History
Antoine III de Clermont inherited these lands from his mother, the Countess of Tonnerre, and decided to build a new château. He was the brother-in-law of Diane de Poitiers. At the court of Francis I he met Sebastiano Serlio, an Italian architect of great reputation. Construction began in the 1540s and was probably completed around 1550. In 1576 the architect Jacques Androuet du Cerceau included Ancy among 'the most excellent buildings of France'.
The Clermont-Tonnerre family kept Ancy until 1683, when it was bought by the Marquis de Louvois, war minister of Louis XIV. Henri IV, Louis XIII and Louis XIV all visited. In 1845 Louvois's heirs sold the château to Gaspard-Louis-Aimé de Clermont-Tonnerre, a descendant of the builder. It later belonged to the princes of Mérode and several other owners, and today it is owned by a private company.
Architecture
Four wings with corner pavilions enclose a square courtyard. Outside, Serlio used the sober Tuscan and Doric orders. The courtyard is richer, with Corinthian and Composite orders, niches with shell decoration and a triple arcade recalling the Villa Madama in Rome. Inside, murals after designs by Primaticcio or Niccolò dell'Abbate cover rooms such as the Galerie de Pharsale, painted with a long battle scene, and the Chambre de Judith.
