Les Salons
The main building – with its monumental status – consists of several well-sized salons, each with its own characteristics and allure. Two of the beautiful salons are adjacent to each other, with the third one is in the western corner of the chateau. The upper level offers various suites, again all with their special features and charisma.
Two of the salons are attributed with the highest monumental status and are a joy to see, with wooden ornaments and a variety of portraits, landscape painting or biblical representations. The third salon is of a later period and even so lavishly decorated, with a marble fireplace, parquet flooring in the style of Versailles and huge windows.
Le Grand Salon
The first, furthest to the east, is the antechamber: it is a vestibule with two opposite entrance doors, onto the courtyard and the garden. It has a floor made of hexagonal terracotta tiles. This anteroom opens onto a largely wooded state room. The anteroom was remodeled during the French Revolution: for the sake of comfort, the room was transformed into a living room, repainted and sealed with a plaster ceiling. The fireplace, the door top and the door frames have only been slightly modified: in particular the decoration of woodwork with falling flowers and the trumeau painted with a “Judgment of Solomon” on the fireplace. A famous painting of the Judgment of Solomon at the Château du Fresne After Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, Siegen 1577–1640 Antwerp) after Boetius Adams Bolswert (Dutch, Bolsward ca. 1580–1633 Brussels). This engraving was made after a painting by Rubens. The original painting was executed by Rubens in 1615-17 for the Brussels City Hall; it burned in 1695.
The extraordinary critical and illustrative success of the work is certain, of which there are several replicas and copies, preserved in museums and private collections: Delft, Rouen Champéon and Courtrai, Liechtenstein in Vaduz and in the cathedral of Seville. The subject of the painting sees the great King Solomon, known as one of the wisest politicians who ever lived, challenged by two prostitutes, to determine which of them has the right: living in the same house and having both given birth at the same time, the two women acknowledge the motherhood of the living child, and mutually accuse each other of having given birth to the other, already dead. King Solomon's wisdom and sense of justice led him to order, so as not to harm either woman, that the living child be divided in two, so that each woman could have a half. This order provoked the reaction of one of the mothers, who refused the verdict, begging that the child be given alive and whole to the other, thus saving his life. Thanks to this reaction, Solomon understood which of the two was the real mother. The fittings and the crossed and molded wooden joinery testify to the authenticity of this room, linked to its neighbor.
Chambre du Roi
There are lots of stories about brothers, Louis XIV and Philippe, lifes dictated by their mother, mutual rivalry and jealousy, but also lots of fun together and a crazy time and bizarre situation they were born into. Our owner at the time: René de Beauregard was part of the Versailles entourage and considered it an honor to make a room for the king and capture the brothers for eternity.
At the top of the fireplace and above the door, facing each other, is the shield of the Beauregard family, indicating the sponsor of this piece. Paneling covers the walls above. On either side of the fireplace are 2 portraits on wood, are the two boys in the most beautiful room, which in history is also called the house, the King's bedroom, portraits of the young Louis XIV with his little brother Philippe? Philippe always had to wear girls' clothes and was consciously made queer from birth. The owner at the time worked for Mazarin and the king... In 1657, François de Beauregard (1596-1664) bequeathed the castle to his son René upon his marriage to Charlotte de Brossay René did not spend much time at the castle before his marriage: from 1635 he was captain of the Guards of the Count of Soissons and followed him in his campaigns, notably in Picardy. Then he is in the service of the Duke of Vendôme, in campaigns in Geneva, Florence, Rome. He obtained from Mazarin in 1653 the position of ordinary butler to the King. At the same time, Mazarin acquired the Duchy of Mayenne and ordered the creation by his delegate Jean-Baptiste Colbert of the “embellishments and amenities” of the town of Mayenne. Is it a funny idea that the two boys in the most beautiful room, which in history is also called the house, the King's bedroom, are portraits of the young Louis XIV with his little brother Philippe? “The stupidest woman who ever lived.” a bit of queer history in the king's bedroom!
This was the 17th-century memoirist Saint-Simon's wry assessment of Philippe I Duke of Orléans (1640 – 1701 CE), otherwise known simply as "Monsieur". Younger brother of Louis "effemination", and cross-dressing, have either treated him as "poor Philippe", suggesting that he is to be pitied, or have subjected him to abusive and homophobic language which goes beyond even that of his contemporary commentators. This is the result of prejudice and historical bad practice, but beyond that, Philippe is someone who cannot easily be confined to derivative stereotypes. Alongside his interest in women's clothing and cosmetics, he was also a notable warrior, celebrated for his victory over William of Orange at the Battle of Cassel (1677), and his homosexual romances were accompanied by two marriages, including the results were a multitude of descendants, earning him the epithet "grandfather of all Europe". The fact that Philippe was able to embody many changing and (to the modern eye) contradictory "identities" indicates that attitudes toward gender and sexuality in 17th-century France were undeniably more complex than previously assumed.
