When I visited Paris as a child, I didn’t have the opportunity to visit Versailles. Although I had seen pictures and heard stories from my history classes, I was not prepared for what we saw today. I realized that there was no way I could have imagined the extravagance of the palace! Our guide helped illustrate the amount of money it took to build such a place, but I was even more surprised by level of planning that needed to go into the design of Versailles. Everything from the water system, to the layout, to the specific details within each room had an incredible amount of intention behind them. I wasn’t necessarily surprised to learn that these choices were to convey wealth and power, but I was surprised by how they did that.

I was really interested in the explanation of Louis XIV’s portrait. Our guide noted that a lot of the composition was meant to highlight the legs (an important feature of the time). This included his awkward posture, the (hidden) thigh and calf padding, and the heeled shoes. But the detail that really stood out to me was the reasoning behind the red heels.

Hyacinthe Rigaud, “Louis XIV de France”

According to our guide, red dye was the most expensive to come by, so that was why it was a symbol of wealth. The entire palace included a lot of red, and this of course made me think of the other red imagery from our readings (particularly Blake). Blake uses red imagery in describing the aristocracy, but it has a much more sinister feel, subverting the intended image associated with wealth that the monarchy was aiming for. Rulers strive for this image of wealth and power, but it’s really interesting how easily that can backfire!