凡尔赛宫介绍

Features of the Palace of Versailles [edit] Grands appartements As a result of Le Vau’s enveloppe of Louis XIII’s château, the king and the queen had new apartments in the new addition, known at the time as the château neuf. The grands appartements, which are known respectively as the grand appartement du roi and the grand appartement de la reine, occupied the main or principal floor of the château neuf. Le Vau’s design for the state apartments closely followed Italian models of the day, as evidenced by the placement of the apartments on the next floor up from the ground level — the piano nobile — a convention the architect borrowed from 16th and 17th century Italian palace design (Berger, 1986; Verlet, 1985). [edit] Grand appartement du roi Le Vau’s plan called for an enfilade of seven rooms, each dedicated to one of the then known planets and their associated titular Roman deity. Le Vau’s plan was bold as he designed a heliocentric system that centered on the Salon of Apollo. The salon d’Apollon originally was designed as the king’s bedchamber, but served as a throne room. During the reign of Louis XIV (until 1689), a solid silver throne stood on a Persian carpet covered dais on the south wall of this room (Berger, 1986; Dangeau, 1854-1860; Josephson, 1926; 1930; Verlet, 1985). The original arrangement of the enfilade of rooms was thus: Salon de Diane (Diana, Roman goddess of the hunt; associated with the Moon)[6] Salon de Mars (Mars, Roman god of war; associated with the planet Mars) Salon de Mercure (Mercury, Roman god of trade, commerce, and the Liberal Arts; associated with the planet Mercury) Salon d’Apollon (Apollo, Roman god of the Fine Arts; associated with the Sun) Salon de Jupiter (Jupiter, Roman god of law and order; associated with the planet Jupiter) Salon de Saturne (Saturn, Roman god of agriculture and harvest; associated with the planet Saturn) Salon de Vénus (Venus, Roman goddess of love; associated with the planet Venus) The configuration of the grand appartement du roi conformed to contemporary conventions in palace design (Baillie, 1967). However, owing to Louis XIV’s personal taste and with the apartment’s northern exposure, Louis XIV found the rooms too cold and opted to live in the rooms previously occupied by his father. The grand appartement du roi was reserved for court functions — such as the thrice-weekly appartement evenings given by Louis XIV for members of the court (Berger, 1986; La Varende, 1959; Marie, 1968, 1972; Nolhac, 1911; Verlet, 1985). The rooms were decorated by Le Brun and demonstrated Italian influences, the particularly that of Pietro da Cortona, with whom Le Brun studied while he was in Florence. Le Brun was influenced by the decorative style the da Cortona devised for the decoration of the Pitti Palace in Florence, which influenced his style Louis XIV at Versailles. The quadratura style of the ceilings evoke Pietro Cortona’s Sale dei Planeti at the Pitti, but Le Brun’s decorative schema is more complex (Blunt, 1980; Campbell, 1977). In his 1674 publication about the grand appartement du roi, André Félibien described the scenes depicted in the coves of the ceilings of the rooms as allegories depicting the “heroic actions of the king” (Félibien, 1674). Accordingly, one finds scenes of the exploits of Augustus, Alexander the Great, and Cyrus alluding to the deeds of Louis XIV (Lighthart, 1997; Sabatier, 1999). For example, in the salon d’Apollon, the cove painting “Augustus building the port of Misenum”[7] alludes to the construction of the port at La Rochelle; or, depicted in the south cove of the salon de Mercure is “Ptolemy II Philadelphus in his Library”, which alludes to Ptolemy’s construction of the Great Library of Alexandria and which accordingly serves as an allegory to Louis XIV’s expansion of the Bibliothèque du roi.[8] Complementing the rooms’ decors were pieces of massive silver furniture. Regrettably, owing to the War of the League of Augsburg, in 1689 Louis XIV ordered all of this silver furniture to be sent to the mint, to be melted down to help defray the cost of the war (Berger, 1986; Dangeau, 1854-1860; Josephson, 1926; 1930; Marie, 1968, 1972, 1976; Nolhac, 1911; Verlet, 1985). Le Vau’s original plan for the grand appartement du roi was short-lived. With the inauguration of the third building campaign, which suppressed the terrace linking the apartments of the king and queen, the salon de Jupiter, the salon de Saturne, and the salon de Vénus for the construction of the Hall of Mirrors, the configuration of the grand appartement du roi was altered. The decorative elements of the salon de Jupiter was removed and reused in the decoration of the salle des gardes de la reine; and elements of the decoration of the first salon de Vénus, which opened onto the terrace, were reused in the salon de Vénus that we see today[9] (Marie, 1972, 1976; Nolhac, 1925; Verlet, 1985). From 1678 to the end of Louis XIV’s reign, the grand appartement du roi served as the venue for the king’s thrice-weekly evening receptions, known as les soirées de l’appartement. For these parties, the rooms assumed specific functions: Salon de Vénus: buffet tables were arranged to display food and drink for the king’s guests. Salon de Diane: served as a billiard room. Salon de Mars: served as a ballroom. Salon de Mercure: served as a gaming (cards) room. Salon d’Apollon: