Hôtel de Besenval

The historical façade of the corps de logis of the single-floor residence Hôtel Chanac de Pompadour, later called Hôtel de Besenval, towards the courtyard, according to the plans of 1704 by Pierre-Alexis Delamair.

The origins of the Hôtel de Besenval go back to a single-floor residence, the Hôtel Chanac de Pompadour, erected in 1704 for a man of the Church, Pierre Chanac Hélie de Pompadour, Baron de Treignac, Abbé de Vigeois, Prieur de La Valette and Prévost d'Arnac. It is believed that the abbé was a descendant of the family of Guillaume V de Chanac (1248–1348), Évêque de Paris from 1333 until 1342.

A view that has not changed since 1704: View from the Salon des perroquets to the vestibule and further to the main entrance and the courtyard with the large wooden gate which leads to the Rue de Grenelle.

For the design and the construction of his new residence, the abbé commissioned the celebrated architect Pierre-Alexis Delamair. Delamair was very much in demand at the time. It was around the same time when he was involved in two other major building projects in Paris: the remodeling of the Hôtel de Clisson, lately known as the Hôtel de Guise, for François de Rohan, Prince de Soubise, which consequently became the Hôtel de Soubise and the construction of the Hôtel de Rohan for Armand Gaston Maximilien, Prince de Rohan.[4][3]

Plan drawn by Pierre-Alexis Delamair in 1704 for the Hôtel Chanac de Pompadour. Visible are the ground floors of the corps de logis as well as of the outbuildings around the cour d'honneur and parts of the garden, which was on different levels at the time. Around the basse-cour (the small courtyard) was space for five coaches in the remises, 18 horses in the écuries and many chickens in the abbé's poullayer.

The Hôtel Chanac de Pompadour is a special feature in Delamair's work, as it is the only single-floor hôtel particulier he ever designed. With the Hôtel Chanac de Pompaodur, Delamair also set new standards in façade architecture. The sober, linear neoclassical façade was a novelty and a contrast to the ornate façades that had prevailed up to that point. Architects, who later made changes to the building, always respected Delamair's basic structure and design.

In his book titled: Nouvelle description de la ville de Paris et de tout ce qu’elle contient de plus remarquable (New description of the City of Paris and all that what it contains most remarkable), first published in 1713, Germain Brice (1652–1727) describes the Hôtel Chanac de Pompadour as a pleasant place. He states: "Abbé Pierre Chanac de Pompadour has erected a house which is decorated with a number of vases and figures." Further Brice points out: "The apartments enjoy an advantageous view and the house, actually built in a rather light way, does not fail to provide several amenities which make the residence pleasant."

View from the Salon des perroquets, where the two enfilades intersect, to La chambre du maître, now called Le salon des ministres.

And in his 1752 publication on French architecture, Jacques-François Blondel points out that at the Hôtel Chanac de Pompadour the kitchen is no longer housed in the corps de logis but in a side wing to the left (west wing). An architectural arrangement that Blondel describes as an innovation. On the one hand, keeping kitchen odors away from the state rooms and, on the other hand, reducing the risk of fire in the corps de logis. In addition to the kitchen, Delamair also combined the other utility rooms in the west wing, such as the servant’s quarters. Furthermore, Blondel praises the generally clever room layout of the house, especially of the corps de logis, which he says can be traced back to the cleverly arranged enfilades. By this he means, on the one hand, the enfilade that connects the main entrance, the vestibule and the Sallon servant de salle à manger (F) and ultimately leads to the garden (south to north) and, on the other hand, the enfilade that connects the three state rooms, the Sallon servant de salle à manger (F), the Chambre de parade (D) and the Grand cabinet (E) (west to east). The two enfilades intersect in the Sallon servant de salle à manger (F), which is now called the Salon des perroquets. Around the so-called basse-cour (the small courtyard) on the east side of the cour d'honneur, Delamair grouped the stables, the tack room and the coach houses, as well as the hen house.

After the death of the abbé in 1710, the property was inherited by his niece Marie Françoise Hélie de Pompadour, Marquise de Hautefort (1648–1726), and his grandniece Marie Anne Henriette d'Espinay, Marquise de Saint-Luc (1673–1731). Their heirs kept the residence until 1747, when they sold it to the widow Madeleine Angélique Neufville de Villeroy, Duchesse de Boufflers. After her marriage on 29 June 1750 to Charles II Frédéric de Montmorency, Duc de Piney-Luxembourg, the Duchesse de Boufflers, now the Duchesse de Piney-Luxembourg, sold the Hôtel Chanac de Pompadour in the same year to Louis-Guy de Guérapin, Baron de Vauréal et Comte de Belleval, the French ambassador in Madrid and Évêque de Rennes.[4][3][5][6][7][8][9]

Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt, in armour, portrayed by Jean-Marc Nattier in 1766, after having received the Order of Saint Louis (the insignia of Chevalier of the order of Saint Louis with the red ribbon is visible on the portrait). Today this portrait is part of the collections of the Hermitage Museum.

It was on 1 October 1764, when Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt, a Swiss military officer in French service, first rented the Hôtel Chanac de Pompadour before he bought the property on 5 December 1767 at auction from the many heirs of Louis-Guy de Guérapin, Baron de Vauréal et Comte de Belleval, for 170,100 livres, of which 6,000 livres for the furniture. The baron, who mainly grew up in France and who was very close to King Louis XVI and especially Queen Marie Antoinette, was a descendant of one of the richest and most powerful patrician families of Solothurn. Among other holdings, the family called the Palais Besenval and the Schloss Waldegg their own; the latter was also the birthplace of Pierre Victor de Besenval on 14 October 1721.[10][11][12][13]

Katarzyna, Baronne de Besenval, née Bielińska (1684–1761), widow of Comte Jakub Potocki, married on 18 September 1716 Jean Victor de Besenval (1671–1736). With her family connections in the highest circles in Poland and her established network at the royal court of France, she played a key role in her family's rise to the highest circles in France, paving the way for her son Pierre Victor's military career. While Voltaire conceded wit and modesty to Katarzyna Bielińska, Rousseau, on the other hand, considered her stubborn and too conceited. An attitude that Rousseau attributed to her illustrious Polish aristocratic ancestry. Portrayed by Nicolas de Largillière in 1720.[14][15][16]

The family de Besenval or von Besenval, as they were called in their hometown Solothurn, had long and close ties to the French royal family, the House of Bourbon, also because of their family ties to the highest circles in Poland.

