Louis XVI (EN)

Biographical Article

Louis Auguste de France was born at the Palace of Versailles on August 23, 1754, and received the title of Duc de Berry at birth. He was the grandson of King Louis XV (1710-1774) and the third son of the Dauphin Louis (1729-1765) and Princesse Marie-Josèphe de Saxe (1731-1767). He succeeded his father as Dauphin of the Kingdom of France on December 20, 1765. The Lieutenant General Duc de La Vauguyon was his governor as of March 1760 and Monseigneur de Coëtlosquet, Bishop of Limoges, his tutor. The Dauphin showed an aptitude for study, specifically for history andcompiled an atlas as well as a description of the forest of Compiègne and translated works by Hume and Walpole. He owned a small printing press in Versailles and in 1766, he published a collection of “Moral and Political Maxims” (Maximes morales et politiques) drawn from Télémaque. He was made Knight of the Holy Spirit on February 2, 1767, then Knight of the Golden Fleece, Colonel of the Dauphin Regiment and Grand Master of the Orders of Saint-Lazare and Mont-Carmel on May 15, 1757, which he later transferred to his brother the Count of Provence (1755-1824) in 1772. Upon the death of Louis XV (1710-1774), on May 10, 1774, he succeeded his grandfather as Louis XVI and was crowned in Reims on June 10 1775. Louis had previously married Marie-Antoinette de Lorraine (1755-1793), Archduchess of Austria and daughter of Empress Marie-Thérèse (1717-1780) on May 16, 1770, at the Palace of Versailles. During his reign as Louis XVI, he strove to be a just and virtuous king. Following the American War of Independence and the Treaty of Paris in 1783, France reconquered part of its colonies in India and the West Indies. In addition, he pushed reforms within his cabinet, but his frequent changing of opinion and the deficit of the Royal Treasury were among the causes that led to the French Revolution. He initially resisted the measures taken following the convocation of the Estates General and the National Constituent Assembly in 1789, but in the end he had to accept them. Facing political and social tensions, Louis XVI and his family abandoned the Palace of Versailles and moved to the Tuileries on October 6, 1789. The new Constitution of 1791 left him only executive power and the simple right of veto. He tried to join the wave of emigrants, but he and the royal family were arrested in Varennes on June 20, 1791. After being sent back to Paris, the king and his relatives were held captive. On September 14, 1791, he was proclaimed constitutional king, but his wavering uncertainty precipitated the fall of the monarchy on August 10, 1792. Louis XVI was imprisoned in the Temple in Paris, and the Convention decided to put him on trial. Under the name Louis Capet, he was finally accused of conspiracy and high treason, sentenced to death, and executed on January 21, 1793 on the Place de la Révolution, today the Place de la Concorde.

Oriental and Sèvres Porcelain

While Dauphin of France, the future Louis XVI received four Japanese porcelain vases "with Chinese figures and trimmings in ormolu gilt bronze" as a wedding gift, delivered in 1770 by the merchant-jeweller Jacques Fallavel (AN, O1 3116). After his accession to the throne, he probably placed the two vases on the fireplace in the Œil-de-bœuf salon at the Palace of Versailles, as the palace’s inventory of porcelain lists two similar vases (AN, O1 3356). The same inventory mentions a vase "in Indian porcelain with a blue background and white medallions, a Chinese figure and with with the foot and neck trimmed with ormolu gilt-bronze copper", in the porcelain dining room. Louis XVI made regular purchases of porcelain from the Royal Manufacture of Sèvres, whose style was more to his personal taste. Under his reign, very few Asian porcelains decorated his private apartments at Versailles, Choisy, Marly, Fontainebleau, or Compiègne. A few examples are cited at the Château de Saint-Cloud, purchased in 1784, where the sovereign's apartment had two cylindrical (rouleaux) vases in blue and white Chinese porcelain with gilt copper caps, three Chinese potpourris with flower reliefs, and two blue mounted Japanese parrots serving as girandoles. Brought to Saint-Cloud between 1789 and 1791, these Chinese and Japanese pieces had previously received a gilt bronze mount in Paris in the workshops of the marchands-merciers (AN, O1 3356).

