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Royal Treasures from the Louvre in SF

 

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  • San Francisco’s Legion of Honor is showcasing 'Royal Treasures from the Louvre: Louis XIV to Marie-Antoinette', a collection of decorative arts from the Musée du Louvre, Paris on view until March 17th, 2013.
  • Many of the objects in the exhibition have never been shown in the United States and indeed, several have never left France, including some of the most exquisite treasures of the French monarchy from the time of Louis XIV until the Revolution of 1789.
  • Royal Treasures from the Louvre: Louis XIV to Marie-Antoinette is an illustration of the story of French royal patronage, displayed for the first time in the United States in this exclusive presentation.
  • As Louis XIV was building his palace at Versailles, he called on his court workshops at the Gobelins manufactory to furnish his new building. At its height, as many as 800 artisans, directed by Charles Le Brun, first painter to the king, produced mosaic tabletops of semiprecious stones, sumptuous wool and silk tapestries, carpets, silver furniture, and other luxury goods representing the country’s finest workmanship.
  • Some of these expensive and elaborately designed objects were presented by the king as diplomatic gifts known as the présents du Roi. In the 18th century, finely worked gold and jeweled snuffboxes were added to the list of items given by the king to acknowledge exceptional service, friendships, and alliances.
  • By the time of the next monarch, Louis XV, the making of porcelain had become an important symbol of a country’s prestige, and the manufactory at Sévres, still producing porcelain today, was acquired by the king in the late 1750s.
  • The story of Royal Treasures from the Louvre: Louis XIV to Marie-Antoinette describes the era when the power and prestige of France’s monarchs was directed toward the creation of the finest and most elaborate examples of the decorative arts.
  • These objects reflected the monarchs’ personal tastes, but they also represented France at an aesthetic zenith, which the rest of the world would emulate.
 

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