Louis XIV: Versailles, Europe and the Arts

(whooshing music)- Thank you very much, I'm delighted to be here in the heart of London, a city which Louis XIV came to regard as an enemy capital,(audience laughs) but I want to stress tonight the more peaceful and art-loving sides of Louis XIV, which are just as characteristic of him as war, the many wars he fought with Britain in particular. Here, he is presented as a warlord by his principle artist Charles Lefevre, he's a a warrior king on horseback, a rearing horse, which he's controlling effortlessly, as kings were often presented, and he lived in the classical past, as a lot of rulers then did. Versailles, in a way, is a love letter to the Roman Empire, it's trying to be better than Roman palaces, both ancient and modern. And here he is as a Roman emperor by Mignard. Almost all these pictures are in the Chateau de Versailles, either in the royal apartments or in the Musee de l'Histoire de France, in side wings. He's a Roman emperor, crowned with Victory, in front of Maastricht, which has just fallen to French armies. In fact, at that time, he was allied with England, so this is the siege where John Churchill, later Duke of Marlborough, is learning the art of war. Louis XIV, the longest reign in modern history, longer even than Elizabeth II, 1643 to 1715, he saw himself, also, as a new Alexander the Great, whose history he had read, and he's a warlord with the most alarming and toughest army of the Europe of his time, he's devastating the Rhineland, these poor German cities, and Genoa, Brussels, Algiers also bombarded, and in the end, he loses his wars, the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, France hands some provinces back. But as a patron of the arts, I will try to show tonight, he's much, much more successful, and in fact, he won victory after victory, and I would even suggest he's possibly the greatest patron of the arts in the history of Europe, so we'll discuss him as a patron. And here you see a picture by Nicolas Loir, which, rather amazingly, is in Stockport, and this shows the triumph of the arts, a constant theme in the decoration of Versailles, and top-left, there is the dark figure of the key man, the key fixer, Colbert, who is in charge of the court of money of the interior of the economy, it's he who actually pays the artists. And another picture on this theme, it's by Jean Garnier, at Versailles, it shows Louis XIV as protector of the arts and sciences, you see musical instruments, a globe, very keen on global travel, and other symbols of the arts. And even more, this is Louis XIV, a fantasy visit to the Academy of Sciences, which he founded. Behind him is the observatory, which is just being restored and will soon be open to the public again, at the end of the Jardin du Luxembourg, which he founded, and you see he's surrounded by scientists and artists, there are too many to list them all. Here is the King, this is the all important Colbert again, here is his brother, Monsieur, this is probably the premier gentilhomme de la chambre, the key court official, a globe, again, a globe, French scientists, cartographers, astronomers were then the best in the world. In fact, Lord Macaulay later wrote,"France had the domination of Athens and of Rome,"of the arts and of power." And he's following a tradition of the French monarchy since St. Louis, or maybe earlier, it had been a leader in patronage of the arts in Europe in the Gothic style, Francois I, who brings Leonardo and others to the French court, there's this feeling it should the European magnet for the arts. And Colbert said to Bernini, who is specially summoned from Rome, the greatest artistic genius of the day, to France, he said the King would spare nothing to make the arts flourish in France. And he himself insisted on the highest quality, that may be why they did flourish, he personally selected the pictures on his walls, the singers in his choirs, including, which was very unusual for the time, some women, and the sculptures in his gardens, and he chose musicians like Lully and Couperin so that the music in his choirs in the fantastic chapel of Versailles was the best in Europe. An ambassador said that when they were posted to other courts, they had to block their ears, the music was so bad. And he's really involved, he's not just commissioning and paying, he's actually participating in the creative process, in my opinion. He personally directed the design and decoration not only of Versailles, but also of the Trianon, of his vanished pavilion at Marly, and of the Louvre. And while he's rather reserved, rather silent towards most of his courtiers, he had to be because, otherwise, they would never have stopped asking for favors, he's very polite to artists. He allowed Bernini to run his fingers through his hair, through the King's hair, when he's sculpting a bust of the King, to rearrange the hair to suit Bernini, and Bernini talks to him as an equal, he tells the King that for someone who'd never been to Italy, he had surprisingly good taste, and so on,(audience laughs) so very much an equal. Andre Le Notre, his great gardener, the designer of the park at Versailles, of many other parks, not only around Paris, but even in Europe, St. James's Park a bit, Greenwich a bit, he's treated as a friend. He gives the King part of his collection of pictures and bronzes, and towards the end of his