A History of the Gardens of Versailles: Penn Studies in Landscape Architecture

Introduction PART I. THE STATE, THE KING, AND THE GARDENS 1. The Monarchy and the Gardens Before the Reign of Louis XIV 2. The Nature and Splendor of the Monarch 3. A New Image of Good Government PART II. THE EMPIRE OF GEOMETRY 4. Versailles and the Academies 5. The Astronomers in the Garden: Measuring Nature 6. Engineers and Gardeners: The Remodeling of the Gardeners 7. Hydraulics and Physics: Water and Air 8. The World of Plants and the Silent Progress of the Life Sciences PART III. AN OPEN-AIR PALACE: GARDENS AND THE ARTS 9. Gardens and Culture at Court 10. Le Notre: An Independent Genius 11. Le Notre's Aesthetic PART IV. THE GARDENS OF VERSAILLES FROM LOUIS XV TO THE PRESENT DAY 12. Louis XV 13. Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette 14. From the Ancien Regime to the Present Day 15. History, Gardens, and Landscape Maps Chronology Notes Glossary Bibliography Index Acknowledgments

"A wonderful, deep, scholarly treatment of the development of the gardens of Versailles during the reigns of Louis XIV, XV, and XVI, based on original sources including government records and works of philosophers, artists, garden designers, and others."-Choice "This work treats its subject from an original angle, recalling that the gardens were conceived according to the will of Louis XIV and reflect the politics set in motion by Colbert, which profoundly altered the structure of French society."-L'Express "Known the world over, the gardens of Versailles are often visited hurriedly by crowds of tourists... In contrast, this book examines the political and cultural intrigues during the era of the gardens' creation. To achieve his masterpiece, Louis XIV mobilized the seventeenth century's artistic and scientific elite. This work enables us to discover this universe."-Jardins, in a review of the French edition