Throughout his life, Louis XVI proved to be a dedicated sinophile. His library contained the famous 1735 work written by Jean-Baptiste Du Halde (1674-1743), Description géographique, historique, chronologique, politique et physique de l’empire de la Chine et de la Tartarie chinoise…, as well as many other books relating to China. On the paneling of his corner cabinet in Versailles, which was the most strategic room in his inner rooms, he hung a plaque depicting the bust of Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799), made in 1776 at the Royal Manufacture of Sèvres by the painter Asselin (Château de Versailles, Graphic Arts depot of the Louvre Museum, inv. no. RF35760). This portrait was designed from a watercolour drawing by the Jesuit brother Giuseppe Panzi (1734-1812), who corresponded regularly with the minister Henri-Léonard Bertin (1720-1792). For a time, Bertin lent this drawing to the Royal Manufacture of Sèvres. The original is now lost, but its likeness remains thanks to an engraving by Martinet. The engraving was intended for the frontispiece of the first volume of Mémoires concernant l’histoire, les sciences, les arts, les mœurs, les usages, etc. des Chinois […],  under the patronage of Minister Bertin from the texts and recommendations sent by the Jesuits residing at the court of Beijing. Louis XVI bought this plate in 1776 for 480 pounds (AMS, Vy 6, fol. 200). The King was also taken by several other Sèvres porcelain pieces with Chinese decoration that he intended for his private apartments at the Palace of Versailles and those of other Royal residences. This taste for China appears on certain vase fittings, on luncheon and toiletry sets. Chinese fabrics are also present through the upholstery of the seats in his Versailles library covered in painted Pekin. Louis XVI had some plates of the Battles of the Emperor of China (Batailles de l’empereur de Chine) hung in his interior apartments. The engraving of these plates, under the direction of Charles Nicolas Cochin le Fils (1715-1790), was at the time of their production a veritable diplomatic affair between the Middle Empire and France (AN, O1 3356).

Lacquered Furniture

In most of the royal residences, the lacquer furniture made available to Louis XVI by the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne must have appeared rather old-fashioned, as it corresponded to orders made for his grandfather Louis XV (1710-1774) in the 1740s. Until its replacement in 1786, Louis XVI used a large writing table at Versailles, garnished with Chinese lacquer panels with a red background, that were delivered on December 29, 1759 by the cabinetmaker Gilles Joubert (1689-1775) (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Wrightsman Collection, inv. no. 1973.315.1). In the middle of the 1780s, Louis XVI ordered three new pieces of furniture veneered with Japanese lacquer panels. One was the large private secretary with a wide fall-front enclosing intended for the King's inner cabinet at Versailles, delivered on January 14, 1784 by the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre (circa 1740-1796) (Private Collection). For its creation, the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne procured a “chaise d’affaire” from the dealer in Japanese lacquer in order to reuse the lacquered panels on the secretary desk made by the cabinetmaker Adam Weisweiler (1744-1820) under the direction of the dealer Daguerre, but the merchant was obliged to find additional panels of equal quality (AN, O1 3344, fol. 355 v°, chaise d’affaire no. 82). In 1788, Guillaume Benneman (†1811), the new official cabinetmaker of the Garde-Meuble Royal, delivered a pair of cabinets for Louis XVI's bedroom at the château de Saint-Cloud. The cabinetmaker, working under the direction of Jean Hauré, also used old lacquer panels, including "4 sheets of lacquer screens from the collection of the Gardemeuble de la Couronne given to make these cabinets" (AN, O1 3646). These two cabinets have since been largely modified (Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, inv. no. 78.DA.361 and Madrid, Royal Palace, s. inv. no.).

Louis XVI and the Creation of the Museum

The idea of the museum was born during the reign of Louis XV with the help of the Marquis de Marigny (1727-1781), but it was actually implemented by Louis XVI on October 1, 1776, with the help of the Count of Angiviller (1730-1809), superintendent of the king's buildings. Together, they commissioned the architect Soufflot to transform the Louvre, which had not been inhabited by the kings of France for several decades, into a museum to present masterpieces of art. While the collection of paintings was regularly enriched, that of the objects d’art suffered. With this in mind, during the sale of the collections of Louis Marie Augustin Duc d’Aumont (1709-1782) in December 1782, the king gave the order to buy many of the rare items. The collection of the fifth Duc d’Aumont was renowned for its magnificent and remarkable sets of lacquerware and porcelain from China and Japan, usually embellished with gilt bronze mounts. There, the King selected porcelain for the future museum, consisting almost entirely of celadon glaze and Kakiemon decoration. These objects then entered the French national collections, where they have been on display to the public since 1793.