Still Inside the Galerie des Glaces

This was actually the first sketch I did. One naturally looks up to the ceiling, plus my views toward the windows on the left were blocked by the masses of tourists, so it became a vertical sketch.

The Hall of Mirrors, or Galerie des Glaces, was started in 1678 by Mansart, who filled in a terrace and took over a few interior rooms to create this space.  It is symmetrically on axis with the vast view of the vast gardens.  For me, though, it was difficult to see the view out from the space.  I had originally thought I could have drawn the axial view to the gardens for my Gabriel Prize project, but it was too hard to see with the windows/doors closed to the outside.

Mirrors were extremely expensive to produce during the 1600's as the technology of the time made it very difficult to produce large sheets of glass...but workers were brought from Italy and the glass was made.  Today we don't see them as particularly large panes of glass, but it was a major production triumph and a major expense for that time.  To the courtiers, it must have been quite spectacular then, as it is still pretty over-the-top spectacular now.  After so many dark rooms throughout the palace, it is a relief to get to this space which sparkles with light and gold.  And after all, Louis XIV was the Sun King.

Difficult to draw and full of people, the Galerie des Glaces still
shimmers.  It was great to get the special permssion
to draw inside the chateau--my thanks to the Versailles Museum
for the opportunity.

The Adventures of Sketching INSIDE Versailles

While I am still working on my Gabriel Prize images and sketches from Vaux, yesterday I went to Versailles to sketch.  I had been granted permission to sketch the interiors, a very rare opportunity that took weeks to get approved.  So official letter in hand, I battled the thousands of people (literally) in the château and headed straight for what Wikipedia says is one of the most famous rooms in the world , the Galerie des Glaces, or Versaille's famous Hall of Mirrors.

I knew this would be challenging.  I showed my letter to the guard, who read it 5 times and called 2 other people to review it (this is very France), then at last her chief showed up to give the final approval.  Then they were extremely nice.  So in a corner at the very end of the huge space, I plopped down my 3-legged REI stool, INSIDE the cordoned off area to the public, and slowly began to tackle this space.

I must say, it truly exhausted my brain.  The detail is overwhelming, the space is huge, and the hordes of tourists coming by were not only a distraction, but blocked much of my view. And, they took pictures of me!

Still, I knew this was an utterly amazing opportunity, and I HAD to do it...

Below are the three sketches I made of the interiors.  I was not permitted to pull out paints (understandable, as I can't get cobalt blue watercolor onto a rug from the 1600's), so I drew in pencil to be watercolored later.  And I'm nervous about applying the watercolor, so I'm posting the pencil images until I muster up the courage to pull out my paints today.

All in all, this was a great day.  A rare opportunity, a true challenge, and it was very, very fun. I loved it.  I think even Louis XIV would have been happy.

Galerie de Glaces, Château de Versailles, July 30, 2013
click on the image to see it larger.

Corner of the Grand Cabinet de Madame Victoire, Versailles

By brain was mush by this point...

The crowds had thinned out by this point and a very nice DJ from Canada kindly snapped this photo.