Petit Appartement Du Roi - Louis XIV

Louis XIV

Beginning in 1678, Louis XIV began to modify these rooms for his particular private needs. The configuration of the rooms dating from the time of Louis XIII was modified. The most significant alteration for this era was the relocation of the degré du roi from the exterior cour de marbre to the interior cour du roi. This relocation of the staircase precipitated the rearrangement of rooms in this part of the château to become the petit appartement du roi. In 1684, as the influence of Louis’ mistress – Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan – waned due to her alleged involvement in the Affair of the Poisons, the king attached her rooms to his petit appartement after the marquise moved into the appartement des bains on the ground floor of the palace (Le Guillou, 1986; Verlet 1985, pp. 227-228).

In Louis XIV's day, these rooms – cabinets de curiosités – formed a veritable museum for the king’s private collections. In contrast to the grand appartement du roi and the appartement du roi, which were open to members of the court and the general public, the petit appartement du roi was only accessible though the personal consent of the king (Bluche, 1991).

Located on the first floor on the northern side of the cour de marbre, the petit appartement du roi comprised nine rooms:

• Salle du billard (cabinet des chiens)
• Salon du degré du roi
• Cabinet aux tableaux
• Cabinet des Coquilles (later cabinet des livres)
• Salon ovale
• Premier salon de la petite galerie
• Petite galerie
• Deuxième salon de la petite galerie
• Cabinet des Médailles

The salle du billard (1693 plan #1) contained a billiard table, a game at which Louis XIV was adept. Additionally, the king kept several of his hunting dogs in this room so that he could care for them personally, which gave rise to the room’s other name: cabinet des chiens (Verlet 1985, p. 227).

The salon du degré du roi (1693 plan #2) occupies the site of a staircase dating from the time of Louis XIII. By 1684 (Dangeau), a new staircase – the degré du roi (1693 plan #3) – had been constructed just north of the old staircase in the cour du roi. The salon du degré du roi served as entrance to the staircase that was reserved for the Louis XIV's personal use. The decoration of this room was given over almost exclusively to paintings by Nicolas Poussin (Félibien, 66; Piganiole de la Force, 126)

The cabinet aux tableaux (1693 plan #4) with its southern exposure served as a Pinacotheca for part of Louis XIV's collection of paintings. Among the masters displayed in the room were the works from the Italian schools by Correggio, Raphael, Giorgione, Giulio Romano and Titian. Additionally, there were cabinets arranged in the room in which Louis XIV kept his collection of carved rock crystal (Brejon de Lavergnée, 1985; Félibien, 67; Piganiole de la Force, 129; Verlet 1985, p. 229).

In 1692, the cabinet des coquilles (1693 plan #5) and the salon ovale (1693 plan #6) were created. These rooms, along with cabinet des médailles formed the main rooms of the Louis XIV's cabinets de curiosités. In addition to some of the most highly prized paintings of the royal collection, the salon ovale housed in four niches four bronze sculptural groups – “Jupiter” and “Juno” by Allesandro Algardi; the “Abduction of Orethyia” after the marble by Gaspard Marsy, and the “Abduction of Persephone” by François Girardon – that were esteemed as some of the finest of this genre in the king’s collection. The richness of the decoration – fully gilt paneling and mirrors – complemented the arrangement of some of the most valuable paintings in Louis XIV's collection (Félibien, 67; Piganiole de la Force, 129; Verlet 1985, p. 229). The cabinet des coquilles originally housed some a portion of the king’s gem collection. In 1708, the room was converted into a library – cabinet aux livres – in which Louis XIV kept his collection of rare books and manuscripts (Verlet 1985, p. 230).

The following rooms – premier salon de la petite galerie, petite galerie, and deuxième salon de la petite galerie (1693 plan #7, 8, & 9) – were formed from rooms that the marquise de Montespan occupied before she moved to the appartement des bains in 1684 (Dangeau vol. 1 77-78; Verlet 1985, p. 232). As with the previous rooms, the petite galerie and its two salons housed precious gems and paintings that the king had either inherited or collected. In the years that preceded the War of the League of Augsburg, Louis XIV engaged in an aggressive collecting campaign that necessitated his expanding space at Versailles to display newly acquired works of art (Verlet 1985, p. 229). Pierre Mignard, Charles Le Brun’s archrival was charged with the painting of the ceilings of the petite galerie and its two salons (Félibien, 68; Piganiole de la Force, 140; Verlet 1985, p. 233).

In the petite galerie and its two salons, Louis XIV displayed many of the most valued paintings in his collection. The petite galerie was given almost entirely to works by Italian masters with the works by Francesco Albani, Annibale Carracci, Guido Reni and Parmigianino predominating (Piganiole de la Force, 141-149; Verlet 1985, p. 234). The petite galerie also housed the collection of gifts Louis XIV received from foreign embassies; most notable among these diplomatic offerings were the gifts from the Chinese Jesuit, Shen Fu-Tsung (1684), which included an enormous pearl, and the gifts from the Siamese Embassy of 1685-1686 (Josephson, 1926). The premier salon de la petite galerie is of particular importance as it was in this room that Louis XIV kept the painting described by Piganiole de la Force as “Le Portrait de Vie, femme d’un Florentin nommé Giaconde,” better known in English as The Mona Lisa (Piganiole de la Force, 137).

Louis XIV lavished much attention to these rooms intending to have the walls clad with panels inlayed with tortoise shell and lapis-lazuli. However, owing to the financial demands of the War of the League of Augsburg, the plans were abandoned. Nevertheless, the petite gallerie and its two salons were used by Louis XIV for entertaining foreign dignitaries, such as the Crown Prince of Denmark in 1693 and the Elector of Cologne in 1706 (Verlet 1985, p. 233-234).

Of all the rooms that formed the petit apartment du roi during the reign of Louis XIV, the cabinet des médailles (1693 plan #10) was one of the most remarkable of its sort ever assembled in France (Hulftegger, 1954). Taking its name from the 12 cabinets in which Louis XIV's numismatic collections were kept, the cabinet des medailles also housed the king’s collections of miniatures by Flemish, Dutch, and German masters, objects of carved porphyry and carved jade, as well as those rare items made of silver or gold (Verlet 1985, p. 230-232). Forming part of Louis XIV's collection of items made of gold was the treasure of the Merovingian king, Childeric I found in Tournai in 1653 and presented to Louis XIV by the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I in 1665 (Cochet, 1859) and the gold and jewel encrusted nef, which was used by Louis XIV when he dined au grand couvert.