Loire Portraits during the Renaissance

But what might the Loire and its riverbanks have looked like during the Renaissance? Based on documents from the time, the web series “Portraits de Loire à la Renaissance” immerses you in this period of history, explores the landscape and tells you about the close ties that still unite the Loire and its people to this day.

In 2019, Mission Val de Loire contributed to the 500 years of Renaissance[s] celebrations in Centre-Val de Loire and presented a documentary web series entitled “Portraits de Loire à la Renaissance”. Comprising six videos, this web series would focus on the Loire itself, a major hub of development and construction in the Loire Valley. It would embrace the entire length of the UNESCO-listed area, from Sully-sur-Loire (Loiret) to Chalonnes-sur-Loire (Maine-et-Loire).

The aim was to give the general public a chance to imagine what the Loire and its banks might have looked like during the Renaissance and what kinds of activities took place there. It is also a way to realise the ongoing continuity of a relationship with the river forged slowly and patiently over time, which also explains why the landscapes of today lay the foundation for the landscapes of tomorrow.

Revealing archive documents, accounts and news from the day

Drawing on documents from the time (maps, engravings, watercolours, news, publications, accounts and reports from archaeological excavations, etc.), the goal was therefore to paint a “portrait”, albeit a fragmented one, i.e. a whole made up of distinct parts.

Thanks to the research conducted, the data could be organised into three main themes:

The evolving landscape of the Loire: explain the landscaping and urban development.
The Loire at the centre of a network of waterways and trade: evoke the hazards of navigation, and the products traded.
The Loire within the vicissitudes of history: recount the experiences of “ordinary” and royal visitors to the Loire Valley, the passage of armies, and the ravages of the Wars of Religion.

The Loire Valley World Heritage site and the Renaissance

The landscape of the Loire Valley, and more particularly its many cultural monuments, illustrate to an exceptional degree the ideals of the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment on western European thought and design.

The political and social history of France and Western Europe in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, when the Loire Valley was the seat of royal power, can be read in the castles, châteaux and residences for which it is so famous: Benedictine abbeys to begin with, and then mediaeval fortresses which were converted during Renaissance times into stately homes nestling within gardens and looking out onto the landscape. In the 15^th and 16^th centuries, the Loire Valley was a cultural hotspot brimming with encounters and influences between the Italian Mediterranean, France and Flanders, and played a key part in developing the art of gardens and in the blossoming interest in landscapes.

To round off the videos from the “Portraits de Loire à la Renaissance” web series, documentary files expand upon the notions raised. They provide more detailed data and written and iconographic sources beyond what is shown in the films, for the purposes of finding out more about the subjects touched on.

500 years of Renaissance[s]

In 2019, the Centre-Val de Loire celebrated the 500th anniversary since the Renaissance. Indeed, 1519 was the year in which Leonardo da Vinci died at the Clos Lucé in Amboise, Catherine de Medici was born and construction of Chambord Castle began. This was an opportunity to shine the spotlight on this period, the Renaissance, which left a significant, enduring impression on the Loire Valley and France as a whole.

In 2019, the Centre-Val de Loire Region thus organised a cultural season called “500 years of Renaissance[S] in Centre-Val de Loire”.

To find out more visit: https://www.nouvelles-renaissances.com/les-nouvelles-renaissances-une-saison-culturelle-et-touristique-sans-egale/

This project was also supported by the CPIER Centre-Val de Loire / Pays de la Loire.