The Sun King's garden : Louis XIV, Andre Le Nôtre, and the creation of the gardens of Versailles / Ian Thompson.

Format:

• Book

Author/Creator:

• Thompson, Ian H., 1955-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

• Le Nôtre, André, 1613-1700.
• Louis XIV, King of France, 1638-1715.
• Gardens, French--History--17th century.
• Gardens--France--Design--History--17th century.
• Gardens.
• Design.
• History.
• Gardens, French.
• Parc de Versailles (Versailles, France).
• Louis XIV, King of France, 1638-1715--Influence.
• France.

Physical Description:

xiii, 370 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 26 cm

Edition:

First U.S. edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Bloomsbury : Distributed to the trade by Holtzbrinck Publishers, 2006.

Summary:

Warmonger, womanizer, and autocrat, Louis XIV may also have been history's most fanatical gardener. At Versailles, twelve miles outside Paris, France's self-styled "Sun King" created not only Europe's most lavish palace, but, beginning in 1661, the most extensive gardens the Western world has ever seen. Assisting Louis in this enterprise was the low-born gardener Andre Le Notre, whose character and temperament were as different from those of his sovereign as it is possible to conceive. Where Louis was ruthless and relentlessly driven, Le Notre was down to earth, witty and amiable - and also phenomenally talented. While Louis could strike fear into the highest in the land with just a look, Le Notre enjoyed the king's trust and friendship for more than 40 years. In this lavishly illustrated book, Ian Thompson tells more comprehensively than ever before the intertwined stories of an extraordinary garden and an extraordinary friendship.

Contents:

• The fateful party
• Born to garden
• The sun rises
• The unpromising site
• Geometry and earthworks
• First plans
• The new Rome
• Divertissements
• Pleasure works
• Zenith
• Total control
• Changes
• Waterworks
• The machine and the aqueduct
• Escape to Marly
• Honorable old age
• Hard times and sunset
• Influence.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 359-360) and index.

ISBN:

• 1582346313
• 9781582346311

OCLC:

68693660

Online:

• Contributor biographical information
• Publisher description