Nancy - le Musée Lorrain in the Ducal Palace

Angel of the Annunciation - 16th C.

Lillian :  We have a touristy tip - when you are in a new place make sure to visit the regional museum - the Museum that focuses on the culture of that particular place.  It helps to get a real feel of the history of an area and the culture - what makes that area special.

Audrey :  Good tip Lillian,  the Musée Lorrain is in the splendid Ducal Palace & the ex-Franciscan monastery next door.  

In this post we'll show you photos of some of the things in the Ducal Palace.

Lillian :  Most museums & art galleries in Europe allow photography - just don't use the flash. 

Audrey :  Our stylist thought this was a marvelous opportunity to gather research on historical fashions and on lace - so we have lots of photos of clothes ... and the details of garments ...

Lillian :  We've started with some splendid stained glass and the last 2 photos are parts of an Adoration of the 3 Kings (in French - l'adoration des Rois mages) from the l’église Sainte-Ségolène in Metz  dated approx. 1390 and attributed to Hermann von Münster ...
Audrey :  Wasn't Herman Munster on the TV??
Lillian :  I think that was a different Monster umm I mean Munster.  Did you notice the fantastic detail of the shoes and scalloped edges?

Audrey :  More lovely detail in the cap and garments in this bas-relief altarpiece of the Lamentation of Christ from the early 1600s.  It is of "polychromed alabaster" - we think that means that it was painted.  

Lillian :  Apparently Lorraine produced a lot of alabaster statuary but few examples remain.

Lillian :  The Ducal Palace was built in the 15th C for René II and I think that this is a statue of him - he is often pictured on a horse and waving a sword about ... notice the thistle on the pedestal (it's a symbol of Lorraine).

Audrey :  You are looking rather swashbucklish yourself with your velvet pants and froggy boots! 

Lillian :  Urr thanks.  While we are thinking about weaponry - what about the cabinet with the wax-work diorama in it.

Audrey :  A beautiful cabinet but ... the subject of the wax-work diorama was quite horrible. 

Lillian :  The Martyrs de Trèves (Trier) - this cabinet was made in Germany in 1759.  The subject is horrid but you have to admire the work that went into making it - the wax figures are amazingly detailed - here is some detail - with the reflections off the glass this is the best photo our people could get...

Audrey :  All those little wax figures - and he isn't wearing very much.  Is that his underwear showing over his tights?  

Lillian :  Looks like it - perhaps braies (medieval underwear for men) were worn with hose ... 

Audrey :  And I thought that showing the top of your undies above your trousers was a recent male fashion.

Lillian :  Well, fashion has a habit or repeating itself.  Let us look at more historical fashions in some portraits.

Audrey :  That is sweet - 2 paintings of the same person.  Nicole de Lorraine at 13months old in 1607 and then all grown up.

 Lillian :  Nicole, Duchess of Lorraine was the only surviving child of Henri II Duke of Lorraine, but she couldn't inherit the Duchy because she was a woman.  She married the eldest son of the Count of Vaudémont and he became Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine.  The marriage was not a happy one and they had no children.

Audrey :  Oh that's sad - she looks like a dolly in all that dress & lace as a baby - and the collar in the other portrait looks so very Art Deco!

 Lillian :  I guess the collar was very fine and very starched linen.  Here are more important people wearing uncomfortable clothes.

Audrey :  Click on the details to see the wonderful lace.  His frills are all gold lace - it was bobbin / pillow lace made from gold thread, actual gold - it was sold by the weight.  Who was this gent with the 'five o'clock shadow'?

Lillian :  He was François III, Duke of Lorraine, & François I, Marie-

Thérèse of Austria who is in the other portrait of this pair - attributed to Martin van Meytens.


Audrey :  Oh - they are Marie Antoinette's mum & dad.
Lillian :  Yes, Marie Antoinette was the 2nd youngest of their 16 children.
Audrey :  A typical over-achieving couple of the 18th Century!

