House of Poligny

François Gabriel de Poligny, Count of Poligny, Lord of Augéa, Evans and Berthelange, was 8 years old when his portrait was painted in 1685 and hung in the family castle in Evans ( French Jura).

The parish priest of Evans and Salans points out in his book published in 1987 (Evans & Salans au cours des âges I.P.O IMPRIMERIE Fraisans 39700 Orchamps by Gabriel Pelletier p.26) that the portrait is kept in the Pontarlier city museum, with a photo.

​His descendant Hervé Reumont de Poligny began researching the painting on 26 May 2011 because, to his great surprise, the curator of the Pontarlier museum said she had no knowledge of it and that it had never been part of the museum's collections.

The former curator and founder of the museum (who worked in Pontarlier from 1976 to 2008) confirmed to the authorities that he had never seen it.

Nor is there any trace of it at the Poligny museum, in other museums in the region, or at the Heritage Conservatory of Besançon.

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The press then took up the case (‘L'Est Républicain’ and ‘Le Progrès’) and a call for witnesses was launched on the social networks ‘Ma Commune.info’ and ‘Facebook’ in particular... to no avail.

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The region's antique dealers and town councils took action, but to no avail either.

 

After 9 years of searching, the mystery of the disappearance of François Gabriel's painting persists.

 

Certain leads can nevertheless be ruled out:

- The first is that the painting was destroyed in a fire at the Pontarlier Museum in 1995.

- The second is that the painting was transferred from the Pontarlier Museum to another museum.

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This opens up new avenues of investigation:

 

One of them concerned the fact that Gabriel Pelletier, the author of the book, had copied the photo of the painting from one of the works in his bibliography.

As the painting has never been exhibited in the Pontarlier museum, this could be a transcription error... or a printing error.

To verify this hypothesis, the contents of the author's bibliography were checked... without result either.

 

The investigation finally took a turn, with a visit in 2020 to the village of Evans and the ‘château’ (the former outbuilding).

This led to the following conclusions:

 

Although no formal proof can be provided, a very plausible explanation is emerging.

It is based on the following hypothesis:

The black-and-white photo published in the book is indeed that of the original portrait.

However, the photo was not taken at the museum but by the owner of the work. 

Father Gabriel Pelletier (the author of the book) was mistakenly told that the portrait was a copy, while indicating that the original one was in the Pontarlier museum.

Taking his faithful parishioner at his word, Father Pelletier photographed the so-called copy, indicating in his book that the original was in the Pontarlier Museum,

The owner is said to have lied for fear of being accused of usurpation, and probably also to avoid a hypothetical claim for its return to the family.

 

This scenario emerges from the fact that some of the original paintings and antique furniture still remain at Evans (transferred from Evans Castle to its outbuilding just before the dilapidated castle was demolished).

The other element is the very curious rumour in Evans of the existence of a copy without further details (mentioned during the on-site investigation).

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There is no proof of the identity of the work's owner and any designation would be unfounded at this stage.

However, it is likely that the portrait was still in the village of Evans or within a 15km radius of Evans until recently.

 

To conclude this investigation, a copy of the portrait based on the black and white photograph of Father Pelletier was made in 2024 by the portrait artist Laurence Menez. This portrait has since found a home in the Reumont de Poligny family gallery.