PSA: on #NationalUnicornDay Louis XV’s very own ‘Rhinoceros unicornis’ would like to remind you that you have JUST OVER 1 WEEK left to see ‘Versailles: Science and Splendour’ at the @sciencemuseum !!! 🦏🦄

Optical microscope, by Claude-Siméon Passemant with bronze-work attributed to Jacques and Philippe Caffieri, ca. 1750. National Museum of the Palaces of Versailles and Trianon, inv. V.2021.42. All photos my own.

It’s World Microscope Day! 🔬. This fabulous rococo microscope was made by Claude-Siméon Passemant - King Louis XV had an identical one. On loan from @CVersailles, you can see it on display in ‘Versailles: Science and Splendour’ at London’s @sciencemuseum until 21 April 2025!

On display in London at the Science Museum’s exhibition ‘Versailles: Science and Splendour’, until 21 April 2025!. Jean-Dominique Cassini’s Map of the Moon, 1679.Paris Observatory Library, inv. I.1576.All photos my own (excuse the occasional moiré effects - not part of the OG!).

Cassini presented his Moon map to the French Royal Academy of Sciences on this day (18 Feb) in 1679. Invited to work for the Academy by King Louis XIV, Cassini left his native Bologna to study the Moon from the recently founded Paris Observatory.

But the map’s lower RH quadrant has a whimsical element: a woman’s head in profile amongst the lunar features. This ‘Moon Maiden’ is thought to be an homage to Cassini’s wife, Geneviève de Laistre. So too, perhaps, is the ♥️-shaped outline on the map’s LH side (see detail pix).

The map is based on years’ worth of observations by astronomer Jean-Dominique Cassini, aided by the artists Sébastien Le Clerc the Elder and Jean Patigny. At the time, it was the most scientifically accurate map of the Moon ever produced - and it remained so for about 200 years.

Completed in 1679, this stunning map of the #moon took almost a decade to produce! And it hides a quirky flight of fancy in plain sight… Read on! 🌕♥️.#history #science #space #paris #art #museum #exhibition #london #astronomy #STEM #france #map #otd .@Obs_Paris .@sciencemuseum

Decoration by Jean-Siméon and Jean-Hugues Rousseau, 1788.1. Owl of Athena/Minerva, goddess of wisdom and science 🦉.2. Armillary sphere (model of the heavens) and telescope 🔭.3. Celestial globe with zodiac band ✨.All photos my own.

This gilded imagery contains scientific symbols and motifs, a reminder of Louis’ keen interest in the sciences. Find out more at the @sciencemuseum exhibition ‘Versailles: Science and Splendour’, on in London until 21 April 2025!.

Louis didn’t have long to enjoy this opulent room. It was finished just a year before the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, which ultimately cost him his head… Yesterday, 21 Jan, marks the anniversary of his execution in 1793.

Glorious gilded decoration from one of Louis XVI’s private rooms at Versailles - complete with secret en-suite toilet! 🤩.A short 🧵…. #history #France #art #interiordecor #Science #museum #London .@CVersailles

Engraved by Jean Lepautre, 1676 (detail - photo my own).National Museum of the Palaces of Versailles and Trianon, INV.GRAV 65.@CVersailles.

The celebrations were staged on the canal in the palace grounds. You can see men in boats lighting fireworks, while King Louis XIV watches from beneath a canopy. On display in London at the @sciencemuseum exhibition ‘Versailles: Science and Splendour’ until 21 April 2025.

Fireworks inspo for #NYE Versailles-style💥. With an explosion of ribbons, festoons and squiggles of light, this print depicts a spectacular fireworks display which took place at #Versailles on 18 August 1674. You can almost hear the fizz, bang, and screech of the pyrotechnics.

Come see the painting for yourself at the Science Museum’s exhibition ‘Versailles: Science and Splendour’!.

Like the menagerie’s other animals, the rhino was dissected after death for anatomical study. And if he looks a bit rotund now, it’s because he was overstuffed when he was taxidermised in 1793! His permanent home is the Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, Paris. Photo my own.

The naturalist Buffon came to observe the rhino living at Versailles, describing his hide like the bark of an old elm tree and commenting on his, er, apparently v small penis for such a large animal… 🍆.

The rhino lived at Versailles’s menagerie until he died (possibly drowned or stabbed) during the French Revolution, when he was about 25y/o. He would have been a rare sight in Europe and a symbol of the king’s power and prestige.

Meet King Louis XV’s rhino - the OG chonky boi! 🦏 👑 .#OnThisDay in 1769, he was sent from India to France as a gift for the French king. And until April 2025 you can see him in London at the Science Museum’s #Versailles .exhibition which I helped to curate!.🧵…