A name that is famous in the entire world, a magical name that evokes for some a forest, for others a château… a name which still shines from its royal history.
For Fontainebleau, though it no longer welcomes sovereigns as it did for so long, remains a place where life is pleasant, a place where the expression “quality of life” takes on its full meaning.
Very close to Paris, the Fontainebleau forest welcomes 13 million visitors each year. Despite this considerable number, hikers, rock-climbing or mountain-biking enthusiasts, horse riders, cyclists and Sunday walkers come here for its wild landscapes. Fontainebleau was the royal hunting residence before the first lights of the Renaissance shone here under François 1st, in the heart of the Palace which all sovereigns, right up to Napoleon III, cherished, decorated and embellished through the work of their best artists, painters, sculptors, architects, fountainers and gardeners.
At the heart of these landscapes a city was born where side by side lived the Royal Court, His Majesty’s suppliers, the cooks for His table, and the cavalry responsible for His security and hunts.
It was among these landscapes too that, last century, the great Parisian bourgeoisie came for country stays by the forest on the shores of the Seine and the Loing, whilst young painters settled into the neighbouring villages. They had left the capital and the studios of the official school to come and paint in the midst of nature, with their easels among trees and rocks, facing the plain of Brière’s landscapes. And in the evening, they would return to Barbizon at father Ganne’s, to Bourron Marlotte or Morêt-sur-Loing. The pictorial adventure of Barbizon and of the first impressionists such as Corot and Sisley were to open the road to a long line of artists, musicians and writers throughout the century, from Alfred de Musset to Cocteau, from Picasso to Cézanne or from Rosa Bonheur to Lalanne…
If there is a view which can evoke Fontainebleau’s uniqueness, it is the one you have early in the morning from the Château’s park when facing the ornamental lake of the Tiber. In front of you, a bronze statue moulded in the Renaissance… Further beyond, the contrast of the garden’s trimmed boxtrees with the untidy skirts of the forest. Finally, in the very background, passing horses, wanderers, training sportsmen… or ghosts of a royal hunt.
Fontainebleau alone can aspire to such a title. Indeed, no other royal château in France can boast of having welcomed 34 sovereigns, from Louis VI “Le Gros” to Napoleon III.
All the French sovereigns have come to Fontainebleau. Autumn was the habitual hunting season and the Royal Court’s regular sojourn. The domain can thus be considered as their family house. Napoleon expressed it best: “here is the real abode of the kings, the house of centuries”, he said to Sainte-Hélène, recalling the place he had so dearly cherished.
Located at the end of the Brie plateau and close to Paris, which the Capetians had made their capital, the Fontainebleau forest had always been known as an exceptional hunting domain. Sovereigns thus cultivated here the art of hunting, a tradition that is still continued…
Fontainebleau’s name itself is related to stag-hunting, since according to legend the “Fontaine-Belle-Eau” (Beautiful Water Fountain) or the “Fontaine-Bliaut” is named after the owner of the dog, or the dog itself, which discovered it during a hunt. It was close to this fountain in a clearing at the forest’s heart that a first hunting rendezvous was established at an unknown date, but before 1137, as a charter of King Louis VII was recorded that year in Fontainebleau.
The kings rapidly settled into their new mansion: Philippe Auguste, Saint Louis and even Philippe “Le Bel”, who was born here in 1268 and died here following a riding accident. But it was only with François 1st that Fontainebleau took on its full importance as a Royal Place.
Six sovereigns in particular marked the history of the château:
François 1st (1494-1547)
As he enjoyed staying in its « delicious deserts », it was he who gave the palace its general plan. Keeping only the ancient medieval dungeon, he asked Gilles Le Breton to create 2 groups of buildings: one on the ancient foundations which outlines the Oval Courtyard and the other around an immense courtyard named the Basse Cour (now Court of Farewells).
In the gallery that links them the king decided to carry out the most exceptional works, through the rivalry between the Florentine Rosso, a student of Michelangelo, and the Bolognese Primaticcio, disciple of Jules Romain. The result is one of the masterpieces of the French Renaissance and the manifesto of the first School of Fontainebleau. On the ground floor of his gallery, François 1st had Baths installed where he liked to come and admire his collections, including a painting already famous in the entire world: the Mona Lisa… The construction of the château continued in the reign of his son, Henry II, who finished the Ballroom considered to be the other marvel of the Renaissance. Though the royal mistress Diane de Poitiers managed for a time to hand over the building and design works to Philibert Delorme, the queen Catherine de Medicis re-attributed them to her compatriot at the king’s death.
Henri IV (1553-1610)
He regularly resided in Fontainebleau and several children of France were born here, including the eldest son, the future Louis XIII. Henri IV created the court of Offices, the architecture of which recalls the contemporary Place Royale in Paris (since become the Place des Vosges). He remodelled the gardens, had the Grand Canal dug, and entrusted with the decoration of his apartments Flemish artists such as Ambroise Dubois and French artists such as Martin Fréminet, who together formed the second School of Fontainebleau.
Louis XV (1710-1774)
Passionate about hunting, he came here every autumn of his reign to hunt stag. He considerably modified the château, where he married in 1725, by creating small apartments in the style of the period and by having Gabriel demolish and reconstruct a wing of the Court of Farewells to host his suite. Habitual transformations for a royal château, but which saw Primaticcio’s frescos disappear from the still famous Ulysses Gallery.
Napoléon 1st (1769-1821)
The emperor returned to Fontainebleau its vocation of “sovereign” abode. He refurnished the apartments, transformed the King’s bedroom into the Throne room and in 1804 welcomed here Pope Pius VII who had come to anoint him. He held the Sovereign Pontiff here anew from 1812 to 1814, this time as a prisoner. He spent the last days of his reign here before abdicating on 18 April 1814. The salon of the Abdication and the court (which has since become the Court of Farewells) remain places of pilgrimage for imperial history enthusiasts.
Louis Philippe (1830-1848)
He was the first sovereign to decide on a general restoration of the Palace, in order to make it a setting befitting the wedding of his son, the Duke of Orleans, in 1837. The Renaissance décors were restored and even improved with the creation of parquets and ceilings in the style of the period.
Napoléon III (1851-1870)
With the restoration of the Empire in 1852, Fontainebleau regained considerable importance. The new emperor frequently came to the country with the Court, and pursued the chateau’s restoration without respite (Diane’s Gallery, François 1st Gallery and Trinity Chapel). He organised numerous building works for his enjoyment, including a theatre (still in its original state) and a Chinese museum to host Empress Eugénie’s collections. Since the end of last century, the restoration works on the buildings and gardens have been continued, in particular with the Rockefellers’ patronage to save the Beautiful Chimney wing. The collections have been completed through an active purchasing policy (Emperor’s porcelain dinner service).
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