This charming exhibition is a version of one first shown at Versailles in 2010 – Sciences and Curiosities at the Court of Versailles – about the fusion of absolute monarchy and science in the reigns of Louis XIV, XV and XVI. In its London incarnation it lacks the grand backdrop of the palace itself – the second floor of the Science Museum isn’t quite the Hall of Mirrors – but there are some excellent home loans to support those from Paris.
There are about 120 items, 40 of which are from Paris, and they include the star of the show: Louis XV’s very own rhinoceros (now stuffed), a magnificent if short-tempered beast. He survived into the reign of Louis XVI and just outlasted the king, apparently falling victim to the hard-hearted revolutionaries in 1793 a few months after poor Louis. If the Museum of Natural History in Paris doesn’t want him back, he’d look fabulous in ours.
