An unexpected surprise happened today as I went to the Hotel de Soubise to see learn more about ancient letters, especially since I recently found twelve vellum documents most over two feet in length, the hotel de Soubise is also known as the Archives Nationales… the surprise came as the interior of the building is beautiful, especially the round room at the end painted in a muted greenish grey color.
The sculpted wall paneling, the massive chandeliers with crystals as big or bigger than my hand… I kept imagining having a romantic dinner and dancing in candlelight…
"In 1553 François de Lorraine, Duc de Guise, and his wife Anne d'Este bought the property. The building was in a very poor state of repair, and the powerful de Guise family entrusted the major rebuilding works to the famous Italian artist Francesco Primitaccio, leader of the First School of Fontainebleau… In the second half of the 17th century the last member of the House of Guise, Marie de Lorraine, carried out considerable embellishments to the house and gardens.It became home to a brilliant court regularly attended by Corneille, Tristan L'Hermite, and the composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier… in 1732, of Hercule Mériadec, older son of François de Soubise, to the young Princess Marie-Sophie de Courcillon in 1732, a different architect, Germain Boffrand, was put in charge of creating the apartments. In 1735, Boffrand built a new, oval pavilion perpendicularly linked to the north wing and providing access to the private apartments of the Crown Prince and his wife. From 1736, he turned his attention to the interior decor. These apartments are one of the finest examples of rocaille art, and are a collective masterpiece produced by the best painters, sculptors, and ornamentists of the period, including François Boucher, Charles-Joseph Natoire, Jean-Baptiste II Lemoyne, and Jacques Verbeckt, all of whom worked on this project with Boffrand. " Via the link above.
… more about the archives later, as this room still takes my breath away.
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