Results: 1
-
View: Detail
-
- Description
- Marks/Inscriptions
-
- The sale of the contents of the Petit Trianon, Marie Antoinette’s pleasure château in the grounds of Versailles, began at 10 o clock in the morning of the 25 August 1793. Household goods were sold in the mornings while furniture and works of art could be purchased in the evenings. The sale of the treasured contents, including the fall-front desk (F302), now on display here at the Wallace Collection, took place seven months after the execution of the King and less than two months before Marie Antoinette’s execution on the 16 October. The poster provides vivid evidence of the new regime’s desire to be publicly rid of any associations with the former King and Queen. The note at the bottom of the poster indicating that items could be transported abroad tax free is particularly interesting as many works of art from the Petit Trianon and other Royal palaces were soon in the hands of foreign collectors. Charles Delacroix (1741 – 1805), one of the officials responsible for authorising the sale at the Petit Trianon, was partisan of the most violent faction during the Revolution and became Foreign Minister under the Directory. He was the father of the painter Eugène Delacroix (1798 – 1863).