Exhibitions
and the back, on one side a general
introduction, on the other summary
descriptions of the four narrative
scenes on each dish. Great effort,
including the provision of a sumptuous
illustrated exhibition booklet, has been
put into helping the visitor to follow
these stories, many of them packed full
of vivid detail. But it must be said that
this is a challenging task. One suspects
that many visitors will find themselves
irresistibly drawn to the audio-visual
presentation on the entrance wall, in
which excellent close photography and
Mary Beard’s narrative text provide a
more easily digestible route through
the scenes on the Nero dish.
Part of the problem is that the
nineteenth-century gilding has tended
to flatten visually relief scenes that
would have stood out much more
clearly in the original white silver,
especially when seen in flickering
candlelight, as opposed to modern
lighting; this can be seen well from the
Julius Caesar dish, which, having lost
some of its gilding, is accordingly much
easier to read. But these tazzas were
from the start very difficult objects
to take in; too large easily to hold for
582 the burlington magazine | 160 | july 2018
Below contemplation and with the narrative
6. The dish from a scenes fanning out from the statuette
tazza representing
the Emperor in the centre (Fig.6), so that a viewer
Domitian. always, as it were, had the emperor in
Netherlands, the way. It is in contrast much easier
c.1587–99. Gilded
silver, diameter 18 to read the narrative scenes on two
cm. (Minneapolis spectacular loans displayed along
Institute
of Art; exh.
with other contextual material in
Waddesdon Manor, the anteroom to the White Drawing
Buckinghamshire). Room, a basin made in Antwerp in
7. The Breda Cup, 1558–59 illustrating scenes from the
by Elias Marcus siege of Tunis (Musée du Louvre, Paris)
and Jeremias
Maes. 1600. Gilded and the wonderful Breda Cup from
silver, height 61.5 Schloss Neuenstein (Fig.7), which
cm. (Hohenlohe narrates scenes from the successful
Museum, Schloss
Neuenstein; exh. liberation of the town of Breda from
Waddesdon Manor, Habsburg control. Made in 1600 by the
Buckinghamshire).
goldsmiths Elias Marcus and Jeremias
Maes, the latter object is arguably the
finest work of art in the exhibition.
The Aldobrandini tazzas are in
essence ostentatious objects intended
for showing off, with – dare one
suggest? – even a whiff of bling about
them. But if so, it is bling of the very
highest order, and the solving of have been a splendid manuscript key to
so many of their mysteries must be the stories on the dishes, last heard of
counted a triumph of focused research when sold with some of the tazzas from
work. The principal remaining missing the Spitzer collection in Paris in 1893.
piece in the puzzle is what seems to However, following the very recent
discovery that the manuscript was
with Pierpont Morgan in London in
1906, it is very much to be hoped that
the exhibition and its accompanying
volume of essays will stimulate renewed
efforts to locate this missing link in the
mystery of the Silver Caesars.
1 Catalogue: The Silver Caesars: A
Renaissance Mystery. Edited by Julia Siemon.
304 pp. incl. 250 col. ills. (Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, and Yale University
Press, New Haven and London, 2017), £35.
ISBN 978–1–58839–639–6. The exhibition was
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
12th December 2017–11th March.
Visitors to Versailles (1682–1789)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York
16th April–29th July
by laurel o. peterson
A scene on a delicately coloured fan
conveys the energy and activity of
life at the palace of Versailles in the
long eighteenth century (cat. no.
155; Fig.8).In the forecourt as viewed
when coming from the town, a line
of carriages approaches the château,

followed by blue-coated cavalry. To
the left, a gentleman in a tricorne hat
arrives in a sedan chair. The palace
buildings are numbered and identified
by a key at the base of the fan. With
sticks and guards made from ivory,
decorated with gilt paper and mother-
of-pearl, the fan evokes the luxury of
the French court, whereas the image
records the large audiences that
flocked to Versailles. As the exhibition
demonstrates, the palace was one of
the most public spaces in Europe,
welcoming visitors from across the
social spectrum.
