The Menus-Plaisirs du Roi () was, in the organisation of the
French royal household under the
Ancien Régime
''Ancien'' may refer to
* the French word for "ancient, old"
** Société des anciens textes français
* the French for "former, senior"
** Virelai ancien
** Ancien Régime
** Ancien Régime in France
''Ancien'' may refer to
* the French word for ...
, the department of the
Maison du Roi
The Maison du Roi (, "King's Household") was the royal household of the King of France. It comprised the military, domestic, and religious entourage of the French royal family during the Ancien Régime and Bourbon Restoration.
Organisation ...
responsible for the "lesser pleasures of the King", which meant in practice that it was in charge of all the preparations for ceremonies, events and festivities, down to the last detail of design and order.
The controller of the Menus-Plaisirs
At the king's ''
lever
A lever is a simple machine consisting of a beam or rigid rod pivoted at a fixed hinge, or '' fulcrum''. A lever is a rigid body capable of rotating on a point on itself. On the basis of the locations of fulcrum, load and effort, the lever is d ...
'', the ''premier gentilhomme de la chambre'' (First
Gentleman of the Bedchamber), controller of the Menus-Plaisirs, was invariably in attendance, to hear directly from the king what plans were to be set in motion; by long-standing convention, he was a duke; though he was not a professional, it was up to him to determine the appropriate designs. The duke in charge of the Menus et Plaisirs du Roy was an important court official, quite separate from the Surintendant des
Bâtiments du Roi
The Bâtiments du Roi (, "King's Buildings") was a division of the Maison du Roi ("King's Household") in France under the Ancien Régime. It was responsible for building works at the King's residences in and around Paris.
History
The Bâtiments ...
, who was an architect or aristocrat in charge of all building operations undertaken by the Crown. The dukes in charge might leave the design process entirely to the professional ''intendant'' in charge, whose right-hand man was the ''dessinateur du cabinet et de la chambre du Roy''; so did two dukes with military careers,
Louis-François-Armand du Plessis, duc de Richelieu (1696-1788), appointed ''premier gentilhomme'' in 1744 and
Emmanuel-Félicité, duc de Durfort-Duras (1715–89), made ''premier gentilhomme'' (and ''
pair de France
The Peerage of France (french: Pairie de France) was a hereditary distinction within the French nobility which appeared in 1180 in the Middle Ages.
The prestigious title and position of Peer of France (french: Pair de France, links=no) was ...
'') in 1757. But
Louis-Marie-Augustin, duc d'Aumont (1709–82), appointed ''premier gentilhomme de la chambre'' in 1723, a position he held until the king's death in 1774, was a noted connoisseur of objets d'art and the arts of life, though not, apparently, of paintings. The duc d'Aumont appointed the renowned gilt-bronze maker
Pierre Gouthière Pierre Gouthière (1732–1813) was a French metal worker. He was born at Bar-sur-Aube and went to Paris at an early age as the pupil of Martin Cour.
During his brilliant career he executed a vast quantity of metal work of the utmost variety, ...
''doreur ordinaire'' of the Menus-Plaisirs in 1767 and appointed the architect Bellanger to the Menus-Plaisirs in the same year. For most of the reign of Louis XVI, the ''intendant'' of the Menus-Plaisirs du Roi was
Papillon de la Ferté, whose journal (published in 1887) throws a great deal of light on the organization of court ceremony.
Design
Many designers were required at the Menus-Plaisirs. From the sixteenth century on, a main responsibility of court architects in Europe was the occasional design of lavish ephemeral settings for processional entries, for
masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A masq ...
s and
ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
s, for the structures that supported fireworks and illuminations on nights of grand fêtes for dynastic marriages and births, or to design the
catafalque
A catafalque is a raised bier, box, or similar platform, often movable, that is used to support the casket, coffin, or body of a dead person during a Christian funeral or memorial service. Following a Roman Catholic Requiem Mass, a catafalque ...
for a state funeral. Architects like
Leonardo,
Giulio Romano
Giulio Romano (, ; – 1 November 1546), is the acquired name of Giulio Pippi, who was an Italian painter and architect. He was a pupil of Raphael, and his stylistic deviations from High Renaissance classicism help define the sixteenth-cent ...
and
Inigo Jones were engaged in projects that were of great moment in expressing the prestige of the court, but which have left little behind, except designs and some commemorative engravings, produced under the supervision of the Cabinet du Roi. The architect
Charles-Nicolas Cochin worked for several years for the Menus-Plaisirs du Roi, 1735–51, making detailed renderings for the engravers of architectural designs by the
Slodtz brothers. and
François-Joseph Bélanger
François-Joseph Bélanger (; 12 April 1744 – 1 May 1818) was a French architect and decorator working in the Neoclassic style.
