch or music to listen to. Christina quickly ran out of money and had to sell some of her tapestries, silverware, and jewelry. When her financial situation did not improve,
31313-420: Was preparing for war against Pomerania , which meant that her income from there was considerably reduced. The pope and Philip IV of Spain could not support her openly either, as she was not publicly a Catholic yet. Christina succeeded in arranging a major loan, leaving books and statues to settle her debts. In September, she left for Italy with her entourage of 255 persons and 247 horses. The pope's messenger,
31494-423: Was reorganised by Napoleon in the décret de Moscou on 15 October 1812, which contains 87 articles. After the Restoration of the Bourbons , at the Palais-Royal the young Alexandre Dumas obtained employment in the office of the powerful Duke of Orléans , who regained control of the palace during the Restoration. The Duke had Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine draw up plans to complete work left unfinished by
31675-603: Was secured through a pension and revenue from the town of Norrköping , the isles of Gotland , Öland , Ösel , and Poel , Wolgast and Neukloster in Mecklenburg , and estates in Pomerania . Her plan to convert was not the only reason for her abdication, as there was increasing discontent with her arbitrary and wasteful ways. Within ten years, she and Oxenstierna had created 17 counts , 46 barons , and 428 lesser nobles . To provide these new peers with adequate appanages , they had sold or mortgaged crown property representing an annual income of 1,200,000 rikstalers . During
31856-414: Was signed in October 1648, effectively ending the European wars of religion . Sweden received an indemnity of five million thalers , used primarily to pay its troops. Sweden further received Western Pomerania (henceforth Swedish Pomerania ), Wismar , the Archbishopric of Bremen , and the Bishopric of Verden as hereditary fiefs, thus gaining a seat and vote in the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire and in
32037-450: Was soon the scene of the notorious debaucheries of Louise Henriette de Bourbon who had married to Louis Philippe in 1743. New apartments (located in what is now the northern section of the Rue-de-Valois wing) were added for her in the early 1750s by the architect Pierre Contant d'Ivry . She died at the age of thirty-two in 1759. She was the mother of Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans , later known as Philippe Égalité . A few years after
32218-451: Was staggered when I saw the works ... A new sense came upon me, a new heaven and a new Earth stood before me." In 1798, 1800 and 1802 there were auctions of those paintings not sold via the galleries, generally achieving rather low prices, but 94 out of 305 of the paintings were retained by the syndicate, as seems always to have been intended, and these largely remain in their families today. However these paintings represented over half of
32399-435: Was strongly opposed to this and was again backed by Christina. The Book of Concord was not introduced. In 1651, after reigning for almost twenty years, working at least ten hours a day, Christina had a nervous breakdown or burn out . For an hour, she seemed to be dead. She suffered from high blood pressure and complained about bad eyesight and her crooked back. She had already seen many court physicians. In February 1652,
32580-425: Was then that she received from the pope her second name of Alexandra, the feminine form of his own." She was granted her own wing inside the Vatican, decorated by Bernini. Christina's visit to Rome was the triumph of Pope Alexander VII and the occasion for splendid Baroque festivities. For several months, she was the only preoccupation of the Pope and his court. The nobles vied for her attention and treated her to
32761-415: Was visited by a group of Dutch diplomats, including Johan de Witt , to find a solution for the Sound Dues . In the Treaty of Brömsebro , signed at a creek in Blekinge , Denmark added the isles of Gotland and Ösel to Christina's domain while Norway lost the districts of Jämtland and Härjedalen to her. Under Christina's rule, Sweden, virtually controlling the Baltic Sea , had unrestricted access to
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