Lot 362 Dα

The château of Neuilly, which belonged to the Marquis de Nointel in 1648, was rebuilt in 1751 by the architect Cartaud for Marc Pierre de Voyer d'Argenson. After his death, the castle passed to Madame de Montesson, the morganatic wife of Louis-Philippe le Gros, Duke of Orléans (1725 - 1785), grandfather of the future King Louis-Philippe. In 1804, Murat, already the owner of the Château de Villiers, bought the neighbouring Château de Neuilly. After Murat was appointed King of Naples, the building reverted to the Crown. Napoleon gave Neuilly to his sister Pauline, who never lived there.

In 1817, the two châteaux were exchanged by Louis-Philippe, then Duke of Orleans, for the stables in Chartres, which had housed the Crown's horses since 1801. He enlarged the estate and had several buildings constructed to accommodate his many children and his sister Adelaïde.

During the revolution of 1848, the castle was set on fire and looted. In 1852, Napoleon III confiscated it as the property of the House of Orléans, after which the park was divided into 700 parcels, into streets and plots, which were successively auctioned off. Only one wing of the château, the one for Madame Adélaïde, remained standing and underwent several changes of use over the following decades.

François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter (1770 - 1841) was the second son of the famous Georges Jacob (1739 - 1814). He created numerous important pieces of furniture for the Emperor and his family, which were intended for the Malmaison, Compiègne and Tuileries palaces. After Napoleon's fall he found himself in a difficult financial situation, which did not improve even with a larger volume of commissions during the reign of King Louis XVIII. In 1825, he was commissioned by the English King George V to decorate Windsor Castle.