The Chateau of Chenonceau has a new permanent exhibition. It has become the custodian of an extraordinary collection of over 40 scientific instruments and pieces of laboratory equipment that once belonged to Louis-Claude Dupin de Francueil.
Top left, a bell in a vacuum, used to demonstrate that sound does not travel through a vacuum; top right, a lighter in a vacuum, used to demonstrate the effect lack of oxygen has on a flame; bottom left, an adjustable convex mirror, for making distorted images; bottom right, a gold leaf electroscope, which shows that two electrically charged objects which repel one another have the same polarity.
Dupin de Francueil was the eldest son of Claude Dupin, the owner of Chenonceau in the 18th century, and the grandfather of the writer George Sand (real name Aurore Dupin). His stepmother, Louise, was part of the Enlightenment movement, hosting a salon that received the great men of the day such as Montesquieu, Diderot and Voltaire. Her secretary, before he became famous, was none other than Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Being herself interested in the sciences, she allowed Rousseau to work with her stepson, to create a collection of scientific instruments which were intended as pedagogic tools, to demonstrate phenomena such as forces, movement, vacuums and so on, so they could be understood by their application and consequences. This unique collection was owned by the Touraine Archeological Society, but they have nowhere to display it and it has been passed to the Département d'Indre et Loire. Now it has returned, on loan, to its place of origin.
Terracotta retorts, used to heat substances and recover the gases given off.
In 1745-47, during the Dupin's habitual autumn residence at the Chateau of Chenonceau, Rousseau, a keen botanist and seeker of knowledge, and Dupin de Francueil, interested in chemistry, natural history and experimental physics, set up a laboratory in the stableblock. There, they occupied themselves with measuring, experimenting and testing new theories of physics and astronomy. Included in the collection are armillary spheres, a 's Gravesande gutter, a hydrostatic balance, and a hoist with 8 pulleys. The instruments were made by Dupin de Francueil himself, with the assistance of Rousseau, who came from an artisanal family background of watchmakers.
Top, a hydrostatic balance, used to demonstrate density; bottom left, a Heron's fountain, a closed circuit hydraulic system; bottom right, a conical flask, used in atmospheric pressure demonstrations.
It seems Dupin de Francueil had ambitions to be admitted to the French Academy of Sciences, but nothing seems to have come of it. He took chemistry lessons with Academician Guillaume-François Rouelle in Paris and commissioned Rousseau to write a book to popularise science, but it remained unfinished.
These activities were fashionable in France at the time and some important science came out of private laboratories such as the one at Chenonceau. But further than the science, the instruments in this collection are of a very high quality, and reflect the refined style of French objects from the time of Louis XV. Only the collection of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers in Paris rivals the one now at Chenonceau.
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