The Louvre Museum in Paris, France, was one of the world's oldest, largest, and most luxurious museums.
After Louis XIV moved to Versailles in 1674, the era of royal life in the old Louvre came to an end. The Hall of the Caryatids, which had once hosted countless grand banquets for the pleasure of the nobility, was left unused. The lavishly decorated Apollo Rotunda and gallery, where Louis XIV had received visitors, were no longer so busy either.
It was a place for people to live, yet it was not. Once the living people left at the end of the day, the Louvre became empty at night. It was so now, and it had been so in the past. To resist that loneliness and silence, kings had musicians play music and servants dance and revel.
But such liveliness was fleeting. When the music ended and the crowd dispersed, perhaps one or two beauties would remain at the king's side. Once they too had left, the king was truly alone, just like the pharaohs sleeping in their sarcophagi.
When he was finally alone, he could finally remove the golden mask from his face and return to his true self.
Like many hereditary monarchs, Louis XIV had ascended the throne as a child, with his mother, Anna of Austria, acting as regent. Yet the power of the state was actually concentrated in the hands of the chief minister and cardinal, Mazarin.
Fouquet was Louis XIV's finance minister, though it had been Mazarin who appointed him. He lined his own pockets and embezzled public funds. Louis XIV had originally known nothing of it. Although he had heard that the finance minister was exceedingly greedy, the high-born Louis XIV lacked a proper understanding of money.
It was not until one day, when Louis XIV