Engraving Le maréchal de grammont en costume de maréchal de camp général

On June 5 and 6, 1662, to celebrate the birth of the Dauphin, Louis XIV presented Parisians with the Grand Carrousel des Tuileries. A carrousel is an equestrian spectacle originating in Italy and introduced to France in the 17th century.

On the square that has since been named "Place du carrousel" (next to the Tuileries gardens and the present-day Louvre), the five nations represented paraded: the Romans in red led by Louis XIV, the Persians in green led by the Duc d'Orléans, the Turks in blue led by the Prince de Condé, the Indians in yellow and black led by the Duc d'Enghein, and finally the Americans in green and white led by the Duc de Guise.

Accompanied by drums and trumpets and dressed in Henry Gissey's costumes, the 5 quadrilles compete in two races: the ring race, in which a spear or javelin is passed through a ring, and the head race, in which cardboard heads of Turks, Moors or Medusa are pierced.

Beyond the official occasion of celebrating the birth of his eldest son, Louis XIV wanted to dazzle the court and people of Paris with his exuberant pomp and exoticism. The spectacle made a lasting impression, turning the king into a cosmic figure around whom the kingdom's powerful people gravitated.

To capture the event, the king commissioned engravings of the festivities from the greatest engravers of the time: Israël Silvestre, François Chauveau and Gilles Rousselet. Each is accompanied by a text by Charles Perrault.