CHEVAL EN MAJESTÉ : AU COEUR D'UNE CIVILISATION

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• AuthorLaurent Salomé, Hélène Delalex (dir.)
• PublisherLienart
• Date of publicationOctobre 2024
• Language(s)French
• IllustrationsColour, b&w ill.
• Pages584
• DescriptionHardback
• Price (VAT incl.)55.00 €
• AvailabilityShipping within 48 hours

Exhibition at the Château de Versailles, 2 July - 3 November 2024

The horse has been present on the walls of Palaeolithic caves since prehistoric times, used as a labour force or as a symbol of power, and has always had a close and varied relationship with man. Equestrian culture has political, symbolic, scientific, artistic, cultural and social dimensions.

The royal stables at Versailles alone demonstrate the essential place accorded to the horse in the representation of power under the Ancien-Régime. The king's squires performed prodigious feats and their presence, renowned throughout Europe, contributed to the kingdom's policy of magnificence. By virtue of its nobility, its value, the intimate bond that binds it to its rider, the vocabulary that describes it and the anatomical studies it has been the subject of since the Renaissance, the horse occupies an intermediate position between man and animal. Above all, at every period in history, the horse has been a favourite subject for artists, fascinating the greatest painters and draughtsmen who have created veritable portraits of them.

This catalogue of the first major exhibition devoted to the horse retraces the long history linking man and horse through spectacular works of art. Through a gallery of the princes' favourite horses, it presents the collection of horse portraits by Charles XI of Sweden and more intimate portraits such as those of Queen Victoria's Arabian horses.

Price (VAT incl.) : 55.00 €