life, when they're both old, they both have wheelchairs and are pushed round sort of together, almost as equals, round the Park of Versailles. Those are the astronomers, here is another picture of Royal Magnificence patronizing the arts, it hung in Louis XIV's Petite Galerie on the first floor of Versailles, it no longer exists, where he kept his private collection, as well as the grand official pictures which you can still see some of them in the state apartments. And Louis XIV's own person was a work of art. We don't have any of his clothes, because if they had survived, they would have been destroyed at the revolution, all the best French ancien regime clothes are from outside France, but we do have his jewel box, which you see here, made for him in 1675, you can see it in the Salle des Objets d'Art in the Louvre now, and he loved jewels. He's personally choosing jewels, and which jewels his mistress, Madame de Montespan, should wear, he would walk close to the ladies of the court at a ceremony so they could admire his clothes and the jewels on his clothes, he's hoovering up jewels throughout his reign for his personal collection. It's made by Jacob Blanck from Nuremberg. And he insists that his courtiers buy sumptuous clothes for ceremonies like royal marriages, and so on, to help the Paris dress trade. So here, we're in the Mercers' Hall, and Versailles itself was like a mercers' hall, it's a show place for fashions and other luxury products, as well as a royal palace. And he visits factories making lace, and so on, in order to encourage them, following Colbert's advice, Colbert sometimes would tell the King what to do. And of course, his lace neckties would be covered in signs of his monarchy, sun rays, or L's, or fleurs-de-lis, and he starts the "Mercure Galant," which is the first regular fashion magazine in Europe, encouraging Europe to follow French fashions, it was dedicated to Louis XIV and it received a government subsidy. And all this goes on today, one of the biggest industries in France is the luxury industry, perfumes, clothes, and so on, as you know, and now, a Frenchman has taken over Christie's, and I think Sotheby's too, so the sale of works of art, as in the time of Louis XIV, is now being orchestrated from Paris. Dress. Now, there you see the detail, this very luxurious filigree, detailed ornamentation on objects, on buildings, on clothes, which is a hallmark of le style Louis XIV. And here he is dancing, as a young man, in a court ballet as Apollo, Apollo, the god of the arts, and he never stops dancing really all through his reign, he dances as a young king with the queen of Poland in 1645, and this is dancing during the Fronde, even the terrible civil war of his youth, the court ballet never really stops,'cause you have to think, we are at the French court, the party has to go on even if there are rebellions and civil war. And his father had danced, and his other predecessors had also danced in ballets, it's a way of assembling the great nobles and the great talents around the king. He would practice dancing in his own rooms every day as a young man, apparently, and he would dance in public until he was 30, and in private until he was 60, at Marly, where the public was not admitted, and sometimes, he dances as... I'm quoting from another ballet,

"I have vanquished that python who devastated the world,"that terrible serpent,"that is the serpent of rebellion,"whom hell and the Fronde"had seasoned with a dangerous venom."Revolt, in one word, can no longer harm me." So it's all political, like everything under Louis XIV. And there were also... Versailles and the French court were very close to animals, often dogs meant more to them than humans, we'll come to that later, horses were very much part of daily life. This shows a carousel, or horse ballet, that he put on in 1662 in front of the Tuileries Palace there, which no longer exists, and this was very carefully orchestrated, all the lords of the court are participating, and it's specifically for the public, also watching roundabout, and they'd paraded through the streets of Paris, Parisians had been told in advance, everything is to entertain Parisians, and also to keep them quiet.(audience laughs) And this horse ballet, I mean you can now see a bit in Vienna, I think, but it's nothing like what these carousels were, again, occupying a lot of people's time and energy for many, many hours. Here he is as emperor of the Romans in this carousel, special costumes. Here is a comedie-ballet, 1664, performed at Versailles, a comedy by Moliere,"La Princesse d'Elide," but there are always intervals of ballet to entertain the court, and the King is watching, with his wife and mother, in the front. You shouldn't think of the French court as very orderly or regimented, that's for other courts, it's lots of pushing and shoving, and pushing for food, and disrespectful even to the King's brother or the King's wife. Sometimes, Louis XIV had to use his cane himself to make a way through the crowd for ladies. Here you see another ballet, 1664, in the gardens of Versailles, you see food is being brought in, the royal family and its guests are eating first, then they leave the table, and then they watch all the members of the public rushing to grab the food themselves, and that is part of the entertainment, food historians call it a food scramble.(audience laughs) I'm sure we'd behave much better.