Editing Cardinal Richelieu (section)

==Arts and culture==
[[File:Triple Portrait of Cardinal de Richelieu probably 1642, Philippe de Champaigne.jpg|thumb|''[[Triple Portrait of Cardinal de Richelieu]]'', by [[Philippe de Champaigne]] (c. 1642)]]
Richelieu was a [[chess|chess player]]<ref>{{Cite book |url= |title=Routledge's Every Boy's Annual |year=1877 |pages=341 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Walker |first=George |url= |title=Chess and Chess-players: Consisting of Original Stories and Sketches |date=1850 |publisher=C.J. Skeet |pages=107 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Reinfeld |first=Fred |url= |title=Great Moments in Chess |date=1963 |publisher=Pitman |isbn=978-0-8128-2187-1 |pages=19 |language=en}}</ref> and a famous patron of the arts. An author of various religious and political works (most notably his ''Political Testament''), he sent his agents abroad<ref>Jacques Gaffrel in Italy and Jean Tileman Stella in Germany – Bonnaffé p. 13.</ref> in search of books and manuscripts for his unrivaled library, which he specified in his will – leaving it to [[Armand Jean de Vignerot du Plessis]], his great-nephew, fully funded – should serve not merely his family but to be open at fixed hours to scholars. The manuscripts alone numbered some 900, bound as codices in red Morocco with the cardinal's arms. The library was transferred to the Sorbonne in 1660.<ref>Bonnaffé, pp. 4, 12.</ref> He funded the literary careers of many writers. He was a lover of the theatre, which was not considered a respectable art form during that era; a private theatre, the [[Théâtre du Palais-Royal (rue Saint-Honoré)|Grande Salle]], was a feature of his Paris residence, the [[Palais-Cardinal]]. Among the individuals he patronized was the famous playwright [[Pierre Corneille]].<ref>Auchincloss, p. 178.</ref> Richelieu was also the founder and patron of the {{Lang|fr|[[Académie française]]|italic=no}}, the pre-eminent French literary society.<ref>Elliot, 1991, p. 30.</ref> The institution had previously been in informal existence; in 1635, however, Cardinal Richelieu obtained official [[letters patent]] for the body. The {{Lang|fr|Académie française|italic=no}} includes 40 members, promotes French literature, and remains the official authority on the French language. Richelieu served as the Académie's ''protector''. Since 1672, that role has been fulfilled by the French head of state.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}

In 1622, Richelieu was elected the ''proviseur'' or principal of the Sorbonne.<ref>Pitte, p. 33.</ref> He presided over the renovation of the college's buildings and over the construction of its famous chapel, where he is now entombed. As he was Bishop of Luçon, his statue stands outside the Luçon cathedral.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}[[File:Portrait of the cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642) of Bernini.JPG|thumb|upright=.8|Bust of Cardinal Richelieu by Gianlorenzo Bernini|left|212x212px]]

Richelieu oversaw the construction of his own palace in Paris, the [[Palais Royal|Palais-Cardinal]].<ref>Alexander, 1996, p. 20.</ref> The palace, renamed the Palais-Royal after Richelieu's death, now houses the [[Constitutional Council of France|French Constitutional Council]], the Ministry of Culture, and the [[Council of State (France)|Conseil d'État]]. The ''Galerie de l'avant-cour'' had ceiling paintings by [[Philippe de Champaigne]], the cardinal's chief portraitist, celebrating the major events of the cardinal's career; the ''Galerie des hommes illustres'' had twenty-six historicizing [[De viris illustribus|portraits of great men]], larger than life, from [[Abbot Suger]] to Louis XIII; some were by [[Simon Vouet]], others were careful copies by Philippe de Champaigne from known portraits;<ref>Bonnaffé :7ff (notes other portrait galleries assembled by Richelieu's contemporaries), pp. 10ff.</ref> with them were busts of Roman emperors. Another series of portraits of authors complemented the library. The architect of the Palais-Cardinal, [[Jacques Lemercier]], also received a commission to build a château and a surrounding town in [[Indre-et-Loire]]; the project culminated in the construction of the [[Château Richelieu]] and the [[Richelieu, Indre-et-Loire|town of Richelieu]]. To the château, he added one of the largest art collections in Europe and the largest collection of [[ancient Roman sculpture]] in France. The heavily resurfaced and restored ''Richelieu Bacchus'' continued to be admired by [[Neoclassicism|neoclassical artists]].<ref>The young [[Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres]] made a careful drawing of it.</ref> Among his 300 paintings by moderns, most notably, he owned [[Leonardo da Vinci|Leonardo]]'s ''[[The Virgin and Child with St. Anne (Leonardo da Vinci)|Virgin and Child with Saint Anne]]'', ''The Family of the Virgin'' by [[Andrea del Sarto]], the two famous ''Bacchanales'' of [[Nicolas Poussin]], as well as paintings by [[Paolo Veronese|Veronese]] and [[Titian]], and ''Diana at the Bath'' by [[Peter Paul Rubens|Rubens]], for which he was so glad to pay the artist's heirs 3,000 ''écus'', that he made a gift to Rubens' widow of a diamond-encrusted watch. His marble [[Bust of Cardinal Richilieu (Bernini)|portrait bust by Bernini]] was not considered a good likeness and was banished to a passageway.<ref>"''Le petit cabinet de passage pour aller à l'appartement vert''" (Bonnaffé :10).</ref>

The fittings of his chapel in the Palais-Cardinal, for which Simon Vouet executed the paintings, were of solid gold – crucifix, chalice, [[paten]], ciborium, candlesticks – set with 180 rubies and 9,000 diamonds.<ref>Bonnaffé :16</ref> His taste also ran to massive silver, small bronzes and works of ''[[Vertu (collections)|vertu]]'', enamels and rock crystal mounted in gold, Chinese porcelains, tapestries and Persian carpets, cabinets from Italy, and Antwerp and the heart-shaped diamond bought from Alphonse Lopez that he willed to the king. When the Palais-Cardinal was complete, he donated it to the Crown, in 1636. With the queen in residence, the paintings of the ''Grand Cabinet'' were transferred to Fontainebleau and replaced by copies, and the interiors were subjected to much rearrangement.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}

[[Michelangelo]]'s two ''Slaves'' were among the rich appointments of the château Richelieu, where there were the Nativity triptych by [[Dürer]], and paintings by [[Andrea Mantegna|Mantegna]], [[Lorenzo Costa]] and [[Perugino]], lifted from the [[House of Gonzaga|Gonzaga]] collection at Mantua by French military forces in 1630, as well as numerous antiquities.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}