From the holdings of the Museum of Arts and Crafts - An exhibition of graphics from the Royal Cabinet of Louis XIV edition

Until the beginning of next year, the Museum of Arts and Crafts will feature a representative exhibition of graphics from the famous Royal Cabinet of Louis XIV edition which have been part of the museum’s holdings since.

Until January 3^rd 2016, the Museum of Arts and Crafts will feature the exhibition “Architecture and Performance: Graphics from the Cabinet of Louis XIV” to mark the 135^th anniversary of its permanent activity. Since 1882, the museum’s holdings have included graphics from the famous Royal Cabinet of Louis XIV – The Sun King (1661-1715), the greatest French king of all times, during whose reign graphics production in France reached its peak.

The Museum of Arts and Crafts’ holdings include a total of 93 etchings and engravings from the renowned collection, 75 of which have been put on display. The exhibition consists of three parts. The first is dedicated to the architecture of the royal palaces of the Louvre and Tuileries. The artists’ renderings of their construction are complemented by the excellent panoramas authored by the king’s first and foremost graphic artist and the most prominent master of the genre - Isräel Silvestre. In the second part  some exquisite works of the period graphic art depict the architectural development of Versailles, from a modest hunting lodge belonging to Louis III to the baroque residence which has inspired the construction of many other royal palaces all over EuropeThe third part features the artists’ renderings of the three major royal ceremonies organized at the Versailles gardens by Louis XIV before the palace became his residence.

The exhibition of graphics from the famous Royal Cabinet of Louis XIV edition offers an insight into the Museum of Arts and Crafts’ earliest history and the accumulation of its valuable collections. Apart from that, it is the first integral presentation of these holdings since 1879, when the graphics from the famous collection were put on public display at the dance hall of the Gradec Theatre. The exhibition also features multimedia presentations as well as interesting three-dimensional projections of places that no longer exist.