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Royal Collectors of Art
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The Royal touch! Kings and Queens were often avid art collectors. |
An exhibition exploring the legendary opulence, tastes, and lifestyles of French kings Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI is on view at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. It features tapestries, silver, porcelain and furniture commissioned by the royals for their personal use. The 53 masterworks in the exhibition, drawn from the collections of the Musée du Louvre in Paris, have never traveled to the USA until now.
Title: Nécessaire, 1729
Artist: Henri-Nicolas Cousinet (French 1724-ca.1768)
Given to Queen Marie Leczinska on the occasion of the birth of the Dauphin (selections)
Medium: Silver gilt, ebony and porcelain
Variable dimensions
Permanent Collection: Musée du Louvre
Photo: Peter Harholdt by permission of the Musée du Louvre, Paris/High Museum of Art, Atlanta
Image Courtesy: High Museum of Art, Atlanta
“This exhibition provides an intimate look at the lifestyles of some of the wealthiest, most powerful, and best known royalty that ever lived,” said Michael E. Shapiro, Nancy and Holcombe T. Green, Jr. Director of the High Museum of Art.
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Some Kings weren't satisfied merely purchasing the artworks, instead why not buy the store itself? Jean Goeblin founded Le Manufacture des Gobelins as a dye workshop in the middle of the 15th Century. In 1662 Louis XIV purchased the Gobelins manufactory. As a result the royal artisans were united as the King created a royal tapestry and furniture workshop. |
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German born Martin Carlin emigrated to Paris to hone his craft as an ébéniste. He worked in Jean-François Oeben's workshop and eventually married Oeben's sister. Carlin is best known for decorating his furniture with Sèvres porcelain plaques. |
Highlights include a 1784 Sèvres porcelain tureen and platter made for Queen Marie-Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI; an inlaid wooden medals cabinet made in 1660 by Dutch cabinetmaker Pierre Gole for Louis XIV, who collected medals and objets d’art as well as paintings and sculpture; a secretary decorated with pietra dura paneled murals designed by Martin Carlin for the court of Louis XVI in 1780; and a nécessaire including silver objects used to prepare tea or chocolate, made for Louis XV’s wife, Queen Marie Leczinska upon the birth of the couple’s first son in 1729.
Decorative Arts of the Kings
High Museum of Art, Atlanta:
through September 2, 2007