The phrase “L’état, c’est moi” is the name of the French king Louis XIV, the Sun King, although it is considered apocryphal by historians: which means “I am the land,” speaks entirely of the king and the divine. power is suspended. Three kings ruled from the palace of Versailles: Louis XIV until his death in 1715, then Louis XV from 1722 until 1774 and finally, Louis XVI until the Revolution of 1789. knowledge was mainly scientific. From the age of seven, he was very fond of drawing maps, and at the age of eleven, he discovered astronomy. “In addition to his core education, he touched on anatomy and surgery, and in medicine he continued to study botany. He read a lot, looked carefully at the maps in his geography gallery, went to the deserts, studied plants at Trianon. [a smaller building at Versailles] and looked at the heavens, after all the events of astronomy,” wrote French art historian Beatrix Saule in a book accompanying the London Science Museum exhibit, “Versailles: Science and Splendor.” Although Versailles and its kings have always been viewed as glamorous and revolutionary compared to the background of the starving French peasantry at the time, the kings’ pursuit of science is not high on the public consciousness. Until, that is, this show is put together.
Where the kings of France are concerned, the focus should always be on the French Revolution, a historic massacre. So I was surprised that the revolution was briefly mentioned in the exhibition: although it is written on the plaques that scientific instruments were destroyed or stolen during the riots, it is not explained in detail, and it is not fully explained that the subsequent Republic accepted the scientific discoveries of their ancestors. This, I feel, is a glaring omission, and one that will leave visitors wanting to know more: while the exhibit book states that “the documents and scientific instruments were scattered during the revolutionary sale of 1793-94, when Versailles was emptied. of all his possessions” and that things were taken to various institutions, does not sound right. True, the exhibit is titled “Versailles” rather than “France: Science and Glamor,” but more background wouldn’t have been different.
The star of the show is Louis XV’s rhinoceros. A male Indian rhinoceros presented to Louis XV in 1769 by Jean-Baptiste Chevalier de Conan, the ruler of Chandernagore (now Chandannagar) in Bengal, has pride of place in the main exhibition room. The plaque reads that he was killed during the rebellion, possibly by drowning in the wells or after being stabbed with a sword. During his lifetime, the rhinoceros was among thousands of animals from Europe, Asia, Africa and America in the royal menagerie. They were a source of inspiration for many artists, such as the Flemish animal painter Pieter Boel, whose subjects included a painting of a rare bird in the menagerie, the cassowary, which was sent to Versailles in 1671 from Madagascar.
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Another star of the show is the Creation of the World clock (Pendule de la Création du monde). At the time of its creation—in 1754—watches were considered the most sophisticated and prestigious machines ever made. Its design and processes are a sight to behold: at the top, the bright sun chases away the darkness, represented in the form of clouds. It is truly amazing to look at: like jewels, it sparkles in the light, and the weather forms are shown wonderfully. “In the lower part, held in a bronze rock surrounded by fiery waves, sits a terrestrial globe engraved with various countries. The globe rotates on its axis every 24 hours, and the inclination of the poles varies with the seasons. The long ray of the sun reflects in the middle of the day in the countries of the same area,” explains the exhibition book further.
A portrait of Emilie du Châtelet (1706–1749) is also included in the exhibition—he who was considered by his lover Voltaire to be “a great man whose only fault was being a woman.” While living and financially supporting the writer, he accumulated a very large library, conducted scientific experiments and wrote a number of books. One of the first to appear, in 1738, was Elements of Newton’s philosophy (literally translated, A Beginner’s Guide to Newtonianism), which was thought to be Voltaire but was actually a collaborative effort. In addition to his literal translation of Newton’s prose, du Châtelet provided accessible explanations of his arguments with clear examples: “He converted his exposure to geometry into modern calculus, and summarized the latest mathematical research and experimental verification of his theories,” it said. Versailles: Science and Luxury. I would have liked to have some space dedicated to the position of women in France at that time. In the scientific community, how many women? What is the level of education of a woman in the middle or working class? Sadly, this broader context is missing.
The construction of the magnificent fountains at Versailles, which still work brilliantly today, is given place. Road and pipe systems will deliver the required 9,500 cubic meters
“Versailles: Science and Luxury” is at London’s Science Museum until April 21, 2025.
