The Musée Bossuet is the art and history museum of the town of

Meaux Meaux () is a commune on the river Marne in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is east-northeast of the centre of Paris. Meaux is, with Provins, Torcy and Fontainebleau, ...

, France. Situated in the old episcopal palace, it takes its name from the famous orator and theologian,

Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet Jacques-Bénigne Lignel Bossuet (; 27 September 1627 – 12 April 1704) was a French bishop and theologian, renowned for his sermons and other addresses. He has been considered by many to be one of the most brilliant orators of all time and a m ...

Bishop of Meaux The Roman Catholic Diocese of Meaux (Latin: ''Dioecesis Meldensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Meaux'') is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the entire department of Seine-et-Marne. It was suff ...

from 1681 to 1704.

Buildings

The episcopal palace

Built in the twelfth century around 1160, then rebuilt in the seventeenth century, the episcopal palace architecturally is a mix of medieval and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

styles. The most interesting example of eighteenth century work is the south facade of the palace, built of brick and stone, with large cross windows. The north facade is also representative of the ''Grand Siècle'' style. The lower rooms of the palace are the oldest, dating from the second half of the twelfth century. The low and high chapels also date from this time, but were expanded and redesigned in the fifteenth century.

Garden

The ''Bossuet garden'' is beside the episcopal palace. It is a formal garden in the French style with the shape of a miter. The garden was created in the seventeenth century during the episcopate of Dominique Séguier. It took the name of the great prelate in 1911, when it was opened to the public as a city park. On crossing it one reaches the study of Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet.

Collections

Henri Mauperché - Paysage avec le temple de la Sybille

The episcopal palace houses collections of paintings and sculptures, as well as items of local history. The collections have expanded thanks to the legacy of the chemist and collector

Henri Moissan Ferdinand Frédéric Henri Moissan (28 September 1852 – 20 February 1907) was a French chemist and pharmacist who won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in isolating fluorine from its compounds. Moissan was one of the original mem ...

in 1914 and, more recently, thanks to the donation of the neuro-biologist

Jean-Pierre Changeux Jean-Pierre Changeux (; born 6 April 1936) is a French neuroscientist known for his research in several fields of biology, from the structure and function of proteins (with a focus on the allosteric proteins), to the early development of the ner ...

. He enriched the museum with forty works, the last of which entered the collection in 2006. Different schools of painting are shown from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. * The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are very well represented with canvasses of religious subjects by

Frans Floris Frans Floris, Frans Floris the Elder or Frans Floris de Vriendt (17 April 15191 October 1570) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman, print artist and tapestry designer. He is mainly known for his history paintings, allegorical scenes and portraits.< ...

and Bon Boullogne as well as works of

Gianfrancesco Penni Gianfrancesco Penni (1488/1496–1528), also known as Giovan Francesco, was an Italian painter. His brother Bartolommeo was an artist of the Tudor court of Henry VIII, and another brother, Luca, ended up as one of the Italian artists of the Sch ...

Giuseppe Cesari Giuseppe Cesari (14 February 1568 – 3 July 1640) was an Italian Mannerist painter, also named Il Giuseppino and called ''Cavaliere d'Arpino'', because he was created ''Cavaliere di Cristo'' by his patron Pope Clement VIII. He was much patronize ...

Domenichino Domenico Zampieri (, ; October 21, 1581 – April 6, 1641), known by the diminutive Domenichino (, ) after his shortness, was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese School of painters. Life Domenichino was born in Bologna, son of a shoem ...

Claude Deruet Claude Deruet (1588–1660) was a famous French Baroque painter of the 17th century, from the city of Nancy. Biography Deruet was an apprentice to Jacques Bellange, the official court painter to Charles III, Duke of Lorraine. He was in Rome b ...

Claude Vignon Claude Vignon (19 May 1593 – 10 May 1670) was a French painter, printmaker and illustrator who worked in a wide range of genres.Paola Pacht Bassani. "Vignon, Claude." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 2 November ...

