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To be given a backstage pass to Versailles is exciting enough — but to have

the grand dame of the palace, chief curator Beatrix Saule, lead an impromptu

after-dark tour taking in the Hall of Mirrors and the Sun King’s 18th-century

fresco-ceilinged chapel is positively spine-tingling.

“It’s 10 minutes past six,” narrates Saule in a dramatic stage-whisper as she

stands in the grand main reception hall, reimagining the extravagances of

centuries past. “Here we have tables filled with chocolates, wine and sorbet.

In the next room we have food for the banquet, and beyond there is the

concert, the dancing and the games...”

This sense of theatre, which infused daily life in 17th-century Versailles,

will be re-created in Canberra this summer with Versailles: Treasures From

the Palace, an international exhibition that is touted as the most complex the

National Gallery of Australia (NGA) has ever staged.

NGA director Gerard Vaughan and his team are particularly enthusiastic

about having pulled together such an astonishing display, not least due to

the tenacity it’s taken to make it a reality. He’s still slightly stunned that

certain masterpieces — such as the 1.5-tonne Carrara marble statue Latona »

IN VIEW