Backstage at Versailles: A Handyman’s Tour of the Palace

[Jazzy]

Robert Polidori has the keys to the palace. But not the perfectly-polished, museum-ready palace we’re used to seeing from behind the velvet ropes. In the 1980s, the Canadian-born photographer won a contract to document the ongoing restoration of the historic French palace, giving him and his camera lense an all-access pass to backstage Versailles. When the school groups have gone home, inside hidden rooms that likely no tourist will ever see, Polidori has had the truly unique opportunity to capture the not-so-perfect palace; arguably a far more fascinating place.

Secret underground reserves of classical busts, ghostly gilded furniture stowed away under white sheets, unmounted paintings leaning next to open air vents, scrambled wires and torn seventeenth century wallpaper awaiting restoration; these are Polidor’s muses for his quietly brilliant still life pictures.

Awesome pictures!

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