Façade of François I The "François I" façade is heavily influenced by the
Château de Chambord. This formal entrance to the main house has insets of
slate in the chimneys and stone mullion windows. The towers, built in the 18th century, have pinnacles, as at Chambord. The right-hand wing (viewed from the formal entrance) houses the domestic offices: the bake house, hay loft and stables. The left-hand wing built by Louis de Saussaye in the 19th C. houses the grand salon. Which is the reason for the asymmetry. Several sculptures decorate the façade. The main entrance is flanked by two capitals, one Renaissance from the Château de Bury and saved by Louis de la Saussaye; the other was made in the 19th century by the sculptor
Lafargue. Over the entrance the small stone, Virgin is a replica of the 15th C. wooden Virgin at the Château de Cheverny. A small relief of a woman from the
Italian Renaissance was mounted on the left wing at the time of the restoration. On the right-hand tower is a sundial, surrounded by an inscription in Latin:
Ultimam time, fuit hora, carpe diem: "fear the last hour, time flees, seize the day". Opposite this, on the left-hand tower is a clock with only an hour hand.
Façade of Louis XII The garden façade is in the
Louis XII style: a mixture of late Gothic and early Renaissance. The stone pediments of the dormer windows and bases of windows with
linenfold panels are pure Gothic. The most beautiful example of this mixture is the door to the tower: the original main door to the château. It was moved from the François I façade by Louis de la Saussaye because it was considered too small. One finds linenfold there too, a Gothic motif par excellence, but also, on the door stop, a
salamander, an emblem of François I. Above, Louis de la Saussaye had engraved, in Greek, the sentence "Small is the house, but oh how much happiness, if it is filled with friends." ascribed to the general
Themistocles. The tower dates from the 19th century. Modeled on the towers of the Louis XII wing of the
Château de Blois, it shares their most notable characteristic: lattices of red and black bricks. Above a François I shell, a small
marmouset commemorates the construction with a banner in Latin: "united by friendship, Louis de la Saussaye wanted, Jules de la Morandière realized". Other recovered sculptures were also mounted, in particular a
porcupine, emblem of Louis XII, from l'hôtel Hurault de Cheverny in Blois and two
sottise characters: the pope of fools and the insane mother.
Interior The castle is privately owned and inhabited but six rooms on the ground floor are open to visitors: • the Entrance Hall • the Dining room • the Music room, or "Salon Louis de la Saussaye" • the Small salon • the Oval salon • the Chapel The ground floor is tiled throughout with red and yellow tiles dating from late 15th C.; only in the oval salon was it removed when the chateau was restored in the 19th C. The ceilings are of notable interest: in the Dining Room, the ceiling
à la française is inspired by the François I wing of the Castle of Blois, it is beamed with painted decoration. The Music room remains one of the original ceilings. The Entrance Hall is vaulted like the Château of Blois, as is the Chapel. The ''à l'italienne'' paintings on the ceiling of the small salon are most remarkable: Attributed to Jean Mosnier from
Sologne, the paintings were produced for the Château de Fosse. Found in the 19th century in a house in Fosse by Louis de la Saussaye, they were brought to Troussay and represent a
sarabande of cupids, painted in
grisaille. The fireplace in the dining room dates from the reign of François I and retains its original colours. On it stands a bust of
Jean de Morvilliers (1552–1564),
bishop of Orléans, who was related to the De Saussaye family, indeed he was succeeded as Bishop of Orleans by his nephew: Mathurin dea Saussaye. Beneath the bust is engraved in Latin "do not contemplate in vain the effigy of Jean de Morvilliers, but rather seek to be the imitator of so great a man". The château now holds objects of many different times, styles and origins, from the 15th to 19th centuries and from Holland to Portugal. Noted pieces of furniture are perhaps a large armoire from Strasbourg dating from 1700 and a Louis XIII cabinet with marquetry of jasmine and tulip flowers. The most remarkable object is the heavily decorated Renaissance oak door of the chapel, from the Château de Bury. == The park ==