Extrait de l’article

For historians and critics of seventeenth-century French spectacle arts few documents are as rare and precious as the working drawings of Louis XIV’s designers. While some are preserved in the archives of his reign, others are scattered among museums and libraries around the world. Most undoubtedly are forever lost, the victims of their own fragility, their lack of status as works of art, and the indifference of bureaucrats. Whatever has been preserved deserves to be studied and treasured. The recent efforts of certain specialists highlight the preeminence of Jean I. Berain (1640-1711), Dessinateur du Cabinet du Roi and the artist with principal responsibility for the decorations required by Louis’s Menus Plaisirs. A principal source of their evidence is the treasures of the royal collection of Sweden.

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