Versailles, Treasures from the Palace, a wonderful exhibition at the the National Gallery of Australia (NGA). I’m in the Christmas lull – coming down from all the excitement and expectations, frantic present and grocery shopping, planning, packing, traveling and the glorious high of a family Christmas Eve, Santa’s visit and too much Christmas Day lunch. It’s the 27th of December, the presents have been opened, the food has been enjoyed and in short, although we’re all so grateful for another Christmas all together and the ability to celebrate with gifts, it’s also a relief that it’s over for another year.
We’re staying with my in-laws for a couple of nights before we head back to Brisbane and it’s great that we are able to split our time between families and that the boys get to spend time with two sets of grandparents on one trip. It also gives me a morning to leave them to enjoy the kids and escape the noise and the remaining Christmas excitement for something that I’ve been looking forward to the whole trip – the Versailles exhibition.
I went to Versailles about 10 years ago but the memory fades and even a great memory can only take in so much in a short amount of time. This is a great chance for a refresher and perhaps to discover some new treasures and the exhibition has been specially negotiated between the two countries and is the first time that these treasures have left France. The treasures include royal paintings, collectibles and sculptures which allow the imagination to run wild. There is also an incredible carpet and tapestries, the size of which could only ever have been intended for royalty.
This is my favourite painting of the exhibition. The young queen is clearly at ease with the sumptuous setting and luxurious cloth as well as her standing and title. The exhibition describes this portrait of Marie Antoinette as being “portrayed in a grand palace setting, seen in a spectacular court dress of white satin with a gauze train, the French crown nearby. Although the portrait is formal and courtly, Vigée Le Brun shows her sitter without stiffness. The youthfulness, grace and radiance of the 22-year-old queen. The painting found favour both with its subject and her mother, Empress Maria Teresa of Austria.” Up close to the painting, I think the description fails to articulate her resigned expression. This is in contrast to usual portraits which often depict her with an air of playfulness and a wry smile. It’s my belief that this is a wedding portrait which may explain the inevitability portrayed in her look.
It’s certainly rings true that “Marie-Antoinette is synonymous with the opulence of Versailles. The luxury of her fashion, possessions and lifestyle is as famous as she is and everyone dreams of being spoilt the way she was at least once in their lives.”
Another spoilt noble, this painting of Louis-Jean-Marie de Bourbon, duc de Penthièvre and his daughter Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, has an equally luminescent quality to the skin and clothing of the subjects. Set outdoors, the surroundings are no less sumptuous than the interior where Marie Antoinette is positioned although these subjects are painted with less ease and fluidness than the previous portrait.
The final portrait that caught my attention is of Louis XIV by Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1701-1712. Once again the colour and luminescence with which the fabric comes across is incredible but I also love the indifference and impatience in his expression and the pompousness portrayed by the pose.
There are a lot of beautiful examples of collectibles from the era and this fan, although from an unknown Parisian workshop, no doubt would have been treasured as much then as it is now.
This gold urn painting is one of two, hanging together they are different in colour and tone but presented as a pair in matching gold frames. They caught my eye as they’re a prettier still life than most and I think they would have worked beautifully in a ladies’ tea room or conservatory. They would work equally well in my study, I decide.
The star of the show here is really Louis XIV. Known as the Sun King, the exhibition sums him up as follows: “he was an absolute monarch, reinforcing this throughout the Palace at Versailles with royal insignias, allegorical references and classical iconography. The king is shown in the guise of Apollo, the ancient Greek god of the sun – hence his title the Sun King – or represented as a Roman emperor. his achievements are documented by art in all its forms, in sculpture, in court portraits, history paintings and genre scenes.
At Versailles Charles Le Brun’s designs included every detail, from great ceilings enriched with stucco and paintings, to polychrome marble panelling and gilded wooden doors, down to intricate handles and locks. The highest standards of materials were employed: porphyry, alabaster, coloured marbles, ebony and other precious woods, silver, gilding and mirrors.
Sculpture appears everywhere. Reliefs are set into the building’s interiors and exterior. Portrait busts or life-size figures, often from antique models, stand in niches and adorn corridors, tabletops and mantles. A large number of bronzes and marble works are featured in the gardens. As well as Apollo, we find examples of classical mythology, such as Latona, Flora, Ceres, Bacchus and Saturn.”
The sculptures are equally intriguing and ornate. I usually prefer paints and furnishings to sculpture but many of these catch my eye either for their incredible detail, their quirkiness or both. The monkey and his little ones seems a good example of the eccentrics that many absolute monarchs seem to have exhibited.
There is also the incredible tapestries and the pièce de résistance, the Carpet from the Grande Galerie du Louvre (c 1682). This carpet is one of many exquisite carpets made by the Savonnerie Manufactory around the same time. Simply too large for me to capture a decent image (image below is from the exhibition website), I walk around it slowly, trying to imagine all the feet that have passed over it in its life as a carpet, rather than an exhibition piece. I’d love to take this piece home too but I’m certain that I don’t have a room big enough for it.
All in all this in a fantastic exhibition. It is particularly wonderful simply because this is the first time that these pieces have left the palace, let alone France. To be able to have an exhibition like this in Australia shows how well respected the NGA is and how incredibly talented and convincing the curators must have been to get pieces of this importance and scale to us on the other side of the world. Thank you NGA!
Would I Return?
Yes. The exhibition, which runs until 17 April 2017, allows a closer look at these treasures from the relative comfort of home. Don’t miss it unless you’re heading to the Palace of Versailles in the near future (although they might be missing some key pieces!).
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