Chefs-D'oeuvre De La Chambre Du Roi

Exhibition at the Musée de Picardie, Amiens, 24 September 2022 - 26 February 2023

Of the successive chambers occupied by Louis XIV at the Château de Versailles, the last one, refurbished in the centre of the royal flat from 1701, remains the most emblematic. In this sumptuous space, tenebrous painting dominated, a deliberate choice by the king reflecting his varied tastes. The four evangelists, Saint Matthew, Saint Luke, Saint John and Saint Mark, the Denier de César painted by the best of the French Caravaggio painters, Valentin de Boulogne, and Agar and the Angel by Giovanni Lanfranco still adorn the upper part of the décor, the attic.

This exhibition catalogue offers a detailed study of each of these four paintings - exceptionally loaned by the Château de Versailles to the Musée d'Amiens - followed by a historical study of the uses, decorations and transformations of the king's bedroom under Louis XIV, during the 18th century and after the Revolution.