Princeton University, Feb 13 to July 19, Versailles on Paper: A Graphic Panorama of the Palace and Gardens of Louis XIV (source: Volker SCHRÖDER)
Dear colleagues,
I'm pleased to announce the opening of the exhibition "Versailles on Paper," now on display in Princeton's Firestone Library through July. See details below.
The show is accompanied by a comprehensive companion website, which includes high-resolution images of every exhibit (embedded in a viewer with zoom and full-screen capabilities), as well as additional interactive features and links to digital resources. The website should remain active indefinitely at the following URL:
Cordialement,
Volker Schröder
Versailles on Paper: A Graphic Panorama of the Palace and Gardens of Louis XIV
February 13 - July 19, 2015
Main Gallery, Firestone Library, Princeton University
1 Washington Road, Princeton NJ 08544
Monday to Friday, 9:00-5:00
Saturday and Sunday, 12:00-5:00
From the beginning of his personal reign in 1661 to his death in 1715, Louis XIV of France lavished special attention and resources on his beloved Versailles. Under the king’s close supervision, an army of artists, engineers, and workers ceaselessly enlarged the palace, remodeled its interiors, and embellished its gardens. At the same time, the best engravers of the age were employed to produce a lasting visual record of these transformations and to project the glorious image of the “Sun King” and his court around the globe.
This exhibition documents the contemporary representation of Versailles through a multifaceted array of prints, books, maps, medals, and manuscripts. It highlights in particular those elements that today survive only on paper: ephemeral festivals; short-lived creatures (courtiers, animals, flowers); fragile groves and fountains too costly to maintain; and once celebrated masterpieces of art and architecture that were irrevocably destroyed or altered. This “paper Versailles” is quite different from the one that millions of tourists visit every year and affords many unusual and surprising glimpses into a largely lost world.