Egreville - The "Bois de la Brandelle"

Saint-Martin Church is located in the heart of the village of Egreville.It is built on the foundations and some walls of an earlier chapel that disappeared in a large fire in the 13th century. It was damaged during the hundred-year war and rebuilt in the 15th century. The belfry that served as a watchtower is attached to the church in the sixteenth century and becomes its main entrance. The arrow is added in the seventeenth.

The covered market replaces the one that disappeared in the fire of 1282 at the end of the 15th century.It was modified in the 17th century to stabilize it. A span was removed to build a hard limestone gable. The weekly market is always there. As well as the traditional fat poultry fair (it has existed for more than 90 years) which takes place on the second Saturday of December each year.

This open-air museum refurbished by the Departement Council is the setting for 56 bronze sculptures.The garden restoration was directed by the architect-landscaper, Françoise Phiquepal. The landscaping for the estate designed by Michel Dufet between 1966 and 1985 has been totally recreated under this restoration project. The paths and beds have been retraced accurately, terraces and borders have been consolidated, many trees and shrubs have been replaced to create a pleasing balance between the sculptures by Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929) and the plantings that serve as a their showcase. The flowering of the beds will put the finishing touches on the rebirth of this magnificent garden in late Spring. These iridescent plants form the backdrop for the public to discover or rediscover the work of the sculptor, Antoine Bourdelle; Michel Dufet and the artist's daughter, Rhoda Bourdelle, have been seeking to make it known for many years. Have worked on creating the first Bourdelle museum in the sculptor's former studio in the Montparnasse district of Paris, they embarked on achieving a true open-air museum on the Egreville property. All the sculptures have been placed and set off by space, light and the colour of the surrounding plant life. The viewpoints on the works become some of the most spectacular, with the most sheltered locations reserved for the most intimate sculptures. All together they represent a varied route that is ideal for understanding the diversity of the sculptor's works, his most celebrated creations like Hercules the Archer, the Dying Centaur and the equestrian statue of General Alvear. Works from his youth still influenced by Rodin's artistry or moving portraits of his contemporaries and the masters he admired like Beethoven, Daumier and Carpeaux are also exhibited. Michel Dufet and his wife Rhodia, Antoine Bourdelle’s daughter, between 1966 and 1969, built the property of the Bourdelle Garden Museum in Egreville. They acquired several plots of land together making up close to 7,000 m2 and a selection of agricultural buildings standing on them. Immediately after the acquisition of the land in 1966, Michel Dufet started on laying out the garden and converting the buildings. Several old trees were kept in the garden, designed around a complex, very organised layout of lawns and beds bordered by neat box hedges, brightened up with annual or perennial plants with the dominant colours varying from season to season. Groups of conifers were planted to structure the space, whilst curtains of poplars or planted hedges screened off the vistas towards the outside. This creation inspired by traditional French-style parks and gardens from the art deco era appears to be the only work by Michel Dufet in this field. The garden is the setting for a collection of 56 bronze sculptures by Antoine Bourdelle, which were introduced gradually between 1967 and the early 1980s. They are original bronzes* (*Limited number of copies in bronze eight maximum + four non-commercial artist's copies), in the main created specially to be exhibited in this place. Although some bronzes were moved to make way for new works, it would appear that overall the position of each sculpture was decided very carefully, based more on the decorative impact of each bronze than with respect to a didactic presentation of Bourdelle's work. The majority of Bourdelle's major works can be found in the garden, including, to name just a few of the most famous, Hercules the Archer, the Dying Centaur, the bas relief of the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and the equestrian statue of General Alvear, surrounded by his four allegorical figures. Michel Dufet and his wife Rhodia intended with this garden project to create an open-air counterpoint to the Bourdelle Museum in Paris that they themselves had crafted a few decades previously. Presenting the sculptures in the open air, in a strictly-ordered plant setting playing with colours and the organisation of space, is ideal for appreciating all the vigour of Bourdelle's art, which Michel Dufet wished to heighten with an original landscaping creation.

Located on the plateau overlooking the Loing valley, here is a charming village in the middle of the plains and woods.The village grew from the 4th century thanks to easily exploitable iron mines that allowed the development of a flourishing industry. Similarly, its location at the crossroads of several ancient Roman roads makes Egreville an important stop, especially thanks to its fairs and markets. But also, with the passage of the many pilgrims who criss-cross the region and find the cottage and the canopy. For this reason, the governor of Castle Landon acquired the estate at the beginning of the sixteenth century and became the first lord of Egreville. First, he built the first chapel of Saint-Martin and a castle around which the village developed. Then, on the order of Saint-Louis, the village was fortified in the 13th century. The village suffered some damage during the hundred-year war. Then, in the sixteenth century, François the first offers the fief to his mistress, Anne of Pisseleu, Duchess of Etampes. The latter, together with her heirs, undertook important restorations and constructions. They will also prosper the village. Witness to the importance of the markets in the villages of Gâtinais since the Middle Ages, Egreville forms a beautiful ensemble with its old houses massed around its hall of the sixteenth century and the large bell tower of its church which also has superb stained glass windows. Moreover, with its magnificent and robust framework and its sloping roof, the old hall surprises with its undeniable beauty. Every year, before the Christmas holidays, she comes to life with a major fat poultry fair.