The New Patrons of the hamlet of the Countess of Caen Priory

  • New PatronsThe residents of the hamlet of the Countess of Caen Priory : Muriel and Brunot Crochet, Tanguy Tollila, Nadine Altmeyer, Laurence Bosse, Louis-Marie Beauvois
  • Structure médiatriceMosquito Coast Factory
  • MediatorGéraldine Gourbe accompanied by Anne Langlois
  • Contexte·sCommemoration/Memory, Heritage
  • Dates2024-Ongoing
  • SiteThe hamlet of the Countess of Caen Priory
  • RegionPays de la Loire
  • Partnersla Société des Nouveaux commanditaires

The residents of the hamlet of the Countess of Caen Priory wish to restore and reconnect with the matrimonial history that shaped their past through the commissioning of an artwork

A leading figure of the Saint-Simonian movement, the Countess of Caen — Anne-Sophie Marchoux — was a painter who created the decorative scheme of the Galerie Vivienne in Paris and founded the Académie des Beaux-Arts. The hamlet lies within the former model farm of the Priory, bequeathed by the Countess to the Departmental Council of Maine-et-Loire. The estate, comprising two farmhouses, fields and vineyards, was originally intended to host a practical school of agriculture, viticulture and the arts. Abandoned during the war, the buildings were eventually sold by the Department to private owners in 2015.

Prompted by the residents and elected representatives of Saint-Georges-des-Sept-Voies, the inhabitants of the hamlet wish to restore this broken legacy — one that has undermined not only the Countess’s intentions, but also the life of the community and the memory of the (former) pupils of the model farm. Their ambition is to revive and share the story of the Countess of Caen, to embody it and pass it on as widely as possible. Through thecommissioning of an artwork, they hope to give renewed resonance to this history and to carry forward its utopian and social vision.

Vue de l'église du Prieuré, une route passe devant et un arbre est en premier plan.
The Priory Church. This was the heart of the Saint-Simonian community in Anjou, where an ambitious project was taking shape: a school for the future of agriculture, grounded in the principles of popular and co-educational learning, enriched by a strong artistic and cultural dimension open to all.
Photographie du Prieuré, ancienne maison de la Comtesse, depuis le fond d'un jardin.
The House of the Countess of Caen: the Priory. She preferred to live on her estate at the Priory of Saint-Georges-des-Sept-Voies in Anjou. She was fascinated by everything: breeding livestock, cereal cultivation, viticulture and the latest technical innovations © Angel Lindberg
Vue du Prieuré depuis la route, derrière un arbre.
Another veiw of the Priory. Over time, the former residents of the hamlet grew accustomed to the Countess’s eccentric yet benevolent presence, as well as to the circle of humanist and Saint-Simonian thinkers who gathered around her © Christine Rossignol