King's Bedroom

The king’s bedroom is among the masterpieces of 18th century French decoration. Its gilded woodwork and stuccoed ceiling were executed in the rocaille style in vogue in the first half of the reign of Louis XV.

The motifs adorning the room are emblems of sleep – the sphinxes with bat wings in the four corners of the ceiling – or of the House of Rohan – the radiant sunflower blossom at the centre of the ceiling in the royal alcove.

The bedroom is the most luxurious part of the palace. This impression is reinforced by the presence of mirrors, at the time most expensive items. They help to enlarge the room and to create endless reflections of light and gold leaf, thus multiplying the impression of wealth. Three tapestries hang in the royal alcove. They belong to a series on the Emperor Constantine and were woven from cartoons by Rubens. The over-door paintings are original copies of Raphael's Loggie in the Vatican.

The arrangement of the furniture in the room is specific to that of a royal bedroom. The four-poster bed is located in an alcove reserved for the king and separated from the rest of the room by a balustrade. On the other side are symmetrically arranged folding seats used during the sovereign's rising and bedtime ceremonies.