Part of the ceiling paintings have disappeared: these are decorations painted in compartments “in a technique close to fresco on an intonaco rich in lime applied to an earthy coating attached to a wooden lath In the center of the ceiling, what could be a “Triumph of Venus” is still in place. Above the fireplace, a meeting between a hunter and a shepherdess: a freshness as awkward as it is naive.
The fluted pilasters are topped by a very protruding entablature with a frieze of foliage painted on glued paper. The naive decor, marked by Love, would correspond well to the nuptial theme of the union between René de Beauregard and Jeanne Leclerc de l'Ourmaie. The decorative aspect is very reminiscent of the architectural woodwork boards of Jean Lepautre (1618-1682) distributed during the second third of the 17th century. Engraving plays a very important role in the diffusion of models, initially Parisian, to the rest of France: composition of the paneling, painted ornamentation, and iconographic themes are directly borrowed from engraved collections, sometimes almost half a century later. Our Fresne decor corresponds to the style of the period after 1660 with detailed and contrasting acanthus scrolls very present on the surfaces.
We have no certainty as to the attribution of these decorations to a painter, nor their precise dating, however strong presumptions exist about the carpenter. The date of 1676 corresponds to the creation by Nicolas Le Roux of the wooden altarpiece of the main altar of the Champéon church, classified as a movable object in 1910. The twisted columns and the decoration of flowers treated as garlands are similar to the decorated rooms of the Château du Fresne.
Le Salon de Rosalie
René-Gabriel Bouchard de la Poterie (1790-1826), battalion commander of the marine artillery, knight of the Legion of Honor bought the castle but he died quite young, he left the castle to his wife and 2 daughters minors, Gabrielle-Emilie-Sidonie and Emilie-Josephine-Olympe.
His wife Marie de Launay (died in 1870) did work there, certainly around the middle of the 19th century). Abbé Angot specifies: “in the modern part of Fresne, she creates magnificent apartments and carries out major restorations.
Les Salons
The main building – with its monumental status – consists of several well-sized salons, each with its own characteristics and allure. Two of the beautiful salons are adjacent to each other, with the third one is in the western corner of the chateau. The upper level offers various suites, again all with their special features and charisma.
Two of the salons are attributed with the highest monumental status and are a joy to see, with wooden ornaments and a variety of portraits, landscape painting or biblical representations. The third salon is of a later period and even so lavishly decorated, with a marble fireplace, parquet flooring in the style of Versailles and huge windows.
Le Grand Salon
The first, furthest to the east, is the antechamber: it is a vestibule with two opposite entrance doors, onto the courtyard and the garden. It has a floor made of hexagonal terracotta tiles. This anteroom opens onto a largely wooded state room. The anteroom was remodeled during the French Revolution: for the sake of comfort, the room was transformed into a living room, repainted and sealed with a plaster ceiling. The fireplace, the door top and the door frames have only been slightly modified: in particular the decoration of woodwork with falling flowers and the trumeau painted with a “Judgment of Solomon” on the fireplace. A famous painting of the Judgment of Solomon at the Château du Fresne After Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, Siegen 1577–1640 Antwerp) after Boetius Adams Bolswert (Dutch, Bolsward ca. 1580–1633 Brussels). This engraving was made after a painting by Rubens. The original painting was executed by Rubens in 1615-17 for the Brussels City Hall; it burned in 1695.
The extraordinary critical and illustrative success of the work is certain, of which there are several replicas and copies, preserved in museums and private collections: Delft, Rouen Champéon and Courtrai, Liechtenstein in Vaduz and in the cathedral of Seville. The subject of the painting sees the great King Solomon, known as one of the wisest politicians who ever lived, challenged by two prostitutes, to determine which of them has the right: living in the same house and having both given birth at the same time, the two women acknowledge the motherhood of the living child, and mutually accuse each other of having given birth to the other, already dead. King Solomon's wisdom and sense of justice led him to order, so as not to harm either woman, that the living child be divided in two, so that each woman could have a half. This order provoked the reaction of one of the mothers, who refused the verdict, begging that the child be given alive and whole to the other, thus saving his life. Thanks to this reaction, Solomon understood which of the two was the real mother. The fittings and the crossed and molded wooden joinery testify to the authenticity of this room, linked to its neighbor.
