The Palace of Versailles in Comic Books

Origins
Since first emerging in the 19th century, comic books have developed, diversified and blossomed into a whole artistic universe. They draw upon existing social realities, while also helping to forge new forms of representation.

The palace of Versailles has featured in over a hundred series and one-off albums over the years, exploring the personalities associated with the Palace and the historic events that took place here.

What sources do authors use in order to represent the Palace and its historical context? What can we learn from their interpretations?
This virtual exhibition is an invitation to rediscover the Palace of Versailles through the eyes of the authors and artists.

The Gardens of Versailles
Inseparable from the Palace itself, the Gardens are often considered to represent the finest example of French-style gardens. 

The composition is dominated by broad alleys, forming grand vistas and intersecting with a multitude of other walkways.

The Gardens are also renowned for their abundance of water features, with dozens of fountains tucked away in groves, at the points where alleys meet, and even right in front of the Palace itself, in the case of the Water Parterre.

Equally iconic is the Orangery, added to the south side of the Palace in 1683 by architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart, with its Tuscan façade and French-style parterre, flanked by two staircases known as the Hundred Steps.

The Groves
A short walk from the Palace, tucked away amid the alleys of the garden, are a series of groves designed to be explored and enjoyed over the course of a promenade. Here in the Enceladus Grove, the main fountain depicts this Titan buried beneath the rocks of Etna, as punishment for defying the Olympian gods.

Artist Mayalen Goust found particular inspiration in the trellises which surround the grove.

The Apollo Fountain
Between the Royal Way and the Grand Canal, the Apollo Fountain – with its sculptures symbolising daybreak – marks the boundary between the Gardens and the Park.

In this panel, Philippe Xavier depicts the fountain encased in ice during the legendarily harsh winter of 1709.

He presents a composite vision of the fountain, splitting the page into three vertical bands containing the most prominent features of this emblematic sculpted work: the tritons and dolphins…

...the horses, ...

... and Apollo the sun god in his chariot.

Versailles, seat of royal power
Built, and above all decorated, to showcase the glory of Louis XIV, the Palace of Versailles has come to be seen as the ultimate symbol of absolute monarchy and royal power.

The expression of power
Certain parts of the Palace are particularly emblematic of this royal power, on account of their function or their magnificence. Examples include the Apollo Room (formerly Louis XIV’s bedroom, later converted into the throne room), the King’s Bedroom, where elaborate ceremonies were held when the king rose from bed and when he retired in the evening, the Council Room and the Hall of Mirrors, where no expense or grandeur was spared in the exaltation of the sovereign.

But a sense of power also emanates from representations of life at court, not least in the throngs of courtiers who spent their days in the orbit of the royal family.

The King’s Private Apartments
The apartments which originally housed Louis XIV’s personal collections were gradually transformed into private chambers by Louis XV.

These Private Apartments included work spaces such as the King’s Cabinet
(shown here by Patrice Pellerin) along with other, semi-public spaces such as dining rooms or parlours used as games rooms.

During the day, this is where the King would conduct the business of government. In the evenings, he would host selected courtiers. Being invited to this part of the Palace was a sign of royal favour coveted by many courtiers, providing access to the King in a more intimate setting.

"Masters and owners of nature"
Louis XIV’s first addition to Versailles, the Menagerie, was destroyed during the Revolutionary period. It housed exotic animals in seven enclosures, laid out around a central viewing pavilion.

A place for scientific study and entertainment, the Menagerie was also a symbol of the sheer extent of the monarch’s power.

Much like the ability to acclimatise exotic plants, or to serve fruit in the winter and ice creams in the summer, the Menagerie was a living demonstration of the extent to which the Kings of France had become “masters and owners of Nature,” to borrow Descartes’ expression.

Life is a celebration at Versailles
Festivities and entertainment were fundamental to the image of the Palace of Versailles.

Life at the royal court
For Louis XIV, entertaining was all part of the art of government. Special festivities were designed to dazzle the court and cement his kingdom’s international reputation for opulence, but they were interspersed with a never-ending succession of more everyday pleasures: hunting, balls, tennis, public concerts, theatre and opera recitals, including private performances featuring members of the royal court.

Versailles was also a home, a living space not just for the royal family and courtiers, but also for the countless workers who kept the Palace running, and all those who came to visit in the hope of getting a glimpse of the King.

Evening gatherings
According to Saint Simon, three evenings each week, between the hours of seven and ten, gatherings were hosted in the King’s State Apartments and the Hall of Mirrors.

Guests would dine and listen to music, and card games and billiards were particularly popular.

