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拍品專文
The gardens of Versailles, like the palace itself, are considered to be one of the apogees of European artistic expression, and they continue to enthral visitors. From a rather unpromising situation in a marshy valley, the original hunting lodge built by Louis XIII was enlarged, redesigned and embellished under the three succeeding kings, and became the home of the most brilliant court of the western world. Artists were drawn from all over France and Europe to work on the numerous projects commissioned at Versailles. No element of the overall impression was left to chance, from fountain pools to marble groups, from silk upholstery to the smallest detail of gilded wood.
The pomp and ceremony of the court of Versailles is well-documented, and it is apparent that many members of the court, including members of the royal family itself, found it stifling. However, when Louis XIV purchased the village of Trianon in 1668 and built a small 'porcelain pavilion' there in imitation of Chinese architecture, he was inadvertently creating an alternative location for members of the court to retire and live in relative simplicity, away from the main chateau but within the larger park.
Over the years, the complex of buildings at Trianon grew. First, in the late 1680s, the Porcelain Trianon was replaced by the Marble Trianon, and in the mid-18th century Louis XV turned his attention to the area. Eventually, there would be a zoo as well as a botanic garden. The French Pavilion was designed by the architect Anges-Jacques Gabriel as a place of rest and relaxation and in 1760, the king decided to build the Petit Trianon for his mistress Mme de Pompadour. Considered to be one of the most perfect expressions of French architecture of the period, the Petit Trianon was finished shortly after the death of its intended owner in 1764.
With the death of Louis XV in 1774, his grandson, Louis XVI ascended the throne with his queen, Marie-Antoinette of Austria. The youngest daughter of the Emperor Francis I and his Empress Maria-Theresa, Marie-Antoinette had been married to the Dauphin at the age of fifteen to seal a Franco-Austrian political alliance. She had left her home and, after a progression across Europe, arrived in France. She was never to see her mother, or Austria, again. It is not, therefore, surprising that when Louis XVI gave the Petit Trianon to his 19 year old queen on his accession to the throne, that she would lavish her attention on it and attempt to create something of her own. With the help of Richard Mique and Hubert Robert, she created an 'English' garden known as the Jardin de la Reine which had meandering paths, romantic vistas and was punctuated by several pavilions. Among these pavilions, two of the most succesful were the Temple d'Amour, centred by Bouchardon's famous marble group of Love Carving his Bow from Hercules' Club, and the Belvedere. As a friend of the queen, the Prince de Ligne, was to comment after their completion 'Je ne connais rien de plus beau et de mieux travaillé que le Temple et Pavillon [Belvedere]' ('I know of nothing more beautiful or better worked than the Temple and Pavilion [Belvedere]', quoted in de Nolhac, op. cit., p. 79).
The Belvedere was intended to be used for intimate supper parties or musical performances and was sometimes referred to as the Pavillon de Musique. It was built on a slight elevation above the Petit Lac (see illustration) and was designed by Mique, who had become contrôleur général des bâtiments de la Reine in 1774 and premier architecte du roi in 1775. Built in the form of an octagon, its combination of classical severity of form and light-hearted delicacy of decoration typifies the Louis XVI style. The interior of the Belvedere had a mosaic floor in a radiating pattern. The domed ceiling was painted by Lagrenée with putti in a sky, and the stucco walls were painted by Le Riche with delicate garlands, medallions and trophies (for photos of the interior see Pérouse de Montclos, op. cit., p. 213). The furnishings, which consisted of eight silk-upholstered giltwood sidechairs and eight armchairs attributed to Jacob, were sold to the 'Citizen Sellière' during the revolution. Today, only one of these chairs has returned to Versailles although four others are in the Getty Museum in Los Angeles (Meyer, op. cit., pp. 229-231).