(audience laughs) And it becomes a science. He founded the Academie de Danse in 1664, and he says it's specifically to train nobles to have better bodies, it's the gym of its day, so they will fight better in war, as well as be healthier. You have to think of Versailles, as you queue or go round in a crowd, there was always music and parties going on in the evening, not just in the King's apartments, but also in courtiers' apartments and in the chapel, Lully and Lalande are making music, and the King himself was a melomane."The King's greatest taste at the moment"is for Italian music," wrote an ambassador in 1660,"occupying him for three or four hours every evening." He would play the guitar himself, he would dance with Madame de Montespan alone in private, and even at the age of 60, he's sometimes singing along with ladies in waiting in private concerts. His taste was more Italian and less French than his courtiers', and he makes sure that every mass in the royal chapel is a grand musical concert as well. He founds the Ballet, and he encourages his music teachers to write down the steps of the dance so, among many other things, he's the inventor of choreography. This is by Raoul Feuillet, who is one of his dance teachers,"Choreography, or the Art of Describing Dance"by Characters, Figures, and Demonstrative Signs," published in 1700. You see the beginning of writing it all down, and it very rapidly moves across the Channel, as everything did then, to England. Versailles is sometimes using English country dances, and England is using French court dances, even when there's a war with France. And this is from the music library at Boughton, a magnificent Baroque country house in Northamptonshire, built by Ralph Montagu, who had been an ambassador to Louis XIV. And here is a book of pieces for the guitar dedicated to the King by Raoul de Visee. And here is a tragedy in music by Lully, who is a knight, secretary of the King, and surintendant de la musique de sa majeste, he's in fact supremo of music at the French court, in constant contact with the King. And it's published in 1685, and it is published with privilege of his majesty and by the royal printer, so it's very much a court art. And here is another tragedy, "Armide," put into music by Monsieur de Lully, and he was even forgiven sexual transgressions by the King, despite the King's growing piety, because his music was so good. And he's also obsessed with other forms of art, not just dress, and music, and dance, but also furniture and furnishings. And this is a famous scene, a Gobelins tapestry, you see the French royal coat of arms at the top, the three fleurs-de-lis, and the King is honoring the factory, which is really a mini city of the Gobelins, which is still the seat of the National Furniture Store today, in Southeast Paris, he's visiting it, and you can see there some of the works of art being made for the King, that is tapestries, silver-work, furniture, and so on. And he visited it several times, so he's really personally appreciative of it, and in fact, he's the style master. Here you see one of the bronzes, which he would have in his private apartments, with medals of himself, and he commissioned a whole series called "The History of the King," of his own medals. And I said that he was a soldier, and this medal says,"Rex dux et miles," "The King, a general and a soldier," he's not just organizing battles, but he's also actually in the trenches himself with the soldiers, or that's the theory, and he did go into the trenches quite often, but his ministers wouldn't allow him to stay long'cause it was too dangerous. And here is a medal commemorating the finishing of the Palace of Versailles, and he probably had about 21,000 medals in his private collection, many classical, Roman, Greek medals and cameos, as well as modern medals, and you can see some of them now on show in the Bibliotheque Nationale in the Rue de Richelieu. And this is his principal mistress in the 1670s, this is by Henri Gascard, it's in Versailles, Madame de Montespan, she's shown in the luxurious interior at the the beginning of Louis XIV's reign, you see cabinets surmounted by blue and white china, because Chinese porcelain is being imported, originally via Holland, and later directly to France, and is very fashionable with the courtiers of Versailles. And I'm just going to rapidly show you some pieces of furniture, some of which would have been made at Gobelins, you see the medal of Louis XIV, maybe they've been slightly changed later, but this is the the great, grand style of Louis XIV's reign. This is in the Metropolitan Museum in New York, this is in the Louvre, in the Louvre, in the Louvre again, made with many rare metals, tin, silver, gilt bronze, and so on, asserting royal supremacy. This is a Cucci cabinet from the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV, made at the Gobelins factory, now at Alnwick, in Northumberland. A lot of these things were sold even before the revolution and hoovered up by English lords. And this is the King's personal desk, you see the enlaced L's and crown, which is his mark. He invented the monogram of the L's entwined, his father's monogram it much less elegant. It may have been copied from the entwined F's of his hated minister, whom he imprisoned, Fouquet, and one is in the Metropolitan Museum and a pair is in the Louvre, it's