Pierre Victor de Besenval de Brunstatt was the son of Jean Victor de Besenval de Brunstatt, who was a colonel in the regiment of the Swiss Guards of France. Jean Victor was a descendant from a family originally from Torgnon in the Aosta Valley who had risen socially in the service of King Louis XIV and had received a title of baron of the Holy Roman Empire from Emperor Leopold I in 1695. Pierre Victor's mother was Katarzyna Bielińska (1684–1761), daughter of Kazimierz Ludwik Bieliński, a noble, politician, diplomat and cousin of King Stanisław Leszczyński, as well as sister of Franciszek Bieliński, both Grand Marshals of the Crown in Poland under the reign of King Stanisław Leszczyński, where Pierre Victor's father had served as French ambassador.

The arms of alliance of the families de Besenval and Bielińska. The barony of Brunstatt is represented by the horseshoe in the coat of arms of Jean Victor de Besenval (left). The silver doe stands for Riedisheim and the silver mermaid for Didenheim, two other possessions of the family de Besenval.

Pierre Victor's mother became almost overnight an important figure at the royal court of France when, on 15 August 1725, King Louis XV married Marie Leszczyńska, her cousin, at least that's the rumour that's been spread. A rumour that the Baronne de Besenval never denied.

However, in September 1725, Voltaire wrote from the Château de Versailles to Madame La Présidente de Bernières, Marguerite-Madeleine du Maignart, Marquise de Bernières, née du Moustier (1698 –1767), Châtelaine of the Château de la Rivière-Bourdet: "Everyone here pays court to Madame de Besenval, who is somewhat related to the queen. This lady, who has spirit, receives with great modesty the marks of homage bestowed on her. I saw her yesterday with the Maréchal de Villars. She was asked how she was related to the queen; she replied that queens had no relatives." [15]

This somewhat enigmatic answer from the Baronne de Besenval, however, left room for speculation about the real degree of kinship with the queen.

Whatever the degree of kinship: from this point on, the influence of the family at the royal court increased significantly. An impressive example of this is that the King of France erected the de Besenval's possession of Brunstatt in the Alsace into a French barony on 11 August 1726. Hence the family name de Besenval de Brunstatt.

As a child Pierre Victor lived with his two uncles and further family members in Solothurn at the Palais Besenval and the family's country estate, the Schloss Waldegg. In 1726, when he was five years old, his mother brought him to France, where his parents already lived. The family lived in a hôtel particulier on the Rue de Varenne in Paris. But they also had an apartment near the Château de Versailles. A few years later, on 4 April 1731, at the age of nine, Pierre Victor joined, as a cadet, the regiment of the Swiss Guards, of which his father had become a colonel.[17][18][19][20]

The remains of the nymphaeum in the basement of the Hôtel de Besenval. The slightly different colours of the floor plates still indicate the location of the former pool (an elliptical pool with a diameter of 3.50 meters). Two original by Claude Michel signed rectangular terracotta preparatory reliefs for the decoration of the baron's nymphaeum were rediscovered and sold by Christie's in New York on 20 October 2022 as lot 35 in the sale The Ann & Gordon Getty Collection for USD252,000. One depicting Cupid and Venus, Salmacis and Hermaphroditus and Leda and the Swan and the other depicting the bath of Venus.

At the beginning of the 1780s, the art-loving baron could already look back on an impressive military career. After being appointed military governor of Haguenau in 1766, he was made lieutenant-colonel of the Swiss Guards in 1767 and was promoted to commander-in-chief of the troops and garrisons in the interior of France in 1781.

Plan for the transformation of the Hôtel de Besenval, drawn up in 1782 by Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart. Visible are the ground floors of the corps de logis as well as of the outbuildings around the cour d’honneur and the large garden, one of the largest private gardens in Faubourg Saint-Germain.

Pierre Victor de Besenval wished that his residence would reflect his achievements and his status. It was therefore only consequent, that in 1782 he employed the celebrated architect Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart to enlarge and transform his residence on the Rue de Grenelle. Among Brongniart's additions were a long gallery with skylight for the baron's constantly growing art collection, a dining room and an extravagance: a nymphaeum – a private bath with a pool in the antique style.

Thanks to his contacts with his friends at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, of which he was named an Amateur-Honoraire in February 1784, the baron surrounded himself with quality French art works, signed by Le Nain, Charles-André van Loo, Pierre Mignard, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Antoine Watteau, Jean-Marc Nattier and Henri-Pierre Danloux just to name a few. The baron also owned a version of La Gimblette (girl playing with a dog) by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. This painting hung in the adjoining room of his bedroom, now called the Salon de l'alcôve or Le Boudoir (it was said that the baron owned the first version).

An architectural section of the nymphaeum based on the plan by Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart, which also shows one of the limestone reliefs made by Claude Michel. The columns and the niches for the amphoras are still visible today. The amphoras were also made by Claude Michel. One of the amphoras forms part of the collections of the Louvre since 1986.[21]

It was also thanks to the contacts to the academy, that the baron could win the sculptor Claude Michel for the decoration of his nymphaeum. Claude Michel created among others limestone reliefs with erotic scenes, which later formed part of the interior decoration of the entrance hall of the Château de Digoine in Palinges and since 1987 form part of the collections of the Louvre (today plaster replicas can be seen in the entrance hall of the Château de Digoine). The Château de Digoine and the Hôtel de Besenval were simultaneously owned by the family de Moreton de Chabrillan and their descendants for over 100 years.[10][4][22][23]

Commemorative plaque to the nymphaeum in the basement of the Hôtel de Besenval.

