Two new preemptions for Fontainebleau

17/11/24 - Acquisitions - Fontainebleau, Musée national du château et Musée Napoléon I - In less than two weeks, two preparatory studies for works already conserved by the "true home of kings" have joined a château that almost never fails to take advantage of the fortunes of the art market to enrich its collections with interesting pieces, keeping a close watch and making judicious use of its own resources as well as its right of preemption. On Wednesday 23 October, a delightful small tondo (ill. 1) by Merry-Joseph Blondel was on sale in Paris at Tajan, where the Château de Fontainebleau was able to acquire it for €7,872 including costs. Although little-known and rarely seen, this painting is a precious record of the genesis of one of the few major Restoration decorations still preserved, and has the advantage of being the first thought for the key element of the ceiling of the salon at the end of the Galerie de Diane (ill. 2), where the goddess is enthroned on a chariot in full race.

1. Merry-Joseph Blondel (1781-1853)
Diane on her Chariot, 1822
Oil on canvas - 37 cm
Fontainebleau, Musée national du château de Fontainebleau
Photo: Tajan

See the image in its page

There are a thousand reasons for the relative discretion of this area - and its fine decorations commissioned by Louis XVIII from Merry-Joseph Blondel and Alexandre Abel de Pujol, who worked on it between 1820 and 1825 - because the Galerie de Diane is unfortunately not very accessible, situated in a cul-de-sac within the visitor route and suffering from a fragile parquet floor. We must therefore hope for solid restoration work on the structures and then the decor, which will naturally be difficult to finance, but this space certainly deserves attention. It seems impossible to find a decent photograph of the central compartment of the salon at the end of the gallery, as the one that can be found on the Ministry of Culture’s databases is unfortunately the same as the one on the…