Travellers, Princes, Ambassadors 1682
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visitors to versailles Travellers, princes, ambassadors 1682- 1789 In partnership with the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York Exhibition until 25th February 2018 at the Palace of Versailles Madam Krystyna Campbell-Pretty Thanks to the patronage of and his family In partnership with © Château de Versailles, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais /© Christophe Fouin ; © Château de Versailles /© Thomas Garnier, © Jean-Marc Manaï ; Collection particulière /© Thomas Garnier ; © Philip Mould & Company ; © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) #VisitorsVersailles / Gérard Blot ; © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Franck Raux ; © Paris, Missions étrangères /© Thomas Garnier - Visuel : DES SIGNES Studio Muchir Desclouds Press contacts Hélène Dalifard, Aurélie Gevrey, Elsa Martin, Violaine Solari +33 (0)1 30 83 75 21 [email protected] 2 Press release p.5 Preface by Catherine Pégard p.6 Foreword by Laurent Salomé p.7 summary Part I: The exhibition p.9 A palace open to the world p.11 Meeting the King p.12 Political visits p.17 Cultural and artistic visits p.23 Princes on official visits or incognito p.25 Modernising Versailles p.28 Unwelcome visitors p.29 Part II: Around the exhibition p.31 Catalogue of the exhibition p.32 Visitors tell their story... p.33 Guided tours, educational and cultural activities p.34 Part III: Partners of the exhibition p.37 Patrons p.38 Partners p.41 Part IV: Practical information p.45 3 Visitors to Versailles. Travellers, princes, ambassadors. 1682-1789 Exhibition from 22 October 2017 to 25 February 2018 Versailles, 19 October 2017 Press Release The Palace of Versailles and the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art have jointly produced the exhibition Visitors to Versailles. Travellers, princes, ambassadors. 1682-1789. It will first be on display at Versailles from 22 October 2017 to 25 February 2018, and will then go on to New York from 9 April to 29 July 2018. With over 7 million visitors every year, the Palace of The exhibition is the first to cover this subject and turns Versailles is one of the most popular historic sites in the the spotlight on these visitors to Versailles through world. The palace and its gardens have always attracted more than 300 works from the late 17th century to the visitors ever since the small hunting lodge built by Louis Revolution. Juxtaposing portraits and sculptures, Court XIII was transformed by Louis XIV into one of the most attire, travel guides, tapestries, Sevres and Meissen stunning residences in Europe, open to everyone as the porcelain, ceremonial weapons and snuffboxes, it shows King wished. examples of what travellers discovered on arriving at Versailles. How were they received? What were their French and foreign travellers, princes and ambassadors, impressions? What gifts or memories did they take back artists, writers and philosophers, architects and scholars, with them? Visitors today will discover the Palace through tourists on the “Grand Tour”, day trippers, they all the eyes of those that went before. crossed paths at Versailles, the ultimate cosmopolitan destination throughout the 18th century. While some The partnership between the Palace came to catch a glimpse of the King or win his favour, of Versailles and the Metropolitan others were received officially during diplomatic visits. Museum of Art of New York The Palace of Versailles was both a royal and a public Organised jointly by the Palace of Versailles and the space, it was the backdrop to the daily spectacle that the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York, the King put on for the Court and all his subjects. Visitors Visitors to Versailles 1682-1789 exhibition is the first large- flocked to this palace which became the most accessible scale collaboration between these two internationally in Europe. All of society was invited to come to Versailles, renowned cultural institutions. From the reception of with no distinction. Benjamin Franklin at the Court of Louis XVI in 1778, to the extraordinary patronage of John D. Rockefeller Jr. At the same time, memoirs, journals and literary diaries in the 1920s, Versailles has always been a key location in kept track of the arrival of important visitors and the which French and American friendship has been played festivities that were held for them. From the ambassadors out. Today, more than 800,000 American visitors come of Siam in 1686 to the visit from the ambassadors of every year to admire the Estate of Versailles, making the the Indian Kingdom of Mysore in 1788, representatives USA the country that provides the largest number of from every continent came to Versailles and admired its foreign visitors. magnificence. Every visit was also an opportunity to see the colourful national costumes worn so proudly and discover the originality and wealth of the gifts they brought. Press contacts Hélène Dalifard, Aurélie Gevrey, Elsa Martin, Violaine Solari +33 (0)1 30 83 75 21 [email protected] curators find us on: Bertrand Rondot, Head curator at the National Museum of the Palace of Versailles presse.chateauversailles.fr and the Trianon, in charge of furniture and objets d’art chateauversailles.fr Daniëlle Kisluk-Grosheide, Curator at the European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Opposite page: View of the Hall of Mirrors. Sébastien Leclerc the Elder (1637-1714). Circa 1684 Palace of Versailles. © RMN - Grand Palais (château de Versailles ) / Gérard Blot 5 Preface by Catherine Pégard President of the Public Institution of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles “Magnificent”, exclaimed visitors to Versailles before Succeeding Republics have kept Versailles as the symbol 1789. As they first stepped onto the Marble staircase, of France for their guests. General de Gaulle saw it as this was the word on everyone’s lips, which swelled as an image of grandeur, and not only welcomed Heads of they entered the Hall of Mirrors, then took flight in the State with a protocol that was not unlike the rules laid gardens. down by the Ancien Régime, but also made Trianon- sous-Bois the presidential residence where he received Magnificent… if we were to do a survey, we would surely them in splendid privacy. These images are already hear this same word repeated in every language today faded, yet they marked out the Fifth Republic: Jackie as after the trials and tribulations of history nothing has Kennedy smiling alongside the United States President; changed. The magic has been so often described but is the Queen of England retracing her early years as indefinable and still endures. The first impression is one sovereign; François Mitterrand caused a sensation in of astonished amazement. 1982, when he brought together his counterparts from the industrialised nations… In 2014, François Hollande The merit of this exhibition is perhaps that it echoes resumed the tradition of official visits by dining here our own curiosity, our emotions. Tourism – yes, indeed with the Chinese President Xi Jinping, then in May 2017 – was born here, and the maps and guides that show Emmanuel Macron visited the Peter the Great exhibition how the gardens were displayed or how the palace was with Vladimir Putin, to mark the three-hundredth presented seem familiar to us. We can “see” Versailles anniversary of the Tsar’s visit to France. Every year, the through the eyes of visitors from the past because we Palace of Versailles, now Palace of the Republic after are there! We understand the incredible asset that this being a royal residence, receives almost one hundred and palace represented, even though at first the King had not fifty diplomatic delegations and tourists from countries thought of making it an official public residence, because all over the world. But of course Versailles also continues still today Versailles is a remarkable place in the eyes of to inspire the artists and craftsmen of today. the whole world. I would like to express my thanks to the private As we follow the curators of the exhibition, Daniëlle collectors and museums throughout the world for the Kisluk-Grosheide and Bertrand Rondot, through the splendid items they have loaned the exhibition. sparkling receptions that brought Versailles to life for over a century, we enter a dizzying, glamourous, My thanks to Bertrand Rondot, Head Curator at the cosmopolitan world. Scientists vied with philosophers. Palace of Versailles, and Daniëlle Kisluk-Grosheide, Artists added their own talents. Ambassadors brought Curator of the Department of Sculpture and Decorative in ideas. Musicians accompanied queens. Princes Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, for taking us conversed with writers. The King set the stage for all on this unusual voyage through Versailles. these encounters. Finally, I am delighted that this exhibition will be shown This theatre of power and cultural diplomacy, this in April 2018 in New York. This first major collaboration model for a way of life enhanced the memories and the with the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a good unpublished testimonials that are interspersed throughout illustration of the Franco-American friendship for which this exhibition. They set out an interpretation of Versailles Versailles has always been the setting. Americans still that spans the ages. In fact, after the Revolution the top the list in terms of visitors from abroad… tourists were very quick to return, drawn by the timeless attraction of the Grandes Eaux fountain display in the gardens. Napoleon I chose not to use Versailles, but Louis-Philippe brought it back to life with the opening of the Museum of the History of France: in 1837, Versailles was once again the scene of festivities and social events. Napoleon III received Queen Victoria here in 1855. 6 Foreword by Laurent Salomé Director of the National Museum of the Palaces of Versailles and Trianon The Visitors to Versailles project is part of a series of the gifts were of paramount importance, mobilising major exhibitions that have created a distinct genre, the appropriate amount of resources, in other words unique to Versailles.