La Flottille Princière du Château de Chantilly" exhibition

The archives kept at the Musée Condé enable us to follow the creation of the Grand Canal, the secondary canals and the navigable areas designed by André Le Nôtre. Without them, no refined flotilla of pleasure and entertainment would have been built in Chantilly. From the 1670s onwards, galleots, rowboats, frigates, gondolas and colourful pirogues colonised the waters of Chantilly for the amusement of the Condés and their guests. The Cabinet des Livres at the Musée Condé presents a copious collection of archives, plans, books and engravings that give an idea of this nautical life.

The exhibition pays particular attention to the types of boats, their provenance, construction and structural aspects. It also shows their involvement in the success of the sumptuous festivities given by the Condés at Chantilly. Indeed, these boats were at the heart of grandiose spectacles, in which, day and night, enchanting nautical performances combined music with an abundance of pyrotechnics that set fire to the boats, the banks of the canals and Le Nôtre's flowerbeds. The most modest boats supported the decorations and fireworks, while the most prestigious paraded or competed in nautical battles orchestrated for the pleasure of the public, such as that of King Louis XV.

Like Louis XIV's fleet at Versailles, the Chantilly royal flotilla did not have an experimental vocation, either in the scientific or military fields. The Grand Canal at Chantilly is in no way a laboratory for naval projects. Its fleet's sole purpose was to provide entertainment and pleasure for the princes.

In fact, the number of members was fairly modest and the type of boats used changed little over time. Nautical exchanges did, however, take place between Chantilly and Versailles: Louis XIV offered luxurious boats to the Condés, who in turn corresponded with members of the Versailles flotilla and that of the kingdom. The prestigious sculptor Caffieri worked on the ornamentation of both the King's ships and those of some of the Condé princes.

The exhibition also looks at the flotilla after 1789 and during the 1840s, ending with a yachting flavour distilled by Henri d'Orléans (1822-1897), Duke of Aumale, the last private owner of the estate.