The nymphaeum with its suggestive decoration became very popular with the Parisian high society. Almost immediately rumors about scandalous behavior in the nymphaeum spread around the salons, and this only confirmed the baron's reputation as a lover and seducer. His contemporaries described the baron as extremely handsome, cheerful and witty. As a personality who is very popular with the ladies, loves life and always sees things positively. Qualities that ultimately enabled him to be accepted into the private circle of the Société de la Reine (the Queen’s Society).

Regarding the use of the nymphaeum, already contemporary observers noted that although the pool was filled with hot water, the basement itself was ice cold. Therefore, the nymphaeum was probably only used to a limited extent as a place for love adventures. Furthermore, it was said that the pool was actually used only once, by a soldier of the Swiss Guards who shortly afterwards died of pneumonia.[4][24][12]

Negotiations on the plank: The Taking of the Bastille in 1789. On 6 July 1789, Ludwig von Flüe, an officer of the Swiss Guards, received orders from Pierre Victor de Besenval to go to the Bastille with his detachment of the regiment de Salis-Samade to reinforce the guards and to ensure the defence of the prison-fortress. On 7 July, Ludwig von Flüe arrived at the Bastille with 32 soldiers and a sergeant. In the days that followed, the events came thick and fast. On 14 July, on the orders of the Governor of the Bastille, Bernard-René Jourdan de Launay, Ludwig von Flüe handed over the letter of capitulation to Stanislas-Marie Maillard through one of the holes he had made in the drawbridge of the Bastille. On the other side of the drawbridge, Stanislas-Marie Maillard climbed onto a plank above the dry moat to fetch the document. King Louis XVI first learned of the Taking of the Bastille only the next morning through the Duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt. "Is it a revolt?" asked the king. The duc replied: "No Sire, it’s not a revolt; it’s a revolution." [25][26][27]

By 1789, at the dawn of the French Revolution, Pierre Victor de Besenval had accumulated the positions of lieutenant-general of the king's armies, lieutenant-colonel of the Swiss Guards, and commander-in-chief of the troops and garrisons in the interior of France. In addition, he was also a bearer of the prestigious Order of Saint Louis.

On 5 May, Les États Généraux were convened in Versailles. The baron, who attended the opening ceremony, remarked that the royal court underestimated the seriousness of the situation.

On 1 July, the baron received a ministerial letter informing him that the king had decided to regroup all his troops under a single command and entrusted them to the Maréchal de Broglie. Clearly, the baron was removed from the command of his troops of the Île-de-France and the garrison of Paris. He was now doomed to await and obey orders. However, under the supreme command of the Maréchal de Broglie, he was in command of the troops sent to Paris to quell the riots.

While still maintaining order in Paris in May by drastic measures, the baron withdrew the troops from Paris on 12 July in the hope of avoiding a bloodbath. However, this enabled the Taking of the Bastille on 14 July by revolutionary insurgents. On the part of the aristocrats, the baron was heavily criticized for his behavior. François-Emmanuel Guignard, Comte de Saint-Priest, was furious and accused the baron of incompetence. In his memoirs he wrote contemptuously: "A dozen battalions of foreign troops stationed on the Champ de Mars and a few regiments of cavalry were available to the Baron de Besenval, Swiss lieutenant-general and commander of Paris. Besenval didn't show up, didn't give orders, and locked himself in his house for fear that people might come and loot it." [28]

In his memoirs, which were only published after his death, the baron confirmed that he had acted on the orders of the Maréchal de Broglie that day:

"Weakened by the defection [of some soldiers] and certain that I was useless, I decided to return [with the troops] to Sèvres at nightfall; and as soon as the troops were in motion, I received orders from the Maréchal de Broglie to retreat."

— Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval, [29]

This incident has since been considered the beginning of the French Revolution.

The baron, accused of high treason by the aristocrats and of the crime of lèse-nation by the revolutionaries, had no choice but to flee to Switzerland, his home country.[30][18][31]

The Baron de Besenval was taken to the Château de Brie-Comte-Robert to be imprisoned there on 10 August 1789.

The baron was not only hated by the revolutionary masses as a soldier, but also suspected as a close friend of Queen Marie Antoinette. When the revolutionary masses demanded his head, the baron obtained permission from the king to leave for Switzerland, after having written to him on 19 July. In Switzerland, he intended to retire to his country estate, the Schloss Waldegg, near Solothurn. But just a day after his departure from Paris, the baron was recognized by revolutionary troops during his trip at the auberge in Villegruis near Provins on 26 July. He was immediately arrested and imprisoned at the Château de Brie-Comte-Robert, before being charged with the crime of lèse-nation in mid-October and transferred to the prison Grand Châtelet in Paris on 7 November. In his prison cell, the baron was allowed to be served by his valet, who ordered the baron's meals from the best caterers in town. Furthermore, he was allowed to receive visitors, who came in large numbers. Among others, he received Gouverneur Morris, the future Ambassador of the United States of America to France, on 17 November, to whom the baron reported that he is convinced that a counter-revolution will soon take place. Another visitor was the painter Hubert Robert, whose painting Vue de la cellule du Baron de Besenval à la prison du Châtelet (View from the Baron de Besenval's cell in the Châtelet prison) bears witness to his visit to this day. The painting forms part of the collections of the Louvre since 2012.[32]

It was only through the intervention of the Geneva banker and French finance minister Jacques Necker that the baron escaped lynching when he was arrested in Villegruis. Eventually, the baron was released on 1 March 1790 after winning his case before the court of the Grand Châtelet, thanks to the indefatigable support of his soldiers, who testified in his favour. But also thanks to the closing argument of his lawyer, Raymond Desèze, and thanks to Jacques Necker, who had held his protective hand over him. Saved from the guillotine and released from prison, the baron returned the same day to his residence on the Rue de Grenelle, protected by the Swiss Guards and escorted by a crowd of friends.