Chambre du Roi
There are lots of stories about brothers, Louis XIV and Philippe, lifes dictated by their mother, mutual rivalry and jealousy, but also lots of fun together and a crazy time and bizarre situation they were born into. Our owner at the time: René de Beauregard was part of the Versailles entourage and considered it an honor to make a room for the king and capture the brothers for eternity.
At the top of the fireplace and above the door, facing each other, is the shield of the Beauregard family, indicating the sponsor of this piece. Paneling covers the walls above. On either side of the fireplace are 2 portraits on wood, are the two boys in the most beautiful room, which in history is also called the house, the King's bedroom, portraits of the young Louis XIV with his little brother Philippe? Philippe always had to wear girls' clothes and was consciously made queer from birth. The owner at the time worked for Mazarin and the king... In 1657, François de Beauregard (1596-1664) bequeathed the castle to his son René upon his marriage to Charlotte de Brossay René did not spend much time at the castle before his marriage: from 1635 he was captain of the Guards of the Count of Soissons and followed him in his campaigns, notably in Picardy. Then he is in the service of the Duke of Vendôme, in campaigns in Geneva, Florence, Rome. He obtained from Mazarin in 1653 the position of ordinary butler to the King. At the same time, Mazarin acquired the Duchy of Mayenne and ordered the creation by his delegate Jean-Baptiste Colbert of the “embellishments and amenities” of the town of Mayenne. Is it a funny idea that the two boys in the most beautiful room, which in history is also called the house, the King's bedroom, are portraits of the young Louis XIV with his little brother Philippe? “The stupidest woman who ever lived.” a bit of queer history in the king's bedroom!
This was the 17th-century memoirist Saint-Simon's wry assessment of Philippe I Duke of Orléans (1640 – 1701 CE), otherwise known simply as "Monsieur". Younger brother of Louis "effemination", and cross-dressing, have either treated him as "poor Philippe", suggesting that he is to be pitied, or have subjected him to abusive and homophobic language which goes beyond even that of his contemporary commentators. This is the result of prejudice and historical bad practice, but beyond that, Philippe is someone who cannot easily be confined to derivative stereotypes. Alongside his interest in women's clothing and cosmetics, he was also a notable warrior, celebrated for his victory over William of Orange at the Battle of Cassel (1677), and his homosexual romances were accompanied by two marriages, including the results were a multitude of descendants, earning him the epithet "grandfather of all Europe". The fact that Philippe was able to embody many changing and (to the modern eye) contradictory "identities" indicates that attitudes toward gender and sexuality in 17th-century France were undeniably more complex than previously assumed.
Part of the ceiling paintings have disappeared: these are decorations painted in compartments “in a technique close to fresco on an intonaco rich in lime applied to an earthy coating attached to a wooden lath In the center of the ceiling, what could be a “Triumph of Venus” is still in place. Above the fireplace, a meeting between a hunter and a shepherdess: a freshness as awkward as it is naive.
The fluted pilasters are topped by a very protruding entablature with a frieze of foliage painted on glued paper. The naive decor, marked by Love, would correspond well to the nuptial theme of the union between René de Beauregard and Jeanne Leclerc de l'Ourmaie. The decorative aspect is very reminiscent of the architectural woodwork boards of Jean Lepautre (1618-1682) distributed during the second third of the 17th century. Engraving plays a very important role in the diffusion of models, initially Parisian, to the rest of France: composition of the paneling, painted ornamentation, and iconographic themes are directly borrowed from engraved collections, sometimes almost half a century later. Our Fresne decor corresponds to the style of the period after 1660 with detailed and contrasting acanthus scrolls very present on the surfaces.
We have no certainty as to the attribution of these decorations to a painter, nor their precise dating, however strong presumptions exist about the carpenter. The date of 1676 corresponds to the creation by Nicolas Le Roux of the wooden altarpiece of the main altar of the Champéon church, classified as a movable object in 1910. The twisted columns and the decoration of flowers treated as garlands are similar to the decorated rooms of the Château du Fresne.
Le Salon de Rosalie
René-Gabriel Bouchard de la Poterie (1790-1826), battalion commander of the marine artillery, knight of the Legion of Honor bought the castle but he died quite young, he left the castle to his wife and 2 daughters minors, Gabrielle-Emilie-Sidonie and Emilie-Josephine-Olympe.
His wife Marie de Launay (died in 1870) did work there, certainly around the middle of the 19th century). Abbé Angot specifies: “in the modern part of Fresne, she creates magnificent apartments and carries out major restorations.