Versailles by Night 2

Anterooms in Versailles' King's Pavilion.

“O Wind, If Winter Comes, Can Spring Be Far Behind?”

Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ode to the West Wind

With winter approaching once again, wood for fireplaces, screens or room dividers, curtains and carpets are delivered to the apartments of the Palace for those of its occupants who can afford them. In the Duchess's main drawing room in Her apartments of the South East Pavilion of the Secretaries of State, a wool carpet from the Savonnerie manufactory have been laid on the parquet flooring, and two newly aquired room dividers now stand in front of two of the room's doors, ready to cut out the infamous draughts of the Palace of Versailles. Note that wood has also been delivered to the fireplace.

These two elegant and newly acquired room dividers are not identical but symmetrical. They are the perfect complement to the beautiful portrait of Madame Adélaïde by Nattier that hangs above the very fine chest of drawers, by Jean-Henri Riesener (late period). The flower motif on the screens will be a constant reminder, during the cold winter days, that in a few months, spring will have come back to Versailles and its gardens.

Gardes Françaises

The Gardes Françaises or French Guards were one of the many units from the Military Household of the King of France responsible for the safety and security of the King and the Palace of Versailles during the Ancien Regime. The French Guards' quarters were located inside the South East Pavilion of the Secretaries of States were, today, I dedicated a small room of the entresol were, before the Revolution, officers had their bedrooms, to pay homage to them. I've selected and display here a series of prints showing the different uniforms of these soldiers, and added two flags belonging to this famous regiment as well as some ancient and representative weapons. In fact, only the three men in bicorne hats (on the top right print) are from a different military unit, the Gardes de la Porte (or Guards of the King's Door). 

In fact, all these units had to work hand in hand with each other and did a pretty good job of keeping Versailles and the Royal Family safe during many years, until that is, in 1789 things get really nasty for the King and then, bye bye! The French Guard of the time defected to the Revolution.

Dining room

I thought I'd let you have a look at my newly restored dining room, the one set in my semi-private apartments of the South East Pavilion of the Secretaries of States of the Palace of Versailles. Those among you who visited the previous version of this room will be quite shocked I guess! Before the complete reconstruction of my apartments and the renovation work this part of the palace undergone recently, no solid walls or partitions there, no panelled walls, no tomettes floor, no Louis XV fireplace and its matching mirror! I found the engravings and the screens in the attic (which explains why you might already have seen them on this blog), in an apartments which is awaiting some important construction work too. (Arr! So much to do, so little time!) The two landscapes (contradictorily in "portrait" format) have been ordered two years ago to ornate another room of the Palace. They find here a perfect place!

Teaser 2

Now that's a proper teaser! We learn a little more about the house from it, and we end up with yet more questions about this property. Surrounded by trees it seems indeed to be; it has more than one window too! And apparently a front door (always convenient)... And... that's about it! What can we tell more? Oh, just in case you were wondering, the window shown in the previous post, through which we discovered the fireplace and the very nice mirror, is the one on the left side of the door, from our point of view. I certainly hope we'll learn more, and very soon, or the whole game will become very frustrating indeed!

Teaser

A house not far from Versailles is being restored. A glimpse through one of the first floor windows reveals a red Louis XV style fireplace and a gilded framed mirror of the same style hanging above it. The rest of the décors seems yet absent. No doubt the occupants of the house -- set somewhere in a clearing, in the extended hunting grounds of the Palace -- are not Mr and Mrs Average Joe... What is this house? Whom is it being restored for? Can we see more of it? Is it really a simple house or is it part of something bigger? No doubt you'd like to see more, dear Reader! That's why we'll reveal a series of details from that mysterious building, as teasers, in a series of upcoming posts, before revealing the whole picture and giving this building its name. Let's hope you won't be disappointed!

Armourer's Bedroom

The Armourer's Bedroom is a tiny windowless room inside the Duchess's apartments where her personal armourer may rest or spend the night. The tiny proportions of this room make it even impossible for you to stand, unless you are quite small. But you're in a bedroom to lie and rest anyway, aren't you? You'll notice the simple hexagonal terracotta tile floor, characteristic of the service areas of the palace.

