Queen Marie Leszczyńska and Her Fascination with China

This room has been restored to look as it did when it belonged to Marie Leszczyńska, wife of Louis XV, and her portrait hangs here. Seven years older than the king, she was a Polish princess who went on to bear ten children. A devout Catholic, she was also fascinated by East Asia, and inspired by travelers' accounts of the region, she even painted scenes of it herself. One of the paintings on display depicts a Jesuit missionary in conversation with a senior Chinese official — exactly as its caption in the lower right describes, showing the black-robed Jesuit and the official talking. Between the paintings, marks on the wall that look almost like measurement lines are actually traces left by the chief architect, Gabriel, as he worked out how to decorate the queen's room. In other words, this gallery doesn't just display paintings — it gives a three-dimensional look at how the queen's room itself came together.