Versailles at the Science Museum review: a beautiful show harking back to a time when science wasn't considered bleakly functional
This charming exhibition is a version of one first shown at Versailles in 2010 – Sciences and Curiosities at the Court of Versailles – about the fusion of absolute monarchy and science in the reigns of Louis XIV, XV and XVI. In its London incarnation it lacks the grand backdrop of the palace itself – the second floor of the Science Museum isn't quite the Hall of Mirrors – but there are some excellent home loans to support those from Paris.
There are about 120 items, 40 of which are from Paris, and they include the star of the show: Louis XV's very own rhinoceros (now stuffed), a magnificent if short-tempered beast. He survived into the reign of Louis XVI and just outlasted the king, apparently falling victim to the hard-hearted revolutionaries in 1793 a few months after poor Louis. If the Museum of Natural History in Paris doesn't want him back, he'd look fabulous in ours.
But monarchs have always possessed menageries; what is striking about the patronage of the sciences by the last Bourbon kings was that it was part of the elevation and systematisation of the discipline, and was a matter of prestige and fashion as well as utility. Scientists sought royal patronage and the royals took a keen interest in science (Louis XV and XVI more than the Sun King) including, we learn, the princesses.
In this period, around 130 years, science as well as the arts was a courtly interest; there's an interesting picture of a fashionable salon where there was a reading of Voltaire at which Buffon, the great natural scientist was prominent. As the exhibition tells us, it was the highlight of a scientist's career to present his discoveries at court and was the ultimate test of his ability to communicate his findings.
The definition of science here is broad, from engineering – the extraordinary achievement of getting a sufficient supply of water uphill to Versailles to work the magnificent fountains was the product of the Marly Machine, an hydraulic system on an unpredecented scale – to cartography, obstetrics and pyrotechnics (the firework displays at Versailles were something else) and botany and zoology.
But the distinction between pure and applied science was never rigid; the remarkable developments in atronomical instruments helped make possible the work of cartographers like Jean Picard and Cassini over three reigns which culminated in a map of France which showed it was, unfortunately, smaller than previously assumed.
The early part of the show is dominated by the measurements of time and space and there are some magnificent instruments here, including an impressive quadrant and an early pendulum clock from the Science Museum's own collections. In this period too – the 1660s – the scientific societies were formed at the prompting of Louis XIV's finance minister, Colbert; it is odd that the description of this colossally influential man focuses on his approach to slavery.
Then we move to the transport of water to Versailles; then to the study of natural history, whereby the French colonies sent home plant and animal specimens for scientists to study. Then to obstetrics and the pioneering work of Madame de Coudray; then the involvement of women in science, including Voltaire's mistress, the physicist Emilie du Chatelet; and the spectacular bits of the scientific endeavour, including aeronautics; the poster image for the exhibition shows the magnificent royal-themed hot air balloon that Etienne Montgolfier flew from Versailles, with a wicker basket containing a rooster, a sheep and a duck (poor things).
There are so many wonderful pieces in this show: the Clock of the Creation of the World showing astronomical movements and intended as a gift for an Indian potentate; Marie Antoinette's superlative watch with its rock crystal face; Madame de Coudray's 'machine' or stuffed anatomical dolls designed to demonstrate practical obstetrics, the very beautiful zoological paintings. My favourite is The Cabinet of Mr Le Clerc, an exquisitely detailed depiction of an idealised scientific laboratory.
Visitors to the exhibition may feel wistful contemplating a period when science was allied with the decorative arts, and it was for general consumption, not the preserve of specialists. Looking at the very beautiful scientific instruments and the marvellously accurate and captivating depictions of plants and animals, you're reminded that science doesn't have to be bleakly functional, but we have made it so.
Science Museum, to April 21; sciencemuseum.org.uk
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