The art inside
The interior layout always places the entrance hall at the centre of the building, with access from the courtyard. It opens directly onto the living room overlooking the well-ordered garden, so visitors can enjoy the ornamental flowerbeds. This room with its wood-panelled walls and large marble fireplace is the largest in the entire house. The dining room occupies a smaller room close to the living room, always located on the side of the outbuildngs housing the kitchen. An alcove almost invariably houses a fountain, introducing hygiene at mealtimes. Then there are the owners' apartments on either side of the transverse axis, complete with toilets and wardrobes. A billiard table is sometimes added on this floor and, more rarely, a gallery wing.
Regarding the staircase, several configurations are possible. The two most common include the ceremonial staircase, which usually opens onto the vestibule. The steps are made of stone, or even marble for the most luxurious. The ornate handrail is made of iron and the walls are clad in stone. This rich décor invites visitors to go up to the first floor where the apartments are of equal importance to those on the piano nobile (main floor), corresponding with the ground floor. The second is a staircase that can be returned on either or both sides of the house. In this case, it is often made of wood, giving the rooms on the first floor secondary importance.
While the rooms on the first floor are sometimes connected by a longitudinal corridor, the main floor retains a massed circulation around the vestibule, maintaining an enfilade layout of rooms. Post-Revolution inventories provide us with information about the furnishings, giving us valuable additional insight into the purpose of some of the more discreet pieces. For example, a harpsichord illustrates the presence of a music room and occasionally we learn - from an endless list of objects - of the incredible presence of a bathroom even though this was a luxury unheard of at the time. Cellars are rare - their absence makes the garden more accessible to walkers, while from the living room, the staircase forms a veritable belvedere from which one can take in the full magnificence of the estate.
The themes that animate interior design are those that reflect the rhythm of the day. Hunting, sometimes fishing, games, the arts and gallant scenes in the guise of mythological scenes, give the wood panelling, door tops, overmantels and fireplace lintels a touching intimacy. Their delicate expressions remind us of the carefree, gentle atmosphere sought after in these places.
The art of gardens
Eighteenth-century English writer Arthur Young depicts the daily life of these rural days, on the eve of the French Revolution, in his diaries, Travels in France during the years 1787, 1788 and 1789: "I expected to find it a mere transfer of Paris to the country, and that all the burthensome forms of a city were preserved without its pleasures ; but I was deceived ; the mode of living, and the pursuits, approach much nearer to the habits of a great nobleman’s house in England, than would commonly be conceived. A breakfast of tea for those that chose to repair to it ; riding, sporting, planting, gardening, till dinner, and that not till half after two o’clock, instead of their old fashioned hour ot twelve ; music, chess, and the other common amusements of a rendezvous-room (...) were well calculated to make the time pass agreeably.”
Most of the time, the maisons de plaisance met a need for nature, becoming a complementary but essential amenity to the urban townhouse. While the latter was the hub of business and power games, the maison de plaisance was a playground for pleasure, the arts and entertainment. Among these distractions, the garden took pride of place. It highlighted the beauty of the architecture, enhanced the promenade and provided a majestic backdrop for festivities.
In this idealised world, refinement meets rusticity, pageantry emerges from functionality, and artistic pursuits rub shoulders with the intense labour required by the land. The house is surrounded by perfectly trimmed boxwood garden beds, lawns lined with paths, copses, vegetable gardens, orchards, vineyards and, in the distance, pastures that complete the natural landscape with perfectly orchestrated architecture. Theatres of greenery and enchanting labyrinths devour the fortunes accumulated in the city. Amidst the embroidery of flowers spring up stone statues and fountains. Below the property, a well-defined stretch of water traverses the view. It is an aquatic barrier that fills the air with its cloud of mist, a frontier between the imaginary and the real. If nature dominates the garden, populated by supernatural animals and petrified mythological gods, the wild fauna beyond the pond is unforgiving, invariably following the rhythm of the seasons. Separated by this long canal, visitors come face to face with the animal. For a brief moment, they stare at each other. On which side is the play being performed? Is it in the garden, skillfully staged like a structured décor, where intrigue and gallantry are born and disappear? Or is it the untamed nature that takes to the stage and makes a spectacle of itself beyond a water-filled orchestra pit? Each will refrain from applauding so as not to disturb the other in his retreat.