really a magnificent piece of work. So France is winning any battle for supremacy in furniture, French craftsmen spread across Europe, they make these beds, and this bed was made in 1688 by Perard, an emigre French craftsman, for James II. It's the finest state bed of the Louis XIV period, and it was taken, after James II's fall, by Lord Dorset, and is know in Knole House, in Kent. And you see the taborets, or stools that went with it, because there's a very strict furniture etiquette governing who could sit down in the presence of the King and on what, and this also applies in England, but it hasn't yet been fully studied. And he loved pictures, he's a collector, as well as a patron and creator of works of art, and to please him, the doge of Venice gave him this incredible Veronese picture of Jesus Christ having supper in the house of Simon, which is now hanging in Versailles. And under Louis XIV, the royal collection of pictures rose from 483 in 1683 to 1,478 in 1709, and the best pictures were moved from the Louvre to Versailles, including the "Mona Lisa". And his favorite painter is Charles Lebrun, this is "The Family of Darius before Alexander," the Great, it still hangs in Versailles, he's trying to show that French painters are now as good as Italians, and the whole of Versailles is to show that French arts are as good as or better than Italian arts. He adored Lebrun's pictures, he interrupted a council meeting once to show his ministers, this is"The Triumphal Entry of Alexander the Great Into Babylon," possibly a reference to Louis XIV himself, and this is Louis XIV and the inevitable Colbert adoring the triumphant risen Christ, with St. Louis, the patron saint of the French monarchy, behind them. He would interrupt council meetings to show the latest Lebrun picture to his ministers, and he once said to Monsieur Lebrun, shortly before his death,"Do not die, Monsieur Lebrun,"to make your prices rise,"I respect you enough already," which is a sort of sardonic Bourbon compliment that he specialized in. And the Galerie des Glaces, I hope most of you have seen it, the ceiling is simply incredible, you really need special optical help to understand it, it's the triumph of the King. It's the largest gallery in Europe, and I think the only one dedicated solely to one monarch. Normally, they're to ancestors or the gods of Olympus, for Louis XIV, it was only himself. Here, he's represented as Jupiter, with thunder bolts, conquering the city of Ghent, in what is now Belgium, in seven days. Here he is giving orders to his brother and his cousin at the beginning of a war, you see the incredible decoration surrounding the pictures. Here is Jethro defending some people, this is the picture he showed his ministers, biblical scenes beginning to dominate towards the end of his life, and that is Jesus Christ being raised on the cross, another Lebrun biblical theme. And that is Lebrun himself, he's the premier peintre du roi, he's also head of the Gobelins, he's sort of running the show for artists at the court and in Paris, and you had to be in his favor to get anywhere under Louis XIV. And Lebrun even wrote a theoretical book on painting,"Method to Learn How to Depict the Passions,"Proposed in a Lecture"on General Expression and Private Expression," by Monsieur Lebrun, Premier Peintre du Roi and Head of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. And Louis XIV loved hunting, we'll leave that aside this evening, but he adored his hunting dogs, and this is a picture which he helped compose himself with his animal painter, Alexandre Desportes, who would accompany him on his hunts, and the King would point out who and what he should paint, and these are the King's three favorite hunting dogs, Bonne, Ponne, and Nonne.(audience laughs) He would hang this in his private apartments. He didn't have pictures of his friends, but he did have pictures of his dogs. The works of art in Versailles and in the Louvre were engraved, one of the largest engraving enterprises of the 17th century, the Cabinet du Roi, and then published by the Imprimerie Royale, which itself was in the Louvre, and then given as presents to ambassadors, or foreign monarchs, or foreigners he wanted to impress. And then the parties at Versailles, this is the Plaisirs de l'Ile Enchantee in 1664, they also were engraved, and these were given as presents to people. There's a letter from Charles II to his sister, who's Louis XIV's sister-in-law, saying, "We're eagerly awaiting"the description of the parties"and the prints of the parties"that have just been held at Versailles." This is a tragedy by Racine, who is gentilhomme ordinaire du roi, and the King's lector, and a friend of Louis XIV, really, he would read to him when he was ill, he's composing official accounts of the campaigns, and Louis XIV said of Racine,"I would praise you more if you praised me less,"(audience laughs) because the praise was so exaggerated even Louis XIV knew he couldn't go on. And then this is one of Louis XIV's personal books, this is his personal bookbinding, with the two enlaced L's and the crown. And then a masterpiece, in some ways finer than Versailles, is the east facade of the Louvre, which you can admire today, and Louis XIV personally chose the double groups of Corinthian columns Bernini's design was rejected as too Italian, and this is by Charles Perrault and Louis XIV, and a few