Dans l'Atelier des Menus Plaisirs - Exhibition

Proserpine
(libretto by Quinault, music by Lully)
Frontispiece designed by Berain

Dans l'atelier des Menus Plaisirs du Roi - spectacles, fêtes et cérémonies aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècle (In the atelier of the King's Menus Plaisirs - performances, feasts and ceremonies in the 17th and 18th centuries) is the title of the current exhibition at the Archives Nationales (January 19 - April 24, 2011).

The "Menus Plaisirs du Roi" was the department of the Maison du Roi (royal household) in charge of the preparation of the events, festivities and ceremonies (including funerals) for the kings of France. They were working as event organizers and their duty ranged from planning the events to the design of the costumes, sets, architectures and their making.

The Archives Nationales are the keeper of the archives of the Maison du Roi, and have a large collection of manuscripts related to the performances and ceremonies organized at the French court during the ancien régime. Among these records, we find a set of eight volumes titled Recueils de décoration de théâtre et de pompes funèbres. It is a collection of drawings from various times and events gathered by the Menus Plaisirs, or, to be more precise, by Antoine Angélique Levesque (1709-1767), "Garde général des magasins des Menus Plaisirs du Roi" i.e. responsible of the place where the costumes and decorations were made and stored.

The Menus Plaisirs archives have recently been inventoried, identified and classified and the present exhibition is a way to value the important work done.

Amadis de Gaule (1699), project by Jean Bérain
libretto by Antoine Houdar de la Motte - music by André Cardinal Destouches

A huge and most interesting 256-pages catalogue was published on the occasion :
Dans l'atelier des Menus Plaisirs du Roi - spectacles, fêtes et cérémonies aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècle.
by Jérôme de la Gorce et Pierre Jugie
ISBN : 978-2-85495-439-5
Archives Nationales, Paris, 2010
Editions Artlys, Versailles 2010
€ 35

But that's not all : more interesting, especially to those of my foreign readers who cannot attend the exhibition or read the catalogue, the archives Nationales have put the whole series of books compiled by Antoine Angélique Levesque on their site ARCHIM :

Recueils de décorations de théâtre
recueillies par Monsieur Levesque,
garde général des magasins des Menus Plaisirs
de la Chambre du roy, 1752

Enjoy !

Sciences & Curiosities at the Court of Versailles

Sciences & Curiosities at the Court of Versailles is the title of the current exhibition in the chateau de Versailles. It started in October and will close on February 27.

The illustration above is the cover of the catalogue (only available in French, as usual*). If you can't read French, and haven't planned any travel to Versailles, all is not lost. There is a lot to see and to learn from the Chateau de Versailles site which, fortunately, provides an english version.

If you're interested in the history and science, pay a virtual visit to it, you won't be disappointed...

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(*) The reason is that the RMN (Réunion des Musées Nationaux - which rules the national museums and publishes most of the exhibition catalogues in France) have chosen to focus on the creation of catalogues rather than on the translation of them. So, except on rare occurences, the translation is left to foreign publishers willing to buy the translation rights.

If you're a publisher, here is the contact page.

The Hours of the Day, Musée Magnin, Dijon

Through paintings, documents, objects and pieces of furniture, the exhibition describes the daily life of a high-society family from the late 17th century to the late 19th century. It introduces the routines and habits and shows their evolution through the time.

Testifying on the importance of music, a "table à sextuor" (sextet table) designed by Pierre II Migeon.

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Les Heures du jour - Dans l'intimité d'une famille de la haute société, de Louis XIV à la IIIe République

Musée National Magnin, Dijon (France)

Nov 19 2009 - February 14 2010

Musée Magnin

Magic Lantern

Athanasius Kircher's Magic Lantern

(Ars Magna Lucis Et Umbrae)

A current exhibition at the Cinémathèque Française is dedicated to magic lanterns and painted films. It's a very enriching time travel to the origins of the motion picture.