The fireplace seems to be original, probably made for the room in the beginning of the 18th century.

A Glimpse of Riesener ?

This is a glimpse at the latest arrival in the furniture collection of the palace. This modest Louis XVI style mahogany chest of drawers, with marble top and gilded bronzes, might be an early work by the famous 18th century cabinet maker J.H. Riesener, who worked for the court of France and Queen Marie Antoinette herself. In any case, it is highly probable this chest of drawers was originally made for the palace of Versailles. Well, it's back home!

A Louis XVI style chest of drawers, Duchess's Apartments, South-East Pavilion of Secretaries of State.

Rafraîchissoir (Wine Cooler Side Table)

Saturday seems to become the day when I visit the antique shops, and for two weeks in a row now I didn't come back empty handed! The rafraîchissoir I came back with yesterday is a perfect example of this type of wine cooler side table I wanted to have in our collections for a long time. It is a very singular type of furniture, and many rafraîchissoirs made from the end of the 18th century to the early 20th century present the same general arrangement.

As you can see from the photographs, a rafraîchissoir is a small table with, generally, two circular openings on top in which are placed two metal containers where bottles are kept in ice.

 Our rafraîchissoir has a marble top. As you can see below, the tin containers can be removed to pour ice in them more easily, or, quite conveniently, to empty the ice and water when their job is done!

Usually, a rafraîchissoir has a small drawer, on the side or front. On our model, the drawer is large enough to contain a couple of glasses. Once again, quite convenient! I'm still looking for a bottle opener from the same period to keep in here too.

 If you read the post about the side table, you have probably noticed the similarities in stile between the side table and the rafraîchissoir. It is possible that the two were made by the same cabinet maker.

One last thing. Today, such a piece of furniture as the rafraîchissoir has of course become a curiosity, as wine bottles are kept chilled more conveniently, if needed, by more modern apparatuses. Therefore, it is not uncommon for rafraîchissoirs to be used as decoration tables and for the holes or containers to receive plants. A word of warning though : Xavier Dièvre, MOF, cabinet maker in Versailles, warns on its website that the humidity produced by the plants in such a case is not good for the piece of furniture. You've been warned if you decide to use your rafraîchissoir in such a way!

As you can see, ours, which is very precious, is kept in a pristine condition by being used only in accordance with its original function, or, better still, not used at all. This, ladies and gentlemen, is money well spent.

Cheers!

A Louis XVI style Wine Cooler Side Table from the palace's collections. The glasses and bottles are from Lego ® .

Servant's Quarters

What a stark contrast between the decor of this room and the one of the salon I showed you again in the last article! If the salon does not present an example of the richest decors you can find anywhere in the palace (those can be found in the king's apartments of course, or in the Great Gallery), still you can start to develop an idea of the hierarchy that exists in the decoration of the different rooms of Versailles. The present room, judging by its characteristically simple stone mantelpiece (above which you wouldn't usually find such a large mirror, but this little room hasn't got any window, and the mirror is not new), its plain white walls and its floor made of the hexagonal terracotta tiles so widespread in Versailles, is clearly secondary and used by servants. (And still, a nice room for servants! There's worst! Believe me folks!)

A simple stone mantelpiece and terracotta floor in the South Wing's King's Pavilion. 

Desserte

A newly acquired Louis XVI style desserte or side table, in the Duchess's apartments.

After the French Revolution, almost all of Versailles' furniture had been plundered and auctioned off. This is why, as well as recreating now vanished places in the grounds or in the palace, I am always glad when we can welcome a valuable piece of furniture to refurbish, even modestly, a newly restored room. Once again, Madame la Duchesse is lucky, as this newly acquired desserte (a type of side table generally belonging to a dining room) will be on display in her apartments. The room or precise place it will be shown in may of course vary, but for now, you can admire this desserte in the great cabinet, or office of Madame la Duchesse (if you are invited in, this goes without saying).

Fireplace, portraits and the newly acquired side table in the Duchess's office.