others, one of the most imposing palace facades you can find in Europe. There it is today, housing part of the Louvre Museum. And the Louvre, as the court moves slowly, between about 1670 and 1682, to Versailles, the royal apartments themselves in the Louvre, which had been a royal palace, where Louis XIV himself lived in the 1650s and '60s, are given over to artistic academies, so you see the Academy of Sciences, of paintings, the Royal Society of Medicine, the Academy of Inscriptions, and the Academie Francaise, they all live in the Louvre, in rooms which are now part of the museum, they were full of artists, writers, professors, historians, and so on. And they would have meetings there, and then they would have regular painting exhibitions, so it's already a palace of the arts, showing part of the royal collection and exhibitions, it's not an invention of the French Revolution or the French Republic. And another architectural masterpiece, by Louis Le Vau, is the Invalides, 1671 to 1706, in Southwest Paris, absolutely incredible architecture. This is the chapel, and it was built to house old soldiers, and they had factories, hospitals, restaurants, it's really a cite ideale long before Le Corbusier. And there, the King is opening it, 1706, that is Mansart, the architect, who's giving him the key, congratulating the King on building a palace for..."I have the honor to present at the feet of your majesty"the key to this sacred temple,"which your piety has erected to the glory of God," very Catholic. And the King congratulates him, and then, amazingly, though she's not represented in this print, but the print does show the architect almost the equal of the King, the King then turns to Madame Mansart, with a respect for women exceptional for his time, and says, "Madame, seeing you here,"I cannot refrain from complimenting you"for the share that you must take"in the glory that Monsieur your husband"is receiving today." So the French court was really, as was said at the time, a paradise for women, a lot more power and status at the French court than in the English Parliament, or indeed in any parliament until within living memory, women are really very powerful indeed at Versailles, and they really weren't in the Chamber of Deputies or the House of Commons, but that's another subject. And then these are two magnificent arches in Paris, the Porte Saint Denis and the Porte Saint Martin, showing Louis XIV, again, as a Roman general receiving the keys of conquered cities. He's expanding France to the east, three good provinces, Alsace, Franche-Comte, and French Flanders, and he left France larger than he found it, which is more than you could say for Napoleon, who left France far smaller than he found it. There you see Louis XIV as Hercules, with Holland writhing at his feet. And now, Versailles, which again is another of the great works of art of Louis XIV, even greater than his own person. This is by Pierre Patel, 1668. Arriving at Versailles, he's already expanding the park, the garden, and this is the chateau of his father, originally a hunting lodge, which he makes into a palace of enchantment, as people said at the time. The King is arriving in a carriage, followed by his guards, there were guards everywhere, and inside the apartments, under Louis XIV. It's his personal project, pursued against the advice of Colbert, it's possibly inspired by the Escorial of Philip II, an ancestor, other royal palaces, the Chambord of Francois I was pretty vast and extraordinary for its time. What's unusual about Versailles is there are wings for the royal family, the courtiers, and the ministers, it's a working palace, it's the seat of government, and a military headquarters, and there's always a party going on,'cause it's Louis XIV's palace. I quote, "14th of October, 1663."Every day, balls, ballets, comedies,"music for voices and instruments of every kind,"violins, promenades, hunts, and other diversions"have succeeded each other," and they never really stopped until Louis XIV's death, there's always something going on. Even when he's old and ill, he insists that gambling, and dancing, and music must go on, and everyone's rather shocked, but Louis XIV insists. Here it is again, 1664, getting a bit bigger with a big park in front of it. Again, it's being published with these engravings, which other courts of Europe would see. A party in the garden, the garden is used for balls and spectacles, the courtyard is used, this is 1674, it's a party celebrating the conquest of Franche-Comte, and this is about 1680, again, Colbert is in the forefront organizing the building, much against his will, he thought Louis XIV should stay in Paris, and in fact, it killed him, the King begins to turn against him because nothing's being finished quick enough for Louis XIV, he wants more gilding, more apartments finished, and he blames Colbert, and Colbert dies soon after, 1682. Although the King sent him letters saying he loved him and he was the best minister ever, but a hint of royal disfavor would go to the heart. And here it is finished. In the foreground is the headquarters of the royal hunt, with some dogs, kennels, and so on, and you see what a really enormous palace it was, compared at the time to a small town. His sister-in-law, the Duchesse d'Orleans, Madame, writes, 1688, "If I could describe the splendor"with which these rooms are furnished"and the amount