It’s a lost gem. In Versailles, the porcelain Trianon, built in 1670 on the orders of the King of France to shelter his love affairs with the Marquise de Montespan, is no longer known to us except through a few engravings and watercolors. These fragile pavilions, with their ephemeral existence (17 years!), tell the extravagance of the treasures displayed by Louis XIV to satisfy his mistress. This documentary reveals many others brought together by his favorites and those of Louis XV.
Housed at the Palace of Versailles, in sumptuous apartments, some of which – those of the Pompadour and the Du Barry – were recently restored, these queens of hearts had a great influence on the arts. If many of their possessions were dispersed, notably during the French Revolution, director Nathalie Conscience set out to find the vestiges, among collectors, such as the Louvre or the Sèvres factory museum and even in the national archives.
“Minister of Culture avant la lettre”
In terms of furniture, the Marquise de Montespan displayed a taste for Chinoiserie which was to flourish. The Marquise de Maintenon – secretly married by Louis XIV after her widowhood – adopted it by acquiring, for example, this extraordinary Japanese chest in mother-of-pearl and shagreen. We also owe him the creation of the Saint-Cyr school – the future military school – intended at the time for penniless young girls of the aristocracy.
However, it was not until the Marquise de Pompadour that a favorite emerged as a true “minister of culture avant la lettre”, having her brother, the Marquis de Marigny, appointed director of the King’s Buildings. We owe to this liberal patron the invention of the rocaille style and numerous orders from the Manufacture de Sèvres. After her, Du Barry showed above all a predilection for jewelry and avant-garde furniture, such as this jewelry chest by Martin Carlin, decorated with porcelain plaques. A fragile jewel, like the one who ended up guillotined in 1793.
