The Château de Meudon: The Grand Dauphin's Personal Retreat

In June of 1695, the Sun King struck a bargain with Anne de Souvré - widow of his minister Louvois and owner of a charming château called Meudon. In exchange for the Château de Choisy and the balance in cash, Meudon would be sold to the crown. Once Madame de Souvré agreed, the king gave it as a present to his son and heir, Louis.

Meudon had the exquisite advantage of being located right between Paris and Versailles. Therefore, the heir could be close enough for his all-seeing father to keep an eye on him but far enough away to establish a semblance of privacy. Until then, the Grand Dauphin had been living with his father for the vast majority of his life. It is therefore not surprising that Louis treated his new estate as a true gift.

The painting of the château below shows a somewhat small castle in red bricks. This is the Château-Vieux, or the Old Castle. In the background stands the Château Neuf which was added later on to house more people. To the right in the painting is a single story block; here, the dauphin's offices, kitchens and servants' quarters were placed.

Meudon at the time of the Grand Dauphin

As can be seen from the floor plans below, the guests were primarily the Grand Dauphin's immediate family and his friends. As such, it was definitely a change from the bustling of Versailles where any courtier was not only admitted but expected to appear. That, however, would not last forever. By 1705 the court was beginning to look for new beginnings. The king was getting old and some decided to curry favour with the heir to the throne. This created the problem of housing a new score of courtiers at a rather small retreat. 

Amongst those who flocked to the dauphin were courtiers who felt overlooked by the king or even unfairly treated. They saw the Grand Dauphin as their golden ticket back into the favour of a monarch - or at least maintaining their connections with members of the royal family. The latter was easily done at Meudon since especially the dauphin's half-sisters and his sons and daughters-in-law were frequent guests there.

Like his father, Louis had a love for building. He had a grotto in the garden - long outdated and considered unfashionable - replaced with an entirely new building. This was referred to as the Château Neuf and will be discussed briefly below. While the Grand Dauphin was there he could indulge in both his love of architecture (he had some rooms redone several times) and his passion for hunting. The woods surrounding the estate were filled with deer and he did not have to travel far to engage in his favourite type of hunting: wolf hunting.

Ground floor of the original château, 1699/1700

Despite being the Grand Dauphin's personal retreat, he was never quite far from his father's control. It was registered as a royal building under the control of the Bâtiments du Roi which meant that any maintenance and embellishment were paid for by the king's coffers. It is therefore a tad surprising that Louis XIV allowed the extravagant sums that his son's projects cost. At least 3.000.000 livres were spent in the sixteen years that the Grand Dauphin had the enjoyment of his château. A massive sum, indeed, but the king was hardly one to lift an admonishing finger considering the sums he had spent on Versailles and Marly.

The décor of the château was almost a mix of the signature baroque style of Versailles and the Regency-style that was to come. Some has credited the artists working on Meudon with laying the first steps for the development of the rococo. For the Grand Dauphin, this new domain provided a unique opportunity for setting his own, personal stamp on an estate. While he still had to rely on the artists employed by his father - a direct consequence of being administered by the Bâtiments du Roi - Louis did what he could to make the place truly his. He removed a part of his extensive collection of objets d'art to Meudon which certainly added to the château's prestige. Amongst these pieces were his exquisite collection of Chinese porcelain.

Both the old and the new châteaux were redecorated with paneled woodwork which was often either gilded or painted in light tones. Especially the latter touch was a break with the darker, deeper tones used in Versailles.

First floor, 1701

The dauphin was immensely found of the elaborately decorated wooden furniture which were produced by both Boulle and Foulon. Naturally, these would become a firm fixture in the furnishings of Meudon. While the original château is long gone, we do have some insight into the taste of décor utilised by the Grand Dauphin. Besides his personal collection, it is known that his bedroom alcove was decorated with twelve wooden panels. These were completed by Claude III Audran and were designed so that each panel represented a month of the year - with a pagan deity signifying the specific month as well as a zodiac sign. 

The Château Neuf (left) with the original castle at the centre,
both overlooking their shared garden

The Château Neuf

The Château Neuf was a beautiful albeit odd building. Having been built on a rather steep slope, it is not the same from both sides. The subaltern levels were primarily used for either storage or services such as kitchens. The floor plans of the Château Neuf are usually either blurry or in French. I have edited them to provide some clarity. The letters corresponds to the following "code":

A = Bedchamber, B = Cabinet, C = Wardrobe, D = Grand Staircase, E = Vestibule, F = relating to services, i.e. meal preparation and wine cellars, G = Corridors, H= Chapel, H1 = Tribunes used during service, I = Staircase, K = Open to the vestibule below, L = Guards' Room, M = King's Bedroom, N = King's Antechambers, O = Gallery and P = Toilet

From the floor plans it is very clear that the sole purpose of the new building was to provide a temporary accommodation for courtiers. There were 24 apartments, all of which consisted of a bedchamber, a cabinet and a wardrobe. In such cases, a wardrobe would also be the sleeping quarters of a chamber maid or lackey.

It is also interesting to note that specific chambers were marked for the king's use but were never actually used by the king. Instead, he slept in the original château. It was customary to provide such accommodations, even in castles not owned by the royal family.

Louis would fall seriously ill in April 1711. Eventually, he would die at Meudon that same month. From then on the château became the official château of the dauphin of France. However, none of the subsequent dauphins showed nearly as a great a passion for it as their late relative. As such, it was seldom used during the reign of Louis XVI. It was used as a retreat for the ailing dauphin in the 1780's as the air was said to be particularly pure there - unfortunately, it did not save the boy's life. Sadly, Meudon was one of the estates that did not survive the test of time. Unlike many other royal residences, this one was not destroyed in the revolutionary fury. Rather, the château burned down in 1795.