The Musée Bossuet is the art and history museum of the town of

Meaux Meaux () is a Communes of France, commune on the river Marne (river), Marne in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, Franc ...

, France. Situated in the old episcopal palace, it takes its name from the famous orator and theologian,

Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet Jacques-Bénigne Lignel Bossuet (; 27 September 1627 – 12 April 1704) was a French Bishop (Catholic Church), bishop and theology, theologian. Renowned for his sermons, addresses and literary works, he is regarded as a brilliant orator and lit ...

Bishop of Meaux The Diocese of Meaux (Latin: ''Dioecesis Meldensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Meaux'') is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the entire department of Seine-et-Marne. It was suffragan of the Archdiocese of Sens ...

from 1681 to 1704.

Buildings

The episcopal palace

Built in the twelfth century around 1160, then rebuilt in the seventeenth century, the episcopal palace architecturally is a mix of medieval and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

styles. The most interesting example of eighteenth century work is the south facade of the palace, built of brick and stone, with large cross windows. The north facade is also representative of the ''Grand Siècle'' style. The lower rooms of the palace are the oldest, dating from the second half of the twelfth century. The low and high chapels also date from this time, but were expanded and redesigned in the fifteenth century.

Garden

The ''Bossuet garden'' is beside the episcopal palace. It is a formal garden in the French style with the shape of a miter. The garden was created in the seventeenth century during the episcopate of Dominique Séguier. It took the name of the great prelate in 1911, when it was opened to the public as a city park. On crossing it one reaches the study of Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet.

Collections

The episcopal palace houses collections of paintings and sculptures, as well as items of local history. The collections have expanded thanks to the legacy of the chemist and collector

Henri Moissan Ferdinand Frédéric Henri Moissan (; 28 September 1852 – 20 February 1907) was a French chemist and pharmacist who won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in isolating fluorine from its compounds. Among his other contributions, Mo ...

in 1914 and, more recently, thanks to the donation of the neuro-biologist

Jean-Pierre Changeux Jean-Pierre Changeux (; born 6 April 1936) is a French neuroscientist known for his research in several fields of biology, from the structure and function of proteins (with a focus on the allosteric proteins), to the early development of the ner ...

. He enriched the museum with forty works, the last of which entered the collection in 2006. Different schools of painting are shown from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. * The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are very well represented with canvasses of religious subjects by

Frans Floris Frans Floris, Frans Floris the Elder or Frans Floris de Vriendt (17 April 15191 October 1570) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman, print artist and tapestry designer. He is mainly known for his history paintings, allegorical scenes and portraits. ...

and Bon Boullogne as well as works of

Gianfrancesco Penni Gianfrancesco Penni (1488/1496–1528), called il Fattore, was an Italian painter. His brother Bartolommeo was an artist of the Tudor court of Henry VIII, and another brother, Luca, ended up as one of the Italian artists of the School of Fontain ...

Giuseppe Cesari Giuseppe Cesari (14 February 1568 – 3 July 1640) was an Italian Mannerist painter, also named Il Giuseppino and called ''Cavaliere d'Arpino'', because he was created ''Cavaliere di Cristo'' by his patron Pope Clement VIII. He was much patronize ...

Domenichino Domenico Zampieri (, ; October 21, 1581 – April 6, 1641), known by the diminutive Domenichino (, ) after his shortness, was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese School of painters. Life Domenichino was born in Bologna, son of a shoe ...

Claude Deruet Claude Deruet (1588–1660) was a Baroque painter of the 17th century, from the city of Nancy. Biography Deruet was an apprentice to Jacques Bellange, the official court painter to Charles III, Duke of Lorraine. He was in Rome between ca. 1612 ...

Claude Vignon Claude Vignon (19 May 1593 – 10 May 1670) was a French people, French painter, printmaker and illustrator who worked in a wide range of genres.Paola Pacht Bassani. "Vignon, Claude." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press ...

, Jean Tassel,

Jacques Blanchard Jacques Blanchard (1600 – 1638), also known as Jacques Blanchart, was a French baroque painter who was born in Paris. He was raised and taught by his uncle, the painter (ca. 1560–1630). Jacques’s brother and son, Jean-Baptiste Blanchard ...

, the Le Nain brothers (''L'Adoration des Mages''), Henri Mauperché,

Sébastien Bourdon Sébastien Bourdon (; 2 February 16168 May 1671) was a French painter and engraver. His ''chef d'œuvre'' is ''The Crucifixion of St. Peter'' made for the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, Notre Dame. Biography Bourdon was born in Montpellie ...

(''Saint Martin ressuscitant un jeune homme'' and ''Laban cherchant ses idoles''),

Noël Coypel Noël Coypel (; 25 December 1628 – 24 December 1707) was a French Painting, painter, and was also called Coypel le Poussin, because he was heavily influenced by Poussin. Biography His father, Guyon Coypel, was an unsuccessful artist, original ...

and

Jacques Courtois Jacques Courtois () or Giacomo Cortese, called il Borgognone or le Bourguignon (12 ?December 162114 November 1676) was a County of Burgundy, Franche-Comtois–Italy, Italian Painting, painter, draughtsman, and etcher. He was mainly active in Ro ...

