These rooms were the private domain of the Queens of France, Marie-Thérèse, Maria Leszczyńska, and Marie-Antoinette as well as the duchesse de Bourgogne as dauphine. The rooms in the petit appartement de la reine have been restored to the state that there left when Marie-Antoinette left Versailles on 7 October 1789.
Marie-Thérèse
At the completion of Le Vau's enveloppe, the queen's private rooms consisted of suite of five rooms that opened on the southern side of the cour de marbre and onto a small interior courtyard - at the time called the cour de la reine. In these rooms, Marie-Thérèse led her private and family life. Very little information survived about the décor or the arrangement of these rooms, owing largely to her early death in 1683 (Verlet 1985, p. 253).
The most significant modifications to the petit appartement de la reine happened after the marriage of Louis XIV's grandson, the duc de Bourgogne, with Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie in 1697. Shortly after the marriage in 1699, a suite of three rooms was constructed - known as the appartement de nuit du duc de Bourgogne (Verlet 1985, p. 210). Theses rooms were created for the conjugal visits of the young duc with his wife. Consisting of a bedroom, cabinet, and garde-robe, this part of the petit appartement de la reine when constructed in 1699 divided the cour de la reine into the cour de Monsiegneur to the west and the cour de Monsieur to the east (Verlet 1985, p. 256). These rooms also communicated with the appartement du roi and formed part of petit appartement de la reine and were used by the princess until her death in 1712.
Maria Leszcyńska
Under Maria Leszczyńska, the petit appartement de la reine underwent three distinct phases of modification: 1728-1731; 1737-1739; and, 1746-1748.
The 1728-1731 phase resulted in the construction of a chambre des bains (1740), the petite galerie (1740), and an oratory (1740) (Verlet 1985, p. 401).
The 1737-1739 phase saw significant redecoration in the petite galerie with a décor of paneling in green and gold vernis Martin. At this time, the appartement de nuit du duc de Bourgogne was remodeled for use by the queen with the construction of the grand cabinet intérieur (1740) and the arrière cabient (1740), both of which were decorated with intricately carved and painted paneling. At this time, a number of paintings, most notably by François Boucher and Charles-Antoine Coypel, were displayed in the petit appartement de la reine (Verlet 1985, p. 402)
The 1746-1748 phase saw a redecoration of the petite galerie at which time it was called alternately cabinet des chinois - owing to the number of chinoiserie designs that the queen had framed and hung in this room - or laboratoire - a laboratory where Maria Leszczyńska pursued her hobbies. At this time, the oratoire was converted in the cabinet de la Méridienne with new paneling by Jacques Verberckt. The pièce des bains was redecorated with paneling by the Rousseau brothers and paintings by Charles-Joseph Natoire. The grand cabinet d'inérieur received new paneling by Verberckt (Pon, 1992; Verlet 1985, p. 402-403).
With the death of Maria Leszczyńska in 1768, the petit appartement de la reine remained vacant until the arrival of the new dauphine, Marie-Antoinette in 1770
Marie-Antoinette
The fame of the petit appartement de la reine rests squarely in the hands of the last queen of France during the Ancien Régime. The restored state of the rooms that one sees today at Versailles closely replicate the petit appartement de la reine as it appeared during Marie-Antoinette's day (Verlet, 1937). Modifications of the petit appartement de la reine for Marie-Antoinette began in 1779 (Verlet 1985, p. 585).
In this year, Marie-Antoinette ordered her favorite architect, Richard Mique to cover all wall of the petit appartement de la reine with white satin embroidered with floral arabesques, ostensibly to give a decorative cohesion to the rooms. The cost of the fabric was 100,000 livres; the hangings were entirely replaced with wood paneling in 1783 (Verlet 1985, p. 586).
In 1781, to commemorate the birth of the first dauphin, Louis XVI ordered Richard Mique to redecorate the cabinet de la Mérideinne (1789) (Verlet 1985, p. 586). It was in this room that Marie-Antoinette would choose the clothing she would wear that day.
In this same year, the bibliothèque - occupying the site of the petite gallerie of Maria Leszczyńska - (1789) and the supplement de la bibliothèque - occupying the pièce des baines of Maria Leszczyńska - (1789). Additionally, a room for the toilette à l'anglaise a pièce des bains and a salle des bains were arranged opening on the cour de Monsieur (Verlet 1985, p. 403).
The last major modification to the petit appartement de la reine occurred in 1783, when Marie-Antoinette ordered a complete redecoration of the grand cabinet intérieur. The costly embroidered hangings were replaced with caved gilt paneling by Richard Mique. The new décor caused the room to be renamed the cabinet doré (Verlet 1985, p. 586).
Of all the features of the petit appartement de la reine, the so-called secret passage that links the grand appartement de la reine with the appartement du roi is one that has become a legend in the history of Versailles. The passage actually dates from the time of Marie-Thérèse, and had always been a suite of service rooms that also served as a private means by which the king and queen could communicate with each other (1740 / 1789). It is true, however, that Marie-Antoinette, who was sleeping in the chambre de la reine in the grand appartement de la reine, escaped from the Paris mob on the night of 6/7 October 1789 by using this route. The entrance to the so-called secret passage is through a door located on the west side of the north wall of the chambre de la reine.
From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petit_appartement_de_la_reine
Text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License
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