Tea at Trianon: The Gardens of Versailles

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

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

The Gardens of Versailles

From The Vancouver Sun:

The Gardens of Versailles are an extension of the Palace of Versailles and are situated on 800 hectares of land just outside Paris. Versailles is one of the most-visited sites in France with over six million guests each year.

King Louis XIII purchased the land from Jean-François de Gondi in 1632. Claude Mollet and Hilaire Masson are credited for the original layout and design, which remained in place until it garnered the attention of Louis XIV, who, with the help of architect Louis Le Vau, painter Charles Le Brun and landscape architect André Le Nôtre, created these truly legendary gardens.

As Louis XIV expanded the Château de Versailles, the gardens evolved into something the world at that time had never seen. The addition of magnificent fountains that operated through hydraulic systems and gravity, and the creation of the Grand Canal, which covers 23 hectares, were far ahead of the times. Along with stunning sculptures, manicured parterres and an orangery, these features were the key ingredients that set these gardens apart from anything else in the world. (Read more.)