Terms and conditions of use
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)
Medium
etching and engraving
Measurements
27.2 × 41.0 cm (image) 30.0 × 41.6 cm (plate) 44.8 × 59.0 cm (sheet)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Mr George Collins Levey, 1879
Gallery location
18th Century Decorative Arts & Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
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
Place/s of Execution
Paris, France
Catalogue/s Raisonné
IFF 909
Printing/Publishing
published by l’Imprimerie Royale, Paris
Inscription
printed in ink l.r.: le Pautre, Sculps. 1676.
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.
Accession Number
p.183.78-1
Departments
International Prints / International Prints and Drawings
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of the Joe White Bequest