A Closer Look: Inside The Queen's Quarters at the Palace of Versailles | Cultured Elegance

Inside the Queen's Quarters at Versailles. And don't forget to like this video and subscribe to this channel. We will begin with looking at the Queen's Apartments and then the Queen's Private Suite. According to the book Versailles by Gérald van der Kamp, the Queen's Apartment was created by Louis Laveau for Queen Marie-Thérèse. It consisted of four large rooms whose windows opened on to the Parterre du Midi. These areas are reached by means of the famous Queen's staircase with its extremely rich decoration. The balustrade is of black marble with red balusters. A large array of iconic plasters of dine-in marble adorn the upper story where cherubs and sphinxes of gilt metal decorate the overdoors. These vast reliefs are the work of Le Gros and Mousseau who created the charming trophy in the niche on the landing representing two cherubs holding an escutcheon with the royal arms crowned by two doves. On the wall opposite of the Loge, a trompe-l'oeil painting of architecture adds a pleasant note while increasing the sense of space. It was customary for this suite of rooms where the royal line was perpetuated to remain in continual use. Thus it was lived in by Queen Marie-Thérèse from 1682 to 1683, the Dauphine of Bavaria from 1683 to 1690, the Dauphine of Savoy who was Louis XV's mother from 1690 to 1712, the Spanish Infanta, Louis XV's fiancée from 1722 to 1725, Queen Marie Leszczyńska from 1725 to 1768, and Marie Antoinette as Dauphine and then as the Queen from 1770 to 1789. The Room of the Queen's Guard with its marble and paintings which come from the former Jupiter cabinet, the king's first council chamber on the site of the Salon de la Guerre. The Room of the Queen's Guard is one of the finest achievements of Le Brocht's art. The white and red marble inlays are strikingly enhanced by bold frames of black marble around both real and false doors, paintings, and chimney piece. Fine gilt metal bas-reliefs and a Languedoc marble fireplace complete the effect of grandeur. On the octagonal ceiling, Noël Coypel painted the ruler of the gods, Jupiter. He stands upright in a silver chariot drawn by two eagles. Around him hover four children, symbolizing satellites of this god's planet, which itself appear beneath the chariot in the form of a woman. Justice and piety accompany Jupiter. Justice is armed with an axe to punish the vices, while piety shrews the contents of a cornucopia as a reward for the virtues. Flévian tells us that in the coves, the painter portrayed in four large paintings, two of justice's most memorable actions and two of piety's most renowned deeds, whose memory has been preserved by history and which have a particular connection with several of the many examples of these virtues given by the king. Coypel is also the creator of the two paintings, the sacrifice to Jupiter above the fireplace and opposite the dance of the corribans. Night and day, the queen's guards would keep watch. The room was continually cluttered with racks for their arms and particularly with screens hiding tables and camp beds. The usefulness of a room of this kind, strategically placed at the entrance to the queen's apartment, was tragically demonstrated by the events of October 6th, 1789, on an evening when a mob, seething with excitement, tried to force the doors which protected what was to be the queen's last night at Versailles. The fight was a bloody one, but the devotion of the guards enabled the queen to slip away and seek refuge with the king and also gave the national guard time to arrive as reinforcements. The Grand Covet Antechamber. This vast room, abundantly lit by three large windows, forms to the south the symmetrical counterpart to the Salon de Mars in the state apartments to the north. The effect of the time on Lebrun's decoration has often been disastrous. The central ceiling painting, in which Vignon had portrayed the god Mars, has gone and a more peaceful subject, Darius' tent by Lebrun, has taken its place. All the rest of the ceiling, with its battle scenes in gold monochrome, have fortunately remained, as have the fine military trophies with Puti bearing eagles in the corners of the ceiling coves. The 19th century continued the work of destruction. Two of the large carved doors were removed at the same time as the mantelpiece and its mirror, and at this time the last traces of the gallery for Marie Antoinette's musicians, which occupied the wall of the adjoining guard room, were also removed. The tapestries chosen by Marie Antoinette are still in existence. From the time of Louis XIV, the king's Grand Covet was held in this room. Armchairs for the king and queen were placed in front of the fireplace, together with a table set for two. The Marquise de la Tour du Pin describes, in