louis-philippe and versailles 6 October 2018 3 February 2019 #LouisPhilippeVersailles Press contacts Hélène Dalifard, Aurélie Gevrey, Violaine Solari +33 (0) 1 30 83 75 21 [email protected] presse.chateauversailles.fr Follow us on: chateauversailles.fr « What Louis Philippe has done at Versailles is a grAND thing. (...) to have put a GrEAT idea into a GrEAT building, to have placed the present in the past, 1789 ALONGSIDE 1688, the emperor in the house of the king Napoleon in the house of Louis XIV; in short, to have given this magnificent book that we call the history of France the magnificent binding that we call Versailles. » Victor Hugo Pages numbered III, in Complete Works 4 Press release p.6 Preface by Catherine Pégard p.8 Foreword by Laurent Salomé p.9 contents background p.11 Chronology p.12 King Louis-Philippe’s family p.15 louis-philippe’s versailles p.17 Visitor tour p.18 The Crusades Rooms p.20 The Exhibition p.21 The Coronation Room p.36 The 1792 Room p.38 The Battle Gallery p.39 The Statue Gallery p.40 The Consulate and Empire Rooms p.41 Theatre scenery spotlighted p.42 The royal family’s living quarters in the Grand Trianon p.46 in connection with the exhibition p.51 Exhibition catalogue p.52 Other publications p.53 For further information p.54 exhibition patrons p.57 exhibition partners p.63 beyond the exhibition p.69 practical information p.73 . Palace of Versailles © Palace of Versailles / Jean-Marc Manaï Manaï / Jean-Marc Versailles of © Palace Versailles of . Palace The Gothic Palace The Gothic Detail of decoration decoration of Detail king Louis-Philippe AND Versailles 6 October 2018 - 3 February 2019 Versailles, 5 October 2018. For the first time, the Palace of Versailles is devoting a major exhibition to Louis-Philippe, who turned the former royal residence into a museum dedicated "to all the glories of France". The exhibition recalls a decisive moment in the history of Versailles, which began a new life from that moment forward. It also emphasises the king’s direct involvement in the project, his love of history and his desire to portray the history of France. For the occasion, 32 rooms of the 19th-century museum, not usually accessible to the public, will be specially opened, giving an additional 4,656 m2 where visitors can discover one of the little-known aspects of the Palace of Versailles. As heir to the Orléans family, King Louis-Philippe had little in the way of historic ties with the Versailles of the Ancien Régime. Nevertheless, as soon as he acceded to the throne in 1830, he showed a strong interest in the Palace and worked to transform it into a national monument. His aim was certainly to reconcile the French people with each other, but above all to ensure that his reign left its mark in the country’s history. From that time, two Versailles lived alongside one another. The royal residence in the central section with the restored and refurnished State Apartments, which conserved their names and their uses. The former monarchy was recalled above all in the King's Apartments, the King’s Bedchamber marking the apogee of the visit. Elsewhere, in the North and South Wings, considerable works were undertaken. Louis Philippe created History Galleries from one end of the Palace to the other, thus interspersing the visit with King Louis Philippe and his sons leaving by the Honour Gate of the Palace of Versailles after reviewing the troops in the courtyard, 10 June 1837, Horace Vernet, 1846, Musée major groups of paintings: the Gallery of Battles, from National des Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon Tolbiac to Wagram, the Estates-General Room and the © RMN-GP (Palace of Versailles) / Daniel Arnaudet 1792 Room, Napoleon’s Coronation Chamber, mirrored The exhibition is presented in the Africa Rooms where the by the 1830 Room glorifying the new monarch, and finally paintings commissioned by Louis Philippe are unveiled to the Crusades Rooms and Africa Rooms that remained the public. In addition, it offers a genuine immersion in unfinished in 1848 with the fall of the July monarchy. 19th-century Versailles. For example, several theatre sets are presented on the stages of the Palace and the Trianon, To implement this project, the Palace architect, Frédéric including that made for the inauguration of the History Nepveu, drew inspiration from the decorative vocabulary Galleries, on 10 June 1837, placed on the stage of the of the State Apartments, but used new techniques, for Royal Opera House. The public can also lose themselves example the metal structure that enabled the monumental in the Crusades Rooms, in the Coronation Chamber and Gallery of Battles to receive natural lighting. the 1792 Room – both restored for the occasion – and The choice of pictures at Versailles underlined Louis in the Consulate and Empire