The Versailles Effect

Versailles has come to connote not just a physical space but also the model of court society and an enduring cultural myth. This flexibility of associations is captured in the subtitle to this imaginative edited volume: ‘objects, lives, and afterlives’. * French Studies *
With its emphasis on artistic process and collaboration, as well as on questions of race and gender, The Versailles Effect rewrites our understanding of Versailles as both a real and imagined place, from its construction in the seventeenth century to its reverberations in contemporary culture. Its lucidly written essays by leading scholars in the field are an indispensable resource for understanding the Château and its global artistic and political networks. * Amy Freund, Kleinheinz Family Endowment for the Arts & Education Endowed Chair of Art History and Associate Professor, Southern Methodist University, USA *
This splendid anthology will fascinate all students of Versailles and Court culture more generally. By revealing new facets (and inhabitants) of an ostensibly familiar site, it opens fresh vistas on the role of visual and material culture in the palace’s enduring life. * Jeffrey Collins, Professor of Art History & Material Culture, Bard Graduate Center, USA *
The refreshingly original and broad-ranging essays assembled in this volume eloquently demonstrate that Versailles was so much more than the magnificent palace of the Sun King. It was a domain, physical, cultural, artistic, political; an experience, and an idea, whose power, meanings, and effects still resonate today. * Melissa Hyde, Professor of Art History and Distinguished Teaching Scholar, University of Florida, USA *