Versailles in colour [antikvár]

PREFACEVERSAILLES : ANTECEDENTS AND STYLEThe vision of the ensemble of Versailles - on the plans of the domain or the aerial views - represents perfect order in the lay-out of the axes, the arrangement of the buildings, the groves, the fountains, the avenues and the suite of rooms. One recalls that all of that was neither created at one time, nor even always executed to last, but the ensemble is so imposing with such harmony that it seems to have been imagined from the beginning by Louis XIV in its final aspect. Nevertheless, Versailles is inscri-bed in a tradition of which the splendour tends to efface the souvenir, and the poetry of the site conceals the complexity of the style.From the time of the first Valois, Charles V and his brothers, the Dukes of Berry, Anjou and Burgundy, they had a firm belief that the splendour of the sovereign's or princes' residence and the wealth of collections enhanced their owner's prestige. The Renaissance and Mannerism then brought a desire for unity and grandeur, linked to the rise of absolute monarchy ; this is expressed by regularity and magnificence, at Chambord, at the Louvre, in the plan of theTuileries by Philibert Delorme forCatherine de Medici and in that of Charleval by Jacques Ist Androuet du Cerceau for Charles IX. The Italianism of the interiordecoration, more than the beauty of the exteriőr architec-ture, conferred on Fontainebleau its originál seduction. Henry IV, who constructed a great deal, by personal taste and to make good the damage caused by the religious wars, provided this residence with a monumental entrance towards the East, the Service courtyard, and patronized the creation of appealing apartments, those of the second School of Fontainebleau. Under Louis XIII and Louis XIV, until Mazarin's death, the ante-cedents of Versailles were much more direct. Classicism developed in the mastering of pure volumes, as in the Luxembourg Palace by Salomon de Brossé, for Marié de Medici, and in the elegant and almost musical design of the architecture of Frangois Mansart, in the wing of Gaston d'Orléans, in the castle of Blois, and in the castle of Maisons. The Parisian mansion attained to perfection in the staircase, the gallery, the adornment and the lay-out, as is shown in the hotel de la Vrilliére by Mansart and the hotel Lambert by Louis Le Vau. This latter master has been qualified as a director, "met-teur en scéne" of buildings because, effectively, he was inspired by the Italian and Román Baroque style, of which Mazarin favoured the diffusion in Francé. The Maza-rine gallery, in his residence in the capital (National Library), and the summer appart-ments of Anne of Austria at the Louvre, painted by Romanelli, offered examples in Paris. The same artists who worked at Vaux-le-Vicomte for the Fináncé Minister, Fouquet, before his disgrace, were to achieve fame at Versailles : the architect, Louis Le Vau, the painter and decorator, Charles Le Brun, and the creator of the gardens, André Le Nótre. The restrained dynamism of the facades and, even more, the sumptuous inte-rior decoration present a French version of the Baroque ; the gardens, however, by the sovereign adaptation of nature to a legible majesty of the site, are one of the highest expressions of French classicism.One understands, then, that Versailles is complex. Louis XIV, who had the Colon-nade of the Louvre erected, had previously accepted the project of Bernini for his grand Parisian palace. His policy demanded ostentation, by taste he was that way inclined, and the young members of the Court, in his suite, liked the gaiety and the vivacity of festivities. All Versailles was engulfed as a result of the influence of the Baroque, which found expression in the entertainment and the ephemeral architecture. The enchant-ments of the interior of the grotto of Thétis were alsó a manifestation of the Baroque. The king's state apartment, the hall of mirrors, the war drawing-room and the peace drawing-room constitute the adaptation, in the French manner, of the grand Italian Baroque decoration illustrated by Pierre de Cortone in the rooms of the planets in the Pitti palace in Florence. Even in the facades of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, there remain sump-tuousness and animation rather close to the Baroque - two qualities that harmonize 4 successfully with the grand and calm perspectives of Le Nőtre. In fact, beyond the subt-leties of the stylistic differences, Versailles represents eternal art.