As well as providing entertainment, these parties also served to illustrate the hierarchy which structured life at court, enshrined in the rules of courtly etiquette.

The Queen's Theatre
Opera, and above all theatre, were the principal forms of entertainment at the royal court. Performances were given by professional artists, or in smaller, more private gatherings.

Built at the request of Marie-Antoinette, the Petit Trianon Theatre hosted performances in which the Queen and her closest acquaintances would take the main roles, often with admirable results, according to contemporary witnesses who attended the shows.

Versailles in fiction
Tales of fictional adventures at Versailles...

While Versailles has often provided a historic backdrop for tales of adventure, in recent decades an increasing number of authors have reimagined the estate in new and surprising ways. This reappropriation of the Palace and its iconography demonstrates the enduring relevance of Versailles.

Versailles and esotericism
Some authors have taken an interest in the more esoteric figures associated with the history of the Palace: Les Chevaliers d’Heliopolis presents an alternate world in which Louis XVII survived and became an alchemist.

Versailles and science fiction
Versailles has also appeared in works of science fiction, depicting some of the Palace’s most iconic features in unprecedented situations.

In this panel by Philippe Aymond, the graphic dimension of the Great Canal is magnified as its water is drawn upwards into the sky.

Versailles and the Revolution
The French Revolution in comic books

The Enlightenment
It is tempting to draw a stark contrast between Versailles, symbol of the Ancien Régime, and the philosophers of the Enlightenment. And yet, not least through France’s involvement in the American War of Independence, the monarchy did come into contact with these thinkers and their ideas.

In this panel, philosopher Olympe de Gouges is shown entrusting the Princesse de Lamballe with a copy of her “Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen” which she hopes to give to Marie-Antoinette.

The Tennis Court Oath
On 20 June 1789, the elected members of the Third Estate found the Hôtel des Menus Plaisirs – which had been hosting the sessions of the Estates General – closed by order of the King. They decided to assemble in the nearby Tennis Court instead.

It was here that they swore a solemn oath “not to separate and to reassemble wherever necessary, until the Constitution of the kingdom is established.”

This scene was portrayed in numerous engravings, and immortalised by artist Jacques-Louis David, whose famous painting of the oath inspired this panel by Eric Liberge.

The ‘October Days’ of 1789
The March on Versailles of October 1789 is one of the revolutionary events most frequently depicted in comic books, as seen here in the series 1789.

On 5 October, a group of working-class women marched upon Versailles, with cannons in tow, and set up camp on the Place d’Armes. At dawn the next morning, the Queen’s Apartments were invaded, bodyguards were killed and the rioters were eventually expelled from the Palace by the national guard.

In the courtyard, the mob began to call for Louis XVI to return to Paris. La Fayette, the King and then the Queen all appeared on a balcony and finally acceded to the crowd’s demands.
The royal family was escorted to Paris that same day, and a frenzied crowd celebrated the return of the King to the capital.

Versailles after Versailles
Versailles during the 19th and 20th centuries in comic books

In 1870, war broke out between France, under the rule of Emperor Napoleon III, and a coalition of German states led by Prussia. The war ended in defeat for France in 1871.

Versailles and the Commune
Parisians took up arms and proclaimed the independence of the Paris Commune. The insurrection lasted for two months, before finally being violently quashed by the army.

Adolphe Thiers, elected as “head of the executive branch of the French Republic,” sought refuge at Versailles along with the rest of the elected assembly. This scene shows the Gallery of Battles, the finest of the historic galleries, converted into a makeshift post room.

Monument and museum
After a period of relative neglect, in 1837 the Palace took on a new role as a museum, as the historic galleries created by Louis-Philippe were opened to the public. But Versailles subsequently became something of a sleeping beauty.

Pierre de Nolhac was appointed Head Curator in 1892 and put the Palace firmly back in the spotlight. Commissioning pioneering research into the history of the Palace and its gardens, he greatly furthered our understanding of the estate, with an emphasis on Versailles before the Revolution.

Thoroughly overhauling the way the Palace’s collections were exhibited, he showcased many forgotten masterpieces. It was also thanks to Nolhac that the government began to take an interest in the Palace of Versailles once more, using it for official receptions and hosting visiting heads of state.

The Treaty of Versailles
In the 19th century, Versailles regained its place at the heart of French politics and diplomacy.

The Palace was used to host illustrious foreign dignitaries, as when Napoleon III welcomed Queen Victoria to Versailles in 1855. The government of the nascent Third Republic also took refuge here during the Paris Commune in 1871.

In 1919, the eyes of the world were on Versailles once again as the post-WWI peace treaty between Germany and the Allies was signed in the Hall of Mirrors.