Théodora Élisabeth Catherine, Marquise de Broglie, née de Besenval (1718–1777), sister of Pierre Victor de Besenval, who acted as lady of the house at the Hôtel de Besenval, after she separated from her husband, Charles Louis Guillaume, Marquis de Broglie (1716–1786). Portrayed by Jean-Marc Nattier in 1742.

However, not everyone was enthusiastic about this verdict. And quite a few saw this judgment as a courtesy judgment for the Swiss Guards, who were favored by the royal court, and as a concession to Jacques Necker, who demanded a pardon for Pierre Victor de Besenval at a meeting at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris on 30 July 1789. Necker asked in his statement: "It is not only before you, it is before the most unknown, the most obscure of the citizens of Paris, that I prostrate myself, that I throw myself on my knees to ask that no one exercise, neither towards M. de Besenval nor towards anyone else, no rigors similar in any way to those that I have been told... What I ask is consideration for a foreign general, if he only needs that; it's indulgence and kindness, if he needs more… I would be very happy if this example became the signal for an amnesty which would restore calm to France." [33]

In his Mémoires d'Outre-Tombe, published in 1849 and 1850, François-René de Chateaubriand commented cynically on Pierre Victor de Besenval's acquittal: "This incriminated baron compromised in the affair of the Bastille, saved by M. Necker and by Mirabeau, only because he was Swiss: what misery!" [34]

The historical façade of the corps de logis of the single-floor residence Hôtel Chanac de Pompadour, later called Hôtel de Besenval, towards the garden, according to the plans of 1704 by Pierre-Alexis Delamair. The baron's bedroom was in the part of the house, that looks like an annexe (second window from the right).

After his release, Pierre Victor de Besenval resumed his work in the king's service. But soon he was no longer able to hold office, as the six-month imprisonment and the ongoing danger to his life had severely affected his health. His condition worsened day by day.

The baron died on 2 June 1791 after dinner in the bedroom at his residence in Paris surrounded by twenty five friends and relatives including his mistress Catherine-Louise, Marquise de La Suze, née de Santo-Domingo (1757–1826), wife of Louis-François de Chamillart, Marquis de La Suze, and his son Joseph-Alexandre Pierre, Vicomte de Ségur. The autopsy found the cause of death to be a polyp in the heart.

"Le Suisse le plus français qui ait jamais été" (the most French Swiss ever), as Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve once called Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval, was buried on 6 June 1791 in the church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris in the presence of his friends and his only child, his son Joseph-Alexandre Pierre, Vicomte de Ségur.[30][35][36][37][38][39]

La chambre du maître, the former bedroom of the Baron de Besenval, where he died on 2 June 1791. The room has four overdoors with grisaille painting, showing landscape scenes with sheep, birds and putti, interpreting the seasons. Today the room is called Le salon des ministres. The baron's writing table, which was mentioned in the inventory of 1787 as being placed in this room and which dates from around 1720, although altered around 1765 by the ébéniste E. J. Cuvellier of Paris whose stamp appears on it, was sold by Christie's in London on 26 May 2021 as lot 30 in the sale Collection Baroness Marion Lambert for EUR462,500. This bureau plat once formed part of the collection of Gustave de Rothschild. The most valuable piece of furniture in the baron's collection was also placed in this room: A commode à vantaux made in 1778 by Martin Carlin in ebony inset with precious pietra dura panels signed by Gian Ambrogio Giachetti. Today this commode is part of the Royal Collection and is on display in the Green Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace.[40][41][42][43]

In his will of 20 December 1784, Pierre Victor de Besenval, who was never married, bequeathed the usufruct of his residence on the Rue de Grenelle to his lifelong friend, the Maréchal Philippe Henri, Marquis de Ségur, whose second son, Joseph-Alexandre Pierre, Vicomte de Ségur, was in fact the baron's illegitimate son, which was no secret within the family. The baron's relationship with his best friend's wife, Louise-Anne de Vernon, Marquise de Ségur (1729–1778), which lasted until her death, and the illegitimate son did not cloud the relationship between the spouses or between Besenval and his best friend. But on the contrary. The three enjoyed being together. The baron spent a lot of time in the château of the Marquis de Ségur in Romainville where he could pursue another passion: the art of horticulture (the last remains of the Château de Ségur were demolished in 2017). Furthermore, it was the intention of both, the Baron de Besenval and the Marquis de Ségur, that one day the baron’s son would inherit the Hôtel de Besenval. Consequently, the baron bequeathed the bare ownership of the Hôtel de Besenval to his biological son Joseph-Alexandre Pierre, Vicomte de Ségur. The physical resemblance between Pierre Victor de Besenval and his son was noticed and discussed by contemporaries, including Gouverneur Morris, who wrote in his diary after a visit to the Hôtel de Besenval on 27 March 1789: "I then went to the Baron de Besenval. The company is not numerous, and there is the Vicomte de Ségur, who passes for the son of the baron; one must admit that he really is, if one accepts as proof their physical resemblance and their mutual tenderness. This young man is the Lovelace of the day, and as remarkable as his father as a seducer." [44][45][31]

Le Baron de Besenval dans son salon de compagnie in the Hôtel de Besenval, the iconic portrait of the baron by Henri-Pierre Danloux from 1791 (the year of the baron's death). A preparatory drawing of this portrait shows the baron seated with his face and upper body turned toward the viewer instead of the profile view. By changing the pose from frontal to profile, Danloux focuses the attention less on the sitter himself and more on the objects in the room, putting not Besenval himself in the limelight but his passion as a collector. Therefore, the portrait could also be titled: The collector in his cabinet. The three individual ormolu-mounted Chinese celadon porcelain vases which are visible on the right hand side of the mantelpiece each have an identical pendant on the left hand side of the mantelpiece. On 8 July 2021 these three pairs of vases were sold as pairs in three lots (lots 4, 5 and 6) by Christie's in London in the The Exceptional Sale for a total of GBP1,620,000. On 27 May 2004 this portrait of the baron was sold by Sotheby's in New York as lot 35 for USD2,472,000. Today the portrait is part of the collections of the National Gallery.[46][47][48][49]

During the French Revolution, the family de Ségur was largely dispossessed. Consequently, the family was in need of money. Therefore, the Marquis de Ségur and the Vicomte de Ségur decided to sell the entire contents of the Hôtel de Besenval at auction on 10 August 1795. The auction with 222 lots was conducted by Alexandre Joseph Paillet (1743–1814), a prominent auctioneer in Paris at the end of the 18th century. Between 1777 and 1789, Paillet also acted as an agent for the crown, acquiring paintings for the museum in the Louvre.

