American Ancestors | Bagatelle: A Princely Residence in Paris
Earlier today — Friday, September 29, 2023, at 1:00 p.m. — I attended the webinar Bagatelle: A Princely Residence in Paris by Nicolas Cattelain, part of the Art & Architecture series hosted by New England Historic Genealogical Society, also known as American Ancestors. Cattelain wrote a book by the same name as the talk, published by Rizzoli New York Last Week, which features photographs of the chateau in the process of its restoration.
Cattelain covered the entire history of the property using images of artworks once held in the Bagatelle, diagrams of the buildings and gardens, portraits of past owners, and modern photographs. Cattelain explained that a building had existed on the site since 1720 and was first owned by Maréchal d'Estrées [Marshal of Estrées]. While his wife, Madame d'Estrées, held wild parties at the estate, the Maréchal d'Estrées did not often visit. At this time Louis XV was King of France. Parties at court politically influenced him by sending women to become his mistresses. Mademoiselle de Charolais, a cousin of Louis XV, held parties at Bagatelle in the 1740s and 1750s specifically for royals and mistresses. When Mademoiselle de Charolais died in 1758, Louis XV took his mistresses to Versailles instead.
Soon, another woman owned Bagatelle. Marie Leszczyńska was the wife of Louis XV, making her Queen of France. Her father was King Stanisław, the deposed ruler of Poland. Her father often visited Bagatelle, and they once again hosted frivolous parties, although these were considered less debauched than those in previous years. The house continued to change hands and fell into disrepair.
Upon the death of Louis XV in 1774, Louis XVI became King of France. His wife, Marie Antoinette, became Queen, bringing great change to court life. Louis XVI had two younger brothers. The youngest, called Comte d’Artois [Count of Artois] bought Bagatelle estate as a hunting lodge and party venue. Marie Antoinette teased Comte d’Artois, because the house was falling apart, and bet him a large sum of money that he could not build a nicer house.
In return, Comte d’Artois commissioned the architect François-Joseph Bélanger to build him a completely new house in the length of hunting season. Assisting with the project were Comte de Vaudreuil, who was the best friend of Comte d’Artois, and Duchesse de Polignac, the mistress of Comte de Vaudreuil and best friend of Marie Antoinette. The house itself was mix of two distinct styles, both inspired by Italian architecture. The Baroque or Pavian style was also found at Versailles. The Neo Palladian style popularized by William Chambers, a British architect who worked for George III. In fact, the house plan used by Bélanger appears to be stolen whole cloth from previous buildings by Chambers. Other designs inspired by the work of Chambers included the English gardens, which had in turn been inspired by Chinese gardens. Sections of the gardens, or “follies”, had themes related to world travel or fantasy stories.
Some of the interior designs are in a Grotesque style often used in the 1770s through 1780s, which was inspired by art from the Middle East. Comte d’Artois employed the French Rococo painter Hubert Robert, who wins the best name award for today, to decorate the inside of the house. Robert painted lavishly, inspired by the Arabesque style popularized at the end of the Neoclassical period. Even today, many of his murals and gilding in the bathroom, music room, and dome are in tact. Other parts of the mansion have not fared so well.
During and after the Napoleonic Wars, revolutionaries threatened to burn down Bagatelle. The mansion became a public place, including an eating and dance hall. Napoleon I used the building as a hunting lodge. The French royal family returned briefly in 1814. Comte d’Artois, now Charles X, gave the estate to his son, Duc du Berry. By 1820, Duc du Berry was assassinated by a Bonapart supporter, so his wife, Madame du Berry, inherited the house. She used the property as a vacation home with her two children, Louise and Henri. She believed her son would someday become the King of France. In 1830, another revolution ended French royal rule for good, and the royal family moved to England.
The Fourth Marquess of Hertford, heir to one of the largest fortunes in England, bought the property in the 1840s and lived there for the rest of his life, although he also kept a home in England. He was antisocial but loved 18th century art and furniture. He left his fortune to a man that he claimed was his illegitimate son, Richard Wallace, who had long been his assistant. Wallace renovated the Bagatelle into the mansion seen today. He destroyed a building at the front of the property and added a massive façade. As reclusive as his father, he did not allow many people to visit the house. He moved many paintings and valuable objects once held at the French house to his house in England. Upon his death, he created the Wallace Collection. Today, anyone visiting London can visit his house and view his artwork.
The City of Paris bought Bagatelle in the early 20th century and planted a rose garden. Comtesse Greffulhe, a French socialite and friend of writer Marcel Proust, organized parties at the venue. Other events included fashion shows, car shows, and dances. Today, the gardens are open to the public. The current non-profit organization is in the process of restoring the buildings, so these will open to the public within the next few years.
I enjoyed learning more about French history and the Bagatelle. The images seen during the program were beautiful, and a lot of thought went into their curation. However, the talk was bewildering at several points. The titles and relationships of the people involved with the house were not well-defined. Cattelain spoke with the assumption that the audience had a graduate level education in this field. Additionally, the automated closed captions and transcript on Zoom did not use French words. Instead, the program skipped lines, creating huge gaps in the captioning and transcription. I had assumed that the talk would focus on the property, but most time was spent on describing disparate events surrounding the house, leaving me more confused than satisfied.