Summary
Intrigued and inspired by Richelieu's great fondness for cats, Madam Leroy decided to establish the Musée du Chat in part of her elegant 17th century mansion on the Grande Rue. She also does a B&B. Two huge antique-filled rooms with fireplaces and private bathrooms are available. Entering the garden through a handsome gate, one is greeted by a large painted cut-out of Puss in Boots in the manner of the French artist Gustave Dorée. Nearby, a bench designed with cat-cutout arms along with cat-shaped croquet wickets set the theme. A pair of huge stone lions, king of the cats, oversee this feline domaine while a couple of resident cats sun themselves. One is free to wander at will through the grand and gracious spaces of this 17th century architectural gem, even up to the grennier (attic) with its huge hand-hewn beams. An elegant staircase leads to the main level where a table is beautifully set by the fireplace for a feline-hosted dinner party for mice. The walls are adorned with enough paintings of cats to make a mouse uneasy. Of special interest are 14 large pastels of Richelieu's cats by Clauzel. They are Felimare, who looked like a tiger; Ludovisk, a Polish cat; Rubis, a neat cat very fond of milk; Serpolet, who loved to sun himself; Racan and Perrruque, the two kittens born in the wig of the academic, Racan; Thisbe and Pyrame, who liked to sleep curled up together; Mounard, quarrelsome and capricious; Ludovic, a rat catcher; Mimi-Paillon, an angora; Lucifer, jet black; Gazette and Richelieu's favorite, Soumise.
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Extract
Our Foreign Correspondent; a French Cat Museum
History gives the French Cardinal Richelieu mixed reviews. At once an enthusiastic patron of the arts as well as a brilliant tyrant wielding great political power, Richelieu became a cardinal in 1622 and prime minister of France in 1624. Rebuilding the Sorbonne in Paris, supporting promis...
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