There is funny anecdote about Christiaan Huygens. He invented his magic lantern as part of his experiments on optics but he was not interested in its entertaining potential. Unlike him, his father Constantin was enthusiastic about it and, in 1662, asked his son to send him a magic lantern to give a show to Louis XIV and his court. Christiaan felt horrified. He thought that having his name associated with that kind of show would ruin his reputation of respectable scientist, and he didn't want his father to condescend to the role of fair entertainer. As he couldn't refuse the lantern, he sent the instrument but asked his brother to take off a lens to make sure it wouldn't work. He was hoping that by the time his father could figure out how to fix the problem he would have changed his mind about the show. And that was what happened. Constantin Huygens never showed the magic lantern to Louis XIV.

A few years later, in 1666, Christiaan Huygens, invited by Colbert, became a member of the Académie Royale des Sciences.

Lanterne magique et film peint - 400 ans de cinéma

Paris, Cinémathèque Française, October 14, 2009 - March 28, 2010

Torino, Venaria Reale, October 12 2010 - January 09, 2011

laternamagica

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Off topic, but Proust is one of my favourite writers...

On the laternamagica site, there is a Lapierre series of slides titled 'Genevieve de Brabant'. I think that it is likely to be the series Proust described in In Search of Lost Time.

'The French Parnassus' at the MET

I named a Yahoo! group and my blog after that work.
I'll give the story of the project and a complete description of the monument in a next post.

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The French Parnassus
Louis Garnier (ca. 1638–Paris, 1728);
Medallions by Simon Curé (ca. 1680–Paris, 1734);
Later additions by Augustin Pajou (Paris, 1730–Paris, 1809)Paris, 1718–1721; Pajou additions, 1762 and 1777
Bronze group; 102 3/8 x 92 1/2 x 90 9/16 in. (260 x 235 x 230 cm)
Versailles, Musée National de Versailles, MV 6023

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Exhibition :
Cast in Bronze: French Sculpture from Renaissance to Revolution
February 24, 2009–May 24, 2009
MET - Special Exhibition Galleries, 1st floor

The Imaginative World of Ariosto

Engraving by Larmessin after Nicolas Lancret

The Imaginative World of Ariosto
(Arioste imaginaire, Arioste imaginé)
February 26 to May 18, 2009
Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Ariosto first published his Orlando Furioso in Ferrara in 1516, and the epic poem, telling the adventures of Orlando, quickly became an extraordinary source of inspiration for the arts and literature. The exhibition, featuring works from the Renaissance to the 19th century proposes a reflection on the mutual influences of images and text in artistic and literary creation.

Ariosto's work also influenced a lot the 17th &18th-century operatic world. The character and adventures of Orlando inspired various libretti, and composers like Vivaldi (Orlando Finto Pazzo and then Orlando Furioso), Scarlatti, Händel, Lully (Roland). Orlando Furioso's secondary characters became the central characters of some operas : Alcina (Albinoni, Händel), Ginevra principessa di Scozia/Ariodante (Perti, Pollarolo, Sarro, Händel, Wagenseil). Even Rameau's Les Paladins, based on tale by La Fontaine finds its origins in Orlando Furioso (canto 43). For that reason, the exhibition is completed with a musical program.

Concerts
Extracts from :
Händel, Orlando, Alcina, Ariodante
Lully, Roland Furieux,
Vivaldi, Orlando Furioso
Solistes de l'Atelier lyrique de l'Opéra national de Paris :
Les Paladins & Jérôme Correas
Auditorium du Louvre - March 4, 2009
Théâtre de Suresnes Jean Vilar - March 6, 2009
More about the concerts


Filmed operas
Alcina, by Georg Friedrich Händel
Scottish Chamber Orchestra - Raymond Leppard,
Chorale Elisabeth Brasseur - Catherine Brilli,
Cast :Ann Murray, Valerie Masterson, Christiane Eda Pierre, Theresa Berganza, Philip Landridge.
Ina/Antenne 2, 1978, 124 min.
Introduction speech on the theme Ariosto and the baroque opera.
March14, 2009 - 3:00 pm