her memoirs, a Grand Covet at which she was present in 1788. The queen sat on the left of the king, this being the reign of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Their backs were to the fireplace, and ten feet in front of them, arranged in a semicircle, were a number of stools on which were seated the duchesses, princesses, or those in high office who held this privilege. Behind them stood the other people present. The king ate with a hearty appetite, but the queen did not remove her gloves, nor use her serviette, which was a great error. By this remark, the narrator tells us that Marie Antoinette, who had been accustomed to the informality of life in the Austrian court, never got used to this practice of the Grand Covet, which, Madame Campin assures us, was the joy of the provincial visitors and good people, admitted to watch the king and queen dine at Versailles. The Salon des Nobles. This room could be considered as the queen's official drawing room. Here, surrounded by her ladies-in-waiting, she had presented to her the ladies of the nobility, who had recently been admitted to reside at the court. For important official ceremonies, for instance, when an ambassador and his wife came to pay their respects, her chair was placed against the far wall under a canopy. Of the setting designed by Lebrun, we can still admire the fine ceiling by Michel Corneille, dedicated to Mercury. In the round central section, the god hovers over our heads, spreading his influence over the arts and sciences. He is accompanied by eloquence, poetry, geometry, etc. Flébion explains that other allegorical figures in this painting represent learning and vigilance, without which one can make no progress in the sciences or the arts. On the ceiling coves, held up as an example to women of the time, we see Sappho playing the lyre, Penelope weaving tapestry, Aspasia with the Greek philosophers, and Seremy painting, which, with music, was Marie Leszczynska's favorite pastime. The walls were originally lined with panels of richest marble, probably somewhat like those in the Salon de Diane. However, this material was most inconvenient in the winter, in a room so difficult to heat. It was, therefore, partly covered with tapestries. Several chests of drawers with inlaid flowers, a fine crystal chandelier, and a number of stools completed this set of furnishings, which lasted until 1785. In that year, Marie Antoinette, who did not appreciate the nobility of Louis XIV's decor, decided to have the marble removed and kept only the painted ceiling. It was then that the white and gold dado, wood paneling, was created, and the walls were hung with green apple silk. This was framed with a gloon of gold thread. There was a very fine slate blue mantelpiece, decorated with bronzes by Gouthière, was then placed beneath one of the three large mirrors. Louis-Philippe had this removed, but it has been found again and replaced in position. Some items of Marie Antoinette's furniture have also been found. Two corner cupboards and two of the three magnificent mahogany commodes, made by Riesner in 1786. Since then, the donation of an admirable rock crystal chandelier and the arrival of the spectacular camel clock and the ostrich candelabra have been added as an exceptional touch to the room. When the occupant of this room died, it was customary for the body to be placed on view here. A most painful event occurred in 1712, when the coffin of Louis XV's parents were displayed in the salon, after they had been struck down in the prime of their youth within days of each other. The queen's bedchamber is one of the finest and most appealing masterpieces that the decorative arts have offered France. The removal of Lebrun's décor should cause no regret. The one designed by Descoteux and Gabriel, and his son for Marie Leszczynska, is matchless. Under the most beautiful gilded sky in which François Boucher painted the queen's virtues, charity, abundance, fidelity, and prudence, Dugalloun, Lille-Gruppal, and Verberkept created elegant paneling with Rococo ornamentation around three large sparkly mirrors that were framed by gilded palm trees. Furnishings of particular richness were required for this setting. Some of the finest fabrics made in Lyons in the 18th century were chosen for the alcove, the most sumptuous of all being those given to his wife by Louis XV. Marie Antoinette asked for some alterations to be made and the corners of the ceiling were therefore adorned with trophies in which the arms of France alternate with those of the house of Austria. She had the portraits of Marie Leszczynska's parents over the mirrors replaced by tapestry portraits of her mother, Maria Theresa, her brother Joseph II, and her husband. Finally, in 1786, the large modern fireplace of red marble was installed. Recently, the andirons in the