to have the important military and cultural events of its reign engraved on copper, and to have the views of the palaces, castles, the most famous royal houses reproduced as well as the painted or sculpted works belonging to the collections of the Crown. The execution of these boards was entrusted to the greatest artists of the time: Gérard Audran, Gérard Edelinck or Claude Mellan among others. They formed a series of collections which were appointed under the title of Cabinet of the King: the Carrousel of 1662; The natural history of animals, the pleasures of the enchanted island (graphic report of the holidays given by the king in Versailles) are among the first made. Jean-Baptiste Colbert, then superintendent of the king's buildings, set out to expand the institution of the king's offic.
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