Le Beau Siècle

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La vie artistique à Besançon de la Conquête à la Révolution (1674-1792) (Artistic life in Besançon from the Conquest to the Revolution (1674-1792))

Besançon, Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie, from 10 November 2022 to 19 March 2023.

1. Sigismondo Alberghetti ( c. 1656-1702) and Laurent Ballard (active during the last quarter of the 17th century)
Model of a cannon offered by the parliament of Franche-Comté to Louis XIV, c. 1676
Chased and gilded bronze, fruitwood carriage - 35 x 124.2 x 36 cm
Paris, Musée de l’Armée
Photo: RMN-GP/É. Cambier
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It is with a cannon shot (ill. 1) that this fascinating exhibition begins, undoubtedly the richest of the year in the field of ancient art since it is an almost exhaustive panorama of a century of artistic creation in Besançon: this former "Spanish enclave in the flank of the kingdom", definitively attached to France by Louis XIV, metamorphosed between the conquest of Franche-Comté and the first fires of the Revolution. As a free city of empire, it already had a university, a library and above all a powerful episcopal see, but had to welcome many new institutions, including the intendance of the province, and the parliament, which used to sit in Dole! A strategic site dominated by its citadel, the city, which became the regional capital, retained its particularities, including the strong influence of the clergy, while seeing an influx of new sponsors sensitive to new ideas as well as to artistic modernity and Parisian influences. As Yohan Rimaud, who delivers here his last project for Besançon, writes, it is a question of better defining "the spirit of a city", as Nancy already proposed in 2005 (see article). The impressive list of works - 384 numbers in the catalog - and the informative notes preceded by long essays testify to the intellectual ambition of the proposal, echoing the tortuous path that progressively unfolds in all the available spaces!


2. View of the first room of the exhibition "Le Beau Siècle
Photo: Louis Jacquot
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3. View of the second room of the exhibition "Le Beau Siècle
Photo: Louis Jacquot
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The images of the double conquest of the city inaugurate the exhibition, with Van der Meulen’s immense canvas in majesty: destined for the Château de Marly and deposited by the Louvre in the Musée du Temps, this painting, which visitors to the exhibition on the Grand Condé will certainly remember (see article), is hung opposite other views of the city of Besançon (ill. 2), including the large sanguine recently acquired from the Parisian dealer Nicolas Schwed (see the news item of 10/2/22). The haughty gaze of the monarch dominates the room: preserved in the Hôtel de Courbouzon, where the University of Franche-Comté is now located, this equestrian portrait of Louis XIV has just undergone a fundamental restoration - supported by the DRAC - which has revealed a work of excellent quality, certainly supervised by René-Antoine Houasse, who may have painted certain parts, as explained in the note by Matthieu Lett, a specialist in the artist to whom he has just devoted a solid monograph published by Arthena. A few steps further on, two portraits of parliamentarians stand next to a superb Aubusson chancellery with the arms of France and Navarre, deposited by the Mobilier national in the Besançon courthouse, which succeeded the parliament transferred from Dole in 1676 and finally installed in the old Hugues Sambin building, which was only remodeled in the 18th century. The parliamentarians, who were undoubtedly hoping for something new, got their money’s worth, but were able to devote themselves to the embellishment of their own homes in Besançon, even if "the robe was not the only driving force behind the city’s fabric", as Yohan Rimaud nicely nuances in his foreword: there was room for religious commissions!


4. View of the third room of the exhibition "Le Beau Siècle", dedicated to the Shroud of Bisce
Photo: Louis Jacquot
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5. Overall view of the chapel of the Holy Shroud installed in the counter-choir of the Saint-Jean cathedral in Besançon
Photo: Pierre Guenat
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The real highlight of the tour, the next three spaces are entirely devoted to altar paintings, gold and silver pieces and other testimonies of devotions from Besançon, perfectly studied in the catalog. Here again, the public of the exhibition benefits from numerous recent restorations carried out in collaboration with the DRAC: Matthieu Fantoni, curator of historical monuments, has been entrusted with the essay on religious artistic commissions. The Holy Shroud of Besançon thus benefits from an entire room (ill. 4) decorated with numerous prints testifying to the popular fervor aroused by this relic, for which a sanctuary was set up in the cathedral of Saint-Jean. Situated in the counter-choir of this building, which was constantly redesigned, especially after the collapse of the bell tower in 1729, this masterpiece of Rococo art (ill. 5) was decorated with paintings commissioned from the best artists of the time: Carle Van Loo, Jean-François de Troy and Charles Joseph Natoire. These fortunately did not make the trip - the visitor is strongly encouraged to cross the Loop to get to the cathedral - but are evoked by various preparatory works including The Virgin in Prayer preempted at Artcurial in 2017 (see the news item of 14/11/17).


