Terms and conditions of use
Fourth day – the banquet, for which a table was set in the marble court at the palace of Versailles…
(Quatrième journée – Festin, dont la table estoit dressée autour de la fontaine de la cour de marbre du Chasteau de Versailles…)
1676
plate 4 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
This plate depicts a lavish banquet at Versailles. A grand fountain is surrounded by tables piled with delicacies, while courtiers wait on the sidelines, held back by soldiers. Though the scene appears orderly, it captures the calm before the storm. After the king and ladies had dined, it was customary for the rest of the court to rush the tables in a frenzied scramble known as the ‘looting of the buffets’. According to court historian André Félibien, the chaotic destruction of these extraordinary displays presented ‘pleasant divertissement for all the court’.
Artwork Details
printed in ink l.r.: Dies Quartus / Caena, cujus mensa extructa erat circa fontem marmorei cavaedij Versaliarum…
printed in ink l.r.: le Pautre Sculps. 1676
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