The ceiling painting in the State Bedroom was another work by Dresden court painter Louis de Silvestre. He had painted it in advance while in Paris, and since it was on canvas, it could be immediately installed in Dresden as soon as the State Apartment was being set up. This was another work destroyed by the Second World War bombing raids, so you’re looking at a reconstruction.
The painting shows Aurora, Roman goddess of the dawn, en route with her team of horses, chasing away the darkness. It’s quite a suitable subject for a bedroom. While the scale and beauty of the ceiling painting made it clear that the State Bedroom and the Audience Chamber were of equal importance in the enfilade, the original 1719 overdoors were distinctly less impressive. According to an inventory of the period, they showed floral still lifes rather than gods of antiquity like the ones in the Audience Chamber. Nor were they the paintings you see above the doors today. They were installed later.
