Art news
The Calvin cup
The so-called Calvin cup, which the pastor used to celebrate the Lord's Supper during his stay at Poët-Célard in the Drôme region in August 1561, was sold at auction in April 2025 at Tessier and Sarrou, auctioneers in Paris.
This cup is a testament to the martyrdom of Protestants during the Wars of Religion in France. It is of major historical importance due to the role it played in France, particularly in the Drôme region.
Calvin left Geneva to offer his support to the Reformed communities suffering persecution. He stopped at the Château de Poët-Célard, which housed Protestant soldiers. They wanted to take advantage of the pastor's presence to renew their oath. It was in this setting that Calvin celebrated the Last Supper with this cup as a chalice. The cup remained preciously preserved in the same family until the Revolution. During this time, Pierre Joseph Louis de Blaïn de Marcel, Marquis de Poët-Célard, managed to hide to escape the scaffold thanks to the complicity of François Descours. To thank him, the Marquis offered him the cup, as precious as the Holy Grail!
It then passed to his only daughter, wife of Monsieur de Saulces de Latour, Justice of the Peace, before being passed on to their daughter, wife of the famous Alexis Muston, whom the family had taken in. The cup was passed down from daughter to daughter until the current lineage.
Calvin, in support of the Protestant community in Drôme, had taken remote routes to avoid the royal troops. He arrived, passing through the Diois massif, at the recently completed Château de Poët-Célard, where Protestants sought refuge during the persecutions. The Protestant Museum in Poët-Laval preserves the image of this cup as evidence of the persecutions and the testimonies of Pastor Muston.
Sources : la gazette Drouot.
Germain Bonneton
In April 2025, a painting by Germain Bonneton, a painter from Tournon, was auctioned at Drouot. It is a beautiful view depicting the Seine and barges loading containers.
Germain Bonneton (1874-1914/1915) The Quays Oil on canvas (relined) Signed lower right 26.5 x 40.5 cm.
Blaise Pascal
A book from the Tournon High School sold in Manosque on February 5, 2025
Blaise Pascal, the great French philosopher, wrote his thoughts, which were published after his death.
A copy from 1670 was sold with the inscription: "For the use of the Military School of Tournon en Vivarais." It should be remembered that this was the Tournon High School, which had a military succession attached to the military school of Paris.
Joséphus Genissière
On the inside page is the prize sheet IN COLLEGIO TURNONENSI awarded in 1679 to the student Joséphus Genissière and signed by Professor Franc Ligier.
Price: €700
A prize book from the Jesuit College of Tournon was recently auctioned in Holland. The royal arms of France on the cover indicate its donation. It is a work by Aristophanes, printed in Greek in Paris in 1549, with a new version following, dedicated to Queen Joanna of Navarre.
Tournon was an important intellectual center thanks to its lords and the royal college. A printing press was established in the late 16th century.
One of these books was recently auctioned: "Images of the Ancient Gods Containing Idols, Customs, Ceremonies, and Other Things Belonging to the Religion of the Pagans," translated by Antoine du Verdier, Lord of Vaupriuas.
Published in Tournon by Claude Michel, 1606, full-leather binding, 804 pages.