Orlando Furioso, by Antonio Vivaldi
Orchestre de l’Opéra de San Francisco - Randall Behr,
Cast : Marilyn Horne, Kathleen Kuhlmann, Susan Patterson, Jeffrey Gall, Sandra Walker.
Réal : Brian Large, prod : Arthaus, 1989, 147 min.
March 14, 2009 - 7:00 pm

Les Paladins, by Jean-Philippe Rameau
Les Arts florissants - William Christie,
Opus Arte, 2005, 140 min.
March15, 2009 - 3:00 pm

Court Pomp and Royal Ceremony

Court Pomp and Royal Ceremony
Court Dress in Europe, 1650-1800

(Fastes de Cour - Le Costume de Cour en Europe, 1650-1800)

31 March to 28 June 2009,

Palace of Versailles

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The exhibition Court Pomp and Royal Ceremony — Court Dress in Europe, 1650-1800 follows the history of court dress in Europe, revealing France’s major influence from the mid-17th to early 19th centuries.

Over 200 exhibits (dress, jewels, pictures) associated with the great European monarchies are assembled for the first time in an exhibition that will be held only at Versailles.

The Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Pitti Palace in Florence, the Louvre, Musée Galliera, Les Arts décoratifs and Archives Nationales in Paris, and private collectors have agreed to loan some of their pieces. The royal collections of London, Dresden, Denmark (Rosenborg Castle), Sweden (Royal Armoury), and Portugal (Ajuda Palace), and the imperial collections of Vienna (Kunsthistorisches Museum), the Tsars of Russia (State Hermitage), and Cologne cathedral will for the first time be exhibited outside their countries of origin.

This event is part of the cycle of exhibitions evoking court life in the 17th and 18th centuries, such as Versailles and the Royal Tables of Europe, 17th-19th centuries in 1993-1994.

Court dress developed as a political symbolic language, whose prime function was to display in visual form the hierarchy of power. The costumes exhibited here evoke not only the exceptional circumstances accompanying the beginnings of national monarchy and the lives of European monarchs and courtiers (coronations and ceremonies of orders of chivalry) but also the prestigious events held at all courts, such as weddings. The dress worn on these occasions was strictly bound by the formality of court etiquette. Each special occasion was an opportunity to adapt court dress with the use of luxurious materials, cloth, embroidery, lace, trimmings and a wealth of real and costume jewellery. These costumes became a showcase for the luxury trade, displaying its technical and aesthetic innovations. As fashion became more important and styles changed more rapidly, so court dress also developed. Orders from European courts placed in Paris demonstrated France’s central influence in court dress and fashion and the excellent quality achieved by Paris craft workers.

Alexandre et Louis XIV : tissages de gloire...

.... is the title of the exhibition at the Galerie des Gobelins in Paris showing the 11 tapestries dedicaded to the life of Alexander the Great. It was designed by Le Brun in the years 1660-1673 to glorify Louis XIV.
The exhibition is staged and also shows period furniture. The little box trees refer to the way the series was introduced to Louis XIV in 1677 : hanged on the external façade of the château de Versailles.

It's the first time the whole ensemble is shown since the end of the Ancien Régime.

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Mobilier National - Galerie des Gobelins
42, avenue des Gobelins, Paris XIII
http://www.mobiliernational-culture.gouv.fr/

The exhibition closes on March 1st.

Marie-Antoinette

The Grand Palais Colonnade

I visited the Marie-Antoinette exhibition at the Grand Palais : I can't tell whether it was good or bad, because it was over-crowed which is enough to change any good exhibition into a nightmare. At the beginning I tried to make my way into the crowd, but the game soon became physically and mentally exhausting. So, what I have seen is a compact mass of people struggling for their cultural lives - an awful experience.

I wonder how the numerous tourists, whose only approach to Marie-Antoinette was Sofia Coppola's film, feel about the exhibition. Even if well staged, the thing looks antiquated compared with the glamorous girl shown by Coppola. And it looks antiquated because it IS antiquated. The real 18th century was not painted in Barbie pink.

There is a long way from dream to reality, and the distance might come as a shock to some people.

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Pictures by Horvallis