These apartments, evolved out of the
confusion of orders and counter-orders, remain to-day as examples of
the pure and elegant decorative styles of the eighteenth century.
Especially admired is the Council Room. Richly adorned, but always in
charming taste, it represents the transition period between the more
severe ornamental art peculiar to the reign of Louis XIV and the warmer
effects beloved by Louis XV. Behind the Council Room were installed,
on the west side of the Court of the Stags, a _cabinet de bains_
(bath-room) and a little room called the Salon of the Wigs. By these
rooms access was gained to the Salon of Apollo.
The billiard-room, where King Louis XIV was wont to play with his
hounds before retiring, became the bed-room of his heir. After the
year 1738, Louis XV occupied this chamber, and here he died thirty-six
years later. It then became the sleeping-room of the ill-starred Louis
XVI--who died in no bed. Locks, door-knobs, chimney ornaments--each
detail in gilded bronze reflected rare taste and workmanship. The bed
stood in an alcove enclosed between two columns, railed in by a
balustrade of elaborate design, and curtained by wonderful tapestries.
Ordinarily the King slept in this room; when he wakened in the morning
he put on a robe and passed through the Council Room to the salon where
the "rising" was celebrated with traditional pomp.
If Louis XV indulged in an orgy of building and repair, it was because
he pined with an _ennui_ that was only relieved by constant diversion.
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