Lillian :  François III was the last Duke of Lorraine.  Under the Treaty of Vienna in 1738, Louis XV gave Lorraine to his father-in-law and ex-King of Poland - Stanisław Leszczyński.

Audrey :   This portrait (C.1740) is of Stan's wife Catherine Opalinska. 

and, wearing a very similar frock is her daughter Marie.  

This portrait (C.1726 by Francois Stiemart) shows Marie shortly after her marriage to Louis XV, she is holding a branch of orange blossom.

Audrey :  While we are with Stan's family, remember the well-dressed ... well we thought this was a puppet.

Lillian :  It is actually a life-sized mannequin of Nicolas Ferry, known as Bébé (1741–1764).   A Little Person (he grew to only 34" / 86cm) he was quite a favourite in Stanislaw's court;  Bébé was famous for his pranks and jokes.  Recent researchers think Nicolas had a very rare form of dwarfism. 
Audrey :  Those clothes were actually his.  

Lillian :   Stanislaw had his court in Lunéville, an area still famous for its ceramics & pottery.  There are some nice examples in the Musée Lorrain ...

The Gardener
after Paul-Louis Cyfflé (1724-1806)
Biscuit de terre de Lorraine

Epergne - Leda & the Swan - C.1770
after Paul-Louis Cyfflé Biscuit de terre de Lorraine

Audrey :  You liked that gazebo - I rather liked this chap - General Maximilien-Sébastien Foy.

General Foy (1775-1825)
Manufacture de Niderviller C.1820

Notice the M cuts in his collar.

Jeune femme et l'enfant
Pierre Jospeh Michel 1781

I found this terracotta figurine quite charming

Audrey :  We found these pretty and very large things all of ceramic tiles ... 
Lillian :   Ceramic or tile stoves.  They are basically heaters.  

Not sure why this one has an urn on top - but I guess the heat was meant to escape through the lattice ...


Audrey :  So many things to discover, so much to learn.  


And then we found the room full of miniatures ... doll sized portraits of people!

Lillian :  Yes, mostly on ivory, some beautifully done.  We'll show you the best photos of the best outfits ...
Audrey :  Just look at these bonnets!

Lillian :  There were lots of military gentlemen ... the early 1800s was a time of wars and upheaval.

Audrey : Probably slightly later - a chap with an interesting moustache.

Lillian :  We had a lot of fun in the Ducal Palace part of the le Musée Lorrain -

Audrey : Then we had some lunch and in the afternoon, we came back to explore the other part of the museum - the folk art, regional furniture & traditional Lorraine interiors housed in the ex-Franciscan monastery next door to the palace.  

Lillian :  Let us show you our photos of all that in the next post.  

From Avallon to Nancy and Place Stan

Lillian :  Well eventually we had to leave pretty little Avallon and our next port of call was Nancy in Lorraine.
Audrey :  Nancy, Lorraine - both girl's names but the French do not say Nancy like we do. Anyway to get there was something of an adventure which started early in the morning with a big bus ...

Goodbye lovely Avallon

And then we took a train to Paris ... and here we are in the train at Sens



and the country-side going by was very green and pretty ...

Lillian :  We had to change trains and stations in Paris ... all in a hurry but we had time to take a couple of photos behind Gare de l'Est.
This chap has Paris on his Mind ...

Vous êtes ici - you are here

 La pont de la Rue la Fayette

Audrey :  The bridge had a hurt and a very kind person had put big band-aids on the ouchy bit.  Hope the bridge is feeling better now.

Lillian :  After another very fast train ride we were in Nancy.  Our Hotel was just round the corner from the beautiful central square - Place Stanislas; the locals call it Place Stan.  Big & beautiful with lovely buildings all around and everything in very pale limestone.

Audrey : Very pale and in the morning light - very bright.



Lillian : It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site and is completely car free now - but until 1983 it was a car-park.