On the exterior walls of the pavilion, four sides have tall windows surmounted by carved decoration representing the Four Seasons, and the other four sides have doors with pediments decorated with trophies representing hunting and gardening (for detailed images of these reliefs see Deshairs, op. cit., pls. 56 and 57). On the small terrace surrounding the building and flanking four short staircases radiating out from the doors were four pairs of sphinxes, each representing one of the Four Seasons. All this sculptural decoration was executed between 1777 and 1778 by Joseph Deschamps, who was paid 16,833 livres for the work (Lami, op. cit., I, p. 272). Today, the three pairs of sphinxes representing Spring, Summer and Winter remain at Versailles, but the fourth pair, thought to have been removed at some point during the revolution, are the pair being offered here.
Today, little is known about Deschamps, perhaps because he seems to have spent almost his entire career in the service of the Crown, and did not exhibit at any of the Salons in Paris which might have brought him greater fame. He worked for 16 years at Trianon, on both free-standing sculptures and decorative reliefs in various buildings, and documents show that he also worked at the chateaux of Bellevue and Saint Cloud, where he executed the archivolts of the chapel. It was at this latter chateau that he died in 1788, and was buried in the church there.
Despite this relative obscurity, the extremely high quality of the present two sphinxes are a testament to Deschamps' talent as a sculptor. Unlike many sculptural pairs or groups, they are not merely straightforward repetitions of a single composition, but each one of the eight original sphinxes is an individual work of art. The two offered here differ subtly from each other in the arrangement of the vine leaves and hair, and in the subtle modelling of the muscular bodies. The beautifully serene faces have just a hint of a smile. In a letter written to the owners (16 December 1971) by the Conservateur en chef du Musée du Château de Versailles, Gérard van der Kemp, he describes the reaction of Mme Hoog, a curator and specialist in the field who had been allowed to examine them: 'Elle a trouvé vos deux statues superbes et nous sommes en présence des originaux; vous pouvez mesurer ainsi l'importance que nous y attachons.' ('She found your two statues superb, and we are in the presence of the originals. You can therefore measure the importance which we attach to them.').
The extraordinary history of these sphinxes links them to one of the most important courts and artistic achievements in Europe. Guarding the entrances to the Belvedere, they witnessed intimate gatherings and grand garden fètes of Marie-Antoinette in the final years of the ancien régime. In fact, it was while resting in the grotto next to the Belvedere on an October evening in 1789 that a servant came running to tell the queen that a mob was advancing on the palace. She returned to the side of the king at the main chateau, and there followed a terrifying night in which she had to escape the invaders through a secret passage to the king's bedroom. On 7 October, the royal family were forced to return to Paris, and the French court left Versailles forever.
The pomp and ceremony of the court of Versailles is well-documented, and it is apparent that many members of the court, including members of the royal family itself, found it stifling. However, when Louis XIV purchased the village of Trianon in 1668 and built a small 'porcelain pavilion' there in imitation of Chinese architecture, he was inadvertently creating an alternative location for members of the court to retire and live in relative simplicity, away from the main chateau but within the larger park.
Over the years, the complex of buildings at Trianon grew. First, in the late 1680s, the Porcelain Trianon was replaced by the Marble Trianon, and in the mid-18th century Louis XV turned his attention to the area. Eventually, there would be a zoo as well as a botanic garden. The French Pavilion was designed by the architect Anges-Jacques Gabriel as a place of rest and relaxation and in 1760, the king decided to build the Petit Trianon for his mistress Mme de Pompadour. Considered to be one of the most perfect expressions of French architecture of the period, the Petit Trianon was finished shortly after the death of its intended owner in 1764.
With the death of Louis XV in 1774, his grandson, Louis XVI ascended the throne with his queen, Marie-Antoinette of Austria. The youngest daughter of the Emperor Francis I and his Empress Maria-Theresa, Marie-Antoinette had been married to the Dauphin at the age of fifteen to seal a Franco-Austrian political alliance. She had left her home and, after a progression across Europe, arrived in France. She was never to see her mother, or Austria, again. It is not, therefore, surprising that when Louis XVI gave the Petit Trianon to his 19 year old queen on his accession to the throne, that she would lavish her attention on it and attempt to create something of her own. With the help of Richard Mique and Hubert Robert, she created an 'English' garden known as the Jardin de la Reine which had meandering paths, romantic vistas and was punctuated by several pavilions. Among these pavilions, two of the most succesful were the Temple d'Amour, centred by Bouchardon's famous marble group of Love Carving his Bow from Hercules' Club, and the Belvedere. As a friend of the queen, the Prince de Ligne, was to comment after their completion 'Je ne connais rien de plus beau et de mieux travaillé que le Temple et Pavillon [Belvedere]' ('I know of nothing more beautiful or better worked than the Temple and Pavilion [Belvedere]', quoted in de Nolhac, op. cit., p. 79).
