Château d'Ancy-le-Franc is a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

-style château of the 16th century located in the town of Ancy-le-Franc in the department of

Yonne Yonne (, in Burgundian: ''Ghienne'') is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the river Yonne, which flows through it, in the country's north-central part. One of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté's eight con ...

, in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

History

The site was originally occupied by a 12th-century fort, which survived until the end of the sixteenth century. Construction of the existing château began in 1544, at the request of Antoine III de Clermont, brother-in-law of

Diane de Poitiers Diane de Poitiers (9 January 1500 – 25 April 1566) was a French noblewoman and courtier who wielded much power and influence as King Henry II of France, Henry II's Maîtresse-en-titre, royal mistress and adviser until his death. Her position inc ...

and son of Anne de Husson, countess of Tonnerre. The design of the building is traditionally attributed to the Italian architect

Sebastiano Serlio Sebastiano Serlio (6 September 1475 – c. 1554) was an Italian Mannerist architect, who was part of the Italian team building the Palace of Fontainebleau. Serlio helped canonize the classical orders of architecture in his influential treatise ...

, who had been invited to France by King Francis I. Following Serlio's death in 1554 at

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau ( , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the Kilometre zero#France, centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a Subprefectures in Franc ...

, architect

Pierre Lescot Pierre Lescot ( – 10 September 1578) was a French architect of the French Renaissance period. He is known for designing the Fontaine des Innocents and the Lescot wing of the Louvre in Paris. Lescot contributed to the incorporation of classical ...

, took over the work, respecting the original plans of Serlio. The interior design is the work of

Francesco Primaticcio Francesco Primaticcio (; April 30, 1504 – 1570) was an Italian Mannerism, Mannerist Painting, painter, architect and sculpture, sculptor who spent most of his career in France. Biography Born in Bologna, he trained under Giulio Romano ( ...

, who was working at

Château de Fontainebleau Palace of Fontainebleau ( , ; ), located southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. It served as a hunting lodge and summer residence for many of the French monarchs, includ ...

at the time. Antoine de Clermont died in 1578 and his grandson Charles-Henri de Clermont, completed the interior. Fully completed, the château was now able to host prestigious guests such as Henry III (brief visit), Henri IV in 1591,

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown. ...

in 1631 and

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

in 1674. In 1683, the Clermont-Tonnerre family was forced to sell the land of Ancy-le-Franc and the château to François-Michel Le Tellier, minister of

. The following year, Louvois acquired the entire County of Tonnerre, (including the Château de Maulnes). Following this, he employed well-known landscape architect

André Le Nôtre André Le Nôtre (; 12 March 1613 – 15 September 1700), originally rendered as André Le Nostre, was a French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France. He was the landscape architect who designed Gardens ...

for creating pathways and gardens within the grounds. After the French Revolution, the family managed to regain possession of the château. He restored the grounds as well as the interior of the château to its former glory. In 1844, Ancy-le-Franc was sold to Louis Aimé Gaspard de Clermont-Tonnerre, a descendant of Antoine III of Clermont. It then passed between various hands, including those of the princes of Merode. The château is currently owned by a private company,

Société Paris Investir SAS Groupe Lactalis S.A. (doing business as Lactalis) is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier S.A. Lactalis is the largest dairy pr ...

, which undertook its restoration, and recognition as a national historical monument.

Description

The architecture of the château is the result of a mixture of French and Italian styles, a consequence of compromise between the French owner and Italian architect. The château is built on a rectangular central plan. Four houses form a square and are each flanked by projecting

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

walls. This plan is based on plans called "pi" widely used in France at that time. Serlio separated the two levels by a wide ledge upon which the second level bays. Tuscan columns were used on the main level and

Doric columns The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...

were used on the second level. On both levels, the bays were framed by

pilasters In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

. While there are currently windows within each bay, this was not originally the case. Serlio wanted to create a rhythm alternating between open windows and empty bays. Additional windows filled all the empty bays in the 17th century. For the facade of the interior, Serlio used

Corinthian columns The Corinthian order (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order, which was the earliest, ...

on the first level and Composite columns on the second level. Again, he created a rhythm alternating between open windows and niches framed by pilasters. These niches are adorned with an inner shell. Serlio created a triple

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...

on the ground floor, reminiscent of the

Villa Madama Villa Madama is a Renaissance Architecture, Renaissance-style rural palace (villa) located on Via di Villa Madama #250 in Rome, Italy. Located west of the city center and a few miles north of the Vatican, and just south of the Foro Olimpico Stadium ...

. Serlio was able to comply with the weight requirements of the building and its steeply pitched roof in a manner similar to the Château de Villandry, using

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

from Burgundy. Inside the château, there are

murals A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanish ...

from drawings of Primaticcio or

Niccolò dell'Abbate Niccolò dell'Abbate, sometimes Nicolò and Abate (1509 or 15121571) was a Mannerist Italian painter in fresco and oils. He was of the Emilia (region of Italy), Emilian school, and was part of the team of artists called the School of Fontaineble ...

, as well as coffered ceilings, fine wood carvings, and various colorful ornaments.

History

Description

References

See also