Montgeoffroy: Life in a Château

A tour of the country house of Montgeoffroy in Anjou brings to life the French aristocracy on the eve of the Revolution. As we see the arrangement of the rooms and gardens, the furniture and the decoration, the mirrors and the gaming tables, we gain a vivid impression of the daily pastimes and the nightly amusements of a society which regarded marriage as a practical necessity, and expected romance to come later. The owner of the château, the Marquis de Contades, had several mistresses; the apartments of his companion in later life, Madame Hérault, are examined in some detail, as is the tiny, concealed room at the top of a spiral staircase which housed Madame's maid - in an eighteenth-century château the servants, although their lives were so different from those of their masters, were never far away.

© 1998-2008 The Roland Collection & Pira Intl.