The Belvedere was intended to be used for intimate supper parties or musical performances and was sometimes referred to as the Pavillon de Musique. It was built on a slight elevation above the Petit Lac (see illustration) and was designed by Mique, who had become contrôleur général des bâtiments de la Reine in 1774 and premier architecte du roi in 1775. Built in the form of an octagon, its combination of classical severity of form and light-hearted delicacy of decoration typifies the Louis XVI style. The interior of the Belvedere had a mosaic floor in a radiating pattern. The domed ceiling was painted by Lagrenée with putti in a sky, and the stucco walls were painted by Le Riche with delicate garlands, medallions and trophies (for photos of the interior see Pérouse de Montclos, op. cit., p. 213). The furnishings, which consisted of eight silk-upholstered giltwood sidechairs and eight armchairs attributed to Jacob, were sold to the 'Citizen Sellière' during the revolution. Today, only one of these chairs has returned to Versailles although four others are in the Getty Museum in Los Angeles (Meyer, op. cit., pp. 229-231).
On the exterior walls of the pavilion, four sides have tall windows surmounted by carved decoration representing the Four Seasons, and the other four sides have doors with pediments decorated with trophies representing hunting and gardening (for detailed images of these reliefs see Deshairs, op. cit., pls. 56 and 57). On the small terrace surrounding the building and flanking four short staircases radiating out from the doors were four pairs of sphinxes, each representing one of the Four Seasons. All this sculptural decoration was executed between 1777 and 1778 by Joseph Deschamps, who was paid 16,833 livres for the work (Lami, op. cit., I, p. 272). Today, the three pairs of sphinxes representing Spring, Summer and Winter remain at Versailles, but the fourth pair, thought to have been removed at some point during the revolution, are the pair being offered here.
Today, little is known about Deschamps, perhaps because he seems to have spent almost his entire career in the service of the Crown, and did not exhibit at any of the Salons in Paris which might have brought him greater fame. He worked for 16 years at Trianon, on both free-standing sculptures and decorative reliefs in various buildings, and documents show that he also worked at the chateaux of Bellevue and Saint Cloud, where he executed the archivolts of the chapel. It was at this latter chateau that he died in 1788, and was buried in the church there.
Despite this relative obscurity, the extremely high quality of the present two sphinxes are a testament to Deschamps' talent as a sculptor. Unlike many sculptural pairs or groups, they are not merely straightforward repetitions of a single composition, but each one of the eight original sphinxes is an individual work of art. The two offered here differ subtly from each other in the arrangement of the vine leaves and hair, and in the subtle modelling of the muscular bodies. The beautifully serene faces have just a hint of a smile. In a letter written to the owners (16 December 1971) by the Conservateur en chef du Musée du Château de Versailles, Gérard van der Kemp, he describes the reaction of Mme Hoog, a curator and specialist in the field who had been allowed to examine them: 'Elle a trouvé vos deux statues superbes et nous sommes en présence des originaux; vous pouvez mesurer ainsi l'importance que nous y attachons.' ('She found your two statues superb, and we are in the presence of the originals. You can therefore measure the importance which we attach to them.').
The extraordinary history of these sphinxes links them to one of the most important courts and artistic achievements in Europe. Guarding the entrances to the Belvedere, they witnessed intimate gatherings and grand garden fètes of Marie-Antoinette in the final years of the ancien régime. In fact, it was while resting in the grotto next to the Belvedere on an October evening in 1789 that a servant came running to tell the queen that a mob was advancing on the palace. She returned to the side of the king at the main chateau, and there followed a terrifying night in which she had to escape the invaders through a secret passage to the king's bedroom. On 7 October, the royal family were forced to return to Paris, and the French court left Versailles forever.