A video still of a man giving a lecture to a seated audience

Gerard Vaughan - lecture - Love, sex and death at the court of Versailles

Published 15 December 2016

Join NGA Director, Dr Gerard Vaughan AM for a unique insight into the lives and loves of the three great French Kings, Louis the XIV, XV and XVI who over a period of 130 years, made the Palace of Versailles a trend setter for the royal courts of Europe. Louis XIV created Versailles as a grand political, social and artistic statement on the power and magnificence of the French monarchy. Versailles became home to thousands of royals and aristocrats, their families, servants and government officials. Each successive King created his own court, navigating key issues about heirs and successors, queens, wives, lovers and mistresses, war and peace, power and intrigue in an age of precarious life expectancy. Dr Vaughan, a Knight of the Légion d’Honneur from the Government of France, delivers a vivid account of the complex personal lives of the French kings and their courts who occupied Versailles in its heyday before the Revolution. Lecture delivered at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra in association with the Treasures from the Palace of Versailles exhibition December 2016.