shape of sphinxes have been returned to stand guard in the hearth. After the last world war, the only piece of this room's furniture which remained at Versailles was the screen and the sumptuous jewelry cabinet delivered by Ewald and Schwertfeger in 1787. It was not a great deal. However, samples of the fabric which hung in the alcove in October 1789 had been preserved at Lyons and in addition they were able to purchase the queen's original bedspread in New York in 1955. It was then that they decided to reconstruct all the missing material. Thanks to watercolors which were found and documents in the archives, it became possible to recreate meticulously the carvings on the missing bedhead and canopy. A new balustrade was also carved. The large sauvonry carpet had just been donated to Versailles and the one inside the alcove was rewoven at the sauvonry works from the half still in existence. No less than 20 years of unceasing effort were required to conclude this restoration work which was made possible only through the generosity of many patrons and the talent of the artisans who are the heirs of the 18th century masters. Among the memories one could evoke here are the moments of joy at the birth of the 19 children of France. Tradition had it that these births should be public so that the legitimacy of the children could not be questioned. Madame Campagne tells us the birth of Madame Royelle, the first child born to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The king's daughter came into the world before noon on the 19th of December 1778 with the etiquette permitting the indiscriminate entry of all present for the confinement of the queen was observed to such an exaggerated degree when it was announced in a loud voice the queen is about to give birth. The mass of continuous onlookers who surged into the room was so huge and so tumultuous that it was thought that this movement would kill the queen. The last anecdote connected with this room is a dramatic one. It was here that Marie Antoinette spent her last night at Versailles interrupted at dawn on the 6th of October 1789 by a mob which had arrived from Paris the night before and which tried unsuccessfully to force the entrances to her apartment. Now we will be moving on to the queen's private suites. This was the only private realm that the queen of Versailles had. A set of small drawing rooms opening onto rather dark interior courtyards bears witness to each sovereign's desire for a life of their own. They were created at the time of Louis XIV for Marie Therese and were extended little by little with each reign. For more than four decades the discreet Maria Leszczynska loved to take refuge here. She would spend many long hours here in the company of friends talking doing embroidery and painting. She gave these rooms a graceful personal touch by adorning them with magnificent Rococo wainscoting and paintings by Boucher and Natier. Nothing remains today of these delightful creations of Louis XV's reign. From 1770 a breath of youth and new life swept through Versailles. The dauphin the future Louis XVI had just married the archduchess Marie Antoinette. The dynamic princess who had only seen 14 springs wanted everything about her to be modern. Her royal spouse deeply in love with her could refuse her nothing and had everything redecorated by Richard Meek who became the queen's architect. Being of secondary importance the bathroom and retiring room were hardly altered so that it was possible to put back the magnificent paintings by Jean-Baptiste Oudry depicting the five senses commissioned by Maria Leszczynska. Meek's masterpiece at the palace of Versailles is definitely the cabinet d'ore where the superb wood paneling carved in 1783 by the Rousseau brothers is adorned with sphinxes, incense burners and arabesques alternating with mirrored panels. In this sumptuous setting Marie Antoinette would welcome her friends who were often mischievous and given to mockery. Here she would learn to sing and pose for portraits. Beyond is the new library and lastly the charming given by Louis XVI to his wife in 1781 on the occasion of the birth of the Dauphin. This room situated between the alcove of the queen's bedchamber is enchantingly decorated with sparkling mirrors reflecting the exquisitely gilded paneling and the blue damask rewoven for the window alcove and chairs. These spaces including the queen's apartments and the queen's private suites conclude the queen's quarters at Versailles. Thank you so much for watching this video and don't forget to like subscribe and share and comment down below telling me your favorite room throughout the tour. If you enjoyed this free content consider supporting me on Patreon and becoming a member of the weekly Cultured Elegance newsletter. Thank you everyone and I'll see you in the next video.