Jean Tassel Jean Tassel (20 March 1608, in Langres – 6 April 1667, in Langres) was a French painter who specialized in mythological and genre scenes. He also did some portraits. Biography He was born to a family of painters. In addition to his father R ...

Jacques Blanchard Jacques Blanchard (1600–1638), also known as Jacques Blanchart, was a French baroque painter who was born in Paris. He was raised and taught by his uncle, the painter (ca. 1560–1630). Jacques’s brother and son, Jean-Baptiste Blanchar ...

, the

Le Nain brothers The three Le Nain brothers were painters in 17th-century France: Antoine Le Nain (c.1600–1648), Louis Le Nain (c.1603–1648), and Mathieu Le Nain (1607–1677). They produced genre works, portraits and portrait miniatures. Lives and work The ...

(''L'Adoration des Mages''), Henri Mauperché,

Sébastien Bourdon Sébastien Bourdon (2 February 1616 – 8 May 1671) was a French painter and engraver. His ''chef d'œuvre'' is ''The Crucifixion of St. Peter'' made for the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, Notre Dame. Biography Bourdon was born i ...

(''Saint Martin ressuscitant un jeune homme'' and ''Laban cherchant ses idoles''),

Noël Coypel Noël Coypel (; 25 December 1628 – 24 December 1707) was a French painter, and was also called Coypel le Poussin, because he was heavily influenced by Poussin. Coypel was born in Paris, the son of an unsuccessful artist. Having been employed ...

and

Jacques Courtois Jacques Courtois or Giacomo Cortese, called il Borgognone or le Bourguignon (12 ?December 162114 November 1676) was a Franche-Comtois–Italian painter, draughtsman, and etcher. He was mainly active in Rome and Florence and became known as the ...

(two battle scenes),

Charles de La Fosse Charles de La Fosse (or Lafosse; 15 June 1636 – 13 December 1716) was a French painter born in Paris. Life He was one of the most noted and least servile pupils of Le Brun, under whose direction he shared in the chief of the great decorativ ...

and

Hyacinthe Rigaud Jacint Rigau-Ros i Serra (; 18 July 1659 – 29 December 1743), known in French as Hyacinthe Rigaud (), was a Catalan-French baroque painter most famous for his portraits of Louis XIV and other members of the French nobility. Biography Rigaud ...

. * From the eighteenth century there as mythological scenes by

François-Alexandre Verdier François-Alexandre Verdier (c. 1651 - 1730) was French painter, draftsman and engraver. He was a student and assistant of Charles Le Brun. Biography François-Alexandre Verdier was born in Paris around 1651. He studied under Charles Le Bru ...

François de Troy François de Troy ( 28 February 1645 – 1 May 1730) was a French painter and engraver who became principal painter to King James II in exile at Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Director of the Académie Royale de peinture et de sculpture. Early l ...

Antoine Rivalz Self-portrait in 1721 Antoine Rivalz (1667 – 11 December 1735) was a French painter. Born in Toulouse, the son of Jean-Pierre Rivalz (who painted and designed the city's hôtel de ville), Antoine became the town's official painter, and was a ...

Charles-Antoine Coypel Charles-Antoine Coypel (11 July 1694 – 14 June 1752) was a French painter, art commentator, and playwright. He became court painter to the French king and director of the Académie Royale. He inherited the title of ''Garde des tableaux et de ...

François Lemoyne François Lemoyne or François Le Moine (; 1688 – 4 June 1737) was a French rococo painter. He was a winner of the Prix de Rome, professor of the Académie de peinture et de sculpture, and ''Premier peintre du Roi'' to Louis XV. He was tutor ...

Jean II Restout Jean II Restout (26 March 1692 – 1 January 1768) was a French painter, whose late baroque classicism rendered his altarpieces, such as the ''Death of Saint Scholastica'' an "isolated achievement" that ran counter to his rococo contemporaries.M ...

Charles-André van Loo Carle or Charles-André van Loo (; 15 February 1705 – 15 July 1765) was a French painter, son of the painter Louis-Abraham van Loo, a younger brother of Jean-Baptiste van Loo and grandson of Jacob van Loo. He was the most famous member of a su ...

Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre (6 March 1714 – 15 May 1789) was a French painter, draughtsman and administrator. Life He was a student of Charles-Joseph Natoire at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture and painted a self-portrait in ...

Philip James de Loutherbourg Philip James de Loutherbourg RA (31 October 174011 March 1812), whose name is sometimes given in the French form of Philippe-Jacques, the German form of Philipp Jakob, or with the English-language epithet of the Younger, was a French-born Brit ...

Jacques Gamelin Jacques Gamelin (October 3, 1738 – October 12, 1803) was an artist born in Carcassonne, France, the son of a successful merchant. After receiving an education from the Jesuits, he went into the service of Nicolas Joseph de Marcassus, baron ...

and

Jean-Baptiste Regnault Jean-Baptiste Regnault (9 October 1754 – 12 November 1829) was a French painter. Biography Regnault was born in Paris, and began life at sea in a merchant vessel. At the age of fifteen his talent attracted attention, and he was sent to I ...

. * The nineteenth century is represented by landscapes from the

Barbizon school The Barbizon school of painters were part of an art movement towards Realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870. It takes its name f ...

and a fine collection of paintings of the orientalists. * Sculptures include some by anonymous medieval artists and works by artists such as

Edmé Bouchardon Edmé Bouchardon (; 29 May 169827 July 1762) was a French sculptor best known for his neoclassical statues in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles, his medals, his equestrian statue of Louis XV of France for the Place de la Concorde (destroy ...

and

Louis-Ernest Barrias Louis-Ernest Barrias (13 April 1841 – 4 February 1905) was a French sculptor of the Beaux-Arts school. In 1865 Barrias won the Prix de Rome for study at the French Academy in Rome. Barrias was involved in the decoration of the Paris Opéra ...

from the nineteenth century.

Rooms

Access ramp: Bishops of Meaux

There are many pictures of the successive Bishops of Meaux along the access ramp.

Rooms 1 and 2: Mannerism

* In Europe:

, Jean Senelle

Rooms 3 and 4: Classical period

* Preclassicism * Le Grand Siècle

Rooms 5 and 6: Eighteenth century

* Mythology * Neo-Classicism

Room 7: Bossuet

The memory of Bishop Bossuet of Meaux (1682-1704) is evoked by his portraits by

and after

Pierre Mignard Pierre Mignard or Pierre Mignard I (17 November 1612 – 30 May 1695), called "Mignard le Romain" to distinguish him from his brother Nicolas Mignard, was a French painter known for his religious and mythological scenes and portraits. He was a ...

gathered in his old study.

Rooms 8 and 9 : The nineteenth century

* Orientalism and realism * Romanticism

Room 10: The Apothecary

Gallery

File:Cardinal Henri-Pons de Thiard de Bissy-musée Bossuet.jpg, Portrait of Cardinal

Henri-Pons de Thiard de Bissy Henri-Pons de Thiard de Bissy (25 May 1657 – 26 July 1737) was a French priest who was Bishop of Toul from 1687 to 1704, Bishop of Meaux from 1704 to 1737, and Cardinal from 1715 to 1737. Biography Henri Pons Thiard Bissy was born on 25 May 1 ...

(1657-1737). Anonymous File:Jean Tardieu - la conversion de Jean de Joyeuse.jpg, ''The Conversion of

Henri, Duke of Joyeuse Henri, Duc de Joyeuse (Toulouse, 21 September 1563 – Rivoli, 28 September 1608) was a General in the French Wars of Religion and a member of the Catholic League, who became ordained as a Capuchin after the death of his wife, Catherine de La Va ...

''. Jean Tardieu, around 1819 File:Rivalz - La Mort de Paetus.jpg, "La mort de Paetus", oil on canvas, by

References

Citations Sources
Page on the town of Meaux web site

External links

Official web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bossuet Art museums and galleries in Île-de-France Museums in Seine-et-Marne