Installation of Fireworks Held at Versailles in 1729 for the Birth of the Dauphin
After Juste Aurèle Meissonnier French
Gabriel Huquier French
Not on view
The frieze-like print shows the installation for the fireworks which were held at the castle of Versailles in the winter of 1729 for the birth of the Dauphin. The composition consists of a landscape with a sunset over the ocean on the right, and a mountain range on the left. In the center, a temple or colonnade is placed with stairs leading up to it from two sides. Over the temple, Jupiter and other Olympian Gods are portrayed, sitting on a group of clouds through which a rainbow breaks. The royal couple is depicted on the balcony in the foreground receiving gifts from Mercury and Minerva. Personifications of the Continents and a large number of other people of different origins have come together to bring them gifts or congratulate them. In the foreground a number of figures on a much smaller scale is depicted, which are meant to indicate the difference in scale between the figures in the décor (said to be 7 meters high), and the audience.
