Ecouen is generally visited because of its fine chateau, built on the
crest of a hill and entirely surrounded by a delightful wood except on
the side where from a flowered terrace there is disclosed a far-reaching
view out over a smiling country. But it is not the chateau which lures
us hither, but the parish church down in the town that nestles at the
foot of the castle walls. The chateau has lost its old glass, the two
panels from its chapel showing the children of Anne de Montmorency being
now in the chapel at Chantilly, which place also rejoices in the
possession of the famous series of forty-four scenes from the adventures
of Cupid and Psyche, which originally decorated the now destroyed Salle
des Gardes at Ecouen. For us, therefore, the chateau has lost most of
its charm; if you wish to inspect it you must obtain a carte d'entree
from the Chancellerie de la Legion d'Honneur in Paris, for it is now a
school for daughters of members of that order, and is not open to the
public. For those of us who have come here to see the parish church
there will be no bother about permits, for none is needed. This church
not only contains excellent Renaissance windows, but upon them we shall
find a fine array of Montmorency portraits as well. The upper panels of
the lofty lancets that flank the high altar are filled with scriptural
scenes, but below they contain, that to the left, Anne de Montmorency
with his five sons, and that to the right, his wife attended by five
daughters. Although we have here the same family portraits as those seen
in Montmorency Church, this pair is much older (1544-5), and not only
shows the children as much younger than at Montmorency (1563), but also
has but five daughters instead of the seven seen on the later glass. Nor
are these the only similar pairs of these windows. The Constable was so
proud of his children and of their number that he seemed to never tire
of having them portrayed on glass. We have just referred to a third pair
(dated 1544) made for the chapel of Ecouen chateau, but now at
Chantilly, and there is still a fourth pair in the nearby church of
Mesnil-Aubry which are the latest of all, for the Constable is there
shown with a snow-white beard. At Ecouen we observe that the parents
occupy each a separate panel from the children, but at Chantilly the
parent panels are both missing. The remaining three windows on the south
side of the choir bear as donors still other Montmorencys, but the work
is later and not nearly so good. The high altar concealed the lower half
of the central eastern windows, so they did the next most sensible
thing to lowering the altar back--they transferred to a little northern
chapel the panels it obscured. The whole northerly side of the choir
opens out into a chapel whose northern and eastern ends are lighted by
three large embrasures filled with excellent Renaissance glazing,
depicting scenes from the life of the Virgin. Especially fine is the
second from the east, showing in the lower half, the death of the
Virgin, while above are clouds peopled with angels, all leading up to
the Father in the top pane of the tracery. The traceries of the three
easternmost choir embrasures are filled with blue eaglets on a golden
ground, the insignia of the Montmorencys. This same treatment of the
traceries may also be remarked in the chapel of the chateau; in fact,
they are all that remains there of the original glazing. We have already
admired this same form of decoration over the north portal at the
Montmorency Church.
It seems a pity that the Ecouen glass now at Chantilly could not be
restored to the embrasures for which it was made; it obviously does not
belong where it is now found, and, besides, it loses there the historic
significance which it would enjoy in its old home at the chateau of
Ecouen.