(two battle scenes),

Charles de La Fosse Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning wa ...

and

Hyacinthe Rigaud Jacint Rigau-Ros i Serra (; 18 July 1659 – 29 December 1743), known in French as Hyacinthe Rigaud (), was a Catalan-French baroque painter most famous for his portraits of Louis XIV and other members of the French nobility. Biography Rigau ...

. * From the eighteenth century there as mythological scenes by

François-Alexandre Verdier François-Alexandre Verdier (c. 1651–1730) was a French painter, draftsman and engraver. He was a student and assistant of Charles Le Brun. Biography François-Alexandre Verdier was born in Paris around 1651. He studied under Charles Le Br ...

François de Troy François de Troy (9 January 1645 – 1 May 1730) was a French painter and engraver who became principal painter to King James II in exile at Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Director of the Académie Royale de peinture et de sculpture. Early life O ...

, Antoine Rivalz, Charles-Antoine Coypel,

François Lemoyne François Lemoyne or François Le Moine (; 1688 – 4 June 1737) was a French rococo painter. He was a winner of the Prix de Rome, professor of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, and '' Premier peintre du Roi'' to Louis XV. He wa ...

Jean II Restout Jean Restout the Younger (26 March 16921 January 1768) was a French artist, who worked in painting and drawing. Although little remembered today, Restout was well-respected by his contemporaries for his religious compositions. Biography Restout w ...

Charles-André van Loo Carle or Charles-André van Loo (; 15 February 1705 – 15 July 1765) was a French painter, son of the painter Louis-Abraham van Loo, a younger brother of Jean-Baptiste van Loo and grandson of Jacob van Loo. He was the most famous member of a s ...

Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre (6 March 1714 – 15 May 1789) was a French painter, draughtsman and administrator. Life He was a student of Charles-Joseph Natoire at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture and painted a self-portrait in ...

Philip James de Loutherbourg Philip James de Loutherbourg, RA (born Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg; 31 October 174011 March 1812) was a French-born British painter who became known for his large naval works, his elaborate set designs for London theatres, and his invent ...

, Jacques Gamelin and

Jean-Baptiste Regnault Jean-Baptiste Regnault (; 9 October 1754 – 12 November 1829) was a French painter. Biography Regnault was born in Paris, and began life at sea in a merchant vessel. At the age of fifteen his talent attracted attention, and he was sent to ...

. * The nineteenth century is represented by landscapes from the Barbizon school and a fine collection of paintings of the orientalists. * Sculptures include some by anonymous medieval artists and works by artists such as

Edmé Bouchardon Edmé Bouchardon (; 29 May 169827 July 1762) was a French sculptor best known for his neoclassical statues in the gardens of the Palace of Versailles, his medals, his equestrian statue of Louis XV of France for the Place de la Concorde (destro ...

and

Louis-Ernest Barrias Louis-Ernest Barrias (13 April 1841 – 4 February 1905) was a French sculptor of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, Beaux-Arts school. In 1865 Barrias won the Prix de Rome for study at the French Academy in Rome. Barrias was involved in the decor ...

from the nineteenth century.

Rooms

Access ramp: Bishops of Meaux

There are many pictures of the successive Bishops of Meaux along the access ramp.

Rooms 1 and 2: Mannerism

* In Europe:

, Jean Senelle

Rooms 3 and 4: Classical period

* Preclassicism * Le Grand Siècle

Rooms 5 and 6: Eighteenth century

* Mythology * Neo-Classicism

Room 7: Bossuet

The memory of Bishop Bossuet of Meaux (1682-1704) is evoked by his portraits by

and after

Pierre Mignard Pierre Mignard or Pierre Mignard I (; 17 November 1612 – 30 May 1695), called "Mignard le Romain" to distinguish him from his brother Nicolas Mignard, was a French painter known for his religious and mythological scenes and portraits. He was a ...

gathered in his old study.

Rooms 8 and 9 : The nineteenth century

* Orientalism and realism * Romanticism

Room 10: The Apothecary

Gallery

File:Cardinal Henri-Pons de Thiard de Bissy-musée Bossuet.jpg, Portrait of Cardinal Henri-Pons de Thiard de Bissy (1657-1737). Anonymous File:Jean Tardieu - la conversion de Jean de Joyeuse.jpg, ''The Conversion of Henri, Duke of Joyeuse''. Jean Tardieu, around 1819 File:Rivalz - La Mort de Paetus.jpg, "La mort de Paetus", oil on canvas, by Antoine Rivalz

References

Citations Sources
Page on the town of Meaux web site

External links

Official web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bossuet Art museums and galleries in Île-de-France Museums in Seine-et-Marne