of silver there is everywhere,"I could go on forever." Solid silver mirrors, chandeliers, and tables adorned the state apartments. And Versailles is also a hunting lodge, a music and dance festival, a fashion parade, a finishing school, an information center, and, above all, an army headquarters and a government headquarters. Even the English, when they come, 1701, there's a moment of peace, John Northleigh calls it,"The most beautiful palace in Europe."The side which fronts the gardens"surpasses all that can be imagined sumptuous,"its roof glittering with gold"affords a glorious prospect at a distance,"a miracle of the world,"the finest palace I ever saw." Here you see looking towards Paris, on the left are the Swiss Guards, recognizable by their red uniforms, on the right, the Gardes Francaises, in blue. It was their desertion in July, 1789, which made the French Revolution. And in front of us are the two stables, the Grande Ecurie and the Petite Ecurie, for the King's horses. And here is a detail of the Salon de l'Oeil de Boeuf. The King is involved in the decoration, he says, in 1699,"There must be youth everywhere." His grandson's just got married, so that's why there are dancing cherubs, and so on. That is his great gardener, Le Notre, and this is, I'm sorry it's blurred, a view in the garden down towards the big lake, which is going to be used in the Summer Olympics in 2024 for boat scenes, and the park will also be used for equestrian events. Here is the vegetable garden, which you can visit, the Jardin Potager du Roi, which the King would regularly visit, followed by courtiers. France was then a leader in garden knowledge, and John Evelyn translated this book on fruit and veg at the end of his life, in the 1690s, into English, you see instructions on how to manage fruit and vegetables, there it is now. This is the park at night, he's also a king of fireworks, a king of nocturnal parties, really spectacular. And now we're going to have a tour of the park, which, in a way, is an even greater work of art than the palace itself. This is the labyrinth, which no longer exists, painted by Jean Cotelle. Again, they're living in a sort of mythological dream world, gods and goddesses are shown in the Park of Versailles. A nymph is being surprised by a god, as I'm sure many nymphs were surprised in the gardens of Versailles, or not really surprised, they arranged rendezvous. He does even practically say this is a garden of love, and people should be allowed in at night, which they were. Here is the Fountains of the Dragon, which is still there, which, on days of the grandes eaux, the fountains are running. He chose a place without good water supplies perhaps to show that he could master nature, and he arranged, at vast expense, water to come from the River Seine, and so on, to water the fountains of Versailles, which were turned on when he was going round the park, and then turned off,(audience laughs) and then they were turned on for especially grand guests like the queen of England or the Venetian ambassador. And this, you should notice there are cupids doing the raking of the gravel in the Park of Versailles. And here is the Room of the Ancient Statues, some of the statues came from Smyrna or Rome. This shows the park functioning as a place to meet your friends or acquaintances. This is the ballroom, where sometimes there were open-air balls. It still exists, they were called bosquets. And this is another round ballroom, which still exists. Here is an aerial view by Israel Silvestre showing Versailles around 1685, a sort of fantasy view, but very exact. Here you see the view from the park, with these bosquets all lined with statues, which are still there now, it takes a very long time going round each one. This is the orangery, underground, where the orange trees were and are kept in the winter. When the Siamese ambassador came, it was a global hub, with ambassadors from all over the world, he said the oranges live in a building which other monarchs would like to have for themselves as a palace. And here is a plan of Versailles, here's a statue of Apollo, again the Apollo theme, surrounded by nymphs, by Girardon, his great sculptor, and this is the magnificent"The Abduction of Proserpina by Pluto," this is a model, the original is now in the Louvre, a staggering work of art. Again, he's showing, we French have better sculptures than Italy now, that's the message. And more statues, that's "The Fame of the King," this is another mythological scene, this is Ganymede being abducted by the eagle, this is "Le Colereux," "The Angry One," these are Perseus and Andromeda. This is the Trianon of Porcelain, which he himself designed, 1670, it's really a love nest, to give it a polite name, for his meetings with Madame de Montespan, he's sort of showing off that he's got the most attractive woman of the court. And then he replaces it with another building, which again he designs with Mansart, the architect, the Trianon, which is his escape from Versailles, he himself liked escaping from Versailles. And these flowerbeds were packed with hyacinths, and tuberoses, and others, grown in a special nursery at Toulon, on the Mediterranean, for the King, thousands of plants would be brought up, they'd be changed quite frequently, and it is said by Saint-Simon, and also by other sources, that the smell of the plants was so strong that sometimes