Henri-auguste Fourdinois - Four-poster Bed Known As The Bed Of François 1st

Sumptuous four-poster bed said to be of François I in carved walnut on the theme of war and love. Two warriors adorn the headboard. One represents Mars and the other Bellona. This bed is made up of four distaffs connected by four crosspieces continuing with baluster legs. They also support the bed canopy carved with multiple masks linked together by garlands.

Dimensions
Total height 2m71.5
Height of characters 91cm
Interior bedding - l 1m52 x L 1m96
Exterior length 2m12.5
Headboard height 1m78

Muriel Barbier, Curator of Heritage, Inspector of collections at Mobilier National / Manufactures nationale has written an article "Beds "First anthology of European beds from the 15th to the 19th century" in In Situ, the Revue des patrimoines. Here is an extract: "The National Renaissance Museum (Écouen) preserves a bed (inv. E. Cl. 113) that Alexandre Du Sommerard claimed to have bought from a Savoyard bishop who had himself acquired it in Paris during 'a sale of objects from the former Garde-Meuble de la Couronne The oldest description of this bed dates from 1834 and presents it as a Renaissance masterpiece. At the Cluny museum, the bed is. staged in a room called “of François I” and over time took the name “bed of Francis I”. Subsequently, throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the bed was published as an exceptional example of. Renaissance furniture, the myth forged by Alexandre Du Sommerard is repeated and very rarely called into question. In all these publications the “bed of François I” is alternately illustrated by engravings or by photographs, decorated. Gondi-Lesdiguières fabrics (inv. E. Cl. 1204) or another bed set. Serious reservations have since been expressed regarding the dating of this piece of furniture. In addition, the analogies of this bed with the furniture engravings of Jacques Androuet Du Cerceau and the heterogeneity of treatment of the sculpture between the parts of the furniture allow us to formulate the hypothesis of an assembly of elements from various origins. Finally, with a view to creating a new museographic adornment, the “bed of François I” raises the question of the options of curators, restorers and upholsterers in terms of textile restitution, for a clearly eclectic bed. "For more details and to discover the photos, engravings and paintings depicting the so-called four-poster bed of Francis I, we invite you to follow this link: https://journals.openedition.org/insitu/24164