In the foreword to the auction catalogue, Alexandre Joseph Paillet praises the baron's collection: "The precious and considerable collection of which we are presently announcing the public and detailed sale by auction, will again offer amateurs a brilliant opportunity to acquire distinguished and choice objects in the different kinds of curiosity of which it is composed." [50]

It is an irony of history that the entire contents of the Hôtel de Besenval were sold at auction, because Pierre Victor de Besenval rarely bought at auctions. He preferred to buy his furniture and artworks either directly from the artists or from established dealers such as Lazare Duvaux. The proceeds from the auction were almost two million livres. An enormous sum which helped to financially rehabilitate the family de Ségur.[51]

Detail of the now lost original 18th century ceiling of the Chambre du maître, photographed around 1910.

The considerable auction proceeds show what treasures the baron had amassed in the Hôtel de Besenval over the course of his life. Even his contemporaries knew how to report that the Hôtel de Besenval was a real treasure house.

The prestige of his collection was such that one could almost take at face value the scathing remarks of François-Emmanuel Guignard, Comte de Saint-Priest, accusing the baron of having selfishly preferred to let the looting of the Hôtel des Invalides happen on 14 July 1789 by rioters who seized the cannons and muskets stored in its cellars to use against the Bastille later the same day, for fear that his nearby home, the Hôtel de Besenval, might otherwise have been looted.[52][28]

The description of the Baron de Besenval's residence with many accurate details about the ornaments of the wood panelling and the stucco ceilings of the different rooms as well as of the artworks and the furnishings by Luc-Vincent Thiéry (1734–1822) in his Guide des amateurs et des étrangers voyageurs à Paris, published in 1787, the annotations in the Abbé Le Brun's Almanach historique et raisonné des architectes, peintres, sculpteurs, graveurs et cizeleurs of 1777 about the baron's rich cabinet of paintings from The Three Painting Schools (France, Italy and the Netherlands), together with the baron's 1795 collection sale catalogue by Alexandre Joseph Paillet, offer a remarkably comprehensive picture of his distinctive taste for luxurious furniture, porcelain, paintings, sculptures and objets d’art. Or as Henriette Campan, Première Femme de Chambre of Queen Marie-Antoinette put it: "Le Baron de Besenval avait conservé la simplicité des Suisses, et acquis toute la finesse d’un courtisan français" (the Baron de Besenval had retained the simplicity of the Swiss, and acquired all the finesse of a French courtier).[53]

Some of the baron's treasures are also visible on the portrait titled: Le Baron de Besenval dans son salon de compagnie, painted by Henri-Pierre Danloux in 1791 and now hanging in the National Gallery.[54][55][56]

Installed by Pierre Victor de Besenval: The large and unique marble stove decorated with gilt bronzes made by Pierre Gouthière in the vestibule of the Hôtel de Besenval, photographed just before World War I. Only a few years later it was dismantled and sold. In the late 1990s the stove was with the Galerie Kraemer of Paris. The gallery later sold it to a client in the United States for FRF4,500,000 (then ~USD800,000).[57][58]

Colin B. Bailey describes the iconic portrait Le Baron de Besenval dans son salon de compagnie as Henri-Pierre Danloux's "most accomplished Parisian portrait" and notes that this intimate picture "deserves to be known as the single oil painting produced in the 18th century of a French private collector in his picture cabinet." This painting was one of the few pieces not for sale at the auction in 1795. The baron's son, Joseph-Alexandre Pierre, Vicomte de Ségur, kept his father's portrait in his possession until his death in 1805.

It was to be one last for both, Besenval and Danloux: Besenval died shortly after the portrait was completed in 1791, and for Danloux it was his last major portrait commission before he left France because of the turmoil of the Revolution and emigrated to the United Kingdom.

Salon de la tapisserie at the Hôtel de Besenval. Visible are four of the six chairs of the baron's original furniture ensemble (next to the fireplace) as well as a part of the Alliance Tapestry (behind the grand piano). Also visible is one of the four double-leaf doors which were all mirrored in the late 19th century.

Even today, most of the paintings, which are visible on this portrait, displayed against green damask, can be identified. According to Colin B. Bailey, paintings of the following artists are visible: Cornelis van Poelenburgh, Willem van de Velde, David Teniers, Aelbert Cuyp, Claude-Joseph Vernet and Carlo Maratta. Also most of the other objects visible on the portrait can be identified and sometimes even traced back to their whereabouts, like the pieces of Chinese celadon porcelain placed on the fireplace mantel, which were sold at auction in 2021 by Christie's in London. Furthermore, some pieces of Japanese porcelain are visible on an armoire à hauteur d'appui, made in the style of André-Charles Boulle (one of a pair, made in contre-parti, and almost certainly lots 186 and 187 in the baron's 1795 collection sale catalogue). Among the Japanese porcelain pieces on the armoire à hauteur d'appui are an Arita carp vase and a Kakiemon bottle. The beautifully crafted pair of gilt bronze chenets to the baron's feet (only one of the pair is visible) and the gilt bronze wall-lights on both sides of the mirror (only the lower part of the one on the right-hand side is visible, showing a ram's mask on the back-plate) can be attributed to Philippe Caffieri and were probably made en suite (two pairs of these wall-lights are known: one at the Royal Palace of Stockholm and the other in a private collection).

