Louis XVI’s library at Versailles is the only room in the Private Apartments (Petits appartements) that the unfortunate monarch substantially altered after he came to the throne.  Otherwise, he left his grandfather Louis XV’s rooms more or less as he found them.

Consequently, this library is also the only room in the Private Apartments that is decorated in the neo-classical style to which Louis XVI has given his name.  Note the rectilinear paneling in the picture below.

Looking into Louis XVI’s library from the west door.

Louis XV had of course also had a library.  In fact, he had several.  A series of small libraries in the attic-level Petits cabinets was constructed for him in the 1730s, including a map room.  He lost interest in the Petits cabinets after the creation of the Private Apartments and eventually made them over to his daughter-in-law, the Dauphine, in 1766.  After her death, they passed to Mme du Barry, for whom an exquisite little library was arranged.  It can be visited today.

One of the handsomest pieces of 18th-century furniture in the New France collection at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is this butternut and pine commode from the Montréal area, dated 1740-1760.  As mentioned in the two previous posts, Louis XV styles in New France only took hold around 1740 and persisted for decades after the British conquest in 1759.

A commode from New France/Québec in the ROM.

Although obviously provincial in style when compared to the work of the great ébénistes active in Paris at the same time, it’s a very fine piece.  As with provincial furniture in France itself, the furniture in New France was simpler in design and execution and used humber materials than that of the capital and the court.  In this case, the fancy floral moulding at the bottom, the sophisticated serpentine front, and the elaborate hardware indicate that it was a high-end piece for its time and place.  Very likely it was commissioned by a well-off family.

As a fan of 18C French decorative arts, there’s nothing I love more than a Louis XV-style fauteuil, or armchair.  Naturally, the first exhibits in the Royal Ontario Museum’s New France collection that caught my eye were these 2 elegant Louis XV fauteuils.

Two handsome fauteuils from New France in the ROM.

The dates given for both pieces are 1760-1790.  To look at them, you would think they were from before 1760 — and you would be right if they were French.  In New France, however, Louis XV styles persisted well into the 19C.  This was the effect of being cut off from the mother country after the British conquest of 1759.

Let’s look more closely at each chair.

During my long weekend in Toronto, I managed to check out the furniture of New France collection at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM).

Attentive readers who also follow Versailles Century on Instagram might remember that I posted this photo some time ago.

Rococo to Rustique, a book about the early French-Canadian furniture collection at the ROM.

I promised to visit the museum and write a follow up post.  In fact, I think there will be a series of posts.

I’m going to keep this short and sweet: I didn’t like this production of Handel’s Ariodante.

The program for Ariodante.

Henry Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas is my favourite opera.  Normally clocking in at just under an hour, it’s a perfect jewel of operatic theatre.  When I bought my ticket for the 28 October performance of Dido & Aeneas by Opera Atelier (OA), I assumed that it would be the same production I had seen in Seoul some years before when OA was on tour in East Asia.

It was only a few days before Dido and Aeneas‘ run started that I found out that a half hour of new material had been added, thus bringing the total time with an intermission to 90 minutes.

The program for Dido & Aeneas.

VC is back home after a long weekend in Toronto, having digested 2 Baroque opera performances, not to mention visiting Canada’s largest museum.  This post is just a quick update about what’s coming up on the blog later this week.

Here are the receipts for the 2 operas:

The Elgin Theatre in Toronto, home of Opera Atelier and venue for Dido & Aeneas.

The Four Seasons Centre in Toronto, home of the Canadian Opera Company and venue for Ariodante.

As promised in the previous post, I will review both performances on the blog.

I also managed a flying visit to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), of which I’m now an out-of-town member.

The protuberant glass structure in the middle distance is the main entrance of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM ) in Toronto.

The ROM has a significant collection of furniture and other objects from New France, which fits nicely into VC’s period frame.  I will dedicate the last post of the week to the museum’s collection of rustic Rococo furniture from old Québec.

Please check back in a day or two for the review of Dido & Aeneas.  I loved it, but I do have one quibble.  Stay tuned for details!

It’s true, dear friends.  Versailles Century, which is to say, I, David, am going to the opera.  And not just one opera, but two.

I should point out that this is a major outing for me.  It’s a 3-hour drive from my little town on the shore of Lake Huron, where I’ve been settled for the last 6 months since my return to Ontario after nearly 20 years’ residence in East and Southeast Asia, across the southern Ontario peninsula to Toronto.  To add to the fun, there will be probably be snow flurries during the drive.  No matter, though, because a full-scale blizzard wouldn’t stop me from getting to Toronto.

This weekend, you see, TWO baroque operas will be staged in Canada’s largest city.  The Canadian Opera Company is presenting Handel’s Ariodante, and Opera Atelier is mounting a new production of Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas.  We at Versailles Century are very excited about both because of course we prize the baroque opera above all others.

The only church that most visitors to Versailles see is the Château’s own chapel.  This is understandable, of course, because it’s the Château that people come to see.  Today, however, we’re going to explore 2 churches in the town of Versailles, the Church of Our Lady (Notre-Dame) and the Cathedral of St. Louis.

The interior of the chapel at the Château de Versailles.

Let’s begin with the older one, the Église Notre-Dame, or the Church of Our Lady.

This church was built quite early in the development of Versailles.  It was erected by Jules Hardouin-Mansart (1646-1708) between 1684 and 1686, presumably in the time that he could spare from his work at the Château.  Remember that Louis XIV had only moved into the Château for good in 1682.

Before the chapel that we see today was completed in 1710, there were other chapels in the Château, but the town needed a church, too, hence the construction of Notre-Dame in the Rue de la Paroisse.  If you walk northward from the Château, you can make the church out as you approach the Place Hoche.

Place Hoche, with the Church of Our Lady (Notre-Dame), one of the 2 main churches of Versailles, clearly visible to the right of the statue.

It’s sad but true, dear friends.  Versailles Century’s tour of the 18C rooms at the Carnavalet Museum comes to an end today.  Our final destination is a walnut-paneled salon that contains my favourite piece in the entire museum: a divine daybed upholstered in yellow.

I would like to show you more pictures of this handsome salon, really I would.  Unfortunately, the light was so dim and you’re not supposed to use flash.  Just a few of my photos turned out decently.  Here’s one.

A wood-paneled salon in the Carnavalet Museum.