23. Israël Silvestre
(1621-1691)

Troisième Journée: Theatre dressé…l’Isle d’Alcine

(click on image to print)
Silvestre, Troisième Journée

Troisième Journée: Theatre dressé…l’Isle d’Alcine

Etching, 1664, from Fêtes données à Versailles : Les Plaisirs de l’Isle Enchantée, 270 x 413 mm., LeBlanc 773 ii/iii. For this third day of the first of Louis XIV’s magnificent festivals at Versailles, a theater was set up on one of the canals for the ballet Le Palais d’Alcine (music by Jean-Baptiste Lully). The palace is on an island built into the canal, the orchestra ranged before tapestries on two rocky outcrops built into the water and three singers are mounted on carved sea monsters. Fine, rich impression on laid paper trimmed just outside the image and text; flattened vertical center fold (from previous binding). We have a few additional works from this series. Please inquire.