This shows, on the one hand, the exquisite taste of the baron, whom Luc-Vincent Thiéry once called "homme de goût et de connaissances" (man of taste and knowledge), and, on the other hand, with what precision Henri-Pierre Danloux has executed this last portrait of Pierre Victor de Besenval. Over the years, many of the baron's treasures have found new homes in world renowned museums or distinctive private collections such as the Louvre, the National Gallery, the Hermitage Museum, the Royal Collection, the Wallace Collection and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[59][54][42][60][61][62][63][64][49][65]

Bought the Hôtel de Besenval in 1797: The widow Marie-Elisabeth-Olive Guigues, Comtesse de Moreton de Chabrillan (1761–1807), heiress to the Château de Digoine in Palinges. The comtesse was portrayed by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun in 1782.

Unlike the property and the fortune of the family de Ségur, the Hôtel de Besenval was exempt from expropriation by the revolutionary government, since the former property of the Baron de Besenval was still considered Swiss-owned. In this context, it paid off for the Vicomte de Ségur to ensure that, during the worst phase of the revolutionary turmoil, he was only perceived as executor of Pierre Victor de Besenval's will and not as his heir.[51]

Already in 1780 the Baron de Besenval had bought a hôtel particulier on 6 Rue Chantereine for his son, the Vicomte de Ségur. The Marquis de Ségur lived in the Hôtel de Ségur on 9 Rue Saint-Florentin. Thus, neither the Marquis de Ségur nor the Vicomte de Ségur had the intention to move permanently into the Hôtel de Besenval. However, shortly after his father's death, the Vicomte de Ségur seemed to have lived at the Hôtel de Besenval for at least some time.

The Château de Digoine in Palinges, where the decorative elements of the Baron de Besenval's nymphaeum were brought in the first half of the 19th century. Years later, the original elements, once made by Claude Michel, were sold. Today plaster replicas can be seen in the entrance hall of the château.[66]

In 1795 the Marquis de Ségur and the Vicomte de Ségur decided to let the Hôtel de Besenval to Francesco-Saverio, Conte di Carletti (1740–1803), the Minister of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in Paris. But just two years later, on 14 October 1797, the Vicomte de Ségur sold the Hôtel de Besenval to Marie-Elisabeth-Olive Guigues, Comtesse de Moreton de Chabrillan, née Frotier de La Coste-Messelière (1761–1807), widow of Jacques Henri Sébastien César Guigues, Comte de Moreton de Chabrillan. The family of the Comtesse also owned the Château de Digoine in Palinges. The Comtesse's grandfather was Claude Léonor de Reclesne, Marquis de Digoine (1698–1765).

Pan pursuing Syrinx under the gaze of Cupid: One of the limestone reliefs made by Claude Michel for the baron's nymphaeum which later adorned the entrance hall of the Château de Digoine and has been part of the Louvre collections since 1987.[67]

It was the son of the Comtesse de Moreton de Chabrillan, Aimé Jacques Marie Constant Guigues, Comte de Moreton de Chabrillan, Chambellan to Emperor Napoleon by decree of 21 December 1809, whom Napoleon created Comte de l'Empire by letters patent of 19 January 1811, who later brought all the decorative elements of the baron's nymphaeum to the Château de Digoine and used them to adorn the entrance hall and the grand staircase of the château. Most of these decorative elements were made by Claude Michel, like the limestone reliefs with erotic scenes which form part of the collections of the Louvre since 1987.

The family de Moreton de Chabrillan and their descendants kept the Hôtel de Besenval in their possession until 1925. In later years, they also rented it out, including to members of the family Bonaparte.[45][5][31][68]

View from the Salon de la tapisserie with its mirrored doors, to the Salon des perroquets and further to the Salon des ministres (La chambre du maître). The Salon des perroquets is named after the painting with a parrot in the trumeau mirror above the fireplace and after the paintings in the overdoors which show parrots as well.

It was in 1862, during the time when the Hôtel de Besenval belonged to Marie Jacqueline Sidonie, Marquise de Montholon-Sémonville, née Guigues de Moreton de Chabrillan (1810–1890), daughter of Aimé Jacques Marie Constant Guigues, Comte de Moreton de Chabrillan, and her husband, Louis François Alphonse, Marquis de Montholon-Sémonville (1808–1865), Prince d’Umbriano del Precetto, and Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur, that the corps de logis was altered to its present appearance after the design of the architect Chabrier. The house was enlarged with another floor and an attic with a comble à la Mansart.[69]

View from the vestibule to the Salon des perroquets. To the left and right of the door are the portraits of Jacques Necker, who saved Besenval's neck, and his wife Suzanne Curchod.

This construction work massively changed the external appearance of the single-floor residence. Whereas the corps de logis previously had the appearance and the architectural lightness of a pleasure pavilion, the Hôtel de Besenval now changed its appearance to become a house with a certain severity and seriousness, a residence suitable for a family.

The family de Montholon was very close to the French imperial family, the House of Bonaparte. Charles Tristan, Marquis de Montholon, was a general under Emperor Napoleon and followed him into exile on 8 August 1815 on Saint Helena. Therefore, it doesn't come as a surprise, that between 1855 and 1870 the Princes Lucien and Joseph Lucien Bonaparte, sons of Charles Lucien Bonaparte and therefore descdendants of Lucien Bonaparte, younger brother of Emperor Napoleon, resided at the Hôtel de Besenval.

One of the parrots on one of the overdoors in the Salon des perroquets.

It was also at the request of the family Bonaparte, that the family de Montholon-Sémonville commissioned the extension of the building and the construction of the new suites of rooms on the first floor, so that also other members of the family Bonaparte could temporarily stay at the Hôtel de Besenval, such as Princesse Charlotte Honorine Joséphine Bonaparte (1832–1901).

Today the ambassador's office and other offices and meeting rooms are located on the first floor. Part of the first floor also houses the ambassador's private quarters. The layout and the decoration of these rooms is rather simple compared to the state rooms on the ground floor.[22][70][31][57]

On the afternoon of 8 March 1938, Minister Walter Stucki (right) and the French Foreign Minister Yvon Delbos (left) met for talks in Delbos's office at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. One of the topics of conversation was the relocation of the Swiss Legation to the Hôtel de Besenval. A few days later, the world looked very different. On 10 March, the Government Chautemps IV under Prime Minister Camille Chautemps resigned and Delbos was no longer foreign minister. On 12 March, the Anschluss Österreichs took place. It was the eve of World War II.

