Terms and conditions of use
Light meal in the Gardens of Versailles
(Collation donnée dans le petit Parc de Versailles)
1678
plate 1 from Relation de la feste de Versailles du 18 juillet 1668 (An account of the festival given in Versailles on 18 July 1668) (1679)
Medium
etching and engraving
Measurements
27.3 × 41.1 cm (image) 30.1 × 41.4 cm (plate) 45.7 × 58.9 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 1668 Louis XIV staged a lavish fête at Versailles to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. A festival book featuring engravings and a written account of the day’s events was produced to commemorate the occasion, and to convey its grandeur to a wide audience. This plate depicts a supper that was held in the Bosquet de l’Étoile. According to court historian André Félibien’s accompanying description, guests at the event were awed by a palace façade constructed from marzipan and sugared pastries (seen here on the table to the left) and ‘an infinity of vases filled with all sorts of liqueurs’ (seen here on the table to the right).
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Paris, France
Catalogue/s Raisonné
IFF 928
Inscription
printed in ink l.l.: Collation donnée dans le petit Parc de / Versailles
printed in ink l.c.: I
printed in ink l.r.: Comessatio ante coenam data, In Hortis / Versalianis
printed in ink l.r.: le Pautre Sculps. 1678
Accession Number
p.183.79-1
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