Maison dite des Anges
MonumentHidden Treasure
Nestling in the heart of Saumur, the Maison des Anges is a 16th-century Renaissance gem with facades adorned with celestial sculptures, a rare testimony to the art of building in Saumur at its height.
History
Turning down an alleyway in the old town of Saumur, the Maison dite des Anges stands out like a tufa stone manifesto of Loire Renaissance elegance. Its evocative nickname, inherited from the sculpted motifs that enliven its façade, is enough to distinguish this private building from the hundreds of bourgeois residences that dot the Loire Valley. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1926, it bears witness to the cultural and economic influence that Saumur achieved during the Renaissance, when the town prospered thanks to the wine, silk and book trades. What makes this house truly singular is the plastic quality of its sculpted decoration. In a region where tuffeau - the local milky-white limestone - lends itself admirably to fine chiselling, 16th-century craftsmen deployed their full range of skills. The angels, the tutelary figures that give the house its name, mingle with scrolls, pilasters and medallions in the antique style, faithful reflections of the Italianate taste that permeated French art at the time, following the royal expeditions to Italy. To visit the Maison des Anges is to immerse yourself in the daily life of the Saumur bourgeoisie during the Renaissance. The building's architecture is crystal-clear: the street façade is a focus for social ostentation, while the interior layout reveals a concern for comfort and functionality that was characteristic of this pivotal period between the Middle Ages and modernity. It's a pleasure to decipher each sculpted detail as a clue to the identity and ambitions of its patron. The Saumur setting adds to the enchantment. The house is part of an exceptional medieval and Renaissance urban fabric, just a stone's throw from the Château de Saumur, whose crenellated towers dominate the Loire. Heritage lovers can follow their visit with a tour of other Renaissance town houses and troglodytic cellars in the area, for a whole day dedicated to the history of this exceptional city.
Architecture
The Maison des Anges is in the French Renaissance style with Italian influences, the dominant style in the Loire Valley in the 16th century. Its façade, built of white tufa - the soft, luminous limestone quarried from the hillsides of the Loire - is the main setting for a richly sculpted décor. The bays are punctuated by pilasters with composite capitals, a direct legacy of the ancient vocabulary rediscovered by the Italian humanists and transposed here with a distinctly French sensibility. The bays, mullioned in the case of the earliest buildings and cross-headed in the case of the most advanced, are framed with mouldings in the form of accolades or semi-circular arches, depending on the level. The central motif that justifies the building's name is made up of angelic figures sculpted in high relief and placed at strategic points in the composition. These angels with outstretched wings stand alongside foliage scrolls, scallop shells, cherub heads and antique-style cartouches, forming a typically Renaissance iconographic programme in which the sacred and profane blend harmoniously. The quality of the workmanship testifies to the skill of seasoned craftsmen, perhaps trained on the great royal building sites of the Loire. The interior layout follows the traditional layout of a middle-class house in the Loire: a central corridor or courtyard leading to the main rooms on the street, a tufa cellar dug or bricked in the basement - essential in a wine-growing region - and converted attic space. The roof, probably made of Anjou slate, gives the building its characteristic Loire Renaissance silhouette, sober in height but generous in ornament.
Related Figures
Duplessis-Mornay — gouverneur protestant de Saumur (1589-1621), figure tutélaire de la ville RenaissanceLe commanditaire anonyme du XVIe siècle — riche bourgeois ou officier royal, instigateur de la constructionLes sculpteurs tufféaux locaux — artisans anonymes héritiers des ateliers des grands chantiers royaux ligériensLes conservateurs de la DRAC Pays de la Loire — garants de la protection du monument depuis 1926Prosper Mérimée — inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques, initiateur du mouvement de protection du patrimoine qui conduira à l'inscription de 1926
