3-003-871 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Visit of the King of Prussia to the Emperor of the French at Compiegne: the Luncheon at Pierrefonds, 1861. Excursion to the '...beautiful ruins of the Chateau of Pierrefonds, in the midst of which, upon blocks of stone lying about in all directions, but destined for the restoration of the edifice, the illustrious visitors partook of a collation composed of cold viands and fruit...the King of Prussia appeared delighted as he sat down on an unshapen block to pour out wine for the Emperor and Empress of the French, and all seemed much pleased at the temporary absence of etiquette...the portraiture of the scene would have been worthy of a Watteau; for, although all the gentlemen of the party were in ordinary morning dress, the picturesque costumes of the Empress and of the dames d'honneur...with their short festooned skirts, braided corsages, [and] Spanish hats...the domestics in full Imperial livery, the scarlet Guides seen through an opening in the background, the ivy-covered ruins, the whole surmounted by a cerulean sky of the greatest beauty, combined to make up an ensemble that may sometimes have been witnessed in a poet's dream, but which it has rarely fallen to the lot of mortal to look upon as a reality'. From "Illustrated London News", 1861.