François Marius GRANET (Aix en Provence, 1775 - 1849) Interior of the Chapel of the Château de Maintenon, 1833 Original canvas from Alphonse Giroux in Paris Signed lower left: "GRANET On the stretcher an inscription in ink: "chapel of the castle of Maintenon by Granet, this castle currently belongs to the Duke of Noailles..." followed by an illegible initials. 40 x 31,8 cm Related work: Lithographed by Léon Noël (Delpech Imprimeur) under the title CHAPEL of the Château de Maintenont (two known states). It is probably in 1833 that Granet met Eugène Nepveu, the architect of the future museum of the History of France wanted by Louis-Philippe. At the same time, Nepveu was carrying out important renovations for the Duke Paul de Noailles at the neighboring Château de Maintenon. Granet then visited the chapel, of which he made a quick sketch with a wash (Paris, Louvre Museum) which gave birth to our painting. He probably wished to preserve the memory of it before it was modified by Nepveu, who kept the stained glass windows, the statues of the Virgin and the Archangel Gabriel but who transformed the opening of the choir by decorating it with a basket-handle arch. François-Edme Ricois exhibited at the Salon of 1838 a painting which takes into account these modifications (n° 1497 of the booklet, Maintenon, private collection) and allows to date our painting between 1833 and this date.