THE ÉPERNON TOMB AND CHAPEL
The Duke and Duchess of Épernon
Collégiale Saint-Blaise
Parish of Saint-Martin de Cadillac
Cadillac, France
Jean-Louis de Nogaret de la Valette, 1st duc d'Épernon, and his duchess, Marguerite de Foix-Candale, are buried in a private tomb in their local church, called the Collégiale Saint-Blaise in Cadillac, France. From pictures I've seen, the church seems to be just across the street from the duke's château.
For many years, the duke was building on his château. At the same time he was also planning a grand mausoleum for himself and his wife in the nearby church of Saint Blaise. The contract was dated 3 September 1597.
Architect sketches of the tomb.
Contemporary sketches on the chapel walls indicate what it must have looked like before the French Revolution.
During the Revolution, the tomb was violated. The funeral monument was largely destroyed, but the celebrated bronze statue of Renommée - a winged trumpeter - somehow survived. The original is now in the Louvre, in Paris.
"Fame", by Pierre Biard, Paris, 1559-1609
The information below comes straight off the Louvre website regarding this piece. Most definitely, the next time I'm in the Louvre I will make sure to see it.
Fame
This figure, depicting Fame blowing a trumpet, was commissioned for the funerary monument of Jean-Louis de la Vallette, duke of Épernon and governor of Gascony, and Marguerite de Foix-Candale in the church of Saint-Blaise de Cadillac in the Gironde. It was installed on top of the canopied funeral monument, which was inspired by the great royal tombs at Saint-Denis and the monument to Anne de Montmorency (Marguerite's grandfather). The figure's wings were remade in bronze by the sculptor Chinard in 1805.
A spirit crowning a mausoleum
In 1597, the duke of Épernon (1554-1642), who was also governor of Gascony, began transforming his château at Cadillac in the Gironde into a sumptuous residence. He commissioned Pierre Biard to sculpt a funerary monument in the church of Saint-Blaise de Cadillac. The mausoleum's layout, known from a drawing by the Dutch traveler Van der Hem (Bibliothèque nationale de France), was along the same lines as the royal tombs at Saint-Denis (Louis XII, Francis I, and Henry II). On top - flanked by the praying figures of the deceased, the duke and his wife Marguerite de Foix-Candale - stood the bronze statue of Fame blowing the trumpet of good repute and holding the trumpet of ill repute. The same iconography is to be found on several great tombs in London's Westminster Abbey. As was the custom in Renaissance France, the tomb was a rich polychromy of materials: white marble statues, red marble columns, capitals, and the statue of Fame in bronze. It was demolished in 1792.
Several marble fragments are today in the Musée d'Aquitaine, Bordeaux. Fame, considered an artistic masterpiece, was spared and installed in the library at Cadillac in 1794. It was transferred to Bordeaux in 1804 and restored around 1805 by Joseph Chinard, a prominent sculptor under the Empire, who remade the broken wings - initially in wood - in bronze. He modified the position of the left wing, pointing it upwards, whereas it originally pointed horizontally to the rear. The original trumpets and plinth are missing. The statue entered the Louvre in 1834, with its provenance erroneously recorded as "Château Trompette".
An exemplary cast
The slightly larger than life-size figure is in dark brown patinated bronze. The surface is smooth, with no trace of repair. The cast was made using the lost-wax process in one pouring, a technical feat for a statue of this size, whose limbs were cast separately.
French Mannerism
The sinuous pose and precarious balance on one leg are reminiscent of the statue of Mercury attributed in the 19th century to Giovanni da Bologna, a sculptor of Flemish origin active in Florence in the second half of the 16th century who greatly influenced European sculptors. Pierre Biard, who traveled to Rome between 1577 and 1580, may have seen a cast of Mercury then in the city. He introduced intense power and dynamism into the female nude. One discovers the fluidity of the figure's forms from different angles around the statue. Biard had distanced himself from the Italian model with a certain naturalism. He gives his Fame ample curves and cheeks deformed by the effort of blowing, a trueness to life characteristic of the form mannerism took in France, known as the second school of Fontainebleau.
Location at the Musée du Louvre:
Sarrazin / Aile Richelieu - Rez-de-chaussée - Section 18b.
The sanctuary of the collégiale appears to be very beautiful. You can see to the right the entrance of the Épernon chapel.
The church’s ornate altarpiece features their patron saints, Ste Marguerite and St John, to either side of a crucifixion scene.
