De soie et de plume, les oiseaux de paradis dans la décoration murale impériale

A study of imperial wall decoration reveals the recurring presence of the exotic-bird motif. Presented in the exhibition Soieries impériales pour Versailles: collection du Mobilier national, the wall hangings in the Empress’s Versailles study and in the Salon Jaune (Yellow Room) of the Queen’s Hamlet stand out for their ‘birds of paradise’ motifs. This emphasis raises questions. Although birds were a regular feature of wall decorations, they became a fashionable motif from the second half of the eighteenth century onwards, in connection with the first natural-science publications. At the turn of the century, birds inspired by Antiquity as depicted by Charles Percier were increasingly present. Following the publications of the traveller and naturalist François Levaillant, which were illustrated by the painter Jacques Barraband, exotic birds such as birds of paradise became fashionable motifs, fully in keeping with the taste for the exotic that was popular at the time. The birds of paradise woven, embroidered and painted for Versailles in the early 1810s represent the culmination of this taste.