Château de Vauventriers
CastleHidden Treasure
A brick and stone jewel dating from the late 16th century, Vauventriers embodies the ideal of the French-style château de plaisance, with its symmetrical pavilions and chapel featuring exceptional painted decorations.
© Wikimedia Commons
History
Nestling in the Beauceron plain on the outskirts of Chartres, Château de Vauventriers is one of the rare intact examples of the brick and stone style that flourished in the Île-de-France and Paris basin at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. Built for a member of the royal entourage, it conveys all the ambition of an era when the great clerks of the state vied with each other in architectural refinement to assert their social ascendancy. What makes Vauventriers so special is above all its coherent composition. The central main building, flanked by low pavilions and extended by wings in return, forms a courtyard of honour of measured elegance, faithful to the precepts of the theoretician Jacques Androuet du Cerceau. This direct reference to one of the greatest architect-theorists of the French Renaissance gives the château a rare documentary value: it is almost a life-size demonstration of the engravings published in the Third Book of Architecture. The chapel in the east wing is undoubtedly the hidden treasure of the complex. Its painted decor, preserved in relative privacy, provides a precious insight into the religious decorative arts of the early 17th century, far removed from the pomp and circumstance of the court but with an obvious concern for the quality of execution. The dovecote in the centre of the farmyard is a reminder of the seigneurial privileges associated with this type of residence. Visitors with a taste for a discreet, authentic heritage will find here a place away from the crowds, where the architecture speaks clearly and the silence of the red and white stones invites contemplation. Champhol's rural setting, just a stone's throw from Chartres Cathedral, makes it a natural stop-off for heritage lovers keen to get off the beaten track.
Architecture
Château de Vauventriers is an archetypal example of the brick and stone style that characterised the architectural production of the French royal milieu at the end of the 16th century. This style, popularised in particular at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye and in many homes in the Île-de-France region, combines the red brick of the walls with quoins, surrounds and ornamentation in ashlar white stone, creating an elegant and controlled checkerboard effect, typical of Henri IV's taste. The layout strictly follows the typology advocated by Jacques Androuet du Cerceau for country houses: a sober, axial rectangular main building is flanked by two slightly lower pavilions, the whole being extended by wings set at right angles that end in two small corner pavilions. This open U-shaped layout delimits a courtyard of honour, the entrance to which, to the west, is marked by a neat gateway with a pedestrian door. The eastern wing houses the seigniorial chapel, whose painted interior decoration is the iconographic highlight of the visit: religious compositions on the vaults and walls in a late Mannerist style that continues the lessons of the Fontainebleaut workshops. To the rear of the dwelling, the farmyard retains its central dovecote, an element of prestige and seigniorial rights characteristic of rural estates under the Ancien Régime. Despite the two phases of construction, the château as a whole displays a fine unity of style, a sign of a master builder attentive to the coherence of the initial project.
Related Figures
Guillaume Baigneault — secrétaire du roi et conseiller des finances, acquéreur du manoir en 1589 et commanditaire du château actuel (1598-1609)Jacques Androuet du Cerceau — architecte et théoricien, auteur du Troisième Livre d'architecture dont les modèles inspirent directement le plan de VauventriersHenri IV — roi de France sous le règne duquel s'effectue la construction, représentant d'un goût royal pour le style brique et pierre
