A watercolour drawing of illuminations in the garden at Versailles: an illuminated trellis with the initals V and N, and two fountains. Many guests walking outside. Inscribed below right: Ch. Questel del. l'architect [indistinct] & E. LAMI.

In August 1855 Queen Victoria and Prince Albert spent ten days in Paris, on the invitation of Napoleon III and his wife Eugénie. The historic state visit was intended to celebrate the military alliance between Britain and France in the Crimean War, and followed a visit by the imperial couple to Windsor in April that year. On 25 August there was a ball at the palace of Versailles, arranged by the Empress, and the first to be held there since the 1789 revolution. There were 1200 guests and the scenery and decorations were designed by the château's architect, Charles-Auguste Questel. Among his decorations were the dramatic outdoor illuminations, admired from the window by Queen Victoria and described as 'yellow & green lamps, all along the grillage, with our initials at intervals. It had a lovely effect, reflected in the water' (Journal, 25 August 1855).

Questel supplied information to the artists working on the watercolours of the Versailles ball: Eugène Lami apparently added the figures to this work. There is a letter from the Comte de Nieuwekerke in the Archives Nationales (13 November 1855, 2014479/9) to François Ignace Bonhommé (1809-81) about a watercolour of the illuminations, so perhaps Bonhommé declined the commission.