Louis XIV (14th) established the ____________ in order to create the masterworks of the decorative arts that he would use at Versailles.

• A. Sèvres Porcelain
• B. Royal Academy
• C. Gobelins Manufactory
• D. Meissen workshop

Answer: (C)

This question centers on the royal workshop system Louis XIV created to furnish Versailles with luxury decorative arts. The Gobelins Manufactory was established as the royal tapestry workshop, tasked specifically with producing tapestries and related textiles for the palace. By bringing skilled loom workers and designers under royal control, it enabled a coherent, opulent interior across Versailles and showcased the crown’s authority and taste. The tapestries from Gobelins became iconic symbols of the palace, tying together the rooms’ motifs, colors, and themes.

Sèvres Porcelain, while famous for porcelain, was a later factory (under Louis XV) and not the workshop Louis XIV set up for Versailles. The Royal Academy is an institution for training and promoting artists rather than a manufacturing body for palace interiors. The Meissen workshop is a German porcelain producer, unrelated to Louis XIV’s French palace project.