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Château de Chenonceau |
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| Chenonceau |
The building of Chenonceau was always controlled by women. Katherine Briçonnet – whose husband Thomas Bohier bought the site on the proceeds of embezzling from his master, François I – hired the first architects in 1515 and had them begin building on the foundations of an old mill that stood on the granite bed of the Cher. The château's most characteristic feature, the set of arches spanning the River Cher, was begun later in the century by Diane de Poitiers (mistress of Henri II) and completed by the indomitable Catherine de Médicis (wife of Henri II), after she had evicted Diane and forced her to hand over the Château in return for Chaumont. Mary, Queen of Scots, child bride of François II, also spent time here until her husband's early death. Then, after a long period of disuse, one Madame Dupin brought eighteenth-century life to this gorgeous residence, along with her guests Voltaire, Montesquieu and Rousseau, whom she hired as tutor to her son. Restoration back to the sixteenth-century designs was completed by another woman, Madame Pelouze, in the late nineteenth century. It's now a profitable business, owned and run by the Menier chocolate family firm.
During summer the place teems with people, and it can become uncomfortably crowded, especially mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Visits are unguided – a luxurious relief, for there's an endless array of arresting tapestries, paintings, ceilings, floors and furniture on show. It's worth seeking out the numerous portraits of the château's female owners. On the ground floor the François I room features two contrasting images of the goddess Diana, one is in fact a portrait of Diane de Poitiers by Primaticcio while the other represents a relatively aristocratic Gabrielle d'Estrées. In the same room is Zurbaran's superb Archimedes, and elsewhere you'll find works by or attributed to Veronese, Tintoretto, Coreggio, Murillo and Rubens, among others; Madame Dupin's winsome portrait hangs in the Lous XIV room. The tiled floors throughout, many original, are particularly lovely, and there are some unique decorative details, such as the seventeenth century window-frame in the César de Vendôme room, supported by two carved caryatids, and the moving ceiling in the bedroom of Louise de Lorraine, which mourns her murdered husband Henri III in black paint picked out with painted tears and the couple's intertwined initials. The vaulted kitchens, poised above the water in the foundations, are well worth a look.
The section of the Château that spans the Cher is relatively empty. The seemingly incongruous chequerboard flooring of the elegant long gallery is in fact true to the Renaissance design, though potted plants have replaced the Classical statues which Louis XIV carried off to Versailles. Catherine de Médicis used to hold wild parties here, all naked nymphs and Italian fireworks. She intended the door on the far side to continue into another building on the south bank, but the project was never begun, and these days the gallery leads to quiet, wooded gardens. During the war, the Cher briefly formed the boundary between occupied and "free" France, and the current proprietors, who rode out Nazi occupation, like to make out that the château's gallery was much used as an escape route. Given that their adjacent farm quartered a German garrison, it would have been a risky place to cross.
In July and August, as part of the "Nocturne à Chenonceau", the gardens and Château are lit up between 10pm and 11.30pm, with atmosphere provided by classical music played through speakers. Also in the summer months, you can take boats out onto the Cher.
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