The exhibition, a collaboration
between the Château de Versailles and
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York, avoids the familiar top-down
narrative of the tastes and interests of
French monarchs by focusing on the
broad range of visitors, from tourists
of modest means to foreign royalty,
some of whom visited incognito.1 In
a series of rooms organised by theme,
ranging from the way the gardens
were experienced to American visitors
to Versailles, the exhibition shifts
and broadens the palace’s story. By
considering the clothes these visitors
wore, their modes of transportation,
the presents they brought, the gifts
they received, the sights they saw,
the souvenirs they acquired and their
impressions of the experience, a rich
and multi-dimensional portrait of the
public life of the palace emerges.
The audioguide, an innovative
‘binaural audio experience’, enhances
visitors’ understanding of the the
experience of visiting Versailles when
it was home to the French court, from
1682 to 1789. Descriptions ranging
from the awe-filled to the critical
evoke the wonder, pageantry and
occasional discomfort involved in a
visit. Adaptations and interpretations
of seventeenth- and eighteenth-
century written accounts, recorded on
a three-dimensional soundstage, give
the impression of being surrounded by
the court in its heyday. These voices
from the past should be considered
some of the principal ‘objects’ on
display. The sounds of squeaking doors
and singing birds transport visitors
back in time and space in a way that
never feels contrived. This experience
is completed by the installation:
judiciously chosen architectural details
applied to the walls and the use of
eighteenth-century parquet floors give
a palatial air to the galleries.
The exhibition begins by showing
how visitors prepared for and travelled
to Versailles. Access to the palace
principally depended upon being
properly attired, and occasions such
as ambassadorial receptions required
the finest court dress. Foreign visitors
Exhibitions
8. Fan with often acquired the necessary clothing
a view of the upon arriving in Paris. In order to cater
town and palace
of Versailles. to their needs, tailors prepared panels
French, c.1780– of exquisite embroidery worked in
85. Single paper advance, which could be assembled
leaf, painted in
gouache, carved quickly into a suit (no.14; Fig.9). The
and pierced twelve-mile journey to Versailles lasted
ivory, gilding and
mother-of-pearl,
at least two hours and could take more
width when open than six. Accounts of visitors being
31 cm. (Musée crammed into jolting coaches with
Lambinet,
Versailles; exh. fifteen other people, travelling in full
Metropolitan court dress, conveys the effort inherent
Museum of Art, in such a journey. Visiting Versailles was
New York).
a physical as well as a visual experience.
9. Embroidered The heart of the exhibition is
panels for a
man’s suit, an enfilade of rooms presenting the
French. 1780s. palace’s spaces and the interactions of
Silk embroidery
on woven silk,
visitors with the king and his court. In
124.5 by 56.5 cm. the largest room, gifts and mementoes
(Metropolitan from various diplomatic visits, together
Museum of Art,
New York). with depictions of ambassadors from
places as distant as Persia, Morocco
and Mysore, are arranged around a
large Savonnerie carpet. Several objects
relate to the Siamese embassy of 1686
– the first embassy received by Louis
XIV in the Hall of Mirrors. Among
the diplomatic gifts were two Siamese
cast-iron cannons, one of which was
recently identified (before 1686; Royal
Artillery Museum, Larkhill; no.65).
Diplomatic gifts were reciprocal.
The central Savonnerie carpet,
which represents Music (c.1685–97;
Metropolitan Museum of Art; no.67),
is identical to the one given by Louis
XIV to Phra Narai, King of Siam.
The final rooms of the exhibition
move on to the late eighteenth
century and address the relationship
the burlington magazine | 160 | july 2018 583
Exhibitions
10. The King between France and ambassadors
promising to from the nascent United States. One
come to Paris
with his family of the highlights of these rooms is
(October 6, a plum-coloured three-piece suit
1789), by Jean- (c.1778–79; National Museum of
Louis Prieur
the Younger. American History, Washington;
1789. Graphite no.163) similar to the one worn by
and wash on
paper, 19.5 by
Benjamin Franklin when he visited
25.3 cm. (Musée Versailles. Strikingly unadorned,
Carnavalet, Paris; Franklin’s suit was as much a
photograph
Roger-Violle; exh. performance as the swords and wigs
Metropolitan donned by members of the French
Museum of Art, court, and was part of the way
New York).
