THE LUXURY OF VERSAILLES

The Splendors of the Château--its Apartments and Gardens, the Hall of
Mirrors

In planning the interior decorations at Versailles, the numerous
company of artists employed by the sovereign devised a scheme of
ornamentation inspired by the arts of ancient Rome. Mythological and
historical subjects were utilized for the glorification of the Grand
Monarch. A _Description_ of the château, officially printed in 1674,
gives us the key to the interpretation of the allegories. "As the Sun
is the device of the King, and poets represent the Sun and Apollo as
one, nothing exists in this superb dwelling that does not bear relation
to the Sun divinity."

The emblem of Apollo was in evidence everywhere; signs of the month
ornamented facades and walls; and inside the palace and out were
symbols of the seasons and the hours of the day. The King's apartment
bore on its ceiling and walls paintings depicting deeds of seven heroes
of Antiquity, supported by Louis' planet emblem. All the interior
decoration was Italian in style--marble wainscoting in window
embrasures, floors of marble, panels of marble, doors of repoussé
bronze. The apartments of Anne of Austria and the Gallery of Apollo at
the Louvre offered the first examples in France of this decorative
style, and guided the artists at Versailles in making their plans.

Upon the Grand Apartments of the King and Queen alone, a dozen painters
were engaged between the years 1671 and 1680. Charles Lebrun directed
the artists, most of whom, be it said, were poor colorists. He himself