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GISSEY, Henri - b. 1621 Paris, d. 1673 Paris - WGA

GISSEY, Henri

(b. 1621 Paris, d. 1673 Paris)

French draughtsman and costume designer who held the post of “dessinateur de la Chambre et du cabinet de Roi in the Menus Plaisirs du Roi” in the early years of Louis XIV of France. Gissey’s appointment made him responsible for the expressions of court style, above all in the elaborately costumed and produced ballets de cour, in which the young king danced among his courtiers. He produced the sumptuous engraved festival books that often followed such events and are sometimes the only surviving record of them.

His court position demanded in addition to designs for costumes, designs for other kinds of court ceremonial festivities, carried out under the general direction of Louis Trelons-Cochon Hesselin, “Overseer of the King’s pleasures.” He collaborated in many official spectacles, like the ballets of court, the carrousel of 1662 and the productions at the court of George Dandin and the Bourgeois gentilhomme by Molière, for which he created remarkable costumes. Several designs exist by Gissey for costumes for Louis XIV as Apollo, a role he repeated in numerous court ballets.

Jean Berain the Younger (1640-1711) was his successor.

Louis XIV as Apollo
Louis XIV as Apollo by

Louis XIV as Apollo

In the first half of the 17th century court ballet became an indispensable noble pastime. Contemporary chroniclers admired the artistic diversity of the Ballet of Night (1653), elaborated by Giacomo Torelli based on verses by Isaac de Benserade, which called for over one hundred costumes. These were created by Henri Gissey “designer ordinary of the King’s Revels and Ballets.” In this simultaneously learned and childish pantomime, various Temperaments emerge during the night, then Dawn arrives, and finally Day appears in the last act, when Reveries have invaded everything. The rising Sun was portrayed by none other than the young Louis XIV, blond and dressed as the god Apollo in golden feathers and sunbeams.

Henri Gissey and the great Jean Berain were attached to the Royal Cabinet of Louis XIV. Gissey is most famous for his celebrated Carrousel (1662), a horse spectacular never since surpassed in its magnificence — 500 noblemen in plumed regalia escorted by a greater number of elaborately dressed attendants.

There are several designs for costumes for Louis XIV as Apollo, a role he repeated in numerous court ballets. They are reminders of the extent to which the “Sun King” would identify himself as Apollo through consistent iconography at Versailles and in the sculptural program of its gardens and fountains.

The picture shows the Apollo costume worn by Louis XIV in the Ballet of the Night (1653).

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The Ballet of the Night
The Ballet of the Night by

The Ballet of the Night

In the first half of the 17th century court ballet became an indispensable noble pastime. Contemporary chroniclers admired the artistic diversity of the Ballet of Night (1653), elaborated by Giacomo Torelli based on verses by Isaac de Benserade, which called for over one hundred costumes. These were created by Henri Gissey “designer ordinary of the King’s Revels and Ballets.” In this simultaneously learned and childish pantomime, various Temperaments emerge during the night, then Dawn arrives, and finally Day appears in the last act, when Reveries have invaded everything.

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