Castles and Chateaux of Old Touraine and the Loire CountryMansfield, M. F. (Milburg Francisco)
History
Castles and Chateaux of Old Touraine and the Loire Country
Mansfield, M. F. (Milburg Francisco)
Castles -- France; France -- Description and travel
In later times the history of the château and its dependencies has been
more prosaic. The Emir Abd-el-Kader was imprisoned here in 1852, and
Louis Napoleon stayed for a time within its walls upon his return from
the south. To-day it belongs to the family of Orleans, to whom it was
given by the National Assembly in 1872, and has become a house of
retreat for military veterans. This is due to the generosity of the Duc
d'Aumale into whose hands it has since passed. The restoration which has
been carried on has made of Amboise an ideal reproduction of what it
once was, and in every way it is one of the most splendid and famous
châteaux of its kind, though by no means as lovable as the residential
châteaux of Chenonceaux or Langeais.
The Chapelle de St. Hubert, which was restored by Louis Philippe, is the
chief artistic attraction of Amboise; a bijou of full-blown Gothic. It
is a veritable architectural joy of the period of Charles VIII., to whom
its erection was due. Its portal has an adorable bas-relief,
representing "La Chasse de St. Hubert," and showing St. Hubert, St.
Christopher, and St. Anthony, while above, in the tympanum, are
effigies of the Virgin, of Charles VIII., and of Anne de Bretagne. The
sculpture is, however, comparatively modern, but it embellishes a shrine
worthy in every way, for there repose the bones of Leonardo da Vinci.
Formerly Da Vinci's remains had rested in the chapel of the château
itself, dedicated to St. Florentin.
Often the Chapelle de St. Hubert has been confounded with that described
by Scott in "Quentin Durward," but it is manifestly not the same, as
that was located in Tours or near there, and his very words describe the
architecture as "of the rudest and meanest kind," which this is not.
Over the arched doorway of the chapel at Tours there was, however, a
"statue of St. Hubert with a bugle-horn around his neck and a leash of
greyhounds at his feet," which may have been an early suggestion of the
later work which was undertaken at Amboise.
All vocations came to have their protecting saints in the middle ages,
and, since "_la chasse_" was the great recreation of so many,
distinction was bestowed upon Hubert as being one of the most devout.
The legend is sufficiently familiar not to need recounting here, and,
anyway, the story is plainly told in this sculptured panel over the
portal of the chapel at Amboise.
In this Chapel of St. Hubert was formerly held "that which was called a
hunting-mass. The office was only used before the noble and powerful,
who, while assisting at the solemnity, were usually impatient to
commence their favourite sport."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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