Porte De Paris In Villepreux

From the time of Louis XIV until the French Revolution, the Palace of Versailles, its Gardens and its Small Park were surounded by a much bigger park or Hunting Grounds. This enormous game reserve, which contained many villages, was surounded by a 40 kilometre wall and was gained access to by 24 doors. 1

Several of these doors were built on the exact same design by the king’s architect Jules Hardouin Mansart. Later in the 18 th century, almost all these doors received additional constructions, in the form of more confortable rooms and even farm buildings, as the guards were no longer satisfied with the cramped single room in which their fathers and their families had lived in.

We started a couple of years ago on the restauration and reconstruction of one of these doors, the Paris Door in Villepreux. 2 The door stands at some 8 kilometres west of the Palace.

This is the door at night as seen from the east, when standing inside the hunting grounds.

As you can see, still more work is needed on one of the farm buildings on the right. On the left stands the new accomodations built for the guard in the 18th century.

Here is the door from outside the Great Park, as you would see it if you were coming from the west and about to enter (or not!) the grounds of the Palace of Versailles.

Mind you if you were on foot, still 8 kilometres to go before reaching the Palace itself!

Well, this was more of a teaser than an extensive visit of the buildings, I hope I will be able to show you more soon!

1. See the article : Pour les plaisirs du roi : les métamorphoses de la porte de Trappes (in French) by Laurent Condamy and Julien Lacaze in Versalia, Revue de la Société des Amis de Versailles n°15, 2012.

2. We had the idea of rebuilding the Villepreux door after having read the article mentioned above, which tells the story of another door of the Great Park.

More Stairs

The stairs in my home at the entrance of the Petite Venise, near the head of the Grand Canal in Versailles. I am now renovating the house.

Screens

The meuble of a room, is the similar fabric shared between all objects that can receive fabric or are made of fabric such as chairs, armchairs, settees, curtains, portières (curtains hung over doors), but also screens or fire screens. Oftentimes, in the grand houses of the upper aristocracy of the Ancien Régime, you had to have a summer meuble and a winter meuble. That is to say, you would have the fabric on all your matching furniture changed generally twice a year according to the season. The fabric covering your bed, chairs, etc. would usually be of lighter colours in summer (white with a flower pattern for example) and a little bit darker and richer in winter (such as a rich red velvet). 

If possessing two entirely different set of furniture was beyond your means or too cumbersome, you could maybe have your chairs reupholstered (which doesn't sound very practical), or, more conveniently, you could own a set of what are called fauteuils à châssis (frame chairs), that is to say armchairs the upholstery of which was conceived to be removable in an instant to be cleaned or changed.

On the new screens I just ordered to complete the furniture of my office, the panels are removable according to the the above mentioned principle, which means I could easily replace them to match the fabric of another set of chairs, and keep the gilded frames. Not that I intend to do so!

A red and gold screen matching the furniture recently delivered for my personal office.

The frame of the same screen before gilding was applied.

Though those screens are relatively short to be usable in rooms with low ceiling such as the entresol room where my curent office is, I sent both of them to the storage room because my office is really too small and full already.

At last, you have to know that during the Ancien Régime and the following regimes abiding by the same etiquette rules, not any idiot could use gilded furniture, certainly not in the King's Palace. You had to belong to the royal family or at least be a very important prince. Please, note that the same principle will apply today, and that gilded furniture will be exclusively reserved to a select few (very few), and in general delivered only to apartments by special permission of His Grace the Duke.

The set of furniture with matching fabric delivered to my office so far.

Causeuse

A causeuse is an armchair which has been stretched sideways to accommodate two persons. It can also resemble a bergère in its construction (with a second loose cushion on top of the first one, lower legs and closed sides), but the model above is only based on a standard armchair. I've ordered this new seat to complete the series of chairs furnishing my office. 

The frame of a newly made causeuse chair, as large as two standard armchairs.

Two armchairs and a causeuse along the walls of the small office I currently occupy in the palace.

The furniture composing the series made for my office so far. The room is so small all those chairs barely fit in there, but this furniture would follow me if I am to move back to a bigger office in the future. This is why I'm not afraid of ordering too much chairs, even if I have to store some of them elsewhere for now...!

Theme And Variations

This is a new variation in colour for the armchair model introduced this year. (See the model's bare frame in details here.) I ordered a series of four armchairs in gold and red fabric for my personal office. (When seated at my desk however, I still prefer to use a modern and very comfortable armchair.) 

My personal office at night in the King's Pavilion of  the Palace of Versailles

A panorama of the different colours in which our model of armchair has been made so far. From left to right : in gold and off-white fabric for the Duchess's Golden Cabinet, in white and orange for the Duchess's Grand Cabinet, and in gold and red for my personal office. At last, a bare frame kept as a template in our workshops.

Happy Fourth Of July

A year-round display of American Patriotism in one of the Palace's private apartments.

Happy Birthday

That's a year to the day since this blog started, I've showed you many things from here in the palace, much has been done in a year, but a lot has also been done which I didn't share here! That's as many projects still to see on the blog in the future...

Garniture

The Golden Cabinet or Salon Louis XVI received some garniture today. Garniture, as you may know is "a set of decorative accessories, in particular vases" (as defined for us by the Oxford English Dictionary). In fact, four gouaches by landscape painter Van Barenberghe, two pairs of vases and a restored clock are now part of the precious artefacts decorating the cabinet. The two Molitor encoignures are also, at least for now, part of the room's furniture.

Two very rare golden vases from the Shang period of the Hang Dynasty are exhibited on the mantelpiece. In the corners of the room, each encoignure supports a pair of Japanese hexagonal jars from the 17th century in the Emari ware style. The four gouaches, at last, bring a welcome and soothing touch of blue to the decor, counterbalancing the omnipresent gold.

Oh, and did you notice we made the skirting board too?

Quick Update On Golden Cabinet

The parquet has been laid in the Golden Cabinet. We're still waiting for the skirting board though...

Please, see the previous post if you want more details about this room.

Golden Cabinet or Salon Louis XVI

At last! At last the content of this blog is getting closer to the promises of its subtitle. It's been months since we advertised to you the Gilded Rooms of the Palace of Versailles. Rooms you saw plenty (OK : you saw some rooms). But gold? Well... Voilà! The Golden Cabinet (where did they got that name I wonder) has received its gilded panels today, which are our first recent attempt at recreating the white and gold wooden paneling so closely associated with Versailles. The fireplace is new and voluntarily quite sober to let the gilded boiseries (wooden paneling) and the Versailles style floor speak for themselves. Oh, sure, for now, you'll have to imagine the floor... (But have a look at some other posts on this blog, such at this one, to have a taste of things to come.) For the moment, we borrowed an encoignure to the Prints Cabinet next door, we chose to display in this room the desserte acquired in July, and we present a portrait of Louis XVI on the back wall to pay homage to the last king to have inhabited the palace.

From the drawing to the actual woodwork. 

In the Cabinet, if the panels of boiserie are prudently crafted in a relatively sober Louis XVI style, all in straight lines, to let us challenge increasingly the difficulty of making carved gilded ornaments, the mirror frames, on the other hand, are boldly displaying the curves and intricacy of the previous Louis XV style. Such a combination of styles is of course not uncommon, as each style was not strictly framed in time, but rather melted progressively into the next.

Mirror effects at night in the Salon Louis XVI

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.