Life
Born in Paris, Bélanger attended the Académie Royale d'Architecture (1764–1766) where he studied u ...
began his career in 1767 working at the Menus-Plaisirs, both designing ephemeral decorations for court entertainments.
In the later reign of
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Ver ...
, the architect in charge of the Bâtiments was
Jules Hardouin-Mansart, but the wholly independent artistic force at the menus-plaisirs until his death in 1711 was
Jean Bérain, whose brevet in 1674 covered his responsibilities "for all sorts of designs, perspectives, figures and costumes that it would be required to make for plays, ballets, chases at the ring,
carousels..." The purview of the Menus-Plaisirs did not normally extend to furniture, but among its expenses in 1692 were "the furniture and the silversmiths' work for the apartments of the King"
Personnel
Within the Menus-Plaisirs, a hierarchical structure prevailed, with an ''Intendant'' supervising the whole and a ''Dessinateur de la Chambre et du Cabinet du Roi'' in charge of the orderly production of designs. The ''Cabinet du Roi''—in the seventeenth-century sense of ''cabinet'' as collection of works of art and curiosities—was organized by
Colbert, who gave formal structure to all the official arts under Louis XIV. The ''Cabinet du Roi'' provided the commemorative engravings, which are often our only record, and sold them. The functions of design and commemoration overlapped, needless to say. The position was extremely influential: both
Jean Bérain and
his son, and later
Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier, the genius of the extreme
rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
, followed by the
Slodtz brothers, one after another, 1750-64. The appointment of the neo-classical architect-designer
Michel-Ange Challe
Charles-Michel-Ange Challe (born in Paris on 13 February 1718; died 8 January 1778) was a painter, draftsman and French architect.
Having studied with Boucher and Le Moyne, he was one of the most appreciated painters of his time and enjoyed a ...
in 1764 marked a turning point: through his designs for the Menus-Plaisirs,
neoclassicism was introduced at the French court.
Expenses
In addition to these extraordinary expenses, which interest the historian of taste, the journal of the last ''Intendant'' of the Menus-Plaisirs,
Denis-Pierre-Jean Papillon de la Ferté (1727-1794) describes as well the ordinary expenses, for the Menus-Plaisirs dispensed the salaries of the ''Premiers Gentilshommes de la Chambre'', the ''Grand Maître de la Garde-Robe'', the king's doctor, the ''médecin de la Chambre'', the personnel of the Menus-Plaisirs and the king's musicians. Ordinary expenses entailed the constant renewal of the King's wardrobe and that of the Dauphin, religious ceremonies of all kinds, the king's carriages, small royal gifts like snuffboxes, tents and pavilions for outdoor events.
Limits
The Menus-Plaisirs were not in charge of the essential furniture of the royal palaces, which were the province of the
Garde-Meuble de la Couronne. An exception is instructive: the design of the jewel cabinet made as a wedding present for the wedding of the Dauphin Louis to
Marie-Antoinette
Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child ...
was considered part of the design of the festivities as a whole; thus in the Menus-Plaisirs, the design was entrusted by the duc d'Aumont to
Belanger in 1769, well in advance of the wedding. It was delivered on 1 May 1770.
Music division on the rue Bergère
The music required for these entertainments was also a concern of the Menus-Plaisirs du Roi. Beginning in 1762 the music section was established on a large site extending north from the rue Bergère and west of the rue du Faubourg Poissonnière. The facilities included what had previously been the theatre of the
Opéra-Comique at the
Saint-Laurent Fair. The site was soon expanded until it reached the rue Richer on the north.
