A study by Henri de Favanne for the château de Chanteloup

Henri de Favanne (1668-1752)
The Battle of Almança or The Battle of Villaviciosa
Oil on canvas - 71 x 102 cm
Tours, Musée des Beaux-Arts
Photo : Sotheby’s Paris

June 23, 2007 — Acquisitions — Tours, Musée des Beaux-Arts — On Tuesday, June 19th, the museum in Tours preempted a sale at Sotheby’s in Paris of a painting by Henri de Favanne for 28,800 € (including charges). It is a preliminary study for a section in the gallery of the château de Chanteloup (ill.).

The museum is now holding an exhibit devoted to the property, which has since disappeared with only its famous pagoda still standing. Unfortunately, we were unable to attend but have consulted the excellent accompanying catalog, which provides a wealth of details on the painted décor, for the information in this News article.

In 1714, Henri de Favanne, having returned from a ten-year stay in Spain in the service of Madame des Ursins, was brought in by Jean Bouterie d’Aubigny to decorate his castle which had just been built. The artist painted the gallery, a salon and the chapel, as well as several canvases [1]. Favanne first set to work in the gallery where he executed ten compositions representing “the most remarkable events in the reign of his Catholic majesty Philip the Vth”. Through his master, René-Antoine Houasse, Favanne was indirectly influenced by Le Brun. The décor, together with its style, its program and its layout reflected that of the Galerie des Glaces in Versailles.

Two studies for the gallery in Chanteloup are owned by French museums: The Triumph of Justice by the Louvre and The Kingdoms of Valencia and Aragon Surrender to Philippe the Vth by the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lille [2]. Although Tours already has two paintings by Favanne which use to hang in the castle, until now the only study in its collections was one for the Salon de Phaeton, acquired in 1983.

For reading, the catalog to the exhibit in Tours: Under the guidance of Véronique Moreau, Chanteloup. Un moment de grâce autour du duc de Choiseul”, Somogy Editions d’art, 376p.
40 €, ISBN : 978-2-7572-0059-9.

The exhibit runned from April 7th until July 8th, 2007 at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours.