Jacques Laumosnier, Portrait of Maréchal de Tessé, after 1703

I drove to Morbihan for Easter week end and thought it would be fun to stop in Le Mans for once. It is two hours west of Paris and has the most charming old city around Cathédrale Saint Julien. After booking a bed and breakfast with a view of the cathedral from my bed, I walked around the old quarter, which has many shops for musical instruments, and enjoyed the views of the old houses with beams. But the revelation was Musée de Tessé, which always lends the most amazing paintings to International exhibitions of 17th-18 th century and whose collections are based on revolutionary seizures from religious institutions, in 1792.

Cathédrale Saint Julien as seen from my bed at La Demeure de Laclais

Le Mans, which is most famous for its “24 Hour ” car races and its rillettes of pork, was completely rebuilt by the communist municipality in the 1980’s and counts 150 000 inhabitants. Henry II of England was born there in 1130 and being at teh crossroads of Normandy, Brittany, and the Loire valley, it always had a prominent part in the war against England, well defended by its walls against the Duke of Lancaster’s attack in 1356 until Azincourt when John Talbot took over the town. As a result of the destructions by the Revolutionaries in 1790 and the Germans in 1944, the center of town is quite disappointing. But the old medieval town around the cathedral is beautiful. And the very large market on place des Jacobins on Friday morning is famous for its fabulous fish and vegetables…

In the old town the streets are lined with medieval houses

One of the recent additions to the town is ITEMM, Institut technologique Européen des métiers de la musique, which was just honored by the Prix Liliane Bettencourt for its excellence at training young music instruments manufacturers. Since 1990, 200 European artisans learn each year from confirmed string instrument makers, how to reproduce their art. So there is a large population of musical students who hang around the old town and of course many little restaurants.

Entourage of Jacques LouisDavid, Family portrait, Legs Monsieur de Saint Albin

Housed in a 19 th century building which used to be the bishop’s house, a few hundred meters from the cathedral, Musée de Tessé takes its name from Maréchal de Tessé (1648-1725) who fought for Louis XIV th and prepared the treaty of Turin between Savoy and France. The family’s collections of art which were seized after the Revolution were the basis for one of the first museums in France which includes Guido Reni, Joos van Cleve, Georges de La Tour, Philippe de Champaigne, Simon Vouet, Antoine Coypel, Georges Michel, Jean Baptiste Corot, François Boucher, Nicolas de Largilière… It is a classical great art museum with Egyptian artifacts in the basement.

Joos van Cleve, St Jérôme médites in his working cabinet, after 1521

Like in many other provincial museums, the collection of paintings was created by revolutionary seizures but also by private gifts in the 19 th century so the quality of the works is fabulous. I was happy to find a “Landscape by storm” by Georges Michel, the French 19 th century painter who was exhibited at Fondation Custodia a few years ago, because he had been so inspired by the Dutch. Guido Reni‘s Martyr of St Apolline comes from the Tessé Collection but Georges de la Tour‘s “St Francis ecstasy” was bought in 1872. Simon Vouet’s St Véronique was seized in 1799.

The interior of the museum has successfully been recently refurbished

It is a delight to wander around the pretty rooms and to discover Renaissance Italian treasures as well as 18 th century French classical painters. A group of Roger de la Fresnaye modern paintings is displayed, lent by Musée National d’Art Moderne because the artist was born in Le Mans in 1885.

Roger de la Fresnaye, Self portrait with a chevalier, ca 1906

So think about making a halt in le Mans on your way to Brittany, it is really an interesting town historically and there are many sites to visit around like château du Lude, Malicorne china manufactory and Abbaye de l’Epau.

My bed and breakfast La Demeure de Laclais was modest and beautiful (100€)  and Musée de Tessé is well worth a visit. Marché des Jacobins takes place on Wednesday, Friday, Sunday.