In 1784
Papillon de la Ferté organized the École Royale de Musique, which was housed in buildings on this site on the rue Bergère, and in 1793 the Institut National de Musique, responsible for training instrumentalists of the
National Guard
National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards.
Nat ...
bands, was also located here. The two institutions were merged into the
Conservatoire de Musique in August 1795. A new
Conservatory Concert Hall was added in 1811. Under the
French Second Empire
The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the Second and the Third Republic of France.
Historians in the 1930s a ...
a different theatre with the name
Théâtre des Menus-Plaisirs was constructed at 14 Boulevard de Strasbourg in Paris.
Hôtel des Menus-Plaisirs du Roi in Versailles
Under Louis XV a structure was erected in the town of
Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...
to house the multiple activities of the Menus-Plaisirs. It still stands, at 22, avenue de Paris, now rendered famous as the site of the
Estates-General of 1789
The Estates General of 1789 was a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the clergy (First Estate), the nobility (Second Estate), and the commoners (Third Estate). It was the last of the Estates General of the Kingdom o ...
, at which the opening moves of the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
were played out. A provisionally fitted-out space was arranged in the building to seat the Assembly of Notables in 1787, and again in 1788. Then, to accommodate the press of representatives of the three estates, in the Estates-General, a grander but still temporary Salle des États designed by
Pierre-Adrien Pâris
Pierre-Adrien Pâris (1745 - 1 August 1819) was a French architect, painter and designer.
Biography
Pâris was born at Besançon, the son of an architect and official surveyor at the court of the Prince-Bishop of Basel. He went to Paris to stu ...
was set up in one of the two courtyards of the Hôtel des Menus-Plaisirs. The old Hôtel des Menus-Plaisirs is now the home of the
Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles The Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles (CMBV - ''Centre of Baroque Music Versailles'') is a centre for the study and performance of French Baroque music, based at the Menus-Plaisirs du Roi. It was founded by Philippe Beaussant and Vincent Ber ...
.
Menus-Plaisirs at the court of Russia
In Moscow, near the Kremlin's walls, between the Komendantskaïa Tower and the Troïtskaïa Tower, stands the Palais des Menus Plaisirs (Потёшный Дворец or Потёшный Двор), built in 1652 for the father-in-law of
Tsar Alexis
Aleksey Mikhaylovich ( rus, Алексе́й Миха́йлович, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ; – ) was the Tsar of Russia from 1645 until his death in 1676. While finding success in foreign affairs, his reign saw several wars ...
, the boyar
Ilya Miloslavsky
Ilya Danilovich Miloslavsky (russian: Илья Данилович Милославский) (1594–1668) was a Russian boyar and diplomat.
Biography
Ilya Miloslavsky was brought forward by the head of the Posolsky Prikaz Ivan Gramotin, who had ...
, who lived in it for sixteen years. After his death, the structure was enlarged and converted into a site for spectacles and concerts, taking its new name, and served to house members of the imperial family: here the future
Peter the Great received his elementary education.
[ (French Wikipedia)"Palais des Menus Plaisirs"]
Notes
References
* Eriksen, Svend (1974). ''Early Neo-Classicism in France''. London: Faber & Faber.
* Gourret, Jean (1985). ''Histoire des salles de l'Opéra de Paris'', p. 83. Paris: Guy Trédaniel. .
* Gruber, Alain-Charles (1972). ''Les Grandes Fêtes et leurs Décors à l'Époque de Louis XVI''. Geneva: Droz.
* Souchal, Françoise (1967). ''Les Slodtz''. Paris: É. de Boccard. . The Menus-Plaisirs during the tenure of the successive brothers Slodtz as ''Dessinateurs''.
* Wild, Nicole (1989). ''Dictionnaire des théâtres parisiens au XIXe siècle: les théâtres et la musique''. Paris: Aux Amateurs de livres. . {{ISBN, 978-2-905053-80-0 (paperback)
View formats and editionsat
WorldCat
WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...
.
External links
Robin Emlein "The Politics of Pleasure: Partying in the Gardens of Versailles"
State ritual and ceremonies
Court titles in the Ancien Régime
Arts and culture in the Ancien Régime
European court festivities
French royal court