Flers Castle (Flers)
The castle Flers ( French Château de Flers ) is a castle in the French commune of Flers in the Orne department . The Counts of Flers lived in the building for several generations, the oldest parts of which date from the 16th century. After the French Revolution , it was first in private hands before it was acquired by the town of Flers in 1901, which has housed a museum for art and regional history in the castle.
history
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The castle is located on the outskirts of Flers in a seven-hectare park, which is partially designated as a bird sanctuary. The building is surrounded by water on three sides. A moat borders the building to the north and east, and the castle pond to the west. In the place of today's castle, there was a castle that was built in the 12th century by the Aunou family. The Counts of Harcourt lived here in the 13th and 14th centuries . Nicolas de Grosparmy, Baron de Flers, had what is now the east wing of the palace built on the site of the old castle from 1527 to 1541. The two round corner towers on the side of the castle moat, which are provided with bell domes , are striking . By inheritance the castle came into the possession of the de Pellevé and de La Motte-Ango families. They had the north wing attached to the existing part of the castle facing west at a right angle and rebuilt the castle several times in the 17th and 18th centuries. Under Ange Hyacinthe de La Motte Ango, the north wing received its facade in the classicist style in 1764. François Paul de La Motte Ango supported the Chouans from Normandy, a group of Catholics loyal to the king , during the French Revolution . Its leader, Louis de Frotté, temporarily used Flers Castle as his headquarters. In 1800 the building was burned down by Republican troops. In 1820 Antoine Schnetz, the father of the painter Jean-Victor Schnetz , acquired the castle and from then on lived in the property with his family. Since 1901 the castle has been owned by the city of Flers, which housed the city museum founded in 1874. The castle has been listed as a monument historique since 1907 .
Musée du Château
The Musée de Château de Flers houses the municipal museum of art and regional history. The exhibition focuses on Norman cuisine and the weaving trade, which in Flers can look back on a long tradition. There are also some rooms with historical interiors and exhibits of handicrafts.
The municipal art collection focuses on 19th century French painting. The few older pieces include works by Italian artists such as a Virgin and Child by Cesare da Sesto , The Mathematician by Pietro Francesco Guala or a view of Venice by Giovanni Migliari . There is also a male portrait of Flemish Anthonis van Dyck and a port view of Dutch Arent Arentsz .
Jean-Victor Schnetz's museum has a larger block of works . The classicist painter can be seen in the collection with a portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte and a portrait of his father Antoine Schnetz, the former owner of the castle. In addition to other paintings, the museum also has an inventory of drawings by the artist. Another classicist artist is represented in the museum with the painting L'Enfant malade by François-Joseph Navez . There are also works by artists from the Barbizon School , such as Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot , Charles-François Daubigny , Gustave Courbet and Narcisso Virgilio Díaz de la Peña . Works by Eugène Boudin and Stanislas Lépine as well as the painting Le Boulevard Haussmann sous la neige by Gustave Caillebotte already belong to Impressionism .
Other images in the collection include Portrait du vicomte Amédée de Flers by Othon Friesz , Portrait de Femme by Jacques-Fernand Humbert , La Vieille Modiste by Charles Lucien Léandre , Jeune Florentine by Charles-Zacharie Landelle , Comte Hector de La Ferrière-Percy by Edmond Legrain and Vieux Musicien by George Decote . The Museum Vaches et Vacher by Aymar-Alexandre Pezant , La Picotée by Alexandre Le Carpentier , Chevaux de halage by Eugène Lepoittevin , Nature morte au Lièvre by René-Louis Chrétien as well as the two works Estuaire à marée basse and Place du vieux port de Marseille from Paul Place-Canton . The collection is complemented by the pictures La Collation des Muses by Charles Landelle , Femme nue debout by Arsène-Frédéric Lebrun and Paysage d'hiver by Georges Le Febvre .
The bronze work Chasse au lapin by Pierre-Jules Mêne and the marble sculpture Buste de J.-Victor Schnetz by Jean-Joseph Perraud are among the few sculptures in the museum . In addition, ceramics come from Jean Cocteau and graphics in Flers-born de Prix Rome -Preisträgers Jean Chaudeurge .
literature
- Musée du Château de Flers (Ed.): Catalog général des peintures du Musée du Château de Flers . Musée du Château, Flers 1997.
Web links
- Information about the museum (French)
- Description of the museum at www.musees-basse-normandie.fr (French)
- Description of the collection at www.flers-agglomeration.fr (French) ( Memento of July 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Monuments historiques Ancien château in the Base Mérimée (French), accessed on March 15, 2013
Coordinates: 48 ° 45 ′ 3.3 " N , 0 ° 34 ′ 32.4" W.