Versailles' King's Private Chamber Restored to 1775 Splendor

After a 40-year restoration campaign, the private chamber of the King at the Palace of Versailles has been returned to its 1775 state under Louis XVI. The room, originally created for Louis XV in 1738 and modified in 1774-1775, retains its boiseries by Jacques Verberckt and its fireplace. The restoration focused on the 'summer furnishing' of 1785, the third in the room. A monumental bed was recreated based on a 1775 mémoire by Pierre-Edme Babel, requiring 2,500 hours of work by the workshops of Charle Boulmois and François Gilles, and gilded with 1,625 gold leaves by Céline Blondel's team. The silk fabrics, with some thirty colors, were rewoven by Tassinari & Chatel in two campaigns (1983/1989 and 2008/2012), using a mechanical loom that produced 10 cm per day versus 4 cm in the 18th century. Embroidery, totaling 30,000 hours, was executed by Maison Lesage. Passementerie was done by Declercq, and upholstery by Sébastien Ragueneau, Jérôme Lebouc, and Laurent Jannin. The commode by Joseph Stöckel and Guillaume Benneman, originally for the comte de Provence, was deposited from the Louvre and restored by Versailles' workshops. Other furniture includes a fire screen by Jean-Baptiste Séné from Saint-Cloud and folding stools from Saint-Cloud and Compiègne. Laurent Salomé, director of the domain, called the result an 'éblouissante' spectacle of 'true illusion.'