Cabinet of Curiosities: The Duc de Sully

Few people managed to assemble a truly curious collection of oddities to rival that of the Duc de Sully. Louis-Pierre-Maximilien de Béthune was born in 1685 and seemingly took the conventional path of a male aristocrat: he joined the military. Over the years, he would acquire the rank of colonel of the queen's regiment but it was his taste for the oddities of life that never truly left him.

Art, natural history, medallions, and weaponry - all featured in the duke's collection which was housed in his private residences. The collection was divided into twenty categories of which a few choice pieces are repeated here.

Plenty of courtiers shared his taste but few collections are as well-documented as his. This is due to the fact that upon his death in 1761, his collection was sold - for this purpose, an exhaustive inventory was drawn up which has survived to this day. No fewer than 792 lots were put up for auction which shows the sheer size of the collection. The auction took place on 8 March 1762.

The Duc de Sully

The collection contained numerous pieces of antiquity, including several very finely preserved statues of Egyptian priests and gods. Of the ancient Roman statues, the duke appears to have been particularly fond of Venus and Jupiter; both of whom he had several likenesses. Likewise, Etruscan antiquities, medallions and etchings were plentiful. Rather tellingly, the long list of bronze antiquities is quaintly ended with the listing of a bronze equestrian statue of none other than Louis XIV.

However, the "curious" pieces in the collection are the ones that truly draws attention:

• An ivory tooth (likely an elephant tusk) delicately carved with bacchanalian scenes

• A red coral still attached to a rock

• Two nautiluses mounted on golden stands

• Skin of a rattlesnake 

• Petrified wood

• A collection of starfish

• A lantern discovered in an ancient sepulcher 

• A gondola cut from rock crystal

• A rhinoceros' tail and two horns

• Fossil of marine animals

• Antique weapons from the Far East 

• A narwhale's horn

• Various clusters of minerals 

• A taxidermy ibis 

• 326 coins from foreign countries

• Various sea urchins 

Besides his obvious fascination with antiquity, the Duc de Sully had two other interests which clearly shines through: the Far East and natural history, particularly pertaining to the ocean. His collection was full of various types of sea creatures (both living and fossilized) including rare species of fish, starfish, corals, crabs etc. Likewise, he had an entire collection of gemstones, minerals and silver.

Animals, too, seems to have generally been a topic of interest for him. Amongst his numerous bronze sculptures, he had an entire little menagerie which included a wolf, a horse, a dog, a lion, a crab, a frog - even mythological creatures such as dragons and sphinxes.

Meanwhile, China and India has an entirely separate category dedicated solely to such exotic influences. Figurines, books, and even fabrics could be found amongst the lots at the auction. Japanese lacquerwork was also a frequent material amongst his cabinets. The duke would not have been alone in this fascination; Europe was deeply intrigued by the wonders of Asia with its magnificent luxury, revolutionary technology and utterly different traditions in art. The collection of books on the subject in his collection shows that the duke's interest was more than a mere trend but a genuine interest in the societies of the Orient.

The duc de Sully had arranged his collection in four connected rooms, as reported by d'Argenville. The first one housed etchings, maps and various drawings including numerous sculptures, particularly busts and two cabinets with fossils. The second room held his antiques, mainly the Egyptian ones, as well as his collection of engraved precious stones and antique jewellery. These were - like the fossils - kept safe in their own boxes. The third room was dominated by sea-shells - and the antique lantern - while the fourth room had medallions, coins and more antiques.

Frontispiece of the catalogue prepared for the auction

The amount of antiquities amongst his collection might indicate that the duc de Sully had a penchant solely for times long gone. However, his collection also included several pieces of far newer date, including an etching of the wedding of princess Louise Élisabeth (Louis XV's eldest daughter) to the Duke of Parma - an event which he himself would have attended. This could indicate that the duke merely appreciated good craftsmanship. 

While the duke was not particularly scholarly himself, he was allegedly always prepared to show his collection off to those who might be interested.

