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.

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!