6. View of the alcove dedicated to the chapel Notre-Dame-du-Refuge
Photo: Thierry Saillard
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7. View of the façade of the chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Refuge
Photo: Eric Chatelain
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Three years earlier, it was a sketch for Nicolas-René Jollain’s Intercession to the Virgin that was preempted at a sale in Lorient (see the news item of 10/27/14): it is a pleasure to find it again in an alcove (ill. 6) that also presents plans and elevations for the Notre-Dame-du-Refuge chapel, a true rocaille jewel from Besançon decorated with five paintings by Jollain. Built in the mid-18th century by the architect Nicolas Nicole, the chapel (ill. 7) was later attached to the Saint-Jacques hospital and should be more easily accessible today.


8. General view of the room dedicated to the religious orders from Besançon
Photo: Thierry Saillard
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If you have to leave the museum and walk for a few minutes to admire the chapel Notre-Dame-du-Refuge and the chapel of the Holy Shroud in the cathedral, the latter has nevertheless been generous in giving up several masterpieces for the duration of the exhibition: thus, you can admire in good conditions the beautiful Crucifixion by Francesco Trevisani, enthroned in the center of a formidable picture rail (ill. 8) where two paintings representing the dead Christ frame it. On the left, the first one bears the signature of Sebastiano Conca, who painted it in 1733, but its arrival in the cathedral remains a mystery, even though it was probably given to the cathedral by an 18th-century archbishop of Bisceglione. The second painting (ill. 9) came from the Kunstmuseum in Basel and was painted in 1779 by one of the exhibition’s heroes: Johann Melchior Wyrsch. This Swiss-German painter had obviously had the opportunity to admire Sebastiano Conca’s painting, although he refined the composition, dispensing with the cherubs and opting for a particularly bold foreshortening. One can admire the folds of the shroud, which irresistibly evoke the Holy Shroud of Besançon, while the body of Christ is less a corpse than "a delicate and luminous anatomical study", as Yohan Rimaud summarized it very well in his notice.


9. Johann Melchior Wyrsch (1732-1798)
The Dead Christ, 1779
Oil on canvas - 88 x 112 cm
Basel, Kunstmuseum
Photo: Kunstmuseum Basel
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A prolific portraitist of the local elite, Johann Melchior Wyrsch settled in the city after meeting the sculptor Luc Breton, and the two artists founded the Besançon School of Painting and Drawing in 1773. The school, which is discussed at length in the catalog, was supported by the intendant Charles de Lacoré and trained various local artists, one of the best being the painter Alexandre Chazerand. Mentioned later in the exhibition, this free school disrupted the local ecosystem where about 300 artists worked during the 18th century. Pupils learned anatomy, drawing with the help of plaster casts from Paris or from collections offered by the intendant, although an official model - Paul Pauli, immortalized by Wyrsch (ill. 10) - was employed by the school, where Luc Breton taught until 1792, while Simon Bernard Le Noir replaced Wyrsch who returned to Switzerland in 1786.


10. Johann Melchior Wyrsch (1732-1798)
Academy or Portrait of Paul Pauli, 1781
Oil on canvas - 118 x 98 cm
Besançon, Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie
Photo: Arcanes
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11. Luc Breton (1731-1800)
Portrait of Melchior Wyrsch in the Antique Style, 1771
Patinated plaster - 51 x 45.5 x 23 cm
Besançon, Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie
Photo: Chipault & Soligny
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12. Luc Breton (1731-1800)
Pietà or The Virgin with the Dead Christ, between 1771 and 1785 ?
Plaster - 58.5 x 70 x 40 cm
Besançon, Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie
Photo: Chipault & Soligny
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Luc Breton, who immortalized his friend’s features in a beautiful bust (ill. 11) in patinated terra cotta plaster, stands out as one of the revelations of the tour even though the sculptor is at home in the museum, which keeps some forty of his works, from his studio collection. If "Le Beau Siècle" already constitutes a sort of real retrospective for the artist, let us hope to see soon an exhibition entirely devoted to this great Besançon name of the 18th century who certainly deserves it. As Mickaël Zito wrote in the guide to the collections published in 2018, only his essentially local influence prevented him from attaining a reputation that was nonetheless deserved, as all visitors can see. If you have to go to the Saint-Pierre church in Besançon to admire his magnificent Pietà in Tonnerre stone, the superb plaster (ill. 12) in the exhibition gives a good idea of his talent. The commission was studied by Christiane Roussel, honorary curator at the Franche-Comté Inventory: the final group was destined for the chapel of his patron, the Marquise de Ligniville, whose mansion in Besançon remains one of the most beautiful private residences in the city and is the subject of a note by Pascal Brunet in the catalog.


13. Nicolas Guy Brenet (1728-1792)
The Stoning of Saint Stephen, 1775
Oil on canvas - 418.3 x 253.3 cm
Chamblay, église Saint-Étienne
Photo: Jérôme Mongreville
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14. Nicolas Guy Brenet (1728-1792)
The Adoration of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary by the Angels, 1775
Oil on canvas - 222.5 x 129.5 cm
Chamblay, église Saint-Etienne
Photo: Jérôme Mongreville
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The exhibition then pays a dazzling tribute to the religious commissions of the Marquise de Grammont-Salives, who came from a family that included several archbishops of Besançon: obviously well advised, this patron of the arts turned to the best artists of her time to decorate the churches of Chamblay, Ounans, and Villersexel, which were stripped of their jewels for several months. If visitors to the Suvée retrospective at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Tours (see article) will certainly remember Joseph-Benoît Suvée’s La Dévotion au scapulaire, here is an opportunity to honor a local child: Nicolas Guy Brenet. Executed in 1775 for the church of Chamblay, The Stoning of Saint Stephen (ill. 13) and The Adoration of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary by Angels (ill. 14) have left their original setting for the first time for the duration of the exhibition, where they are enthroned in an alcove entirely dedicated to the paintings commissioned by the Marquise[[Their departure from Chamblay was the subject of a television report filmed by France 3 Bourgogne Franche-Comté.]


15. View of the alcove dedicated to the religious orders of the Marquise de Grammont-Salives
Photo: Louis Jacquot
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A bench has of course been provided in case of Stendhal syndrome, as this space certainly gathers the most beautiful pieces of painting of the course. Restored between 2015 and 2018 with the help of the DRAC, as Matthieu Fantoni told us, Chamblay’s pictures are next to Saint Peter Delivered from Prison by Suvée and Saint John Writing the Apocalypse in Patmos by Jean-Baptiste Regnault (ill. 15) which are also due to the patronage of the Marquise de Grammont. Delivered in 1788 for the church of Saint-Nicolas de Villersexel, where she spent her childhood, these paintings have just undergone a fundamental restoration in view of their loan to the exhibition.


16. View of the room devoted to private sponsors with the portrait of President Terrier de Santans
Photo: Louis Jacquot
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17. View of the room devoted to private sponsors with the model of the Château de Moncley
Photo: Louis Jacquot
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After this fireworks display, the return to civilian life is a little difficult but no less interesting and is even one of the strengths of the tour, which endeavors to take the visitor to the exhibition into Besançon’s 18th-century interiors, which are often preserved but difficult to evoke except with the help of archives, plans or objects. One of the most important civilian patrons of this period, President Terrier de Santans, is thus presented with the help of his portrait by Wyrsch, dominating a large neoclassical half-moon console (ill. 16), which was inventoried in his private mansion in the Grande Rue de Besançon before moving to the Château de Moncley at the end of the 19th century. This sumptuous country residence, located at the gates of the parliamentary capital, is one of the most beautiful estates in the region. "President à mortier" of the Parliament of Besançon since 1760, Terrier de Santans was above all a rich owner of forges in Franche-Comté. His sumptuous income allowed him to call upon the architect Alexandre Bertrand for his house in Besançon and then for his summer residence, of which a fascinating model (ill. 17) has miraculously managed to survive the centuries. Listed as a historical monument since 1981, like the console mentioned above, it was carefully restored before the exhibition and returned to its neo-Palladian home at the end of the exhibition.


