Cupboard Love

A lot of ancient conveniences of daily life — such as cupboards — have all but disappeared from the rooms of the palace of Versailles where courtiers had them made to order, removed or refitted almost on a daily basis during the Ancien Régime. Today, I am eager to equip those rooms and appartments with those much needed cupboards and have them rebuilt where the ancient plans show they once stood.

Today’s cupboard will be fitted not far from the stairs shown in yesterday's post, in a very small new project that is going on right now.

More coming soon, hopefully!

A big thank you to J. C. de Frontenac who helped me with installing the new cupboard!

Slideshow

The above video is a first attempt at creating a very basic slideshow using the YouTube Slideshow Creator. The photographs shown here are almost all from the blog; so nothing new if you're familiar with its pictural content already! The original 4:3 photos have been re-framed to a 16:9 screen size (the one used by YouTube), hence some awkward framing... But, once again, this is only a test as they say! (And of course, while all this fancy stuff is being done, the construction and decoration work in the Palace have come to a standstill! Gee!)

Wood Paneling 2.0

Newly made wood panels have replaced the old ones in the Duchess's Grand Cabinet. These are views of the room without paintings on the walls to let you see the boiseries better. As you can see, we opted for an early installation of the panels even if we have still to fix (and build!) the doors.

The mirror frame above the fireplace is much more elaborate and intricately carved compared to the previous one, but still, it remains the only gilded element of the walls' decor.

The Mirror frame is loosely based on the ones, designed by Antoine Rousseau, visible today in Madame Victoire's bedroom in her apartments on the ground floor of the palace of Versailles.

If you want to know how much better (hopefully!) those new wood panels are compared to the old ones, just browse for the ancient ones on this blog; for now, there are still photos of them around...! 

Teaser Grand Cabinet

As the wood paneling is being upgraded to higher standards in the Duchess's Grand Cabinet, the mirror above the fireplace will receive a more ornate frame, adorned with gilded ornaments. The frame, which will probably be the only element of the wood paneling to be gilded, has been crafted today. Once again, you have the opportunity to compare a preparatory drawing for the frame with the (almost) final product.

Boiseries in Progress

My team is now working on a new set of wood panels for the Duchess's Grand Cabinet in Her apartments of the South East Pavilion of the Secretaries of State. These boiseries, when achieved, will replace the previous ones, too poor in quality for our always increasing standards (hum hum...).

We hope you'll enjoy the result in a few days!