The Regency in Paris (1715-1723). The dawn of the Enlightenment

One Christmas evening at Versailles, the Duc d’Orléans appeared to be absorbed in reading a book that the congregation mistook for a prayer book; the chambermaid of the Duchesse d’Orléans later complimented him on his piety. "You’re very foolish, Madame Imbert; do you know what I was reading? It was Rabelais that I had worn for fear of being bored".
The anecdote recounted by Saint-Simon contributed to the black legend of the Regent. A free-thinker and libertine, fond of "(small suppers)" in gallant company at the Palais-Royal, he led his contemporaries into vice - "their conduct seems to me that of pigs and sows" offended his mother, the Princess Palatine, with her characteristic flowery language, while Voltaire preferred verse and satire. "Here is the time of the amiable Regency / A fortunate time marked by licence [...] / Where one does everything except penance". Montesquieu, for his part, described French society through the falsely naive eyes of two foreigners in the Persian Letters published in 1721 in Amsterdam, far from the censorship of the royal authorities.

1. Jean-Louis Lemoyne (1665-1755)
Philippe d’Orléans, Regent of the Kingdom, 1715
Marble - 87 x 74 cm
Versailles, Musée national des châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon
Photo: bbsg

See the image in its page

2. Charles-Antoine Coysevox (1640-1720)
Louis XV at the Age of Nine, 1719
Marble - 65 x 49.7 cm
Versailles, Musée national du château
Photo: bbsg

See the image in its page

This reputation was relayed over the centuries, from Marcel Proust, an admirer of Saint-Simon, to Philippe Noiret playing a debauched Regent in the film Let Joy Reign Supreme. Embroiled in various scandals - his name was mentioned after the arrest of a love potion merchant - Philippe II d’Orléans was also suspected of wanting to poison the Dauphin of France, a far-fetched accusation of course, as he would have had to murder many people to accede to the throne. His colourful reputation as a poisoner stemmed from his passion for chemistry. He had set up a laboratory in the Palais-Royal where he carried out experiments with the chemist Guillaume Homberg, blew glass, composed perfumes and made fake precious stones. His alchemy oven has been found in the Musée de Sèvres (ill. 3).

3. Regent’s alchemist oven, before 1723
Stamped chamotte clay - 70 x 52 x 47 cm
Sèvres, National Manufactory and Museum
photo: bbsg

See the image in its page

To mark the tercentenary of his death, the Musée Carnavalet is painting a much more nuanced portrait of an intelligent, cultured man, a fine politician and diplomat, with a passion for science, music and painting. The exhibition, curated by José de Los Llanos and Ulysse Jardat, provides an opportunity to bring several paintings out of storage and restore them, such as The Regent in his Cabinet, attributed to Bérain (ill. 4). The catalogue, which is extremely rich in content, contains a number of fascinating essays,…