Tea at Trianon: First Architect to the King

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, September 17, 2011

First Architect to the King

Ange-Jacques Gabriel designed Petit Trianon and many other famous and beautiful buildings.

While First Architect to the King, Gabriel designed many famous public buildings including the Place de la Concorde and the Opera of Versailles. Other important projects that he worked on included those at the Louvre and Fontainebleau. (Read entire post.)

lara77 said...: One of the most brilliant and talented of architects. I know King Louis XVI wanted to redo the town facing side of the Palace of Versailles; to unify the style. How sad it was never done; I believe Ange Jacques had submitted designs to the King. Thank God Monsieur Gabriel never lived to see his beautiful Place Louis XV(Concorde) violated and destroyed by the revolutionary savages.; September 19, 2011 at 1:37:00 PM EDT