A Noble Pursuit

In southwest France, Cyril de Commarque and his wife, Ortensia Visconti, turned an ancestral château into an artistic playground.

- Marella Caracciolo Chia

Ensconced in the secluded region of Périgord Noir, Château de la Bourlie has the elusive attraction of a chimera. Reaching it is an epic feat that often requires taking two airplanes, followed by a long drive through a landscape of walnut groves and medieval towns. But at the end of a driveway that stretches across the 1,000acre estate is a majestic vision. With its three wings, fortified walls, and cone-shaped roofs reaching high against the rolling hills, La Bourlie conjures an atmosphere of pre–French Revolution splendor. Inside, however, a different story unfolds.

Under the stewardship of artist Cyril de Commarque, whose family has owned this estate for more than 800 years, and his wife, the writer Ortensia Visconti, La Bourlie has undergone a radical renovation. Though de Commarque took over the property in 2010—“There was no choice; either we made ends meet or we would have to sell,” he says—the redesign of the château’s interiors began in earnest in 2015. “I was bored by the fashion for nostalgic, minimalist interventions to historic interiors,” he says. “I wanted something new.”

Two years passed before de Commarque had the financial resources (and appropriate permissions from the historical-monument association) to embark on this adventure. By then, the château’s interiors—damaged by colonies of termites and a leaking roof, and scourged by pre–World War I electric and plumbing systems—were in dire condition. The first six months of the renovations were spent tearing down the nineteenth-century partitions and stripping the structure to its bones. “We wanted to find the original axis and create a fluid atmosphere,” says de Commarque.