Rooms. Visitors can also Philippe’s political attitudes: his education had given discover the Statue Galleries as they were at the time, since him a heightened awareness of history, accentuated by the original busts and the Louis-Philippe chandeliers have the French Revolution and the Romantic leanings of been reinstalled. the period. The numerous works he commissioned thus illustrate history through events, interspersed with great exhibition curator Scenography Valérie Bajou, Head Curator at the Palace of Versailles Hubert le Gall 6 View of the Gallery of Battles © Palace of Versailles / Thomas Garnier names. He brought French heroes to life again, from Pharamond right up to the most recent events when he took power and became king. By transforming the former Bourbon residence into a museum open to the public, the king confirmed his educational view of a Palace where the paintings would be read like a picture book, accompanied by a political message. Versailles was no longer only a place for remembrance, it had become a place for learning. The royal family in front of the statue of Joan of Arc, Auguste Vinchon, 1848, Musée National des Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon © Palace of Versailles, Dist RMN / Jean-Marc Manaï Capture of the Smala of Abd-el-Kader by the Duke of Aumale at Taguin, 16 May 1843, Horace Vernet, 1843-1845, Musée National des Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon © RMN-GP (Palace of Versailles) / Gérard Blot / Hervé Lewandowski with the patronage of: exhibition in media partnershipp with:with: and with contributions from: 7 preface by catherine pégard President of the Établissement Public du Château, du Musée et du Domaine National de Versailles As always – although perhaps somewhat intermittently Opera House, the prodigious set commissioned for – Versailles appears to be the essence, the reflection and the performance given during the inauguration of the the setting for the power, convictions or dreams of he museum on 10 June 1937, and by refurnishing Louis who occupies it. With King Louis Philippe, it became Philippe’s Private Apartment in the Grand Trianon, the very illustration of the transition that the king, the Palace of Versailles’ curators have greatly extended traumatised and enlightened by his own story – at the their evocation of the works carried out during the July meeting of two worlds – wanted to impose. Monarchy. Even if he was not concerned with saving the Palace of Much remains to be done to make the museum more Versailles by means of ambitious works, Napoleon gave understandable. However – and this is not the least up on the idea of upsetting the doubly-troublesome merit of the work carried out by Valérie Bajou and all history of the place where Revolution overcame royalty. those who have made the exhibition catalogue such Right from the start of his reign, but already with a little a profuse and nuanced kaleidoscope of intermingled more perspective, King Louis Philippe indicated his stories – there would be no incongruity if today’s visitors, desire to use the royal residence differently: as a museum stopping in the Hall of Mirrors or the Gallery of Battles, open to all, at the same time establishing it, like Louis should be equally astonished, if for different reasons. XIV, in the image of his reign. Historian François Furet’s statement that Louis Philippe failed because “he was too Monarchist to be Republican With the first major exhibition that Versailles has and too Republican to be Monarchist” cannot be applied devoted to the biggest transformation in its history, therefore to the changes made at Versailles. curator Valérie Bajou leads us inside the “magnificent” book, so highly praised by Victor Hugo at the inauguration of the museum devoted “to all the glories of France”. After an insatiable quest through the world’s greatest museums to find works which, besides those from the Palace of Versailles collections, bear witness to the personal choices made by the king day after day, Valérie Bajou offers us the story of a period that is little- known, neglected or even forgotten. But the exhibition does even better than that, providing the challenging pretext for opening the 19th-century galleries, too often unknown to the public. It required everybody’s involvement to bring back to life the historical rooms – created by Louis Philippe beside the royal apartments to link, in images, his time to the past – for this occasion. Our desire to open up ever more of the Palace of Versailles – a commitment which is, when all is said and done, a continuation of Louis-Philippe’s own wishes – is encouraged by support from our patrons. I would like to express my gratitude to the two French companies, Plastic Omnium and Axa, who have made possible the restoration of the Coronation Chamber.