Tea at Trianon: Restoration of the Queen’s Grove

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, May 5, 2020

Restoration of the Queen’s Grove

The Queen’s Grove was originally designed to be far less manicured than the French-style landscaping that surrounds it. (Courtesy Palace of Versailles)

Marie-Antoinette and her children

From Architectural Digest:

With more than 2,000 acres of ground and a 2,300-room palace, the Château de Versailles requires a lot of maintenance. It stands to reason, then, that some areas of the estate might need to wait quite some time to be restored to their original grandeur. Case in point: Marie Antoinette’s private garden, known as the Queen’s Grove, which has languished since her untimely death—not to mention the major damage sustained during the great storm of 1999, which saw some 15,000 trees uprooted across the estate. But a grand $2 million, multiyear restoration is finally under way, having begun this past winter.

The garden, located just to the west of the Orangerie, was originally a labyrinth installed by Louis XIV in the mid-17th century, but by the time Marie Antoinette resided at Versailles in the mid-18th century, it had fallen out of fashion and into disrepair. The queen hired architect Michel-Barthélemy Hazon to redesign the plot, not in the classic linear French style of the rest of Versailles’ grounds, but inspired by the more natural English gardens that were en vogue across the Channel—these gardens were to be her private sanctuary rather than a reminder of strict court life. “In the Grove, Marie Antoinette was free to wander and relax,” says Abbie McLean, a Versailles tour guide with The Tour Guy. “She was actually afforded privacy in this area, which did not exist in the Court of Versailles.” (Read more.)

From The Architect's Newspaper:

Using archaeological research and original documents, the restoration will revert the garden to its original condition, including reintroducing original plant species as well as reproductions of the sculptures and furniture elements that were once scattered across the site. With the entirely of the Palace of Versailles closed to the public due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the restoration team has already planted period-accurate tulip trees at its center and, according to the property’s website, will be followed by a replanting of the various plant species along the perimeter before being completed in 2022. (Read more.)