In the beginning of the 20th century appear the very first postcards representing the « Château des Comtes de Guernon-Ranville ».
 These cards are the work of small local publishers  and are taken from photographs showing the principal façade of the château with its flight of steps and a promontory above a part of the barn, no longer in existence, which must have served as an observatory.

At this time, the château belonged to a great-grand-niece of the Count of Guernon-Ranville, Yvonne Colmiche.
 The château was thus also photographed under the name of « Château Colmiche ».

No longer permanently inhabited by this descendant of the Count, the property was rented to a succession of tenants, among whom figure Alexandre Natanson, editor of  « La Revue Blanche » (The White Review).
Brother-in-law of the celebrated Misia, muse of fashionable and artistic Paris and of the actress Marthe Mellot, he was also a patron and friend of great artistes of the era, including, among others, the painters Pierre Bonnard, Paul Signac, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and even Auguste Renoir.

In her book « Le Pain Polka » (The Polka Bread), Annette Vaillant, daughter of Marthe Mellot and niece of Alexandre Natanson, retells childhood memories of the château de Ranville where she joined her family  several summers.
She makes reference of the disposition of rooms still in existence today, such as the large drawing room « where one always feels cold with that portrait of Napoleon shining as brilliantly as the parquet floor and the piano », the billiard room « with its high bench seats and the balls which roll soundlessly, clicking against one another » and also the small drawing room.
 Of the exterior of the château, Miss Vaillant describes the belvedere « which dominates the roadway »,  the hothouse which has since disappeared « where hang from the roof warm grapes not yet ripe », the stone steps of the flight of steps, the first cyclamens which scatter about the lawn at the end of summer, as well as « the walkway of dahlias running along the other side of the tennis court ».

Édouard Vuillard painted this tennis court  in 1907.
 A familiar face in the circle of the Natanson family, the painter was on holiday a few kilometers from Ranville, at the Château-Rouge of Amfreville.
  « Le tennis » is a very large painting  and was notably exposed in Paris at the 1912 Salon d'Automne and later at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in 1938.
 Belonging for a long time to the Natanson family, the painting then left France for the United States where it was acquired by renowned art dealer by the name of Howard Young, an associate of Francis Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor's father.
 « Le Tennis » was later offered for sale by Sotheby's of New York in 1985.

Should one refer to the proposal of Anna de Noailles who said that « Monsieur Vuillard paints all that he sees », particularly during his years of realism, the background of the work tells us that at that point in time, the property was not as yet defined by walls.

The notarial “act”  relating to the sale of the château between the First and Second World Wars to the Countess of Gramedo  mentions « a property comprising a château, outbuildings, an orangery, a hothouse as well as a kitchen garden and a park in front of and behind the château, all of which is enclosed by walls ».
In the beginning of the 20th century appear the very first postcards representing the « Château des Comtes de Guernon-Ranville ».  These cards are the work of small local publishers  and are taken from photographs showing the principal façade of the château with its flight of steps and a promontory above a part of the barn, no longer in existence, which must have served as an observatory.
At this time, the château belonged to a great-grand-niece of the Count of Guernon-Ranville, Yvonne Colmiche.  The château was thus also photographed under the name of « Château Colmiche ».
No longer permanently inhabited by this descendant of the Count, the property was rented to a succession of tenants, among whom figure Alexandre Natanson, editor of  « La Revue Blanche » (The White Review). Brother-in-law of the celebrated Misia, muse of fashionable and artistic Paris and of the actress Marthe Mellot, he was also a patron and friend of great artistes of the era, including, among others, the painters Pierre Bonnard, Paul Signac, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and even Auguste Renoir.
In her book « Le Pain Polka » (The Polka Bread), Annette Vaillant, daughter of Marthe Mellot and niece of Alexandre Natanson, retells childhood memories of the château de Ranville where she joined her family  several summers. She makes reference of the disposition of rooms still in existence today, such as the large drawing room « where one always feels cold with that portrait of Napoleon shining as brilliantly as the parquet floor and the piano », the billiard room « with its high bench seats and the balls which roll soundlessly, clicking against one another » and also the small drawing room.  Of the exterior of the château, Miss Vaillant describes the belvedere « which dominates the roadway »,  the hothouse which has since disappeared « where hang from the roof warm grapes not yet ripe », the stone steps of the flight of steps, the first cyclamens which scatter about the lawn at the end of summer, as well as « the walkway of dahlias running along the other side of the tennis court ».
Édouard Vuillard painted this tennis court  in 1907.  A familiar face in the circle of the Natanson family, the painter was on holiday a few kilometers from Ranville, at the Château-Rouge of Amfreville.   « Le tennis » is a very large painting  and was notably exposed in Paris at the 1912 Salon d'Automne and later at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in 1938.  Belonging for a long time to the Natanson family, the painting then left France for the United States where it was acquired by renowned art dealer by the name of Howard Young, an associate of Francis Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor's father.  « Le Tennis » was later offered for sale by Sotheby's of New York in 1985.
Should one refer to the proposal of Anna de Noailles who said that « Monsieur Vuillard paints all that he sees », particularly during his years of realism, the background of the work tells us that at that point in time, the property was not as yet defined by walls.
The notarial “act”  relating to the sale of the château between the First and Second World Wars to the Countess of Gramedo  mentions « a property comprising a château, outbuildings, an orangery, a hothouse as well as a kitchen garden and a park in front of and behind the château, all of which is enclosed by walls ».
Chateau de Guernon-Ranville