Dining in the Middle Ages
The exhibition À table au Moyen Âge (Dining in the Middle Ages), which will run from November 19, 2019 to March 20, 2020 at the Château de Hautsegur in Ardèche, takes up and expands the section on the medieval table from the exhibition Tout un Art: la Table. De Pompéi à l’Art nouveau. That event was organized by Master 1 Old Master Art students at IESA arts&culture and was held in IESA’s Paris gallery, cité Griset, from March 7 to 27, 2019.
At Hautsegur, the selection of works and their installation take into account the layout and decor of the château, ensuring mutual enhancement of the architecture and the collection. Some works were commissioned specially for the exhibition, such as an extraordinary wicker fireplace screen.
The exhibition is organized in two complementary parts:
The first takes the form of a series of panels on dining in the Middle Ages, divided into thematic chapters. This educational display, with simple and modern graphics, was originally designed for the Tour Jean-sans-Peur in Paris. The texts are by one of the best specialists on the subject, Danièle Alexandre-Bidon, whose work is both perfectly scholarly and accessible to all. Illustrated with abundant and often previously unpublished iconography, this presentation will interest specialists as well as a broad audience. It will also be available as a catalog sold on site for 8 euros.
The second part will feature tables set in the rooms of the château: in the bedchamber, an aristocratic table and a sideboard will bring together objects as spectacular as a Romanesque aquamanile and a 15th-century nef. In the neighboring room, a large banquet table will allow visitors to admire more modest objects imbued with a very poetic charm.
Almost all of these objects come from the collection of David Brouzet, lead professor at IESA arts&culture. They were commissioned from highly talented craftspeople who perpetuate a traditional know-how by copying archaeological pieces held in museums.
Let us add that in June 2019, the owner of the Château de Hautsegur, Patricia Demangeon, was awarded the Vieilles Maisons Françaises / IESA arts&culture prize. She received the sum of 2300 euros and a tourism development study worth 13,000 euros as well as a four-month training cycle. Master 1 “Tourism and Cultural Heritage” students, supervised by their professor Pierre Chandes, went to the site from October 17 to 19, 2019 to draw up a research and enhancement program for the château and its activities.
This first part will only be visible at Hautsegur until the end of December 2019.
