In 1684, as the influence of Louis’ mistress – Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan – waned due to her alleged involvement in the Affair of the Poisons, the king attached her rooms to his petit appartement after the marquise moved into the appartement des bains on the ground floor of the palace (Le Guillou, 1986; Verlet 1985, pp. 227–228).

In Louis XIV's day, these rooms – cabinets de curiosités – formed a veritable museum for the king's private collections.

Among the masters displayed in the room were the works from the Italian schools by Correggio, Raphael, Giorgione, Giulio Romano and Titian.

In addition to some of the most highly prized paintings of the royal collection, the salon ovale housed in four niches four bronze sculptural groups – “Jupiter” and “Juno” by Allesandro Algardi; the “Abduction of Orithyia” after the marble by Gaspard Marsy, and the “Abduction of Persephone” by François Girardon – that were esteemed as some of the finest of this genre in the King's collection.

[1] The richness of the decoration – fully gilt paneling and mirrors – complemented the arrangement of some of the most valuable paintings in Louis XIV's collection (Félibien, 67; Piganiole de la Force, 129; Verlet 1985, p. 229).

In 1708, the room was converted into a library – cabinet aux livres – in which Louis XIV kept his collection of rare books and manuscripts (Verlet 1985, p. 230).

As with the previous rooms, the petite galerie and its two salons housed precious gems and paintings that the king had either inherited or collected.

In the years that preceded the War of the League of Augsburg, Louis XIV engaged in an aggressive collecting campaign that necessitated his expanding space at Versailles to display newly acquired works of art (Verlet 1985, p. 229).

Pierre Mignard, Charles Le Brun's archrival was charged with the painting of the ceilings of the petite galerie and its two salons (Félibien, 68; Piganiole de la Force, 140; Verlet 1985, p. 233).

Louis XIV lavished much attention to these rooms intending to have the walls clad with panels inlaid with tortoise shell and lapis-lazuli.

Nevertheless, the petite gallerie and its two salons were used by Louis XIV for entertaining foreign dignitaries, such as the Crown Prince of Denmark in 1693 and the Elector of Cologne in 1706 (Verlet 1985, p. 233-234).

Of all the rooms that formed the petit apartment du roi during the reign of Louis XIV, the cabinet des médailles (1693 plan #10) was one of the most remarkable of its sort ever assembled in France (Hulftegger, 1954).

Taking its name from the 12 cabinets in which Louis XIV's numismatic collections were kept, the cabinet des medailles also housed the King's collections of miniatures by Flemish, Dutch, and German masters, objects of carved porphyry and carved jade, as well as those rare items made of silver or gold (Verlet 1985, p. 230-232).

However, owing to the discomfort of the room in winter – its size and eastern exposure made it difficult, if not impossible, to heat – Louis XV was compelled to establish his bedroom elsewhere (Verlet 313–314).

A new room was constructed on the site formerly occupied by the degré du roi of Louis XIV, the antichambre des chiens (Verlet 1985, p. 442).

Further modifications of the petit appartement du roi at this time included the creation of the salon des pendules and the cabinet intérieur.

Of all the rooms of the petit appartement du roi during the reign of Louis XV, this was perhaps one of the most richly decorated and opulently appointed (Verlet 1985, p. 452).

This new name was due to the two dozen sculpted deer heads that Louis XV ordered placed on the walls of the courtyard (Verlet 1985, p. 457).

The modifications of the late 1750s of the petit appartement du roi were in response to a general reorganization of the apartments in the corps de logis of the château and the destruction of the escalier des ambassadeurs (1740 plan #10).

[4] To accommodate a new apartment for his daughter, Madame Adélaïde, Louis XV ordered the construction of rooms on the same floor as the petit appartement du roi.

The salle à manger des retours de chasses was built upon the site of Louis XV's bath (1740 plan g) when the King wanted a dining room on the first floor in which he could entertain a small group of friends, most frequently after hunting (Bluche, 2000; Marie, 1984).

With paneling by Jacques Verberckt, the room was furnished with chairs and table and served for gaming parties hosted by Louis XV (Verlet 1985, p. 449).

In January of that year, Louis XV had brought from the Château de Choisy and placed in this room the famed Passemant Astronomical clock.

The clock, which was designed by the engineer, Claude-Simon Passemant, clockmaker Louis Dauthiau, and set in an ormolu case by Philippe Caffieri, was a marvel of its day.

[5] On account of this clock, the room received the definitive name, salon de la pendule (1760 plan #2) (Kuraszewski, 1976; Verlet 1985, p. 450).

In suppressing the cabinet des livres and the salon ovale of Louis XIV, Louis XV created a private room (with a small cabinet de la chaise) that communicated directly with the degré du roi in which he conducted much of the day-to-day governance of France.

With the exception of reclaiming part of the apartment of Madame Adélaïde, Louis XVI chose to retain the décor of the petit appartement du roi as his grandfather had left it.

When Pierre de Nolhac assumed the directorship of the museum of Versailles, he discovered that this room was being used as a broom closet by the janitorial staff.

The room originally had a window opening onto the cave du roi (1789 plan III), the courtyard that was created when the escalier des ambassadeurs was destroyed in 1752.

Paris: Librairie Hachette et Cie.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) * Croÿ-Solre, Emmanuel de (1906–1921).