“The dining-room on the right of the vestibule is of an irregular form. The chimney-piece faces the two windows; the angles of the superfices on which it is placed are rounded, and in them I have placed niches for marble tables, on which can be set the silver, crystal and dessert, during the repast, and afterwards be put away in the closet next to this room.
“On the other side of the vestibule, is the common room in which the servants dine. Next to it come the kitchens.”
When the dining-room is separate from the suite, it is usually situated on the ground floor, near the large stairway. The architects of the day insisted that it should be well lighted, and, if possible, open upon a garden. The floor was of parquetry, and the walls wainscotted in oak and sometimes carved; yet it was not unusual to have the panels carved, painted white and gilded. The buffet with its fountain and wine-cooler was the centre of attraction. The curtains were of silk, the chairs were upholstered and the floor warmed by a carpet or rugs laid. On the mantel-piece stood a clock and candelabra, and sconces and chandelier holding many candles brightly illuminated the rooms.
One of the changes of this reign was the appearance of the petit salon and boudoir, smaller rooms beautifully and comfortably furnished, which were more adapted for intimate social life.
“In order to find useful furniture,” says Jacquemart, “we must pass to the reign of Louis XV., the king who deserted the state apartments for by-places with secret doors and back staircases.”
The Palais Soubise in Paris, the ancient home of the Guises, and the home of the Prince de Soubise, a favourite of Louis XV. and a devoted friend of Madame de Pompadour, is happily extant. The Prince de Soubise took for his second wife, his cousin, Anne Julie Charbot de Rohan, so celebrated for her beauty and her intrigues. The embellishments at the Hôtel de Soubise were begun by them in 1704 and continued by their son, the Duc de Rohan, who died in 1749, and the decorations of this mansion are considered among the triumphs of the “élégances raffinées” of the Eighteenth Century. Germain Boffrand, a pupil of Mansart, is responsible for the interior architecture.
The two floors in which the Prince and Princess had their apartments were laid out identically. The Prince occupied the rez-de-chaussée, or ground-floor, consisting of a bedroom, a Salon oval and ante-chambers, etc.
The bedroom communicated directly with the Salon oval and the many windows and glass doors of the latter opened upon a formal French garden. The decorations of these rooms were in the pale grey tone known as gris de lin. There were no bright colours and no mythological pictures of love and gallantry. The panels were laden with beautiful wood carvings, and in the upper part between the archivolts of the doors and windows were eight allegorical groups representing the arts and sciences. Music, Justice, Painting and Poetry, History and Fame were painted by Lambert Sigisbert Adam; and Astronomy, Architecture, Comedy and the Drama by Jean Baptiste Lemoine.
The Princess’s apartments above consisted likewise of a bedroom, Salon oval, and an antechamber. The bedroom was lighted by two windows that looked upon an interior court. In the cornices and in the centre of the panels were groups of figures inspired by the stories of Greek mythology. On the piers, a skillful carver related the amorous adventures of Venus and Adonis, Semele and Jupiter, Europa and the Bull, and Argus and Mercury. In the four corners of the ceilings, the gilded medallions represented Diana, Leda, Ganymede and Hebe; and, finally, in the cornice, stucco figures of almost natural size stood out boldly. They formed four groups. Between the windows, Bacchus and Ariadne were represented; in the depth of the alcove, Diana and Endymion, and at the side of the Salon Oval, Pallas and Mercury,—opposite to Venus and Adonis. Innumerable little Cupids, bearing attributes of sciences, arts and letters were everywhere. Over each door was a painted panel: one, by Boucher represented the Graces presiding at Cupid’s Education, the other, signed Trémolières and dated 1737, Minerva teaching a Young Girl the Art of Making Tapestry. In the back of the room, standing out from the red damask of the alcove, were two pastorals by Boucher, with shepherds in satin garments, and shepherdesses in panier-skirts, and beribboned sheep. All the frames, so graceful in sweeping curves, were in delightful harmony with this subject, adding as Jules Guiffrey says, “a fantastic piquancy to these mythological gallantries.”
“The Oval room,” says the same art critic, “will always remain one of the most artistic models of the Eighteenth Century; and everybody knows that the period of Louis XV. carried the science of decoration to its last limit.” The chief paintings were done by Charles Natoire in 1737–1739, and describe the story of Cupid and Psyche in the most charming colours; but, still quoting from M. Guiffrey, “the details of the ornaments of the salon oval defy all description. You must study in detail the entwinings of the rosace, the little cupids clothed in a beautiful coating of gold, all different in gesture, attitude and expression, to gain an idea of the infinite resources of the designers and sculptors of the time.”