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First day – Alceste, a musical tragedy…
(Première Journée – Alceste, Tragédie en musique…)
1676
plate 1 from Les Divertissemens de Versailles donnez par le Roy à toute sa cour au retour de la conqueste de la Franche-Comté en l’année 1674 (Festivities at Versailles given by the King to his court following the conquest of Franche-Comté in 1674) (1676)
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Mr George Collins Levey, 1879
- Gallery location
- Not on display
About this work
In the summer of 1674, Louis XIV hosted a lavish six-day fete at Versailles to celebrate the military conquest of the region of Franche-Comté and to unveil the palace’s new marble facade and redesigned gardens. As with earlier court festivals, the 1674 celebrations were meticulously documented in a festival book, produced to commemorate the occasion and convey its grandeur to a wider audience. Featuring engravings and written descriptions of operas, ballets, fireworks and feasts, festival books – often compiled years after the fact – were less concerned with factual accuracy than with shaping Louis XIV’s image as an absolute monarch.
Artwork Details
printed in ink l.c.l: Première journée. / Alceste, Tragedie en musique, one d’entrées de Ballet, representee a Versailles dans la / cour de marbre du Chasteau éclaire depuis le haut jusqu’en bas d’une infinite de lumieres.
printed in ink l.c.r: Dies primus. / Alcestes Tragaedia, perpetuo cantu et variis saltationibus decorate, in marmoreo / Palatii Versaliarum cauaedio, undequaque facibus accensis illuminati, acta.
Gift of Mr George Collins Levey, 1879
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of the Joe White Bequest