Costumed characters around a table

"À la table des trois mousquetaires"

Past exhibition

Discover an exhibition on the art of the table and costume at the time of d'Artagnan in the Sainte-Chapelle of the château de Vincennes!

  • 10am - 1pm and 2pm - 5pm (low season)

    10am and 1pm and 2pm - 6pm (high season)

  • Full rate: 13 €

    Reduced rate : 11,50 €

    Free for under-18s and 18-25 years old (EU)

  • French-speaking public

    Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult.

Presentation

Based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas, the exhibition uses theatrical museography and costumed reconstructions to plunge visitors into the Grand Siècle, with the emergence of the art of the table and the art of dressing.

This evocation is also a tribute to Alexandre Dumas and all his diversity, both as a writer and as a family man. In the book "Les Trois Mousquetaires", we find his penchant for military adventures, which he inherited from his father, General Dumas, but also his love of good food, which he owes to his grandfather, an innkeeper and head waiter to the Duke of Orléans. Literature and cooking were his two passions, and they remained with him until his death in 1870. Thanks to his inexhaustible imagination, Dumas draws us into his multi-faceted world, where the characters, like himself, bite into life. "Les Trois Mousquetaires" and subsequent novels such as "Vingt ans après" and "Le Vicomte de Bragelonne" take the reader on a whirlwind tour of an era of intrigue, battle and betrayal, but also of panache and good taste.

The exhibition is an ode to the eclecticism and literary inventiveness of a man who describes in as much detail the twists and turns of a sword fight as the opulence of a royal table or, on the contrary, the modesty of a modest inn. With d'Artagnan, the boldness of Dumas as a devil of a man shines through; with Athos, his generous nature; with Porthos, his epicurean side with a Rabelaisian physique; and with Aramis, his strong personality.

Thanks to the work of the exhibition curators and the faithful costume reconstructions, the château de Vincennes comes alive for a few months in the Age of Louis XIV and its loyal musketeers.

The exhibition curators

Jacqueline Queneau, specialist in the art of the table

Jacqueline Queneau is a sociologist with a passion for history, music and the visual arts. She has worked for many years with various cultural institutions on exhibitions, reconstructions, theatre performances, concerts and conferences. She has worked with the châteaux de Grignan, Suze la Rousse, Champs-sur-Marne, La Motte Tilly, Azay-le-Rideau and Bussy-Rabutin, where she recreated various table settings. She has also carried out historical research for the CMN for the reopening to the public of the Hôtel de la Marine in Paris. In recent years, she has devoted herself to writing a number of books, including "La grande histoire des Arts de la table", published by Aubanel Éditions, and most recently "Comment recevoir à la française", a book on table manners.

Portrait of Jacqueline Queneau
Portrait of Jacqueline Queneau

Jacqueline Queneau

David Brouzet, art historian

A graduate in museology from the Ecole du Louvre and the University of Paris-IV La Sorbonne, David Brouzet has been teaching at the Ecole du Louvre since 1999. From 2006 to 2016, he was in charge of the recolement of works of art for the Commission de récolement des œuvres d'Art (CRDOA). He has been a member of the scientific committee for several exhibitions at the châteaux de Grignan and Suze-la-Rousse, and has contributed to the publication of catalogues of furniture from the château de Grignan, "Volutes d'époque" (2010), and from the museums of Bourges, "Trésors de la marqueterie des musées de Bourges" (2013), the collective work that accompanied the reopening of the 18th-century furniture rooms in the Louvre's Objets d'art department, "Décors, mobilier et objets d'art du musée du Louvre de Louis XIV à Marie-Antoinette (2014)", and the catalogue for the inaugural exhibition at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, "D'un Louvre à l'autre : Ouvrir un musée pour tours (2017)". Since 2016, he has been a lecturer at IESA arts&culture.

Portrait of David Brouzet
Portrait of David Brouzet

© David Brouzet

Partners and sponsors

This project is supported by :

- Nathalie Harran - "La dame d'atours" company

- Jean-Christophe Revel and the entire team of the Early Music Department of the CRR de Paris

- Ludovic Galfo - ERPHA Association

- Martine Regnier - Société des amis de Vincennes

Thanks for their loan and collaboration

Odile Bordaz, David Brouzet, Anne Buchet, Benoît Deruineau, Jérôme Descoux, Bruno François, Irène Gintzburger, Maxence Hulin, Philippe Irrmann, Jacques Lapart, Céline Le Frère, Mathias Le Galic, Ludivine Léger, Jacqueline Queneau, M. and Me. et Me André et Sybille Merlin, Emmanuel de Monteynard, Jean-Yves Patte, Richard Pech, Michel Pinet, Pascal Pinet, Jean-Christophe Revel, Isabelle Turquin, Alexandre Vitel, Julien Wilmart, Angelo Zamparutti, Jean-Philippe Escot