This beautiful catalogue showcases 52 French drawings dating from the late 17th century to the early 19th century, all from the Chateau de Versailles, which owns one of the finest collections of French drawings in the world. The catalogue has been prepared to accompany their exhibition at the Wallace Collection in autumn 2006. This is the only venue, and the drawings have never been discussed as a group.
 
Together the drawings tell the story of the major buildings at Versailles, its gardens, the court and the personalities associated with the famous palace of Louis XIV and later French kings. Among the artists represented are many of the major figures of this magnificent period of French art, including Le Brun, Leomoine, Cochin, Claude-Joseph and Horace Vernet, Jacques-Louis David - whose splendid compositional study for his Oath of the Tennis Court, the event that marked the beginning of the French Revolution, is of particular interest - Jean-Baptiste Isabey and Paul Delaroche.