Le Siam À Fontainebleau : L'ambassade Du 27 Juin 1861

Exhibition at the Château de Fontainebleau, 5 November 2011 - 27 February 2012

On 27 June 1861, Napoleon III and Eugenie received an embassy from the King of Siam, Rama IV, with great pomp and circumstance at the Château de Fontainebleau. French influence in Asia was at stake and the emperor wished to equal in prestige the previous diplomatic meeting, in 1686, between Louis XIV and the envoys of the monarch Phra Narai. In the presence of the dignitaries of the Empire, the reception of the ambassadors took place in the Ballroom of Fontainebleau, where the gifts of King Rama IV were displayed. In order to preserve the memory of the event, the painter Jean-Léon Gérôme was commissioned to produce a monumental painting in 1864, which was presented at the 1865 Salon.

The texts in this exhibition catalogue shed light on the political and economic conditions of the meeting and the circumstances of the stay in France of these ambassadors from afar. The illustrations of the sumptuous gifts still preserved today at the Château de Fontainebleau, the studies and details of Gérôme's painting bring the event to life.