Musketeers!

Aimed at all audiences, this exhibition will encourage us to take a fresh look at the heroes who so inspired Alexandre Dumas and many films, but whose real-life role we know so little about, as fiction has ended up obscuring the historical reality.

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Alexandre Dumas indisputably inspired many people to pursue a career in history, and popularised figures like Mazarin and Buckingham around the world, along with episodes like the capture of La Rochelle or the British Civil War. Richelieu, d'Artagnan and the Man in the Iron Mask would surely not have achieved the status of worldwide legends without this novelist's work. So looking into the history of the musketeers and their time also and above all means asking questions about the relationship between literature and history.
In contrast to this imaginary world, visitors will be able to discover new and historical images that more faithfully represent the customs, deeds and famous figures of the time. They can meet the real d'Artagnan, Louis XIII and Richelieu, the real Milady and the Man in the Iron Mask... Not forgetting themes like fencing, the siege of La Rochelle or the Fronde.
The theme will be illustrated and embodied by an exceptional group of artworks, objects and documents from the Musée de l'Armée's collections or generously lent by French or foreign institutions. The portraits of Anne of Austria and the Duke of Buckingham by Rubens, normally kept at the Louvre Museum and the Pitti Palace in Florence respectively, will face each other, not far from the armour worn by Louis XIII and lesser-known but equally spectacular pieces with many surprises in store.

The Musketeers! exhibition with the support of

Thumbnail: Musketeers!  exhibition poster Graphics © Téra-création, based on Raoul Dufy, Mousquetaire, Indian ink drawing, extract from book n° 27, 1912.© Adagp, Paris 2014