the courtiers were driven back inside, they couldn't cope, their noses couldn't cope. There it is, the Grand Trianon under Louis XIV's reign, it's like an Italian villa, and there it is again. And then this is Marly, another palace, or pavilion, which he built from the 1680s as an escape from Versailles. In the end, he's spending a third of the year there. He lived in the central pavilion, in the middle, and the pavilions on each side are for courtiers and ministers. And he would design these extraordinary garden rooms, which no longer exist, but here is a book showing them around 1710. There's a picture of Marly, this is the famous "Horses of Marly," done in 1700 by Girardon for Louis XIV, the originals are now in the Cour Marly in the Louvre. Trumpeting the fame of the king. And here you see one of his rooms, with the carp, which he loved to watch, golden carp, although not all carp need muddy water, but an awful lot do, so he wanted to see them, so he put them in clear water, and then a lot of his carp died, but he did see them. This is called the Fountain of the Children of the West. This is the river which he personally designed, a series of water-filled areas. It's called Parnassus, these alcoves, full of statues, where you could walk, talk, and play games, lots of games were provided to courtiers invited to Marly. The Parnassus, you see it's an endless landscape of walks, and there's only a park left, it was destroyed during the revolution, but it's to go to Marly, where it's much more relaxed and you could talk to the King and members of the royal family in the central room, and the ministers, and it's for that that people would line up in Versailles as the King passed on his way to mass, and say,"Marly, sire?" Can I go to Marly please, your majesty, and he would decide later in the day, and it was all last-minute, to make the honor of being invited even more extraordinary. This is how it is now, there's nothing left of the central pavilion, and just some trees and walks, no statues are left. And this the Machine of Marly, the largest machine of its day, which had a mechanism of wood to bring water up from the Seine to an aqueduct, which would then water the fountains of Marly and Versailles. And Louis XIV loved his gardens, he would go out in winter. Even when it was so cold that his dogs refused to go out, the King would go out. Again, it's a recreation of the classical past. And there you see him touring the gardens of Versailles, and what is the point of Versailles? It's not only actually quite an efficient government and military center, it's away from the hurly-burly of Paris, for various reasons, not just fear, but also, Paris distracted his ministers, but also, in the words of the "Mercure Galant","At Versailles, Louis XIV does the honors of France"and shows foreigners the magnificence of his court," and I think it's a dialog with Europe, saying, we've got it best, it's better than ancient Rome or Renaissance Rome. Even enemy ambassadors, like William III's Lord Portland, he called Marly,"The most agreeable garden I have seen,"and it would greatly please your majesty." And an Ottoman ambassador was so struck by the gardens at Marly that he said,"The world was the prison of the faithful Muslims"since they did not possess such gardens,"but the paradise of the infidel,"since Christians did," He's raising France to the artistic level of Italy. And I just want to conclude with, there he is at the end of his reign, in his wheelchair, in the gardens of Versailles, the orangery, the orangery as it is, you can go in, it's quite difficult to find the entrance, a book publishing the statues and groups of Versailles for the rest of Europe, the chapel, which is finished in 1710, the finest space in Versailles, I think, it still has concerts to this day, the roof of the chapel, by Coypel, showing God the Father blessing the congregation. This is Fontainebleau, he had another palace at Fontainebleau, also well worth a visit, fewer crowds than at Versailles, you see the gardens to the right.

even in England while it's fighting Louis XIV, Chatsworth, built by the Whig Duke of Devonshire, the gardens and the architecture are partly inspired by Versailles, the architecture's partly based on Marly, and it's been designed by Frenchmen imported from France, you see that is slightly like the facade of the royal pavilion at Marly. Boughton, full of French furniture, made for Ralph Montagu, Charles II's ambassador to Louis XIV. There you see some of the furniture, this is in fact at Chatsworth, a bust of Louis XIV on a Boule cabinet. Charlottenburg, the palace isn't entirely like Versailles, but it's very, very large, and the statue of the Great Elector was based on a statue of Louis XIV. And here is his royal palace in Potsdam, this is a book made by a Frenchman, a Huguenot exile from France, but you see, again, a slight influence of Versailles. He also introduced a state bedchamber, as most monarchs did, because Louis XIV had one. And here you have the Neues Palais, built by a Huguenot descendant, it's really Frederick the Great's equivalent of Versailles, a great big palace in a park full of statues. This is the state bedchamber of the Elector of Saxony, King of Poland, again, a novelty introduced, partly inspired by Louis XIV. This is the Elector of Bavaria, an ally and relation of Louis XIV, crowned with Victory, again inspired