Organized by the Federal Reserve Board and Banque de France, Views of Paris and Its Festivals: Works from Banque de France and Musée Carnavalet features thirty–seven works of art that provide a glimpse of Paris centuries ago, when fireworks illuminated the "City of Lights." The exhibit offers tantalizing glimpses of lost buildings--ephemeral, temporary structures that were not intended to outlast the fabulous festivals for which they were created--as well as structures that have withstood the test of time, including the Banque de France building itself.

The first part of the exhibition showcases twenty–seven works of art borrowed from the Musée Carnavalet in Paris. These works date from the reign of Louis XIV (1638–1715) to the beginning of the French First Republic (1792) and the coronation of Napoleon I (1804). Many of the images document the elaborate pyrotechnics that accompanied celebrations in France. The use of fireworks in this context evolved from an ancient custom of lighting festive bonfires to celebrate victories, treaties, royal births and marriages, and the king's name day. During the seventeenth century, bonfires were gradually replaced by fireworks.

The first images in the exhibition chronicle events during the reign of Louis XIV, a period that saw France as Europe's dominant power. The next images reflect events during the reign of Louis XV (1715–74). Initially, this period saw a return to peace and prosperity, but conflicts with Britain and Prussia in the middle of the eighteenth century proved costly for France.

The reign of Louis XVI (1774–92) is reflected in other works in the exhibition. Under Louis XVI, France experienced great victories, such as in the American Revolution, but chronic economic problems, coupled with the new philosophies of the Age of Enlightenment and a general resentment of the privileges of the nobility, eventually led to the French Revolution.

The images in this exhibition pick up again with the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. The final five works of art from the Musée Carnavalet depict the celebration of peace in Paris, the coronation of Emperor Napoleon I in 1804, and the marriage of Napoleon to Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria.

Views of Paris and Its Festivals: Works from Banque de France and Musée Carnavalet also includes ten works of art from the Banque de France. These images chronicle the expansion of the beautiful buildings that house France's central bank and demonstrate the magnificence of its Galerie Dorée. The Galerie is one of the last examples of a line of sumptuous, secular naves commonly found in royal palaces of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, and one of the few remaining expressions of Regency style.

Taken together, the works in this exhibition provide a fascinating and informative look at the many celebrations, and beautiful architecture, of Paris.