served as a concert or music room. In the 18th century during the reign of Louis XV, the grand appartement du roi was expanded to include the salon de l’Abondance (Hall of Plenty) — formerly the entry vestibule of the petit appartement du roi — and the salon d'Hercule — occupying the tribune level of the former chapel of the palace (Verlet, 1985). [edit] Grand appartement de la reine Forming a parallel enfilade with that of the grand appartement du roi, the grand appartement de la reine served as the residence of three queens of France — Marie-Thérèse d’Autriche, wife of Louis XIV, Marie Leczinska, wife of Louis XV, and Marie-Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI. Additionally, Louis XIV's granddaughter-in-law, Princess Marie-Adélaïde of Savoy, as duchesse de Bourgogne, occupied these rooms from 1697 (the year of her marriage) to her death in 1712.[10] When Le Vau’s enveloppe of the château vieux was completed, the grand appartement de la reine came to include a suite of seven enfilade rooms with an arrangement that mirrored almost exactly the grand appartement du roi. The configuration was: Chapel — which was pendant with the salon de Diane in the grand appartement du roi[11] Salle de gardes — which was pendant with the salon de Mars in the grand appartement du roi Antichambre — which was pendant with the salon de Mercure in the grand appartement du roi Chambre — which was pendant with the salon d’Apollon in the grand appartement du roi Grand cabinet — which was pendant with the salon de Jupiter in the grand appartement du roi Oratory — which was pendant with the salon de Saturne in the grand appartement du roi Petit cabinet — which was pendant with the salon de Vénus in the grand appartement du roi[12] As with the decoration of the ceiling in the grand appartement du roi, which depicted the heroic actions of Louis XIV as allegories from events taken from the antique past, the decoration of the grand appartement de la reine likewise depicted heroines from the antique past and harmonized with the general theme of a particular room’s decor.[13] With the construction of the Hall of Mirrors, which began in 1678, the configuration of the grand appartement de la reine changed. The chapel was transformed into the salle des gardes de la reine and it was in this room that the decorations from the salon de Jupiter were reused.[14] The salle des gardes de la reine communicates with a loggia that issues from the escalier de la reine, which formed a parallel pendant (albeit a smaller, though similarly-decorated example) with the escalier des ambassadeurs in the grand appartement du roi. The loggia also provided access to the appartement du roi, the suite of rooms in which Louis XIV lived, and to the apartment of Madame de Maintenon. Toward the end of Louis XIV's reign, the escalier de la reine became the principal entrance to the château, with the escalier des ambassadeurs'' used on rare state occasions. After the demolition of the ''escalier des ambassadeurs'' in 1752, the ''escalier de la reine'' became the main entrance to the château (Verlet, 1985). From 1682, the ''grand appartement de la reine'' included: Salle des gardes de la reine Antichambre (formerly the salle des gardes) Grand cabinet Chambre de la reine With the death of Louis XIV in 1715, the court moved to Vincennes and shortly after to Paris. In 1722, Louis XV reinstalled the court at Versailles and began modifications to the château’s interior. Among the most noteworthy of the building projects during Louis XV’s reign, the redecoration of the chamber de la reine must be cited. To commemorate the birth of his only son and heir, Louis-Ferdinand, in 1729, Louis XV ordered a complete redecoration of the room. Elements of the chamber de la reine as it had been used by Marie-Thérèse d’Autriche and Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie were removed and a new, more modern decor was installed[15] (Marie, 1984; Reynaud and Villain, 1970; Verlet, 1985). During her life at Versailles, Marie Leczinska lived in the grand appartement de la reine, to which she annexed the Salon of Peace to serve as a music room. In 1770, when the Austrian archduchess Maria Antonia married the dauphin, later king Louis XVI, she took up residence in these rooms. Upon Louis XVI’s ascension to the throne in 1774, Marie-Antoinette ordered major redecoration of the grand appartement de la reine. At this time, the queen’s apartment achieved the arrangement that we see today (Verlet, 1985). Salle des gardes de la reine — this room remained virtually unchanged by Marie-Antoinette.[16] Antichambre — this room was transformed into the antichambre du grand couvert. It was in this room that the king, queen, and members of the royal family dined in public. Occasionally, this room served as a theater for the château. Grand cabinet — this room was transformed into the salon des nobles. Following the tradition established by her predecessor, Marie-Antoinette would hold formal audiences in this room. When not used for formal audiences, the salon des nobles served as an antechamber to the queen’s bedroom. Chambre de la reine — this room was used as the queen’s bedroom, and was of exceptional splendor. On the night of 6/7 October 1789, Marie-Antoinette fled from the Paris mob by escaping through a private corridor that connected her apartment with that of the king.