Les Jardins De Louis Xiv À Versailles : Le Chef-D'oeuvre De Le Nôtre

With an introduction and comments by Pierre Arizzoli-Clémentel, Honorary Director of the Museum of the Château of Versailles and the Trianons, this book allows the reader to discover the gardens of Versailles as they were conceived by André Le Nôtre, and before the modifications that later altered their design. It presents all of the plans drawn up in 1720 by Jean Chaufourier (1679-1757) for the Duc d'Antin, superintendent of the king's buildings, and invites the reader to discover the château and the gardens as Louis XIV left them.

The parterres and bosquets, the vegetable and fruit gardens, the fountains and the path of the Labyrinth, the large water feature of the Île Royale, the Bassin d'Apollon and the bosquet of the Arc de Triomphe are shown in their original state, before the modifications made during the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI. Complemented by engravings from the end of the 17th century, by Adam Pérelle, these illustrations represent the most complete testimony on the incomparable masterpiece of the Sun King, an emblematic work of French classical genius, miraculously preserved.