NGA Building Projection - Enlighten Festival 2017
The exhibition entry featured two Candelabra from the Hall of Mirrors
The incredibly popular Family Activity Room designed for the Versailles exhibition
NGA Building Projection - Enlighten Festival 2017
9 December 2016 – 17 April 2017, National Gallery of Australia
Versailles presented many of the most recognisable and beautiful pieces from the Palace of Versailles, and evoked the sights, sounds and even scent of the French court during this remarkable period in history.
It featured more than 130 treasures, including royal paintings, portraits, intricate tapestries, luxurious gilded furniture, sculptures, drawings, prints, and illustrious objects and artworks, commissioned by three Kings, their Queens and mistresses.
The 1.5 tonne marble statue of Latona and her children, when removed from its spectacular location lost some of its grandeur. While at Versailles we recorded the details and sounds of the fountain and transformed them into a 180 degree digital video montage and soundscape that recreated the dramatic sensation of the flowing fountain in Canberra
The exhibition's development involved working with a Paris team led by the Curator, Béatrix Saule, Director of the National Museum of the Palace and Versailles expert team of conservator's. The freight, crating and transport of these historically significant works was a major challenge and required bespoke designs and a collaboration with Qantas Freight over many months. Significant attention was given to negotiating and providing a design solution that, for example allowed the enormous painting of The Sourches family to be loaned outside of Europe for the first time since it was created in 1756.
The Sourches family painting in storage at Versailles, in its original frame
A specially designed crate allowed the work to fit through the door of an airline freighter
The Sourches family painting installed in Canberra, in a temporary frame
There were eight distinct themes in the exhibition which had subtly different design treatments. Collaborations with specialist partners including master French perfumer Francis Kurkdjian, ABC Classics and celebrity gardener Paul Bangay, recreated the scent and sounds of Versailles and provided an entry to the NGA, inspired by the grand gardens of Château de Versailles.
Versailles: Treasures from the Palace closed on 17 April after 130 days with an attendance of 190,128 visitors, meeting visitation and revenue targets. The exhibition drove recreational and education tourism with 70% of visitors coming from outside the ACT and more than 250 school groups visiting the show.