Have you ever wondered how the type of drawers we see here on each side of the desserte, with a curved front, do open? Well, there are in fact several solutions. The first one is quite simple, and consist in having (somewhat dishonestly!) fake drawers! Would you have thought of that? The second solution, is to have real drawers with a slide mechanism underneath them (as you can't have normal slides because of the triangular shape of the drawers). The third solution, the most elegant and unexpected in my opinion, is to have swing-out drawers which pivot on a hinge outside your table. So, which solution has been used in making this desserte do you think? This will remain for now, very frustratingly, a well guarded secret!

Bernard Molitor?

While removing a protective layer which had been added underneath the two encoignures, we found two estampilles, or maker's marks, which read : "B * MOLITOR". One of our readers, expert in antique furniture, had signalled us early on that those two encoignures could be an early work by the French cabinet maker Bernard Molitor. If those marks are genuine, it seems she could have been right!

A look at Molitor's mark underneath the encoignures.

A better look at the masterpieces themselves.

Just Got Lucky

I've been looking around through the collections of the antiques shops in Versailles today, when in a small shop I spotted a pair of very fine encoignures from the 18th century. I was looking for this type of furniture recently, because I thought I could use two of them to refurnish the small Prints Cabinet which we are bringing step by step to its former glory. The pair seemed fine and of a quality worthy of Versailles, plus the marble and faux marble used in the shelves was reminiscent of the one from the fireplace of the cabinet. I was very surprised though when, inspecting the back of the pieces of furniture, as you should always do, I spotted written on them the very mark ("CV") of the palace of Versailles! This encoignures, more than worthy of featuring in the collections of the palace were in fact artefacts which had been part of these collections during the Ancient Regime! I'm not entirely certain yet, but it is even highly probable that these two encoignures were indeed made for this very room in the first place. The name of their maker (no doubt very gifted) is unfortunately unknown for now. I got twice lucky to find the pair too, because quite frequently, elements of furniture that work in pair get separated over time and it is not always possible to reunite such fine examples of the craftsmanship of the Age of Enlightenment.

This is the second pair of high quality encoignures you can now see (in pictures at least!) in the rooms of the palace. You'll be as lucky as me if you can manage to see the originals!

Encoignures in the Prints Cabinet on the First Floor of the South-East Pavilion of the Secretaries of State.

Sedan Chair and Vinaigrette

Versailles is made of gardens, paths, courtyards, galleries, antechambers and private rooms. But what we can forget when visiting Versailles today is the multitude of sedan chairs of all shapes and forms that obstructed all these places during the biggest part of the Ancient Regime. Here is an example of those abandoned modes of transportation, now very rare, which we try to acquire, save and restore whenever possible. 

The one on the left is a fairly common sedan chair; the one on the right with the wheels is called a vinaigrette. The name supposedly comes from the "vinaigriers" or vinegar sellers who, apparently, used a similar mode of transportation to carry their goods. As the vinaigrette, if used in Versailles, was anyway limited to courtyards or ground level rooms at the most, you could access fairly far into an apartments, even the king's one, in your sedan chair, if you were a member a the royal family. We'll try to present these vehicles (and hopefully nicer ones!) in context inside the palace when we have restored rooms suitable to accommodate them.

Spot the Difference

Yes : this is basically the same image I've shown you two days ago -- that is the Prints Cabinet viewed from the salon next door, but we now see the cabinet with... well, I won't give you the answer! If you remember the photo from the 5th of this month, you'll know what has changed.

And because I'm nice, here is a slightly better view of the cabinet, just to prove to you there are indeed more than two prints hung on the walls. (There are nine now, all drawings of Louis XIV's family or important members of his court.)

Oh! Yes! You noticed that? Skirting boards are still missing everywhere.

Salon and Cabinet, South-East Pavilion of Secretaries of States, First Floor.

Prints Cabinet

The Prints Cabinet (or Cabinet des Gravures) is a tiny room in the Work Apartments of the Duchess of Couteau. This room showcases one of the finest examples of 17th century prints in Couteau. Only part of the Duchess's collection is displayed here. The room is never open to the public and the occasions to see it are extremely rare. However, having been working here to supervise the ongoing restoration of the cabinet, I was able to take the following photograph. 

I was holding my camera aloft to have enough distance and had to use the flash because the room has no window!

The Prints Cabinet, First Floor of the South-East Pavilion of Secretaries of State.

