A Jacobite Gazetteer - France

Versailles - Salles Louis XIV

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

In the north wing of the palace (Aile nord) are a series of ten rooms which can be visited on a separately priced guided tour "Louis XIV à Versailles". The rooms contain a number of paintings and busts of Jacobite interest. The tour begins at the far end of the wing.

La Cour en début de règne

In the third room, dedicated to "La Cour en début de règne", hang two portraits of Princess Henrietta Anne, duchesse d'Orléans, younger sister of King James II and VII. She was the great-grandmother of King Charles IV and King Victor. The first of these portraits is by Antoine Le Père Mathieu. It shows a seated Henrietta Anne wearing a red dress with a blue ermine-lined cape and holding an oval portrait of her husband, Philippe, duc d'Orléans.¹

Princess Henrietta Anne, duchesse d'Orleans

Princess Henrietta Anne, duchesse d'Orléans

Above the large portrait of Henrietta Anne is a row of smaller portraits. Immediately above the portrait of Henrietta Anne hangs a smaller portrait of her which is attributed to Jean Nocret. It shows Henrietta Anne wearing a white dress with a red cape and seated with her white-and-tan spaniel Mimi sitting in her lap.²

Princess Henrietta Anne, duchesse d'Orléans

At the far left end of the row of smaller portraits is a third portrait of Henrietta Anne. In this one she is seated wearing a white and blue dress and with Mimi in her lap.³

Princess Henrietta Anne, duchesse d'Orléans

La Famille du Grand Dauphin

In the sixth room (gold walls), dedicated to "La Famille du Grand Dauphin", hangs a portrait of Princess Henrietta Anne's eldest daughter, Marie Louise d'Orléans, Queen of Spain.⁴ In 1685 Marie-Louise was fourth in line to the English and Scottish thrones after Princess Mary, Princess Anne, and the Prince of Orange. Had her marriage to King Carlos II of Spain not been childless, it would have been her descendants who would have succeeded to the thrones in 1807 instead of the descendants of her younger sister Anne Marie d'Orléans, Queen of Sardinia.

Marie Louise d'Orléans, Queen of Spain

Les princesses royales

In the eighth room (blue walls), dedicated to "Les princesses royales", hangs a painting of the 1697 marriage of the duc de Bourgogne (grandson of King Louis XIV) to Princess Marie Adelaide of Savoy (daughter of Anne Marie d'Orléans and granddaughter of Princess Henrietta Anne).⁵ The work was painted by Antoine Dieu in 1715. King James II and VII, the bride's great-uncle, can be seen standing between the bridal couple and King Louis XIV. At the bedding ceremony after the wedding, King James handed the nightgown to the duc de Bourgogne, while Queen Mary Beatrice handed the nightgown to the duchesse de Bourgogne. (Saint-Simon, I, 487). At the time of the marriage Princess Marie Adelaide of Savoy was seventh in line to the English and Scottish thrones. The large blond lady at the right in front of the altar is Elisabeth Charlotte, dowager duchesse d'Orléans, granddaughter of Princess Elizabeth, Electress Palatine; at the time of the wedding Elisabeth Charlotte was tenth in line to the English and Scottish thrones.

Marriage of the duc and duchesse de Bourgogne

King James II and VII at the marriage

On the wall to the right of the marriage painting hangs a full-length portrait of Marie Adelaide by Jean-Baptiste Santerre.⁶ It shows Marie Adelaide standing in a white with a blue cape. To her left is a winged putto with a basket of flowers. To her right is a turbaned valet who holds her train.

Marie Adelaide of Savoy, duchesse de Bourgogne

To the right of this portrait and next to the entrance door of the room hangs a smaller portrait of Marie Adelaide, attributed to the workshop of Pierre Gobert.⁷ She wears a red hunting suit and stands in front of the grand canal at Fontainebleau.

Marie Adelaide of Savoy, duchesse de Bourgogne

Above the small portrait of Marie Adelaide, hangs a portrait of Elisabeth-Charlotte, dowager duchesse d'Orléans, granddaughter of Princess Elizabeth, Electress Palatine.⁸

On the other wall of this room hangs a third portrait of Princess Marie Adelaide of Savoy, duchesse de Bourgogne, attributed to Pierre Gobert.⁹ It shows Marie Adelaide standing in a white dress with a blue cape embroiderd with gold fleurs-de-lis and lined with ermine. In her right hand is a bouquet of yellow flowers.

Marie Adelaide of Savoy, later duchesse de Bourgogne

Le roi en guerre

In the ninth room (green walls), dedicated to "Le roi en guerre", hangs a portrait from the workshop of Hyacinthe Rigaud of James Fitz-James, 1st Duke of Berwick, illegitimate son of King James II and VII.¹⁰ In his hand he holds the baton of a marshall of France.

James Fitz-James, 1st Duke of Berwick

In another room hangs a portrait of Princess Anne of the Palatinate, princesse de Condé, daughter of Prince Edward of the Palatinate (son of Princess Elisabeth, Electress Palatine).¹¹

Notes

¹ Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, MV 3503. The oil on canvas painting measures 175 cm high by 139 cm wide. The painting entered the Versailles collections in 1833.

² Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, MV 2083. The oil on canvas painting measures 82 cm high by 68 cm wide (without frame). The painting entered the Versailles collections in 1833.

³ Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, MV 3502. The oil on canvas painting measures 81 cm high by 63 cm wide (without frame). The painting entered the Versailles collections in 1834.

⁴ Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, MV 3548. The oil on canvas painting measures 82 cm high by 61 cm wide (without frame). The painting formerly hung at Compiène and entered the Versailles collections in 1833.

⁵ Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, MV 2095. The oil on canvas painting measures 343 cm high by 578 cm wide. Antoine Dieu was born in Paris in 1662 and died in Paris in 1727. The Versailles collections also own a small sketch version of the painting (51 cm by 81 cm), MV9177.

⁶ Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, MV 2117. The oil on canvas painting measures 275 cm high by 184 cm wide.

⁷ Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, MV 6825. The oil on canvas painting measures 76 cm high by 59 cm wide. A larger version of the portrait hangs on the Secondo Piano Nobile of the Palazzo Reale in Turin.

⁸ Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, MV 2084.

⁹ Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, MV 2102. The oil on canvas painting measures 122 cm high by 108 cm wide (without frame).

¹⁰ Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, MV 4388. The oil on canvas painting measures 144 cm high by 111 cm wide. The Versailles collections also own a bust-only version of the portrait (78 cm by 65 cm), MV3704.

¹¹ Les Collections, Chateau de Versailles, MV 3555.