In the aftermath of World War I, the Hôtel de Besenval served, amongst others, as the seat of various international arbitral tribunals provided for in the peace treaties. Years earlier, in 1925, Jean de Montholon, a descendant of Marie-Elisabeth-Olive Guigues, Comtesse de Moreton de Chabrillan, who bought the Hôtel de Besenval in 1797, sold the Hôtel de Besenval for FRF3,000,000 to the public company Société immobilière Pompadour, whose majority shareholders were Emily Grace Baumann, née Kinsley (1862–1951), widow of Gustav Baumann (1853–1914), a Swiss gentleman from St. Gallen, and her son, Clifton K. Baumann (1893–1936). However, Emily Grace Baumann and her son Clifton only lived in the Hôtel de Besenval temporarily between 1930 and 1931. The property, which was now subdivided into apartments, continued to be occupied primarily by tenants until it was sold in 1938. One of the more illustrious tenants was George Bakhmeteff, the last tsarist Russian Ambassador to the United States. The last tenant to leave the Hôtel de Besenval before it was taken over by the Swiss Confederation was retired US Ambassador Robert Peet Skinner, former US Ambassador to Greece, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Turkey.

The relocation of the Swiss Legation to the Rue de Grenelle in 1938 made international headlines (notes in French on the back of a New York Times press photo, dated 5 March 1938, showing the garden façade of the building). It is emphasised in the notes, that at the Hôtel Chanac de Pompadour only the ground floor dates from the 18th century. At the time, war was in the air and the international press followed closely what neutral Switzerland was doing. The American press in particular paid close attention to the fact that the Swiss Confederation wanted to buy the Hôtel de Besenval, as the majority owner of this historic significant building, Emily Grace Baumann, née Kinsley, was a well known American socialite. It was therefore no surprise that The New York Times reported on the relocation of the Swiss Legation to the Hôtel de Besenval even before the contract was signed, as it was no secret among the diplomatic and the political circles, that the contract negotiations had been ongoing since 1937. It was also well known, that Emily Grace Baumann, after the death of ther son Clifton in 1936, planned to move back to the USA.

From the mid-1930s, the threat of war in Europe steadily increased. Accordingly, the Federal Council was concerned about the country's balance and independence. Therefore, the Swiss Foreign Minister Giuseppe Motta decided to strengthen Switzerland's presence in some important capitals. Part of this strategy was the plan to purchase representative embassy and legation buildings in strategically favorable locations, particularly in Paris, Rome and Washington (with the purchase of the Villa Kunheim in Berlin in 1919 and a mansion in London, this task had already been accomplished in these capitals).[71][72]

When the Hôtel de Besenval was put up for sale in 1937, the Swiss Government did not have to think twice. With its prime location, ideal size and storied Franco-Swiss past embodied by Pierre Victor de Besenval, it seemed like the ideal building. In the same year, negotiations began between the Société immobilière Pompadour and the Swiss Confederation. Finally, on 19 May 1938, the Swiss Confederation purchased the Hôtel de Besenval for FRF3,440,000 and moved the Swiss Legation from its previous premises at 51 Avenue Hoche to 142 Rue de Grenelle.

It was Minister Walter Stucki, Envoy of the Swiss Confederation to France, who was in charge of the purchase and the supervision of the serious renovation work of the existing buildings as well as the addition of an administrative building bordering the west court, which replaced the former west wing with the kitchen and the servant's quarters. The work was planned and carried out by the architects Moreillon & Taillens. Later, between 1967 and 1969, the west wing was expanded to include a floor and an attic based on the model of the corps de logis.

The main entrance of the Hôtel de Besenval around 1939. The new monumental entrance portal with the inscription Légation de Suisse designed by the architects Moreillon & Taillens has already been completed. The inscription was later removed when the legation was upgraded to an embassy in 1957.

The offices of the Swiss Legation opened in January 1939. A month earlier, in December 1938, Minister Walter Stucki was able to move into the envoy's residence. A few months later, World War II broke out.

In June 1940, after the Battle of France, the capture of Paris and the fall of the Third Republic on 22 June, the legation was downgraded to a consulate and Minister Walter Stucki as well as a large part of the French ruling elite, including the Deputy Prime Minister Philippe Pétain, withdrew to Vichy.

In the course of time, Stucki gained Pétain's trust. And on 27 August 1944, Pétain took Stucki to the Hôtel du Parc as a witness to prove that he was evacuated by the Germans against his will to Belfort. Stucki mediated between the advancing Allies, the retreating Germans and the French Resistance fighters, and saved Vichy from destruction. The grateful city government of Vichy named a street after Stucki, the Avenue Walter Stucki.

After the war in 1945, with the arrival of Minister Carl J. Burckhardt, the Hôtel de Besenval once again became the Swiss Legation.[4][73][70][74][31][75]

Loyal to the End: The Massacre of the Swiss Guards (in red uniform coats) during the Storming of the Palais des Tuileries on 10 August 1792. It is estimated that up to 700 Swiss Guards were killed.

The first permanent diplomatic representation of the then Helvetic Republic in France was opened in April 1798. Head of this first diplomatic representation was the Envoy Peter Josef Zeltner from Solothurn. This was the beginning of a long line of Swiss ambassadors to France.