Behind the Door

Recently, a gentleman from our readers was wondering in a comment what was hidden behind the imposing doors of a beautifully restored room of the palace. Today, we are too happy to oblige and offer this gentleman a peep through one of these doors. Lo and behold! The open leaves reveal yet another room, much more smaller, in which the wood panelling (boiseries) and the fireplace have just been reinstalled today.

Here is a closer look at the fireplace, a rare example of a Louis XV style fireplace still adorning a courtier's apartments anywhere in the palace.

On a secondary note, if you're used to the royal apartments of Versailles, you may be surprised to notice that not all mirrors in Versailles came with a gilded frame! Walls of secondary rooms in courtiers' apartments and mirror frames were usually simply painted white as you see in these photographs. Welcome to the world of the simple courtier!

Rooms and Fireplaces on the First Floor of the South-East Pavilion of the Secretaries of State.

Happy 4th of July!

An American flag is displayed on the façade of the palace of Versailles to show respect to the United States of America on the occasion of the 4th of July 2016.

An American Flag at Night on the South Façade of the South-East Pavilion of the Secretaries of State.

Façade from the past

A glimpse at the South façade of the South East Pavilion of the Secretaries of State as it appears to you when you climb up the slightly slopping Rue des Récolets. The façade was visibly undergoing some heavy restoration work when this photograph, certainly ancient but of unknown origin, was taken.

A detail in the picture is quite disconcerting though : we know the distinctive curved shape of the roof, where the golden lead ornaments are visible, was drastically simplified under Napoleon 1st (Emperor up to 1815). And yet the first documented and successful attempts at photograph date from the mid 1820 at the earliest estimate...  Could this be the first successful photograph ever taken?

South Façade of the South East Pavilion of the Secretaries of State, Palace of Versailles.

Antechamber

This is a rare glimpse of the rooms of the attic of the palace. The attic of the South-East Pavilion of the Secretaries of State, in which the present antechamber is situated, is currently unoccupied as the rooms are being restored to their former glory. 

This antechamber presents an example of a fireplace positioned in a corner of the room but still parallel to the main wall. This bizarre setup is in fact not uncommon in the palace of Versailles.

As for the antechambers themselves, they are maybe the epitome of a room belonging to a rich mansion or palace from the past. Who can afford nowadays to have at its disposal such rooms (sometimes vast and beautiful) and not making them their living room, bedroom or dining room? Note that a lot of theses antechambers (generally the second one if you had two) were in fact used as a dining room. In the first antechamber stood your servants and waited the visitors of less importance.

Antechamber in the attic of the South-East Pavilion of the Secretaries of State.

Parquet de Versailles

The famous parquet de Versailles is certainly the most emblematic type of flooring you will find at Versailles. It's no surprise since it has "Versailles" in its name! There is yet another type of signature flooring for the palace, much lesser known by the general public who don't live in the place: terracotta hexagonal tilling floors are indeed very common and yet very discreet since found essentially in secondary stairs, corridors or passageways all over the palace.

The picture above is a look at the first room to be decorated with a brand new parquet de Versailles since the restoration work began on the palace in 2013. This room is located in a private apartments and thus closed to visits. 

(If you live in the palace and would like to know if Versailles type parquet flooring could be laid in your rooms, please contact me. You must know however that this type of flooring is very expensive and quite tricky lo lay, and thus reserved for the decoration of important rooms or rooms belonging to important occupants. If your room already contains parquet flooring of any type, it is also unlikely that the floor will be changed. Please, also consider that you could be force to leave the palace if you try to remove any type of flooring without official permission.)

Room on the First Floor of the South-East Pavilion of the Secretaries of State.

Corner Fireplace

Could you find this tiny fireplace in the palace? The room in which it stands is obviously undergoing some renovation work. That's not much of a clue though, given the general state of the palace where virtually no room isn't in need of some work! 

This fireplace is also, until now, the only example of a corner fireplace anywhere in the palace.

Small Corner Fireplace in a Room Somewhere in the Palace.

Versailles by Night

If you ever get the chance to wander through the rooms of the palace at night, here is what you might see. This very room is actually currently used by a very high ranking personality as a personal office. 

Drawing room. King's Pavilion, First Floor.