by Louis XIV. And here is his bedroom, with a railing exactly like at Versailles, and he would have a levee and a coucher, and a French style court with endless balls and plays, as at Versailles, and Bavaria remained an ally of France until the 19th century. And here you see the Palace of Peterhof, in Russia, Peter the Great had been simple, radical, different from other monarchs, but he's not so different that he didn't have a Louis XIV-inspired palace built for him outside St. Petersburg, and he did visit Versailles after Louis XIV's death in 1717. Louis XIV had refused to receive him, saying that the Russians are barbarians, but in fact, under Louis XIV, the French behave even more barbarically towards Protestants and their neighbors. And that is a party at Versailles, for the wedding of the future Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, just to show that the party went on after Louis XIV's reign, Versailles remains an incredible entertainment center for the whole of Europe until the French Revolution, and now it is again, with constant concerts, operas, plays, special events in the evening, as well as being open to the world in the day, and it is the second most visited palace in the world after the Forbidden City in Beijing. Thank you very much.(audience applauds)- Dr. Mansel, thank you very much for such a fascinating lecture. We are almost out of time, but we will try and squeeze in a couple of questions. So the first one I'll say is from the online audience:"How significant were the arts and culture of Versailles"in establishing and developing Louis' absolute power?"- Well, I think they were to entertain people, I mean, they absorbed a lot of energy, but Louis' absolute power is much more realistic, it's based on force, on his great army and guard, which terrified rebellious nobles and provinces, and on money, giving pensions to lots of people, buying support, in fact. The great pensions of the Fifth French Republic, which the French Government is trying to reduce now, is very similar to the huge pension system of Louis XIV, giving soldiers, and officials, and others pensions. I think people were more realistic, the arts of Versailles were the icing on the cake rather than the cake itself.- [Questioner] In the historiography of the Bourbon kings, I've always been struck by a lacuna, and that is, as you know, you've written a book on Louis XVIII at the time of the restoration after the Napoleonic Wars, but there is no standard English biography of Charles X, who was the last king of the main Bourbon dynasty until the second revolution of 1830. Can you explain why, and secondly, would you be able to fill that lacuna?- Could I?- [Questioner] Would you be able to fill that lacuna?- Well, his handwriting is very bad and very illegible, so it would be very difficult, and I think, because he was overthrown, because he was extremely right wing, and because he was extremely pious, he's quite hard for a modern writer to understand. But he is fascinating, he had a good side, he also was a patron of the arts, who improved the Louvre and encouraged writers, and he had very good manners, but politically, he was foolish, so that doesn't attract biographers much, neither in France nor England, and so right wing, and associated with the Polignac family, who were the most unpopular family at court.- [Questioner] And he helped the revolution.- Yeah, he helped make the revolution more extreme, but it probably would have been anyway. But he was, in my opinion, quite right to leave early, emigrate early, it saved his life and his children's lives.- [Questioner] I'm just wondering about his finances, with all that expenditure.- They were a catastrophe.(audience laughs) He came to power in 1661. Fouquet, the corrupt banker who'd kept the Crown afloat in the Fronde, he imprisons him, he says, I'm going to change everything, destroy the corrupt financial system, and when Colbert is alive, 'til 1683, it works, and there's lovely balanced budgets which are presented to the King in beautiful books, which are probably slightly fantaisiste, but after Colbert dies, and as the wars become bigger, the whole machine goes out of control. And it's not the court, though that is expensive, it's the army, the navy, and building forts all round France with Vauban, and loans to keep the army paid, loans at 10%, 15%, 20% interest, loans often from his Protestant enemies, even, that's what really destroys France. The debt in 1715 was even greater than the debt in 1789. And the regent, his nephew, Orleans, does help improve things for a time, but the French monarchy never has good finances, and is always in the pocket of the financiers, and that's the root cause of the French Revolution and summoning the Estates General, because they're bankrupt, and they wouldn't have summoned the Estates General without that bankruptcy, and the war against Britain, the War of American Independence, is what finishes them off. He did establish an egalitarian tax, Louis XIV, whereby the rich had to pay a proportion of their income also, as well as the poor, and it did go on under his successors, but it wasn't enough, there wasn't enough direct taxation, and people tended to get exemptions from it.(audience laughs)- I'm afraid that's all we've got time for this evening, thank you for your questions. Please join me in thanking Dr. Mansel one more time.(audience applauds)