Venus room. 베르사유 궁전(Chateau de Versailles)

Venus room. 베르사유 궁전(Chateau de Versailles).

프랑스(France)

chateauversailles.fr

 

Venus Room

Main entrance of the Grand Apartment in the reign of Louis XIV. For evening receptions, table were set up with silver bowls holding fresh fruits and crystallized fruits.

In the middle of the ceiling:

Venus crowned by the Graces

by Rene-Antoine Houasse (1672)

 

In the Niche:

Louis XIV dressed in antique costume

by Jean Warin (1671-1672)

 

On either side:

Trompe-l'oeil perspectives of garden

by Jacques Rousseau (1677)

 

The Venus Salon

This salon, as well as Diana’s Salon, formed the main access to the Grand Apartment, since the grand staircase, known as the "Ambassadors’ Staircase" (destroyed in 1752) ended here. on evening soirees, tables were set up covered with baskets of flowers, pyramids of fresh, rare fruit such as oranges and lemons as well as crystallised fruit and marzipan. Like all the following rooms, this salon takes its name from a planet, the theme linked to the solar myth which inspired all the decor of Versailles in the 1670s. Here Venus is depicted on the ceiling with the features of the Goddess of Love who, in Greek Antiquity, was associated with this planet. The other painted compositions, which decorate the arches of the vault (mouldings), represented the actions of ancient heroes relating both to the planet of the place and the actions of Louis XIV: thus one must decipher that the moulding depicting Augustus presiding over the circus games alludes to the famous carrousel of 1662 given in honour of the Queen, and that the one showing Alexander marrying Roxana evokes the wedding of Louis XIV.

Of the entire enfilade, the Venus Salon presents the most baroque decor. It is the only place where Le Brun made a dialogue between architecture, sculptures and paintings, sometimes real and sometimes deceptive: the marble pilasters and columns are repeated in the perspectives painted by Jacques Rousseau, and two trompe l’œil statues next to the windows correspond to the figure of Louis XIV by Jean Warin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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