'The King's Chapel at Dreux. - Chapelle du roi, à Dreux. - Die Königs - Kapelle, zu Dreux.' in France, remains the customary burial ground for the House of Orleans in France, and boasts a rich history. This chapel lays here because in 1775 King Louis XVI of France gifted his cousin, Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre, the county of Dreux in France. Eight years later, the Duke sold the King his castle in Rambouillet, after which the Duke had his family's remains brought to a crypt in the small chapel of Collégiale Saint-Étienne de Dreux on his new land. In 1793 amidst the French Revolution, this chapel was destroyed and the bodies from the crypt were thrown into a mass grave in the Chanoines cemetery of the chapel. In 1816, the Duke's Daughter, the Duchess of Orleans, had a new chapel built on the site of the mass grave; after which, her son, King Louis Philip I of France renamed the chapel the the Royal Chapel of Dreux, in 1820, after substantial upgrades to the building.
This lovely print was drawn by Thomas Allom and engraved on steel by S. Sands. It was included in “France Illustrated, Exhibiting its Landscape Scenery, Antiquities, Military and Ecclesiastical Architecture, & c. Drawings by Thomas Allom, Esq. Descriptions by The Rev. G. N. Wright, M. A. Vol. II.”, by Reverend George Newenham Wright in 1845. It was published by Fisher, Son, & Co., out of: The Caxton Press, Angel Street, St. Martin's-Le-Grand, London and H. Mandeveille, Rue Neuve Vivienne, Paris. This gorgeous print measures 8 1/4 x 10 3/4 inches.