However, long before, individual Swiss cantons of the old Swiss Confederacy were well aware that they had to have their interests represented at the powerful French royal court. In the Ancien Régime, these tasks were either assigned to special envoys for special tasks, or the already established network by allied persons who were already on the ground was used, such as the officers of the Swiss Guards, like Pierre Victor de Besenval, and this for good reasons. The officers of the Swiss Guards were very influential at the royal court. Alain-Jacques Tornare (* 1957) describes their status as follows: "Swiss soldiers in France were not mercenaries, but an army within the army. In a broader sense, the Swiss community in France formed a state within the state. The kings showered the Swiss with privileges such as tax exemptions, legal rights and freedom of religion, so that they were more favored than the French themselves." The Swiss thanked the kings by assuring them of their reliability and loyalty. In summary, Tornare says about the importance of the Swiss Guards: "A pillar of France's Ancien Régime and a symbol of Swiss know-how." [76][77]

It was in 1782, when the architect Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart transformed the former Grand cabinet at the Hôtel de Besenval into what was then a novelty: a dining room in the neoclassical style, painted in mint green and decorated with overdoor reliefs imitating the decorative style of Pompei and Herculaneum. One showing the Dance of The Bacchae, the other the Toilette of Venus. Dining rooms only became fashionable in the late 18th century. Before that the dining table could be placed alternately in any room – even the bedroom, which in those days was also regarded as a reception room.

The layout and the decoration of the vestibule and the three state rooms, the Salon de la tapisserie, the Salon des perroquets and the Salon des ministres (La chambre du maître), as well as the dining room, have changed little since the time of the Baron de Besenval. The designs of the architects Pierre-Alexis Delamair and Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart are still predominant, especially when it comes to the wood panelling. These rooms are still decorated in the styles of their time: Régence, Louis XV, Louis XVI and Neoclassicism.

Salon de l'alcôve, also called Le Boudoir at the Hôtel de Besenval. A richly decorated room in white and gold, showing four medallion paintings in the style of François Boucher. The showcases are actually bookshelves and were also used as such at the time of the family de Montholon-Sémonville, who were well-known bibliophiles.[68]

However, it was in the first half of the 19th century that the family de Moreton de Chabrillan transformed the little adjoining room to the baron's former bedroom into a Salon de l'alcôve and embellished its wood panelling, dating originally from the 1720s, with elements in the rococo revival style, among others with four medallion paintings in the style of François Boucher, embedded in the wall panelling. Today, this room is also called Le Boudoir.

In the course of time and under the different owners, further decorative changes were made, especially before the turn of the 19th to the 20th century and in the early 20th century. Parquet floors were replaced, some fireplace mantels exchanged, the large 18th-century marble stove decorated with gilt bronzes made by Pierre Gouthière in the vestibule dismantled and sold, the double-leaf doors of the Salon de la tapisserie mirrored, and the stucco ceiling in the Chambre du maître lost its elaborate decoration (the decoration of the ceiling can still be seen in photographs from before World War I).

However, it was with great respect that the Swiss Confederation renovated these rooms after acquiring the property in 1938, which had been already a listed building for 10 years at the time.

Furthermore, from the very beginning, it was also important to the Swiss Confederation to equip the state rooms with appropriate furniture from the relevant eras and styles. And if even possible, to get some of the original furniture back that had once belonged to the furnishings of the Hôtel de Besenval.[78][79][74][41][58]

The enfilade at the Hôtel de Besenval from the dining room, to the Salon de la tapisserie and the Salon des perroquets. In the window niche is one of the six chairs of the baron's original furniture ensemble visible.

A few years after the baron's death in 1791, the baron's furniture, works of art and further belongings from the Hôtel de Besenval were sold at auction in Paris on 10 August 1795. However, already during the baron's lifetime some pieces of furniture as well as paintings and further works of art from the Hôtel de Besenval were sent to his country estate in Switzerland, the Schloss Waldegg, including a furniture ensemble consisting of a sofa and six chairs painted in the so-called gris Trianon (a colour named after the Petit Trianon) and covered in beige fabric embroidered with scenes from the fables of Jean de La Fontaine.

Schloss Waldegg, the former country estate of Pierre Victor de Besenval in Switzerland, where the Swiss Confederation was able to recover some of the original furniture from the Hôtel de Besenval in 1938.

The sofa and the six chairs were bought by the Swiss Confederation in 1938 from the patrician family von Sury. Their ancestor, Josef von Sury von Bussy (1817–1887), who had been married to Charlotte de Besenval (1826–1885) since 26 June 1848, had bought the Schloss Waldegg on 6 February 1865 from the last members of the family de Besenval who were entitled to inherit. With Amédée de Besenval (1862–1927), the main line of the family died out in 1927. However, the House of Broglie are the descendants of the French line of the family de Besenval. Pierre Victor de Besenval's sister, Théodora Élisabeth Catherine, Marquise de Broglie (1718–1777), was married since 1733 to Charles Louis Guillaume, Marquis de Broglie (1716–1786), a nephew of Maréchal Victor-François, Duc de Broglie, on whose orders Besenval had withdrawn the troops from Paris on 12 July 1789. But their son, Achille Joseph, Comte de Broglie (1740–1758), died already at the age of 18. Furthermore, the couple separated later, whereupon Pierre Victor de Besenval's sister moved to the Hôtel de Besenval and ran the household for her brother. However, in 1884, Jeanne Eméline Cabot de Dampmartin (1864–1901), granddaughter of Amédée de Besenval (1809–1899), married François, Prince de Broglie (1851–1939). The descendants of this branch of the family de Broglie also had the extensive family archive in their possession until 1980, with many original documents, also from the possession of Pierre Victor de Besenval, and therefore with relevance for the history of the Hôtel de Besenval (75 boxes of documents, dating mainly from the 17th, 18th and 19th century). Today this family archive is in the state archive of the Canton of Solothurn, the hometown of the family de Besenval.

In 1938, after over 150 years, the sofa and the six chairs were brought back to the Hôtel de Besenval, where again they form part of the furnishings of the Salon de la tapisserie.[78][80][81][82][83]

As in the field of the arts, the baron was also a patron in the field of botany. In 1782, Pierre-Joseph Buc'hoz named a plant after the baron to thank him for his support. Unfortunately, this plant had already received its scientific name a few years earlier and is therefore not known today as Besenvalia senegalensis but as Oncoba spinosa.[10]