Abel-François Poisson, Marquis de Marigny

When Abel-François Poisson de Vandières was born in 1725, no one expected him to cut a figure at the French court. His family were not aristocratic but rather financiers. Little to nothing is known of his early childhood; it was not until his 20th birthday that his life was drastically changed. 

In 1745, his sister became the official mistress of Louis XV and assumed the name of Madame de Pompadour. The elevation of his sister was the cataclysm of his career. Once established as the maitresse-en-titre, favours began raining down on Madame de Pompadour's relatives, including Abel-François. It did not take long before he was granted an important position as the next Dirécteur-Général of the Batiments du Roi - the head of the king's buildings. The post gave him a suitable reason to remain at court, an income and some status.

Abel-François was still a young man and he was entrusted to the care of Charles Antoine Coypel for his education. He was sent on a tour of Italy in 1749 during which he collected numerous pieces of art for the royal collection. Some of the pieces were put on display at the Palais du Luxembourg; this happened to make the exhibition the first museum in France.

Abel-François

Upon the death of the current Dirécteur-Général in 1751, he was recalled to France to assume his post. To the surprise of most people, he managed to survive the premature death of his sister and remained in his post until 1773 - the longest term served in an administrative post.

Yet, despite his lucrative post and obvious favour with the king, Abel-François was not particularly well-liked by his fellow courtiers. His temper was notorious and he was never able to escape the sense of inferiority of not having a noble background. It did not help his ego that his lack of an aristocratic title meant that he was known simply as Monsieur de Vandières at court; to remedy the situation, a marquisate de Vandières was quickly discovered. The friends he did manage to gather around him praised his intelligence and his keen sense for organisation - both key characteristics of a good administrator.

His character was difficult for the courtiers to understand. He never did acquire that tact which was necessary for court life and did not seem particularly interested in advancing himself as an aristocrat. For instance, he could easily have agreed to the demands of his sister that he marry an impoverished nobleman's daughter but he did not. At the same time, he was deeply conscious of the very lack of a coat-of-arms; perhaps he resented the idea of owing his nobility to a wife?

Abel-François even shocked his dinner guests one particular evening with an unexpected display of brutality. A household servant committed some minor blunder which caused Abel-François to fly into a rage which he did little to control. In front of his horrified dinner guests, he beat his servant mercilessly before dismissing him. The event caused considerable outrage amongst his fellow courtiers. While physical punishment had long been a stable of a household, the upper classes began to consider it uncivilized to use such methods. After all, noblesse oblige. 

The incident caused Abel-François to be shunned by several high-ranking contemporaries.  However, not everyone was so easily deterred especially as Louis XV continued to show him considerable favour. Madame de Pompadour teasingly referred to him as petit frère which the king began imitating. Immediately, the star of Abel-François sky-rocketed as such a term undoubtedly indicated unbounded royal favour. To be sure, Abel-François enjoyed access to the king in a manner which few others could boast of. 

Nevertheless, he assumed to title of Marquis de Marigny in 1754. Over the years, he began to display the same taste for building as Madame de Pompadour had. He acquired numerous private residences which he filled with his immense collection of art. Professionally, he lend his considerable knowledge to various institutions including the École Militaire while acting as patron for now-esteemed painters such as Boucher, Soufflot and van Loo.

With his background as a bourgeois, an aristocratic marriage of the first class was out of the question. For years, he remained unmarried, despite the efforts of his sister to establish him firmly in the nobility. At last, he married at the age of forty-two to the just sixteen-year old Julie Marie Françoise Filleul. She was the illegitimate and unrecognised daughter of Louis XV by Irene du Buisson de Longpré. 

At this point, he remained largely out of sight. After the death of his sister several decades previously, Abel-François' tendency for privacy had increased. He had never shared her personal ambition and seemingly did nothing to further advance himself under the reign of the new king. On the contrary, he assumed a rather private existence.

The couple had a single child, a daughter who did not survive infancy. As he grew older, Abel-François began suffering from gout which greatly impeded him. He outlived Louis XV, saw the ascension of Louis XVI and the birth of the new generation of royal princes; despite his gout, his health was seemingly good. However, Abel-François died suddenly at the age of 56 in 1781.