The short-lived decorations and installations set up during the parties given by Louis XIV in Versailles.

Thèmes abordés

Versailles, Vigarani, Colbert, Louis XIV, Louise de la Vallière, Madame de Montespan, Marie-Thérèse, fête, 1664, 1668, 1674

Résumé du document

In 1661 Louis XIV decided to spend more and more time at Versailles, the former hunting lodge of his father, the King Louis XII.
However, and in spite of the begun works, the interior of the Palace remained too small for the parties. In that way the parties were given in the garden, masterfully ordered and decorated by André Le Nôtre.
Indeed, the parties, beyond being a divertissement, were political moments where the King celebrated or demonstrated his recent choices or victories.
So the party of 1664 was dedicated to the beginning of the works on the Palace and in the garden, to Louise de La Vallière the mistress of the King and to the trial of Fouquet.
The party of 1668 was dedicated to the treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle (the end of the war of Devolution against Spain), to the Marquise of Montespan the new mistress of the King and to the extension and new fountains of the park.
The party of 1674 was dedicated to the triumph of the Marquise of Montespan, to the second conquest of the Franche-Comté and to the completion of the park of Versailles.

Extraits

[...] Les métiers de l'art, Ed. Perrin et l'Etablissement public du misée et domaine de Versailles GUILLOU P. P. E., Versailles, le palais du soleil, Paris HAZLEHURST F. Hamilton, Gardens of illusion, Nashville Vanderbilt University Press LABLAUDE Pierre-André, Les jardins de Versailles, Ed. Scala, Paris MARIE Alfred et Jane, Naissance de Versailles, Paris, ed. Vincen, freal et Cie MARIN Louis, Politiques de la représentation, Le collège en acte, éd. Kimé, Paris MOINE Marie-Christine, Les fêtes à la Cour du Roi-Soleil, Ed. [...]

[...] Gallimard SCUDERY Madeleine La promenade de Versailles, Paris Studies. BARBET L. A., Les Grandes Eaux de Versailles. Installations mécaniques et étangs artificiels. Description des fontaines et de leurs origines, Paris BEAUSSANT Philippe, Les plaisirs de Versailles, Coll. Les chemins de la musique, Ed. Fayard, Paris, 1973-1996. BEAUSSANT Philippe, Plaisirs des rois, fêtes royales de Louis XIV à Louis XVI (>INHA, 8H12891). BERGER Robert W., « a source for the Latone Group at Versailles », dans la Gazette des Beaux Arts, avril 1992, p.145-148. [...]

[...] A theater was built just for the representation in the garden. Inside Reputation framed the French's arms. Figure 2 The Princess of Elide – 8th May 1664. The most spectacular show was the 9th of May on the basin of the Rondeau (today basin of Apollo) where was played the Alcine's ballet. It began with 3 sea monsters, made with wood floating and sailing on the water inspired by Giulio Parigi's Argonautica. Figure 3 9th of May : Alcine's ballet. [...]

[...] The theater was in wood and decorated by the Royal Canvas Works (lended by the King himself) which hid the green palisades of the sides. The painted canvas of the back recreated the real back, that is to say the path reaching the orangery. So the party was outside, but they created an interior with an artificial view of the outside Figure 7 18th july 1668 : Georges Dandin and The ballet of the Love and Bacchus. Then there was another collation, not in the outside but in an artificial octagonal building overcame by a dome reproduce from the Greek temples. [...]

[...] Fernand Lanore, Paris PARMENTIER André, La Cour du Roi Soleil, A. Colin St Geneviève, 8L Sup 24450). PEROUSE DE MONTCLOS Jean-Marie, Versailles, Paris, ed. Mengès SOLNON Jean-François, Histoire de Versailles, Coll. Tempus, Ed. Perrin SOLNON Jean-François, La Cour de France, Ed. Fayard, Paris SORKINE Florence, Propagande et mécénat royal Biblio Sorbonne, TMC1396). VERLET Pierre, Le château de Versailles, Paris, Fayard, 1961-1985. [...]