(ORDO NEWS) — Thousands of works exhibited in the Louvre Museum hide an incredible amount of stories.
This is especially true of one unknown painting: Martin Drölling’s Kitchen Interior (1815). When it was created, the organs of the royal family were used.
Royal custom
After the death of a member of the royal family, it was customary to extract his heart and intestines.
First of all, to avoid decay, and also because these organs became relics and could be offered to the religious community.
This is how the hearts of Louis XIII and his son Louis XIV were placed before the French Revolution in the church of Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis, and the hearts of other members of the Bourbon royal family (Anne and Marie-Therese d’Autriche, Philippe d’Orléans, Madame Henrietta…) – in Val-de-Grance.
When the French Revolution broke out, all the royal representations were destroyed and the churches looted.
In 1793, the architect Louis-François Petit-Radel was commissioned to throw away the hearts of princes and princesses who were in Val-de-Grâce, as well as the hearts of Louis XIII and Louis XIV.
But instead of scattering them, he chose to sell them to create Mummy Brown, a very rich brown bituminous pigment…
Mummy Brown, amazing glaze
Used since the 16th century as a painting pigment, Mummy Brown was made from organic material (usually powdered mummy flesh) that had been macerated in alcohol and herbs.
The result was a reddish-brown paste that gave incomparable brilliance and transparency.
After Louis-François Petit-Radel received the very dear hearts of the Bourbons, he offered them to two of his artist friends, Alexandre Pau de Saint-Martin and Martin Drolling.
Saint-Martin bought the hearts of Louis XIII and Louis XIV, but used only part of the heart of the Sun King, and returned it in 1815 with the intact heart of Louis XIII.
Martin Drolling bought a dozen hearts, including those of Queens Anne and Marie-Therese of Austria, Monsieur Louis XIV’s brother, Philippe d’Orléans, regent, or even Madame Henrietta, Louis XV’s daughter.
The heart that was used in the tones and shades of the interior of the kitchen, by the French artist Martin Drolling (1752 – 1817).
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