The Cluny Museum – National Museum of the Middle Ages, which reopened its doors in May 2022 after several years of renovation, will present from March 12 to June 16, 2024, in partnership with the GrandPalaisRmn and with the exceptional collaboration of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, an exhibition dedicated to the renewal of the arts in France during the time of Charles VII.
This will be the Cluny Museum’s major exhibition in 2024, unfolding in the Frigidarium room (remains of the Roman baths of Lutetia, 1st-2nd centuries).
The reign of Charles VII, specifically the years 1420-1460, represents a pivotal moment in the history and art history of France and Europe. Indeed, from the 1430s onwards, the kingdom underwent profound political and artistic transformations. While the north of the country was occupied by the English and the Burgundians, multiple artistic centers emerged (Anjou, Poitou, Touraine, Berry, Toulouse area…). The epic of Joan of Arc and the reconquest undertaken by Charles VII heralded the end of the endless Hundred Years’ War. The conditions for a revival were thus aligned, with major patrons calling upon artists of a new generation.
Simultaneously, the influence of the Burgundian court led to the spread of its model and the Flemish ars nova. Artistic creation progressively broke away from International Gothic and turned towards a new vision of reality, the early stages of the Renaissance.
Jean Fouquet, « Charles VII », circa 1450-1455, Paris, Louvre Museum © GrandPalaisRmn (Louvre Museum) / Tony Querrec
The exhibition aims to showcase the full diversity of artistic production during this reign and will gather prestigious illuminated manuscripts, paintings, sculptures, goldsmithing pieces, and tapestries. Among the major works exhibited, the Cluny Museum will host exceptional loans from the Louvre Museum and the BnF, and an entire section will be devoted to the work of Jean Fouquet, one of the greatest French painters of the 15th century, whose famous portrait of Charles VII will be presented.
The Etrillard Foundation will specifically fund the transport of extraordinary and essential pieces from the United States, in association with the New York Medieval Society, a partner of the Foundation. This support will allow the reunification for the first time in France of the triptych painted by André d’Ypres for Dreux Budé, secretary to King Charles VII, and his wife Jeanne Peschard, around 1450, whose central part is kept at the Getty Museum, the left panel at the Louvre Museum, and the right panel at the Fabre Museum in Montpellier.
Master of Dreux-Budé (André d’Ypres?), « The Crucifixion », Central panel of the Dreux-Budé triptych, circa 1450, Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum © J. Paul Getty Museum
The exhibition is curated by several curators from major national institutions: Mathieu Deldicque, Heritage Curator and Director of the Condé Museum in Chantilly; Maxence Hermant, Chief Curator and Head of 15th and 16th-century manuscripts at the Department of Manuscripts of the Bibliothèque nationale de France; and Sophie Lagabrielle, General Curator at the Cluny Museum, in charge of paintings, stained glass, and graphic arts. The Director of the Cluny Museum and General Curator, Séverine Lepape, serves as the General Curator of the exhibition.
The Foundation is supporting the publication of the exhibition catalog, an ambitious collaborative work that will facilitate the dissemination of the most recent knowledge on the period and continue to nourish research.
Barthélemy d’Eyck, « Book of Tournaments », 1460, Paris, BnF, Department of Manuscripts © Bibliothèque nationale de France
The Cluny Museum exhibition aligns with the mission to highlight the Middle Ages, which is dear to the Etrillard Foundation and deployed across various fields of art and humanities in both Switzerland and France. The Foundation thus supports concerts, musical ensembles, and symposia (University of Geneva, Royaumont Abbey and Foundation), the restoration of medieval manuscripts and treasures from prestigious collections (Saint-Maurice Abbey, Solesmes Abbey), and exhibitions related to the Middle Ages (Bodmer Foundation, Louvre Museum).