Interior view

Hardouin-Mansart was already working at Versailles in 1673, but in a quite minor capacity. It was not till after the Peace of Nijmegen in 1678 that he was put in charge of the vast extension of the palace which the King planned. The project consisted of the construction of the Galerie des Glaces and the two salons adjacent to it, the addition of the wings to the north and south of the central block, and certain modifications to the Cour de Marbre.

Externally these alterations were not advantageous. Internally, however, Hardouin-Mansart and Charles Le Brun created the most effective ensemble in the whole palace and the work in which the style of Louis XIV is most completely summed up, the Galerie des Glaces and the two rooms which led to it: the Salon de la Guerre and the Salon de la Paix. These rooms present a compromise between the principles of the Baroque and of classicism typical of the art of Louis XIV.

The picture shows the Salon de la Paix.