The Banquet of the Guards in the Versailles Opera (October 1, 1789)
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Part of a larger series by Prieur, this and three other drawings in the exhibition document the momentous events in early October 1789 that ultimately led to the king’s forced return to Paris. This work brilliantly depicts splendid festivities at Versailles—in stark contrast with the cries for bread elsewhere in France. On October 1, a magnificent banquet was held in Versailles’s Opera House to honor officers brought in to protect the palace and the royal family following riots in Paris.
Artwork Details
- Title: The Banquet of the Guards in the Versailles Opera (October 1, 1789)
- Artist: Jean Louis Prieur le Jeune (French, Paris 1759–1795 Paris)
- Date: 1789
- Medium: Graphite, gray wash, ink applied with brush, on paper
- Dimensions: 7 11/16 × 10 in. (19.5 × 25.4 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Musée du Louvre, Paris, Département des Arts Graphiques, on long-term loan to the Musée Carnavalet—Histoire de Paris (RF 6193/ D7760)
- Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts