PHILIPPE DE CHAMPAIGNE (1602-75) - Armand, Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642) c.1625-42 RCIN 404757

This 'official' portrait of the Cardinal de Richelieu by Philippe de Champaigne is in the Royal Collection, in the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London

Though not acquired by George IV, this formidable portrait of Cardinal Richelieu, Chief Minister to Louis XIII and effective ruler of France, was hung by him at St James’s Palace. This is typical of King George IV’s interest in French history as well as French art and design.

First recorded in the collection of Queen Anne in 1705.

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Portraits of the Cardinal in London

The National Gallery, London

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Louis XIII - our King of France

Portraits of Louis XIII at the Musée Carnavalet, Paris

Portrait of Louis XIII, King of France (1610-1643)
Philippe de Champaigne, about 1640

Department of Paintings of the Carnavalet Museum – History of Paris

You can currently discover this painting at the Musée du Luxembourg during the exhibition “Rubens, royal portraits” until the 14th of January 2018.

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The last self portrait of van Dyck

the last selfie of Sir Anthony van Dyck

 Just as the town and castle of Richelieu were being finished in 1641, poor Anthony van Dyck died  in London, over la manche, aged only 42.  Court painter to the to-be-chopped Stuart King, Charles 1; contemporary British monarch to Louis XIII, the loyal and royal husband to the the French king's Louis' sister, Henrietta Maria.

Anthony van Dyck was the opposite number to Armand-Jean du Plessis de Richelieu's court painter, Philippe de Champaigne.  Both painters from the Spanish Netherlands; both painters to  the nobility and image-makers of the National myth.

This portrait is the subject of a public appeal to prevent some Yank(?) adding it to his boring private investment collection.  Six million quid (more?) in contributions please….

déclicer ici / click here

http://www.savevandyck.org

Saint Anne and re-named streets

!UNDER CONSTRUCTION!

The presentation of the Virgin at the Temple by Sainte Anne
- Philippe de Champaigne -

Sainte Anne

Some of the streets intermuros of the Cité Idéale of the cardinal duc have been re-named,

Jules Chevalier in 1857

• GRANDE RUE = GRANDE RUE
• place du Marché = Place du Cardinal The cardinal's square included a church and the halle.
• place des Religieuses = Place Royale. This square was the one that would be entered first by the King on his arrival from the town from Chinon, another royal town, that of the Platagenets.
• rue Henri Proust = rue Sainte Anne    Henri Proust was the parson of Richelieu at the end of the 19th Century.  Apparently, the youngest son of a wealthy family; buried in  the town's graveyard in an imposing vault (a poor priest!).  'St. Anne' (the mother of the virgin Mary) was no doubt selected originally as being the name of the Queen of Louis XIII, so featured in Les Trois Mousquetaires, and a name appropriate for a street to be filled with nuns and nunneries. Note that the King had financed for the construction of the street itself.
• rue Bourbon = 
• rue de la Galère = named after the tavern la Galère - the galley - The existing original building is the only 7-bay structure in Richelieu
• rue des Gaultiers = A gaultier is an old term for a mercenary soldier such as were common in the 17th century, in particular during the 30-years war; think of the film  Barry Lyndon, directed by Stanley Kubrick.
• Place Louis XIII = Marché aux Veaux = Veal Market
• rue Jarry named no doubt after Henri Jarry, Mayor of Richeleieu in 1885, probably at the period of the construction of the Avenue de la Gare.
• rue du Collège
• avenue de Québec = l'avenue du Colonel Goulier http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/way/59097024 http://www.larousse.fr/archives/grande-encyclopedie/page/13727
• rue de l'Académie  Location of the original Académie de Richelieu, a 'public school' for the sons of the local gentry; founded by the cardinal.
• rue Traversière  = Cross Street
• rue Paul Viau-Laurence = who HE? (Google does not know him!)
• rue de l'Hôtel de Ville = Town Hall Street
• rue de Loudun = Loudun Street
• rue des Écluses  = Street of the Sluices (of the town's moat)
• rue du Chantier  = Building site street, filled with houses of the itinerant builders of castle and town.
• rue Jules Chevalier  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Chevalier = formerly rue de Cygne - Swan Street
• rue des Halles  = Street of the market halls - there were several even until the 20th century.
• place Nicholas Lemercier = Site architect for the town and the construction of the church; brother of premier architecte du Roy, Jacques Lemercier.