On Sunday, June 22, from 1–2:30 p.m., the Toledo Museum of Art will welcome Christophe Leribault, president of the Palace of Versailles, for the Susan “Sue” Serrott White Memorial Lecture in Decorative Arts and Design History. His talk, Refurnishing Versailles: The Impossible Challenge, explores the remarkable efforts to restore the grandeur of the famed château, whose furnishings were scattered during the French Revolution.  

What seemed like the definitive end of a Baroque masterpiece instead launched an extraordinary pursuit to reassemble Versailles’ lost unity. Since the late 19th century, curators, historians, and artisans have worked to piece together a fragmented past—part scholarship, part detective story, and entirely ambitious. Leribault will share how this project continues to evolve, revealing the fascinating tensions between theory and practice, imagination, and authenticity.