On the occasion of the reopening of the Château de Rambouillet, the Centre des Monuments Nationaux and the Palace of Versailles present the "The Princes of Rambouillet. Family portraits" from 15 September 2017 to 19 February 2018.

During the European Heritage Days, on 16 and 17 September 2017, the entrance to the Château de Rambouillet and the exhibition will be free from 10 am to 6 pm.

The Exhibition

Ten or so portraits from the collections of the Palace of Versailles will cast a spotlight on the Bourbon-Toulouse-Penthièvre family, who owned Rambouillet for almost all of the 18th century. The château was embellished and the estate largely extended over two generations, first by the Count of Toulouse, the legitimated son of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan who bought the marquisate of Rambouillet from Fleuriau d’Armenonville in 1706, and then by his son, the Duke of Penthièvre, who was obliged to part with the estate in 1783 upon command by Louis XVI.

The exhibition will feature famous works such as the portrait of the Count of Toulouse as a Sleeping Putto by Mignard, or the famous "Cup of Hot Chocolate" by Charpentier, alongside lesser-known but just as evocative portraits like that of the Princess of Lamballe by Ducreux or the Duke of Valois in the Cradle by Lépicié, the latter being displayed for the first time since its recent purchase by the Palace of Versailles.

During the European Heritage Days, on the 16 and 17 of September, the château of Rambouillet will be open, free of charge, from 10 am to 6 pm.

Some of the works

1682 — Pierre Mignard

Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, comte de Toulouse
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1778 — Joseph Ducreux

Marie-Thérèse-Louise de Savoie-Carignan, princesse de Lamballe
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1768 — Jean-Baptiste Charpentier le Vieux

La Famille du duc de Penthièvre
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1676-1700 — Pierre Mignard

Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart, marquise de Montespan
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1768 — Jean-Baptiste Charpentier le Vieux

Louis-Jean-Marie de Bourbon, duc de Penthièvre (1725-1793), et sa fille Louise-Adélaïde (1753-1821)
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Practical Information

Exhibition at the Château de Rambouillet from 15 September 2017 to 19 February 2018, from Wednesday to Monday between 9:50 am to 12 pm and 1:50 pm to 5 pm (closed on 11 November, 25 December and 1 January).

Tickets

THE partnErSHIP

The partnership between the French Centre of National Monuments (CMN) and the Palace of Versailles, established in 2013, institutes dialogue between collections and important national heritage locations that are too often little-known of.

These temporary exhibitions allow the two institutions to pool their ressources to provide as many people as possible with the opportunity to discover or rediscover a few pages of French history in the prestigious setting of national monuments.