A Jacobite Gazetteer - France

Versailles - Ground Floor Rooms

For other parts of the Palace of Versailles, see here.

Appartement de Madame Victoire, Cabinet intérieur

The Appartement de Madame Victoire consists of six rooms in the northern corner of the ground floor of the central building.

In the Cabinet intérieur hangs a portrait by Charles Le Clercq of Madame Elisabeth, the younger sister of Queen Marie Clotilde of Sardinia, wife of King Charles IV.¹ Elisabeth is playing the harp. In the background of the painting is a framed portrait of Queen Marie Clotilde. She is seated on a couch with a book in her lap. To her right is a table with a vase of flowers. A version of this painting of Marie Clotilde can be seen in the Gabinetto delle Miniature of the Palazzo Reale in Turin.

Madame Elisabeth, with portrait of Marie Clotilde, Queen of Sardinia

In the same room hang several portraits of the aunts of Queen Marie Clotilde.

Appartement de Madame Adélaïde, Cabinet intérieur

The Appartement de Madame Adélaïde consists of four rooms on the ground floor of the central building, immediately after the Appartement de Madame Victoire.

In the Cabinet intérieur hangs a portrait by Joseph Ducreux of Madame Clotilde, later Queen Marie Clotilde, wife of King Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia (later King Charles IV) at the age of fourteen.² She is shown standing and wearing a white satin dress with flowers at her waist. There is another copy of the same painting in storage.³ There is also a round copy of the painting which is part of the wooden panelling of the salon de l'appartement n°2 on the first floor of the west pavillon of the north wing.⁴

Marie Clotide, later Queen of Sardinia

In the same room are portraits by Louis-Michel Van Loo of the comte de Provence and the comte d'Artois.

Appartement du Capitaine des Gardes, Grand cabinet

The Appartement du Capitaine des Gardes consists of four rooms located on the ground floor on the right side of the Cour de Marbre. In the Grand cabinet there are a number of portraits of Jacobite interest.

There is a 1775 portrait by Francois-Hubert Drouais of Queen Marie Clotilde at the age of sixteen (just before her marriage).⁵ She wears a pink dress and is playing a guitar.

Marie Clotide, Queen of Sardinia

There is a marble bust of Princess Maria Giuseppina of Savoy (comtesse de Provence), sister of King Charles IV and King Victor.⁶

Princess Maria Giuseppina of Savoy, comtesse de Provence

There is a 1777 portrait of Princess Maria Giuseppina by Edouard Gautier-Dagoty.⁷ She is shown seated wearing a pink dress. With her right hand she points to a marble bust of her husband, the comte de Provence. On the wall behind hangs an oval portrait of her father, King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia. On the table next to her are several books, an armillary sphere, and a vase of flowers. On the bench is some music, a mandolin, and a harp.

Princess Maria Giuseppina of Savoy, comtesse de Provence

There is a 1775 portrait of Princess Maria Teresa of Savoy (comtesse d'Artois), sister of King Charles IV and King Victor, also by Edouard Gautier-Dagoty.⁸ She is shown seated at a desk wearing a blue dress. On the top level of the desk is a marble bust of her husband, the comte d'Artois, and a gilt jug. Below are several books, a vase of flowers, and a painting of her mother, Queen Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Sardinia. The painting of Maria Antonia Ferdinanda is similar to several other works by Giuseppe Lavy in the Gabinetto delle Miniature of the Palazzo Reale in Turin.⁹ On the chair at the far left is a sketch of a baby - Maria Teresa's elder son, Louis Antoine d'Artois, born in 1775. On the floor at the far right is a guitar very similar to that in the 1775 portrait by Francois-Hubert Drouais of Queen Marie Clotilde of Sardinia.

Princess Maria Teresa of Savoy, comtesse d'Artois

There is a portrait of Princess Maria Teresa by François-Hubert Drouais.¹⁰ She is wearing a mauve dress and has flowers in her hands.

