Featuring more than 30,000 works, the collection of the Palace of Versailles’ Graphic Arts Department is little known. Started in the 19^th century, the collection comprises portraits, allegories, scenes of Court life, and sketches for the painted and sculpted decors and depictions of the Palace. Fans of Versailles know it well; drawing enthusiasts, somewhat less so; the general public, hardly at all. This is because the papers are so fragile they are only displayed in temporary exhibitions.

This publication gathers together, for the first time, all the works acquired for this exceptional collection since 2000: drawings in pastels, pencil, sanguine, ink pen, watercolour and gouache by Le Brun, Wallerant Vaillant, Lemoyne, Fontaine, Vernet, Saint-Aubin, Boze, Moreau the Younger, Vien, La Fosse and Lévy-Dhurmer, etc. Some one hundred works dating from the 17^th to the 20^th century, including some amazing discoveries.

Edited by Elisabeth Maisonnier
with Snoeck Publications, 2021
Size: 24 x 28 cm
Number of pages: 384
Language: French
Publication date: 17 June 2021