I've usually found that the interiors of private chapels are dark, most likely due to poor to nonexistent lighting in the church, nonexistent lighting in the chapel, other than a single stained glass window, usually of dark colors, and the glass is usually dirty inside and especially out.
Interior of the Épernon chapel
Their chapel appears to be an exception to my usual experience, and this photo appears quite light. I plan to visit St. Blaise church and hope to gain entry into the chapel - they are ususally locked - based on the Epernons being our ancestors. If I am able to enter, I'll see if I can take lighter pictures that will give a clearer understanding of the chapel.
The square at St. Blaise
The Church of St. Blaise
The exterior of the Épernon chapel
The text below was taken from a blog (see link below). I can read most of it but am not competent to translate it at this time. I will translate it as soon as possible.
La reconstruction de la collégiale, achevée vers le milieu du XVIe siècle, est entreprise peu après la fondation du chapitre Saint-Blaise par Gaston de Foix-Candale, en 1490. L'église, accolée au mur nord de l'enceinte de la bastide, est prolongée à l'est par une sacristie. La nef unique, ainsi que la chapelle funéraire, sur le flanc sud du choeur, sont voûtées d'ogives. Un toit à longs pans de tuile mécanique couvre la nef, alors que la chapelle possède une toiture en pavillon, couverte d'ardoise. L'ensemble de la construction est en pierre de taille, à l'exception de la sacristie, bâtie en moellon. Le clocher, érigé à l'angle sud-ouest, supportant une flèche en maçonnerie, a été bâti en 1853 par l'architecte départemental Pierre-Auguste Labbé. Une croix monumentale en fer a été dressée en 1844 sur le côté sud de l'église. Sur un socle en pierre, elle porte les instruments de la Passion. Les statues en terre cuite de saint Pierre et saint Paul, disposées de part et d'autre de l'entrée de l'église, mesurant 140 centimètres de haut, sont l'oeuvre des sculpteurs Virebent frères, de Toulouse, et datent du XIXe siècle.
Chapelle funéraire des ducs d'Épernon
La chapelle a été commandée en 1597 à Pierre Biard, l'un des plus grands sculpteurs-architectes de l'époque, par Jean-Louis de Nogaret de La Valette, duc d'Épernon, afin d'abriter la sépulture de son épouse, Marguerite de Foix-Candale, décédée en 1593. La porte extérieure de la chapelle, la séparant du choeur de la collégiale, est datée de 1606, année d'achèvement probable des travaux. L'architecture de l'ensemble, avec ses boiseries, l'autel et son retable ont été conservés sans modification. Le tabernacle a été ajouté au XIXe siècle. Le mausolée, dont témoignent les dessins de Van der Herm, du XVIIe siècle, a été démoli en 1793. D'un grand luxe, il était considéré par ses contemporains comme l'un des plus beaux de France. Les chapiteaux et les bases des colonnes, en bronze, encadraient deux gisants, reposant sur le tombeau. Les orants des époux se dressaient au-dessus de l'entablement. La statue de la Renommée, en bronze, couronnant l'ensemble, a été préservée des destructions révolutionnaires. Chef-d'oeuvre de la sculpture française du XVIIe siècle, elle est exposée au Louvre. La chapelle en conserve une réplique. Une crypte voûtée, sous la chapelle, abrite les tombes de la famille d'Épernon.
Retable du chapitre Saint-Blaise
Ce retable est constitué de deux colonnes, surmontées d'un fronton interrompu, portant des anges musiciens, et encadrant le symbole de la Trinité, le Dieu créateur et un tableau du Christ en croix, entouré de l'évêque saint Blaise, de la Vierge et de Marie Madeleine, aux pieds de Jésus. Les niches latérales accueillent les statues de saint Jean et de sainte Marguerite, patrons du duc et de la duchesse d'Épernon.
La porte cloutée appartient à une maison de marchand, réaménagée aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, et ayant conservé son étal. Le bâtiment comporte un soubassement, deux étages carrés, surmontés d'un toit à longs pans, et un pignon couvert.
Maison dite "des Chanoines" (5, rue Sarrazine)
A curious little door. From my reading of the French in the paragraph just above, I believe the door leads to a house.
The ghastly scene after its desecration
during the French Revolution.
RESOURCES
Blog of the Collégiale Saint-Blaise, Paroisse Saint-Martin de Cadillac
Photographs by Jacques Gaye.
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