Research programme “The Garde-Meubles of Europe” (2014-2019)

As no such research programme existed, this one was started in order to write the history of the Garde-Meubles in Europe. It aims to achieve a better understanding of an institution (where it is exists and/or has existed in the courts of Europe) and of how the decorative arts were used to serve the centres of power.
Thus, in defining the idea of a Garde-Meuble, the broad sense of the word will be taken for the moment. Although it is an administrative institution, as in France, it will also be considered more broadly and will include the men (administrative agents, artisans, artists) working to furnish the residences of the reigning monarchs, who had power over subjects or citizens. This all-encompassing sense of the word takes into account the diversity of European structures considered across a broad time frame.
The research programme aims to publish the results of the research. In order to do this, meetings have been organised in the various countries involved with the subject. After an initial meeting in Paris (2013), the second meeting took place in Florence (2014), the third in Vienna (Austria, 2015), and the fourth in Paris (2016). The objective of the fifth meeting in Turin (Italy, 2017) was to clarify the organisation of the contents page for the publication on the History of the Garde Meuble in Europe.

Team

Scientific Director: Marc Bayard, conseiller pour le développement culturel et scientifique du Mobilier national et des manufactures royales (Paris).

Steering Committee:

• Hervé Barbaret (Mobilier national, Paris);
• Marc Bayard (Mobilier national, Paris);
• Christiane Naffah-Bayle (Mobilier national, Paris);
• Jean-Jacques Gautier (Mobilier national, Paris);
• Morwena Joly-Parvex (Centre des monuments nationaux, Paris);
• Stéphane Casteluccio (Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Paris);
• Mathieu da Vinha (Centre de recherche du château de Versailles);
• Thomas Kirchner (Centre allemand d’histoire de l’art, Paris);
• Jörg Ebeling (Centre allemand d’histoire de l’art, Paris);
• Christopher Rowell (National Trust, London);
• Rufus Bird (Royal Collection Trust, London);
• Josè Luis Sancho (Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid);
• Iraida Bott (Tsarskoye Selo State Museum-Preserve, Saint Petersburg);
• Enrico Colle (Museum Stibbert, Florence);
• Andrea Merlotti (Consorzio La Venaria Reale, Turin);
• Paolo Cornaglia (Consorzio La Venaria Reale, Turin);
• Henriette Graf (Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation, Berlin-Brandenburg);
• Letizia Tedeschi (Archivio del Moderno, Mendrisio, Switzerland);
• Ilsebill Barta (Hofmobiliendepot Wien-Bundesministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Wirtschaft, Vienna);
• Catharina Charlotta Scheich (Hofmobiliendepot Wien-Bundesministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Wirtschaft, Vienna).

Associates members: Mathieu Caron, Xavier Bonnet, Wolf Burchard, Anna Cerboni Baiardi, Moïra Dato, Aagje Gosliga, Anne Perrin Khelissa, Valeria Mirra, Zane Purmale, Miriam Schefzyk, Johannes Schwabe, Maria Taboga, Aleth Tisseau des Escotais, Gastien Wierez.

Productions

 International symposium “L’histoire du Garde-Meuble en Europe (XVI^e-XXI^e siècles). Entre administration, cérémonial et esthétique” (16-18 October, Paris).
 The proceedings of this conference were published by Éditions Mare & Martin in March 2023 under the direction of Marc Bayard, Muriel Barbier, Paolo Cornaglia and Charlotta Scheich.