Franklin played up perceptions of the
American ‘rustic’ as he cultivated an
alliance between the two countries.
The French Revolution marks
the end of the account of Versailles’s
visitors. The events of 5th and 6th
October 1789, when a crowd of women
marched on Versailles and forced
Louis XVI and his family to return
with them to Paris, are captured in
four small grey wash drawings by
Jean-Louis Prieur the Younger (no.9;
Fig.10). In an exhibition that tells an
exciting, comprehensive story of the
people who experienced life at the
French court, this section disappoints,
as it fails successfully to convey the
tension between the world of splendid
objects and the ensuing rejection of
584 the burlington magazine | 160 | july 2018
the monarchy. Rather than honouring
and incorporating the story of these
angry visitors to Versailles, the
exhibition audio guide ends with the
Russian writer Nikolai Karamzin’s
dismissal of them as ‘Parisian thugs’
and a melancholic lament that
‘Versailles without the court is like the
body without the soul’.
Despite this unsatisfying finale,
the exhibition presents an illuminating
history of the many people who
experienced life at Versailles during the
long eighteenth century. The well-
illustrated catalogue is a testament
to the thoroughness of the research
that underpins the displays.2 Excellent
essays by a range of scholars develop
the themes covered in the exhibition,
weaving in the primary sources that
bring these stories to life. It will
remain an enduring resource for those
interested in the material and cultural
histories of the palace.
1 The exhibition was shown at the Château
de Versailles from 24th October 2017 to 25th
February 2018.
2 Catalogue: Visitors to Versailles: From
Louis XIV to the French Revolution. Edited
by Daniëlle Kisluk-Grosheide and Bertrand
Rondot. 392 pp. incl. 334 col. ills. (Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York, and Yale University
Press, New Haven and London, 2018), £50.
ISBN 978–1–58839–622–8.
Jacques-François Blondel, an
Enlightenment Architect in Metz
The Arsenal, Metz
12th April–13th July
by louis cellauro and
gilbert richaud
Commissioned in the context of the
nomination of Metz for the Unesco
World Heritage List, and organised by
the city in partnership with the École
nationale supérieure d’architecture de
Nancy and the Cité de l’Architecture
et du Patrimoine, Paris, this is the first
large exhibition dedicated to Jacques-
François Blondel (1705–74; Fig.11), the
celebrated architect and theoretician
of the Enlightenment. The reason
for holding it in Metz is that the city
is the site of Blondel’s architectural
masterpiece, an ingenious system of
squares surrounding the cathedral
that is rightly considered one of the
most successful urban schemes of the
eighteenth century.
Born in Rouen, Blondel was
trained in architecture by his
uncle Jean-François Blondel and
continued his studies with Gilles-
Marie Oppenord, from whom he
acquired a knowledge of Rococo. He
also worked with Jean Mariette, to
whose L’Architecture françoise (1727 and
1738) he contributed. In 1740, having
published De la distribution des maisons
de plaisance, et de la décoration des édifices
en général (1737–38), and in the face of
initial hostility from the Académie
Royale d’Architecture, he opened the
École des Arts, a private school in rue
de la Harpe, Paris. It was attended
by many of the best architects and
artists of the second half of the
century, including Marie-Joseph
Peyre, Charles de Wailly, Julien-
David Leroy and Augustin Pajou,
who were followed by Étienne-Louis
Boullée, Claude-Nicolas Ledoux,
Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart
and Jacques Gondouin. Blondel also
taught Sir William Chambers and
Caspar Frederik Harsdorff. During
these years he contributed to the
Encyclopédie by Denis Diderot and
Jean Le Rond d’Alembert and in
1752–56 he published his Architecture
françoise in four volumes. In 1755 he
was inducted into the Académie