Minneapolis Institute of Art

Fireworks Display Presented to the Dauphin on his Sixth Birthday on September 3, 1735, in the Gardens at Meudon

Charles-Nicolas Cochin II

Date

1736

Medium

Etching and engraving

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

For the sixth birthday of young prince Louis, King Louis XV's heir, an extravagant party was given at the royal chateau of Meudon, five miles from Paris. The royal gardens were transformed into the mythical Garden of Hesperides, and before the small party (of mostly grownups), a colossal Hercules slays the dragons that protect the golden apples in Hera's garden, which confer immortality on all who partake. Behind this spectacle, fireworks burst forth to resemble the sun, a theme also reflected in the trimmed shrubbery, where two faces of Apollo, atop the lyre, similarly seem to burst with light. An official bureaucratic department of the king's household oversaw the planning and execution of such festivities, the Menus Plaisirs du Roi, which was administered by a number of high-ranking officials, and employed a small army of artists, architects, and craftsman, some of whom are credited in the inscription for planning the Dauphin's party. France, Europe

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