The Drake del Castillo Family

Since the second half of the 19th century, the Drake del Castillo family, with English and Spanish origins, is among the most illustrious families of Touraine. James William Drake - whose portrait we are presenting here (nr. 263) – was originally from the gentry of Axminster in the county of Devon. After starting as a wine merchant in Cadix, Spain, he took advantage of Cuba’s flourishing economy following the Revolution in the Caribbean colonies to open an import-export business of manufactured goods, as well as vessel chartering and banking businesses in Havana.
After obtaining Spanish citizenship, he married Carlotta del Rosario Nunez del Castillo y Perez, on May 17, 1800. The del Castillos possessed the largest land reserve in Cuba, where James William opened a thriving sugarcane plantation which brought great wealth to his family. His sons Carlos, Santiago and Francisco continued his work to ensure the success of the family company.

After moving permanently to France, Santiago continued to participate in the company management from Paris. He married Emilie Friand and, after she died, Claire Spitz. Charmed by the pleasant Loire river banks in Touraine, he purchased the castle of Candé from Raoul Le Caron de Fleury. The castle was entirely renovated and enlarged following plans drawn by Jacques-Aimé Meffre, a Touraine architect. Santiago Drake del Castillo added a neo-Gothic style wing and dungeon to the Renaissance pavilion designed by François Briçonnet. His son Jacques continued his father’s works and started exhibiting his private art collection, including the Portrait de Lorenzo Bartolini by Ingres (nowadays housed in the Musée Ingres in Montauban) as well as paintings by Claude Monet, who was a personal friend of his. As the president of the “Société des Amis des Arts de Touraine”, he endeavored to exhibit in Tours works by Impressionists, among which Marée basse à Varengeville by Monet (nowadays housed in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid). Jacques del Castillo was not only involved in the cultural life of Touraine, he also held local political positions, becoming mayor of Monts in 1873 and member of parliament for Indre-et-Loire from 1893 to 1906.

The Drake del Castillo family’s establishment in Touraine was strengthened in 1878 when Francisco's widow purchased the castle of Véretz. A well-known historical site in Touraine, the castle underwent three construction and restoration periods under its various owners. Dismantled by the English during the Hundred Years' War, it was rebuilt in Renaissance style by Jean de la Barre, a knight who served as adviser to François I. The door of the castle is topped with an equestrian portrait of the knight (nr. 223) echoing that of Louis XII that adorns the entrance of the castle of Blois. The castle of Véretz went down in history as the place where King Henri IV designed the contents of the Edict of Nantes, which was signed on April 13, 1598 and put an end to the religious and moral tensions that reigned in the country. During the French Revolution, the castle and its chapel were destroyed and dismantled by “la bande noire”. It was rebuilt in the neo-Gothic style by the Count of Richemont, who sold it to the Drake del Castillos in 1878. Furnished (nr. 287) in a style matching its architecture, the castle served as a unique reception venue as attested by the silverware set by Aucoc (nr. 237) bearing the coat of arms of the family or the jewelry adorning refined ladies. With its important collection of Italian master painters such as Faustino Bocchi (nr. 20), Michele Rocca (nr. 22), Giovanni Maria della Piane, also known as il Mulinaretto (nr. 43) or Sassoferrato (nr. 16), it bore witness to the way of living on the banks of the Loire river.