18. View of the picture rail devoted to "Les Cris de Besançon" by Gaspard Gresly
Photo: Louis Jacquot
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19. Vue de la salle consacrée aux trompe-l’œil de Gaspard Gresly
Photo : Louis Jacquot
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An entire wall (18) is devoted to the "Cris de Besançon" by Gaspard Gresly, a prolific artist who is (very) well represented in the exhibition: a key figure in the artistic landscape of the city, he reinterpreted the works of his contemporaries whom he knew through engraving and illustrated small trades, merchants or beggars, which introduces a welcome popular note into an exhibition where stewards, parliamentarians, aristocrats and canons follow one another. However, one could prefer his marvelous trompe-l’œil (ill. 19), another genre in which Gresly excelled: both aspects of his art benefit from solid texts in the catalog, which also constitutes a rich synthesis on Besançon collectors of the Enlightenment.

20. Louis-Michel Van Loo (1707-1771)
Portrait of Cardinal de Choiseul, 1767
Oil on canvas - 136.7 x 103.3 cm
Château de Ray-sur-Saône
Photo: CRRCOA Vesoul
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While it is to be hoped that new academic work will provide a better understanding of this milieu, let us give the exhibition credit for laying the groundwork for future rediscoveries. Bourgeois, parliamentarians and ecclesiastics furnished their private residences with contemporary and antique works of art, such as that of Cardinal de Choiseul: long kept in a private collection, the portrait of Antoine de Choiseul-Beaupré by Louis-Michel Van Loo (ill. 20) is one of the rediscoveries of the exhibition. Remaining in the family of the prelate from the Choiseul clan, one branch of which has lived in Franche-Comté since the 13th century, it comes from the château of Ray-sur-Saône, which was donated to the Haute-Saône department in 2015. Within the exhibition, this painting, exhibited at the Salon of 1767 and praised by Diderot, materializes the importance of the archbishop of Besançon, created a cardinal in 1761 by Pope Clement XIII, who then offered him two beautiful paintings by Giovanni Battista Beinaschi: a Saint Paul - purchased in 2018 from the Galerie Canesso with the help of the Regional Museum Acquisition Fund, the Association of Friends of the Museums and Library of Besançon at the reopening of the institution (see article) - and a Saint Peter still preserved in a private collection loaned for the occasion in order to find its counterpart.


21. View of the room dedicated to Theatre by Ledoux
Photo: Louis Jacquot
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Two years after "Une des provinces du rococo, la Chine rêvée de François Boucher" (see article), the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie in Besançon is once again offering an exhibition that is as exemplary as it is virtuous on this golden age that the 18th century represented for the city and its surroundings. We rediscover a regional capital, whose urban transformation we follow (ill. 21), the course stopping on all its actors, both public and private. If the visit must certainly be extended to the private mansions and religious buildings that still dot the city, the substantial book that accompanies the event also deserves all praise, despite the terrible discomfort of reading resulting from the deplorable editorial choice to reject technical notes as simple labels at the end of the work. We cannot recommend too much an excursion to Besançon, as well as the acquisition of such a fascinating book, which will find an ideal place in any good library: by its ambition, this one is much more than a "simple" exhibition catalog. To put it more simply, and also more frankly: for us, it is the best exhibition seen in France in recent months.


General Curator: Nicolas Surlapierre
Scientific curator : Yohan Rimaud


Under the direction of Yohan Rimaud, Le Beau Siècle. La vie artistique à Besançon de la Conquête à la Révolution (1674-1792), Éditions courtes et longues, 2022, 412 p., 35 €, ISBN: 9782352903413


Practical information: Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie, 1, place de la Révolution, 25000 Besançon. Tel: 03 81 87 80 67. Open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 10 am to 12 pm and from 2 pm to 6 pm and from 10 am to 6 pm on Saturday and Sunday during the whole exhibition. Price : 8,4 € (reduced : 4,2 €). Website.

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