Audrey :  Glad that's changed as it is a lovely space used by lots of people and by dogs too ...

Scottie dog exiting Place Stan via the gates on Rue Stanislas

Audrey : Tell us about this Stan person Lillian.
Lillian :  Well, Stanisław I Leszczyński was the King of Poland - but he lost his throne ... not once but twice!
Audrey : Ooo Lady Bracknell moment!  To lose one throne, may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose two looks like carelessness.  Was Stan a very careless person?
Lillian :  I'm not sure but he was a lucky person because his daughter Maria had married Louis XV of France.
Audrey : Ah - Number 15 was the one who reigned for ages and ages wasn't he?
Lillian :  Yes, 58 years - 1715 to 1774.  Now the Duchy of Lorraine had quite a turbulent history - in 1737 it became part of France (again) and Louis XV gave the Duchy to his father-in-law on the understanding that it would go back to the French crown when Stanislaw (Stanislas in French) died. 
Audrey : I should think that Stan was very happy to go from penniless ex-King (x2) to Duke of a nice place like Lorraine.
Lillian : Guess so - and partly to thank Louis he had this beautiful and grand central square built in front of the existing Hotel de Ville (Town Hall).  In the middle of the square there is a statue of Stanislas - here he is with the Hotel de Ville behind. 





Audrey : Hmmm, he is quite a chubby-chops - and didn't his mummy tell him that it is rude to point!

 Lillian :  Ahh but he is pointing to the Arc de Triomphe (or Arc Héré for the architect) and at the top of the Arc is a portrait of Stan's benefactor - Louis XV - with gilded trumpeting Angel (for Victory), Peace as a lady with an olive branch and a baby.

A Crow finds the gilded Angel a convenient place to perch

Audrey : What do those words say?  "Hostium Terror ..." !

Lillian :  It is Latin but I found a translation here ...  

HOSTIUM TERROR

FOEDERUM CULTOR

GENTISQUE DECUS ET AMOR

Terror of the enemies

Instigator of the treaties

Glory and love of his people

Audrey :  We have lots of photos of Place Stan - there are marvelous fountains by Barthélémy Guibal in 2 corners.  Neptune ... 

And notice that his Mer-Horse has those finned feet again - like the ones in Brussels & in Versailles on another fountain with Neptune.

We liked the base of this fountain too ...

Lillian :  These fountains are triptychs - with small ones to either side - here is the one to the left of Neptune - babies and sea dragon on a shell.  I've read somewhere that the top-most baby originally had a crab biting his fingers.

 Audrey : Ouch!  In the other corner the fountain is of Amphitrite, Goddess of the Sea and Neptune's wife.

Lillian : The gilded wrought iron work is quite a feature of Place Stan.  Created by Jean Lamour, there are gorgeous gates with lanterns at all the exits and the gilding shines so pretty in the sun-light.

   Audrey :  The urns of flowers are pretty but our Stylist just loved the lanterns with crowns on top - being held in the beaks of roosters.  

Was Stan, the ex (x2) King of Poland being almost More French than the French?  The initials SL could be Stanisław Leszczyński or Stan & Louis.  

 

 

   Audrey : Oh well, I'm not sure there is anything wrong in trying to be like the French - très chic!

I'm in front of the gates at the South-East corner and that is the Prefecture building behind.

 
Lillian :  The lights in the square were also prettily gilded -
Audrey : And they were a great place for playing hide&seek.

Lillian :  All the buildings round Place Stan are quite lovely and - being all built at roughly the same time and from the same pale stone - they make for a lovely harmonious central square.

The buildings have little sculptures along the tops - urns, empty armour and babies.  Here are some babies in detail -

Audrey :  They are holding onto palm trees so they don't fall off - their wings are really too small to work, well they are only babies!

Lillian : One evening there was dancing in Place Stan, in front of the Hotel de Ville - lots of fun.