Princess Maria Teresa of Savoy, comtesse d'Artois

There is a portrait of Princess Maria Teresa with her three children by Charles Le Clercq.¹¹ She is shown seated on a couch wearing a pale blue dress. Her eldest son Louis Antoine (later King Louis XIX of France) is at the far left. Maria Teresa holds her daughter Sophie by the hand. On the table stands her younger son Charles Ferdinand, duc de Berri (his son Henri, duc de Bourdeaux, married Princess Maria Theresa, sister of King Francis I).

Princess Maria Teresa of Savoy, comtesse d'Artois, with her children

There is a portrait of the three children of the comtesse d'Artois and another of her eldest son Louis-Antoine both by Anne-Rosalie Filleul.

There is a portrait of the comte de Provence by Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun.

There is a portait of the comte d'Artois by Antoine-François Callet.

There is a round portrait of Laure-Auguste de Fitz-James, princesse de Chimay, by Louis-Michel Van Loo.¹² Laure-Auguste (1744-1814) was the second daughter of Charles de Fitz-James, 4th duc de Fitz-James (son of the 1st Duke of Berwick and grandson of King James II and VII). In 1762 she married Philippe d'Alsace de Hénin-Liétard, 6th prince de Chimay, who was capitaine des Gardes of the comte d'Artois. Laure Auguste was dame du palais (1770-1774), dame d'atours (1774-1775), and première dame d'honneur (1775-1791) to Queen Marie-Antoinette.

Laure-Auguste de Fitz-James, princesse de Chimay

Appartement du Capitaine des Gardes, Chambre

In the Chambre of the Appartement du Capitaine des Gardes hangs a copy of a portrait by François-Hubert Drouais of Madame Clotilde (later wife of King Charles IV) seated on a goat with her brother the comte d'Artois (later husband of Princess Maria Teresa of Savoy (sister of King Charles IV).¹³ The painting is a copy of the original now in the Louvre. This copy was painted for Clotilde's aunt Madame Adelaide.

Madame Clotilde and the comte d'Artois

Notes

¹ Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, MV 8965. The oil on canvas painting, dated 1783, measures 41 cm high by 33 cm wide (unframed). It entered the Versailles collection in 1997.

² Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, MV 3902. Cf. Constans, I, 272. The oval oil on canvas painting measures 62 cm high by 51 cm wide. It was formerly thought to be a copy of a lost original by François-Hubert Drouais.

³ Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, MV 4522. The oval oil on canvas painting measures 65 cm high by 53 cm wide.

⁴ Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, MV 7428. Cf. Constans, I, 274.

⁵ Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, MV 3972. Cf. Constans, I, 269. The oil on canvas painting measures 84 cm high by 67 cm wide.

⁶ Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, MV 2125. Cf. Constans, I, 269. The bust measures 83 cm high.

⁷ Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, MV 7852. The oil on canvas painting measures 87 cm high by 70 cm wide (unframed). It entered the Versailles collection in 1951.

⁸ Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, MV 7853. The oil on canvas painting measures 87 cm high by 70 cm wide (unframed). It entered the Versailles collection in 1951.

⁹ There is no Lavy portrait of Maria Antonia Ferdinanda in the Gabinetto delle Miniature. Instead there is a 1911 replacement by Giuseppe Gennaro.

¹⁰ Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, V.2015.2. The oil on canvas painting measures 99 cm high by 78 cm wide (unframed). The painting was given by the comtesse d'Artois to Justin, conte di Viry, ambassador of the Kingdom of Sardinia to France, who negotiated the marriage of Charles IV and Marie-Clotilde. It was purchased for the Versailles collection at Sotheby's in 2015.

¹¹ Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, MV 8572. The oil on canvas painting measures 48 cm high by 40 cm wide (unframed). It entered the Versailles collection in 1988.

¹² Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, MV 8325. The oil on canvas painting measures 67 cm in diameter (unframed).

¹³ Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, MV 3898. Cf. Constans, I, 269. The oil on canvas painting measures 131 cm high by 99 cm wide. François-Huber Drouais was born in Paris in 1727 and died in the same city in 1775. He painted numerous portraits of the French Royal Family and court. His somewhat more famous son was the history painter Jean Germain Drouais.