NO sooner had the Duc d’Aumale resolved to bestow Chantilly with all its treasures as a gift to the French nation than he joined, with even more enthusiasm than he had previously done, the ranks of the great European collectors, and he frequently attended in person important sales in London, Paris, and elsewhere.
During the long years of exile, passed chiefly in England, he usually resided either at Orleans House near Twickenham or at Woodnorton in Worcestershire (till recently the residence of his nephew, the present Duke of Orleans). It was, however, at the former place that all the valuable manuscripts, paintings, books, and objects of art brought from Chantilly were then housed.
The first exhibition of his taste as a pronounced bibliophile was given by his acquiring the celebrated Standish Library, a collection originally bequeathed to Louis Philippe by the English collector Standish but sold by auction in 1851 on the death of that King. This remarkable collection contained numerous Aldine editions and hundreds of Italian and German incunabula. To this famous library the Duke next added that of M. Armand Cigongne, a collection composed almost exclusively of works in French—volumes of prose and poetry, exquisitely bound, and many of them still bearing the coats-of-arms and book-plates of former proprietors.
The most important acquisition, however, (added in 1855), was the famous illuminated MS. known as Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, an unique example of primitive French Art, to a description of which we shall return later on.
In course of time other additions were made of great value and interest: such as, for instance, Les Fables de Marie de France, Le Roman d’Aspremont (thirteenth century), a copious selection of ballads and songs of the fourteenth century, and many other works of note, amongst them being a copy in four volumes of the Songs of Laborde, illustrated with original designs by Moreau.
In the year 1861 the Duc d’Aumale, for the moderate sum of 14,000 francs, purchased from the well-known connoisseur M. Reiset a collection of no less than 380 drawings by Italian, Flemish, Dutch, and German masters. Amongst these may be specially noted: A Reading Monk, by Raphael (hung in the Galerie du Logis), and a design, dated approximately 1505, which approaches in execution the St. Catherine in the Gallery of the Louvre.[18] Here are also drawings attributed to Verrocchio: a Warrior on Horseback, five studies of horses, and an interesting drawing of A Man and Woman, all in the style of Pisanello.
La Joconde (also in the Galerie du Logis), a cartoon for the picture attributed to Leonardo da Vinci at St. Petersburg, came from the Reiset Collection, as also did studies for Signorelli’s Last Judgment at Orvieto; studies for Michael Angelo’s Prophets in the Sixtine Chapel; and drawings by Fra Bartolomeo for his great composition in the Pitti. A fine group of eleven figures by Lucas van Leyden, illustrating The Return of the Prodigal Son, is one of the most important items in this series; and a study of a Virgin by Dürer, an interesting Portrait by Holbein the elder, a Mountainous Landscape by Rembrandt, and certain studies of costume attributed to Pisanello, etc., are all worthy of more than a passing notice.
Orléans House was soon found to be far too small to contain all these treasures, and an annexe was built to it. The Duc d’Aumale presently organised an exhibition, to which he invited the members of the Burlington Fine Arts Club. Disraeli, who was present, and was much struck by what he saw on that occasion, referred to him in his speech at the anniversary of the Foundation of the Royal Literary Fund in the following appropriate words: “Happy the prince who, though exiled from his palaces and military pursuits through no fault of his own, finds a consolation in books and an occupation in the rich domain of Art. Happy the prince who, whilst living on terms of equality with the people of a strange country, still distinguishes himself by the superiority of his noble mind and character. Happy the prince who in adverse circumstances can defy fate and make conquests in the kingdom of letters, which cannot, like dynastic authority, be taken away from him.” The great statesman here alluded to the stupendous historical work in seven volumes on the History of the Princes de Condé upon which the Duke was at that time occupied.
It must be remembered that these more recent acquisitions were supplementary to the already existing collection which His Royal Highness had inherited as heir to the last Prince de Condé—a collection which comprised, amongst other things, two fine Van Dycks (the Princesse de Barbançon and the Comte de Berghe), paintings by Christophe Huet, by Desportes and by Oudry, and precious Gobelins and Beauvais tapestries.
Furthermore yet another collection came into the Duke’s possession on the death of his father-in-law, the Prince of Salerno, and with it no less than seventy-two paintings, including works by Andrea del Sarto, Luca Longhi, Giulio Romano, Luca Penni, Perin del Vaga, Daniele di Volterra, Baroccio, Bronzino, Mazzola, Carracci, a Portrait by Moroni, a Guido Reni, a Spada, an Albano, a Portrait of Himself by Guercino, a fine Madonna by Sassoferrato, two landscapes by Gaspar Dughet, and several paintings by Salvator Rosa.