Aerial view of the chateau from the park;
note the "goose foot", or patte d'oie, arrangement of the three avenues which
converge on the entrance front.Versailles and the birth of the Rococo
Aerial view of the chateau from the park;
note the "goose foot", or patte d'oie, arrangement of the three avenues which
converge on the entrance front.
Diagram showing the gradual
development of the chateau throughout Louis XIV's reign
Painting depicting the
hunting lodge built by Louis XIII, soon after his son had begun transforming its gardens
and had added the two service wings in front.
Cour de Marbre, showing how Louis
XIV preserved his father's hunting lodge encrusting it with sculpture, gilded metalwork
and paving its courtyard with marble.
View from the park showing
the "Envelope" built by Louis Le Vau around the earlier building to house
apartments on either side for the King and Queen in 1669. Note how the center is left
empty for a viewing terrace - this was later to be filled in to create the Galerie des
Glaces (Hall of Mirrors)
Salle des Gardes
(Guard room). Note the angular nature of the colored marble revetment of the walls - this
strict formality was characteristic of the early interiors at Versailles
Salon de la guerre (Room of
War); note the massive bas-relief of Louis XIV on horseback crushing his enemies who are
shown in chains
Galerie des Glaces (Hall of
Mirrors). The ceiling depicts events from the King's life rather than the customary scenes
from Greek or Roman mythology.
Salon de l'oeil de
Boeuf (Room of the bull's eye) created in 1701. The ante-room to the King's
bedchamber, note the trelliswork frieze depicting playing children which strikes a
light-hearted note
Kings bedchamber
(1701). This occupies the central bays of the entrance facade, placing the bed, the icon
of the French monarchy, at the heart of the palace and making it the focus of all the axes
which run through the town of Versailles and through the park.
Garden facade, as altered by
Jules Hardouin Mansart (1646-1708) to accommodate the Galerie des Glaces in 1678.
Stables (1679-86), again by
Mansart; note their highly appropriate horseshoe-shaped layout.
Andre Le Notre's design
for the first garden, the petit parc, begun in 1662
Jean-Baptiste Tuby's Apollo
sculpture showing the sun god emerging from the water in his chariot at the beginning of
the day.
The Latona fountain. The
iconography of this follows the story in Ovid's Metamorphoses which tells how Apollo's
mother implored Jupiter to save her son and daughter from angry peasants; he did so by
turning them into frogs.
Plan of the park and town,
showing the axial relationships with the chateau
Aerial view showing the main axis of
the grand canal
The Rococo
Salon de la Princesse (1735-9),
Hotel de Soubise, Germain Boffrand (1667-1754); note the way in which the decorative
mouldings of the boiserie (wood panelling) and gilded plaster frames of the paintings have
a playful asymmetry; as they skip light-heartedly from bay to bay around the room they
seem to have taken on a life of their own.
The Imperial Free Abbey of Ottobeuren (1748-54) by Johann Michel Fischer (1692-1766)
Plan
Exterior
Nave and detail; a riot of
gilded stucco and marbled surfaces.