CHANTILLY.- How did Francis I, initially victorious at Marignano in 1515, then defeated at Pavia ten years later, save his reign? By becoming a lover of the arts and the protector of letters.

The Chantilly exhibition, The Age of Francis I, illustrates the tremendous impetus that the King gave to literature and the arts, both in taste and political will, aided by an enlightened entourage. Illuminated manuscripts, architectural drawings, paintings and other works of art will show visitors the immense cultural influence enjoyed by the victory of Marignano.

FROM WARRIOR KING TO PATRON OF THE ARTS
Francis I will be honoured in this year of national celebration to highlight his achievements, that unlike many who preceded him, were given in the service of culture and humanism.

Renaissance Prince par excellence, he surrounded himself with scholars and scientists, attracting the greatest artists of his time. He founded perennial institutions (the Collège de France, the public collections), encouraged the dissemination of books and standardised the language. The personalities who played their part in this French Renaissance of arts and letters are as famous as they are prestigious: pioneers like Henri Estienne, Ambroise Paré, artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Primatice, scholars like Guillaume Budé and writers such as Clément Marot and Etienne Dolet.

AN ALL ROUND EXHIBITION
The Age of Francis I exhibition shows how Francis reversed his defeat through the art and culture that was at the heart of the sixteenth century. The monarch thus became the key player of his era, surrounded by artists, humanists, printers.

The 200 exhibits are designed to give visitors the opportunity to learn about the great moments of his reign. This is also an opportunity to become immersed in the world of the King by discovering his family and his court thanks to the drawings of Jean and François Clouet, or to come face to face with the portrait of the King by Clouet, loaned from the Louvre, and its preparatory drawings preserved at Chantilly.

But it is undoubtedly by discovering The King’s Books, important pieces of the exhibition, that the visitor will understand the mind, the taste and cultural ambition of Francis I. Indeed, The King’s books of Chantilly is the second largest collection of books that belonged to Francis I, second only to that of the National Library of France, heir to the royal collection. The exhibition will reveal some of his personal tastes along with other particular manuscripts that are true examples of the art of illumination, famous throughout the world and that can only be seen at Chantilly. Notably, these include the first three books of Diodorus of Sicily, a manuscript gathering valuable advice so that the monarch, inspired by the past, can rule better. Also on display will be the Guerres Galliques by François Desmoulin, illuminated by Godfrey the Dutchman, with the volume from the British Library and Le discours de l’Estat de Paix et de Guerre by Machiavelli, extremely rare, printed in 1544.

Brought together for the first time in the Salle du Jeu de Paume of Chantilly, books and paintings, pieces of art and silverware, drawings and engravings, serve a unique purpose in demonstrating the inventiveness of the very typical French relationship between power and culture.

FRANCIS I AND THE DUKE OF AUMALE: A SPECIFIC IDEA OF FRANCE, A SPECIFIC IDEA OF CULTURE
That Chantilly has many of the King’s books is no coincidence. Indeed, there is great similarity between Francis I, King of France and patron, and the Duke of Aumale, the last owner of the Domaine de Chantilly. A convergence which finds its culmination in the realm of books.

At the intersection between art, knowledge and power, Francis I is the founder of a French tradition, involving openness and external stimulus that involves all disciplines, inventing the arts and literature in the modern sense, expanding the Renaissance spirit from typography, to literature and through to publishing.

The Duke of Aumale, the greatest bibliophile of his time, bought prestigious art collections and surrounded himself with the best advisers, preparing the most suitable places for his many acquisitions with the desire to continue this tradition. Thus, the exhibition, The Age of Francis I, could not be more at home than in the Domaine de Chantilly. It is the tribute that the Duke of Aumale would have liked to have made.