The Salle des Gardes of the Château de Fontainebleau !!!

Posted in Europe, France

I have found older paper pictures new to my blog from the wonderful Château of Fontainebleau!, I like to include these in my blog even if quality will not be tops. We were always on the run in Fontainebleau and many times as friend of the castle just came in and out took quick pictures of the rooms and went out the garden back in my walking warrior mode !, My nostalgic memorable Fontainebleau is worth the visit indeed ! Therefore, let me tell you a bit about the Salle des Gardes of the Château de Fontainebleau !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.

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The salle des gardes  or the Guard Room was that of the King’s guards, guarding the entrance to the sovereign’s apartment. This room was, as long as the kings slept in the keep, the Guards’s room. Indeed, guards were permanently present in front of the door of the king’s apartments, in order to protect him. Louis XIII moved this room. This room is therefore no longer used as a guard room, but rather as a reception room. Original Renaissance decor remains today only the ceiling. But it was by drawing inspiration from the latter that Louis-Philippe I had the walls adorned with royal figures of the rulers of the past redone in 1834-1836, which today creates a certain artificial consistency of the the whole decor of this room.  There is a passage between the François Ier gallery and the salle des Gardes or guard room, This passage was created in 1845 to obtain direct access between the two spaces, without going through the royal apartments. It was decorated with 17C paintings such as Amour sur des nuages, L’Équité et La Vigilance by Coypel formerly preserved in Tuileries palace, Amours tenant des fleurs et Amours pressant des raisins of Florentin Damoiselet formerly in Marly palace, Le Matin et Le Soir by Michel Corneille le Jeune formerly at the Grand Trianon,

The Salle des Gardes or guards room is in the alignment of the feature of the Belle-cheminée (see post) It was initially soberly painted and decorated in 1570, since only the beams of the ceiling and the upper frieze were decorated. Its ornaments of military emblems are reworked under Louis XIII. It served as a King’s Guard room in the 17-18C, before becoming the antechamber of the Emperor in 1804, then anteroom of the King in 1814, and finally the Salle des Gardes or guards room in 1837. The current decor was made in part under Louis-Philippe I which had made it a reception lounge before Napoleon III designates it as an ordinary dining room. The wall decor is of Renaissance style, and was made between 1834 and 1836. It represents historical figures, accompanied by their weapons, their figure, and those of their wife, their emblem, their motto, around allegorical figures . Thus we recognize François Ier, Henri II, Antoine de Bourbon, Marie de Médicis, Henri IV, Louis XIII, Anne of Austria, and the Salamander of François I replacing the portrait of Louis-Philippe.

The Salle des Gardes has a monumental marble fireplace decorated with a bust of Henri IV produced in 1600, which once adorned the old aviary of the Diane garden. It is supervised by bas-reliefs evoking allegories of the Éléments et des Saisons made by Bontemps in 1555 and 1556 for the Hénri II bedroom at the Pavilion of Poesles. On both sides of the bust are installed the allegories of mercy and peace, coming from the beautiful fireplace of Henri IV today destroyed the rest of the fireplace, made in 1836, and installed in 183 ,has different wood species.

Fontainebleau salle des Gardes bust Henri IV

The furniture of the salle des gardes remained in its state of the Second Empire ; it houses in particular a vase of the Renaissance, in porcelain of Sèvres produced in 1832 and representing scenes which would have taken place in Fontainebleau of Léonardo da Vinci painting the Mona Lisa in front of François I and Benvenuto Cellini sculpting Diane in front of Diane de Poitiers, according to portraits by Aimé Chenavard, in the style of Bernard Palissy. The rest of the furniture consists in particular of a large circular dining table, produced around 1800 and from the Parisian hotel of General Moreau, folding golden wood, made by the artist Rode in 1806 for the first show of the Empress, from a gilded wooden screen of Louis XVI period, acquired in 1835,shiny golden bronze of Boulle style, made by Chaumont for the exhibition of French industry products from 1834, nine Arms of Boulle style dating from 1837, and golden bronze lights of the 17C acquired in 1866

The official Château de Fontainebleau on the apartments and war rooms: https://www.chateaudefontainebleau.fr/les-grands-appartements-des-souverains/les-appartements-royaux/

The Fontainebleau tourist office on the castle : https://www.fontainebleau-tourisme.com/en/discover-the-region/patrimoine-2/the-chateau-a-grand-history-book-of-france/the-chateau/

There you go folks, I came and went to the gorgeous architecturally stunning ,historical Château de Fontainebleau !, the town is worth a detour as well , This is a wonderful piece of the best history of France, and I am glad happy to have lived close to visit often,. Again, hope you enjoy this post on the Salle des Gardes of the Château de Fontainebleau as I

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!

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Published by pedmar10

I am a lover of travels to Europe , Americas , Africa and Asia as well ,who like to share my experiences of the last 53 years with the world, visiting so far 81 countries; living in 6, working in 5, and Citizen of 4, speaking fluently 4 languages. I can deal with sports especially football/soccer and love music, arts, wine collector/drinker, and go out to restaurants, and just visit the world. My background comes all the way from Candelaria and Pajara in Tenerife, Spain where my grandparents came from ;not knowing each other then, to Punta Brava, west of Havana, Cuba. There , my parents born in Cuba met and later on I was born there too. 100% guanche (annexed Tenerife to Spain on April 10 ,1496). I left Cuba as many have to Madrid, Spain where I lived for 4 years. Then, move to Perth Amboy ,New Jersey USA (living there 13 yrs) ; where I completed high school, became a US Citizen, learned to drive a car, and learned English. Afterward, went to the university in Florida, ERAU, and upon graduation decided to moved there to Ormond by the Sea, near Daytona Beach, finally moving North Miami, then Hialeah, then another moved to Silver Lakes division in Miramar, Broward county, Florida; in Florida I lived a total of 18 years. Finally , moved to France in 2003 ,Versailles call me for its royalty, and working in Paris was great. It was time to seek frontiers again and moved to Brech near Auray, Morbihan in Brittany , and later move to not too far Pluvigner. Total so far in France has been 20 years, and counting. Moving average a home every 5.5 years hopefully this will be my last. Cheers All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the written permission of the copyright holder, me. No part of this work may be modified, without the written permission of the holder, me.No part of this work may be exposed to public view in any form or by any means, without identifying the holder as the author, and with the before mentioned permission.

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